A Marketing Channel That Deserves More Attention with Dan Robbins, Head of Brand Sponsorships at Substack | Ep. 451
What if the most underrated Marketing channel isn't a new platform, but the independent creators your audience already trusts? Dan Robbins, Head of Brand Sponsorships at Substack, has spent his career building ad businesses from scratch. He started in measurement at Nielsen, then launched ads at Roku in the early days of streaming, and later did the same at PayPal and Venmo. He even taught a course on the economics of advertising at Cornell. Now he's bringing brands like Balenciaga, Uber, T-Mobile, and Rare Beauty onto Substack. And, Dan breaks down Substack's three new sponsorship formats. Unlocks let a brand open up a paywalled post. Upgrades give readers a free month of a paid subscription, like Rare Beauty did for World Mental Health Day. The Masthead gives brands a curated destination on the Substack homepage and app without having to launch their own publication. Plus, Dan explains why launching your own brand newsletter is quietly one of the biggest mistakes brands make on the platform. His advice is to join the party where it already is instead of throwing your own. He also explains why creators should keep full creative control, and how Substack is using brand lift studies with Kantar to prove these sponsorships actually move awareness, consideration, and intent. If you're a Marketer who wants to reach audiences where trust is moving from institutions to individuals, this is the episode for you. Breakthrough 2026 is the Agentic GTM Conference, happening November 2-5 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Join 1,300 revenue leaders for three days of real research, hands-on skill-building, and a certification to prove you can apply it. Learn more at https://6sense.com/breakthrough/ Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drobbins2/ Follow Daniel: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themarketingmillennials/featured Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Dmurr68 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: www.workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com