adspeak

associate digital producer

What led you to work in advertising and more specifically production? How did you arrive in your current position?

 

I loved advertising from an early age. I think what helped me get into it was just figuring out what I really wanted to do after college. I’ve always been a creative person and have always wanted to be in some kind of a creative landscape. Advertising just felt right for me. I love to tell stories. I love to be a part of the storytelling process. I was originally into film. I’m still into film a lot and I think ultimately my goal is to transition into film. Where I am right now within production, the skills—they transfer over. There are certain things I can learn along the way, but a lot of the skills you’ll pick up within production (especially if you’re in broadcast or now digital which does everything) can translate into a successful career doing production— whether it be for promotional events, broadcast, television, feature films, documentaries. A lot of those skills can translate over to that and that’s kind of really what I wanted to get into with advertising. And that’s what I’ve done.
 

Why advertising as opposed to marketing, business communications, or any other field? Can you pinpoint your ‘aha’ moment?

 

No. To be honest with you, I really don’t have a moment. To be blunt: I just wanted to make cool shit. That’s all I wanted to do— just make something that was dope. I didn’t care. You could’ve called it two strings and some crackers and some cheese and that’s fine— it’s just a title to me. At the end of the day, I just want to make dope shit. Wherever that comes from—whether it’s coming from an advertising title or they call me a producer, art director, copywriter, or coordinator—I don’t care as long as I get to make dope stuff. I think the moment I realized this is what I wanted to do for the long term was when I worked for Beats. This was back in 2014. We were working on the Game before the Game campaign. Game before the Game was our spot that aligned with the 2014 World Cup. I worked on that very hard in my role—the largest campaign that I’ve worked on by far to date. It took everything out of me—getting up at 7 AM, going to bed at 1 AM, getting back up and doing that again for like five to six days a week for you know x amount of weeks straight… it’s taxing. It takes a lot out of you but it pushes you. Every day you wake up and ask yourself “how am I going to be able to do that again?” and you do it. You do more. And then the next day you’re asked to do more and you’re like “I don’t know how I can do all that.” As taxing as it was, it was very rewarding in the end when the campaign launched and it was everything we imagined and more. The responses and seeing people compare us to the likes of Nike and Apple… you sit back and just know that even if it was a small part, you played a big role in the production of that campaign and the success of it. I think after that, that’s when I was like “This is what I want to do.” I want to continue having moments like this where I put in a lot of work and then celebrate it. It’s almost like winning a championship. I came from a basketball background and when you go through conditioning: that sucks; when you go through practice: that sucks. But in the end when it all pans out, you’re like “Oh snap, we won.” You don’t even really think about the hard work. It’s a very rewarding feeling.

 

What has been your favorite project to work on and why?

 

Probably Beats to Wireless campaign with Beats by Dre, again, because it was around Lebron James. Anytime you get to work on something that you’re passionate about and you get paid for it… that’s where it is. My biggest passion is basketball—that’s my first love. Now it’s transitioned into a love for film, but I grew up as a basketball player. My favorite basketball player was Lebron James. Thankfully I had a passion for the brand that I worked for. My role at Beats was not by accident. I set out to get that role and I’m very happy about it and I still talk about it till this day because it’s by far the hardest thing I ever had to go through as far as obtaining a position and I did it. The work that I put out after that is what I’m going to speak to the most and that particular campaign was everything I could’ve asked for and more. Launching a new product with my favorite athlete in the world; the story was amazing; I played a big role in the digital activation. It was probably one of my first true production gigs where I put together the microsite, all the email campaigns, the social content, the digital display and interactive stuff. I did a lot of work on that and it was very rewarding to know that my favorite athlete was going to see that and go “Wow, someone did that.” Maybe they won’t but at least I know I did it. At least I could tell my mom or my friends when they were watching: “Yeah, I did that.” It’s by far my favorite campaign to have worked on up to date. It was the first project I wrote a formal creative brief. I still have that brief. It was my favorite.

 

What does a digital producer do? Walk me through your typical work day.

