United Talent Agency is expanding its entertainment marketing division, bringing on Zoë Fairbourn to the practice, which advises brand clients on content partnerships and other entertainment opportunities.
Fairbourn will be based in Los Angeles and report to UTA‘s entertainment marketing co-heads David Anderson and Julian Jacobs. She joins from Hello Sunshine, where she had been head of strategic partnerships and branded entertainment.
“I’m really just looking to expand on ECM’s existing capabilities in the space, and doing that by aligning producers, brands and media platforms to co-create culturally relevant but also commercially strong entertainment,” Fairbourn tells The Hollywood reporter in an interview. “We’re seeing a lot of brands interested in investing in longer format storytelling, and especially in this fragmented media environment, I think it’s how a lot of brands are looking to build that kind of cultural relevance and emotional equity with their audience.”
“On the flip side, we’re aware that a lot of content budgets have shrunk, and so I think being able to package our clients projects with the right brands can lead to more great entertainment,” she adds. “And if more great entertainment gets made, it’s a win for everyone.”
UTA’s entertainment marketing division was established in 2017, and connects brands to both established entertainment studios, as well as content creators. Its clients include Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola, and General Motors, among others.
“I think what has continued to drive our success and make us unique and special in the ecosystem of agencies out there is our ability to really understand some of the challenges that brands are facing in trying to resonate and break through with their target audience of consumers in nontraditional channels, and it’s harder to do that in the modern media mix today, combined with our ability to know how to really use what’s special about a talent agency, which is its expertise, its intelligence about what’s coming in culture,” Jacobs says. “We’re one of the only places in the world that has that knowledge to see around the corner in verticals like film and television and the universe of creators, and other verticals like music.”
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