CAA has hired Silicon Valley media executive Joanna Popper to serve as its Chief Metaverse Officer. Popper will be responsible for establishing and executing the go-to-market strategy and core business priorities for CAA and its clients within the Metaverse.
Popper will lead a dedicated team of Metaverse-focused executives, and will work closely with Alexandra Shannon, CAA’s Head of Strategic Development, and CAA Executive Adam Friedman, who guides the efforts of a cross-departmental team of agents working across the NFT landscape.
“CAA has always been at the forefront of charting new and emerging business opportunities for our clients. At this pivotal time in our industry, the metaverse will be impactful to shifts in content creation, distribution, and community engagement that drive significant opportunity for our clients,” said Jim Burtson, President, CAA, in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Joanna to CAA, as her knowledge, insights, relationships, and business building skills will be critical to driving significant impact across the industry.”
“I am so excited to work closely with CAA’s leadership and our visionary clients to create and build for the future,” said Popper in a statement. “It feels like a homecoming, bringing my technology and storytelling experience back to Hollywood. I couldn’t be in a better place than CAA to help guide the future of entertainment, helping build on CAA’s growing leadership in an area as important and impactful as the Metaverse.”
Popper comes to CAA from HP, where she led its XR initiatives for Go-To-Market, overseeing the launch of award-winning technology, such as the HP Reverb G2 VR headset (winner of Red Dot Design Award, CES Innovation Award, IF Design Award) and HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition (winner of VR Hardware of the Year, Entertainment Technology Lumiere Award, Red Dot Best of the Best, CES Innovation Award, IF Design Award). She worked closely with leading studios and XR content creators, including DreamWorks, NBCUniversal, Sony, Disney, Paramount, Valve, Microsoft, Dreamscape Immersive, Zero Latency, Sandbox VR, VRstudios, Dave & Buster’s, Baobab Studios, Within, AtlasV, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Double Eye Studios, Spheres, YesUniverse, Vertigo Games, and Positron.
“The Metaverse is creating new opportunities across all areas of the entertainment ecosystem. The experimentation and growth we see every day in consumer-facing entertainment provides the potential for our clients to connect with their communities in a profound way – be it through virtual concerts, fashion shows, and events, or customized avatars,” said Shannon in a statement. “This is a critical growth area for CAA, in which we have deeply invested throughout the past 18 months to identify best-in-class opportunities for talent, brands, and businesses. Joanna’s experience, expertise and leadership will help us build robust businesses that generate meaningful value for our clients, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the team.”
CAA represents many NFT artists, personalities, and collectors, including 0xb1, Jenkins the Valet, Julie Pacino, Micah Johnson, Bryan Brinkman, Mack Flavelle, Nyla Hayes, Danny Casale, Refik Anadol, Lady PheOnix, and Cool Cats, and advises its traditional clients on their brand and business-building efforts in web3. CAA was the first agency to own land in the metaverse, with its virtual CAA Sports Campus in The Sandbox.
