Marketing Upheaval

Hey everyone, this is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse. Thanks for listening. I got a lot out of my conversation with Brett Bruen, President of the Global Situation Room. In fact, we had so much great stuff, we made this two episodes. Brett was the Director of Global Engagement under President Barack Obama. And he's worked as a diplomat in Africa, the Middle East. And he's advised on various topics, including national security. So he knows about crises and had some really brilliant ideas to share. In this first part, we talked about the ever changing world of crisis, or as Brett said, "risk has gone regular". His ideas about how companies can build up a "reservoir of goodwill" and forgiveability are for me, a whole new angle on crisis and risk management. And his idea that you can actually use a crisis as a chance to communicate or even strengthen your brand, man that's just great stuff. Anyway, check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Rudy: Welcome to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Brett Bruen, President of the Global Situation Room. An international consulting firm in Washington DC and Los Angeles. Brett served as the Director of Global Engagement under President Barack Obama, and also spent 12 years as an American diplomat in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. He teaches at Georgetown and trains senior officials on crisis management. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Brad, I really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining me. So here's the first thing I want to get your thoughts on. As a society, we seem to be in constant state of crisis these days. Obviously, we have access to more information than ever before. But how do you think that affects people in their day to day?

Brett: Well, I like to say risk has gone regular for private citizens, for organizations and for companies. I think we've seen numerous examples in the last few years of how brands have been challenged by upheaval and uncertainty, have been dragged into political, social, economic debates. And you know, my message to those who manage these brands is you know, the reactive days are over you have to prepare more proactively, you have to identify your vulnerabilities, track them, understand that when those indicators start to take up the appropriate responses not wait and see. Because wait and you will see. Instead it is about focusing on putting in place the kind of infrastructure that your company needs around those vulnerabilities. We call it "reservoirs of goodwill". What are those reservoirs you need to fill in order to have the right relationships, the right partnerships, the right tools, so that when that vulnerability is exploited...And let me just give you you know, an example, if I'm Chipotle it shouldn't be a surprise that this is an area that I have to be ready to respond to. And what was interesting was that it took Chipotle months to get to a point where as a consumer, I finally got in the certificate for a free burrito. Well, that's something we call a countermeasure. And you could have prepared that campaign ahead of time, you could have put in place all of the pieces, all of the research, the fact sheets, the elements that were required to roll something like that out, even if you don't know where, when or how that vulnerability would be exploited. 

Rudy: I love the term reservoirs of goodwill. I think it lets leaders know that you have to constantly work to build your reputation.

Complete transcript: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/10/23/brett-bruen-of-global-situation-room-on-crisis-communications-part-1/

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Hey everyone. On this episode, I spoke with Jeff Perkins, the Chief Marketing Officer of ParkMobile. It's one of the fastest growing companies in the country. It's an app that if it hasn't already, it'll change the way you park your car. Just a really smart guy. And I learned a lot from our conversation, he introduced me to a concept called velocity marketing, which is already changing the way I approach a client in new business. He talked about how CMOs can gain more support in the C-suite. And of course, what it's like being the CMO, at a hugely successful startup, check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Transcript:
Rudy Fernandez  0:42  Welcome to Marketing Upheaval, my guest is Jeff Perkins, Chief Marketing Officer of ParkMobile, one of the fastest growing companies in the US. It's a revolutionary app that allows you to find a parking space and pay for it. They have more than 15 million users. Jeff has worked on the agency and client side. He's had tremendous success with growing startups and building a personal brand. And we're going to talk about all of that. Thanks for joining me, Jeff.

Jeff Perkins  1:05  Happy to be here, Rudy. Thanks for having me on. 

Rudy Fernandez  1:07  So just for listeners, can you give us a quick overview of what Park and mobile the company does and what the app does? 

