Mike Bruno
Content Strategist // Brand Ambassador // Producer
Tell every story, beautifully.
As a veteran media professional in New York City, I’ve had the unique opportunity to develop content and marketing strategies for some of the world's most storied brands. I bring editorial insights and experience as a brand ambassador at the highest levels to implement innovative content programs that result in a measurable impact on business.
Strategy
Storytelling with purpose
I offer a unique professional perspective at the intersection of editorial and marketing. I enjoy brainstorming ideas and sharing my past successes (and missteps) so we can quickly develop an effective plan of action. I deliver comprehensive, actionable content strategies that will engage the target customers and take them on a journey that culminates with the desired result.
Creation
Multimedia/multiplatform content
I have more than 15 years of experience creating premium creative across web, print, video, social and podcasts to companies looking to attack their content plan efficiently and effectively. After a brief assessment of needs and goals, I assemble a world-class team able to generate laser-focused custom content that meets aggressive budgets and deadlines.
Operations
Assess, build, train
I have built (and overhauled) content operations for companies both big and small. Through a series of staff-wide interviews and stakeholder input sessions, I deliver a plan of action to build an org meticulously aligned with goals and budgets and provide the training necessary to get the team firing on all cylinders as quickly as possible. Email me for an initial consultation.
Featured Work
"How It Went Down"
Developed and launched this weekly series mixing live-action and animation featuring major artists breaking down the origin story to their current hit. The series is Billboard's most successful to date and earned a Webby Award nomination in 2017.
Partnered with Snapchat to create the platform's first-ever music-themed show, "Artist Pass." Each five-minute episode was a mini-documentary featuring artists throughout summer festival season on the road and backstage, interacting with fans and performing.
Developed and produced weekly advice series aimed at educating viewers about credit card and travel strategy funneling them back to the site for conversion. The series regularly tallies 10K organic views and is a critical top-funnel device for the company.
More Work
Open Letter to Congress
June 12, 2016: We woke to news that a gunman murdered 49 people in cold blood at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Forty-nine souls out for a night of friendship, music and dancing, stolen at the hands of a man wielding two legally purchased semi-automatic firearms. It was the deadliest mass shooting in US history and the nation's worst terror attack since 9/11.
I was the editor of Billboard, a publication that celebrates music and fandom. I needed to do more than just cover this story. I was blessed with an opportunity to turn the outrage, sympathy and disgust we all were feeling that morning into action. I answered the calling.
The response was Billboard's open letter to Congress calling for sensible gun law reform. In just a few days, we got nearly 200 top artists and executives — pop stars, rappers, rock legends, Broadway heroes, even two Beatles and Yoko Ono — to lend their voices to the chorus of Americans looking to our political leaders for change.
The letter and signatures graced the starkly beautiful gatefold cover of the July 2 issue of Billboard magazine, shown here. I wish I could say the effort ended that day, that Congress acted and gun violence waned. But 15 months later, we woke on the morning of October 2, 2017 to news of another mass shooting in a space where music fans had gathered when 58 people were murdered at a Las Vegas music festival.
I'm proud to say Billboard continues this campaign for change.