Apr 19

Apr 19 💭 Derek Blasberg for ODDA Magazine

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 20th Issue “There is a Time”.

DEREK BLASBERG

It has been a steep learning curve for Derek Blasberg at YouTube. But he hit the ground running. In the little over two years since the fashion insider took on the brand new role of Head of Fashion and Beauty at YouTube he has launched the YouTube Fashion vertical on the site, connected big-name luxury brands with big-name YouTube creators and he gave Naomi Campbell a global platform to be, well, Naomi Campbell. A classically trained journalist who has written for all of the top fashion publications, from Style.com and Interview to Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar, Blasberg has fully embraced the new narrative of his career, where instead of recounting peoples stories he is empowering them to tell them themselves.

JESSICA MICHAULT. Let’s start with this: Derek, you didn't want to do this interview until after the election in the U.S., which I thought was an interesting thought process as this is going to come out in, you know, February or the beginning of March for most people. So why was it so important to you to make sure that it was past the election before we spoke?
DEREK BLASBERG. When you work, and I don’t know if you felt this way, because you're obviously not in the States at the moment, but it's the idea of trying to focus on anything apart from the Inauguration, and the safe and considerate transfer of power. You know, after January 6th. Between those two Wednesdays, the 6th would be the riot on the Capitol, a week later, the following Wednesday, was the second impeachment and the following Wednesday was the Inauguration. It's just like, I can't talk about fashion right now. This is crazy. And of course, also, when you work at a company like YouTube or you work in Big Tech in general, you want to make sure that everything that you're working on is accurate and up to date. There were, of course, so many conversations, especially in the tech space around everything that Trump was doing. And then, the other reason that I was happy to wait until the Inauguration is because I definitely thought there'd be a new sense of normalcy and goodwill.

“Essentially what I do now at YouTube, instead of translating those people’s stories into the written word for me to publish in newspapers and magazines, I now work with them to tell their own stories on their own channels, and videos.”

— Derek Blasberg

J.M. So I have to ask Derek, where does that charisma of yours come from? You seem to become friends with everyone you meet. Where does this kind of ability to be everybody's best friend come from?
D.B. Well, thank you. That's a very indulgent and sweet and feel-good question. I guess I’ve never, kind of, fleshed that out but I've always been an extrovert. I was a chatty kid, super social by nature. But I guess fundamentally, what it all comes down to, my whole life and career, my personal life, my professional life, is that I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. I was pre-digital. I was starved for the glitz and glamour and the art and for this world that I'm so fortunate to live in now. You know, I didn't meet a gay person until I moved to New York. To me, fashion was the mall, and then when you move to New York, you realize in New York City, the fashion industry is a $10 billion dollar industry. It's the real world. So when I got to New York, I knew that's what I wanted to do. And I was so enthusiastic and thrilled to be there. I think it's kind of easier now for young people because if you are in St. Louis, Missouri today, and you're 16/17/18, you can Google what a stylist is or you can go on Vogue's YouTube channel and you can see behind the scenes. So there are definitely now easier touch-points for young people to encounter the world of fashion, beauty, and style. It took me a little longer to find it and then when I did I said I'm not going anywhere, this is where I want to be.

J.M. I get it. I feel really blessed that I was able to experience the age of old media, pre all of this, pre-social, YouTube and Google, and able to experience both sides of the coin. But I wanted to know what that was like for you because you were like me, a journalist by trade, you came up in the old way of doing things, and then just to switch over to YouTube. What was that culture shock like for you?
D.B. So I went to NYU, I have a degree in journalism. I thought I was going to work in newspapers or magazines my whole life. Something that I know you can relate to is I really idolized Suzy Menkes, I wanted to write for a newspaper and do trend reports and designer interviews. And so when the opportunity to sort of shift more into social media and tech came, to be very candid and honest with you, when the job opportunity to be the first-ever Head of Fashion and Beauty at YouTube came across my desk I was a little suspicious or even dismissive. You know, I said, this is not what I went to college for. And then the more I kind of wrapped my head around it, I realized what I was so excited about doing when I was graduating college, was working with fashion designers, telling model’s stories, and working with hairstyles and makeup artists. And that's essentially what I do now at YouTube, instead of translating those people’s stories into the written word for me to publish in newspapers and magazines, I now work with them to tell their own stories on their own channels, and videos. So I'm still working with designers and models and hairstyles and makeup artists. I'm just doing it in a way that when I was in college, I never thought I would or even fantasize being possible.

J.M. Your role at YouTube is a completely new one, that you make into what you want. So what, for you, was the goal?
D.B. I guess like in the most simplistic of terms. I saw this job opportunity as to how to create more, better fashion and beauty content. As I dug into the job a little bit more, I realized that one of the biggest things that I needed to do was help reeducate fashion beauty brands as to what worked well on YouTube.