Jeff Perkins  1:13  Sure. So Park mobile is the leading mobile app for parking in the United States and North America, we help millions of people around the country find and pay for parking and do it right from their mobile apps. If you think about the old way you would pay for parking. Oftentimes, there was that one of these meters that required change and coins, and who carries around coins anymore, right. So we took that process of paying for parking, we brought your mobile device, making it easy reducing friction in the process, and also letting you pay for parking or extend your parking time when you're away from your car. So it makes it just a lot easier than the old process paying for parking. Now we also offer parking reservations. So for sporting events, major events, concerts, you're able to book parking ahead of time. So before you drive to the stadium for a game or a concert, you will know exactly where you're going to park. So that's a really nice feature. It helps people hopefully get to the events on time reducing some of that frustration in the process.

Rudy Fernandez  2:16  So I know the company started in 2008. But that's something that wouldn't, couldn't possibly have existed not too long ago.

Jeff Perkins  2:23  Yeah, not in 2008. The reservations part of our business is relatively new, it's been around for just a couple of years. And that's something that we're working towards expanding, not a lot of venues, not a lot of parking garages actually offer reservations today, so but in the coming years, if you live in the suburbs, and you're going to drive into a city for meetings or an event, you're probably going to be reserving parking, rather than just driving in and aimlessly circling the block looking for a place to park, we think it's going to be a great way to help people just get from point A to point B and reduce friction in that process.

Rudy Fernandez  2:58  This is obviously brand new category, what kind of challenges and present being a brand new category.

Visit https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/10/16/jeff-perkins-cmo-of-parkmobile-on-growing-a-company-and-category/ for complete transcripts, show notes and images from every episode.

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In this episode, I spoke with Loren O'Brien. She's a comedian and owns a video production company. So we talked about humor, what makes something funny and when does funny become offensive? How does humor help brands connect with an audience? What brands are doing funny well and who falls short? Spoiler alert. She liked our humor reel, or at least she said she did. Check it out.

Rudy:           Welcome to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Loren O'Brien, CEO of MO Video Production. Loren has spent a large part of her career writing and performing comedy in London, and loves to talk about comedy and marketing, which are two of my favorite subjects. So I'm excited about this episode, and thanks for joining me, Loren.

Loren:              No worries. Thanks for having me.

Rudy:           I want to break down comedy, since you've done that for a long, long time, and there's a quote by E.B. White. He basically said that comedy, you can dissect it like you can dissect the frog, but in both cases the thing dies. So I want to start with the most basic topic. What makes something funny?

Loren:              I think it's a feeling. It's like music. Something can be technically funny, but something that can also completely break the rules. Memes are a great example of how that's breaking all the rules at the moment because you'll read something and go, "This doesn't make any sense," but then it's just the way it makes you feel. I'm trying to break it down in my head every single day, what I find funny, and why I find it funny, and I think it just has to do with like a feeling. Whether it's in that moment, whether it's something relatable, or whether it's just plain old silly. I think it's just the way the music works.

Rudy:           It's creating some kind of connection. However you do that, and you're not going to create a connection with everyone.

Loren:              No.

Rudy:           But speaking of memes, a lot of times when I see memes, often it's things you wish you could say.

Loren:              Yes. Something about online comedy is the voice in your head that you wish you could say to everybody else. I'm trying to do a lot more with my standup as well, and it doesn't work out very well in real life. People don't like that as much. You're supposed to keep quiet when you're talking to people.

Rudy:           It is a strange time because our societal norms have changed.

Complete show notes at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/10/09/loren-obrien-comedian-and-ceo-of-m-o-makes-on-humor-in-marketing/

View our humor reel and creative samples at: https://creativeouthouse.com/creative-work/
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The founder of Dialogue Marketing talks about the explosive developments in AI in marketing—what it will mean for customer service, client relationships and marketing agencies. 

