Michael Rovner

is an experienced editorial and content strategy leader with over 20 years in media, publishing, and enterprise communications. He has led branded content studios and built editorial operations for top publications and global enterprises.

His career includes two decades as a contributor to The New York Times and senior editorial leadership roles across The Wall Street Journal, Adweek, and SAPinsider. He has directed multiple editorial departments and served as publisher for three major publications, overseeing large-scale content and go-to-market initiatives across the technology, financial services, and lifestyle sectors.

Today, he specializes in developing scalable content frameworks that help organizations identify and prioritize high-value content in an era of unprecedented content creation. His work supports Fortune 500 companies and global brands in building governance systems and operational models that align content strategy with business outcomes.

Technology: Adobe, Amazon Ads, AWS, BlackLine, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Indeed, Intuit, Lenovo, Microsoft, Protiviti, Red Hat, SAP, and ServiceNow

Financial Services: BNY, Deloitte, EY, Fidelity, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, MetLife, and PwC

Luxury & Lifestyle: Cartier, Princess, Ralph Lauren, Rolex, the governments of France, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and Spain.

Editorial Leadership
Branded Content Strategy
Content Creation & Development
Project Management
Business Strategy
Revenue Generation

The Cut

You Spent Five Years Hiding That You Can Actually Cook

Addiction in Isolation

Adjusting to video-chat 12-step meetings.

How to Be Sober

If you’re looking to stay sober, first: Shut up.

new york post

Inside man

Col. case

Money talks

Wall Street Journal

Skate Shop Operators-Turned-Vodka Distillers Help Pernod Ricard’s Local Effort

Partners in OUR/Vodka’s upcoming Manhattan distillery wondered if a visit from the spirits company’s talent scout was a practical joke

Diller, Von Furstenberg Invest in Co-Working Company

The New York City-based firm offers space with a private club-style membership

Clothier J. Press Looks to Spur U.S. Sales with New Midtown N.Y. Store

New store expected to generate 25% of U.S. sales

Herbal Supplement Has Some New Yorkers Talking, Instead of Coughing

Some claim success with Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, but experts warn of the risks of taking such products

Rolling stone

Meshach’s Vest: The Strange Journey of a Heavy Metal Treasure

An Oregon's metalhead's prized garment went missing and ended up in an NYC Macy's display. Now he's fighting to get it back

inc.

Hershey’s Chief Global Knowledge Officer on Adapting for Today

Harness opportunity in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.

How to Build a New Brand in an Age-Old Business

After eight years of investment, William Grant’s Monkey Shoulder is now a world-wide brand. Here’s how it happened.

The Marketing Genius Behind #StarbucksWeddings

See how the leading coffee retailer managed to capture opportunity by paying attention to its customers’ more unusual social behaviors.

H&R Block’s CMO on How to Segment Your Audience

Know your audience, says H&R Block CMO Kathy Collins. It’s the only path to growth.

Heineken Brews up 3 Digital Strategy Tips

Take a page out of the Heineken digital strategy book.

How to Build a Brand Newsroom Like GE

As more companies discover the value of participating in a conversation with their consumers, we get a closer look at how they do it at GE, where their brand newsroom means business.

SAP INSIDER

Wipro’s Sustainable Fashion Rental Solution

Sustainable CTOs Balance Sustainability and Digitalization

Branded Content | paid post

t brand studio ⨯ intuit enterprise Suite

The One Simple Solution  to Grow Your Enterprise-Level Business

This New York Times branded content project launched awareness for Intuit's new Enterprise Suite product.

The Challenge: Growing businesses struggle with fragmented financial management systems, often managing 10+ technology providers.

The Approach: The project structured a problem-solution framework identifying six core business pain points (financial visibility, profitability tracking, customer engagement, compliance, cash flow, and scalability) and demonstrating Enterprise Suite solutions for each. Intuit SMEs provided authentic expertise rather than generic industry analysis.

The Outcome: The comprehensive product launch connected abstract business problems to concrete Enterprise Suite features. By focusing on real-world scenarios (75% of businesses still use checks, managing multiple contractors) and specific capabilities (automated ASC 606 compliance, single sign-on), the content educated prospects while building credibility for the new product in a competitive market.

