Ivan Askwith

Ivan Askwith is CEO and Lead Strategist at Askwith&Co, a strategic group that creates valuable, meaningful, direct relationships between creators and the people who love their work.

He specializes in experience design, fan cultures, online communities and cross-platform narratives, and has been described by Wired as “the secret weapon” behind some of the biggest crowdfunding successes of the last three years, including the record-shattering crowdfunding campaigns for Veronica Mars (2013), Reading Rainbow (2014) and Super Troopers 2 (2015).

Previously, Askwith led the Digital Media division of Lucasfilm, providing creative and strategic oversight for a range of online, social and cross-platform initiatives supporting Star Wars. Before that, he spent several years as the Director of Strategy at Big Spaceship, an award-winning digital agency in Brooklyn, NY, where he led projects for clients including Google, GE, Sony Pictures and NBC Universal.

Askwith was a founding member of MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium (C3), and now serves on the Executive Board for the Futures of Entertainment Conference. In addition, he writes frequently on audience behavior and franchise development, and appears as a frequent speaker at festivals and conferences worldwide, including ad:tech, CAT, Digital Hollywood, NAB, SXSW, RioContentMarket and more.