Telling Brand Stories Without A Compass

Live on Zoom - Wednesday, May 20th at 1:00PM PST

Delivering impactful stories is rooted in understanding how your audience is feeling and what they need from you. So how do you tell stories when emotions are so uncertain and unstable? How are brands gauging what kinds of stories their audience is ready for?  And how are they preparing for what’s next when “what’s next” is so hard to predict? It’s especially tricky in areas like money, health, and education. 

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Hosted by

Danielle Dardashti Founder & CEO

dash. branded content

Danielle Dardashti founded dash. to help marketers tell more impactful stories. She is an Emmy award-winning documentary producer/writer, a former on-air TV reporter, the co-author of three published books, and has held leadership roles in branded content at Meredith Corporation and Tribune Publishing. Danielle is an advisor to brands on story strategy, video, podcasts, and interactive experiences. She leads corporate workshops on Strategic Storytelling, and provides one-on-one story coaching for executives. In 2019, Danielle took home the top prize at Brand Storytelling’s open mic competition at Elevate in Park City, Utah. She lives in White Plains, New York, with her husband and their two teenagers.

Featuring

Alexa Christon

SVP of Brand

Pearson

Alexa is currently the SVP of Brand at Pearson – the world’s learning company. Previously, Alexa served as the Head of Media Innovation at GE where she led award winning work including GE Podcast Theater, NY x GE VR and Fallonventions ongoing segment with The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Alexa has worked on brands such as Pepsi, Yahoo! and Time Warner Cable during her 15+ career in advertising and marketing.

As co-host of ADLANDIA, a bi-weekly podcast focused on the signals in the noise of the advertising/marketing industry, Alexa and co-host Laura Correnti challenge that “same ole'” thinking, address what’s in your feed, and highlight trends that haven’t hit the trades, or at least not quite in the same way. Each episode listeners will have a chance to meet some of the industry’s most inspiring talent and learn about the business models, ideas and obsessions they’re bringing to the booth.

Marcy Cohen

SVP Digital Communications

Mastercard

Marcy Cohen is Senior Vice President, Global Digital Communications at Mastercard. She is responsible for developing and implementing digital communications strategies to drive the company’s corporate reputation. She launched storylab, an in-house content studio infusing storytelling with creativity, color and authenticity. At the core of storylab is the Content Exchange, the company’s human centered storytelling site, launched during the Covid-19 pandemic. She conceived of the company’s first branded podcast, Fortune Favors the Bold about the role money plays in our lives. Prior to her current role she was head of social media at Sony Electronics where she led a team in developing and executing digital and social media initiatives for new product introductions and corporate brand initiatives.

Dana Gandsman

Senior Director, Reputation Communications, Pfizer Inc.

Dana currently leads communications to support Pfizer’s corporate reputation. This includes enterprise reputation measurement, corporate advertising, digital initiatives and colleague engagement activities.

Previously, Dana was responsible for product public relations for Pfizer Innovative Health where she oversaw global communications for several key brands in the portfolio, including Eliquis, Viagra and Chantix/Champix.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Dana worked at several public relations agencies where she supported global and US communications for a number of leading companies and brands in the pharmaceutical, consumer, OTC and non-profit sectors. Dana holds a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University.

Brad Young

Leader, Content Center of Excellence, Prudential

Brad Young leads the Content Center of Excellence at Prudential. He and his team of content experts are responsible for conceiving, writing and deploying experiences that deepen engagement and strengthen relationships with Prudential’s prospects and 25 million customers, while inspiring them to take action to improve their financial well-being. In his four years at the firm, he and his team have created more than 500 pieces of original editorial for customers and prospects, developed campaigns for customer engagement across email and other personalized channels, and strategized narratives for interactive financial planning products, tools and platforms.

Brad came to Prudential from Dun & Bradstreet, where he was Global Content Marketing Strategy Leader, reporting to the CMO. In that key role, Brad led the marketing team in the creation, curation and editorial coordination of world-class, modern content experiences for customers, prospects, partners and influencers of the firm.

Brad also spent 17 years at Time Inc., working in a number of roles across some of the world’s leading magazine brands. His roles included CMO of News and Business, and Associate Publisher - Marketing for FORTUNE Magazine. Brad began his career at Sports Illustrated in 1997.

A proud alumnus of Penn State University in State College, PA, Brad holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, with concentrations in Political Science and Philosophy. While at “Dear Old State,” Brad was a writer and sports editor for PSU’s student newspaper, the Daily Collegian, where he covered major college athletics, including football, basketball, baseball and more.