It’s not often that one gets to record a podcast from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. So when the opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to take advantage!
In Ep. 135 of Earned, our guest host Chris Curtis, Global Head of Strategic Accounts at CreatorIQ, sits down with Julie Haleluk, Global Head of Growth at Amazon Shopping Video.
Recorded live from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this week’s guest host Chris Curtis, Global Head of Strategic Accounts at CreatorIQ, sits down with Julie Haleluk, Global Head of Growth for Amazon Shopping Videos. To start, we dive into the transformative world of shoppable video content and its impact on digital marketing. Julie shares her professional journey from agency work to influential roles at DirectTV and AT&T, which eventually led her to Amazon. Next, Julie offers insight into how her diverse career background fuels her innovative approach to content development, marketing, and product management. We then discuss how Amazon has been a pioneer in shoppable video, with the rapid growth of Amazon Live, the introduction of the Amazon Live Fast channel, and its revolutionary Shop the Show technology. We explore the critical role of measurement in this evolving field, and unpack compelling case studies that highlight the potential for future growth within the Amazon ecosystem. To close the show, Julie shares her passion for future planning and being on the cutting edge of what's coming next.
We’ve included a couple of highlights from the episode below, but be sure to check out the full video above, or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
“Authenticity is the secret to a brand being successful, a creator being successful, matching them together, and whether that match works”: Amazon’s Julie Haleluk Shares Why Authenticity is the Secret to Success
Chris Curtis: I'd love for you to tell our audience a little bit about what the selection process looks like as you think about brands that you want to bring into your ecosystem, as well as creators that you want to bring into your ecosystem.
Julie Haleluk: The answer is actually quite similar, whether it's a brand or a creator. We've been talking about this for quite some time, but it's also been a theme here in Cannes, which is how critical authenticity is. Authenticity is really the secret to a brand being successful, a creator being successful, matching them together, and whether that match works. If it feels inauthentic, the customer is going to feel it, and then that content doesn't really resonate or make sense.
One of the things we've seen with creators, which is incredible, is they have this special talent of making a one-to-many relationship feel one-to-one, because the customer feels seen. Let's say I'm looking for a fashion influencer, someone who looks like me, is my size so I can see how the clothes will fit, and whether she likes it or not. If a brand were to partner with her and it's a natural fit for what she might be wearing, that's fine with me because it's still super natural. If the brand match is inauthentic to the creator, that's where it's not as successful. That's a lot of what we talk about and a lot of what we look at. Whether that's content development that we're creating organically, or our creators are uploading and sharing and streaming on their own, or brand partnerships.
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