Latest / The Marketing Brief / The Social Fabric Sessions: E5 Gabe Gordon
Transcript
- Brian: Hello and welcome back to the Marketing Brief Podcast. I am your host, Brian O'Quine, and this is the podcast where we talk about anything really across the marketing landscape. I love it all. This is a special subset. People have been enjoying these of the Marketing Brief podcast, which we're calling the Social Fabric Sessions. And the whole idea is to get to better know. the members of the social fabric. And of course, I could sit here and talk to myself all day, like I do in the shower, but we brought a guest on who is both a friend and a colleague, Gabe Gordon. Welcome into the social fabric sessions. Gabe Gordon: Well, thank you for having me and I'm glad we're not doing this session in your shower. So Brian: Yep, that's a completely different podcast. Gabe Gordon: Yeah. Brian: We know you as the CEO of the REACH Agency, but this whole idea is to kind of better know a gabe. So is there a way that you introduce yourself where you don't talk about what you do for work? Is that a is that a good challenge for you? Gabe Gordon: It's it's really it's really hard these days. It you know, it depends on who you're talking to. you know, obviously like my parents and their friends, you know, I describe myself as something differently. a lot of people don't know what creator marketing is. you know, and then friends outside of work. yeah, I love I actually love it when I don't describe what I do for work or don't even talk about work at all. I think it's it's important in one's individual developments and to have that identity outside. what you do for work, even though it's hard to escape sometimes when you're running a company. Brian: Sure is. So how would you w describe yourself without saying what you do? Gabe Gordon: You know, look, I I still think my X handle probably nails it. I said it's I say lover of mountains, oceans, father. yeah, that that that would that would be it. You know, I think every time I'm not working, I try to be outdoors as much as possible. I probably do stuff I shouldn't be doing at my age just to get a little bit of a thrill. Brian: Ha ha ha. Gabe Gordon: but yeah, I I'm I'm a big outdoors person. I'm big family man and you know, I would sum that up as my identity, outside of work. Brian: That's awesome. And it and is that how you've built kind of communities outside of of work? do you have like parent communities and friends that you go and do things in the outdoors with? Gabe Gordon: Absolutely. I I think I feel like everybody has twenty groups of friends that they do different things with. look, as as much as I can blend those. yeah, I buy there's work people like I'll go skiing with. there's work people I'll go mountain biking with or road biking with. there's others we'll we'll go on adventure trips on. there's different families from a personal standpoint. We'll go on certain types of vacations with. Yeah, I think there there's always so many circles. and as much as you can get that convergence between them, I think the happier you are in life. Brian: Yeah. I imagine with those crossover friends, I guess, that are both kind of in the industry you work in and then also where you play, have you fostered deeper relationships with those people? Gabe Gordon: Ab absolutely. I I think I think, you know, as much as you can create different experiences with someone, the deeper your relationship with is. I also think that even if you meet someone in business and they don't hit with your core interests, I I like the personal journey of finding what that middle ground is. It could be food, you know, it could be travel, it could be weird weird collection niches. I I Brian: Yeah. Gabe Gordon: I feel that's It's it's one of the joys in life of getting to know some somebody and getting to either learn from them or on on something that you might not be interested that you didn't know about. but that's the joy in friendship and like, you know, just learning as a person overall. So Brian: Yeah. I assume that when you're working, those are that's not an opportunity to kind of get some get to know someone better. Or maybe there are some opportunities, but what are like the to times or the occasions when you have that time to really like get to know people, either, you know, you're working with, because you'll probably spend more time with them, but people that you partner with, people that you work with, like what are the occasions or like the the events that that you might be at where where you have that time to do that? Gabe Gordon: I mean, it's really hard. look, I say like when I meet someone, I'm probably a bit of a stalker. I try to find them on Instagram, Facebook, you know, Brian: Good to know. Gabe Gordon: X X and look, I think you learn a lot about a person, right? You learn about their family, you you're able to connect with them and have that relationship with them. I look a lot of my clients, I'm DMing with them on Instagram versus sending them formal emails and building that relationship. But look. It it's hard, you know. sometimes, yes, you get to travel on a shoot with someone and share an experience there. but a lot of times, as you know, we're we're stuck in conference rooms or we're at conferences. and you know, there's a variety of conferences. There are some that are more fun than others, but it's all about taking those moments, right? Whether it's a side excursion or it's a great dinner out, and being able to like share an experience with someone. Brian: Totally. I have numerous examples of that. I mean, I feel like this digital community that you and I both came up in had to fight like for dollars, right? We had to fight to get on media plans and like sales