Latest / The Marketing Brief / The Social Fabric Sessions: E2 Jeff Rosenblum
Transcript
- Brian: welcome back to the Marketing Brief Podcast. This is a special edition of our normal weekly pod called the Social Fabric Sessions. We started this subset of the Marketing Brief podcast to get to know the members of the Social Fabric. And of course, we have a member here today with us, Jeff Rosenbloom, welcome in. How are you doing? Jeff: Hey, I'm doing great and thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Brian: Awesome. How would you like to introduce yourself to the social fabric community and the listeners of the of the Marketing Brief podcast? Jeff: Yeah, I think the most straightforward answer is I'm a I'm one of the co founders of Questus. We're not simply an advertising agency. We are the growth engine behind some of the world's most successful brands. And along the way I've written a couple of bestsellers and a documentary all about the future of advertising. Brian: Absolutely. And you've done a TED talk. You got a lot of stuff on there. Jeff: Totally. Thank you for watching the Ted Talk. It's you and my mom and my dad. I knew I got three views from somebody. Brian: We do our research here. Well, I'd love I'd love having you on today. we've been talking about community and usually trying to get us started with just talking about what are the communities that you're part of? They can be part of the work that you do, they've been part of your your personal life or your family, but what are the communities that you're part of right now? Jeff: Thank you. Well, that's a that's a great question. I'll I I I'll say quite honestly, first and foremost, I'm really excited about being part of the social fabric community. Like I think being part of a community is is wildly important in your business life and in your career. I got kids that are growing up. one's in college already. So I started thinking about okay, what's some of the advice that I would have for them? And one of the most important advice pieces of advice I would have for each of them is when you graduate college. join and lead a community and it doesn't necessarily mean you're joining another organization. Like maybe you do, maybe you don't, but like be a major part of communic, be a major part of community and be part of the leadership of that community. Be part of the fabric at least of that community. And that might just be like every Friday night it's you and 10 people you know in the industry go out for drinks or maybe it's you're joining something that's very similar to social fabric. But What I love about community is is what I love about the promise of social fabric is let's find a bunch of really cool, really nice, like-minded people. It doesn't necessarily mean you're walking around the room and you're and you're pumping business cards into people's hands and they're pumping business cards into your hands and you're trying to say, you know, what what what will you buy from me? What can I sell to you? Like that's not a community. I don't know what that is, but that sounds awful, right? What I do love in any community, and what I love about the promise of social fabric is This is a place where we can all get together. We can all get together online. We can all get together in person. We can build meaningful conversations. We can build meaningful relationships. And if those relationships happen to land in some business benefits, great. And, you know, I think the definition of a community truly is something that works in the long term. Meaning, if you're trying to make a community work for you in the short term by driving immediate revenue, filling out your Rolodex. It's probably not gonna succeed, or maybe it will succeed. I just don't find that very appealing to me. It's the last thing I would ever want to do in this world. I don't like networking. Like people love networking. Networking is really important. Go up to all the events and go to the conferences and have your pitch and have your stick and all that shit. Honestly, I usually wind up running and hiding in the corner. The reason I know AJ and a lot of the guys over at Social Fabric is we were part of a community called iMedia back in the day, right? And a lot of us when we started our career, we you know, iMedia was the glue that binded us together. And you know, it got bought and sold a few times, so it's no longer around. And I think what social fabric is trying to do is is pick that up and say, hey, here's a place where you can make friends. It's not that fucking hard. Like, let's go make some friends. And if we make friends, we're gonna find benefits. One of the benefits might be like, hey man, we're just happier. Right? Like if you look at the definition of happiness and now what's happened is some of the most elite institutions, Harvard, for example, They study it. If you look at the most popular classes at these elite institutions, it's about the science of happiness because we spent years at these institutions talking about how can we make progress and how can we make more money. And but we didn't talk about like the thing that really counts, which is we've got a limited number of loops that we get to do around the sun. Let's find out how we can be happy. And if you join a community, like happiness, what they learn at these elite institutions is your happiness is going to be dictated by the quality of