Hey everyone. This is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse. I had a great time speaking with Nora DePalma from Dialogue Marketing. She and I connect on several levels. We both own businesses, we're both very curious at a sort of nerd like level. So our talk about artificial intelligence and marketing was fun. We talked about how AI is changing the way we do our jobs and which of us will still have jobs in the future. AI is here, and it's being used more and more in marketing. So I think you're going to get a lot out of this episode. My guest is Nora DePalma, president and CEO of Dialogue Marketing. Dialogue helps clients create two way communications with their audience, whether it's a small audience or a big audience. One tool that's becoming fundamental to engaging with customers is artificial intelligence, so we're going to talk about that and her company. Thank you for joining me Nora.

Nora DePalma:              Thank you.

Rudy Fernandez:           One of the biggest changes overall in marketing has to be this idea that brands can no longer be pushed out to audiences. And I love that whole aspect of your company. It's a dialogue.

Nora DePalma:              It's a dialogue. Yes.

Rudy Fernandez:           Yeah. And there has to be a back and forth for customers because now customers have allowed a republic voice. So how have you seen your clients adjust to this?

Nora DePalma:              The clients we see that are really doing it well think about branding throughout their organization. So the branding is not just the purview of the advertising team, it's your customer service, it's how you answer the phone, it's every experience and touch point that your customers have with you. And thinking through what that experience is. Companies that have that mindset and communicate that mindset to employees are the ones that are doing really well.

Rudy Fernandez:           So how do you create that? And it's funny because I agree with you, I've always felt like the most important audience is your internal audience, because it doesn't matter what you tell the outside world if your people aren't supporting it. How do you create that sort of brand that's internal, external, everybody is on board?

Nora DePalma:              First of all, you have to be true to it. I think all of us have probably had an experience if we've been in the industry or been in our careers more than 20, 25 years, we've probably come across a situation where a company didn't walk the walk that they were talking. And everyone knows that. And that just starts to develop distrust between leadership and employees. And that is a very outdated and going away kind of top down view of leadership. The first job of any leader is to build trust in their organization, to be able to get their attention and their interest.

View images, show notes and complete transcript at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/10/02/nora-depalma-of-dialogue-marketing-on-ai-in-marketing/

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The COO of Media Frenzy Global offers some frank observations on the real and superficial changes in the marketing world’s push for more diverse and inclusive workplaces. 
Complete show notes and transcript at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/09/25/katie-kern-of-media-frenzy-global-on-diversity-and-inclusion/

Hey everyone. I really enjoyed this conversation with Katie Kern who's a partner and COO of Media Frenzy Global. We talked about entrepreneurship and creating a personal brand, but it was the diversity and inclusion conversation that really resonated with me. Now, frankly, whenever I've discussed it with people in marketing, I usually get a vanilla sort of kumbaya response. Katie's narrative was very different and felt a lot more real and powerful. I'm really excited to share this episode with you. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Rudy:               Welcome to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Katie Kern, partner and COO of Media Frenzy Global, a PR and content marketing firm that's strong in the technology space. Before joining Media Frenzy, Katie owned her own lifestyle PR agency. She was selected to be part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program to help train and support entrepreneurs. And she writes and speaks about diversity and inclusion, has won many awards. So really excited to talk to her today. Katie, thanks for joining us.

Katie Kern:        Thanks for having me.

Rudy:               The fact that you switched from fashion to technology, I thought, "Wow, those are real different." So do you see any overlaps, anything in fashion that helped you with technology?

Katie Kern:        You know what's interesting? I think technology companies want to be in the fashion industry because we're the cool kids to a certain extent, from a creativity standpoint, everyone who wants ... Everyone loves the glitz and the glamor of fashion, and they see how fashion brands actually kind of go to market once a season. It's not once a year. Most technology companies, if you think about how companies market themselves, they put together a big marketing campaign for the entire year and then go from there and kind of deploy it. Fashion, we have to be a lot more kind of on the ball thinking. Constantly all the time thinking about, okay, there’s a new collection coming out. We have to market it differently. Maybe a different demographic. You never know.

Rudy:               It’s a complete emotional sell, fashion. I’m sure there’s logic in the decisions, but it’s an art.

