Alyssa Foster, who leads Brand Partnerships and Entertainment PR at Southwest Airlines shares insights into how Southwest uses storytelling to connect with travelers, highlight the heart of its people, and create authentic brand moments. From their groundbreaking short film "Alone in Tombstone" to leveraging micro-influencers for campaigns like "Summer of Go," Alyssa gives us an inside look at how Southwest is redefining airline marketing.

Michael Sternoff, Principal Creative Director at Amazon’s Project Kuiper does a deep dive into the art of authentic brand storytelling. He discusses the hero’s journey, the power of spotlighting real people over celebrities, and how brands can take a supporting role in stories that resonate.

Discover how the LA Times is redefining branded content with emotional impact at the core. Kristen Berke, Vice President of National Advertising and Branded Content, shares how her team blends editorial storytelling with platform-specific strategies to create engaging narratives. From Oscar-winning short documentaries to innovative brand collaborations, they are proving the power of stories that connect deeply with audiences.

Ramon Soto, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Northwell Health reveals a powerful lesson in how Northwell’s innovative partnership model that puts purpose before profit is reshaping the future of their branded content. By offering filmmakers unprecedented access to their hospitals and healthcare teams, Northwell has elevated their brand while fostering deeper audience connections with their customers. It’s a lesson in how other brands can achieve social good and business success through collaboration in creative storytelling.

Marcus Peterzell, CEO of Passion Point Collective, and Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre are two of the branded documentary space’s foremost experts on distribution and funding. While many clients come to them with the dream of getting their brand film on Netflix or other large streamers, Marcus & Brian break down why that dream may not be right for everyone. They detail how to leverage other opportunities that exist in the marketplace for distribution based on your unique goals.

Chief Brand Officer Ben O’Meara and Senior Manager of Strategic Media Partnerships Jeremy Berres Paul from men’s lifestyle retailer Huckberry discuss the creation and distribution of their episodic travel show “Dirt,” and why they chose to invest in such a high quality format.

Vice President of Content Marketing at Marriott International Annie Granatstein discusses how the hospitality brand develops and distributes multiple original travel series worthy of distribution on major streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and how they support this "hero" content with a 360-degree marketing plan.

Vice President of Content at Wine Enthusiast Dara Kapoor discusses the opportunities presented by merging the retail and media sides of the brand and how they’ve recently utilized the popular genre of the narrative crime podcast to create a niche show called "Vinfamous" that’s growing their reach.

Senior Brand Marketing Manager of Backcountry, Elise Day shares a behind the scenes look at the making of their film series "Venture Beyond" and why it can be beneficial to build partnships with other brands and foundations that can help with funding, distribution and reach of top-tier storytelling content.

The Brand Storytelling Selection Committee Members discuss what we took away from viewing submissions across, film, series and podcast for this year’s festival - live on-stage in Park City at Brand Storytelling 2024. We highlight best practices alongside disruptive innovation within strategy, production and distribution of content as we reflect on the opportunity to have a finger on the pulse of this intersection of storytelling and brand engagement.

Manager of Content & Editorial at IAG, Raelene Metlitzky, shares why the NRMA Insurance brand decided to create a feature length documentary about volunteer firefighters. Rae shares how a leap of faith on behalf of the brand turned into a book, then a film, then a movement that’s reached across Australia and has made a profound impact on brand affinity after being picked up for broadcast by the largest network in Australia.

Senior Director of Content at WeTransfer Holly Fraser takes us inside We Present, WeTransfer's award-winning editorial and digital arts platform that creates and commissions unexpected stories of creativity from all over the world, across film, music, photography, art and literature. We get an in depth look at how the team collaborated with Riz Ahmed to create the Academy Award-winning short film, The Long Goodbye.

Creator of the brand funded and Emmy-nominated Hulu series Small Business Revolution, Amanda Brinkman discusses what she saw in common and what stood out amongst the 2023 submissions and official selections in her role as juror of the 2023 Brand Storytelling Theater at Sundance.

Founder of Passion Point Collective Marcus Peterzell breaks down the difference between brand funded films and branded entertainment. He shares best practices from successes he’s had distributing, marketing and promoting brand funded films - including projects for HP, 3M, Aflec & Neutrogena.

Global Content Manager for The North Face, Jon Torres breaks down how the outdoor gear and apparel brand’s content studio selects stories to tell through their renowned film program and how they craft award winning films like the studio’s latest Learning To Drown about professional snowboarder Jess Kimura.

Chief Content Officer of Headspace, Morgan Selzer discusses why the innovative mental health care company is creating lean in and lean back content and how they meet their audience where they are through partnerships with the likes of Netflix and Sesame Street. Morgan also reveals how Headspace also occasionally “hides the vegetables” and is able to educate and entertain simultaneously. View the Headspace collaboration with Sesame Street visit headspace.com/sesame-street, to view the Netflix shows, search Headspace right in the Netflix app. To get a sense of the general content they’re releasing via owned channels, visit headspace.com/articles

Dr. Stephen Marshall from East Tennessee State University, Marc Battaglia of Story & Strategy and Rick Parkhill from Brand Storytelling give an inside look at a first-in-class Brand Film Certification Program. Marc Battaglia also discusses what he observed in the state of brand filmmaking by serving as juror in the first ever Brand Storytelling Theater (film festival) and screening dozens of entries.

Director of Marketing & Communications from the National Forest Foundation Colleen Coleman chats with Jesse about the power of what’s possible when brands and nonprofits partner together, citing recent partnerships between the NFF and brands like Ford Bronco and Black Forest Gummies.

Credo Nonfiction founder Jesse Roesler swaps roles and is interviewed by Kindred Speak founder Sarah Panus for her Marketing With Empathy podcast. The two discuss why documentary filmmaking is one of the most compelling mediums in the brand storyteller’s tool kit and what brands should be thinking about when creating non-fiction films.

Senior Director of Product & Technology at Brand USA, Mark Lapidus discusses Brand USA’s approach to creating and distributing original and licensed content through their own OTT platform GoUSA.