Monday, January 7th, 2019

3:30 - 4:30 PM

Session II

LVCC, North Hall, N253

Social Media Transforms Marketing

Dependence on the smartphone is the bottom line of marketing.  It’s about personal communication and it’s about deep dive advertising. Social Media is not only at the forefront of today’s headlines, it also defines how most industries strategically evaluate their future.

Urs Cete, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, L.P.

Sharon Mussalli, Chief Revenue Officer, Some Spider Inc.

Spence Kramer, CEO, J. Walter Thompson Atlanta

Jim Louderback, General Manager, VidCon, Viacom

Evan Weiss, Founding Partner/Head of Talent, Red Sun Entertainment

James Heath, Director of Audience Development, Univision Creator Network

Moderator, Tania Yuki, CEO, Shareablee

Sharon Mussalli is the Chief Revenue Officer at Some Spider, creator of Scary Mommy and Cafe, reaching over 150m people monthly.  Sharon brings 15 years of tenure in the tech and entertainment space to her role at Some Spider, most recently having served US Industry Manager, Entertainment on the Global Marketing Solutions team at Facebook where her team led relationships between television networks and film studios across the Facebook and Instagram platforms.  Sharon holds a BA from Tufts University and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.  About Some Spider: Some Spider is a new digital media entertainment company financed by serial entrepreneurs, Vinit Bharara and Marc Lore, who previously co-founded and later sold Diapers.com to Amazon. Vinit is the CEO of Some Spider. Other Some Spider executives include COO, Paul Smurl, former Head of Digital at the New York Times and CRO, Sharon Mussalli, former Entertainment Industry Manager at Facebook.

Urs Cete serves as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, L.P. Mr. Cete joined the Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments in 2006. He serves as the Principal and Head of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments at Mojiva, Inc. Prior to BDMI, Mr. Cete worked in Bertelsmann AG's Corporate Controlling and Strategy Department, where he was in charge of group controlling and group strategy. In that capacity he worked on strategic projects in all of Bertelsmann's media categories (television, radio, music, books, magazines and services). Prior to that, he worked and lectured for the Finance Department of the Handelshochschule Leipzig specializing in Corporate Valuation. Mr. Cete serves as a Member of Advisory Board at BLUE LION mobile GmbH. He serves on the Boards of Skimlinks since November 11, 2011; Mojiva, Inc., Qeep and Exit Games. He holds an MBA from Tulane University and graduated from the Handelshochschule Leipzig.

Spence Kramer joined J. Walter Thompson Atlanta as Chief Executive Officer in 2016 to drive strategic direction and growth for the office. An established global business leader with a passion for creativity, he brings 20+ years of client and agency-side executive leadership to J. Walter Thompson. Spence comes to J. Walter Thompson from Crispin Porter + Bogusky. There, he served as the agency’s first ever Global Managing Director, working to improve performance, operations and communications across network’s six offices. He was also a key contributor to the global Infiniti automotive account win for the agency last year. Prior to CP+B, Spence was at Wieden + Kennedy for seven years, first serving as Global Account Director on Nike, where he oversaw teams across seven offices on the brand’s long-standing “Just Do It” campaign and Olympics work, among others. In 2009, he was promoted to Global Account Director on the agency’s Coca-Cola businesses, managing brand and product work for Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Powerade. He also led the agency’s winning pitch for Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Before joining the agency world, Spence was Vice President, Marketing and Communications at Virgin America, hired as a founding member to build the airline’s brand and communications strategies from the ground up. During his tenure, he helped design and create the most advanced in-flight entertainment (IFE) system in the industry. Spence also spent six years at ESPN, serving as Vice President, Advertising and Promotion. As a primary steward of the ESPN brand, he oversaw the Company’s agency business—including campaigns for “This is SportsCenter” and ESPN College Gameday—and ESPN’s in-house promotion and production teams.

Tania Yuki is the founder and CEO of Shareablee, a leading provider of social content analytics for business. She has spent most of her career in digital marketing, measurement and analytics, and was recently honored with several awards including, the SmartCEO Brava Award, Cynopsis Media Top Women in Digital Award, Direct Marketing News and Multichannel News 40 Under 40, L’Oréal Women in Digital Next Generation Award, and by Advertising Age as a 2015 Media Maven and 2016 40 Under 40. Tania began her career as a media and internet attorney, specializing in digital rights management, IP and film financing. After moving to the US from Australia she was seduced by digital and went on to run an online video content network as head of acquisitions and branding and has also led product management for comScore's Video Metrix, the world's leading online video ratings service. Tania is also the founder of wimlink, an organization that holds regular events and seminars promoting entrepreneurship, leadership and the professional development of women.'

Jim Louderback joined VidCon in 2014 as editorial director of the industry track, and took over as CEO in 2017.  Earlier this year he led the sale of VidCon to Viacom, where he is now GM of VidCon. In recent years, Louderback has developed integrated digital video strategies for large media companies - including Viacom, Discovery and National Geographic - and built platform intentional studio facilities while launching new vertically-focused content brands.  In addition, as venture partner at seed fund Social Starts he led investments in a variety of media and technology startups, while helping them focus their objectives, reorient audience and customer strategy, improve product design, and develop long-term strategic plans. Previously Jim was CEO of online video startup Revision3, and led the company to 20x viewer and revenue growth and 9 prestigious awards. In 2012, he sold Revision3 to Discovery, led the integration, launched and acquired 6 new networks, and built Discovery Digital Networks. Prior to that, Jim spent 16 years in increasingly senior editorial and technology management roles at TechTV, PC Magazine and PC Week.

