Alanna Strauss
Alanna Strauss is Head of Entertainment at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where she built the Entertainment Advisory Team within the Entertainment Partnerships group. Her career spans advertising, ad tech, Fox Networks Group, Netflix, Fender Guitars and The Martin Agency and it has centered on one idea throughout: a great story can come from anywhere, including a brand.
Where the Path Began
I have spent two years at CAA building the Entertainment Advisory Team and every stop before it shaped how I do the work. I started in advertising, then moved to the Advertising Council, the country’s leading creator of public service announcements. That work taught me how to change minds, not just sell a product and it taught me the discipline of narrative. Say everything and you risk saying nothing. The skill is hyper-focusing on a message and giving it room to grow.
From there I moved into ad tech at a startup called Truax, where I built a creative strategy team from scratch. Fox Networks Group acquired Truax in 2014 and I joined full-time to lead creative strategy for integrated marketing before moving into the branded content studio, where we built content for brands using the same storytelling tools Fox used for film and television.
Netflix came next. I built the creative team for partnerships, bringing Netflix IP and brands together to tell stories neither side could tell alone. I then moved to Fender Guitars, where I ran creative and content and oversaw Fender Play, the app that teaches people guitar. From there I went to The Martin Agency, where I built its first entertainment department and ran the Cultural Impact Lab. Each stop added a skill. CAA is where they came together.
A Day Built Around a Brief
No two briefs we write look the same. Each one is bespoke to where a brand sits in culture, what it wants to achieve and how we can grow it over one, two or three years. Once we set that strategy, it becomes our north star. We print it out and put it on the wall.
Entertainment does not lack ideas. What matters is doing what a brand should do, not everything it could do.
Entertainment does not lack ideas. What matters is doing what a brand should do, not everything it could do. Running an idea back through the brief keeps that focus honest. From there, we use relationships across CAA, the entertainment system, creators and digital platforms to find the right opportunity, build the strategy behind it, negotiate the deal and see it through to execution.
Purpose, People, Process
I build a team around purpose, people and process (3P). Purpose comes first.
What are we here to achieve and how will we do it differently in a market already full of companies working to get brands into entertainment? People come next.
Do we have the right passion, skill and experience on the team? Process closes the loop.
Do we have systems that let those people succeed?
That same standard shapes the work itself. I go home every night facing the same noise as any other consumer, with endless choices for my attention. When we build something for a brand, we want it to stand out and be memorable enough that someone tells someone else about it. That comes down to one question.
Will this move culture? We are not interested in something merely good for a brand. We want something great for entertainment, because brands have real stories to tell and audiences listen as long as the creative earns it.
An Industry Open to Brand Storytelling
Brand storytelling has more room to grow than ever. Hollywood now sees brands as real partners in telling stories, not just a source of financing. Brands hold rich audience data and every person interacts with a brand every day. When I run workshops, I ask each person in the room to write a personal story involving a brand. Fifteen people in a room give me 15 different story ideas. That richness makes brand storytelling a strong platform for entertainment.
Audiences, writers, directors and creators increasingly agree that brands can be strong entertainers and a great story can come from anywhere. The ad-supported model has also returned across the major distributors, which means demand for brand media dollars is shaping how content gets made. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube add even more room for expression.
More options mean more responsibility. A brand still has to build an audience or find where one already exists and every idea still competes with everything else a person could choose to watch instead. A strong creative brief keeps a brand’s message tied to a single vision, no matter how many platforms carry it.
What I Tell the Next Generation
My advice to anyone building a career in this industry is to embrace a range of skills instead of fitting into one box. Creativity and process discipline work well together and exploring every side of your interests builds a stronger foundation than picking one category and staying in it.
The same principle applies to building a team. Give people a clear purpose and a strong anchor, then let them interpret it their own way. Someone doing something differently is not doing it wrong. A team of talented people is only as strong as the freedom they have to bring their own ideas into the world.