Editor: Michael Rovner | Project Management: Chris Retcho  | Writer: Jennifer Goforth Gregory | Art Direction: Katie Belloff | Design: Ellie Friedman

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗

personal essay

the new york times

The Two Michael Rovners

I first became aware of the other Michael Rovner nearly five years ago.

I was living in the West Village of Manhattan, at 67 Jane Street. He was at 67 Morton. Occasionally, his mail arrived at my apartment, and I wondered if I was legally allowed to open it. The New York City public school system was trying to reach him, so I gleaned that he, too, was a dad. I walked the letters over to his building and left them in his lobby.

Not long after that, I was participating on a panel for AdWeek magazine when the moderator introduced me by reading my bio — only I hadn’t done any of the impressive things she described. Initially, I was confused, and for a moment I considered just going with it. When she got to the part where I’d won a regional Emmy Award, I said, “Excuse me, but you’ve got the wrong Michael Rovner.”

...

Writer: Michael Rovner | Commissioning Editor: Stella Bugbee  | Editor: Jim Windolf | Illustrator: Dadu Shin

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗

Branded Content | video, paid post

vox creative ⨯ chase for business

Connecting with Millennial Business Leaders

JP Morgan Chase’s flagship small business content series reimagined how financial institutions can engage entrepreneurs through editorial storytelling.

The Challenge: Small business owners typically view financial services content as transactional and uninspiring. Chase for Business needed to authentically connect with this audience through editorial storytelling that broke from traditional financial marketing. The campaign required trend-driven content with evergreen value, all while maintaining Vox’s distinctive editorial voice and driving traffic to Chase.com.

The Approach: The strategy focused on culturally resonant macro trend stories and community profiles that reflected the lived experience of diverse small business owners. Content spanned multiple formats—video, longform articles, and profiles—balancing editorial credibility with Chase’s brand goals. Rigorous project management ensured consistent quality across platforms and stakeholders, while editorial direction prioritized value-driven storytelling over overt promotion.

The Outcome: The campaign delivered a multi-format content series: seven trend report videos, eight deep-dive written features, and six small business community profiles. The work established a new model for authentic branded content in financial services—demonstrating that personality-driven, editorially rigorous storytelling can build lasting audience trust and engagement.

Project Lead: Michael Rovner | Commissioning Editor: Jesse Oxfeld  | Writer: Brian O’Connor

Branded Content | paid post

t brand studio ⨯ indeed

A.I. Wants Your Job…
to Be Simpler, Faster and More Satisfying.

This New York Times branded content project repositioned Indeed's AI hiring narrative from job elimination concerns to responsible innovation.

The Challenge: AI hiring technology faces widespread skepticism, with prevailing narratives focusing on job displacement and bias.

The Approach: The project structured a strategic counter-narrative through four key elements: acknowledging legitimate AI concerns, demonstrating Indeed's DEIB commitment, showcasing skills-based matching technology, and positioning responsible AI regulation leadership.

The Outcome: The comprehensive branded content framework repositioned Indeed as the company using AI to help people get jobs rather than eliminate them. Key data points included "17 times more likely to apply to AI-plus-human matches" and "skills-based hiring is 5x more predictive than education-based hiring," successfully serving both editorial integrity and business positioning objectives.

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗

Branded Content | paid post

t brand studio ⨯ indeed

How Employee Wellbeing Became a Key Driver For Growth

The second New York Times branded content project for Indeed transformed employee wellbeing from HR initiative to business imperative.

The Challenge: Workplace wellbeing initiatives are often viewed as "nice-to-have HR fluff" rather than measurable business drivers.

The Approach: The project centered on data-driven arguments using Indeed's proprietary Work Wellbeing Report to counter C-suite skepticism about "soft" metrics. The content moved from alarming statistics (71% of workers have low-to-moderate wellbeing) through academic validation to practical business outcomes.