and buyers and researchers were all kind of working together. And that really forged my early, I I guess my my early idea of what a career looked like and what like, you know, work and play kind of overlapped. Did you did you have a similar experience kind of coming up in digital? Gabe Gordon: I had a I had a much different experience because I started at William Morris. I was at a talent agency. And so I think what was really interesting about that is that one, the value of having tight relationships in a network was was the top of the top. It was all about who you knew, right? and it was very transactional at times, but you because of the nature of working in entertainment, you were always doing something fun. You were on a set, you were going to movie premieres, you were hanging out with celebrities, going to shows. it was built into sort of the culture there. but I realized the value of that relationship. What I think I learned later in life is not only the fact that I had to build relationships and have a network, but how to cultivate that without having to, you know, make it transactional or monetize it at every single place. And then understanding the lifetime of a relationship and the value it brings. You know, I have a ton of relationships that are CMOs of companies that I would love to have as clients with Reach, but it doesn't matter. I value the relationship with them as a colleague more. And it doesn't have to be transactional. We can still learn from each other. We can still talk about business. But I you know, I don't feel the need to be singularly focused on like I need to make you my client right now. Brian: Yeah. That's a I mean, that is a long term view. I love that. I mean, there I we've talked a little bit on this podcast about how relationships have become very transactional. And it's like, okay, move along. Okay, we don't need to talk if there's no reason for us to do business. But I love that you have that view and I'm sure people have come back to you. I'm sure the clients have come back to you kind of in a in a long view because you've built that relationship first. Gabe Gordon: Absolutely. And I've had just relationships and friends that I've had for years that Brian: Mm. Gabe Gordon: there's actually a transaction after five or six or seven years, but Brian: Yeah. Gabe Gordon: it it feels right then, but and that was never the goal. We just, you know, worked Brian: Right. Mm-hmm. Gabe Gordon: in the same space and we liked each other and we had other common interests. but I I think that's it's a great lesson that not everything has to be a transaction and a goal. And that you know, I think we live in a in an unfortunate world where you you should probably spend more time with your your colleagues at work, and your business contacts, sometimes then family members, right? and so you should have that relationship. You know, it's if you can cultivate a network where you enjoy the people that you're working with, I mean, that's that's wealth right there. So Brian: Yeah, that is. I mean, and then it's a comfortable environment for everybody. it's summer in Southern California. we both live in Southern California. what are you out there doing with your with your communities outside of work? Gabe Gordon: biking, surfing, you know, traveling, all that kind of stuff. I've have been working a lot, so there has been a lot of travel, fun travel, you know, with with colleagues that are friends or, you know, bringing the family along as well. you Brian: Mm-hmm. Gabe Gordon: know, I I don't think we live in a linear world anymore where not not everything is just one thing. You c you can have a a work trip that's also a family trip, you know, at the same time. so but just trying to keep as busy as possible and again, get outdoors and get out of the office. So Brian: Yeah. And you've got a couple of girls. what are the girls into this summer? Gabe Gordon: we have horseback riding, we have s softball, we have sewing as well. Brian: Well. Gabe Gordon: but yeah, and we tried mountain biking, didn't catch on as as as much as I had hoped, but we made a little progress. It's it's a long term view. and then just Brian: Exactly. Gabe Gordon: yeah, pool and beach as much as we can. So Brian: Yeah. Well maybe they'll come back to the to the mountain biking at some point. It's you know, you can find Gabe Gordon: At some point. At some point. Brian: it at different times in your life, I'm sure. Gabe Gordon: Yeah. We try, we try. Brian: Have you been to any events recently, any conferences that you thought were that were like worthwhile, worth worth your time? I don't want you to talk about the ones that weren't. Gabe Gordon: I mean look, I I the the biggest one I just came from was CAN. And I think Brian: Yeah. Gabe Gordon: what's really interesting about that is it's it's gotten so big. and it is so expensive, it's such a big investment. but but you know, I th I think the way I approached it, it it it was great. I don't you know, while I have clients there, I'm not sitting and taking them around. I I do have touch points with them. But I really use it as an opportunity to connect with colleagues and it you know, whether that's a dinner, a drinks, you know, meeting with talent, or going off and doing something fun. for example, the one of the first nights I was there, it happened to be Father's Day. There was a huge group of guys, we got together and we did a father's a Father's Day dinner without without our children and our wives. but that's a great example of like being able to have fun, you know, and being a place like that, but you know, no no one talks about going to Canon and doing like a Father's Day dinner. but it was great. It was really fantastic. So Brian: Yeah, and