Katie Kern:        Well, I think the creation of fashion is an art. The selling is that there’s definitely has to be some logic there. Have to know your customer for sure. So I think they both go hand in hand. You think about Apple with a smartwatch. It’s a fashion piece. Think about Amazon, it’s the fashion platform where you actually purchase merchandise. Google, same thing. Google actually partnered with Levi’s to do a collaboration. So there’s always that crossover. And I think both industries are very much interested in one another for sure.

Complete transcript: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/09/25/katie-kern-of-media-frenzy-global-on-diversity-and-inclusion/

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Tim Smith of Chemistry on AOR vs project work, the Atlanta United campaign launch

The President of Chemistry, Atlanta talks about being named Ad Age’s small agency of the year -  twice, the challenges with client agreements and the most successful campaign launch in professional sports history. Full shownotes and transcripts at www.creativeouthouse.com/podcast

Transcript:
Rudy Fernandez:           Hey, this is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse. In this episode of Marketing Upheaval, I spoke with Tim Smith, President of Chemistry in Atlanta. Chemistry was named Ad Age's best small agency two out of the last four years, and we talked about that.

Rudy:               We also talked about what's not working with a lot of client agency relationships and new business, and we talked about the most successful launch in professional sports history and what we all can learn from that.

Rudy:               Check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Earcon:             You're listening to Marketing Upheaval from Creative Outhouse.

Rudy:               Hey, thanks for listening to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Tim Smith, President of Chemistry in Atlanta. Chemistry won Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year in 2016 and 2018. They do great work and have some powerful case studies, including the most successful sports franchise launch in history, according to ESPN and Sports Illustrated. We're going to talk about that. Thanks for joining me, Tim.

Tim Smith:        Thanks for having me.

Rudy:               So I know you worked at a lot of big shops and big brands and stuff, and then you worked on Super Bowl spots and everything, and now small shops.

Rudy:               Well, first of all, why did you do that? Why did you go from the big agency, big budget to small shops?

Tim:                 Yeah. So I started really right out of school, jumped right into the deep end and went to BBDO New York. Now, that was all big stuff, big budgets. I thought, "Wow, this advertising gig's amazing. We have huge budgets, and flying around, fancy hotels." It was fantastic.

Rudy:               I only get to hear about that kind of stuff.

Tim:                 Right. Sadly, I got to experience it just long enough to miss it. So it was great. Well, I always wanted to live in the South, so I kind of would go to a big ad market, come back South. Got to a big ad market, come back South.

Tim:                 Then an opportunity came up to be a creative director in a small shop, so I had the ego to believe that, wow, this small shop, they've got a few clients and I've done all this big stuff, I can certainly make them big, that's not going to be a problem. Found how difficult the struggle was. So we did some good stuff. We won a lot of business and stuff, but it was on a totally different level from all the ones I was used to. But I really liked it.
More at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/09/18/tim-smith-of-chemistry-on-aor-vs-project-work-the-atlanta-united-campaign-launch/

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Hey everyone. This is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse, and this is a really neat episode with Warren Kurtzman, the president of Coleman insights. And we first learned about Coleman when we were doing some research on media trends. They have lots of terrific research on radio, podcasting, and music on their website. So I wanted to learn more about that. Now, even though Warren and I just met on this call, I can tell you he is a super nice man and a patient one because we had some online technical problems and it took three attempts at this conversation before we ever got one that worked. So he's a prince. Now, the first two minutes of our conversation, the audio isn't great, but after that it's fine. So stick with it because Warren shared a lot of fantastic knowledge about the audio space. Check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

My guest is Warren Kurtzman, the president of Coleman insights. Coleman does extensive media research and they are experts particularly in the audio space. So today we're going to talk about radio, which is one of my favorite subjects and podcasting and music testing. Warren, thanks for joining me today.

Warren Kurtzman:        Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

Rudy:                           So I know Coleman helps radio stations build their brands and, and develop content. How do you help radio stations, especially as rapidly as things are changing? How do you help them develop content and develop their brands?

