Lauren Kleinman - Why Data-Driven Storytelling Matters Now

The Story of a Brand Show

Ramon Vela

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 145 Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The Story of a Brand Show, I sit down with Lauren Kleinman, Founder of Dreamday and Co-founder of Quality Media.

Lauren shares her journey from working at Ritual and Scopely to building not just one, but two thriving agencies that are reshaping how brands approach PR, affiliate, and paid media. Her story is rooted in curiosity, courage, and a clear vision for how the media landscape is evolving.

What stood out to me is how Lauren built Dreamday around the idea of “performance PR,” combining traditional press with measurable ROI through affiliate links. Then, she and her partners created Quality Media to bring media buying, creative, and paid amplification under one roof.

Together, the agencies form a closed loop where press, content, and paid all fuel each other, driving growth and brand equity in ways most agencies can’t match.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

* How Dreamday coined the concept of “performance PR” and why it’s more relevant than ever.

* The origin story of Quality Media and its unique performance publishing model powered by The Quality Edit.

* Why the media landscape is shifting to diversified channels, such as TikTok, Substack, and even ChatGPT search.

* How AI is reshaping agency work and why Lauren calls Dreamday and Quality Media “people-first, AI-enabled agencies.”

* Lauren’s personal journey as a mom, yoga teacher, and leader striving to create workplaces that become the highlight of her team’s careers.

Join me, Ramon Vela, as I listen to the full episode to hear how Lauren is building intentional, future-ready agencies while staying grounded as a leader. This is a must-listen for founders, marketers, and anyone curious about the future of brand storytelling and performance marketing.

For more on Dreamday, visit: https://www.dreamday.la/
For more on Quality Media, visit: https://www.qualitymedia.com/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So that would be consumer PR that is actually measured through affiliate lengths.
0:05.6	So traditional PR has always been about awareness, you know, getting headlines, mentions,
0:11.1	cultural cachet, which is obviously still very important.
0:14.1	And I think even more important in this moment, we'll talk about why later in this show,
0:19.2	but AI is one big component.
0:21.6	But essentially, performance PR blends that storytelling with affiliate marketing. So press doesn't just look good.
0:26.6	It also drives measurable revenue. And we really built this model so that publicists and
0:32.5	affiliate strategists sit side by side working towards the same KPI's like driving traffic, driving revenue,
0:39.5	but also driving the highest quality hits and the highest quantity of hits. So you can think of it as
0:46.0	visibility plus ROI. Hey, everyone.
0:59.0	This is Ramon Vela, and this is another episode of the story of a brand.
1:03.5	Like always, we have an amazing guest in company that we're going to feature on today's show.
1:08.0	But before we do, imagine 100 influencers constantly talking
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	...

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