Dan Wakeford

About

As an innovative content expert, I build brands & tell stories to create breakthrough moments that grow audience & revenue. I love to infuse brands with new life through creative strategies that enhance company values, do good for the world and bring in new audiences and revenue. It thrills me to set the national conversation by creating new tentpoles, moments and stories that gain traction and breakthrough in a crowded media landscape. Most recently, as an Editor-in-Chief of PEOPLE, I led a team of 200 and modernized the PEOPLE brand: * I set America’s cultural conversation through exclusive stories and unprecedented access providing talked-about moments of surprise and wonder that generated 4 billion press impressions a week. * I extended the brand into TV, creating five TV shows and pushing the brand into podcasts, video and new social platforms. I grew the digital footprint to 76 million unique visitors and the whole brand footprint to 96 million consumers a month. * I added depth and purpose to the storytelling, positioning the brand as a force for good, with my mental health initiative Let’s Talk About It, and launched programs to encourage COVID vaccinations, spread kindness and celebrate Companies That Care. I expanded the brand’s reporting to LGBTQ+ issues, climate change, domestic abuse and racism, and doubled racial diversity on weekly covers. * I’m a very commercially minded creative and conceived and launched new franchises that brought in tens of millions of dollars of incremental revenue and established new revenue streams through accolades and new niche brands. * During my tenure I won the 2021 Folio Award for the best magazine issue, the 2021 GLAADD Award for outstanding magazine coverage, a Didi Hirsch Award and three consecutive Adweek Hot List Awards for best entertainment brand.AREAS OF EXPERTISEAudience Growth | Quality Content | Content Strategy | Trusted Entertainment Network | Brand Development | Mass Market Communication | PR Crisis Management | Project Management