 

For one, we answer a lot of emails. In a nutshell, we bid out jobs to vendors and other resources, typically production houses. The type of content that we produce is mainly digital/ interactive so websites, applications, etc. We do a lot of social stuff: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat. It’s all digital. That’s another thing that’s rewarding about being in digital. You get to be at the forefront. I remember when Snapchat was just starting to take off and not that many brands got a hold of it… referencing my time at Beats, I remember my boss seeing it as something that was going to be big and we started getting on that pretty early. That’s another thing that’s pretty fun with digital- digital’s growing. It’s easily the fastest growing field within advertising. It’s the future. It’s where everything is going. Everything is digital. As a producer, I do stuff like that and then a lot of other boring stuff. A lot of money, a lot of scheduling, a lot of budgeting. I just produce dope shit.

 

What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to you at work? Something memorable either because it had a meaningful impact on you or it was one of the most challenging things you faced...

 

I think the moments that define who I am are the moments that pushed me. You’re gonna work with cool people and you’re gonna have challenges but I think there’s just those individual moments that kind of define whether who I am today or confirm why I’m doing what I’m doing. I think meeting certain people... I want to make the best stuff for the best people. I want to work for the best brands. Why wouldn’t I? It sounds great. There’s really nothing wrong with working for a big, popular brand and getting to meet cool people and produce dope stuff. I just can’t find anything wrong in that. Those moments where dreams become a reality… whether it was sitting in a meeting with a couple artists whether it be J Cole or 2 Chainz… I’ve sat in meetings with these people. I’ve talked about digital activation with some of my favorite influencers and talked about some of my favorite brands. Those are some of my favorite, favorite moments. I’ll say the one that stood out the most though was when I signed my offer letter from Apple. Because that was a sign: a digital production offer from Apple without having any background in production or advertising. It was a big deal to me. I started from very humble beginnings to get where I am within digital now which I’m not super high up there but I definitely didn’t take the easy route. I took the harder route. And just the day that I signed that offer letter from Apple which was August 1, 2014 was probably the most memorable moment that I’ve had. It made me realize this is where I belong.

 

What do you mean when you say you didn’t take the easy route?

 

I didn’t major in advertising or marketing. I majored in set and exhibit design which there’s nothing that I do today that really relates to that except for maybe what they taught me in Photoshop. Even after college, I didn’t jump right into advertising. I started late and essentially had to work my way up from the very bottom. I started at the Beats retail store in a pop-up store which was a temporary position and just kind of worked my way up through the system. Meeting people, gaining their trust and building rapport until I landed myself within corporate Beats as a coordinator. It wasn’t even as a producer. I went from making schedules and emailing PSDs from one person to the other, to signing offers with companies like Apple. Sometimes it still doesn’t sit well with me. If you would’ve told me that’s what would’ve happened, I would’ve called you crazy.
 

You talked a little bit about what was rewarding in your job but what are the most rewarding and challenging aspects of production?

 

The end result is definitely the most rewarding. Especially when people love what you do and the reception is great. The most challenging part of production is the production itself. You can never fully plan for it. No production I’ve ever gone through has been 100% start to finish the way I’ve set out for it to be. It just doesn’t happen that way. There’s going to be a lot of challenges-- the kind you can predict and the kind you can’t. I think that comes with experience but even with all the experience in the world, it’s a case by case basis. Unforeseen challenges are by the far the hardest part but they’re also the part, depending on what type of person you are, you either live for that or you crumble up and you fold. I look to my heroes, sports heroes: the Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryants. But they thrive under those kind of situations. When it gets hard, that’s when they say “this is my time.” It’s the hardest part but it’s also the part I live for the most- when it gets hard and it’s time. My motto is go out there and be great. I think when you do that and you don’t get distracted, you can see it through. That’s what being a producer is about: seeing it through. No matter how hard it gets you have to see it through. You have to say “it’s hard but I’m gonna get through it. We’re going to finish and we’re going to launch on time and it’s going to be great.” If you keep that mindset and work through the challenges you can find success. I think a lot of the challenges that come up in day to day production seem very big. Sometimes they are, sometimes they’re really small problems. I like to think of every problem as big and come with the mentality of ‘how do I eat an elephant?’ If I told you to eat an elephant right now, you couldn’t just eat the whole thing whole - you’d have to break it down piece by piece… so how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? And if you continue on with that and constantly pick away at it, eventually you’ll finish the elephant and the problem will be gone.

