Podcast appearances and mentions of brendan gahan

Today we're talking about LINKTOK: Why LinkedIn Is the New Frontier for Creators with special guest Brendan Gahan.Brendan Gahan is the CEO & Co-Founder of Creator Authority, the first LinkedIn influencer marketing agency.A pioneer in the creator economy, Gahan has been doing influencer marketing since 2006, launching one of the first YouTube/creator partnerships.He drove innovation with early TikTok branded hashtag challenges and influencer partnerships for the Obama administration, the Olympics, and numerous Fortune 500 brands.Gahan contributed to two agency acquisitions, including the sale of Epic Signal, which he founded, to Mekanism, where he became Partner & Chief Social Officer. Mekanism was then acquired in 2022.His accolades include Forbes 30 Under 30 (Marketing & Advertising), LinkedIn's Top 10 Voices in the Creator Economy in 2022, and Digiday's Digital Video Agency of the Year for Epic Signal. Campaigns he led have won multiple industry awards, including One Show, Shortys, Effies, and Cannes Lions.Gahan sits on the VidCon advisory board and advises and invests in creator economy startups.In our conversation, Brendan breaks down LinkedIn's unique advantages for creators, how they can succeed on the platform, and offers a peek into how LinkedIn's algorithms work. We also discuss growth tactics and predictions you'll definitely want to hear.LINKS:⁠creatorauthority.co⁠linkedin.com/in/brendangahanFOLLOW:⁠Linkedin.com/company/the-furious-curious⁠CREDITS:Hosted and produced Britton Rice, along with Alex Detmering, David Harper, Nicole Lazar, and Alexander Woell. Our original logo is by Nate Betts.©2025 The Furious Curious

Send us a textEnjoying the Creator Economy Live podcast? Hear all these actionable insights and build connections with HUGE industry titan brands at Creator Economy Live East 2025. PLUS as a loyal listener, you can get 20% off your ticket using POD20 at checkout!On this episode of Creator Economy Live, Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan sit down with Gabe Gomez — a social strategist who's made waves on LinkedIn and beyond. With experience at Edelman, Verizon, and now MCoBeauty, Gabe offers a unique perspective on what brands are getting right (and wrong) when it comes to influencer marketing.They dive into why the traditional influencer marketing playbook no longer works, how brands can take creative risks without losing control, and whether everyone needs to become a creator to stay relevant in today's digital landscape.You'll also hear their take on the latest industry news, including:- Meta's mixed reviews on its new editing tools- TikTok surpassing Twitch as the #2 live platform- New research revealing that finding the right creators is still the #1 challenge for marketers- YouTube's report on the rise of virtual creators- Peacock's bold move to bring TikTok talent to TV with four new original showsPlus, don't miss this week's Creator and Brand of the Week picks — featuring Zach King, Rob Mayhew, Alix Earle's viral Pantene moment, and more.Whether you're brand-side, agency-side, or building your own creator brand, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and actionable takeaways.

Send us a text In this special episode of Creator Economy Live, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are joined by not one but two powerhouse guests—Ali Kaltman and Janna Ninekin from Gruns, the brand that's been taking over your social feed. They dive deep into how Gruns crafts scroll-stopping content, builds measurable impact through influencer marketing, and structures a high-performing team. Plus, the duo explores the evolving revenue models for creators, how community drives long-term success, and the creator-brand partnerships changing the game. And of course, don't miss this week's standout creators, brands, and follows. Want to get all this content and MORE in person? Then you need to be at Creator Economy Live East, heading to NYC August 5-6. Use code CELPOD20 for 20% off your ticket, and the first 500 brands go free!

Send us a textRecorded live at Shack15 in San Francisco, this episode of Creator Economy Live brings the heat with our very special guest, Marina Mogilko — co-founder of LinguaTrip.com and the creator behind Linguamarina and Silicon Valley Girl, with a combined digital audience of over 17 million.Hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan catch up on the latest news in the creator space — including the looming TikTok ban, new YouTube Shorts updates, and why Gen Z is leaning harder into creator content than traditional media.Then we dive deep with Marina:- How she built not one, but three 7-figure YouTube channels- Her journey from immigrant entrepreneur to edtech founder- Why Slow Ventures bet on her—and how she's now betting on herself again with a new snack brand for kids- Plus, her current revenue mix and what she sees coming nextStick around for our Creator & Brand of the Week segment, shoutouts to Will Smith's creator collab marathon and Saratoga Water's viral moment, and a nod to political creator-turned-candidate Kat Abughazaleh.Don't forget to subscribe and check the bio for links to our Creator Economy Insider newsletter and details on the next Creator Economy Live event in Vegas!

Send us a textJoin hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan on the latest episode of Creator Economy Live, where they dive into the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing. This week, they sit down with James Del, the visionary behind Passionfruit, a platform pushing boundaries in the creator space. With a career spanning Gawker, Tao Group, and numerous leadership roles, James shares his journey, marketing insights, and the key trends shaping the industry. From SXSW's creator palooza to the rise of Linkedfluencers and the $10 billion influencer marketing spend forecasted for 2025, this episode is packed with essential knowledge for anyone in the creator economy. Plus, don't miss the Creator & Brand of the Week picks and a look at the latest industry buzz!

Send us a textWelcome back to Creator Economy Live, your go-to podcast for everything influencer marketing and the creator economy. Hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are back with another exciting episode, bringing you the latest in the world of media, creators, and everything in between.First, a huge thank you to our incredible sponsors at Linqia and the amazing production team over at Creator Economy Live.In this episode, we're joined by Foster Kamer, a long-time friend, writer, editor, photographer, and media strategist. Foster's work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and more. He's also an OG Gawker alum and now serves as Editorial Director at Futurism, where he's shaping the future of media. He's been anthologized in The Best American Food Writing and regularly shares his insights on his Substack, FosterTalk. If you're a regular listener, you've probably heard us mention him before!Foster joins us to discuss the evolution of media, the intersection of traditional and emerging media, and what it's like to navigate the changing landscape as a creator.

Send us a textIn this episode of Creator Economy Live, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan catch up on the latest trends in influencer marketing and the creator economy. They dive into March Madness NIL deals, TikTok's latest updates, and Amazon shutting down Inspire. Plus, they discuss Instagram's new ad format, YouTube's AI Shorts integration, and more.The episode features a conversation with Adam Ornelas, Influencer Lead at DoorDash, who shares his experience working with major brands like Coinbase, Chipotle, and Whole Foods. Adam talks about his approach to influencer marketing, real-time partnerships, and the skyrocketing influencer rates. He also discusses his role in major brand activations like the Super Bowl and shares insights on the evolving creator economy landscape.Wrapping up with the Creator of the Week and Brand of the Week, Keith and Brendan highlight top creators and innovative brands shaping the space.

Send us a textWelcome back to Creator Economy Live, your go-to source for all things influencer marketing. This week in episode 54, Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan break down the latest trends, including record-breaking NIL deal spending, the rise of performance-driven influencer marketing, and how YouTube has overtaken mobile as the top way people watch content. We also celebrate 20 years of YouTube, exploring how it reshaped media and made creators more influential than traditional celebrities. Then, we're joined by Kim Larson, Global MD & Head of YouTube Creators, who shares insights on why brands still prioritize Instagram and TikTok, the battle between long-form and short-form content, and where YouTube is headed next. To wrap up, we highlight Khaby Lame as our Creator of the Week and Dunkin' as our Brand of the Week for their standout Super Bowl and Grammy campaigns.

In this episode of Creator Economy Live, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan sit down with marketing executive Marissa Kraines, former VP of Social & Content Marketing at Salesforce. From her start in the music industry to shaping innovative B2B campaigns, Marissa shares insights on creativity, influencer marketing, and the future of the creator economy. Plus, we break down Meta's latest push to lure creators, Instagram's algorithm updates, and the launch of Linqia's Creator Intelligence tool.

In this episode of Creator Economy Live, Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan sit down with bestselling author and adventurer Michael Easter. From the secrets behind The Comfort Crisis to navigating the transition from traditional media to thriving as a modern creator, Michael shares how stepping outside your comfort zone can unlock extraordinary performance. Plus, we dive into the latest industry news, from TikTok bans to Meta's shifts, and highlight creators and brands making waves. Don't miss this inspiring conversation!Interested in attending Creator Economy Live? Join us this February 4-5 to see the podcast in action! Use code CELPOD20 at checkout to save 20% on your ticket price.

In our landmark 50th episode, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are joined by none other than Rachel Karten, the mastermind behind the beloved newsletter Link in Bio, with over 94k subscribers.   We dive into Rachel's journey from brand social media expert to independent creator, discuss her eye-opening survey findings, and uncover her top predictions for 2025. Plus, Keith and Brendan share their own bold forecasts for the year ahead, touching on AI video, creator-driven content, hybrid compensation models, and more.   COW/BOW (creator of the week & brand of the week)   Creator of the week (COW) Keith: Elisha Zepeda (ez.bookdesign) - On TikTok, the book cover designer brings 400K followers behind the scenes by sharing the briefs he receives from publishers, the resulting cover options, and the ultimate winners. Brendan: Walker Ward (aka Walkedsauce42_) a big burly dude who does a ton of hilarious impressions - like GRWM but he's but he's using tongs instead of a hair dryer, peanut butter instead of makeup. Or he'll pretend to be some coked up Chad/Finance bro. He's got these persona's down. Rachel: Paper Eats - set made of construction paper   Brand of the week  Keith: Honey is being torn apart right now online as their business model is being called “an adpocalypse” for creators. On December 22, YouTuber MegaLag posted a bombshell exposé that accused Honey of snatching creators' commissions by replacing their affiliate links with its own. LegalEagle just filed a class action lawsuit. Brendan: Notion/Snoop campaign Rachel: Topicals   Follow Keith: Meta's moves this year in affiliate and AI video generation with the release of Movie Gen One Billion Users is a card game that lets players launch their own social media network and compete with influencers—has blown past its Kickstarter goal by earning over $60,000 in funding. There are troll cards, influencer cards, follower cards, etc.  Brendan: https://www.instagram.com/winniedapointer Rachel: Michael Freund Law on Twitter   ✨ Special Offer: Use code CELPOD20 for 20% off tickets to our Creator Economy Live event this February 4-5 in Vegas

In our landmark 50th episode, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are joined by none other than Rachel Karten, the mastermind behind the beloved newsletter Link in Bio, with over 94k subscribers.We dive into Rachel's journey from brand social media expert to independent creator, discuss her eye-opening survey findings, and uncover her top predictions for 2025. Plus, Keith and Brendan share their own bold forecasts for the year ahead, touching on AI video, creator-driven content, hybrid compensation models, and more.COW/BOW (creator of the week & brand of the week)Creator of the week (COW) Keith: Elisha Zepeda (ez.bookdesign) - On TikTok, the book cover designer brings 400K followers behind the scenes by sharing the briefs he receives from publishers, the resulting cover options, and the ultimate winners. Brendan: Walker Ward (aka Walkedsauce42_) a big burly dude who does a ton of hilarious impressions - like GRWM but he's but he's using tongs instead of a hair dryer, peanut butter instead of makeup. Or he'll pretend to be some coked up Chad/Finance bro. He's got these persona's down. Rachel: Paper Eats - set made of construction paper Brand of the week Keith: Honey is being torn apart right now online as their business model is being called “an adpocalypse” for creators. On December 22, YouTuber MegaLag posted a bombshell exposé that accused Honey of snatching creators' commissions by replacing their affiliate links with its own. LegalEagle just filed a class action lawsuit. Brendan: Notion/Snoop campaign Rachel: Topicals Follow Keith: Meta's moves this year in affiliate and AI video generation with the release of Movie Gen One Billion Users is a card game that lets players launch their own social media network and compete with influencers—has blown past its Kickstarter goal by earning over $60,000 in funding. There are troll cards, influencer cards, follower cards, etc. Brendan: https://www.instagram.com/winniedapointer Rachel: Michael Freund Law on Twitter  ✨ Special Offer: Use code CELPOD20 for 20% off tickets to our Creator Economy Live event this February 4-5 in Vegas!

Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are back for Episode 48 of Creator Economy Live! This week, we unpack the ripple effects of the TikTok ban and Kai Cenat's record-breaking Twitch “Mafiathon.” Plus, Instagram's Trial Reels, LinkedIn's boosted posts, and how brands like Away and Puresport are shaking up influencer marketing.   Our guest, Josh Cohen, co-founder of Tubefilter and the Streamy Awards, takes us behind the curtain of digital media's rise, sharing untold stories and his vision for the future of the creator economy. Don't miss Creator and Brand of the Week highlights—featuring Stormi Steele, Kai Cenat, and Ground News.   COW/BOW (creator of the week & brand of the week) Creator of the week (COW) - Keith: Content creator and Canvas Beauty founder Stormi Steele earned $2 million in a single livestream. - Brendan: Kai Cenat - Josh: Pokemon TV channel   Brand of the week  - Keith: Away x Celeb Lookalikes (Timothee Chalamet, Jeremy Allen) Puresport sent out empty boxes to creators and asked them to send back items from other gifting campaigns that they've never used, to donate to a charity  - Brendan: Sprout Social, Land Rover - Josh: Ground News

In Episode 46 of Creator Economy Live, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan dive into the latest updates in influencer marketing and the creator economy with special guest Lauren Flanigan, Head of Global Brands for Refreshments at Mondelez.   Lauren brings her insights from working with iconic brands like Oreo, Ritz, and Cadbury, sharing her take on influencer strategies and brand performance. They also discuss Meta's rumored AI search engine, the rise of retail influencers, and Instagram's video quality downgrade. This episode is sponsored by Linqia, the #1 influencer marketing partner for the world's leading brands. Having executed over 3,000 campaigns for more than 650 brands, Linqia combines technology powered by Google Vision AI with award winning service to deliver measurable influencer results. Go to linqia.com or send a note to hello@linqia.com to speak with an influencer expert.

Episode 45 features guest Michelle Miller, CMO of K18 - the haircare brand that has seen a meteoric rise in the last few years, being the #1 most discussed hair care brand amongst influencers.   Tune in to hear about Michelle's time at UCSC with co-host Brendan Gahan, her early career in journalism, and her range of roles in luxury beauty brands (including Too Faced and Kosas Cosmetics). Also, hear Keith and Brendan discuss the huge impact long-form content such as podcasts and YouTube videos, may have had on this years USA election campaigns. This episode is sponsored by Linqia, the #1 influencer marketing partner for the world's leading brands. Having executed over 3,000 campaigns for more than 650 brands, Linqia combines technology powered by Google Vision AI with award winning service to deliver measurable influencer results. Go to linqia.com or send a note to hello@linqia.com to speak with an influencer expert.

In episode 42 of Creator Economy Live, hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan sit down with powerhouse influencer and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Victoria Garrick Browne. From battling mental health struggles as a Division 1 athlete to skyrocketing to influencer fame, Victoria opens up about her inspiring journey.   This episode is sponsored by Linqia, the #1 influencer marketing partner for the world's leading brands. Having executed over 3,000 campaigns for more than 650 brands, Linqia combines technology powered by Google Vision AI with award winning service to deliver measurable influencer results. Go to linqia.com or send a note to hello@linqia.com to speak with an influencer expert.   

In the newest episode of The Influence Factor, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO & Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory, engages in a conversation with Liz Griffin, Global Vice President of Social Commerce at Bazaarvoice, delving into the critical significance of user-generated content (UGC) in fostering transparent shopping experiences. Bazaarvoice collaborates closely with brands, integrating customer UGC onto their websites to furnish transparency and validation for consumers. Griffin underscores the necessity for brands to seamlessly incorporate social content into their paid advertisements, thereby simplifying the consumer journey to purchase. Additionally, she underscores the profound impact of UGC, particularly through the utilization of images and videos for authentic product evaluations.

Tune in to this week's episode of the Creator Economy Live podcast, where hosts Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan are joined by Jasmine Enberg, the esteemed creator economy analyst from eMarketer. Gain valuable insights into the evolving landscape as Jasmine shares her journey and perspectives since entering the industry.  Explore the latest industry developments, from the ongoing Instagram Vs YouTube ad revenue discussion to the increasing role of AI within the creator economy. Additionally, discover LinkedIn's recent venture into short-form vertical video and uncover innovative B2B marketing strategies reshaping the platform.   

Influencer marketing veteran Brendan Gahan has cofounded the first-ever agency specifically for LinkedIn, called Creator Authority. In this episode, he explains the state of marketing on LinkedIn, how professionals can become LinkedIn influencers, what kind of money we're talking about, and how both influencers and brands can better use the platform.

This week on the Creator Economy Live Podcast, we explore the intersections of creativity, influence, and innovation. Your hosts, Keith Bendes and Brendan Gahan, are joined by the former Head of Social at Rynair, Michael Corcoran, now Managing Partner of Frankly. Dive into the essence of influencer marketing on LinkedIn with Brendan's groundbreaking venture, Creator Authority, and get the inside scoop on the latest buzz, including the ongoing TikTok saga, MrBeast's Amazon collaboration, and more. Join us as Michael talks us through his pivotal role in redefining Ryan Air's social media strategy, to his ambitious venture with Frankly, aiming to reshape the advertising world. Learn from our discussion on the cultural differences in advertising strategies between Europe and the US, as we explore how the right digital strategy can elevate a brand's journey!

In the latest episode of The Influence Factor, Kat Norton, the visionary behind Miss Excel, joined Alessandro Bogliari, CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory, for a GREAT episode!

In the latest episode of The Influence Factor, Coco Mocoe a marketing trend predictor and full-time creator, joins Alessandro Bogliari, CEO & Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory. They discuss various topics related to the Creator Economy and social media, including Coco's background, challenges as a full-time creator, insights into live streaming and content quality, and predictions for the future of platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Coco emphasizes the importance of consistency for creators and shares insights on content consumption trends. She concludes with predictions for the rise of long-form content and competition among social media platforms. Coco Mocoe's Podcast

Here's what we covered today:Creator Authority, the first-ever LinkedIn influencer marketing agency!Check out Brendan Gahan on LinkedIn.Our Creator on the Rise is Zach Pozniak! Check out the jeeves_ny TikTok account here.House Passes Bill that Could Ban TikTokDanny Duncan is putting his new energy drink brand in 10,000 stores this year - TubefilterMrBeast apologizes to fans as Feastables sells out almost everywhere - Dexerto EA is bringing back a beloved college football video game (and paying $6 million in NIL money to do it) - Tubefilter Creator Upload Socials:YOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTIKTOK

In the latest episode of The Influence Factor, Bryan Reisberg, creator and co-founder of Little Chonk, joins Alessandro Bogliari, CEO & Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory. Bryan shares his journey as a creator and entrepreneur in the pet industry, offering insights from his film and advertising background. The conversation navigates through the creation of Little Chonk, discussing challenges in business development and emphasizing the significance of quality products, successful community engagement, and maintaining authenticity in the influencer space.

In this episode of The Influence Factor, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO & Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory, dives into the world of digital commerce and the creator economy with Justin Smith, CEO of SamCart. They explore SamCart's mission to dominate as the top e-commerce platform for digital sellers, its transformative impact on the digital commerce landscape, and the role of AI in boosting conversions. Justin shares insights on creators selling their products, the influence of affiliate and influencer marketing, and unveils key takeaways from the 2023 Creator of Profits Report. Tune in for a glimpse into the future with discussions on AI-generated influencers and the evolving industry landscape.

This episode we're joined by Mary Katherine (MK) Woltz who is Director of Media Connections at Danone (Motherbrand to household names inc. Evian, Oikos, Activia etc), to talk about the rise of retail media. We discuss MK's career journey from influencer marketing to retail media and how the two fields overlap, as well as the rising trend of retail media and social partnerships. Tune in to learn what the retail media boom may mean for brands, retailers and creators alike.

In this episode of The Influence Factor, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO & Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory, chats with Emeric Ernoult, CEO and Co-Founder of Agorapulse. Together, they explore marketing, social media, and business growth. Emeric shares strategies that fueled Agorapulse's success, discussing challenges in remote work, essential employee qualities, and current marketing trends. The conversation underscores the critical role of measurement in social media marketing, highlighting successful strategies like creating valuable content and building customer trust.

In this week's episode of The Influence Factor podcast, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and the podcast's host, is joined by Jasmine Enberg, a Principal Analyst specializing in Social Media at Insider Intelligence. Together, they delve into the daily routine of staying informed about the ever-evolving social media landscape, the obstacles of sifting through the noise, and the factors that captivate an analyst when navigating the realms of social media and the creator economy, and much more!

In this week's episode of The Influence Factor podcast, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and the podcast's host, dives into a conversation with Matt Whitteker, the CEO at MILLIONS, and Brandon Austin, the Co-Founder and CMO at MILLIONS. Throughout their discussion, they explore various subjects, such as athlete content creation, diversified revenue streams, the expansion of likeness and personal branding, and predictive insights into the future of athletes' businesses.

In this week's episode of The Influence Factor podcast, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory, is joined by Jessy Grossman, the Founder of Women in Influencer Marketing. During this episode, they explore various aspects of Jessy's career journey, strategies for staying abreast of the ever-evolving industry, valuable approaches for community-building and networking, and much more.

In this week's episode, Alessandro Bogliari, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and the podcast's host, has an engaging conversation with Adrienne Lahens, who serves as TikTok's Global Head of Operations, and Sofia Hernandez, the Global Head of Business Marketing at TikTok. These three influential experts explore the intricate relationship between culture, attention, analytics, successful case studies, and creator-led marketing in today's digital realm.

In this week's podcast episode, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and podcast host, engages in an enlightening conversation with Jerry Won, Founder of Just Like Media and Always Be Creating. Together, they delve into an array of topics, including Asian American creators, the nuances of impact and influence, effective use of Linkedin, and much more.

In our latest episode, tune in to hear Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and podcast host, as he engages in a lively conversation with Brian Harwitt, Partner at CoVenture. This week, they navigate through a diverse spectrum of themes, encompassing access to creator capital, the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, pathways for creator monetization, and a plethora of other topics.

In this previously recorded podcast, we're taking a look back at this insightful interview with Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, Brendan Gahan.Having worked in the creator/influencer space for years, Brendan divulges his playbook for the best high-impact marketing tactics. He and Daniel chat about evolving a great connection between a brand and its influencers, along with the best ways to move creators through the marketing funnel. Plus, find out why great relationships are at the heart of everything Brendan does.And if you LOVE The Marketing Millennials, drop us a five-star review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/marketingmillennials, I really appreciate your support!.Follow Brendan:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendangahanTwitter: https://twitter.com/brendangahanKeep up to date with the latest news from The Marketing Millennials:.Follow Daniel on Twitter: twitter.com/Dmurr68LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing Sign up to The Marketing Millennials newsletter: workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennialsDaniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. Find out more, visit: www.workweek.comTimestamps:0:00 Intro01:42 The Pitch That Broke The Internet06:06 How to Treat a Brand Partnership12:00 Activating Your Brand16:03 Starting With a Blank Slate17:07 The Marketing Hill I Would Die On19:23 Landing Page Power23:04 Building on Rented Land27:13 Follow The Smart People28:45 Remember Relationships

On this week's episode, Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and Co-Founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory and podcast host, engages in an insightful conversation with Brendan Gahan, Chief Innovation Officer at Mekanism. Together, they cover a diverse range of topics, including the Creator Economy, brand collaborations, ChatGPT, the dynamic landscape of advertising, and much more.

