Warner Bros. Hires Former Google Exec Michelle Slavich as EVP of Global Publicity and Strategy

Warner Bros.

Michelle Slavich has been named executive VP of global publicity and strategy at Warner Bros. Pictures, it was announced Thursday by Blair Rich, WB’s president of worldwide marketing, to whom Slavich will report.

In her new role, Slavich will oversee domestic and international publicity and work proactively with her teams to develop forward-thinking global publicity strategies on all releases from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema across media outlets and platforms worldwide. She’ll also work closely with the marketing group’s senior management team on PR campaign design and strategy for both individual film titles and key franchises.

“Michelle is a well-respected publicity executive with an impressive track record of leadership, innovation and strategic vision,” said Rich. “As we tackle the constantly evolving landscape of film publicity, she’s a great choice to lead the team and further our already-excellent publicity teams in supporting our world-class films and filmmakers.”

Slavich joins Warner Bros. from Google, where she most recently served as head of entertainment communications for YouTube, overseeing the platform’s entertainment and music PR initiatives, as well as corporate and creator communications. She was with Google for more than five years, and in the last two years, her team launched over 50 publicity campaigns for the company’s YouTube Original series and movies. Slavich was also responsible for the PR launch campaigns for the company’s subscription services YouTube TV and YouTube Red.

Before that, Slavich served as VP of publicity at Universal Studios Home Entertainment, overseeing publicity, promotions and events for NBC Universal film and TV releases. In this role, Slavich supervised over 200 publicity campaigns for Universal Pictures, Focus Features and NBC.

Prior to Universal, Slavich held positions at Rogers & Associates and PeopleSupport Inc., as well as in theatrical publicity at DreamWorks/Amblin Entertainment.  She began her career as a publicity assistant at the Shoah Foundation, Steven Spielberg’s nonprofit organization dedicated to the recording of Holocaust survivor testimonies for educational use.

For additional context regarding Slavich’s hiring, check out Rich’s internal memo to staff:

All –

I am very pleased to announce that we have hired Michelle Slavich to join our team at Warner Bros. as Executive Vice President, Global Publicity and Strategy.  Reporting to me, Michelle will lead our Domestic and International publicity teams, serving as our lead publicity strategist on all our films.  

Michelle is a well-respected publicity executive with an impressive track record of leadership, innovation and strategic vision.  As we tackle the constantly evolving landscape of film publicity, she’s a great choice to lead the team and further our already-excellent publicity operations.  She joins us from Google, where she most recently served as Head of Entertainment Communications for YouTube, overseeing the platform’s entertainment and music PR initiatives, as well as corporate and creator communications.  Before that, Slavich served as Vice President, Publicity at Universal Studios Home Entertainment (USHE), and held executive positions at Rogers & Associates, PeopleSupport Inc., and Dreamworks/Amblin Entertainment. 

Lance Volland will continue to head up our International publicity efforts working with the territories, while continuing to develop strategy with the teams here in Burbank; he will continue to work closely with Lynne Frank on publicity strategy and the intersection of these efforts with our larger International Marketing plans that are led by Lynne.  The domestic publicity team will report directly to Michelle as well. 

Michelle possesses incredible expertise and experience in publicity and strategy and I am very excited to have her join our team – and I know that once you’ve had a chance to meet and work with her, you will agree how lucky we are to have her join our company. 

I look forward to introducing you to Michelle when she starts on May 29 

Thank you,
Blair

 Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief