Tubi’s Nicole Parlapiano brings heart to streaming with unconventional marketing

Nicole Parlapiano has been chief marketing officer at Tubi for less than a year, and in that time has already left her mark on the free, ad-supported streaming service. The marketer hit the ground running after joining from Tinder, turning around Tubi’s first Super Bowl appearance. Two in-game spots—a bizarre one in which horrific bunnies drag TV-watchers into a massive crater filled with Tubi’s broad swath of content, and another in which it appears as if TV screens had been hacked to switch from the Super Bowl to Tubi’s interface—created instant buzz around the streamer. Immediately following the spots, Tubi gained more than 52,000 social mentions and hit its all-time high in Google and YouTube search. The Fox-owned platform also saw a 40% lift in new visitors for the 24 hours following the Big Game, according to the company. “We need to kind of get back to a place of building brands,” said Parlapiano of TV and streaming marketing, noting that the category has moved away from the iconic branding established by channels such as MTV, FX and HBO. “We’re sometimes very focused on the product and engineering, but I think the brand is the heartbeat of the company and I don’t think [Tubi] ever articulated the brand. … To be the heart of really what the company is, maybe not always the brains, is what I bring to the table.” See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here What advice would you give your younger self? That careers and relationships aren’t always linear. When I was younger, I thought that I’d meet my husband in college and that I’d pick a career and start climbing the ladder at one company, but things didn’t happen that way for me and they don’t happen that way for a lot of people. I’d tell my younger self to be patient; you’ll face plenty of setbacks and pivots, but don’t be hard on yourself, and get comfortable with the non-linear narrative of life. It’s a bit more exciting that way. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? I worked at a private equity firm in New York City in 2008 and was already committed to attending a part-time MBA program at USC. My employer had agreed to transfer me to L.A., but when the market started to sour, they backpedaled. I couldn’t really afford to go to school full-time without an income, but I planned on moving to L.A. regardless—without a job and with very few connections in the city. In the final hour, my employer pulled through with a transfer under a different role and department, so everything worked out—but before this happened, making the decision to move felt risky. If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? I’d be a professor. Coaching and developing talent is my favorite part of my job (outside of the actual work). I think there’s a real need for practitioners alongside academics, especially within business programs, at the collegiate level. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? We have plenty of pipeline for women in marketing and communications—we just break down at the executive level, from director to VP to C-suite. In order to have more women in leadership, I believe work environments need to be more accommodating to families and mothers—which is a broader systemic issue in the U.S. When it comes to bringing more people of color into the industry, I think the first step is to drop ridiculous recruiting requirements. Gen Zers have been living life in the digital world and are pretty astute in marketing. I don’t think a college degree is necessarily required in today’s world. Companies need to be more open about bringing candidates with diverse experiences into the pipeline, regardless of their education or professional background. Finally, diversity is different from inclusion. Hiring diverse talent is one thing, but fostering an inclusive work environment that encourages employees to stay is another. How do you expect emerging tech like Web3 and AI to impact your job in the future? Web3 and AI are opening up new ways and spaces to natively connect with consumers, as well as fostering new product innovation, which excites me as a marketer. These emerging technologies also reduce some of the mundane day-to-day tasks that aren’t exactly creative or strategic, which frees up energy to focus fully on macro things that will drive the business. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here

Tubi’s Nicole Parlapiano brings heart to streaming with unconventional marketing

Featured Stories