Young Innovator Nominee: Ryan Berger, HYPR, Berger Shop

Why he is nominated: Ryan's background of running his own agency, Berger Shop, has helped take HYPR, the world's largest search engine and database for influencers, to new levels. By delivering clients such as Pepsi, Microsoft, 72andSunny, Calvin Klein, Thrillist, and understanding how brands need to navigate in the influencer space, Ryan has been a crucial part of continuing to move the influencer industry forward.

Ryan's background in advertising are deep, where his father founded the ad agency, MVBMS, and Ryan ran through those hallways. As he began his career there, he immediately became interested in word of mouth marketing, and identified a new growing segment of men which he deemed "metrosexuals," and hence, the word of mouth on the word was born.

A few years later, Ryan launched his own agency, Berger Shop, specializing in connecting brands into culture. Whether it was running event strategy for Jaguar, or developing campaigns for the NY Knicks, it was when Ryan connected his client, Polaroid, to the music group Outkast, and together, they developed the campaign around the song, "Hey Ya," which became the #1 song in the world for 2 years in a row, and Polaroid's business exploded after being on the verge of going out of business. The campaign, which was valued at over $750 million, cost the Polaroid brand only $250,000, and Ryan was at the reason why this popular marketing case study has been told over and over again.

As Ryan continued to build a reputation in understanding culture and influencers, he was connected to Gil Eyal, who was the founder of an influencer platform called HYPR. Together, they agreed to partner up and build the company, with Gil becoming CEO, and Ryan helping lead the business development. In just a year and a half, HYPR has become the leader in influencer marketing, hosting over 4 million influencer profiles, and working with many Fortune 500 companies. HYPR's ability to connect brands to influencers, and Ryan's innate sense of how brands need to be behave in this space, make the partnership between Ryan and HYPR a winning partnership for everyone involved.

The Young Innovator Award celebrates excellence and innovation by young professionals. See the other nominees and their backgrounds and check back to learn who has won this prestigious honor from The Advertising Club of New York and Google, with support from The Drum.