HarbourView Equity Partners has tapped Netflix and WarnerMedia veteran Lucinda Martinez as its new Chief Marketing Officer, while Deborah Renteria will join as Vice President of Brand and Content Strategy.
As part of the deal, HarbourView has hired The CultureShaker, the company founded by Martinez, to lead all brand, marketing, and PR efforts for the firm and its portfolio companies.
HarbourView has built a portfolio of over 70 music catalogs, among them Nelly, Wiz Khalifa, George Benson, and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame. However, the investment firm – having accumulated $1.6 billion in total assets under management since its launch in 2021 – is expanding its sights beyond music, for instance with the acquisition of Mucho Mas Media, which produced the Netflix hit movie The Long Game.
The company has also recently financed a slate of Hip Hop biopics in partnership with Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios, Flavor Unit, and Jesse Collins Entertainment, starting with a Queen Latifah biopic. Also this year, HarbourView invested in Usher’s concert film Rendezvous in Paris.
All those assets and investments will now have its brand, marketing, and PR efforts led by Martinez as CMO and Renteria, from Martinez’s team, as VP for Brand and Content Strategy.
Martinez launched The CultureShaker in 2022, having served as Vice President, Global Brand & Multicultural Marketing at Netflix, where she led the development, strategy and execution of brand transformation, audience engagement and brand positioning.
Prior to Netflix, Martinez spent 20 years with WarnerMedia, where she served in numerous roles including Executive Vice President, Brand Marketing, where she was responsible for branding for HBO, MAX, and HBO Latino.
Renteria brings content development, social/digital strategy, and audience development expertise from Lionsgate, Facebook, and HBO. She is known for spearheading initiatives to grow fandom in underserved audiences, and developing award-winning campaigns across film and TV.
“The firm has expanded rapidly over the last few years and it was only a matter of time before we needed a formidable CMO and marketing team…”
Sherrese Clarke Soares, HarbourView Equity Partners
“The firm has expanded rapidly over the last few years and it was only a matter of time before we needed a formidable CMO and marketing team to lead HarbourView’s overall brand management and connectivity between culture drivers and the stakeholders we service,” HarbourView founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares said.
“The CultureShaker is our first operating partner under our Create Platform, further cementing our position as a valued partner to artists, content creators, investors as we broaden our footprint and deepen our focus across the entertainment and creative ecosystem to continue to drive ROI.”
Martinez added: “HarbourView is an incredible, forward-thinking company that has carved out a unique and powerful position in the entertainment landscape. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with another female founder and engage with global audiences in new ways. It’s a privilege to join forces alongside Sherrese to maximize the value of her growing film, music and sports assets.”
“It’s a privilege to join forces alongside Sherrese to maximize the value of her growing film, music and sports assets.”
Lucinda Martinez, The CultureShaker / HarbourView
Earlier this year, HarbourView secured $500 million in debt financing led by investment giant KKR.
The capital will help HarbourView “further our mission of investing in assets and companies driven by premier intellectual property while striving to ensure that creators are appropriately valued for their contributions to the world,” Soares said at the time.
In an interview with MBW this year, Soares said HarbourView has a “global audience frame” and is “focused on building an investment firm across the entertainment, media, and sports segments. We invest in things outside of music [and] what that creates is a very rich ecosystem. It is more than acquiring only music and music catalogs.”
This variety of IP has allowed HarbourView to look at “developing other types of content or adjacent types of content,” Soares added.Music Business Worldwide