Dan Robbins is the Head of Brand Sponsorships at Substack. Previously, Dan held executive roles at PayPal, Roku, and Nielsen. He has also served on the boards of The Ad Council, the Modern Marketing Association (MMA), and The Point Foundation, taught a course on advertising economics as an Adjunct Professor at Cornell University, served as Executive in Residence for Progress Partners, and participated as a juror for the Clio awards and the Effie awards.

His achievements include being named PRWeek Marketer of the Year, a Business Insider Power Player, and a Fellow at the Economic Club of New York. He is a graduate of Cornell University and is based in New York.

Substack gave brands a first look at the next phase of its sponsorships program today at Advertising Week, including three new sponsorship formats designed to create value for brands, creators, and their audiences, as well as the introduction of independent brand measurement through Kantar.

Since announcing the program with an initial group of brand partners in June, Substack has also been bringing more brands into the program and building a growing pipeline of campaigns across different categories.
The three new formats are:

1. The Unlock: A brand sponsors a creator’s paid post, making it free for everyone to read. The creator gets paid, while the brand gives readers access to content that would otherwise sit behind the paywall.

2. The Upgrade: A brand gives a creator’s free subscribers a month of paid access at no cost to the reader, with the creator paid for each person who upgrades.

3. The Masthead: A brand works with writers and creators to curate or commission work around a theme, bringing it together in a dedicated destination on Substack, almost like a digital zine.