In an era where “influencer” is a household term, but “sustainability” remains a challenge, Gillian Attwood is bridging the gap between creative talent and commercial success. With a career forged in the high-pressure world of traditional advertising and radio, she has transitioned into a niche that many talk about but few truly master: the commercial brand management of individuals. By treating creators as businesses rather than just talent, Attwood is redefining how personal brands are built, protected, and monetised in a digital-first economy.
“I classify myself as a commercial brand manager for personal brands. I am not a talent manager, which means that I don’t do bookings and things of that nature. When it comes to monetising your brand and brand deals, that is where I come in. I also help with aligning your brand with advertisements. I make sure that we have costed properly and that we are not caught up in exclusivity clauses. Which means that you won’t see yourself on a billboard a year later because we didn’t check the contract. There is a lot that goes into that. I think what makes me different is that I work with influencers specifically.” Attwood adds as we begin our interview.
In her field of work, Gillian Attwood has gone on to manage a wide variety of talent, including musicians and professional athletes. As she takes the next step in what is already a career filled with constant change, her next big challenge is working with influencers who have built their brands from the ground up.
Client’s benefit from long term relationships and commercial experience to ensure campaigns align with measurable results
However, her desire to work in some component of the entertainment space started many years ago. “I started working as an art director, which is anything visual that you see in advertising. At the time, I took on a client called YFM radio. They needed me to sell advertising space in Cape Town because they didn’t have a sales representative this side. I had no idea how that would go, and I learnt on the job. But after that, I was with YFM for 11 years, working in the ads space and doing trade marketing.”
During her time at YFM from 2007 to 2017, she began to notice that radio personalities grew audiences outside of their radio shows and weren’t effectively monetising their brands. “In that time, I worked with a lot of DJs and personalities. They grew audiences out of their shows. So, we started to build their brands into merch, workshops, and performances.”
After her stint at YFM, she started her own company called Gillstrawberry, where she currently finds herself. Built on years of hard work, Attwood is now able to use her expertise to help the talent that she manages, most of whom are now in the broadcasting space.
To help content creators who are not yet at the level she manages, Gillian Attwood has started Influencer School. “Influencer School became an online course that I taught to about eight people at a time over six weeks. We would do a curriculum along with tasks. We would also do a deep dive into their personal brands and social media—how they show up online.”
Making the transition from a world with no social media to an industry that heavily embraces it, the change was drastic but not one Attwood couldn’t manage. “I was very much ‘above the line,’ as they say, which is working in radio and television. Social media started and all my big platforms, like Soccer Laduma, which was a newspaper, started a digital platform. YFM also started a digital platform, and I had to wise up very quickly on how to sell digital. I went from my knowledge of selling advertising space above the line to having to make that switch to digital. As social media came along, nobody really knew what to do; I never really felt out of my depth because everyone around me was learning at the same time.”
As she prepares for the year ahead, Gillian Attwood lectures at Red & Yellow and looks to bring that very same level of expertise to the public through various workshops she will be hosting herself. In the digital space, Attwood will create her own content online, explaining how to build brands. “I want to capture the process of my clients because it’s not a straight line. We try things that are out of the box.”
My focus is managing the business side of brand partnerships for established social media influencers and celebrities.
As we end our interview, Gillian Attwood shares how important it is to pass on the knowledge she has received. “I have seen people start from nothing and go to being able to sustain families and build a career. This is the gold that we have right now in a country with so much unemployment. With this information, at least they can start building something.”
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