Today we're speaking with Brendan Gahan of Mekanism. Brendan Gahan is Partner & Chief Innovation Officer at creative agency Mekanism. He has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. He was recently named one of Linkedin's Top Voices in the Creator Economy. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday's Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017. He was recently named one of Linkedin's Top Voices in the Creator Economy. He is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, and Ad Age for his expertise in social media and influencer marketing. Connect with him: Twitter LinkedIn TikTok Subscribe to his Newsletter Want to join WIIM's Membership? Check out our website Don't forget to follow us on Instagram: --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wiim/support

In this episode: Lauren is back! Yay! Gordan Ramsey tries a Prime Energy drink and has some thoughts…Tiktok admits its own employees decide what videos go viral by heating them. Adam Mosseri says Instagram is going back to Photos. For ‘balance' sake? Make Instagram Instagram Again. uhem.Upload/Downloads include Arizona State, Hank and John Green doing Study Hall. And a rare mea culpa from one of our hosts.  Check out Jellysmack and GET IN TOUCH!We have a YouTube Page!  Please subscribe and follow. (Thank you!) Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please subscribe, like, and share! Visit our website www.creatorupload.com. We love hearing from you!   

In this episode: Lauren's back! And January Josh is pushing Sahil Bloom's Annual Planning Guide.YouTube is monetizing shorts and it's starting February 1st! Get the details.Instagram is going back to its roots and they're swapping the shopping tab to what? And more importantly, why?Upload/Downloads – includes YouTube, The NFL, and MrBeast Philanthropy!Check out Jellysmack and GET IN TOUCH!We have a YouTube Page!  Please subscribe and follow. (Thank you!) Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please subscribe, like, and share! Visit our website www.creatorupload.com. We love hearing from you!   

In this episode:  Guest host Brendan Gahan, from Mekanism, sits in for one of our hosts and gives insight into CES in Las Vegas.More Predictions for 2023!YouTube has a new rollout that includes a swear jar and it is controversial. Samsung streams food as it cooks…say what?  Check out Jellysmack and GET IN TOUCH!We have a YouTube Page!  Please subscribe and follow. (Thank you!) Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please subscribe, like, and share! Visit our website www.creatorupload.com. We love hearing from you!   

Daniel has 7 rapid-fire questions for Brendan, one of the key names in influencer marketing.Join them in this fireside chat and get the personal story behind the headlines.If you LOVE The Marketing Millennials drop us a five-star review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/marketingmillennials, I really appreciate your support!.Follow Brendan:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendangahanTwitter: https://twitter.com/brendangahanKeep up to date with the latest news from The Marketing Millennials:.Follow Daniel on Twitter: twitter.com/Dmurr68LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing Sign up to The Marketing Millennials newsletter: workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennialsDaniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. Find out more, visit: www.workweek.com

Brendan Gahan throws his influencer marketing playbook wide open in this high signal interview. As Partner and Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, Brendan has worked in the creator/influencer brand partnership for space for years. He and Daniel talk specifics about creating the right brand/creator relationship, how to move creators down through the marketing funnel, and why relationships are at the heart of Brendan's work. And if you LOVE The Marketing Millennials drop us a five-star review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/marketingmillennials (https://ratethispodcast.com/marketingmillennials), I really appreciate your support!. Follow Brendan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan (linkedin.com/in/brendangahan) Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendangahan Keep up to date with the latest news from The Marketing Millennials:. Follow Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dmurr68 (twitter.com/Dmurr68) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing (linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing)  Sign up to The Marketing Millennials newsletter: https://workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials/ (workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials) Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. Find out more, visit: http://www.workweek.com/ (www.workweek.com) Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 01:42 The Pitch That Broke The Internet 06:06 How to Treat a Brand Partnership 12:00 Activating Your Your Brand 16:03 Starting With a Blank Slate 17:07 The Marketing Hill I Would Die On 19:23 Landing Page Power 23:04 Building on Rented Land 27:13 Follow The Smart People 28:45 Remember Relationships The Power of Influencer MarketingInfluencer marketing is digital marketing that identifies specific individuals who have the potential to impact your target market and facilitates an ongoing relationship with them.    The purpose is to encourage these influencers to advocate for your brand by promoting your products or services, either through their personal channels (social media, blog, etc.) or by working directly with you as a sponsored partner. This article will help explain the ins and outs of influencer marketing and why it could be beneficial to your company.     What is Influencer Marketing?In its most basic form, influencer marketing is finding people who are already engaging with your brand, or who have the potential to impact your target market, and encouraging them to advocate for your brand. In that sense, it's a type of marketing; but it also goes beyond the standard marketing practices we're all familiar with, like event sponsorship, paid advertisements, and public relations.    The key difference is that influencers are people who have a large following that trusts their recommendations. That means, if your company were to partner with an influencer, there's a good chance their followers would take the recommendation seriously, which could lead to increased sales for your brand.   Why is Influencer Marketing Effective?Before diving into the ways in which influencer marketing can be effective for your company, it's helpful to first understand why it's such a powerful marketing tool. The most obvious advantage is that advertisements can be very expensive, especially if you're working with major brands that would like to work with you.    By contrast, influencer marketing is generally free for you as the business owner. That's right; it's not something you'll have to pay for. But influencers are doing this because they get something out of it too, usually in the form of free products (or sometimes a fee). It's a win-win situation, which makes this form of marketing extremely effective.   4 Ways Influencer Marketing Can Be Effective- Brand Awareness - When your brand is mentioned in popular publications or on social media, it can create brand awareness like nothing else can. Influencer marketing can help your brand...

In this episode:  Youtube's trending page is highlighted. Why? Racism, favoritism. Josh and Lauren discuss the latest happenings with Youtuber CoryxKenshin. What does TikTok, A Wall Street analyst, and crack cocaine have in common? There's a link, we promise! And we're all over it. Tiktok launches new features. Josh says they do this best. Lauren explains it's just different ways of thinking. Uploads/Download – Lauren's got a favorite new podcast and Josh shares some science with Curiosity Box. Check out Jellysmack's Blog! Also, here's Spring's Link.  We have a YouTube Page!  Please subscribe and follow. (Thank you!) Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please subscribe, like and share! Visit our website www.creatorupload.com. We love to hear from you!   

We're celebrating for a pretty cool reason!  We're also summarizing the best moments from the week: Josh goes to a swanky dinner in Manhattan and hangs out with former mogul media types and big-time CEOs and Lauren asks what we all want to know: What? And better yet, who was there? For Clubhouse and all of its copycats, only one seems to be surviving. Is it Spotify's Greenroom, Meta Live Audio Rooms, or Twitter Spaces? Instagram Reels is out with some new features. Lauren breaks down all three of them. Shopify's acquired Dovetale. Smart? Vision? Downloads and Uploads includes CNN+ and Rolling Stone Magazine. Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please leave a comment on Apple or, Spotify and visit our website www.creatorupload.com. Subscribe and send us a message. We'd love to hear from you! ~ From the Team at Creator Upload 

On today's episode, we have an amazing guest host, Brendan Gahan, Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism. We get Brendan's influencer marketing eye on all of our top stories! What Piper Sandler's biannual report means in terms of Gen Z and top influencers Emma Chamberlain and her coffee brand. Speaking of coffee... ever wonder why a Veteran-owned, successful coffee brand like Black Rifle Coffee Company, co-owned by famous internet personality, Mat Best is not on the forefront of social media news? Josh and Brendan dig into it. The brilliance behind BRCC and how these creators might have pulled off branding in the best way possible for creators. Instagram Reels creators and revenue cuts. Creative Juice and its interesting take on creator funding. TikTok revs up Stories. Pokemon, WrestleMania, and something to do with Logan Paul.  As always, our Uploads and Downloads! Catch a new episode every Friday on your favorite podcasting site. Please leave a comment on Apple or, Spotify and visit our website www.creatorupload.com. Subscribe and send us a message. We'd love to hear from you!  ~From the team at Creator Upload  

