Flighthouse CEO Ash Stahl Talks TikTok, Talent and Trends on ‘Fear At The Top’ Podcast
That sweet synergy between band and brand rarely emerges fully-formed from the ether.
Flighthouse and its CEO Ash Stahl is the matchmaker, the conduit and the spark for a growing collection of viral campaigns, the type that can send pop stars up the charts and into orbit.
Based in Los Angeles, Stahl leads Flighthouse, the Gen Z-oriented media brand and creative studio, a Create Music Group company that produces original IP, and leads marketing campaigns for artists and record labels across TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.
It’s the most-followed brand on TikTok (with over 28 million), and boasts more than 100 employees. Though few social addicts will recognise their handiwork.
With Stahl at the helm, Flighthouse has worked on projects with Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Cardi B and others. “We jump on board and add fuel to the fire,” she explains in her Fear At The Top interview, filmed following her presentation at Bigsound 2023.
Speaking with The Brag Media CEO Luke Girgis and group editor-in-chief Poppy Reid, Stahl walked through some of her company’s success stories.
An early campaign goal started with a trend. Stahl’s team then identified the influencers, negotiated rates, the videos went up and the “organic” campaign took flight.
“The first year of that was so uphill in terms of getting labels to give us any money.” Then Lil Nas X broke with “the first real big success story of its kind.”
A subsequent activation brought Miley Cyrus and Chipotle to the table for a special burrito bearing her name.
In 2023, the game is well and truly on.
“What we’re going to see is the artists who are going to be really successful going forward are those that really get it, that get that this is a part of the game,” she explains. “Lil Nas X truly gets it. He makes music for TikTok, he gets the trends, participating and it’s very authentic. He knows what he’s doing.”
Over time, Stahl has brought in such bluechip clients as Amazon, HP, Starbucks and Tinder, all with the common goal to reach young consumers.
“Every day is a new idea, or challenge, or problem to solve and I’m having the time of my life building this company alongside the best group of people I could ask for. We’ve gone from 2 to 100 employees in the last five years, and we still have the gritty startup feeling that I hope to never lose. I’m inspired every single day and can’t wait to see what the next five years has in store for Flighthouse.”
In terms of content, she continues, “we always have our feet in a few different things, and we’re always looking at what’s next.”
Stream the Fear At The Top podcast in full on YouTube below.