Sports Creatives Podcast

We have Andre Robinson on the show today. He’s currently a video producer with the LA Clippers and before that he changed the creative game up at Ohio state football by bringing an authentic and urban voice to the college athletics social space.   This episode is like a master class because we cover so much ground. We hear about Andre’s start and what he learned from making videos for night clubs and black greek organizations. Andre also discusses valuable nuggets learned while hustling and grinding all along the way. 

This episode is going to rock your world. My guest today is Britt Davis, a star in the sports creatives world. Davis is a senior graphic designer at AMB Sport + Entertainment which owns the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United FC, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.   Davis and I discuss her meteoric rise to one of the world’s top brands, the importance of soft skills to creatives, and career advice to getting started in the sports creatives business.    Davis works with incredible brands and has a stunning body of passion projects. We discuss how Davis landed her first job, career moves, making career transitions and developing mentors and relationships. 

This is special episode, we have Shirley Zhang, Senior Creative Director for the Atlanta Hawks on the show.  This episode recorded was recorded Live at the MLC Connect 2019 in Atlanta.    I've been a fan of the work that Shirley Zhang’s team has been doing with the Atlanta Hawks for the last year and a half.    I heard Shirley present on the “Power of Process” panel at the MLC Connect 2019. She drops so many highly actionable dimes.  That another great session at the MLC Connect in Atlanta, which is one the largest sports creatives conferences in the nation.   In this episode we cover a lot. Shirley’s philosophy on efficiency of process, the specific tools she and her team use, and he benefits of efficiency for creatives and so much.

I’m happy to be coming at you with another powerful episode.  This is a special episode recorded live at the MLC Connect 2019 in Atlanta with Rob Zilla, an award winning illustrator, former art educator and self-proclaimed “vector art monster”.  But most importantly Rob is insanely inspirational.

This show is powerful and a little bit different. It’s a conversation recorded live on location at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a highly talented individual, Taylor McGillis, Associate Athletic Director of Brand Development   Taylor is a gifted strategist and is an inspirational creative leader. He heads up Arkansas' approach to breaking through all of the white noise on social media with a unique digital strategy.   We cover a ton of ground, we start out discussing the importance of digital strategy and Taylor talks a little bit about Arkansas’ efforts to standout in all the massive amount of content in our feeds and the key performance indicators for measuring success.

My guest today is one of the top sports creative executives on our planet and he’s been involved with fearlessly disrupting the sports social and digital game.

In 2015, Graham Neff joined Clemson athletics to be second in command as deputy athletics director. Among other things, Graham is a creative leadership legend, having organized and help build the elite Clemson athletics creative team. 

But more important than what Graham does, it’s the how he does it that I find completely extraordinary. 

Neff shares the blueprint for developing a creative solutions team. 

It’s a valid listen whether you are a creative, creative management, or a senior executive wanting to be an athletic director.

In this episode, I sat down with Kevin Johnson, Art Director of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the MLC Connect 2018 in Chicago. 

 

Kevin is one of the most compelling and insanely talented storytellers in the sports creatives game.

 

In this micro-episode, we discuss how Kevin self-identifies and breaking the NBA season into three parts in terms of storytelling.

 

Kevin also discuss his unique creativity philosophy and the process of creativity to elevate your team. 

 

Enjoy and subscribe to the podcast if you dig.

We’re switching up things a bit and going on a ride with graphic designer Derrick Hamilton, whom I caught up with at the MLC Connect 2018 in Chicago.  If you aren’t familiar with Derrick Hamilton you certainly know his work. Derrick is the designed super bowl logos for beginning in 2013 which has been seen by millions…make that billions.  Derrick is well-versed storyteller working for iconic brands such as Nickelodeon, the National Football league, and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment which owns the Brooklyn Nets and works on his own solo project…Clutch Design.  We discuss the impact of the Super bowl logo design on Derrick’s career, how that project came about, and working for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.

You know Karen Frank, or at the very least, you’ve seen her work. Karen is a prolific director of photography best known for her annual work on ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.   I had the pleasure of hosting Karen on the Sports Creatives Podcast at the 2018 MLC Connect in Chicago where she delivered a keynote presentation on the yearlong project that is ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.  Karen is one of the most accomplished director of photographers of her generation. A few highlights of her insane career includes working with Serena Williams, NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick, Rhonda Rousey, Jerry Rice, Sue Bird to name a few.

My guest today is John Brewer, Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Sales at the University of Oregon Athletics. This isn’t John’s first rodeo, he served as Associate Athletic Director of Marketing at Wichita state and served at New Mexico as Marketing Manager before that.    In this is a special podcast, I hit the road to discuss with John how Oregon Athletics uses creativity to manage and grow the organization. We also discuss Oregon ’s tradition in innovation and how Phil Knight founding Nike with his Oregon track coach still affects the organization from marketing, communications, facilities, and and the student-athlete experience to this very day.