This interview features Brendan Gahan, Partner and Chief Social Officer at Mekanism. We discuss working with OG YouTubers like Smosh back in 2005, founding Epic Signal and selling it to his former employer, hanging out in El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, why it takes him 100 drafts to publish content, the future of the creator economy, and learning how to enjoy what you create.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Brendan Gahan:I felt like my strengths could be better utilized going off on my own. It was really as simple as, well, I want to do this work the way that I know how to do it and the way I want to do it. And if that takes me going off on my own, then that's what I'm going to do. So I did. In hindsight, it sounds much smarter than it was. It was not smart from like an on paper standpoint, but I just felt like it was the right thing for me to do because I've been doing it longer than most people, I have relationships, I have a sense of what strategically works. I want to do it the way that I want to do it. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism. So Brendan was born in Ventura, California, and grew up surfing many local breaks. But although his parents were educators, he entered college without a career focus. But just a few weeks away from graduation, a last minute call from his uncle sparked his entry to media and advertising, and he never looked back. His career started at a creative agency working on some of the first YouTube campaigns with hit creators like Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox's Smosh. With a growing reputation as a social and digital expert, Brendan eventually started his own agency, Epic Signal, which he ended up selling to Mekanism. Chris Erwin:Today, Brendan is their chief social officer. On the side he also publishes a wide array of content, making it one of the industry's most well regarded thought leaders. Some highlights of our chat include what it was like to sell his company to his former employer, why he's hanging out in El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, how it took him 100 videos to post his first TikTok, the future of the creator economy, and learning how to enjoy what you create. All right, let's get to it. Chris Erwin:Brendan, thanks for being on The Come Up Podcast. Brendan Gahan:Thanks for having me, pumped to be here. Chris Erwin:We were just having a little chat about, you got a surf in this morning, if that's right. Brendan Gahan:I did. I'm working in El Salvador this week in a little town called Zonte, people may have heard of it referred to as Bitcoin Beach. And there's a nice little right hand point here, so made sure to get out there. Chris Erwin:Are you regular foot or goofy foot? Brendan Gahan:I'm regular, yeah. Chris Erwin:Okay, so you like the right-handers. I'm goofy, I like to go left. Brendan Gahan:Yeah, right hand point in particular, it's like my favorite kind of wave. I grew up in Ventura. So grew up surfing C Street, at the point in Ventura. And then every once in a while I would make the trek up to Rincon and stuff. Chris Erwin:I'm curious, where exactly did you grow up? Were you in the LA County or were you up north? Brendan Gahan:No, I was in Ventura. So there's Ventura County, which encompasses quite a bit of Southern California, but I grew up in the city of Ventura, maybe three quarters of a mile away from the beach, it's like a 15-minute walk or so, and yeah, it was great. Chris Erwin:Great. And do you still have family that's in Ventura? Brendan Gahan:Parents are still there. I've got some aunts, uncles, cousins in the area. And then my younger sister lives, she's still in Ventura County, but about 30 minutes away from where we grew up. Chris Erwin:I often talk about Southern California real estate. And you look at one of the few pockets in SoCal that's near the beach that has been underdeveloped is definitely Ventura. I think that's true for the last 30 years. I think that's finally starting to change, particularly during COVID and remote work. Have you seen that there? Brendan Gahan:Oh my gosh, it's crazy. I was just there this past weekend. And there's all these developments going up, like apartment complexes and condos, and yeah, it's sort of interesting. When you look at Ventura on a map, there's sort of like this no man's land between LA and Santa Barbara. And for years, Ventura was just sort of like overlooked. It was like people would pass through Ventura to go to either Santa Barbara or LA, but then more and more Ojai started to become a place, and Ventura has become a bit of a destination and there's now some startups out there. Before the biggest company there was Patagonia. Ventura, growing up was sort of like this blue collar cowboy meets surfer vibe for the most part. And yeah, that's definitely evolving. Chris Erwin:I think cowboy meets surfer vibe sounds about as good as it can get, you know? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, yeah. Chris Erwin:I forget who, but when I was at Big Frame almost 10 years ago now, I remember there were some industry friends that had set up shop in Ventura and were commuting to LA, and it was only about like an hour, hour and 15 away, not that crazy if you timed it right. So curious, looking at you being at the nexus of digital media and advertising and all the things, were there any media influences when you were there, when you were younger? Did that come from your parents or anything like that? Or was your upbringing focused on completely different things? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, definitely not. LA seemed like the furthest thing in the world to me growing up. And it seemed like a city, it may as well have been New York in my mind. Even though it was only like an hour and a half, we would go to LA on a field trip every couple years, or maybe my parents would take us there and we'd visit a museum or something like that. But it was not like a destination that was really on my radar. And from a professional standpoint where my head was at, I sort of had the cliche jobs in mind, it was like, oh, okay, maybe I'll be a teacher or a lawyer. A lot of people I knew growing up, and a number of relatives were like firemen, so my mind was sort of gravitating towards, I thought I'd either be a doctor, a lawyer or a psychologist. So I didn't have much of like a media or a tech influence until later. Chris Erwin:What did your parents do? Brendan Gahan:They were both in education. So my mom was a teacher's assistant in resource classes. And then my dad initially was like a teacher and then became a principal at a number of the special education schools in Ventura County. And then when he retired, he was the director of special education in Ventura. So education ran deep in the family, I guess. Chris Erwin:Yes. No, clearly understood. But I think you mentioned that you had an uncle that was in the media space, right? Brendan Gahan:That's right. Yeah, yeah. So I had an uncle who worked in advertising and he was at Wieden+Kennedy like in the heyday when it was like Bonos, Air Jordan, all that, when it was as big as it could get, and they lived a ways away. But whenever I saw him, I would just like pepper him with a million questions because to me, somebody working in advertising, in particular on like Nike and in that era, it wasn't just ads. It was like shifting culture, like Spike Lee and all that stuff. So I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And I'd always ask him a million questions about it. But in my mind I never thought that I would end up working in that space. It seemed like this extra terrestrial sort of thing. Brendan Gahan:But he was always really cool. And he was like a creative director doing a lot of the Air Jordan spots and that sort of thing. So he always had funny stories he would share. And I just thought it was the coolest thing. I remember being in like elementary school, he'd visit or we'd go visit him, and I'd just pepper him with questions. So it was always sort of like seated in the back of my mind, but at the same time it felt unattainable, but I was really fortunate. Brendan Gahan:I don't know if we want to skip ahead too much, but basically he ended up offering me my first internship, totally came out of the blue. I got a phone call one day, I was like two days away from graduating from college. And I was about to go home for summer and work, and yeah, just out of the blue, he's like, "Hey, I got this guy on my team," he had started his own agency at this point, he's like, "And we need some young kid who understands digital," because this is 2005. And so I came up there and I interviewed with this guy he wanted me to intern for- Chris Erwin:But you did not go to college for this, if I understand correctly, you went to, is it UC Santa Cruz and you were psychology and history? Brendan Gahan:Yep. Yep. Chris Erwin:And again, you thought with that you were going to follow in your parents' footsteps, become an educator, or become a lawyer. Brendan Gahan:Something like that, yeah, I thought I was zeroing in on like teacher, lawyer or psychologist. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. And psychology I always thought was fascinating. So I studied that, and then I realized two, three years in, I was like, oh, I've taken a ton of history courses and if I just take a few more, I can get a double major in apparently history, because of all the writing and stuff if I remember correctly, it was like not a bad thing to have if you were looking to get into law school. So it just kind of like was a circuitous path to get where I ended up. Chris Erwin:It didn't feel like you were overly passionate about anything at that point. I think you were open minded and you had some, call it nuclear, familial inspirations or influences. But when you got this call from your uncle, you're like, hey, this has been the cool uncle that was part of these massive sociocultural movements, Michael Jordan and Nike, I totally hear you. So when you got that call, were you really pumped up or was it, oh no, this sounds like something interesting and there's some direction and let's just go see what happens. Brendan Gahan:I was really pumped. I was also really torn because I was going to go home and work as a teacher's assistant for the summer and do summer school, which I know my parents were sort of excited about on so many different levels, because I'd be home. They would see me. They loved the idea of me getting into education, at least I'm pretty sure that's what they were excited about. And so I was like very torn, but also super excited. Brendan Gahan:And I went out and drove up to San Francisco for the interview. And I still remember walking into the ad agency office for the first time just being like, holy shit, this is so fucking cool. This is an office, people work out of here. It was like this creative space. And I remember thinking, especially as a college kid, wow, there's like a beer fridge and your pool table, and all these things. And obviously I knew work was happening, but it seemed like a great environment to get work done. I don't think I ever overdid it on any of the fun things, but it was like this relief to sort of have that there, and it felt really exciting to me. Chris Erwin:So then you get the job and you move up north. Brendan Gahan:Yep. Chris Erwin:What were you focused on in the beginning there? And then, I think from our notes that you did some early work with Smosh, is that right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, exactly. So I did an internship and then I eventually got hired, and I was technically like a junior account executive. This was 2005, 2006, 2007, I think, and it was in the early, early days of social media and I was the youngest guy in the office. So people would ask me random questions, like, "What's the deal with MySpace, what happens on that?" Or, like Facebook, nobody else could get on Facebook because you still had to have your college email address. So I sort of found myself being this resource, and at the same time me being flabbergasted by the way advertising was being done. Brendan Gahan:I remember the first time I found out how much a billboard cost, and looking at that and being like, this is almost more than, I mean, I can't remember the number right now, but I remember thinking, this is about as much I make in a full year with my salary and being like, I don't think anyone does anything because of the billboard, or certainly not like a normal billboard ad, and seeing this huge disconnect between what drove people to do things and what people were genuinely excited about and where dollars were being allocated. Brendan Gahan:So I think I slowly started just embracing that and being like, to me, it was common sense to a certain extent, like, look, I can go on YouTube and I can see how many people watch this video. Why aren't we doing this? This shows millions of people. Once again, like walking down the street, I don't know of anybody who does anything because of a billboard. And so that sort of evolved, and I started just pitching ideas proactively. And I remember I even tried to pitch clients and stuff, and stuff I in hindsight probably didn't have- Chris Erwin:Existing clients of the agency, or were you doing some new business development? Brendan Gahan:All of the above. I remember reading about it in the ad trades, like, oh, so and so company fired their agency and I'd be like, well, why don't they work with us? And literally come up with ideas and mail them things, and like try and get a response. And I don't know, just like this sort of, we're a creative industry, let's be really creative. Chris Erwin:Was that the expectation from your role or was that you just having some gumption of being a self-starter? Brendan Gahan:Not to pat myself on the back, but I think it was definitely me sort of having a little bit of gumption. I think I also just didn't know. It was a relatively small loose agency. And so I thought, well, it wasn't like this is exactly how you're supposed to do this job, and this, this and this, I think creativity was really encouraged and so long as work was getting done, anything I wanted to do sort of beyond that was like, all right, yeah, sure, that sounds cool. Chris Erwin:So did that spirit, is that what drove you... Did you work directly with Smosh? What is that story there? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. So late 2006, this client the agency had had before I was even there, they came to the agency and they were like, "Hey, we want to do an ad campaign. We don't have a big budget." And it was a portable MP3 player. And the partners at the agency were talking about it right behind me. And they were about to turn it down. And it was one of those situations where in hindsight, yes, it was not much money, and they should have turned it down by all means. But I just butted in. I was like, "Hey, what if we pitched them this idea of getting these kids on YouTube to promote it. And we just rather than try and squeeze like a campaign into this budget, let's just do one video." Brendan Gahan:And so they were like, "Oh, that sounds kind of cool. Yeah, let's pitch it to the company, to the brand." And they bought it. I think I literally turned around after the partners said it was okay to pitch it to the client and I emailed Ian and Anthony, found their email on MySpace and they emailed me back that afternoon. And I think the next week they came by the office because they were just up in Sacramento area, so it wasn't too far. Chris Erwin:They were one of the biggest YouTube channels at the time, right? Just for context, this is 2005, 2006. Facebook had just started in '04. YouTube had just started in '04. Google bought them I think a couple years later. So Ian and Anthony were probably one of the biggest personalities on the platform at that time. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. I think they might have been number two. I know they eventually were number one for a couple of years, but I don't think they were quite number one yet. It was sort of like early days and there was a lot of jostling for position and stuff. Chris Erwin:So you got their emails from their MySpace page, you hit them up. That definitely wouldn't happen today, not as easy to go direct to the top creators. And then they came by your office, what happened? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, they came by, by that point we had gotten the thumbs up from the client to like, "Oh yeah, sure, we're down, if you can make it work." They came by the office, we literally got in a room and it was sort of funny. I remember nobody knew what you would charge for something like this, you know? So we were literally just kicking around like, what would you want to charge for this? I don't know, how much do you want to pay for this? Just going back and forth. And then finally, one of the partners was like, "Well, I don't know, would you guys do it for like 15 grand or something?" And they were like, "Probably, why don't we go back to..." I think Anthony's dad was an accountant or something like that. Brendan Gahan:And they were going to run it by him. I might have those details wrong, but they were like, it was basically like a, pretty sure that'll work. Let's go talk to our parents. And then they came back and they were like, sure, and so we did it, they made this video called Feet for Hands. I remember when it went live it crashed the client's website, which I thought was so fucking cool. I felt so validated. And then, yeah, it got like millions of views. And I just wanted to do that again and again, and again. And I saw what Mekanism was doing and my first boss at that agency, he'd left for Mekanism, Jason Harris, the president and CEO of Mekanism now. He joined Mekanism, became a partner. And we had a great working relationship. Brendan Gahan:I interned for him and stuff. And I showed in that video, I was like, look, look, look at this thing. It's got three million views. I know I can help you guys. I was so envious of the work they were doing. They were doing like early viral video stuff. And this is like 2006, 2007, when a lot of this stuff, people weren't paying attention at all. And so I was just so envious of the projects they were working on. And they brought me in for a few interviews and I literally met the whole agency, which at the time was pretty small, I think like twice. And then they hired me. Chris Erwin:Was this East Coast based? Brendan Gahan:This is all West Coast. They were in San Francisco, just a few blocks away from the office I was at, at the time, and then got hired, it was like Mekanism was doing a ton of branded content, viral video stuff but oftentimes without any paid media. The platforms, most of them didn't even have paid media as an option. I think at the time you could buy a YouTube homepage banner and that was it. Facebook didn't have it. There was no sort of formal way of promoting that stuff for the most part. So we sort of, myself and a couple other guys, younger guys, we built out a team over time that was the social media team. And we were just constantly coming up with different ways to promote content, doing everything from Reddit seeding to tons and tons of work with creators. We worked with all the big creators in those early days, which was great, because it was a small community. We got to make a lot of deeper relationships at the time. