🎧 The New Showbiz: Hollywood, Creators & Brands
TikTok star Jordan Howlett headlines my conversation about the 'win-win' as talent embraces innovation, creativity — and money — from brands
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Hello! I’m popping into your inbox one day early to share a special episode of The Ankler podcast that I think Like & Subscribe readers will find interesting. Tomorrow, I’ll be back with a very revealing (and, no surprise, very funny) exclusive interview with Hot Ones host Sean Evans and YouTube creators Rhett & Link.
Last week I trekked to snowy Park City, Utah, for the opening weekend of the Sundance Film Festival, where I moderated a live recording of The Ankler podcast about how creators are driving a wave of innovation in branded storytelling. Joining me for the panel discussion — hosted at UTA House and sponsored by The Watford Group — were TikToker Jordan Howlett, Academy Award winning producer Dan Cogan, Adobe chief brand officer Heather Freeland and UTA co-head of entertainment marketing Julian Jacobs.
The entire conversation is packed with interesting nuggets for people who want to better understand how the branded entertainment space is evolving, but I particularly enjoyed hearing from Howlett about how he has incorporated brand sponsorships into his content.
It wasn’t that many years ago that the former college baseball player, who today has nearly 14 million TikTok followers as @jordan_the_stallion8, was a complete novice when it came to marketing. “It was awkward,” he admits, even though he has positive memories of working with his first-ever brand sponsor, Cash App.
Over time, Howlett developed a process for picking the right partners. When a request comes in, he thinks it over with his team before agreeing to a meeting. If they decide to engage, he comes ready with questions: “That first meeting, I want to know, A, why’d you pick me? Do you guys actually watch the stuff? Do you enjoy it? Or do you just see the numbers and think, ‘okay let’s get something going?’” Only then is he ready to engage in a creative conversation. “I’m open to their creative. I want to know what they want to do, and I actually have ideas as well,” he says. “We should find a good middle ground.”
For Howlett, a successful project is one that delights his followers, feels true to who he is and represents the brand well. “I don’t want to work with just anybody,” he tells me. “I want to work with people that I genuinely feel we have that respect or connection with each other, because it makes the content that much better.”
Our full conversation includes a lot more from Howlett, as well as the other panelists, about what’s fueling Hollywood’s embrace of branded storytelling. Give it a listen!
