QYOU's Glenn Ginsburg on Austin Powers, Schitt's Creek, and the Power of Influencers

Glenn Ginsburg is senior vice president of global partnerships at QYOU Media. He is responsible for ensuring that QYOU Media features the best of the web in its programming lineup, while adding to its existing partnerships with leading influencers, talent managers and agencies. 

He also launched and runs QYOU’s influencer marketing agency, whose clients include Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers and other leading entertainment companies. Under Glenn’s leadership, QYOU Media has also become a leader in brand engagement on TikTok.

Glenn has an extensive background specializing in digital, social and convergence media and branded entertainment. He has initiated, built and managed digital-focused businesses for media companies including Walt Disney Company, MTV Networks, USA Networks and Marvel Entertainment.

We spoke with Glenn for our Backstory series, where we chat with folks in the entertainment industry about their creative inspirations and more.

Glenn, tell us

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I was born in Philadelphia, raised in Manhattan and live in Los Angeles now.

Your first job in the industry.

I worked at Marvel Comics circa 1994. As a huge comic book fan, I was like a kid in a candy store!

A breakthrough moment in your career.

A breakthrough moment was when I realized my own thoughts could go viral! Early in my career, I was at USA Networks/Syfy channel, and I wrote a short creative piece for myself to help with a project. Months later, on a lark, I shared it with the new Syfy channel brand manager who was tasked with a big network rebrand. The creative that I used to guide myself and my work for the channel had all of a sudden sparked a flurry of emails among the C-suite and top executives and eventually became the underpinning of a major national marketing campaign.

My idea reached and entertained millions. And wow, that feeling was very appealing. Fast forward to today, I’ve honed that skill, and I’m developing campaigns that reach and engage hundreds of millions of people on social platforms!

Three movies you couldn’t do without.

Les Enfant du Paradis. To me, it’s a distillation of artistry in filmmaking. The mime performances of the Baptiste character are simply exquisite. 

Billy Elliot. I’m a sucker for David and Goliath/overcoming great obstacles stories! Billy Elliot is a great one and so well told. 

Star Wars. Well, that one changed everything. 

Your favorite movie trailer or poster.

My favorite movie poster has to be Austin Powers. It just really hit the mark for me. I’m pretty confident that some of my favorite movie quotes came from that franchise! Just one of my favorite quotes is, “You know I have one simple request and that is to have sharks with freakin’ laser beams attached to their heads.”

A classic TV show and a recent TV show that you loved.

We started watching Columbo with Peter Falk recently and love it! What fun stories and characters! “Oh… just one more thing…” 

Schitt’s Creek was a recent series that I loved. Each episode made me crave the next because of the engaging storytelling and the strength of each character and their development.

A recent project you’re proud of.

At QYOU Media we get to work on so many great entertainment marketing projects that it’s hard to choose just one.

However, I’m very proud of our campaign work for DreamWorks’ The Croods: A New Age. We launched the film’s presence on TikTok, delivered over 140 million organic views and built their official channel into the most viewed channel for a family movie ever on the platform. Growing the @croods channel from 0 to 689,000 followers is something we’re really proud of.

The campaign content was fun and engaging, and the effort made a big impact for the film. The film outperformed at every window from theatrical to PVOD to home entertainment! 

Someone else’s project that you admired recently.

I really admire the work of Home Brew Agency. I don’t know them personally, but we sometimes both support the same marketing projects but in different areas. For Croods, they did some really snazzy work and tackled some innovative programs using social and augmented reality.

One thing about how entertainment marketing is evolving that you’re excited about.

I’m really excited about how influencer marketing is evolving and becoming more prevalent within the overall marketing mix. Influencer marketing has become more center stage for a lot of savvy marketers. Our clients have become increasingly engaged and knowledgeable of the talent and the stories they’re telling. It’s changing from a nice-to-have to a must-have pretty quickly, which is fascinating to watch.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in entertainment marketing.

I’d be a rockstar, adventurer or artist. But if I’m being honest, I’m open to anything that also includes my daughter!