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And you were probably working with a lot of those creators direct versus now there's tons of representatives, managers and agencies, and sometimes you never even talk to the end talent, but back then probably different. Brendan Gahan:Oh, 100%, yeah. We would get pretty elaborate sometimes with these campaigns, we would do like in person summits and kickoffs. We worked with 20th Century Fox on some campaigns, and we would fly like 50 influencers in and a bunch obviously would be in LA, but host these elaborate dinners and events, and sometimes it'd be two, three days long where they're meeting with the execs, meeting with actors, kind of getting a download of the campaign, what the expectations were for them. Then we'd take them out, go partying. So it was cool. Got to spend a lot of face time with people and it was a really fascinating time. Chris Erwin:You were there for about five to six years at Mekanism, right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. Chris Erwin:And then I think you transitioned to full screen after that for a brief stint, but then you started your own agency, Epic Signal. So what was the catalyst for you to leave this kind of the broader corporate support and other people that were helping elevate your career to say, I want to do something differently, I'm going to do it by myself. Brendan Gahan:I felt like full screen was exploding at the time. You know this, all the MCNs were blowing up, but I felt like there was a lot of distraction and stuff. And the thing that I was really passionate about at its core was the strategy in collaborating with both brands and creators to create something awesome. And I felt like full screen, it was like they were trying to grow this MCN, this network and make a scalable business. So it was a little bit different from what I was really passionate about. And so I left, I thought I was just going to take my time sort of consulting. But I mean, this was like when influencer marketing was reaching this new fevered pitch because... We talked about it yesterday. Sometime around there, Maker was acquired, all these clients that I'd worked with and people at different agencies that I'd worked with over the years came out of the woodwork and were like, we have to have an influencer strategy. Brendan Gahan:We have to have a YouTube strategy. And I'd been the, air quotes, like YouTube guy and influencer guy since 2006. So I was one of a handful of people who had sort of like this deep bench and experience in this niche. So all my old clients started hitting me up. All of a sudden I had more work than I could personally do. And slowly started hiring people just out of necessity, because I didn't want to say no to these awesome opportunities. I was like, oh crap. I get to work with Mountain Dew, hell yeah, let's do it. Chris Erwin:I do want to clarify, but when you went off on your own, I mean I'm sure look, as the industry is growing, Google original channels program happened in 2011, 2012, hundreds of millions of dollars of funding into digitally native production companies to fuel the overall video ecosystem to help you to recruit more advertisers. And so when you decided to go off on your own to start Epic Signal, why was that? Had you always wanted to be an entrepreneur? Did you think like, hey, I want to be an owner and I'm early in a very nascent industry and so this is scary, but I'm going to get an early foothold and see what happens. Brendan Gahan:It honestly wasn't as strategic as that, it was more like, I felt like my strengths could be better utilized going off on my own. And I like being really hands on and strategic. It was really as simple as, well, I want do this work the way that I know how to do it and the way I want to do it. And if that takes me going off on my own, then that's what I'm going to do. So I did. And in hindsight, it sounds much smarter than it was, it was not smart from like an on paper standpoint. I left full screen. I left my equity on the tape because I left just shy of a year, but I just felt like it was the right thing for me to do, because I knew, I'd seen this space grow so fast and I was like, I've been doing it longer than most people. I have relationships, I have a sense of what strategically works. I want to do it the way that I want to do it. And that just made me feel good, and so that's what I did. Chris Erwin:Now did you launch Epic Signal in LA or did you move to New York? Brendan Gahan:So I was in LA, but very quickly was splitting my time up between LA and New York. I was going back and forth. I'd spend two weeks in LA, two weeks in New York, back, forth, back forth constantly, and then was about to move to New York officially, I ended up having more clients there than anywhere else, more brands I was working with there than anywhere else. And then as I was sort of putting the plan together to do that, I ended up selling it. And then I had to move to New York, so it moved things along. Chris Erwin:That happened pretty quickly, right? Because I think you had Epic Signal for, was it a couple years before you sold it to Mekanism? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, I think it was just shy of two years. It was almost two full years, yeah. Chris Erwin:Okay. And when you decided to sell, how big was your team at that point? Brendan Gahan:It wasn't big. It was like a half dozen people. Chris Erwin:Okay. Why did you decide to sell? Brendan Gahan:I found myself in a situation where I was doing so much back office stuff. It was like the very thing that I left to go do was, I wanted to focus on the strategy and deal with that, do the actual work. And then what I found was, when you are an entrepreneur, it's very easy to get sucked into dealing with lawyers and accounts, and payroll, and all this stuff that is not fun, all that back office stuff. Chris Erwin:I'm feeling you right now on that. That's where I feel like I'm at with RockWater. Brendan Gahan:You try and delegate it, but it's like all these things get this overflow back to you. And so I was back in this situation where I was doing the work that wasn't making me happy. And at the same time, I sort of felt like I have this window of opportunity where it's like, this is a really small team, we're lean and mean. We've got great profit margins. We've also got dope clients. We were working with like ABI. We worked on Bud Light campaigns, Corona. We did work with several PepsiCo brands, a handful of others. So we had a dope roster of clients that we were working with, a handful of whom were on retainer. And I was like, we have this niche where we're focusing on helping brands with YouTube strategy and YouTube creators. And oftentimes, especially the bigger brands, like a Pepsi, Mountain Dew, they had multiple agencies and they would have like a social AOR even. Brendan Gahan:And they did have a social AOR, but I was like, it's only going to be a matter of time before I get squeezed out and they start offering this services that I'm sort of in this interesting niche I can offer at this time that they don't have. And so I felt like the cache of the brands that I had, the team in place, people would find it desirable because of the relationships and already booked revenue, and great team. And so I thought I'll try and capitalize on my time and see if I can make a deal happen. Brendan Gahan:And then I had a letter of intent on the table and I would call my old boss at Mekanism for advice. "Hey, I'm negotiating with these guys, and this is a deal on the table. Does this make sense? What should I push back on?" So he was aware that things were moving along. And basically I was in New York, I had signed a letter of intent, things were sort of going through due diligence and all that. And he was like, "Let's grab drinks." So I met up with him for a drink. He's like, "Just come back." I was like, "All right, well, I got a deal in hand if you can beat it, I'm down. Like let's do it." I loved working with him. Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin. Your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work. And it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody, let's get back to the interview. Chris Erwin:I have to ask, did you run a formal sales process where you decided to sell and then you're like, all right, here's the 20 best fit buyers that are out there and I'm going to go call them or I'm going to hire someone to dial for dollars on the company's behalf. And/or were you also just getting unsolicited in bounds that you were like, oh, hey, this is interesting. Maybe with the market timing, things that you were sharing, where there was a lot of brands had big agencies of record, you felt that you were going to get squeezed out. So now is the time to sell, what was that looking like? Brendan Gahan:Exactly that, but sort of like the inverse. Initially, I sort of had a hunch and so I sort of informally had some conversations and dinners with people where like, I didn't come right out and say, "Hey, I want to sell," I didn't want to come across as desperate. Because I mean, and I wasn't, I wasn't desperate, but I wanted to sell. But I would sort of just seed the idea, like, "Hey, I'm kicking around the idea of selling, I'd love to do X, Y, and Z. And like' Chris Erwin:Just like dating, the classic courting phase, you're just doing the dance. Brendan Gahan:Exactly. And then once people started expressing interests, I was like, okay, I'm definitely onto something. This is something I'm way out of my depth on. So I asked around and some buddies recommended some lawyers and I hired them and signed a deal with them. And I was like, all right, let's make this happen. And that was the best decision I could have made. They earned every dime I paid them and then some, because beyond just the relief of handing it over, they definitely got me more money and I didn't ever have to be the bad guy throughout the process, which I'm very bad at saying no to people in negotiations and stuff like that. They were just like, every step of the way they were like, "No, just pass it over to us. We'll take care of it." And then they would hit me up and they're like, "Here's what's on the table, here's what we advise. What do you want to do?" And the process was stressful enough as it is, but having them sort of take the reins just alleviated so much stress. Chris Erwin:Selling your company is a very unique work stream that requires a very unique set of skills to execute well. And it can be very emotional for a founder, operator and CEO. This is your baby. You could transform your life through a big liquidity event, but it's also going to impact, you might be selling to another company and working for someone else. So having a partner there to guide you along the way is really important. I mean, I saw this a lot because I was a banker on Wall Street back in the day and sold a variety of different companies and helped shepherd the sale with Big Frame to Awesomeness TV. I just talked about that in the last podcast with Sarah Penna, one of the co-founders of Big Frame, and it's a really big decision. Chris Erwin:So I totally get it. I'm curious, who were the buyers that you were talking to? Was it different brand agencies? Was it different brands that wanted to actually just bring you on in house? Was it some of the emerging YouTube MCNs that wanted to build out their influencer sales arm? What was that group looking like? Brendan Gahan:I think it was two MCNs and this holding company, I won't name names and stuff, but it was a fascinating process. And to your point about seeing it and it being stressful and all this stuff, if you think about it, it's like, it's an experience that, as an owner or an entrepreneur you're out of your depth, it's a very unique thing that happens. It doesn't happen that often. And so bringing in professionals is so helpful because they actually do these deals. I'm doing totally different types of deals. I have no experience selling an organization. Chris Erwin:Yeah. You need to create a very compelling story and also urgency, get people excited and the feeling that they're going to miss out. So if you kind of go after the process willy nilly, you can set up a really bad result for your company. And also for your counterparties that are saying, "Hey, we're interested here. We've been in talks for a while. Why is this dragging along? Who else are you talking to?" Chris Erwin:So you can really damage, not only all the value that you've created for your business, but it can impact your team, it can impact the ability of you to continue working in the industry thereafter. So got to do it right. But so many say, I was just talking to a banker about this yesterday. Oftentimes, transactions result from long standing relationships and trust that have been built. So the end buyer for Epic Signal was your past boss at Mekanism, that became your eventual home. So after you joined forces with them, was the mandate, "Hey Brendan, come back on board. You're now part of the senior leadership team. The market opportunity is even bigger. Let's go after it with you and your whole team in a bigger way." Brendan Gahan:Pretty much, yeah. It was a bit of a plug and play option, they had... Obviously there was a social team when I left, the feeling was like there wasn't... A number of people had left by the time I came back, so I was able to bring my team in, merge it with the existing team. And we started expanding the offerings again. When I was running Epic Signal, I deliberately tried to keep it very narrow in niche, because I couldn't compete with a big social agency, it just wouldn't happen. Brendan Gahan:But by having two very key offerings, it streamlined so much of the processes and it gave me a clear point of differentiation. And when I joined back up with Mekanism, it was like full service, social, we're doing everything, community management in the lightweight, social content creation, analytics, reporting, influencer marketing, all this stuff. And so had to scale up the team and integrate with the larger organization as a whole. And it was fun. I think I'm sort of like this entrepreneur at heart or intrapreneur, and I like the process of sort of building and evolving and exploring new opportunities. So it was a really good fit, is a good fit. Chris Erwin:Thinking back on all of the brand and influencer campaigns that you've done, there's got to be one or two that stand out in terms of just something crazy went down. I think back to at Big Frame, working with some talent, doing a six figure brand deal, talent deciding literally two hours before something's supposed to go live that they're not going to post it or having a meltdown on the floor of VidCon and sobbing and crying because they're having a personal breakdown, because look, that life is tough and burnout is real in the influencer space. I remember a bunch of stories when we were launching different content verticals and flying in different 40 creators into like a creator house. This is like back in 2013, before there was like the modern creator houses of today. So any stories from the trenches that you remember from your early days? Brendan Gahan:Oh my God. Yeah, it's like, working with creators I think is one of those things, when you're in it, you're almost like, I'm never going to do this again. Then afterwards you're like, oh, that wasn't so bad. That was really fun. I think probably one that took the cake as far as stress goes, was we were working with Brisk Iced Tea, which is a PepsiCo brand. And we're about to host a summit because Brisk was relaunching, they had Eminem in the super bowl spot, and they were reviving the Claymation look. They did one with Ozzy Osborne, they did one with Danny Trejo, and we were actually having Danny Trejo fly out to New York, and he was going to meet with all these creators and stuff. And this was during the winter before super bowl. So I don't know if it was like December or January, or maybe early February, but there was a massive snowstorm. Brendan Gahan:Flights kept getting canceled and delayed. And I remember being glued to my phone, refreshing constantly, looking at, I think there were a handful of flights that were going to make it out of LA to New York before things were going to get canceled. And I remember, we signed up all these creators, Danny Trejo was going to show and he was going to be the cool, shiny object, and his flight to New York. I remember it kept getting delayed, delayed, delayed, it got canceled. We got him on another flight, delayed, delayed, delayed. And I was just like refreshing my phone and being like, this whole thing is going to fucking fall apart if that flight doesn't take off. It sounds like not that big a deal right now but I remember it was just one of those moments where I was just like, the whole thing was going to fall apart. The world was on my shoulders and I was just freaking out. But I've had a million situations like that, I remember- Chris Erwin:Did that work out? Did he get on the flight and did the campaign come together? Brendan Gahan:Oh yeah, he ended up [crosstalk 00:34:02]. Chris Erwin:He's like, I can't leave the audience hanging. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. He made it and it was freaking amazing. We thought we had him for like an hour, he was going to do a little talk, kind of talk about... His story's amazing first off. And then his spot with Brisk was super cool. And we thought people were going to get a kick out of that. I think we had like 45 minutes for him booked. He was going to come out and hang out and talk with the creators. I think it was like 20 or so creators. And we thought that was going to be this awesome experience for everyone before we sort of called it a day and then went out. And he was so cool. He came out, told this story, which is insane. And then he was like, "All right, what are we doing next, guys?" And he hung out... We had all these YouTubers there. Brendan Gahan:We had like Nice Peter and Mike Diva, and Tim DeLaGhetto, all those guys. And he made himself available to do cameos and their vlogs or any content they were making. Chris Erwin:Wow. Brendan Gahan:People would be like, "Hey, can you pretend to choke me out and beat me up for my video?" And he'd be like, "Oh sure." He just was there hanging out all day. And then we were going to take all the creators out to a dinner, take them to [inaudible 00:35:10] or one of those, where drinking and bowling and stuff. And he's like, "Oh, could I come along?" He doesn't drink. So he didn't drink. But he was hanging with the whole crew, all of us until, I don't know, like one in the morning or something. He was the nicest guy, and so it was this amazing sort of transition from like the day before, one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I don't think I slept that night to everything went off better than I could have possibly hoped for. Chris Erwin:I just want to call that out. I think that's one of the beautiful things about working with digitally native creators and being in the advertising business, is meeting all these incredible personalities. So I think Danny Trejo, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think he's LA born, Latin, very tatted up, I think had a pretty rough upbringing, but made his way into American movies and TV series. And he often plays like the bad guy or the thug and maybe those roles have been evolving, but what you see on screen- Brendan Gahan:It's pretty spot on. Chris Erwin:Yeah, what you see on screen is clearly very different than who his actual personality is, and were it not for what you're doing, Brendan, you would never have gotten to meet him, and you probably have hundreds of stories like that, that's a pretty beautiful thing. Brendan Gahan:We did one campaign with Virgin Mobile, they were sponsoring Lady Gaga's tour at the time, we got to go hang out with Lady Gaga after one of her shows like, it was wild. I bring up celebrities, but I think honestly hanging out with the creators was my favorite thing, because especially back then, there was a lot of uncertainty in terms of like, how am I going to turn this into a job? Or this is my job, but I'm just kind of scraping by. And it was an interesting mix of sort of a lot of belief in what they were doing, which I found super admirable, and I was almost envious of the fact that they took that leap as well as this sort of insecurity and doubt that they had. Brendan Gahan:There's so much pressure to keep making content and to power through, but at the same time, not knowing exactly where it was headed. You think back then, like the daily vloggers, that was a big thing in that era, those guys, we would spend all day with them doing stuff for the brand. And then when other people would go have dinner and drinks late into the night, they would have to go edit and they'd be editing until like three in the morning, running on [crosstalk 00:37:21] of sleep. Yeah. Chris Erwin:You ask what kids want to be nowadays, they want to be a creator, but whether it's a daily vlogger, or you're creating content, you're managing a fandom that is always on, and that's a lot to take on and that's why there's burnout. And I hear you, some of those early creators, they were probably just racing because they're like, hey, I have put all my resources into this, all my focus. Maybe this goes away in a couple years because the fans' interests and the passions are going to change or the algorithms are going to change and maybe this is not going to be here. So it was like a money land grab. Chris Erwin:But Brendan, when you say that you would look at creators and say, oh, I was jealous how they took the leap, maybe I want to take the leap as well. You took that leap during COVID and you started really building out your own personal audience and thought leadership. And that speaks to that you like to do things on the side. I think you have a strong entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial spirit as you described. And I don't think it just started over the past couple years. I think when we were talking in advance of this interview, you were investing back in the day as well. And I think that you were an early investor in Big Frame, is that right? Brendan Gahan:So I did invest in Big Frame, but via Mekanism because I knew Sarah from back in the day when she was working for Phil DeFranco. And so when she was starting it, I was like, oh my gosh, can we get in? So yeah, we made this small investment and I just sort of wanted to be a part of all that. I definitely had like a serious case of FOMO. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think that was really cool. I think Sarah and Steve, we actually had a bunch of different creators and I think peer business partners in our cap table, a way of giving them ownership as a thank you, helping us build this together. And so when we sold, all those creators that were in our cap table got some money. Was it life changing money? No, but it was something. And I think they really represented a pretty special ethos from the top. Brendan Gahan:That's awesome. That's so cool. Chris Erwin:But yeah, and you are also early on and I think you still are, you're an advisor to the VidCon board, is that right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. So I sit on the advisory board for the industry track specifically. So I mean, I've been to all the US VidCons, a bunch of the international ones. So I was always deep in that space. And I've known Jim since the Revision3 days, he was, Jim Louderback the CEO was the CEO of Revision3, which was one of the big early MCNs. And I'm not sure exactly to be honest how that came about other than... But I think what prompted it was as part of the acquisition of Viacom for VidCon, Jim came on board and I think it was a way to make sure that, I think he put together a few advisory boards to make sure that he was getting a lot of input from multiple points, because for so long the community was relatively insular, and its expanded so much so quickly. Chris Erwin:I first met you, I think via an introduction from Chas, Chas Lacaillade who I think was an early interview on this podcast. You guys overlapped at full screen back in 2013 and then have both built your own businesses after that, pretty funny track. And first met you in New York. And I remember a conversation a year and a half ago or a couple years ago, I was asking, what are you focused on? What are you doing? You're a dabbler in so many things, you're at Mekanism, but I'm seeing that you're doing all this incredible thought leadership on LinkedIn, all these incredible posts and you're really consistent about it. Chris Erwin:They were really high quality. And you said, "Hey Chris, I'm really focused on building an audience. And I think audience in the modern creator economy is one of the most valuable currencies that you can have." And you weren't completely clear what you wanted to do with that audience, but you're like, I'm going to build and now's a great time to do it. So I am curious to hear that story of how that came to be and what you're working on today. Brendan Gahan:You probably said that so much more articulate than I did. I'm going to have to remember that, but yeah. That was definitely the insight. I think the way it came about was sort of like, I was legitimately beating myself up over the fact that I had probably hundreds of pages of writing and thoughts in Google Drive that I'd never published as a blog post. And I would just like constantly beat myself up over this. I'd have what I thought was a great idea. I'd work on a blog post and then it would just sort of get longer and longer and longer and longer. And then eventually it became this daunting task to like push it out, because I had a blog for a while and I would sort of fall into this pattern and then not publish for like a long, long time. Brendan Gahan:And the thing I sort of found was the hardest part was to press publish really. And so I was like, okay, well what's the easiest way I can get myself to kind of overcome that, because I did want an audience. I felt like I had thoughts that I wanted to get out of my own head. And so basically I was like, all right, what is sort of the easiest way to do this and inoculate myself to this idea that this fear of pressing publish. And so I started small and basically I was like, all right, well, I'm going to start posting one thing a day on LinkedIn. It doesn't matter if it's simply sharing an article, just writing cool or writing a whole blog post if I feel like it. And that made it very approachable. Brendan Gahan:In the early days, I would literally just sit there and press a timer, 20 minutes and write. When it was done, I'd give it a once over and then press publish. And that really helped me sort of start to overcome this fear, and did that for all of, what was that 2020 I believe. And then at some point towards the end of 2020, I was like... We'd already done multiple TikTok campaigns and I'd seen the power of TikTok, and like early days, you can still get in there and you can have an impact. Brendan Gahan:It's a softer landing than it will be later. So after seeing all the successful campaigns, I was encouraging my fiance to get on there and do it. And then every time she would post something, it would blow up. Because she had a decent sized YouTube channel and Instagram but it wasn't massive. And I was like, just get on TikTok, trust me. So I found myself sort of giving this advice to everyone, but not taking it myself. And I was like, all right, I should just... These opportunities they only come by every few years if you're lucky, and I was like, I need to just take my own advice. And so in the same way I had to get over writing and sharing my thoughts, I had to get over that with TikTok. Chris Erwin:Yeah, putting yourself on video, that's a big difference than writing and text base expression on LinkedIn. Brendan Gahan:It was so hard. It was so hard. She used to laugh at me because I would put the camera on me and then I would just try and say something, and I would be like, "Fuck, fuck," and then try and say a word and I'd stutter. And I would sit there for like 20 minutes trying to spit out two sentences. Chris Erwin:Brendan, I got to say, I feel you on that because Kevin Gould at Kombo Ventures, he would do these job rec videos on LinkedIn where he'd just be like, call it one or two minutes. "Hey, we're Kombo Ventures, I'm Kevin, we're looking to hire someone, this is what we're doing. And here's who we're looking for." I record these and this is like an inner tip on me. I'll record that like 15 times, it's a one minute video, but I'll say no, I skipped up, I said something I didn't want to say. I don't like how I look. I don't like the lighting, and people think like, oh yeah, you just put it up and that'll be like my one thing I need to get done in the morning, and it'll take me 15 tries to do it. Then you just go to think about, okay, if you're a professional creator doing that for a living, I really feel it then, it's a pretty good glimpse into it. Brendan Gahan:100%. And I think one thing I saw Roberto Blake, maybe, I think I saw a video or saw him tweet, you've got to make 100 bad videos to get to your first good one, or maybe it was Mr. Beast. And I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's very true. And that sort of made me embrace the fact that the first ones are going to be awful, and I tried to not focus on like each one, but more building the habit because that would, I don't know how else to say it, but sort of inoculate yourself to that feeling of just sheer fear and anxiety of getting in front of the camera. Chris Erwin:On the outside looking in, I look at, we're a big content marketing machine at RockWater to drive awareness and legitimacy for the services that we do as the self-described McKinsey of the creator economy, right? Market research, strategy advisory, capital raising, and all of that. We look at what you're doing, Brendan, from your LinkedIn posts to your blog, to now almost I think over 100,000 followers on TikTok. It's very, very impressive. A lot of people in the industry say the same thing, right? Like, oh, do you see Brendan's path and what he's posting? It's incredible. I look at the TikTok videos. They're very well edited. Are you doing that yourself? Do you have a team helping you? Brendan Gahan:I'm not editing them myself anymore. I was up until late last year. So I hired an editor out of the Philippines actually who works full time on my TikTok. Then he does design for my blog posts and a bunch of different things basically, he helps me out with a bunch of stuff and that's been a huge relief because now I feel like I'm trying to transition to... There's almost sort of like, as a creator and this is something I observe, but I'm having trouble implementing it, sort of like people find you because of your topic is interesting or maybe you've got a helpful bit of information, but then they stick around and embrace you because of kind of the personality piece. Brendan Gahan:And I'm really trying to sort of evolve it into creating something that provides more insight into me at the same time. And hopefully people feel like there's a connection to me rather than like, "Hey, here are just some interesting stats or an interesting strategy." So that's sort of like where my head is at in terms of where I want to take it. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do that. But I think similar to just the same way I got started before, I'm just trying to throw things out there and see what sticks. Chris Erwin:Loudly from the RockWater team, keep doing what you're doing. We love it. Brendan Gahan:Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. Chris Erwin:Yeah. A closing theme before we get into some rapid fire questions and close out the interview. What's next for Brendan and Mekanism? And maybe that's a theme of talking about, what do you think is most exciting in the creator economy and how do you want to support it? You've been writing about Web 3 and X to earn models. Is that something that you're thinking a lot about lately? Brendan Gahan:In terms of Mekanism, I really enjoy that. And so long as I get to work with great brands and great people and do great work I'm content. In terms of the creator economy and stuff, I love everything that's happening there. And I do a little bit of investing and advising, and I love nothing more than sort of brainstorming with people who are building, it's so exciting. And I think the aspect of the creator economy that I'm really fascinated by is sort of... Rather than, most of the VCs coming in are like, oh, we're going to build this scalable product for creators. And that's interesting, but I think the thing that's more interesting is sort of the creators building their own brands, and I think right now production and productization, that's sort of the commodity piece. The development of a brand and cultivation of an audience is becoming the differentiator and the most valuable asset. Brendan Gahan:We were talking about that at the beginning, an audience is leverage. And so as we see sort of this transition from like Web 2 to Web 3, where everybody sort of breaks it down, Web 1 was read, Web 2 is read, write, Web 3 is read, write, own. If the creators of platforms and communities within Web 3 are the users and owners, it makes sense that they would be less likely to embrace traditional methods of advertising. There are some stats out there, like 96% of people hate ads. Yeah, nobody likes most advertising. There are great ads, but by and large people don't want advertising. So those who are sort of able to understand how to embrace communities and build communities, they're going to have a leg up as we sort of transition to Web 3. And we're already seeing the ripple effects of this. Brendan Gahan:I mean like iOS 14 impacted the ability to advertise, do targeted advertising. Creators are launching big brands now faster than ever, partnering with creators is the easiest way to have an impact because they've maintained that direct line of communication to their audience. And so I think creators building and owning brands is really exciting. And also, people are like, oh, like creators think it's in this nascent state. And yes, in the grand scheme of things, it is. But there are already multi billion dollar creator brands. It's so funny, I mean, you probably know him, but Richard Ryan, he was a YouTuber back in the day. I used to do a ton of work with him. He and this other YouTuber, Matt Best, they partnered with some other guys a few years back. They were the guys that launched Black Rifle Coffee, which I didn't realize how big that brand was until they IPOed, and like- Chris Erwin:Yeah, they just went public, right? Brendan Gahan:They went public. I actually was in Austin two weeks ago, I hung out with Richard. It was so wild. It's like, that was built, the platform for that initially was YouTubers. So it's really fascinating. And we're seeing all these other great brands, Logan Paul and KSI, their Gatorade competitor, et cetera. I think that aspect of the business, it just shows how powerful these creators are, which I think is really, really exciting. Chris Erwin:The Black Rifle Coffee, we were doing some research into that company a year ago to understand how some of these creator led brands and particularly CPG brands are incubated and looking at their story, and look, I don't want to undersell what they have done, but I think the quality of their coffee is good, but that's not their specialty. It's that they have these personalities behind it. And this ethos founded by former members of the military, pride in country. And they've built an incredible business doing that. And they've gotten a lot of other ambassadors that have helped them build their business along the way. And I think, yeah, it was funny, Chas was telling me about this. I guess you guys maybe hung out with Richard together. I would love to interview Richard on the podcast. So if he's listening, I'm going to be reaching out soon. Brendan Gahan:Richard's a really, really good dude. Chris Erwin:All right. So Brendan, we're going to enter the last segment of this interview. We're going to do a rapid fire, six questions, and the rules are as follows. With these questions, looking for short answers. So one sentence, or maybe even just one to two words, do you understand the rules? Brendan Gahan:Yes. Chris Erwin:Let's get into it. Proudest life moment? Brendan Gahan:Still ahead of me. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2022? Brendan Gahan:Emails and late night work sessions. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do more of? Brendan Gahan:IRL time with friends and family. Chris Erwin:Okay. Maybe more time in Bitcoin Beach, down in El Salvador. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. Serious. Chris Erwin:What one to two things drive your success? Brendan Gahan:I'll keep this one short, crippling insecurity. Chris Erwin:Okay. I dig it. Advice for media execs going into 2022? Brendan Gahan:Get your hands dirty. Chris Erwin:Any future startup ambitions? Brendan Gahan:TBD. Chris Erwin:To elaborate on that, that could be some intrapreneurship at Mekanism or other things you're doing on the sides. I think my prediction is, this audience that you're building particularly on TikTok, I think something's going to come out of that in a pretty unique way. Brendan Gahan:So long as I can think and strategize, I'm very content. Chris Erwin:Here's the last one, Brendan, pretty easy. How can people get in contact with you? Brendan Gahan:Just Google my name, Brendan, B-R-E-N-D-A-N, Gahan, G-A-H-A-N. I'm on all the socials. So whatever your platform of choice is, you'll be able to find me. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And his website is great, lots of content there. Brendangahan.com. All right, cool. Brendan, thanks for being on the show. This was a delight. Brendan Gahan:Thank you. This was a lot of fun. I really appreciate you having me on and I love all the content you guys put out, so I'm really stoked to have made the cut and be on this. Chris Erwin:Very welcome, an easy decision. Chris Erwin:Wow. That was a super fun interview. And I really learned a lot. I think that Brendan and I are kindred spirits in a couple ways. One, our mutual love for surfing in Southern California, and two, just the vulnerabilities of putting yourself out there as a content creator. So that was really fun. Quick note, we just hosted our first executive event of 2022 just this past Thursday in LA. We did a media and commerce executive dinner at Chilena. It was awesome. We had an incredible array of guests. I think over 50 people came out and I also hosted a panel about the future of livestream commerce. So we had the head of operations of Popshop Live there, and the founder and CEO of both Verb, which is the parent company of Market.live and also StageTEN, just an awesome chat. It was a lot of fun, really great energy, and we're pumped to do more. Chris Erwin:So I think we're planning a dinner for investors in media and commerce coming up in the fall in New York City. And then also, we want to put another one together for sports media. So if you'd like to get involved as a sponsor, as a guest, or you want to be on a panel that I will moderate, reach out, you can hit us up at hello@wearerockwater.com. And then as always for all you listeners out there of our podcasts, we love to hear from you. If you have any ideas for guests or any feedback on the show, just shoot us a note, TCUpod@wearerockwater.com. All right, that's it everybody. Thanks for listening. Chris Erwin:The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of RockWater Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. And if you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter, and you could follow us on Twitter @TCUpod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck, music is by Devon Bryant, logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali, and special thanks to Alex Zirin and Eric Kenigsberg from the RockWater team. 

