What It Is

Shareability is a Santa Monica brand consultancy and social content studio founded in 2013 by Tim Staples, Nick Reed, and Cameron Manwaring. The company built its reputation on viral branded content — its campaign portfolio has driven over five billion organic views and 200 million shares, with more than 20 videos earning organic front-page placement on YouTube. Tagline: "Whoever tells the best story wins."

The agency has evolved from a viral-video shop into a full-stack 🏷️#creative-agency whose proprietary "story performance" methodology bridges brand storytelling and performance marketing, addressing the gap that leaves 86% of brand CMOs dissatisfied with their content output.

Services

Strategy — story strategy, brand positioning, content planning
Creative — concept development for branded entertainment, social campaigns, and influencer-led content
Production — in-house 🏷️#production-studio capability spanning short-form social to long-form documentary
Distribution and optimization — paid amplification paired with organic platform mechanics
Measurement — story-performance analytics tied to brand sentiment and revenue lift

Leadership

Tim Staples — co-founder and former CEO. Background: Omnicom agency executive. Now leading Down Home, an entertainment-media venture in partnership with Tim McGraw
Nick Reed — co-founder. Background: Hollywood agent and Academy Award–winning producer
Cameron Manwaring — co-founder. Background: digital media entrepreneur
📝Erick Brownstein — Co-President and Chief Strategy Officer. Joined 2014 after running The New Agency

Notable Work

Cristiano Ronaldo in disguise for ROC headphones (2015) — Ronaldo dressed as an old man performing tricks in a Madrid square; one of the most-shared ads of its year and the canonical Shareability case study
Dua Lipa "New Rules" for Hyatt and Warner Music
Prince Ea "I Sued the School System" for Neste Energy
Branded campaigns featuring John Cena, the Olympic Channel, and a long roster of YouTube creator collaborations

Selected Clients

Hyatt, Warner Music, Adobe, Intuit, Fox Entertainment, AT&T, Mars Incorporated, Neste Energy, Cricket Wireless, Freshpet, The Olympic Channel, YouTube, Google, and Olay.

Reach

5B+ organic views across the campaign portfolio
200M+ shares
20+ videos with organic YouTube homepage placement

Corporate Developments

2019: Bunim/Murray Productions (the Keeping Up with the Kardashians producer) made a strategic investment to feed Shareability's data and methodology into pitch development
Down Home: spinoff entertainment, media, and marketing company in partnership with country artist Tim McGraw, led by co-founder Tim Staples

I found Shareability through Erick Brownstein, who was introduced to me by 📝James Shamshi.

Reflective Notes

Shareability sits at the intersection that defined a decade of branded content — Hollywood-grade storycraft engineered for platform-native distribution mechanics. The Ronaldo-in-disguise spot is still the canonical case study for how an idea built for share-velocity beats production gloss every time. This is the same lane I worked from the growth-hacker side at Ghost Influence, just with bigger budgets and Hollywood reps. Worth tracking how their "story performance" methodology adapts as platform algorithms move further into AI-curated feeds and as branded-content economics tighten in 2026.