 

So prioritizing tasks?

 

Prioritizing and taking your time and not becoming overwhelmed or too scared. The worst thing you could do is nothing. If you have a problem in front of you you’re just gonna have to take it. You have no other choice. It’s a huge problem, it sucks, and I don’t want to deal with it but I’m going to have to regardless. Someone’s going to do it- might as well be me.

 

Are there any problems that come to mind? Elephants that you’ve had to deal with personally?

 

Definitely time. Time is undefeated. If time was a team: in the NBA, it’d be 82 and 0; in the NFL, it’d be like 17 and 0; in baseball, it’d be 162 and 0; in boxing, it’d be 55 and 0… time is undefeated and I think the biggest issue is not having something ready. Hard deadlines. For instance, when you’re working with influencers and you use anyone’s image or likeness… the influencer’s going to want their image or likeness to be represented in a more flattering way and some artists are harder to work with than others. I’m not gonna say any names but there have been a couple times where it’s like 11 o’clock at night- you think you’re done, you’ve been working all day and then that artist is like “I don’t like the way I look” so you have to go back and retouch. Deliverables and timing of deliverables - it’s hardest anytime you have to go back and re-edit or re-do something you’ve already done. During one of our larger campaigns for the World Cup, we had an influencer that didn’t like the way they were retouched. It gets frustrating, just because you’re up against a timeline. When you’re already late and someone tells you it’s still not done, it makes it kind of hard. I think a lot of problems I face are related to that: those wrenches that are thrown in your way. You’re going to get wrenches thrown. Just when you think everything is going well, something’s going to hit your car and it’s going to spin out of control. And you’re going to have to stop the car and get it back on the road. It happens all the time.

 

What does it take to be in advertising? What personal factors would you attribute to finding success and growing within the industry?

 

Number one is to stay organized. Organization is key. I can’t stress that enough - I’ll say it a million times if I have to. Number two is to be resilient. Like I said, never give up. The obstacles are going to seem very daunting but you just have to attack. If you can be resilient, I think that’s good. And don’t be shy to just reach out. I think the most important thing you can do within advertising or production is build connections and relationships. Those will really impact your level of success or failure within the industry. If you’re a shy person it may be a little bit harder for you but that’s okay. You’re just going to have to work at yourself and realize that there’s moments where you’re going to need to talk to people and reach out to them. And do it in your way. If it’s not sending emails, and you’re the kind of person that likes to walk up to a person and talk to them just do that. Ultimately, you have to get out of your own way in order to be successful. You’re going to have to talk to people. Communication should’ve probably been number one but I think organization is so under stressed and it should be more stressed. If you’re organized, half the work is done for you. If you’re not, you’ve just thrown on heaps of work.

 

Was production a competitive field to get into? Do you think there are certain characteristics at play for those who find success within the industry?

 

A lot of the times producers do all of the work and get none of the credit and that’s hard. How do you take on a thankless job? How do you put your ego aside? It’s not for everybody. Not everybody wants to do that. Everybody wants to be creative because creatives get the most credit. Why wouldn’t you want to get all the credit? It feels great. There’s definitely a lot of competitiveness, especially when you’re dealing with certain vendors or bidding for certain jobs. It gets competitive when you’re going for the same client or job. It’s not a guaranteed field. Your success can be there one day and not be there tomorrow. You can have 15 clients today and crush it this year and next year lose two or three clients and completely drop off. It becomes a chess match. Are you the type of producer or agency that just folds when things don’t get well or do you go with the flow and understand that there’s going to be peaks and valleys in this game? I think if you understand the flow and stick with that mindset, you’ll be pretty successful. I don’t like to say there’s competition, like I don’t feel I’ll ever compete with another producer. In my mind, if I’m the best producer I’m going to find success. I just want to be the best at what I do and there’s nothing against that. I’m not looking to step on anyone to get there. I just want to put myself in the best position to be successful because that’s how I’m going build respect and continue to have a job - whether it’s at this agency or the next agency, whether I want to freelance or move over to the client side. If everywhere I go I strive to be the best and work harder than everyone else, it’s going to stand out and I’ll be the type of person that won’t have to worry about securing a new gig because everyone that I’ve worked with will have nothing but great experiences with me and the second that I’m available, they’ll grab me up.
 