Warren:                        Well, we do that primarily through market research and I've experience working with audio brands. So we do a lot of consumer research where we find out what consumers like, what they don't like and what they perceive radio stations and other forms of media, including other forms of audio media providing them.

Rudy:                           So radio has been around for a long time, but what are some of the changes you see in this space in the last, let's say five years or so?

Warren:                        Well, that might take up the rest of your podcast. Quite a few changes in the audio landscape. The radio industry has changed dramatically. It used to be a highly fragmented industry and nowadays consolidated with, in most markets, three, four, maybe five operators running most of the radio stations. And the landscape in which a radio stations compete is completely different. Used to be that they had almost a near monopoly on the way people could consume audio, particularly as they were consuming it on the go. And of course today with the rise of streaming, with the rise of podcasting and other ways that people can access audio based entertainment digitally on the environment in which radio competing, nothing like it was just a couple of years ago.

Complete transcript at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/09/12/warren-kurtzman-of-coleman-insights-on-radio-podcasting-and-their-audiences/

Learn How to write an effective radio spot at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2020/03/03/how-to-write-a-radio-commercial/

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Full show notes and transcript available at: www.creativeouthouse.com/podcast

Transcript:
Rudy Fernandez:           Hey, this is Rudy Fernandez, and my guest this episode is Michael Halicki, the Executive Director of Park Pride. It's a small nonprofit that's gaining national attention for its outreach efforts. Of course, we've talked about the importance of parks, but we also talked about how marketing professionals are playing a bigger role in nonprofits, not just as communicators, but as leaders and directors. We talked about how to bring diverse groups together for one mission, and what for-profits can learn from nonprofits. Check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Earcon:                         You're listening to Marketing Upheaval, from Creative Outhouse.

Rudy:                           Hey, thanks for listening to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Michael Halicki, the executive director of Park Pride, a park advocacy nonprofit organization based in Atlanta. It's gaining national attention. Michael's had a long career as a leader in nonprofit organizations. Then we're going to talk about that and Park Pride. Thanks for coming on the podcast.

Michael Halicki:            Glad to be here.

Rudy:                           Michael, I follow you a lot on social media, and you visit a lot of parks and you tell people a lot about parks and I've learned a lot. What can you say about parks, especially local parks that are important, that we don't know?

Michael:                       I think probably the most important thing is that parks are good for you. There's a lot of research that talks about how parks are good for your health. There's a lot of growing body of research that talks about a daily dose of nature and the idea that people need to get out into nature on a regular basis, and that when you don't get that access to nature, it has negative impacts on your physical wellbeing, social wellbeing, and psychological wellbeing. Parks are a place to do that.

Rudy:                           Yeah. Do you advocate for all parks, big parks, local parks?

Michael:                       We do advocate for all parks, but we really think that local parks, where you live, are something that everyone needs. So we keep track of things like the people that, in our service area, live within a 10 minute walk of a park, and we certainly like those signature parks, the destination parks that people will go to. But we think you shouldn't have to get in a car to drive somewhere to go have a great experience in a park.

Read the show notes and full transcript at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/09/04/michael-halicki-on-communications-professionals-leading-nonprofits-and-marketing-parks/

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Hey, this is Rudy Fernandez. My guest this episode is Alan Wilson, co-founder and co-owner of Tripwire Interactive. It's a gaming company that's grown to millions of users in a really short amount of time. Tripwire gamers are fiercely loyal to the games and to the brand itself. We talked about how Tripwire does that. We also talked about how gaming companies give fans a voice in designing mods for their product. Also, we talked about shooting stuff. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Complete show notes and transcript available at www.creativeouthouse.com/podcast.

Thanks for listening to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Alan Wilson, vice president, co-owner and one of the founders of Tripwire Interactive. Tripwire has released ground-breaking games like Red Orchestra, the Killing Floor series, Vietnam, Chivalry, and Maneater. They have more than 10 million users and growing and we're going to talk about how they do that. Thanks for joining me, Alan.

Getting Started
Alan Wilson: My pleasure.

Rudy: So, you actually started with a game before you had a company, right?

