Product Marketing · Content Strategy · Paid Media

Stories
that scale,
campaigns
that land.

I'm Yanni Zou — a product marketer with nine years building integrated campaigns for UNICEF, Google Wing, DJI, and Microsoft. I turn complicated products into clear, audience-first narratives, then back them with the paid media and data to make them move.

Born in Beijing, trained at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, based in Irvine, California — and always a little in love with a good data point and a well-placed comma.

At a glance

Nine years, measured in billions — and in kids, parents, and partners reached.

Cumulative figures from roles at UNICEF, Google Wing, and DJI.

Total Impressions
18B+
Paid and organic reach across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, LinkedIn.
Users Reached
2B+
Unique users engaged with global campaigns between 2021–2024.
Offices Supported
100+
UNICEF country & regional offices advised on strategy, measurement, and execution.
Campaigns Led
1,500+
Ads launched across five global channels — 1,253 on average per year at UNICEF.
Selected Work

Case studies.

'22 UNICEF · Youth Engagement
Global Hero Campaign
FB · IG · YouTube · Search

World Children's Day, timed to the FIFA World Cup — 1.1 billion impressions and UNICEF's most-viewed video marketing launch.

A hero activation across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google Search — timed to the World Cup to meet casual football fans exactly where their attention already was. We paired reach, traffic, and video-view objectives across 4 channels and 7 languages, and produced paid-optimized cuts of the hero video to drive completion.

Hero CampaignVideo GrowthGlobal ScaleCultural Moment

Outcomes

  • 1.1B impressions7.5× larger reach than the previous year's WCD campaign.
  • 78M video views70M on Facebook, 8M on YouTube — 988% growth at a 20–40% lower cost.
  • Top-10 of all timeOne of the most-viewed videos ever on UNICEF's YouTube channel.
'24 UNICEF · Immunization
Marketing Focal Point
Meta · YouTube · LinkedIn

World Immunization Week & the GAVI replenishment — reaching donors, decision-makers, and parents all at once.

As marketing focal point for the 2024 Immunization Taskforce, I led go-to-market for the 50th anniversary of the EPI and GAVI replenishment year. When agency assets lagged, I rallied communications focal points to build human-interest stories that outperformed the branded creative — and introduced LinkedIn as a targeted channel to reach decision-makers in donor countries alongside supporter campaigns in priority program markets.

Paid MediaB2B & B2CLinkedIn LaunchStakeholder Alignment

Outcomes

  • 3 platformsMeta, YouTube, and LinkedIn — UNICEF's first structured use of LinkedIn for advocacy.
  • Two audiencesDonor-country decision-makers + supporters in priority program countries, tailored end-to-end.
  • Outperformed agencyComplementary human-interest creative beat the branded deliverables.
vs.
'21 UNICEF × Gallup
Data-journalism launch
Facebook · Instagram

Changing Childhood — a 21-country study turned into a microsite, and a paid strategy that drove 96% of its traffic.

A UNICEF and Gallup collaboration surveying 21 countries on the generational gap in how young people see their world. I built the paid strategy to encourage youth participation in public debate and push findings in front of policymakers — testing video ads against website-question preview graphics across English, Spanish, and French audiences, and letting individual supporter, lookalike, and advocate segments do the heavy lifting.

MultilingualData StorytellingCreative TestingYouth Audience

Outcomes

  • 84M impressionsReaching 22M unique individuals globally across EN / ES / FR.
  • 765K landing-page viewsPaid marketing accounted for 96% of all page traffic.
  • 1m 22s avg. timeStrong engagement signal — 87% new users and 801K sessions in GA.
'19–'21 Google · Wing
First Social Media Mgr.
Drone delivery · GTM

Launching a drone delivery brand into everyday life.

As Wing's first Social Media Manager, I built the brand's digital presence from the ground up — developing an integrated content and paid strategy that gave one of Alphabet's most speculative projects a clear, consistent identity across markets. I led 100+ campaigns shaping early public perception of drone delivery and engaging regional communities in Australia, Finland, and the US.

Brand from 0→1GTMRegional CampaignsShort-form Video

Outcomes

  • 100+ campaignsEnd-to-end execution across paid, social, and community channels.
  • Cross-channel identityBuilt the playbook for Wing's voice, visuals, and content system.
  • Early-market positioningShaped how drone delivery was introduced and adopted.
READY · SET · GO
'18 DJI · N. America
Product Launch
Multi-platform Social

"Ready, Set, Go" — a product launch built as a travel race.

