Props: Performance Creator Marketing Led by NYC's First CMO

Props is a New York creator marketing platform that pairs creator-made content with paid media and reports results as customers rather than likes. Founder and CEO Joseph Perello, the first chief marketing officer of the City of New York, leads it, and it launched in December 2018 with $5.5 million in investment. Its client announcements include Daytona Beach, which works with agency Aqua, and PenFed Credit Union.

Last updated: November 6, 2026

What is Props and who runs it?

Props Media Platform, LLC is a New York company that describes itself as a performance-based creator marketing platform. Its office is at 36 West 25th Street in New York, according to the Props website.

Joseph Perello is the founder and chief executive officer. Ad Age lists him as the first chief marketing officer for the City of New York, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a former vice president of the New York Yankees. In an April 16, 2026 Brand Innovators interview, Perello described the company's thesis in two parts: creators bring credibility, and paid media brings scale, precision and attribution.

Props launched in December 2018 with $5.5 million in investment and a platform powered by IBM Watson, according to its launch release dated December 20, 2018. The release named Oliver Blodgett, a former IBM Watson executive, as an investor and Props's head of artificial intelligence, and it said Props is not an influencer platform.

How does Props combine creator content with paid media?

Props publishes creator stories and then pays to distribute them, so the content reaches audiences beyond the creator's own followers. The company says on its website that it combines the response rates of creator stories with the scale and accountability of paid media.

Props explains the mechanics in a March 10, 2025 newsroom post titled The Props Effect. Paid media runs under the creator's handle instead of the brand's corporate account, and traffic lands on the client's own website so the brand captures first-party data. Brand Innovators reported in its April 16, 2026 interview that Props selects creators to produce content that lives on the brand's website, not on social platforms, and that a creator's audience size matters less for that reason.

Based on the Props newsroom and the Brand Innovators interview, a campaign runs in four steps:

1. The brand and Props select creators who fit the target audience, and each creator is vetted and briefed.
2. Each creator publishes a story that lives on the brand's own website.
3. Props promotes the story with paid media under the creator's handle.
4. Traffic lands on the brand's website, where the brand captures first-party data and can track new customers.

Perello said the company designed the system to deliver results a CFO would understand, and that it makes what many people call influencer marketing a real performance channel. For market context, see EPR's explainer on creator economy versus influencer marketing.

Props also addresses compliance. In the same March 2025 post, the company says its proprietary AI tool, Ollie, monitors creators' content for brand safety and regulatory risk, which it positions for finance, insurance and healthcare brands.

What do Props's measurement results show?

Props says five independent analyses in 2025 ranked its campaigns at or near the top of every model, according to a May 23, 2025 post in the Props summary of five measurement analyses. The analyses came from Analytic Partners, Trust Insights, Dynata and Meta, plus an additional whitepaper validation.

The figures below are as reported by Props:

• In Analytic Partners' marketing mix modeling, Props increased spend by 717% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and drove a 59.8% increase in incremental customers.
• In a 215-variable machine learning attribution model from Trust Insights, Props impressions ranked second overall and first among paid media for new member acquisition.
• In a Dynata brand lift study, Props-led content raised ad recall by 14.5% against a 6% benchmark, action intent by 7.2% against 2.2%, and brand favorability by 10 points.
• In an Analytic Partners synergy analysis, adding Props to the media mix coincided with efficiency lifts of 30% for connected TV, 29% for online video and 29% for paid social.
• In creative testing and performance analysis that Props attributes to Meta, non-branded stories lowered customer acquisition cost by 9%, video beat static images by 24%, people-focused imagery beat landscape imagery by 35%, and expert creators outperformed branded ads by up to 56%.

Props frames the five results as one conclusion drawn from different methods: mix modeling, attribution, brand lift, synergy analysis and creative testing. The company says it measures customers, policies and conversions rather than impressions or engagement.

Props also published a client-level test. In The Props Effect, the company describes a 2024 study of one client's Meta campaigns in which cost per acquisition rose 104% when Props paused its paid media spending and fell 62% when spending resumed.

Which brands and agencies are working with Props?

Props lists Daytona Beach, PenFed Credit Union and Valley Bank among its recent client announcements on the Props newsroom. The announcements span destination marketing, credit unions and small business banking.

The Daytona Beach announcement, dated January 1, 2026, shows how Props works alongside an agency. Aqua, the destination's agency partner, continues to lead overall brand and agency strategy, while Props supplies creator-led storytelling as a performance media layer. The first activation features creators experiencing Daytona Beach firsthand.

The PenFed Credit Union announcement describes a creator-led program built to introduce the credit union's core banking products to new audiences. The Valley Bank item on the same newsroom says its first creator-led efforts start with small business banking.

The longest-running example Perello cites is AAA. In the Brand Innovators interview he pointed to a seven-year engagement featuring adventure travelers and van life experts, and said the program has delivered more than 400,000 new customers at a significantly younger average age than those typically acquired through traditional advertising. Perello and Lee Sosin were also listed as speakers on the Adweek Social Media Week session "Influence Isn't Enough: How AAA Turned Creators Into a Performance Engine" on May 12, 2025.

Leadership has grown alongside the client list. Business Wire reported on January 9, 2025 that Sosin joined Props as Chief Client Officer, a former Hearst, Yahoo and Time Inc. executive and longtime advisor to the company who runs sales, marketing and client support. Martech Edge reported on January 13, 2025 that he most recently served as chief marketing officer at Green Roads.

What can PR and marketing teams learn from the Props model?

PR and marketing teams can learn that creator content becomes easier to defend internally when it carries the same measurement as other paid channels. Props builds its pitch around that idea, and the Daytona Beach example shows it working beside an agency of record instead of replacing one.

Four questions come out of the Props approach, and they apply to any creator partner:

1. Where does the creator content live? Props publishes it on the brand's website so first-party data stays with the brand.
2. What outcome is measured? Props points to customers, policies and conversions rather than impressions.
3. Which independent tests back the claim? Props cites mix modeling, attribution, brand lift, synergy analysis and creative testing.
4. Who leads brand strategy? In the Daytona Beach case, Aqua leads strategy and Props supplies the performance media layer.

Teams comparing Props with other options can start with EPR's ranking of the best influencer marketing agencies. For the wider market that creator platforms operate in, read EPR's guide to the creator economy. The practical next step is to ask any creator partner for the same five test types Props summarizes, then compare the answers side by side.