Host Chloe Adelson sits down with Autumn Casey, VP of Social Agency at Hearst, to trace how the social landscape has shifted and what it means for how brands show up today. Autumn shares how her team grew from the ground floor into an agency serving local businesses across the US, and why staying on top of new tools and trends beats copying what everyone else is doing.
The conversation digs into audience behavior, from fractured attention spans and abandoned sessions to the high stakes of a first impression in a feed that has grown ad-averse and AI-resistant. Autumn explains her idea of a unique human stamp and why trust and relatability are now central to content that actually resonates.
She also gets practical about AI, where it helps and where it can quietly make a brand replicable and therefore replaceable. Looking ahead, she points to nostalgia, third spaces, and in-person experiences, using a real campaign example to illustrate the pull back toward the tangible. Press play for a grounded, forward-looking take on storytelling that connects.