Founder & Chief Strategy Officer
Avi Savar likes to think about where the world is going, rather than where the world is today. With his strong views on emerging technology, trends, insights and, most importantly, audience behavior, he says, “I take ideas and concepts and improve them based on a vision of the future that doesn't exist yet. I have always pushed people to think outside their comfort zone and drive new ways of doing.”
Avi Savar is Chairman, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Big Fuel Communications, the consumer engagement agency he launched in 2004 to help brands navigate the world of social media and branded content. Looking back to those early days, he says, “I created the world's first social media marketing agency along with some of the first branded content program on the Internet. This included the first consumer-generated content, web-based video and influencer programs for brands like Chevy, Neutrogena, Colgate-Palmolive, Fisher-Price, among others. I’m also extremely proud to have been appointed as chairman and president of the inaugural Cannes Lion Branded Content Jury to help define the standards and guidelines for marketing excellence in branded content and entertainment across our industry.”
Big Fuel has been pioneering the convergence of marketing and entertainment ever since, and today is one of the largest pure-play social media agencies. He likes to describe Big Fuel as taking brands from “Content to Commerce,” a phrase he also uses in the title of his book, CONTENT TO COMMERCE: Engaging Consumers Across Paid, Owned & Earned Channels, published by Wiley.
Big Fuel’s approach is to bridge "people stories" to "product stories" through branded content that speaks directly consumer needs. Avi calls the shop: one-part marketing agency that builds brands through consumer insight; one-part entertainment company that creates content people love; and one-part distribution company that drives results by delivering content to targeted audiences. In June 2011, Avi led Big Fuel to a successful acquisition by French media giant Publicis Groupe, giving the agency a global footprint.
“Innovation,” he says, “is core to our position and strategy. It is a business imperative that we are seen as thought leaders and innovators in the world of marketing. My job within our organization is to push this agenda. The biggest challenge in applying innovating thinking is always about the articulation and delivery of ideas. In order for ideas to be adopted they must be simple and easy to understand. Innovation is as much ‘storytelling’ as it is ‘inventing.’"
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Avi Savar calls himself “a Middle Eastern mutt.” He explains, “I was born in Israel, my dad is Turkish, my mom is Israeli and my grandparents are Iranian and Iraqi.” He has lived in Istanbul, Iran, Switzerland and the United States, and has now settled in New York.
He began his career in the agent-training program at ICM in Los Angeles. Soon after, he transitioned to the creative side of entertainment as an independent producer, and created highly stylized programming for companies such as USA Networks, Fox, Columbia Tri-Star, and Showtime.
Anticipating the convergence of technology and media in 1998, Avi founded and launched AtBalance Solutions, an online media company delivering Health, Fitness and Wellness content to Fortune 1000 companies. Recruited back to “traditional” television in 2001, Avi served as the producer for ABC’s Good Morning America, before being asked to create and develop breakthrough entertainment programming for both MTV and VH1.
Big Fuel Communications followed in 2004, and Avi’s work continues to influence the shape of brand communications.