J.M. So tell me about that, because I think that that's still quite a steep learning curve for a lot of brands. As much as the beauty world seems to really get YouTube, I think that the fashion world is still kind of on its heels as far as leveraging the power of YouTube.
D.B. I often think that most fashion people assume that what works well on all digital platforms is short, quick, and pretty. We see a lot of content that comes through, that's like about a minute long, maybe 30 seconds, it's a pretty girl walking on the beach holding a nice bag, and that content does well on other platforms. But on YouTube, people are coming to see a story, to learn a lesson, to reveal a secret. There are cases for longer, shorter and other formats, but typically, to sum up, what works well on YouTube and a single sentence - It’s content that's around 6 to 10 minutes of narrative-driven personality-full storytelling that teaches a lesson, reveals a secret or offers a service.

J.M. Talk to me a little bit more about your tenure, because it's only been two years. You're getting your bearings that first year, your feet underneath you, figuring out what works and what doesn't. And then by year two, we’re in a pandemic, and the whole world is shifting. Now you have a captive audience. How did you pivot what you’d maybe started to outline as your strategy to the new normal?
D.B. So I began my job in June 2018 and in September 2018, I was still very fresh and brand new but I wanted to hit the ground running. We did a big launch party in Paris, at the official residence of the U.S. ambassador. And that September we live-streamed on YouTube, about 20 shows. So fast forward to September 2020, so exactly two years later, we live-streamed more than 200 shows. More than half of which were first time YouTubers.Those were channels that we helped set up and helped launch. So we're definitely looking at incredible growth. At the base level of participation, we launched YouTube Fashion which has grown to become the largest aggregate of style video content around the world. Of course, no one saw a viral pandemic crippling the entire world and making travel unsafe and congregating in large groups unsafe. But it was incredible to have the YouTube Fashion vertical up and running for 2020.

J.M. Okay, so let's get to the nitty-gritty here. How did you convince Naomi Campbell to embrace YouTube with such a passion and fever?
D.B. Well, the good news is that I knew Naomi before I came to YouTube, so that helped. But honestly, the way that she was convinced to open her whole world to YouTube was that... number one at YouTube, you own your own content. You're your own producer, you're your own editor, your own director. If you want an upload every day for a month and then take a hiatus for a year, you can do that. You're really in charge, and you own everything, and you have final cut and final approval and everything. You know, on other streaming services, that’s really not the case. The YouTube business model is much different than at Netflix or Hulu or Amazon. At YouTube, you are in charge and you make your money and your influence on a longer tailwind at the end. If Naomi wanted to sell her docu-series to Netflix she would get a lot of money up-front, but she would have no power on longevity. Ultimately, Naomi wants to be in control. YouTube gives her the opportunity to be 100 percent in control. She approves every video, in the "No Filter" series she is picking her guests, she has questions, she decides when she wants to upload it, you know, she's moderating her chat and responding to fans. So YouTube definitely is a brilliant way to break down the barrier between talent and an audience.

J.M. I think after Google, YouTube is the biggest search engine in the world. Something like two billion unique users per day. So there's no question that gives YouTube a certain amount of power. When we see the impact of social media, these platforms can have to shape people's worldview to a certain extent, by the suggestions, in relationship to the algorithms, etc. How has YouTube dealt with that massive power?
D.B. That is a compelling talking point when we're meeting with brands. I’ll back up… so the fashion and beauty vertical is really split within three different buckets. There are brands, which are Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Prada. There are publishers, which is Goop, Paper, Vogue. And then the last one is professionals, that is models, makeup artists, hairstylists. The Naomi, the Hung Vanngo, and the Jen Atkins element. So when we are meeting with those different buckets of people, the knowledge that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world is a very compelling argument for them to own their own narrative. We can use Naomi as an example, when you used to search for Naomi Campbell in the YouTube search field, there was a lot of content that was probably populated that she obviously didn't approve, or didn't know. So now when you search Naomi Campbell since she has had success on the platform, her own content populates that search result. That’s obviously very compelling for her.

J.M. But there are other ways that the platform can be reactive to what's going on in the world.
D.B. In 2020, I think every industry had to re-evaluate the way it approaches diversity and inclusion. And of course, the fashion space was like every other. So I am very fortunate that the fashion team at YouTube is a pretty diverse crew and so we wanted to do something to help spotlight diverse creators and diverse fashion voices. We launched this Black Designer Initiative and we approached 30 self-identified Black designers, gave them a workshop out, offered everyone some equipment, and built a shelf on Youtube fashion to spotlight their content. And I think what's important, especially around all those diversity issues, is that people think of them beyond just 2020. So we're currently looking for other opportunities to help maintain the present initiative conversation into the future.

J.M. Well, let's jump to that, like talking about the future. Where do you think fashion is going in its relationship with the digital space, once we’re able to congregate again in the real world?
D.B. One thing that I'm excited about expanding on with the style squad here at YouTube is beauty. Another thing that we haven't really had the opportunity to flesh out is that there's such an incredible creator community in APAC [Asia-Pacific countries]. One of the biggest things that I was so excited about when I joined YouTube was that there was this robust and super engaged and very powerful creator community of YouTubers. And I'm looking forward to continuing to close that gap between what we consider our fabulous fashion world and this incredibly robust creator community.