Paola Nannelli at the helm of Pulse Advertising: Italian pride in global social media marketing

Since January 1, 2026, Paola Nannelli is Global CEO of Pulse Advertising, an international network with over 125 professionals distributed across 11 countries.

Nannelli succeeds co-founders Chris Kastenholz and Lara Daniel, who remain shareholders to ensure strategic continuity and independence from external investors. A choice that underlines the desire to maintain a strong and autonomous identity in a constantly evolving sector.

Solid growth

The appointment comes at a time of expansion for Pulse Advertising: 2025 closed with double-digit growth globally. The network’s clients include international brands such as Apple, BlackRock, Nestlé and Estée Lauder, thanks to strategic partnerships with major social platforms like Meta, TikTok and Google.

A result even more remarkable when we consider how social media has been transforming in recent years, shifting from entertainment channels to measurable business ecosystems, where speed, effectiveness and scale make the difference.

From blogger economy to creator ecosystem

Paola Nannelli is considered among the pioneers of influencer marketing in Italy. She started when creators were still called “bloggers” and the sector was taking its first steps. Since then, she has led Pulse’s Italian market and subsequently assumed the role of Global Chief Sales Officer, demonstrating cross-functional skills developed at leading agencies such as Cheil Worldwide, Havas Worldwide Digital and J.Walter Thompson (now VML).

Today, her work focuses on content creation and trend analysis, themes at the center of her interventions as speaker and lecturer in managerial and academic settings. She is the creator and curator of the InSIdE Observatory, in collaboration with the Eumetra research center, now in its fourth edition. In 2025, she launched the first international observatory dedicated to the perception of Italian craftsmanship on social media: “Made in Italy in social media age,” with over 2,500 interviewees from Italy, the UK, Germany, France, the USA, and China.

MiRò alongside Pulse

MiRò supports Pulse Advertising as Leading Agency for Press Office, supporting the strategic positioning and communication of the network on the Italian and English market together with Rochester PR Group led by Joanna Dodd. A result like Paola Nannelli’s makes us particularly proud: seeing an Italian professional leading a global network is confirmation that competence, vision and ability to innovate lead to deserved results.

We are proud to tell this story and to accompany Pulse in this new phase of international growth.

Leadership that creates impact

As stated by Lara Daniel, co-founder of Pulse: leadership has never been a matter of titles, but of concrete impact. Paola Nannelli has earned this moment through commitment and dedication, delivering tangible results both in the Italian market and globally.

Chris Kastenholz added that Paola has demonstrated absolute excellence in client service, leading teams and projects with a clear strategic vision.

When talent leads to results, stories like this are born.