Zoom, With New Story, Hires Indie Journalist to Tell It

Zoom has since the days of the coronavirus pandemic been known for its expertise in video. Now the company wants to demonstrate its talent for putting on a show. Starting this week, Zoom is launching a partnership with podcaster and independent journalist Nayeema Raza, creator of the program “Smart Girl Dumb Questions,” where she seeks out seeks out leaders in business, science, and culture to respond to seemingly disarming queries. Raza on Tuesday debuts a new interview series designed for social media in which she puts a spotlight on “solopreneurs,” or people who launch their own independent operations. She will also conduct a six-part series on her own program, set to debut in August, in which she explores how technology is reshaping work and leadership. In October, Raza will participate in Zoomtopia, Zoom’s annual user conference, and bring her content to the main stage of the event. The alliance may just be a harbinger of some of the new ways so-called “creators” work with major marketers in an era when independent editors and reporters are increasing their allure in the marketplace of ideas. According to data from Pew Research, younger adults are “especially likely” to get news from influencers. Approximately 38% of those between the ages 18 to 29 regularly do so, a figure more than four times greater than 8% of those 65 or older who do the same. Popular on Variety With creators holding more sway among the consumer crowd most likely to be open to experimenting with the products and services they buy, “it is important for us to be a brand that people like Nayeema and other creators want to work with,” says Kimberly Storin, the chief marketing and communications officer of Zoom, during a recent interview. “We want to be a preferred partner.” Raza broke into journalism with a background in documentary filmmaking, producing work that was featured at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. She launched “Smart Girl Dumb Questions” in February of last year, after logging stints as a senior staff editor with The New York Times’ opinion section, and as the on-air executive producer of “On With Kara Swisher.” Such an alliance requires new ways of thinking, says Storin, to which some advertisers may not be accustomed. Raza’s efforts with Zoom won’t be authentic if she isn’t left alone to pursue programming as she sees fit. “I need my audience to trust me,” says Raza, during an interview. “I need to do what I do with a lot of editorial integrity.” Conversations about the future of work are a regular part of Raza’s program and having them with the backing of Zoom doesn’t represent anything jarring, she says. On “Smart Girl Dumb Questions,” Raza regularly examines “ how we live, how we work, how we lead, how we have family or partnership in a world that is really changing technologically and culturally.” The only change people should notice in the way Raza handles her work with Zoom is none. “The editorial is shaped by me. I’m asking questions I would organically ask. I’m speaking to people that I would speak with and what the partnership with Zoom allows me to do is to expand the possibilities of my content,” she says. If Zoom wants to be a place creators trust, says Storin, then it needs to be willing to cede ground to the creators with whom it works. Zoom has had to “get comfortable with having creators be our advocates and to share their stories. We like to write five-page-long briefs with guardrails and North Stars, and we have to really teach ourselves. We gave our influencers one-sentence briefs. And that was a big shift,” she says. “And we had to really let go of the control that a brand typically likes to have.” Zoom isn’t backing away from traditional commercials, says Storin, but sees a need to shift to new tactics as digitally-savvy consumers discover services, products and brands in different ways. The “buying journey” is shifting, and becoming “driven by a discovery process that starts in ChatGPT or Claude,” she says, referring to popular new A.I. interfaces. “We have to focus on being found, being present, being believed and being preferred, which is a new level of marketing.” Should the new partnership work well, other combinations of creators and marketers could become quite common.