Get all the links mentioned in the episode here: bit.ly/229-jasonharrisSKIP THROUGH THE EPISODE:(00:04) - Welcome to Uncommon(00:22) - Guest introduction(00:30) - Sneakerhead lifestyle(02:58) - Earliest memories & childhood aspirations(08:04) - Jason's parents: professions & traits(12:20) - Sports chat(16:15) - Jason's time in Melbourne(20:45) - Jason's impression of Australia(24:13) - Cultural differences: US Vs. AUS(26:35) - The early days of a business & coming to ad land(34:24) - Mekanism in hindsight & the job to be done(39:17) - Growing an agency: mistakes & tips(43:56) - Lessons from Brendan Gahan & other specialists(46:49) - How to sell a political leader(52:49) - Best purchase under $200(54:52) - Show recommendations(58:15) - Guiding quotes

Get all the links mentioned in the episode here: bit.ly/223-brendangahan

Get all the links mentioned in the episode here: bit.ly/223-brendangahanSkip through the episode:(00:04) - Welcome to Uncommon(00:22) - Guest introduction(00:40) - Brendan staying wired(02:09) - Brendan's earliest memory & childhood(03:39) - Childhood aspirations & lessons(08:25) - Realisations: early influencer marketing(12:32) - Golden marketing principles for brands & talent(21:00) - The importance of niche on social media(24:45) - Brendan's creative process with brands (28:20) - Strategy: in-house vs agency(30:23) - Where do brands get it wrong?(35:06) - If Brendan had to start again(36:33) - Next big gold nuggets in social(41:28) - Live commerce in the West(51:12) - Metrics to judge socials(55:00) - Brendan's ideal question & failure(57:56) - Morning & evening routine(59:26) - Show recommendations(01:03:25) - Best purchase under $200

Do you think Facebook will still exist 10 years from now? It's hard to envision a world without it, but think of how drastically the digital world has changed in the last 10 years. This week on The Unicorn Perspective, my guest Brendan Gahan and I discuss how we think Facebook and other giant players will adapt in the coming years, what social media users are looking for, turning down clients as an agency owner, and so much more.About the guest: Brendan Gahan is Partner & Chief Social Officer at independent creative agency Mekanism.Gahan has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Brendan was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday's Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017.Gahan is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, and Ad Age for his expertise.Connect with Brendan:https://brendangahan.com/newsletter/https://twitter.com/brendangahanhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan/https://www.tiktok.com/@brendangahanWhat you'll learn:How brands are using audience segmentation nowWhy knowledge gaps are essential for the success of new businessesWhat online “campfires” are and why users seek themHow your biggest strength is your biggest weakness

Brendan Gahan, Partner & Chief Social Officer at independent creative agency Mekanism, joined Morgan this week to talk about why getting a coach in...anything, really... can save your life, the grit required to set goals, and acting on your curiosity. Brendan has experience a plethora of life-changing moments where he's had to pivot, but ultimately to the success he's achieved today. Most recently, he's celebrating reaching a community of 85k+ on TikTok coaching others on social media! Tune in and 1UP!SPONSORSLessonlyLessonly is a powerful yet simple readiness and training software for high growth sales teams. It's never been more crucial to enable busy and remote teams to get on the same page, stay ahead of change, and deliver amazing experiences to customers and prospects. In short, Lessonly helps teams “do better work.” Check them out at lessonly.com.JB Sales OnDemand MembershipJB Sales OnDemand Membership is the go-to online platform for proven sales training used by leading companies like Slack, Google, MindBody, LinkedIn and more. The membership includes courses, webinars, live office hours, special workshops, resources, and new content added each month. Members of JB Sales OnDemand are crushing quotas, closing more deals and getting more jobs. If you are in sales or need to up your sales game for your job or side hustle, check out the JB Sales OnDemand Membership over at ondemand.jbarrows.com.

Influencer marketing legend and head of social for Mekanism Brendan Gahan joins the Changer crew to drop knowledge on how creators should work with brands, and how brands can best collab with creators!

Brendan Gahan is the Chief Social Officer at Mekanism and Epic Signal. Brendan gives us his thoughts about the future of social video for brands.GUEST: Brendan Gahan Mekanism | Brendan Gahan | Linkedin | Twitter | Tik Tok | The Future Of Social Advertising: The Definitive Guide (Part II) | Flicker, Flash, & Flare TikTok Content Strategy For Brands: The Ultimate Guide | It's On UsHOSTS: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by:- Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube- Gwen Miller  LinkedIn | Twitter |SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy StudiosREAD THE TRANSCRIPT

Brendan Gahan is the Chief Social Officer at Mekanism and Epic Signal. Brendan gives us his thoughts about the future of social video for brands.GUEST: Brendan Gahan Mekanism | Brendan Gahan | Linkedin | Twitter | Tik Tok | The Future Of Social Advertising: The Definitive Guide (Part II) | Flicker, Flash, & Flare TikTok Content Strategy For Brands: The Ultimate Guide | It's On UsHOSTS: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by:- Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube- Gwen Miller LinkedIn | Twitter |SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy StudiosREAD THE TRANSCRIPT

I discovered Brendan on Twitter a few months ago after he said very nice things about my visuals. We chatted a few times and then I discovered he shared really useful insights into social and influencer marketing regularly. I had to take this opportunity to get him on the podcast. About BrendanBrendan is Partner & Chief Social Officer at independent creative agency http://mekanism.com/ (Mekanism). He's been working in social media & influencer marketing for 15 years. Brendan was among the first to do influencer marketing on YouTube back in 2006. He's worked on award winning and innovative social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, and The Olympics. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and is a member of Vidcon’s Advisory Board. Read more about Brendan: https://brendangahan.com/start-here/ (https://brendangahan.com/start-here/) https://www.tiktok.com/@brendangahan (https://www.tiktok.com/@brendangahan) https://twitter.com/brendangahan (https://twitter.com/brendangahan)

Episode 18 of the Influencer Marketing Lab - a weekly podcast tracking the growth spurts and growing pains of influencer marketing.This podcast is sponsored by Tagger the data-driven influencer marketing platform and social listening tool.This week Scott Guthrie is in conversation with Brendan Gahan, Partner and Chief Social Officer at Mekanism.In this episode we discuss:How Brendan cut his teeth selling-in Smosh as an early YouTuber dealA day in the life at Mekansim as Chief Social OfficerHow shoppable live-streaming will be a key trend within influencer marketingThe potential for Chinese-owned apps to displace Facebook and InstagramThe George Foreman Grill-ification of the creator economyCheck out the Influencer Marketing Lab website for full show notes and related links. 

