BuzzFeed Names Consumer Products Senior Vice President

Digital media company, BuzzFeed, has named Melanie Summers senior vice president, consumer products. Summers joins BuzzFeed’s new unified business organization and will report to Nilla Ali, executive vice president, commerce.   

Summers will lead all BuzzFeed’s global brand licensing and product development, including Complex Networks’ licensing operations. Leveraging commerce data from BuzzFeed Shopping and Tasty Shoppable Recipes, Summers will create partnerships that expand BuzzFeed’s overall licensing activity beyond traditional channels and further into emerging technology, content, experiential, retail, consumer products and more.   

“BuzzFeed is home to iconic brands with massive, loyal audiences,” says Summers. “I’m excited to create new opportunities that pioneer the future of brand licensing and bring these brands into new realms. There is a massive opportunity to create an ecosystem of BuzzFeed experiences beyond the traditional thinking of digital media, and I’m excited to forge the way.”  

Summers joins BuzzFeed with decades of experience in brand licensing and strategy. She most recently served as chief brand officer for Driver Studios, an award-winning production studio specializing in kids’ and family entertainment. Summers was also the vice president of the Emeril brand at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and spent most of her career at Viacom where she held various licensing and business development roles for MTV and Nickelodeon.