connecting over common ground is always a fun thing to do with friends. That's great. Gabe Gordon: Ex exactly. Brian: All right. Well what I love to ask this question. do you know when the last time you danced was? Gabe Gordon: Yeah, it was it was actually at Cannes as well. It's a it's a funny story. I was I was meeting with someone and it was supposed to be drinks and then we said, Hey, let's just do dinner and it was like impossible to get a dinner reservation. And the other person said, Hey, I I found this place we can get in. it was a restaurant no one knew about it. Luigi's piano bar, Italian food was like, Great, let's go. And none of us had any idea, but it it wound up being one of these places where it starts off as a normal dinner and turns into a full dance party and a club during the dinner. Brian: Amazing. Gabe Gordon: and none of us had any idea. It was it was it was a very unique feeling. I hadn't been in this situation before because like we didn't know we were gonna be in a like it's a 20-person restaurant that turns into a full-on dance club. None of us knew this. We thought it was just a dinner. These aren't people I probably would have normally danced with, but Brian: Yeah. Gabe Gordon: it wound up being such an unexpected fun experience. And I Brian: Awesome. Gabe Gordon: would say my relationship with those people is you know, we share something special now that we'll never forget, as we've both had that experience. And yeah, we danced our asses off. So I'll s I'll send you some videos if you Brian: Yeah. What a gift to be. please. Gabe Gordon: want. It's it's pretty great place. But yeah, it was it was great. Brian: It's amazing. And what a great thing to be able to be vulnerable with people and then have that memory. Gabe Gordon: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause it it you have to be vulnerable, especially because again, this is these aren't people like I wouldn't normally dance in front of these people, but we dance together and it just shows you how like getting in those unexpected experiences really like just strengthens your relationship with people. So Brian: Totally does. Well, the social fabric is kind of kicking up this year. We're both members of it. it's really an executive kind of in real life community. Are there things that you think like I'm kind of getting at, like, why would you want to be part of this? Like, are there things that you can get out of this? Are there things that you think you can give to it? or why why is it that you'd want to be part of the social fabric? Gabe Gordon: I I love the social fabric because I I think it takes like minded people. and it it it it does exactly what we've been talking about. Puts them in different situations than what you're traditionally used to in in our profession of sitting and watching a conference and, you know, having a cocktail hour to get to know someone or being sat at a table at a a planned dinner. You know, there's fun things like taco tours, there's ski trips, right? and and I think they do a great job of curating people. and it's not transactional. It's it's it's it's you're building relationships with people and it's an open community where you can talk and you can get advice and you can learn and yeah, there might be transactions from it, but that's not the basis of it. but it is still professional. I think that that that's important is re redefining like what professional means in this day and age. and and making that more acceptable in our industry. so I love it because of that. Brian: Yeah. And that's something I've loved about our industry. the social fabric's gonna start to build these chapters in different cities and and part of that is having these meetups. we're we're doing them in in Venice. We'll we'll be at Zinc, kind of like an 8 30 in the morning on a Friday, you know, before you have to kind of go off to your work day. And I've been to a couple of these already for some other organizations. And it's just that it's really casual, but it is professional, right? You're there in a professional capacity, but you don't have to Talk about work or deals, like you can really just get to know people, which I think is it's a it's a great thing to to just exist. Gabe Gordon: I I agree. I agree. You know, people are still locked into video calls or these plan meetings and their schedules are so busy that even like the example, you know, not a big trip, but just hey, it's it's coffee once a month. Like these bite sized moments where you Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Gabe Gordon: can bump into someone, meet someone unexpected, and again, just have a coffee. It's it's so smart and it's what we all need. Brian: Agree. Well, do you have anyone that you'd like to nominate to come on the podcast with us here? Do who do you think would be a good podcast guest? Gabe Gordon: Ooh, let me think about that. Brian: Yeah. Gabe Gordon: Let me think about that and get back to you. But I I I have a I have Brian: You can think about it. Gabe Gordon: a long list of people I I can probably recommend, so Brian: Yeah. Yeah. We could nominate one or two when we when we post this. We can kind of call them out and and tag them. That's awesome. Gabe Gordon: All right. Okay. I love it. Brian: Well, it's been awesome to get to know you a little bit better, Gabe, and let the listeners get to know you a little bit better. So thank you for joining us with the on the So Social Fabric sessions. Gabe Gordon: Yeah, thank you for having me. Again, big believer in this, big supporter, and I hope I hope more people join and see the vision of this. So Brian: Yeah, we're lucky to have you as part of it. And to the listeners out there, stay curious and find your community.