For the Mavic Air launch, I designed a new type of product campaign for DJI: two well-known travel creators competing to get the best shot with the drone. We turned one hero video into 30 distinct pieces of content across platforms, paired with paid distribution — and ended up with the most-engaged video in DJI's YouTube history.

Product LaunchInfluencer StrategyContent MultiplicationPaid Social

Outcomes

  • #1 ever engagedDJI's most-engaged YouTube video — 70,255 engagements (prior record 39,705).
  • #1 for subscribers6,929 new YouTube subscribers gained — ~2× the average top video.
  • 1 video → 30 assetsMulti-platform cut-down system stretched creative budget with no quality loss.
'17 DJI · N. America
Social-first series
FB · IG · Twitter · YouTube

QuickTips — DJI's first social-first digital campaign, and 39 million video views later.

I proposed QuickTips when I first joined DJI: short, lifestyle-led tutorials for the DJI Spark, built around motion graphics and text instead of polished product shots. The pitch: people pay more attention to ads that don't feel like ads. We started conservatively, scaled budget as performance proved out, and tested pricing in-copy to lift conversion.

Content StrategyEducational AdsMotion GraphicsDirect Response

Outcomes

  • 39M video viewsAcross Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Conversation Cards, and YouTube preroll.
  • Best ROASDJI's most efficient campaign to-date — pricing-in-copy lifted conversion.
  • New format templateSeeded a social-first playbook the brand continued to use after launch.
#
'17–'19 DJI · N. America
Always-on UGC engine
IG · FB · Twitter

#CapturedByYou — a monthly UGC engine built on the Hero, Hub, Help framework.

An always-on monthly program inviting DJI users to submit their best photo and video work around a new theme (Dronie, Surreal, 360, Hyperlapse…). I structured every month as four content categories across eight posts — a brief, an engagement post, a creator tutorial, and a showcase — each mapped to the Hero → Hub → Help framework to tease, inspire, and educate in sequence. The best submissions got channel takeovers. The audience felt seen. DJI got its most authentic connection to core users.

UGC StrategyContent FrameworkCommunityAlways-On

Average per monthly campaign

  • 5.1M impressionsWith 4.2M video views and 152K engagements across platforms.
  • 6,000+ submissionsMonthly community contributions forming an evergreen content pool.
  • Hero · Hub · HelpFramework I built became a reusable template for DJI's creator programs.
'18 DJI · N. America
Story series · Humanitarian
Global · 6 languages

#DronesForGood — the Hawaiian whale story, pitched, produced, and pushed globally.

As the flagship piece of a bi-weekly #DronesForGood series, I pitched and traveled to Hawaii to film the story of drones being used to rescue humpback whales entangled in fishing gear. The piece became the anchor of a paid awareness campaign, translated into six languages to drive reach in priority markets. It closed the loop on the DJI brand: a consumer drone company whose product also saves lives.

Brand PurposePitched & ProducedMultilingual RolloutPaid Awareness

Outcomes

  • 8.2M reachWith 3.4M video views — a top-performing piece in the #DronesForGood series.
  • 6 language versionsLocalized rollout across priority regional markets as paid media.
  • Humanitarian AwardRecognized for demonstrating drones' role in conservation and rescue.
'19 DJI · Drones for Good
Interactive storytelling
StoryMap · Geographic

Life Saved Report — mapping where drones actually saved lives.

The evergreen companion to #DronesForGood: a scrolling, map-based story built on Knight Lab's StoryMap JS that pins real stories of drones in rescue, conservation, and humanitarian work to the places they happened. A deliberate reframe of the drone narrative — from hobbyist gadget to lifesaving tool — told location-by-location so audiences stayed long enough to believe it.

Interactive StorytellingBrand PurposeGeographic NarrativeMultimedia

What it does

  • Map-drivenScroll-triggered geographic story anchored to real rescue and conservation sites.
  • Brand reframeShifted DJI's narrative from consumer drone maker to lifesaving tool.
  • Journalism craftBrought the multimedia discipline from Berkeley into DJI's brand comms.
Honors & Recognition

Work recognized on the big stage.

