MediaLink Chief Brand Officer and Managing Director Lena Petersen is set to join Sugar23, an entertainment company that produces content and manages talent.

Petersen will take on the newly created role of chief strategy officer and become a partner at Sugar23 at the end of August. The company, founded by longtime Hollywood producer Michael Sugar in 2017, has been growing its presence in the brand space. 

In May, Sugar23 launched an entertainment upfront during which top-level producers and celebrities pitched early-development projects, including films, TV shows and documentaries, to brand executives. The company recently signed an agreement with Starbucks to launch Starbucks Studios so that the coffee giant can produce original entertainment.

Petersen had been with MediaLink for more than eight years. She was recently named one of the top executives leading the company following the departure of former MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan amid his legal battle with MediaLink owner UTA.

Petersen said Kassan’s departure was not a factor in her decision. She initially intended to stay at MediaLink until she met Sugar, she said. “Sometimes you meet people throughout your career and you’re like ‘I just want to work with that person,’” Petersen said. "The vision he’s outlined is a vision that I know brands need to embrace.”

Prior to her time at MediaLink, Petersen spent more than 16 years at Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. Before that, she spent four-plus years at sibling agency Leo Burnett.

Also read: Michael Kassan and the ad industry connector role

“We can’t thank Lena enough for her many years of impact and dedication to MediaLink,” said a spokeswoman for the consultancy. “She will be a lifelong friend of the firm, and we wish her much continued success in her next chapter.”

Petersen said she helped build a practice at MediaLink, where she consulted with brands such as Yahoo, Spectrum and Delta Air Lines on their business models and brand positioning. She was also responsible for highlighting MediaLink’s ability to handle massive brand reviews such as the current global creative review for Adobe.

Petersen, who will work alongside Sugar23’s Head of Brands Matt Rotondo, is being brought in to build Sugar23’s awareness in the marketing world. She will also be tasked with furthering Sugar23’s mission to help brands invest early in entertainment projects as a way of building brand equity. 

“In Hollywood, we’re well known, and I believe well-liked, [but] in the brand world we're a startup, and we’re a noisy startup right now,” Sugar said. “Everybody I know in the brand world says that they love Lena and to me, that's the best branding we can get.”

Part of the challenge is making brands aware of the possibilities under Sugar23’s model. “There’s a [misconception] out there that it's very expensive [for brands to be involved in entertainment projects] and it doesn't need to be,” Petersen said.

Sugar23 currently has projects in place with more than a dozen brands. Sugar said Petersen’s relationships will help the company get closer to both brands and agencies. “We believe media dollars are going to shift into premium entertainment,” he said. “We want the holding companies and the media buyers to jump in this with us.”

Sugar23 manages more than 350 movie stars, directors and screenwriters including Keanu Reeves, Steven Soderbergh, Josh Singer and Jeremy Strong, among others.

The company has 60 employees and offices in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. It is opening a location in Chicago, where Petersen will be based. 

Other companies, such as Superconnector Studios, have also been looking to work with brands in the entertainment space. Northwell Health recently launched Northwell Studios with the help of production company CreativeChaos vmg.

Sugar said he is encouraged by competition in the space. “I look at it as a validation of why we’re doing this,” Sugar said. “I will put our our track record ahead of, or at least tied with, anybody who might be a competitor now.”