Brendan GahanCEO/Co-Founder Of Creator Authority (Influencer Marketing Agency)

What do we think of story time and what else u wanna know? 👇 (thanks @Jules) #storytime

Name: What do we think of story time and what else u wanna know? 👇 (thanks @Jules) #storytime
Uploaded: 2022-06-17T13:00:02+00:00
Duration: 3 s
Channel: Brendan Gahan
Description: In this conversational storytime, Jul recounts her career path in influencer marketing. Starting with a 2005 ad‑agency internship, she pivoted to social…

17 Jun 2022 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:03

In this conversational storytime, Jul recounts her career path in influencer marketing. Starting with a 2005 ad‑agency internship, she pivoted to social media, securing an early influencer activation with Smosh in 2006. She continued building campaigns before most platforms even offered advertising, working with a wave of early creators. By 2014, as influencer marketing gained traction, her agency attracted major brands such as Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and AT&T. After scaling the business, she sold it to Mekanism, where she now serves as a partner and chief social officer. Throughout, she emphasizes that being an early mover required conviction and that timing is the critical factor in success, offering this as the primary lesson for aspiring marketers.

I recently got some great advice from fellow TikToker. It's me, Jul.
You should share more of your life with TikTok. You should tell the story of how you founded and scaled and sold your agency.
I hate talking about myself, but here we go. In 2005, I got my first internship at an ad agency. I knew that I was spending my time on social media, not on TV, so I pitched working with influencers. Eventually, that led to my first influencer activation with Smosh back in 2006, and I used that experience as a springboard to my next job. I started doing social media campaigns before advertising was even available on most platform. We worked with a ton of early influencers. Then I joined a startup and in 2014 influencer marketing was really starting to take off. Old clients were coming out of the woodwork. My agency began working with brands like Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and AT&T. And after a couple years of doing that, I sold to Mekanism where now I'm a partner and chief social officer. It might look like a linear path, but for years nobody really wanted to do influencer marketing. Now it's a multi-billion dollar industry. Being early was a huge, huge benefit, but it's one that requires a ton of conviction. Because if you're early, it means it's unproven. And I really think that's the one lesson I can share: timing is everything.