Chris Willard Communications, the agency behind high-profile entertainment PR campaigns, has promoted Kyle Pleva to lead its brand storytelling accounts division. Pleva arrives with deep experience across streaming, legacy media, and digital platforms, having held positions at Amazon, Vice Media, and Paramount.
The promotion reflects a broader industry shift toward integrated storytelling across multiple platforms. Brand storytelling accounts represent a growing revenue stream for agencies as studios, streamers, and production companies invest heavily in behind-the-scenes content, documentary-style promotions, and transmedia narratives that extend beyond traditional press releases and red carpet coverage.
Pleva's background in legacy studios and cutting-edge digital outlets positions him well to navigate the fragmented media landscape. Paramount's recent brand work across its consolidated streaming strategy and Vice Media's scrappy approach to content marketing offer templates for how major entertainment companies now approach PR. Amazon's sprawling portfolio across Prime Video, MGM, and Amazon Studios requires coordinating messaging across vastly different audience segments.
Chris Willard Communications operates in a competitive space. Agencies like Rogers & Cowan, The Lede Company, and Narrative PR have all expanded brand storytelling divisions as traditional entertainment PR becomes commoditized. The shift reflects what studios actually want: not just coverage in trade publications, but coordinated narratives across social platforms, industry press, consumer media, and direct-to-audience channels.
Pleva's hire signals Chris Willard Communications' commitment to offering sophisticated brand strategy alongside crisis management and talent representation. In an era when a show's success depends partly on pre-launch TikTok strategy and Reddit community management, agencies need storytellers who understand both legacy media relations and digital-native audiences.
THE TAKEAWAY: Entertainment PR agencies are betting that sophisticated brand storytelling and integrated marketing strategy will become their most profitable service lines as traditional press coverage becomes table stakes.