your relationships. Period done, full stop. That's it. So, where do you build these relationships? Community is a place to do it. So I'm excited about any community, and in particular, Social Fabric is a place where I can meet some nice people and have some fun and drink a couple beers. I don't even like beer that much, to be honest with you, but I like drinking beer with really nice people. And if that happens to benefit me in some way, or I can benefit other people, because honestly, that probably makes me happier than getting benefits is helping other people in some way. But let's look at the long term and let's look at our own happiness. And through that, that's what community is all about. Brian: Love that. you know, you said it's it's not that hard, right? You just gotta kinda make friends. And I think I think that's true for a lot of people. I also think we are in this post COVID period now where people were way out of practice at that. And I I put myself in that in that bucket as well. Jeff: Remember how weird we were? I remember being a weird. Like my friend came up to visit me after like three years of being sequestered. It like one of my best friends. I'm like, I'm fucking weird now. I'm weird. I don't know how to do this. She was like, dude, you're fucking weird. I'm like, let's have a couple of drinks. Let's unweird this thing. But like, yeah, it's a while ago. So I think we're less weird now. We're all like ready to go. Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you need the social lubricant for sure. we've been exploring this idea that relationships shape opportunity. Is that something that that that you kind of resonate with as well? Jeff: Yes. Yeah. I think I think relationships are a an important part of of opportunity, whether it's business opportunity or life opportunity, supporting each other, taking care of each other, being really patient with the whole thing. I think if you're not patient with the whole thing, it's not going to create opportunity. I've got relationships in this world where first of all, I met these people through work. They're really dear friends of mine. I may never buy from them, they may never buy from me. Brian: Mm-hmm. Jeff: But I do know if I'm like, hey, man, I need some help, or they're like, hey, man, I need some help, we're there for each other, right? So it's it's not always a direct one-to-one relationship. And I think if you're looking at it that way, you're probably, it's probably not a community and you're probably gonna break it. But yes, indirectly and patiently, community will lead to opportunity. Brian: I think most people would would agree with that. You know, I you brought up iMedia. I was in New York, the early days of digital media, and I still look at those times and I still have so many friends that I worked with and found through the digital community. And it it was really fun because we were all fighting together, whether you were selling something, buying something, researching something, we were trying to get on a a a media buy, right? So it's like we were all fighting together to try to make this digital media thing kind of land and I I forged so many relationships from that time that I still rely on, still have really good friends and still have contacts that I I hit up all the time. And and I'm sure you have the same rel same experience coming out of media on the West Coast, right? Jeff: Totally. Well, let's let's be clear on one thing. Like, we're the first generation that had this privilege. Like my dad, he was a lighting fixture salesman because when he didn't make it as a pro baseball player, he took the first job he can get. And that's what everybody did. you graduate college and you take the first job you can get and you grind it out for for 50 years. And he learned to love that job. And a lot of those people either learn to love or not those jobs. And we're the first ones, like, self actualization. Like, what the fuck is that, son? Like, I want to be happy. I want a job I love. Like, I I remember my parents sitting me down. I'm in my late twenties. I started this company and they're like, do you think this is a career? Like, do you think you can like support a family? I remember sitting in their den and being like, shit, that's a good question, mom and dad. I didn't really think about that. I know one thing, I got enough revenue coming in to get me through the next three months. And they're like, dude, are you serious, man? Like You just quit your job. You started a company and you're thinking in three month increments. But the point is, the reason I started it and the reason you're in the business and the reason we're all in this business is we thought it would be super fun. Like every single one of us were good at math and we're good at psychology. That's modern marketing. Guess where else we could go? We can go to Wall Street and make some money and make more money than this. So why do we do this? Because we thought it would be cool and fun and interesting and exciting. And you know, the definition of death to me is just being. Bored every day, like boredom equals death. Like create or die. What we're doing is so interesting and so exciting. So part of it is like build a community, find other people around you who are into it. And guess what? It's gonna happen naturally. It's there in the industry. We're all in this for a certain reason. We're not