Matthew Lalin
This week's episode features Matthew Lalin, founder of starpower, an entertainment marketing agency that connects brands with entertainment, sport, music, fashion, beauty talent, influencers and content.
Matt launched starpower from the ground up with his long time colleague and friend Jared Weiss. By leveraging his extensive network of relationships, Matt created a trustworthy, dynamic and unique entertainment marketing agency that “flipped” the model on its head. After graduating from the University of Albany business school in 1998, Matt began his marketing career at Omnicom Group’s Steiner Sports where he rose to Executive Vice President before leaving in 2007 to launch starpower. with offices in New York and Los Angeles, starpower has global capabilities and is a trusted advisor to best in class brands and their partners in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Matt has conceived, negotiated and executed marketing campaigns for a world class roster of brands including Colgate-Palmolive, Diageo, Novo Nordisk, Nestle Waters, Bayer and JDRF. His over 15 years of experience, unwavering loyalty to his clients and his intuitive negotiation abilities have resulted in over 200mm worth of entertainment, music and sport partnerships.
Starpower is built on matthew’s passion for creating an innovative and fun agency culture which is based on loyalty, trust and a strong work ethic. Matt’s work hard, play hard philosophy drives starpower in both the boardroom and behind the scenes. This is evident by his far-reaching network which he views as friends and family at the top level of business, entertainment, music and sport.
Matt was a keynote speaker at the WTA Tour conference where he discussed “monetizing your personal brand” and has also counseled Hunter College students on entertainment marketing. He is highly respected in the industry and has been widely quoted and referenced in the Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, Sports Illustrated, Sports Business Journal as well as on CNBC, CNN and ESPN.
Matt is equally passionate about life outside of work. Whether he is reading with his children, Scarlett and Mason, or engaging in entrepreneurial discussions with his wife Stephanie, who is an accomplished jewelry designer and founder of Jemma Wynne, Matt is a devoted family man. He is a board member of the JLS Foundation and also has a personal affiliation with breast cancer organizations.