Ever wonder what really goes into social media? How to find out what topics are hot or not. Where should your company be. Today on the Tec Tony Podcast we have Brendan Gahan is Partner & Chief Social Officer at independent creative agency Mekanism, leading the agency's social division. Gahan has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Follow Brendan: Website( free social media guide): https://brendangahan.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendangahan Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCywgUHfANsOTKn3PQ46FDzA FB: https://www.facebook.com/brendan.gahan Learn More From Tec Tony: https://linktr.ee/Tectony --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tectony/support

Brendan Gahan is a social media expert who crushes it on TikTok where he shares video on Social media strategy, social media trends & the future of social media. He discusses with Ben Leavitt how he approaches social media for brands, & how you can level up on social media.Social Media University YouTube Channel: https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/socialmediaUFollow Social Media U on Instagram: https://urlgeni.us/instagram/SocialMediaUIGFollow Social Media U on TikTok: https://urlgeni.us/tiktok/SocialMediaUTikTokBen Leavitt's Main Channel: http://bit.ly/2s4Q4NHBrendan's TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJo8EouD/

Welcome to yet another episode of Baking Up Business where we are talking about Clubhouse App! Clubhouse is all over the internet right now. At the moment it's an invite-only app and Liz and I have squeezed our way in, thanks to Brendan Gahan! With this said, we wanted to tell you our thoughts and experiences this week and why you should grab your username now!Follow Us!Youtube: Liz and ShawneeInstagram: @Lizandshawnee @BakingUpBusinessTiktok: @LizandshawneeClubhouse LIZ: @LizAnthonyClubhouse SHAWNEE: @Shawnees

When you need to understand how social media works in 2021, you call the OG of influencer marketing himself, Brendan Gahan. The Global Chief Social Officer of the agency Mekanism has been there from the start and brings us a rare look-see behind the curtain of how we got to where we are when it comes to anything from live streams, influencers & the modern social ecosystem. We talk about the boons of early adoption on social channels and why it's so tough for brands to color outside the lines when taking advantage of the benefits of getting in early. Connect & follow Brendan on the interwebs:Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendangahanLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brendangahanWebsite: https://brendangahan.com/Connect & Follow Joe & Pop-Marketer:Twitter: @joenormalInstagram: @joecoxInstagram "The Pop-Marketer": @popmarketerLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocoxhttps://www.pop-marketer.com/

Brendan Gahan is Partner & Chief Social Officer at the independent creative agency 'Mekanism'. He is one of the most prominent voices and best known innovators of the social and influencer marketing industry. In this episode we discuss the early days of influencer marketing, the future of this industry, "shoppertainment", TikTok, and much more. Sign up for Brendan's newsletter: https://brendangahan.com/

Brendan Gahan is the Chief Social Officer of Mekanism, a full-service creative agency that specializes in social content. Prior to Mekanism, Brendan served as VP of Brand Strategy for Fullscreen and then founded social-first agency Epic Signal, which was acquired by Mekanism in 2015. Brendan and I pack a lot into this episode, focusing on why 2020 was a breakout year for short-form video. TikTok is the poster child for the short-form video movement, though it’s facing increased competition from clones (e.g. Byte and Triller in the U.S., Roposo and Moj in India) as well as established social platforms like YouTube (Shorts), Snapchat (Spotlight), and Facebook (Lasso, Instagram Reels, and Collab). So why the short-form video gold rush? Brendan argues the format’s popularity in China is a leading indicator for growth in the West. New platforms like TikTok offer creators a fun and easy approach to content creation and a chance to quickly grow their audience. And for tech companies, short-form video is the next battleground feature for both audience attention and monetization, given the opportunity to serve so many ad breaks between clips. Finally, we explore how the social media landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented as people begin skewing toward private channels like Discord, Community, and OnlyFans. We also evaluate Reddit’s acquisition of Dubsmash (which Brendan calls a “head scratcher”), and Brendan shares his 2021 social media predictions, specifically (1) the rise of dark social, (2) continued growth of live streaming and ecommerce, and (3) creator-driven influencer products. Host: James Creech LEAVE US A REVIEW! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review! https://ratethispodcast.com/allthingsvideo LISTENER SUPPORT If you’d like to make a small monthly donation to help support future episodes, please visit https://anchor.fm/allthingsvideopodcast/support ABOUT THE SHOW All Things Video is a podcast dedicated to uncovering the past and charting the future of the online video ecosystem. Listen to interviews with founders, executives, and thought leaders from the world’s leading media companies and engage in thought-provoking debates about the issues shaping the next generation of entertainment. From the short-form content revolution to the fragmentation of video viewership in an always-on world, All Things Video reveals the key trends and insights from the world of digital media. Follow All Things Video on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for new episodes and updates! ABOUT THE HOST James Creech is an entrepreneur focused on technology, online video, and digital media. He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Measure Studio (next-gen social media analytics) and Paladin (the essential influencer marketing platform).

Episode 33 Show NotesWhat you will learn in this episode:What brought Chief Social Officer of Mekanism Agency, Brendan Gahan, to TikTokWhen did TikTok catch this social media advertising expert's attentionWill TikTok be the future of e-commerce, especially since the kick off of the first ever e-commerce Live event hosted by Walmart.Influencer Marketing is still so underutilized by brands, even though it is what is driving brands to skyrocket their sales. “Influencers break down the barriers, they are looking through the camera, every aspect of it feels much more real.” Traditional celebrities like Rosie O'Donnell and The Rock are utilizing TikTok to build their communities and stay relevant.  What strategies does Brendan use for his TikTokWhat are two really important things to remember when posting content on TikTokBRENDAN GAHANChief Social Officer at Mekanism TikTok: brendangahanInstagram: Brendan GahanLinkedIn: Brendan GahanSubscribe to Brendan's Newsletter***Hello. I'm Kyle, your host and founder of BizTok.  Are you ready to take your personal brand or business to the next level? My podcast will help you understand how to market on TikTok so you can connect  to your future global community, and grow your influence? Visit biztok.co to see how we can work together, and be sure to follow me on TikTok at BizToker. Here's a special treat for you: Use my Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift certificate. I've gotten to know the Buzzsprout team over this last few months and love their customer service so much.bypXMTdpjAhTqNH1senpSupport the show (https://paypal.me/jlvmgmt?locale.x=en_US)Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Influencer marketing and viral content have created a space and disruption that few deeply understand. That is unless you are Brendan Gahan, Chief Social Officer at Mekanism. who has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Brendan was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday’s Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017. From helping a new generation of creators partner with brands to dissecting and predicting marketing trends, Brendan's depth of expertise in unparalleled! He is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, Ad Age, and CNBC for his expertise in social media and influencer marketing expertise! SHOW NOTES Brendan's Linkedin Brendan's Newsletter Signup Brendan's Profile on Entrepreneur.com Brendan's TikTok (amazing simple marketing tips) Mekanism Webpage

Travis talks with Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, Brendan Gahan about how live streaming is having an impact in building communities, the shift taking place in influencer communities, his thoughts on consumer behavior, and more.

This week we welcome a true influencer insider Brendan Gahan to the show.  Brendan is a veteran in the world of marketing, online creators and influencer marketing. He's a partner and the chief social officer at Mekanism, working with Fortune 500 brands on their YouTube influencer and community building campaigns. If that wasn't enough, Brendan is also on the board of Vidcon, he was on Forbes' list of the 30 under 30 Brightest Minds in Marketing & Advertising' and was the former VP of brand strategy at Fullscreen.  Join us as we talk about the current landscape of influencer marketing and much more.  Discussion topics from this show. Brendan's career in marketing as well as within the world of MCNs His time at Fullscreen and thoughts on the rise and fall of MCNs How influencer marketing is evolving.  Do agencies and marketing agencies know about the drama on YouTube and other video platforms?  Big thanks to Brendan for coming on the show. If you're interested in what he has to share, make sure to visit his website and follow him on Twitter or Linkedin.  https://brendangahan.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan/ https://twitter.com/brendangahan - The Video Insiders Podcast is available on all major podcast players. Visit VideoInsiders.fm here and subscribe. Thanks to our friends at TubeBuddy for supporting the show. You can use the same pro tools that YouTube professionals like we do to manage multiple channels. Click here for a special offer for Video Insider listeners. Follow Tom at @channel_fuel and Carlos at @carlospache_co on Twitter. If you're a creator or media company looking for help building YouTube channels, managing content ID or need YouTube coaching, you can reach Tom at http://channelfuel.com or Carlos at http://pachworkrights.com  Podcast Music by Planets Collide and podcast editing by Joe Pacheco

The Hustle's My First Million presents: Million Dollar Brainstorm is back. Host Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and The Hustle CEO Sam Parr (@theSamParr) sit down and discuss what side hustles, trends and big business ideas that's keeping them up at night. Long episode today! First half is with 8-figure ad agency founder Brendan Gahan to talk biz models, overhead and profitability. Then the second half is with Daniel Gross who sold his startup to Apple in his twenties and rolled that win into multiple unicorn investments. Enjoy! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brendan Gahan, founder of Epic Signal, talks about social video as the new landing page. Brendan says that social video needs to act as a more self-contained landing page because customers are now visiting fewer websites and traditional websites. The Epic Signal agency handles campaigns for many major brands, and was purchased by Mekanism in 2015. Note that this podcast was recorded before Vidcon, so some details may have changed since then.GUEST: Brendan Gahan of Epic Signal and Mekanism. See Brendan on BrendanGahan.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, and read his post “Social Video is the New Landing Page.”SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSSHOST: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTubeSPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy StudiosREAD THE TRANSCRIPT

Brendan Gahan, founder of Epic Signal, talks about social video as the new landing page. Brendan says that social video needs to act as a more self-contained landing page because customers are now visiting fewer websites and traditional websites. The Epic Signal agency handles campaigns for many major brands, and was purchased by Mekanism in 2015. Note that this podcast was recorded before Vidcon, so some details may have changed since then.GUEST: Brendan Gahan of Epic Signal and Mekanism. See Brendan on BrendanGahan.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, and read his post “Social Video is the New Landing Page.”SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSSHOST: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTubeSPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy StudiosREAD THE TRANSCRIPT

Brendan Gahan, Founder and EVP of Epic Signal Tune in to hear Brendan discuss: How to generate sales via YouTube! Tips on standing out and creating buzz for your brand How to navigate influencer marketing to grow your business The “Post and Pray” method and why it's not successful How to know which social media platform is best suited for your company

Brendan Gahan, Founder and EVP of Epic Signal Tune in to hear Brendan discuss: How to generate sales via YouTube! Tips on standing out and creating buzz for your brand How to navigate influencer marketing to grow your business The “Post and Pray” method and why it’s not successful How to know which social media platform is best suited for your company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining today's show is Brendan Gahan, the founder of Epic Signal. He was named to Forbes 30 under 30 in 2012 and was tapped by the White Hose to advise on awareness efforts for the Affordable Care Act. Brendan shares his experiences with reason influencer marketing programs he's created for Starbucks and Amazon reaching some customers that had previsouly eluded some marketers. "Meet them where they are and deliver content they enjoy. They'll consume it." He advises brands to forget the "post and pray" approach with influencers. Instead, "point and pay" - target, then use paid ads to reach those consumers with your influencers' messages.  Thanks to our sponsors Social Joey and FranchiseSoft!      

Influencer marketing expert Brendan Gahan discusses the history & present state of influencer marketing, how to stand out when pitching brands,  and the power of ongoing partnerships. ABOUT BRENDAN Brendan Gahan is the founder of Epic Signal and works with Fortune 500 brands on their YouTube influencer and community building campaigns. Brendan is on the advisory board for Vidcon, the largest YouTube gathering. He was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Marketing & Advertising, and was invited to the White House as one of the nation’s youth leaders to advise on how to get the word out about the Affordable Care Act. CONNECT WITH BRENDAN Web EpicSignal.com Web BrendanGahan.com Twitter @brendangahan IG @brendangahan

Brendan Gahan is founder of influencer-marketing agency, Epic Signal. In this recorded interview with ITVT Editor-in-Chief, Tracy Swedlow, he discusses how the company finds influencers and builds long-term partnerships with them; how it manages campaigns across multiple platforms; how it determines engagement rates; how it seeks to ensure brand safety; how it is addressing new challenges presented by recent algorithm and advertising-policy changes by YouTube and Facebook; and much more.