Jamie Biesiada
New York-based Embark Beyond has hired Annie Fitzsimmons as its editor in chief of special projects and content.
"You need new ways to reach people, and we don't want to leave that to other people," said Fitzsimmons, a veteran in the travel media space. "We want to own that."
Fitzsimmons joins Embark with nearly 20 years of industry experience, including roles with Afar, National Geographic Travel, Virtuoso and Indagare.
This year marks Embark's fifth anniversary, and the agency has been investing in its marketing team, Fitzsimmons said. It felt like the right time to bring on someone who could ensure the Embark voice remains consistent and meaningful to clients.
That voice is "trusted, elevated, fun, sophisticated, sexy," Fitzsimmons said. "Not so buttoned up."
It's also an interesting time in the media industry, she said: With the rise of AI, there is heavy demand for personal newsletters and walled garden content that search and AI engines can't access.
To that end, Fitzsimmons is launching a personal newsletter that will come out twice a month. She plans to feature travel tips, trends and intel. She's also adding in a bit of fun, like a line on Jennifer Lopez flying economy from Naples, Italy, to Paris.
"It's going to be luxury and lifestyle and covering all of those things, but I also wrote about, like, my favorite souvenir in the U.K. that you can get for under two pounds which is these biscuits at [Marks & Spencer]," she said. "Talking to people on a level where you understand, yes, they've traveled the world, and we know that the average spend on an Embark trip is over $25,000, but you also want to know what the under-two-pounds biscuits are."
Fitzsimmons plans to touch a number of other areas in her new role, including partnerships, launching a podcast, revamping Embark's social media presence, enhancing content for both partners and advisors and redoing Embark's internal newsletters for advisors.
"Advisors obviously are the heart and soul of Embark," she said.