A selection of UNICEF campaigns recognized at the 8th Annual Shorty Impact Awards — the premier global program honoring purpose-driven storytelling across digital and social media.

My role on each: digital marketing focal point. Working alongside the full campaign team, I built the media plan and led execution — channel strategy, audience targeting, and paid amplification — giving organic stories the reach and relevance to travel far beyond their original audience.

01

One Team for Children's Rights — World Children's Day

Honoring the most creative and effective global marketing campaign supporting a specific social-good objective — reaching an international audience and adapting to various markets while maintaining a consistent message.

Shorty Impact Awards · Global Campaign · 2023
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02

UNICEF Parenting Month Digital Activation

Honoring the most effective and creative social good campaign spanning multiple digital and social platforms — describing how content was modified for each platform to work together as a unifying message.

Shorty Impact Awards · Multi-Platform Campaign · 2023
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03

Children Under Attack — Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

A UNICEF multimedia project gathering stories of children and families affected by explosive weapons in Ukraine — produced to bolster advocacy around the EWIPA political declaration signed in Dublin, November 2022.

Shorty Impact Awards · Multimedia Advocacy · 2023
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04

New Old News — UNICEF

Honoring the most effective and creative use of short-form video by a brand, agency, or organization to promote a pro-social cause — videos of 60 seconds or less.

Shorty Impact Awards · Short Form Video · 2023
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05

UNICEF — Large Non-Profit of the Year

Organization-wide recognition for UNICEF's body of digital and social good work — a capstone honor reflecting the sustained impact of campaigns across the year.

Shorty Impact Awards · Organization of the Year · 2023
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The arc

A nine-year through-line.

2021 — 2025
UNICEF Digital Communication Officer, P-2 · NYHQ
Led paid marketing for Global Communications & Advocacy, stewarding large-scale paid media partnerships with Meta and Google, and serving as focal point for immunization, adolescent girls, and parenting campaigns. Earned "Exemplary Performance" ratings in both completed review cycles.
2019 — 2021
Google (Wing) Social Media Manager · First hire
Established the digital presence of Alphabet's drone delivery program from zero — integrated content and paid strategy, cross-channel identity, and 100+ campaigns shaping early public perception of autonomous delivery.
2016 — 2019
DJI North America Digital Marketing Lead
Owned digital marketing strategy for the world's largest consumer drone brand in North America — product launches, multimedia content, influencer programs. "QuickTips" delivered 39M video views; "Ready, Set, Go" became DJI's most-engaged YouTube video ever.
2013 — 2014
Microsoft Research Asia Communications & Public Affairs
Supported internal and external comms across Microsoft's flagship research lab — event campaigns, executive engagement, research storytelling, and early work in translating complex technical narratives for broader audiences.
2014 — 2016
UC Berkeley M.J., Journalism (Multimedia) · GPA 3.96
Berkeley J-School's multimedia track — visual storytelling, videography, interactive coding. Co-produced Chasing Lithium, a multimedia investigation that won the ONA 2016 Best Student Project (David Teeuwen Student Journalism Award).
What I bring

A craft built at the seam of strategy, story, and the numbers that prove it worked.

a

Go-to-Market Strategy

From product positioning to channel mix — taking messy, technical products and turning them into audience-first campaigns that actually launch on time.

Positioning · Messaging · Theory of Change
b

Paid Media & Growth

Full-funnel campaigns across Meta, Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Budget stewardship, creative testing, audience strategy, and measurement that actually informs the next round.

Meta · Google Ads · LinkedIn · YouTube · GA4
c

Content Strategy

Multi-format content systems — from dynamic ad copy to human-interest story packages — built around audience insight and optimized for platform and purpose.

Editorial Planning · Creative Briefs · Copywriting
d

Data & Insights

Year-over-year paid marketing reviews, dashboards in GA4, Brand Lift Study analysis — the kind of synthesis that turns a spreadsheet into next year's plan.

GA4 · Meta Insights · Brand Lift · Reporting
e

Cross-Functional Leadership

Aligning product, comms, creative, and regional teams around a single plan — managing partnerships with Meta, Google, and LinkedIn, and supporting 100+ country offices.

