Overview
CES Tech Talk podcast, in its sixth season, features interviews with industry experts who bring you an insider’s look at what’s new and trending in the world of consumer electronics, and at CES. New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe via your favorite podcast platform to get the latest. In this episode, find out how Kevin Hart’s HartBeat media company inspires through comedy. CEO Thai Randolph provides insights.
On a mission to cultivate the next generation of comedic storytellers, HartBeat works across brands, platforms and streamers to deliver content with humor and heart. Its studios group produces film, TV, radio and audiobooks programming, as well as podcasts. HartBeat’s media team manages live and experiential events. Branded and co-branded entertainment is led by HartBeat group Pulse, that provides storytelling for well-known businesses like Procter & Gamble, Sam's Club and Chase. This hard-working, high-energy media company also prioritizes laughter and fun every day that its teams are on the job. CEO Thai Randolph explains how they get so much great work done, and what drives them, in episode 24, HartBeat's Comedic Storytelling Builds Brands, of the CES Tech Talk podcast series.
Takeaways
- HartBeat draws top talent to its cause-driven projects via the “halo” effect, luring the likes of John Travolta, Jay-Z, Tracee Ellis Ross, among others, to “have a good time and play with us” on the HartBeat Peacock series, Hart to Hart.
- Programming includes Cold as Balls, the internet’s number-one sports show, where top athletes join Kevin Hart in ice baths; the company’s Women Write Now program offers fellowships in partnership with Sundance Institute to Black women seeking to build careers in screenwriting and directing.
- HartBeat works to model and drive diversity appreciation among organizations, audiences and communities; its own staff is majority women and people of color, and it constantly challenges itself, partners and clients to recognize that diversity as a driving force in the future of business.
They Said It
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HartBeat is a company founded by Kevin Hart, hence the name, and we’re on a mission to keep the world laughing together. We make, market, monetize comedic IP, all in an effort to connect global audiences around this connective tissue of laughter.
Thai Randolph (00:37)
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[B]rands are really looking at us as a thought partner…they come to us because they know that we're very effective storytellers and that comedy, and laughter, is a really effective storytelling device. But we try to play a little higher in the funnel and really not just say, ‘How do we create a funny thing, but how do we solve a brand's challenge or seize a brand's opportunity, and how do we ultimately deliver a lot of value to the end consumer in doing so?’
Thai Randolph (02:03)
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HartBeat at CES 2023
HartBeat had meeting space at CES 2023. Also, HartBeat’s Jeff Clanagan, president and chief distribution officer, joined a CES panel to discuss the streaming wars and how TV is pushing video to unlimited audiences. The session, Internet TV, FAST and OTT: Programming Everywhere, can be viewed on demand in cooperation with CES conference partner Digital Hollywood.
Thai Randolph, CEO, HartBeat
An award-winning marketer, business leader and architect of HartBeat, a next-generation entertainment company, Thai has been named to Variety’s Women of Impact list, Entrepreneur’s Women of Impact list, AdAge’s 40 Under 40 list, Variety’s Silicon Valleywood Impact Report, Create and Cultivate 100’s Entrepreneurs List, Cynopsis’ It List, Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media, and Multichannel News Wonder Women in Streaming “Women to Watch.” In 2021, Randolph led the launch of Women Write Now, a first-of-its-kind screenwriting fellowship developed in partnership with the Sundance Institute and LOL (now HartBeat) to champion the next generation of Black women in comedy through mentorship, advocacy, production and exhibition. Prior to HartBeat, Randolph filled senior leadership positions with Facebook, Sony, and top agencies.
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