gonna get along with every single person in this industry, and we're not gonna all be part of one community that consists of millions of people. That's how big this industry is. But I think what social fabric is doing and what any good community is doing is like let's take a subset of these people who are positive and creative and want to have fun and let's build a place where they can exchange ideas and forge those relationships. Brian: Yeah. I I love the the coming together of psychology and math. I've never heard marketing put that way, but that's absolutely what I love about marketing is the psychology and the math. Jeff: Totally. Yeah. I've never like, I have never, not one, not one single day since I've started in this industry. I have not had one easy day. Never. It's just every single day has been really, really hard. And I love it. Cause I've never had one single day where I've been bored. Never. Not one. And I've been doing this for a while, right? That's a gift. That's a gift that we have for ourselves. And there's some people, look, they don't love the industry. It's not for them. There are some people who are naturally dark and naturally not happy and all that stuff. Fine. They can forge their own community. That's cool. There's all different communities. Some people might lean way into the creativity. Great. I'm probably not cool enough for that community. There are some people who are gonna lean way into the math. I'm probably not smart enough for that community. But then there's a group of people who are gonna forge these two things together: the psychology and the math, the positivity and the creativity. Those are my people. I think that's what social fabric is doing. But there's nothing better than being surrounded by Your people. And I don't mean groupthink. I don't mean a bunch of people who don't have original thoughts. I think they just have similar perspectives, broader horizons than you have. And then you get to exchange those ideas and ultimately you emerge enriched. We talked about being happier. You you emerge happier, but you also emerge enriched, right? To your point, like opportunity comes out of community. I think that opportunity may be just in the form of enrichment, being like, wait, you're using that technology, you're using that tool, you struggled with this challenge, you screwed up the same thing I screwed up and you actually solved it. Like that's what comes out of community isn't just making the cash register ring. It's enriching our own skill set. Brian: Yeah. And the and the safety that you feel to like share those things with people, right? Of just like, Hey, I'm having I'm struggling with this. Maybe you've gone through it too. You know you can lean on your community to kind of be vulnerable in that space. Jeff: yeah. I mean, I love that. I don't think I'd want to be part of a community that isn't like that. Like we've all been around people that like don't want to talk about any mistakes they've ever made, right? I find that to be wildly boring. It's actually kind of fascinating when you're around people like that. You're like, that's a different type of person than than I am, than I like to surround myself with. But, you know, I think a good community is in some ways like minded and and a powerful part of it is people who want to be vulnerable. And talk about their misses and their mistakes and share it with you. And then you can pass along your misses and mistakes and exchange those ideas. Like, you know, I'm of an age where I've stepped in every pothole in the journey. I know where they are, man. I don't I'm I I can literally help anybody younger than me, not because I'm smarter, not because I've done anything better, just because, dude, I stepped in that pothole, watch out. I stepped in that pothole, watch out. Like that one there, that will screw your ankle up. That one hurts. And I love this notion of trying to figure out. How I can articulate to people where those potholes are so they can avoid them. Brian: Yeah, that's so valuable to to have a community that has that. Well, we always try to ask some fun questions here as well. when is the last time you danced, Jeff? Do you remember? Jeff: Nice. Dude, that's a great question. What a mistake it is to have these limited number of journeys around the sun and and not dance very often. I think the last time I danced, probably somebody made fun of me and I don't dance enough. You know what you learn in life? You don't learn how to dance. You learn how to not dance. You've got kids. If you've got kids, they come out as soon as they're on their own two feet, they're fucking dancing. And then at some point someone's like, dude, your dance moves suck and you stop dancing. I don't dance enough. I'm not very good at it. I don't like doing stuff in public that I'm not good at. I don't play basketball in public. Brian: It happens. Right. Jeff: I don't sing in public. I don't dance very much in public. I suck at those things only because my ego is weak and frail, so I can't handle it. Brian: Yeah. Are you playing basketball in private? Jeff: No, because I can see myself and it's horrible. I don't I don't even want to see that. I dunno, it's really it's really bad. Brian: Gotcha. What are you doing in in Connecticut on the weekends? What which what are the groups that you're hanging out with? Jeff: Man, I gotta tell you. So I spent 10 years in San Francisco