Branded content producer and content marketing exec David Beebe forges strategic partnership with Toast Studio, inks exclusive branded entertainment development deal

Under the pact, Beebe, who previously led the Marriott Content Studio, Disney/ABC TV Group Digital Content Studio, and was EP on I’ll Have What Phil’s Having (PBS) will develop branded entertainment, digital brands, and content marketing initiatives via his company, exclusively under the Toast Studio banner throughout Canada.

 Toast Studio, a leading branded entertainment and content marketing agency founded 17 years ago, announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership and development deal with branded content producer and content marketing executive David Beebe, who AdWeek named a “Branded content master who makes it OK to love marketing” and AdAge named a Top 40 under 40 “forward thinker, risk taker, and rainmaker in marketing”.

The deal aims to strategically and creatively partner on developing branded content and content marketing initiatives with Toast via Beebe’s company Content Decoded, exclusively under the Toast Studio banner throughout Canada.

The partnership will strengthen and bolster the creative and strategic storytelling capabilities for brands throughout Canada that partner with Toast to develop branded entertainment, influencer marketing, content marketing, and brand publishing platforms. Beebe will serve as an Executive Producer on projects developed under the deal.

“Brands need to stop interrupting what consumers are interested in with ads and start becoming what they’re interested in with content, and the team at Toast Studio understands that the next generation of marketing is in brand led, story driven creative and content,” said David Beebe. “They get that marketing as interruption is over and that if brands want to be relevant in a world where consumers are in charge, they must start creating content that delivers value to the consumer instead of creating content about features and benefits. Partnering with Toast will help transform the brands they work with and help them succeed in their content marketing and branded entertainment initiatives.”

Beebe was most recently the VP, Global Creative and Content Marketing for Marriott International, where he led the creative and strategic development of consumer facing creative and content marketing for the portfolio of 30 hotel brands.

He created the Marriott Content Studio, which won Brand of the Year at MIPTV; M Live, the real-time marketing brand command centre, which won two Cannes Lions; and Marriott Traveller, a digital publication focused on destination marketing content. While at Marriott, Beebe developed and was an EP on over fifty original productions including webisodes, original series, travel shows, documentaries, and brand films including Two Bellmen, Two Bellmen Two, Two Bellmen Three, Business Unusual, French Kiss, Open Invitation with Bill Rancic, and As The Fire Pit Burns with Niecy Nash.

Prior to Marriott, Beebe was VP for the Disney/ABC Television Group Content Studio, a division he created where he led the creative development, production, and distribution of brand supported derivative webisodes for Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, LOST, Scrubs, along with original series for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and live programming for the Oscars, where Beebe was honoured by the TV Academy with the Emmy for outstanding creative achievement in interactive media for producing the 83rd Oscars Digital Experience. Beebe was also EP on the original Yahoo series Ultimate Proposal with Cameron Mathison and Stunt Nation with Sal Masekela.

“Partnering with Beebe and Content Decoded strengthens our capabilities with large, global brands in developing powerful content marketing strategies and branded entertainment properties,” mentions Alexandre Gravel, founding partner at Toast. “His experience and insights into the current media landscape are at the core of his unique ability to translate business objectives into engaging creative and content that consumers will engage with.”

Content Decoded, a new series of masterclasses

The deal not only gives brands access to Beebe’s experience of launching three branded content studios, but also a new venture developed under this deal with Toast: the Content Decoded branded content training series of strategy workshops and creative labs, available to marketing executives as a one-day event in select cities. It will also offered as an enterprise-level offering to marketing teams who want to learn how to transform their marketing from a cost center to a revenue center and to start creating content that wins the hearts, minds, and wallets of next generation consumers.

For details, cities and dates for Content Decoded, visit the official page of the masterclass.