Martin Agency continues to expand its brand building offerings with the launch of Martin Entertainment. The new division will focus on developing how and where brands connect with consumers through quality stories across a variety of content mediums.
The center is headed by former Netflix executive Alanna Strauss, who joined The Martin Agency as executive vice president, Martin Entertainment and head of the agency’s Cultural Impact Lab.
Strauss comes to Martin from Fender, where she served as Senior Vice President of Creative and Content, leading brand strategy and creative for all of Fender’s brand, digital, social and music brand learning tool Fender Play.
Prior to joining Fender, Strauss was Creative Director of Netflix Brand Partnerships, where she spearheaded unique campaigns such as the partnership between Netflix and Doritos, the acclaimed Stranger Things campaign “Live From the Upside Down”. Prior to joining Netflix, she served as Senior Vice President of Creative Strategy at All City, Fox Network Group’s award-winning branded content studio, delivering premium branded content for Fox Broadcasting Corporation, FX/FXX, Fox Sports and National Geographic Channels, among others.
In her newly created role, Strauss will lead Martin’s Cultural Impact Lab, which opened in 2019 and now adds entertainment to its cultural PR, activation, networking and influencing functions. She joins Martin’s Executive Committee, reporting directly to CEO Kristen Cavallo. Strauss took over the Cultural Impact Lab from Jaclyn Ruelle, who left Martin last September to become vice president and head of brand at Papa Johns.
“There aren’t many people who have a really real, legitimate background in entertainment and branding, and she was able to do that not only during her time at Fox, but also during her time at Netflix, and then even her time at Fender. In both cases, she has one foot in Hollywood and one foot in branding,” Cavallo told Adweek about Strauss.
various forms of entertainment
Adding entertainment to the Cultural Impact Lab was a natural progression for the institution, Cavallo said.
“On the one hand, you hear people constantly saying, ‘We don’t have time, our attention span is like a goldfish.’ But then we also see people spending 95 minutes a day on TikTok, movies over two hours long, Our reliance on streaming isn’t fading in the slightest,” Cavallo said, adding that the agency is always looking for ways to be culturally relevant because that drives sales and the most talked about brands grow faster.
