In a marketing landscape obsessed with speed, volume, and algorithmic relevance, Gemma Craven is making the case for something the industry keeps forgetting: depth wins.
As Chief Marketing Officer of Scribd, Inc. — and a 25+ year veteran of global brand building — Gemma has spent her career proving that the brands worth remembering are never the ones that moved the fastest. They’re the ones that meant something. From helping turn the Fearless Girl into a global cultural phenomenon at McCann New York, to advising the C-suites of Spotify, Nike, Fiverr, and Ford, to leading one of the boldest rebrands in the digital content space, Gemma has built her reputation on one core belief: brand depth is a competitive advantage, not a luxury.
On the latest episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Gemma for a conversation that challenges every assumption about what great marketing looks like in 2026. They unpack the real story behind the Fearless Girl campaign, why Scribd made the strategic decision to position itself as the antidote to AI content overload, and what Scribd’s 2026 State of Reading Report reveals about how people are actually discovering and consuming content today.
Spoiler: it’s not the algorithm. It’s the people.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- The untold strategy behind the Fearless Girl campaign — and the lesson most brands still miss
- Why Scribd bet against the AI content trend when every other brand was racing toward it
- What the 2026 State of Reading Report reveals about the future of content marketing
- The biggest mistake senior marketing leaders are making with brand building right now
- What brand depth actually looks like in a media pitch — and why most pitches miss it entirely
- How to run a reputation audit using LLMs — and why every brand leader needs to do it now
This episode is for every PR professional, communications director, and brand founder who wants to build something that outlasts the algorithm.
🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you stream podcasts, and visit brandincpr.com for show notes and resources.