living in the city. I spent 15 years in the West Village of Manhattan living in the city. Both amazing, wonderful, incredible experiences. And you're surrounded by millions and millions and millions of people. Didn't meet that many amazing people, didn't build much of a community. Met some really great people, had some of the best nights of my life. It was awesome. But most of the people I hung out with I knew from college or I knew previously. Now I live up in the Berkshire. mountains, right? So I'm not really in the typical Greenwich Stanford area of Connecticut. I'm way out there. Like I used to have homeless people out in front of my house in the West Village. Now I open the front door and there's two blackberries eating berries. Two excuse me. Now I open the front door and there's like two black bears eating berries out front, like on a regular basis. I'm I'm way out there. And amazingly I found some of the most incredible people I've ever met up here. You know, there's not that many people up here when you're in a largely rural area. But the people who are up here have been Really cool, really kind, really community oriented, really educated, really fun. So you know, it's amazing that living almost in the middle of nowhere, I've found then there's a lot more to do than actually living in the West Village of Manhattan. There was only so many nights I could go out and eat, drink, and listen to music. And I loved every bit of it. All fucking I loved every bit of living in the West Village. I got nothing negative to say. But there is about three or four great things you can do and none of them were healthy. Then you come up here and every single weekend is a complete and total playground. Brian: Yeah. That's awesome. So you're getting out there and hiking, doing outdoor stuff? Jeff: lots of outdoor stuff. There's not an activity out there you can't hate. Am I the only asshole in the whole world just between you and me and the four million people who listen to your podcast? I the only one that doesn't like hiking. Like, dude, I don't yeah, I don't like it. Don't shh podcast listeners, don't tell anyone I don't get hiking. I love walking. I'm at that age. I'm like, yeah, go for a walk. I I saw this interview with with Snoop Dogg like 20 years ago when he was in his prime and he was like talking to someone I can't remember, some rapper or whatever, and they were getting high or whatever, and he was like, Brian: really? Jeff: And he was like, You don't go for walks? Like, of course you gotta go for walks. I was like, dude, cool enough for s cool enough for Snoop Dogg is cool enough for me. I like to go for a stroll, but going up a dusty hill, not my favorite thing. But golf, tennis, swimming in the lake, you know, anything. There there's so much stuff to do when you get way outside of a city. Brian: Like that. Yeah. Awesome. I hope you get a bunch of that this summer. Jeff: Yeah, man. Come up and visit me, man. We got a little pontoon boat. Makes for a great day. Brian: Yeah, I'll be out east for my family reunion in a couple of weeks. We go out to Cape God. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I have one more question for you. I'd love to ask you who else we should talk to. Either someone in the social fabric or someone we should get into the social fabric, but who do you nominate to to come on the podcast with me? Jeff: fuck yeah, dude. Just go due west and come hang out with me, man. You're you're love to have you here. Mm mm mm. Brian: Can tell you got some names rolling around. Jeff: I do, man. I've got first of all, there's one person that I love to death who is the smartest and best person in the entire industry, smartest and best human beings on planet Earth, which is the president of our firm, Debbie Dumont. And she she loves to not be front and center in out and about in communities, in networking, whatnot. She loves to be the the the person behind the scenes. She's so amazing and incredible. I would love to have her Have a bigger role in social fabric. Then I also have some clients that I'd love to introduce you guys to, but let me take that one step at a time, because these guys get hit a lot. So I'll introduce you like Mike Dom is a client of ours who is in the history of mankind. Don't tell him I said this because I don't want to jinx it. he's one of the all time great human beings, one of the all-time great clients in every way. I love this guy to death. He's he's found a way to Brian: Yeah. Jeff: push and demand the best work that we can do in the most positive of ways. He's he's not just a world class human, he's a world class client and he'd be a great person to be part of this. Brian: That's awesome. Yeah, I'm sure one of our four million listeners will get it to him. Well, thank you so much for being part of this brief conversation, Jeff. It was great to have you as a guest. Jeff: Absolutely. One step at a time, right? Awesome man. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I'll see you back east when you're here. Brian: Absolutely. I'll stop by. And to all all our four million listeners, find your community. Jeff: All right then. All four mil up. By the time this gets published, it could be four or five. Brian: Yeah, we could we could get ten ten fifteen percent growth by then. Thank you so much, Jeff. Have a good one. Jeff: yeah, let's do it. All right, man. Thanks for your time. I appreciate you.