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- The Digest: Fairfield County Marketing & Media Pros
The Digest: Fairfield County Marketing & Media Pros
Critical insights, local highlights, new opportunities.
Shawn Kallet
January 22, 2026
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Digest.
Are you in Park City? No? Me neither.
Right now, media and entertainment execs are in not-so-snowy Utah attending the last Sundance festival in Park City. Next year the festival moves to Boulder, CO, which seems symbolic given the shifting media and entertainment economy.
Creators are the new studios making prime time, must see TV that fans are watching on YouTube. The platform paid $100B+ to creators in four years and directly supports over 490,000 full-time jobs behind the camera.
Yesterday, YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan published his annual letter about the company’s priorities for 2026. In years past, I’ve built business models and media strategies based on new product launches and priorities announced in the letter.
But this year, it doesn’t feel like there are any big game changing updates to YouTube’s priorities. The company is mid-stride in a multiyear takeover of the entertainment industry. It’s already won the battle for attention.
Now it’s trying to round out the moat that will keep it ahead of competitors by reducing friction for users, creators, and media companies.
YouTube is central to the new model for building brands.
Whether your brand is a consumer product, commercial manufacturer, digital service, or entertainment IP, the playbook is the same. It starts with storytelling to attract fans before using paid media to move them through the funnel.
It looks like this:
No brand better exemplifies this than the Savannah Bananas.
This week’s Video of the Week is Banana Ball founder Jesse Cole showing how they plan everything they do around the fan experience. That includes broadcasting games for free on YouTube.
I think the Savannah Bananas are among the smartest marketers in the world. This video should be required viewing for everyone in sports, media, and entertainment.
What do you think about the changes happening in media? What do these stories say to you about how business will adapt this year? What did I miss? Feel free to drop me a note with feedback.
Local Jobs
***NEW*** Senior Director, Customer Relationship Management and Customer Lifecycle Marketing | Spectrum | Stamford
***NEW*** VP, Business Development Marketing | Synchrony | Stamford
***NEW*** Assistant Marketing Manager, BaBylissPRO | Conair | Stamford
***NEW*** Manager, Product Marketing - Cybersecurity | MasterCard | Purchase, NY
***NEW*** Marketing Director | BrightLake AI | Stamford
CRM Strategy Director | Deloitte | Stamford
Director, Brand Partnerships | Rhone | Stamford
Sr. Creative Director | NBC Sports Marketing | Stamford
Director, Partnerships | Primo Brands | Stamford
Director, Category Management | Primo Brands | Stamford
Producer | vineyard vines | Stamford
Director, Customer Marketing – Mass | Conair | Stamford
Vice President Marketing | Arccos Golf | Stamford
VP, Digital, Global Partnerships | TKO Group | Stamford
Video of The Week
Channel: Jesse Cole and Banana Ball
Title: Inside Banana Ball's BIG Investments (What's Next)
Published: January 20, 2026
Founder Jesse Cole presents the Savannah Bananas' "Fans First Report" for 2026, highlighting their commitment to a "fans first and entertain always" mission. They aim to share insights into their organization and business, emphasizing transparency despite not being a public company
What’s Next?
This digest is a starting point. The goal is to build a community of senior marketing and media professionals in Fairfield County. If you have news to share, a campaign to highlight, job opportunities, or an event to promote, please email me at [email protected]
Best,
Shawn
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