Stakeholder Mgmt · Partnership · Capacity Building
f

Multimedia Craft

A designer-and-producer background that still shapes how I brief creative, review assets, and direct short-form content — honed at UC Berkeley's J-School.

Photoshop · Sketch · Final Cut · InDesign
" Yanni is a rare blend of strategic thinker, specialist and team player — I would work with her again in a heartbeat.
Kav Sidhu · Global Digital Communications & Campaigns, UNICEF
In their words

The room I leave behind.

Selected feedback from UNICEF colleagues, classmates, and cross-team collaborators — lifted from LinkedIn recommendations and formal performance reviews.

"

Yanni is one of the most capable, effective and kind professionals I've ever worked with. She showed a level of strategic thinking and technical skill far beyond the expectations of this role. Yanni's constant drive for performance delivered extraordinary results for our campaigns. I continued to learn a lot from her deep knowledge of digital platforms, rigorous logic, and generous team spirit.

J
Jacob Hunt Digital Communication Specialist, UNICEF · Direct Supervisor PER Feedback · 2024
"

Through it all Yanni brought clarity, focus and calm. She consistently distilled complexity into actionable and data-driven marketing strategies, and developed smart and responsive paid media proposals under pressure. What sets her apart is not only her technical expertise but her ability to communicate it clearly and patiently to colleagues less familiar with the field.

K
Kav Sidhu Global Digital Communications & Campaigns, UNICEF LinkedIn · June 2025
"

Yanni is exemplary in her drive to achieve results for impact — truly she sets the bar at gold. She goes above and beyond in her ownership and delivery of tasks with minimal supervision. INCREDIBLY detail-oriented, and the quality of her work is of the highest caliber. Many in her project groups benefit from her ability to strategize, synthesize, and track — often above her remit.

L
Laetitia Pactat Second Reporting Officer, UNICEF PER Feedback · 2024
"

Yanni brings strong critical and strategic thinking to her work with the Immunization taskforce. Her leadership in researching, recommending, and delivering campaigning through LinkedIn was essential in reaching decision-makers on the GAVI replenishment. This required alignment across multiple teams, establishment of new targeting, and strategic decision-making to leverage LinkedIn as a new marketing channel. Throughout, Yanni came prepared with insights and recommendations that guided the work.

K
Kristine Lougas Immunization Taskforce, UNICEF PER Feedback · 2024
"

I was one of the privileged people who saw up close how Yanni demonstrated her incredibly well-thought-out innovative ideas. Despite constraints and last-minute decisions caused by external forces, Yanni shared a proactive approach by proposing new methods throughout the year. This was particularly seen when she introduced LinkedIn marketing to support a very last-minute advocacy proposal — resulting in a highly specific, targeted marketing plan.

P
Pooja Premchandran-Rotar Digital Communications Specialist, UNICEF PER Feedback · 2024
"

It's a pleasure to work with Yanni — very proactive in supporting colleagues and always with practical advice and ideas to improve our workflows and results. She absolutely demonstrated that she works collaboratively with others, and I am very grateful for her contributions to our team and her support to the analytics work.

S
Silvia Sommariva Digital Analytics, UNICEF PER Feedback · 2024
Before the campaigns

A journalism habit.

Multimedia and interactive storytelling projects from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. The investigative muscle that still shapes every marketing brief I write.

Li 3 · 6.94 · Lithium
ONA 2016 · Best Student Project

Chasing Lithium

A multimedia investigation into the environmental, human, and political cost of lithium-ion batteries — from the brine mines of Bolivia to landfills in China.

View Project →
1 ONE · CHILD
Berkeley J-School

One Child Policy

An interactive look at the legacy of China's one-child policy — voices, data, and consequences told through a long-form multimedia package.

View Project →
Aid-in-Dying CALIFORNIA · LEGISLATION
Univision · Huella Digital

Aid-in-Dying in California

A bilingual interactive on California's End of Life Option Act — mapping legislation, timelines, and the personal stories behind the policy.

View Project →
Let's talk

Let's connect.

Email

ninazouyanni@gmail.com

Phone

+1 510 701 8496

Elsewhere

LinkedIn ↗ Medium ↗ Instagram ↗ Facebook ↗

Currently

Based in Irvine, California. On the hunt for a full-time product marketing role — where great storytelling meets a team I can learn from, ship alongside, and grow with.