Q&A with New Brand Storytelling Advisory Board Member Greg Manago

Greg Manago’s lifelong passion for telling stories and entertaining audiences found a home in his professional life by way of creating content. As a key leader of Mindshare Entertainment, Manago has created groundbreaking and innovative digital content for the past seven years. He’s been a creative leader in the development of some of the largest branded content campaigns in the field, including Unilever and Sprint's In The Motherhood, Degree's The Rookie partnership with 24, Unilever's Smith/Winter/Mitchell campaign that ran during Mad Men, Poise's Great Women in History, the launch of Magnum Ice Cream (featuring three films directed by Karl Lagerfeld), Degree's Masters of Movement, and Royal Caribbean's Royal Deck-athlon. And now, he is the newest member of the Brand Storytelling Advisory Board.

Brand Storytelling sat down with Manago to find out what excites him about the future of branded entertainment and what he aims to bring to the Brand Storytelling table:

What first brought you to the world of branded content?

Before anyone knew what Branded Content was, I was working at Vh1 as a senior producer on 100 Greatest Kid Stars in 2005 when my former boss from Broadway Video, David Lang (currently Mindshare’s Chief Content Officer) called me and asked me to come work for him at an agency called Mindshare. I had no idea what Mindshare was nor what I was getting into, but David said: “there’s a great opportunity here to do something special.” I was a little bored in my job at Vh1, so I gave it a chance and never looked back!

What do you want to gain from being on the Brand Storytelling advisory board? What do you want to give?

I am looking to learn, to be inspired, and to meet the best storytellers working in the business today. I want to give whatever the membership is looking for me to give. Hopefully I can be a resource and maybe we can have some fun along the way...

What branded content trends do you think are worth watching in 2020?

I am looking forward to seeing how the audio space continues to grow as a place where brands are pushing creativity in 2020. I am also looking at cross brand/publisher partnerships as a place where brands can really connect with audiences and leverage multiple partners to tell stories in 2020.

What are your current projects? Anything to look out for this year?

can’t talk about confidential client work, but we have some interesting things cooking and I hope to have more to share soon. One thing we recently launched – which I’m very proud of is Talk Turkey, a branded talk show created by Wild Turkey and Complex and hosted by Matthew McConaughey.

Any parting thoughts as the newest member of the Brand Storytelling advisory board?

Stories have proven to be the most important form of teaching and communication that human beings have used for millennia. I am passionate about storytelling (both as a storyteller and a listener!) and am honored to be counted among this group. Hope to see you all in person soon!

About Greg Manago

I have had a lifelong passion for telling stories and entertaining audiences by creating content. As a key leader of Mindshare Entertainment, I have created groundbreaking and innovative digital content for the past seven years. I have been a creative leader in the creation of some of the most successful campaigns in the history of branded content including: Unilever and Sprint's In The Motherhood, Degree's The Rookie partnership with 24, Unilever's Smith/Winter/Mitchell campaign that ran during Mad Men, Poise's Great Women in History, the launch of Magnum Ice Cream (featuring three films directed by Karl Lagerfeld), Degree's Masters of Movement, and Royal Caribbean's Royal Deck-athlon. I cut my teeth as a TV producer for Broadway Video Entertainment and Vh1. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, I have leveraged my ideas, marketing expertise, and creative execution for many of the world's major advertisers.I have worked in the digital content space for more than half of my career - and I see every day as an opportunity to break new ground and do something innovative in the space.