The Outcome: The strategic framework repositioned Indeed's wellbeing tools as competitive business intelligence. Highlighting that "66% of people say wellbeing data is important when considering a company" and featuring Indeed's Work Wellbeing Score, the project educated readers while positioning Indeed's platform as essential for both job seekers and employers.

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗

Branded Content | white paper

Wall street journal ⨯ adobe

How Adobe Helped Make Beacon Tech a Must-Have for Retailers

Adobe’s beacon technology storytelling shifted retail IoT from niche innovation to must-have customer experience driver.

The Challenge: Retailers viewed beacon technology as experimental and peripheral to their core business. Adobe needed to reposition beacons as a vital component of modern omnichannel customer experience—and to do so through content that simplified complex tech and inspired C-suite action.

The Approach: The content strategy combined real-world retail case studies with explanatory storytelling that demystified beacon technology. Data-driven narratives demonstrated clear business value—boosting loyalty, driving in-store engagement, and delivering measurable ROI. Editorial framing aligned with Adobe’s broader positioning around customer experience leadership, while emphasizing practical outcomes.

The Outcome: The project delivered a suite of content assets—including video case studies, executive briefs, and interactive explainers—used across Adobe’s owned channels, sales enablement, and industry events. The work helped shift perception of beacons from experimental to essential, strengthening Adobe’s leadership narrative in retail experience innovation.

Writer: Michael Rovner

Personal Essay

The New York Times

My Very Brief Career as the World’s Worst Detective

“This is not an easy place to get hired,” said a fellow analyst at the company, an elite, private-sector global intelligence organization.

The vetting process was rigorous: an extensive background check, drug testing, fingerprinting, half a dozen interviews and months of waiting.

The company recruited highly decorated F.B.I. agents, state and federal prosecutors, and the most senior members of law enforcement.

I had worked as a gossip columnist and as an editor for a couple of celebrity weekly magazines. My expense account was $20,000 per week. I hustled, got drunk and got dirt. Somebody thought this qualified me to be a private investigator. That somebody was wrong.

“When we look into a new hire at a senior level, we treat them the same way we do a subject under investigation,” an executive said.

By the time I heard this, I had been at the company for two months and I was halfway through my 30-day P.I.P. (Personal Improvement Performance review). I didn’t need to be Inspector Poirot to detect that the jig was up.

...

Writer: Michael Rovner | Commissioning Editor: Stella Bugbee  | Editor: Anya Strzemien | Illustrator: Jackson Gibbs

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗

Branded Content | audio

t brand studio ⨯ intuit enterprise

Reaching the C-Suite Through The Daily Branded Audio

The Challenge: CFOs and finance leaders are difficult to engage through traditional content. Text-heavy materials are easily ignored, and key product messaging struggles to break through. Intuit needed a faster, more trusted way to reach this audience.

The Approach: We partnered with The Daily to launch a branded audio takeover for Intuit Enterprise Suite. Story-driven audio ads were crafted to align with the editorial tone of the show, positioning Intuit’s solutions as critical tools for modern finance teams. Messaging emphasized real-time visibility, streamlined compliance, and faster decision-making—delivered in the trusted listening environment of The Daily.

The Outcome: The campaign drove 5x engagement among C-level and VP-level finance audiences. CFOs reported referencing the messaging in internal conversations, and product awareness rose in parallel with podcast engagement. The Daily became a key channel for reaching high-value enterprise leaders through branded audio.

Writer: Michael Rovner | Project Management: Chris Retcho  | Audio Producer: Sam Mouser

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The One Simple Solution to Grow Your Enterprise-Level Business

The Two Michael Rovners

Connecting with Millennial Business Leaders

A.I. Wants Your Job… to Be Simpler, Faster and More Satisfying.

How Employee Wellbeing Became a Key Driver For Growth

How Adobe Helped Make Beacon Tech a Must-Have for Retailers

My Very Brief Career as the World’s Worst Detective

Reaching the C-Suite Through The Daily Branded Audio

The One Simple Solution  to Grow Your Enterprise-Level Business

A.I. Wants Your Job…
to Be Simpler, Faster and More Satisfying.