James Heath is Director of Audience Development at the Univision Creator Network, Univision Communications’ in-house infl.  UCN is the #1 MCN (multi-channel network) for US Hispanics and winner of Digiday’s best Influencer Marketing platform. In his role James has been instrumental in growing the network to over 450 million monthly video views globally across social media and launching new programs such as Influencer originals for Facebook Watch and UCN’s Music Residency.

Evan Weiss, Founding Partner/Head of Talent, Red Sun Entertainment: 2015- Present:  Founder of Red Sun Entertainment: Red Sun Entertainment is a talent management and production company focusing on convergence of traditional media platforms with emerging digital platforms and premium content from high end creative artists. Digital clients include Jesse Ridgway/Mcjuggernuggets, Tanner Braungardt, Dom DeAngelis, Boogie2988, Elliott Morgan, Steve Zaragoza, The Beach House/Pins and Things, Freakin Rad, Hannah Cranston/Think Tank as well as radio superstars Big Boy and Jason Ellis and television showrunners Chuck Tatham and Don Foster and directing superstar Gary Halvorson. Production projects include Streamy Award Winning "Psycho Family" for Complex/go90 and "Bad Influencers" for Fullscreen. RSE is a full service management and production entity with a focus on premium content and creators with cross-platform capabilities. We are keenly aware of the trending of brand marketing toward digital platforms and engaged audiences and maximize opportunities for our clients by facilitating their creativity toward premium entertainment that exceeds the limitations of social media platforms and connecting them with the best and most appropriate brand opportunities and premium content platforms. We pride ourselves on our cutting edge deal making experience and capabilities as we advocate aggressively for our clients. 2008-2015:  Executive Vice President/Studio 71(f/k/a Collective Digital Studio; originally The Collective) Evan utilized over 20 years of television studio and talent representation experience as preparation for the digital age of entertainment. Applying his skills and experience to capitalize on the large scale audience aggregation capabilities of YouTube, Evan was integral to the formation of Collective Digital Studio and its metamorphosis into Studio71. When Evan left to form RSE in 2015, Studio71 was a full-fledged media company accounting for 3.5 billion views per month of premium video content from its exclusive family of creator-partners.  Evan has spearheaded initiatives with major brands such as Estee Lauder, Verizon, MTV, Spike, Universal Records, Conde Nast, and NBCUniversal. Evan was prophetic in  professing that premium broadcasters, brands and publishers should all be heavily invested in building and maintaining relevance through innovative content initiatives on an array of digital social media platforms. At CDS, Evan also managed a diverse roster of clients, including innovative YouTube creators and traditional television writers and directors. Clients include Gary Halvorson, Chuck Tatham, Don Foster, Jon Ross, Frank Lombardi and Big Boy; as well as digital icons Lucas Cruikshank, Elliott Morgan, Steve Zaragoza, Alex and Roi of Wassabi, Jaboody Dubs, E and P Hudson, Paint, Jesse Ridgeway/McJuggerNuggets and Hollywire TV. Evan made  the deal bringing LA radio icon Big Boy to iHeart Media and their Real 92.3 brand in the LA market and Premiere Radio Networks on a national level. When Evan joined the Collective in 2009, with an emphasis on overseeing the company’s television operations and development, he pivoted into the modern age of digital creators by signing a breakthrough deal with internet sensation Lucas Cruikshank, creator and performer of the YouTube character “Fred Figglehorn.” Lucas and “Fred” went on to be the first YouTube channel to reach one million subscribers. Under Evan’s guidance, Lucas and his “Fred” property became the first-ever social media property to pivot into a successful mainstream motion picture franchise, spawning multiple sequels and an innovative series for Nickelodeon, co-financed and produced with Brian Robbins, who went on to form Awesomeness. The emphasis on digital platforms and audience building was a precursor to next phase of business development at The Collective. Evan also packaged and Executive Produced the hit TV series, “Marvin Marvin” for Nickelodeon. 2000-2008- Partner in Handprint Television: Evan founded Handprint TV with Handprint partners Jeff Pollock and Benny Medina; among the projects executive produced by Evan was The Tyra Banks Show, with Telepictures; "Pamela: Girl on the Run" with E!; "The Show: With AJ Calloway" for UPN;  ABC comedy “In The Game” starring Jennifer love Hewitt and Ed O’Neil: "The Crib" motion capture animation series for ABC/Disney, as well as other scripted and reality projects. 1992-2000 Head of Packaging United Talent Agency: Evan founded and ran the Television Packaging Dept. as an agent at UTA from 1992-2000 and worked with clients such as Drew Carey, Ben Stiller, Larry David, Gregory Hines and writers Chuck Tatham, Don Foster, Linwood Boomer, Gordon and Conn, Eddie Gorodetsky, Sam Simon, Jhoni Marchinko, Matt Goldman, Jon Beckerman, Rob Cohen, and Rodney Rothman and director/producers Gary Halvorson and Joel Gallen to name a few. 1986-1992 Vice President of Business Affairs and Production Finance, Walt Disney Television. After joining Disney as an attorney in 1986, Evan quickly rose up business affairs and eventually Vice President, working on deals and policy for the network television studio.  Projects included the hit ABC series Home Improvement. 1985-1986 Head of Business Affairs, The Gersh Agency: Evan ran business affairs department for this rapidly growing talent agency; oversaw all dealmaking across both motion pictures and television under mentor Bob Gersh. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Evan was an Associate at boutique NYC  entertainment law firm Blumenthal and Lynne working under partner/mentors Michael Lynne and Richard Blumenthal.