Where do you see yourself in the short and long term? Do you see yourself staying at Chiat? Why or why not?

 

To be honest with you, I took this role at Chiat over any other role because it offered me the best opportunity to grow and learn - to develop more of my skills and nail the fundamentals of being a producer. From how to organize to day to day basics like keeping your team aligned and making sure everyone knows what deliverable they’re delivering and what time and resourcing and budgeting so I could take those skills and take them elsewhere. I’d also like to get into a lot more content - kind of closer to short form content - doesn’t have to be broadcast. That will help me in terms of one day reaching my goal of producing a feature film. That’s the short term. Will I be here at Chiat? I don’t anticipate being fired anytime soon. Let’s knock wood on that. And I can’t say that I’m in a rush to quit. Right now, I’m enjoying it. The work is cool. The people are great. I work near the beach. Long term, I would love to work for Nike. It’s always been my goal and I think I’ll be there too. Actually I know I’ll get there, it’s just a matter of when. That’s not cocky. You just have to tell yourself you’re gonna be there and just be ready to go for anything and get there. I told myself I was going to be where I am right now when I was so far from where I am right now, if that makes sense. It came from the mentality that I knew I was going to work hard and I knew that if someone told me no, I wasn’t going to take offense to it and I was going to be willing to learn. With that attitude you can be successful in anything- you can tell yourself you’re going to be somewhere. I tell myself now that in five years, I’ll already have done this this and this. It’s not cocky. It’s because I know I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there. Not because I’m blessed. It’s just about how much work you put in. If you put in a lot of hard work, you’re going to be successful - 110%. If you spend 45 minutes of your spare time either trying to better your craft or exploring any curiosity you may have - whether it’s about how editing, graphic design, or HTML work - you’re going to be successful by default, even if you don’t try. You’ll have the knowledge and skills embedded within you; it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.

 

What advice would you give someone looking to be a producer?

Make sure you’re not doing it for the wrong reasons - don’t do it because you think it’ll make you x amount of dollars or because you think you can do it. Do it because you want to do it. I believe if you don’t consider your job a job, I think you’re in the right place. I don’t wake up and think “ugh, I have to go to work today. I have to do a job.” There are days where I feel like that but the majority of my days are not like that. My biggest advice is to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Make sure you have somewhat of a passion for it. It’s going to help you. And when you are here understand you’re going to get knocked down. Don’t take it personal and get back up. Everyone has an investment or stake in a particular project, including yourself. Everyone holds each other accountable and you’re not going to bat 1,000 or shoot 100%. You’re going to make mistakes from time to time and people are going to be rough with you sometimes. It’s going to feel like the world is on your shoulders and if you can just kind of go “You know what? It’s nothing personal. This can be fixed. Everybody just wants to get this fixed and once it’s fixed, everyone will just forget about this. Let’s go out there and do it.” you’ll be alright. Aside from that, just learn how to understand the word no. No is gonna happen. You’re gonna work your ass off for something and someone’s going to look at you and go “That’s not what I like. Go back and work it.” They’ll challenge you to make it better and that’s gonna be tough to deal with. The last thing would be to kill “good enough.” Go back and see how you can make shit great. When you have that mentality, that’s how you get an iPod or iPhone. That comes from someone going “I probably had a phone that was working but it wasn’t great.” Let other people do the good stuff and do nothing but great stuff. No one remembers a bunch of good. People remember great.