eBay on TikTok — team Gen Z or Millennials? Creator-led social storytelling made for the feed.
TikTok ↗05Case Study — Edelman, 2021–2024
Edelman Creator Studio
It started as a launch: an internal creator and content studio built inside Edelman to support social creative and thought leadership for clients across sectors — real-time content, creator-led work, and multi-format storytelling. Three years later it became my remit to scale that model globally as Chief Content Officer, overseeing social and digital-first creative and content worldwide.
- Role
- Global Chief Content Officer
- Discipline
- Practice Build
- Location
- Global · headquartered New York
- Duration
- 2021–2024 · Studio President → Global Chief Content Officer
I. The Challenge
Edelman had scale, but the social and creator layer was still bolted onto traditional comms. First: launch a studio inside the agency that could move at the speed of the feed. Then: turn that studio's model into a global practice — scaling the Content Lab, building social-first creative, AI content generation, and TikTok creator capabilities, and making digital-first content a growth engine for the whole agency.
II. Approach
How we got there.
- 01
Launched and led an internal creator and content studio within Edelman — supporting social creative and thought leadership for clients across sectors, with real-time content creation, social campaigns, creator-led work, and multi-format storytelling.
- 02
Scaled Content Lab globally and built out new capabilities — social-first creative, AI content generation, and a bench of TikTok creators.
- 03
Led or supported all social and digital new business, making content creation and strategy a driver of client growth across sectors and both corporate and brand practices.
Five posts · two platforms
The work, in the wild.
YouTube
Launching a thought leadership series for key iShares executives on investment principles — a blueprint for doing content in a highly regulated industry.
YouTube
The award-winning series for HP, returning to the Palo Alto garage where HP was founded — and Silicon Valley was born — for conversations with key tech leaders about how they think about innovation.
III. Execution
Studio launch and leadership, global capability building, hands-on creative leadership, and new business — across clients spanning MAC, eBay, Google, Baby Dove, LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams, Pure Leaf, Nutro, and more.
IV. Results
- 3×
- Clients supported with digital/social content creation and strategy
- 3×
- Revenue pipeline in 1.5 years
- 15+
- New clients and significant new work streams won
- Global
- Social and digital-first creative oversight, worldwide
V. Credits
- Studio President → Global Chief Content OfficerKatie Walmsley
- AgencyEdelman
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