Alan: It'd be polite to call it a game. It was what we call a mod, which is where you take somebody else's game, hack it around and make it actually good.

Rudy: But you won the Make Something Unreal contest in 2004.

Alan: Yeah. It was originally intended to be a contest for amateurs. And as we discovered on the way through, we were the only amateur team in the top 10 competing. The rest were all pros trying to catch some extra cash.

Rudy: Wow. That's when you decided, "Well, we should do this for a living."

Alan: Yeah, well, I mean when we won the contest, we got a lot of press acclaim, we had, I don't know, half a million people playing the mod and we kind of all sat around and went, "What do we do now? We kind of better do a company or something because Epic's kind of expecting something." So we did.

Rudy: The perception of a gamer is always the nerd in the room by himself in his mom’s basement, but it’s actually moving more and more female now. It’s 56-44 male-female.

Alan: Yeah.

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Rudy: And there’s more and more females coming in and the majority of the American public plays games, so past 60%. So, what’s changed in terms of how you release a game? How you market the game? How you get users interested in a game?

Alan: We founded the company in 2005. Back in those days, you’re still at the point where games were released in boxes. They went on store shelves. The first step in all those changes was really, well when selling games went digital, particularly, initially on the PC. And our title, Red Orchestra, was one of the first three non-Valve titles released on Steam, which became the predominant PC digital marketing platform.

Rudy: When you released Red Orchestra I guess it got a lot of buzz from winning?

Click here for the complete transcript: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/08/28/alan-wilson-on-gaming-creating-and-fierce-customer-loyalty/

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Hey, this is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse. On this episode I talked with Leigh George, the founder of Freedom marketing, a strategic branding firm in Washington DC. Leigh and I talked about what's not working with existing agency models and we talked about design thinking and evolving a brand and how brands need to fulfill a customer's mission and not the other way around. It's a great conversation about branding and really knowing your customers. Check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Thanks for listening to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Leigh George, the founder of Freedom marketing, the un-agency. I first heard Leigh speak at a digital summit and couldn't take notes fast enough. She has some keen insight on branding and content, so thanks for joining me, Leigh. I really am excited about this podcast.

Leigh:               Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Rudy:               You've had leadership roles in strategy at Ogilvy and other agencies and now you head up Freedom, which you brand as an un-agency. So why? Why The un agency positioning?

Leigh:               I wanted to signal that I was different. And using the term un agency instantly gets people's attention. It's a, it's this big flag and it really invites conversations and questions, you know, why do you call yourself an agency? What's an un-agency? So it was a great, I felt it was a great way to get attention and get conversation going with people. Also wanted to signal that the way I do things in the experience clients have with me are different than what they would have at a traditional agency.

Rudy: So they ask you just kinda like, I just did. So what do you think is different? What, what do you think isn't working about traditional agency models?

Leigh: When I founded my company, you know, the reason I did it was because I sort of asked myself if I could work anywhere I could walk in any place and have the job of my dreams, where would I go? And I, I couldn't name any place. And so I realized that that there are a lot of things I didn't like and that in my own agency I wanted to try a different approach. So one is the billable hour, which I think is just, it doesn't serve clients and it doesn't help creatives be more creative. It really just drains staff of time and it irritates clients cause they feel like they're being nickeled and dimed. So I just take a flat fee approach and it's great. It has opened up a ton of time for me to work on my client challenges and it just makes it easier to build the relationship with the client instantly.

Leigh: And then another thing I think that I feel like it's not working at agencies is there's a lack of flexibility and I think that's tied to the billable hour, right? Anything you want to do that's slightly outside of what you talked about is going to cost you more. And I just thought, you know, that's ridiculous because there's no project I've ever worked on anywhere that's gone according to plan. And if you look at your own personal life, right? Nothing, nothing you do ever goes according to plan.

Full transcript: https://creativeouthouse.com/2019/08/20/leigh-george-on-creating-an-un-agency-and-new-ways-to-look-at-a-branding/

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