Asterios Kokkinos, a freelance creative director and copywriter who works in the advertising industry, joins me on this episode of We Built This Brand to discuss one of the most challenging and critical elements of building a brand - getting people to pay attention to you. Asterios shares how he was able to break into advertising through his stand-up comedy career, and how humor not only helps develop effective content but also drives relationships and projects forward. We discuss the risks brands take when advertising in a highly-politicized culture, and the different strategies brands will take to either mitigate or embrace risk depending on their positioning. Asterios also gives an insightful look into his creative process, including the approach he takes for effective B2B sales copy that makes it the easiest form of content for him to create.
Highlights:
(00:00) Intro
(01:29) Chris introduces Asterios, who is a freelance copywriter and creative director in advertising
(02:53) How Asterios wound up going from stand-up comedy to advertising
(06:42) Asterios explains how creating a viral video comes with inherent risk
(11:06) How positioning can reduce or even eliminate the risk of traditional advertising
(13:23) Chris and Asterios discuss the recent Bud Light controversy and the phenomenon of seeing market leaders struggle in our fast-moving culture
(20:30) Asterios describes how so-called “edgy” brands are using the illusion of edge, but not actually risking controversy
(23:20) Chris and Asterios discuss the political minefields that exist in advertising today and how risk is often avoided by the fact that most advertising ideas don’t come to fruition
(27:01) Asterios’ creative process for coming up with advertising pitches
(31:05) How Asterios approaches sales content writing and why he feels it’s the easiest content to write
(37:08) Asterios’ favorite brand right now and why he feels their advertising strategy strikes a good balance
About Asterios
Asterios Kokkinos is an advertising creative with nearly fifteen years of experience writing for the biggest companies on the planet. He enjoys Babylon 5, yelling at the TV with his elderly father, and naps.
Links Referenced:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asterioskokkinos/
- The Loudest Podcast: https://www.asteriospodcasts.com/
- Loudest Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theloudestpodcast
Transcript
Chris: What’s up, We Built This Brand listeners? This is your host, Chris Hill. And today we’re talking to Asterios Kokkinos. He is a freelance writer who has done a lot of writing in advertising and marketing over the years and worked with some huge brands. He’s worked on viral marketing campaigns—and yes, I do mean actual viral content—and has a very interesting career balance between having a background in comedy and a writing background that has helped him to create some very interesting, influential campaigns.
So unfortunately, we couldn’t talk a lot of detail about the brands he worked with specifically, but, you know, can look him up on LinkedIn, you’ll get a feel for what he does. We’ll include a link here if he’ll let us. This was a great interview with Asterios. It’s very wide-ranging, so be prepared. We go all over the place, we talk about what makes content viral, how he got his start in advertising, if he was a stand-up comic in LA, how did he end up in New York, and everything that happened in between.
It’s quite the journey that he’s had with his career and we talk a little bit about that. We also talk about what it takes to be edgy in this day and age and why it’s better to play things safe or, frankly, why it’s not better to play things safe and when to take risks and when not to within advertising. So overall, I really enjoyed this conversation and I think you will, too, so let’s get into it.
Chris: Welcome to We Built This Brand. I’m excited to be joined today by Asterios Kokkinos.
Asterios: Hello.
Chris: Asterios, thank you for joining me.
Asterios: Thanks for having me.
Chris: Yeah, man. Asterios is a freelance copywriter and creative director, and honestly, he’s an all-around cool guy. I’ve gotten to know him through one of my employees, John Zwick, and we actually share him as an editor. And he’s been great for both of us. And he was like, “You two need to talk. I just think you’d have a fun time talking.”
And Asterios knows a ton about branding. He’s worked for some big brands, and we’ll just—yeah, I’ll just let you take it away from here and share a little bit about yourself. So Asterios, welcome.
Asterios: Thank you for having me. Yeah, look, if you want to know about me. I’m a copywriter, I’m a creative director, I’m like an ad guy, advertising guy. And I’ve worked with some of the biggest brands on planet Earth. And I cannot tell you their names, but you’ve heard of them. You might be drinking them right now. These products may be in your house, improving your kids’ health and safety. Look out for these great brands.
And, yeah, I write TV commercials and I do big campaigns and I pitch big crazy PR stunts and stuff that goes viral, and I have a lot of fun doing it.
Chris: That’s right. That’s right. So, we’re going to dive into a lot of that tonight and talk about the creative side of branding, the creative side of marketing, creating these campaigns, and doing all of that. So, let’s start way back. What did you really want to be when you grew up when you were first—yeah, when you were a kid?
Asterios: Well, when I was young, I thought it’d be pretty cool to be a baseball player. Didn’t work out because baseball players are notoriously uncool. They’re just—I don’t know, there’s not a lot of baseball player swag, you know? Basketball players, football play—look, with basketball and football players, they’re like the elites. They’re immediately celebrities.
And then with hockey players, it’s like, oh, it’s like the working man’s profession. Oh, they make good husbands. Baseball players, oh, you’re stuck somewhere in the middle. So, it didn’t work out with baseball. So instead, I started doing comedy, stand-up comedy, things like that.
And I was like the only Asian American stand-up comedian in Los Angeles who had the build to play Genghis Khan in a series of viral videos for Hungry Man Dinners, where Genghis Khan [laugh] time-travels in a magical freezer to the far future and discovers Hungry Man Dinners and thinks they’re awesome.
Chris: Wow. You know, I can actually see it though, now that you say that.
Asterios: Google ‘Genghis Khan Asterios Kokkinos.’ I think you’ll [laugh] you’ll see a lot of pictures of me in a $10,000 costume and—well, got, that costume cost way more than I did. And so, yeah. And so, there were like no other Asian American comedians who are, like, beefy in town. They’re all too tiny. So, I just got the part.
Like, I didn’t audition. Like, they gave me the role. And I was like, “Then I will do it.” And then they were like, “Well, you’re a comedian. Why don’t you ...
