Latest / The Marketing Brief / Anthony and Brian Connect on Creative Inspiration Finding Your Joy (S1 E20)
Transcript
- Brian Aucoin: Welcome back to the Marketing Brief Podcast. I am your host, Brian Acquan, and this is the podcast where we briefly discuss topics across the marketing landscape. always, we are joined by an industry expert, ⁓ a friend this time. Please welcome into the pod, Anthony Deptula. Anthony, welcome in. Anthony Deptula: Nice. Now we know how to say each other's last names. Brian Aucoin: Exactly, right? This is what this is for. Anthony Deptula: mean like I only know like last names from like middle school and then after that like all last names are like ⁓ away Until you until you're doing media and you're like, how do you I'm like, ⁓ that's how you say your last name Brian I've always wondered ⁓ Brian Aucoin: It gets weird when you encounter someone and you know their Instagram handle but you don't know their name and you're like, I only know this person by ⁓ handle. Anthony Deptula: I, uh, for my magazine, I literally had to, mailed someone a magazine and it was just their Instagram handle because they didn't give me their name. And I was just like, T Y J. I don't even know what it was. And I was like, sure. They're, they're, they're. Brian Aucoin: Okay. We'll get to them. Would you like to introduce yourself to the listeners a little bit about what you do? Anthony Deptula: Yeah, I'm Anthony Deptula, president of BMP Creative. I've been ⁓ my whole life, so ⁓ my way into an agency that I love. I'm founder of a kids magazine called Tag the Magazine, which is an interactive paper magazine. And ⁓ guess a serial entrepreneur now. ⁓ So ⁓ have tech company, advise companies, and a doer. Brian Aucoin: you are. of course, BMP the AOR for Netflix as well. So not too shabby. Anthony Deptula: Correct, yeah, we do a lot of videos for them a year. We've worked on Stranger Things, the team's great. Stranger Things, ⁓ Game, know, all ⁓ One ⁓ all big franchises, and ⁓ thankful to them as a client. ⁓ you know, one of the... I think one of the more creative ⁓ out there and they'll take risks. I worked at Disney and ⁓ was really hard to take risks there. ⁓ Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we both worked for Disney, the mouse. Well, I'd love to, you know, you and I kind of bonded over ⁓ COVID moves, right? You moved to Detroit during COVID, I moved to Denver. And I remember we used to have our calls and talk about what that was like. What I'd love to ask you ⁓ you did creative in Los Angeles, you're doing creative in Detroit. What it you've learned about being outside Los Angeles that has kind of inspired or taught you anything about Anthony Deptula: Yeah Yep. Brian Aucoin: how you get inspired for creative, how you build creative, how you see people responding to your creative. Anthony Deptula: Yeah. I think there's less talking about the creative process in Detroit and there's just more space to do it where I think in LA, hey, I'm guilty of it. It's like, I'm like, I got this thing and I'm doing this thing and I'm doing that. And then like, it becomes like LA, like. 25 % of the job is talking about the job and I think there is value to it because you get connections and there's synergies and there's capital and probably more capital which is ⁓ in Michigan. There's the state MEDC, Michigan Economic Development Council, ⁓ Michigan Foundation. ⁓ We gave away a million dollars. I was... you know, running marketing with them and comms. And we did that last week to ⁓ founders. One founder got a million dollars and it was an entertainment company, ⁓ Interactive. It was like, ⁓ people to bed early. Like everyone's like. ⁓ Brian Aucoin: and Yeah. Anthony Deptula: Like restaurants close early. Like it's not like New York or LA. Like you don't really have time. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Anthony Deptula: in LA because it's like you're constantly busy, but like I'm telling you like the one nice restaurant in my little hometown is like closes at like 920 or something weird. And I'm always like, why do I gotta go? I don't know, I'm making that up. But like, it's like, I don't, I got nothing to do. Like I literally, you know, like I gotta do something. And so I got a basement. I get to do things. Brian Aucoin: That's an odd time. Anthony Deptula: And I, I, not to say that there's not creative people. think that the creative people are family oriented. They're, they're sort of hiding in their cocoons. and LA it's just, you know, a lot of entertainment. ⁓ have to have the pizzazz. You have to, know, don't to, but I think it does help. ⁓ I think does help. And so I would say, ⁓ I don't what your experience was in Colorado, but ⁓ a little more of. time to have deep, deep thinking in way that, ⁓ you I'm busy at the agency and we're a lot of work done. And ⁓ at end the night, I get to, ⁓ it gets to quiet, you know, and I get to think, ⁓ think, wow, really Brian Aucoin: you Anthony Deptula: It's not always my favorite speed, to be honest. I like to move, but been valuable in a lot of different ways. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. I mean, you asked me about my experience in Denver. I mean, it's all wrapped up in COVID at this point, right? Cause it was three years, then moved back to Los Angeles in 2023. So it's, it's, it's kind of wound up in that area of just like being in our homes and like finding ways to connect with people. it's, it's tough to kind of decouple it from that. But I have very fond memories of Denver. really love Denver as a city. Anthony Deptula: Yeah. Yep. Brian Aucoin: Access to the mountains is great. Being with people who like to access the mountains is great. That was one of my favorite things. Yeah, always remember that fondly. of inspiration, Tag the Magazine is one of your projects. How did you get inspired for that project? How did you get started on that? Anthony Deptula: that's cool. Yeah, I was at GoldieBlox at the time and YouTube was, you know, really changing. GoldieBlox is a female empowering toy company to help young women get into STEM. Debbie Sterling is the CEO. She's really amazing. we're... ⁓ Brian Aucoin: one of the most, like one of the best YouTube trailers that just like took over the toy space when it came out. Anthony Deptula: Oh, yeah, like your Kickstarter to Macy's parade. It's just, you know, lot of mission, you know, mission driven. I'm attracted to that. I think there's a lot of crap in the world and you can be distracted and, you know. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Anthony Deptula: distracted from the good things that you might want to do or think that you can't do because of how crap the world is and You YouTube comments away, ⁓ right and like I I Don't I a bunch of shows. I think it's safe for kids ⁓ But like kids kind of lost a youth voice and I continue to see like kids losing tools to actually be able to communicate, talk to each other, you what you like. ⁓ a lot of other magazines that are out there ⁓ I ⁓ are legacy really. ⁓ know, thoughtful, caring, love kids, but they might, they just don't know what kids like. And I had that experience with YouTube where it's like, kind of, you got to talk to them and you got to like understand them from a kid level you get to have fun, right? And so that one of the, one of things. And so ⁓ I was like, Let's have it be interactive so kids can have space. They can be the published artists and writers. Like, I don't want to have anything to do with it. now I'm finding out that lots of people want to play with it. Like, people just want to play. Like, that's the Like, toys have been since ⁓ humanity started. ⁓ Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Anthony Deptula: Right? Like, if you go to museum, you're like, man, that's like an ancient toy. Like, that's fucking, that's crazy. You know? And so, to me, play is really important for this. Having fun and just being able to draw. I'm working on issue number two now and my buddy, Jonathan Watkins, he's in a punk band in LA. He's a great artist. And we drew together when we were in first grade and he was in kindergarten. We made comics. And so he did a whole sneaker thing for me for issue number two. I just, I get the draw. ⁓ just want to draw. And ⁓ think the pressures of the job, ⁓ of any job, pressures of having a family, capitalism, economic, macroeconomics all this ecosystems, it's like, ⁓ my God. Brian Aucoin: Cool. Anthony Deptula: Like this is all out of my control, but I have a pencil or I have a pen and I have a pad of paper and You know, I'm gonna draw Rosa Parks. She seems cool a kid said I want to go back in time and meet meet Rosa Parks and I think it's even cool that she went to jail and I was like awesome I'm gonna draw I'm gonna draw her mugshot so Brian Aucoin: Yeah, those are parts of the baddie. Anthony Deptula: Yeah, she's great. out to the Henry Ford Museum. They have the Rosa Parks bus. They have the chair that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in. but one of the best museums in the world. I just to draw, man, and like get to be creative. ⁓ run creative agency. And so, ⁓ Brian Aucoin: Nice. Anthony Deptula: I have to be creative. I have to do my morning pages. I have to like things. I have to be inspired. And so if I'm working with a brand, I can bring of my creative energy and I got to fill up. I to fill that up. And I don't know how you do it, but ⁓ I to museums, I draw, ⁓ I inspired by kids, ⁓ you And so it's just really fun to make something instead of getting, you get stuck in that cycle of being paralyzed by, well, what am I going to do? Brian Aucoin: Yeah, working on a couple of projects in the kids space right now. One's a book, one's an animated series. the consumer insight research I've done, has kind of to parents and I have this kind of through line for parents with young kids of like, ⁓ I want something that my kid that's not a toy, right? That's ⁓ anything that's just not a physical toy that takes up space. Anthony Deptula: Mm-hmm. Brian Aucoin: ⁓ and it's plastic and they just don't want it in their house. Like what's something that's entertaining that's not a toy that I can show my kid? And I know there's a physical aspect to tag the magazine as well. Is that something you want to talk about? Anthony Deptula: Yeah. Yeah, it's a newspaper. mean, it prints in Tecumseh, Michigan. The Tecumseh Herald prints it for me. It's paper. I like that it can be torn apart. It can be used ⁓ collage. ⁓ can be used for whatever, right? ⁓ like getting mail. Like, just my kid, nine years old, just like his love is getting mail. It's like, that's my name. ⁓ I to get that, you know. It's sort a surprise. I think... Brian Aucoin: ⁓ yeah. Anthony Deptula: Being in a physical realm is good. It's sort of a universal thing that people want to do, right? Like they want something, people want things. And like, what a great gift. You get a gift and then you get to your story or your comic. It's really comic based and graphic novel, which is really cool. ⁓ one of the things that I'm doing are physical pop-ups. So ⁓ the ⁓ and illustrators, with Abrams, this guy, Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Anthony Deptula: Jared Chapman, he's really cool. and Schuster, Scholastic, he just did a really cool spread that's gonna be an issue number two called Ty Kwan Toad. And we're taking over what I'm calling a crayon graveyard, which is ⁓ a really fun space for kids that's been abandoned and it looks like it's been massacred and ⁓ it's a and there's like eaten coloring books and... you know, so we're going to like clean that up. And I have this great artist, Jeremy Rowe, and he's building these cardboard ⁓ So kids will basically get a tear away from the magazine, get to draw, ⁓ to put in the mailbox. I've been carrying it around because I've been meeting people on the weekends and are like, what is that? And I'm like, ⁓ I started a kids' magnet. They're like, ⁓ I'm going to get it. You know, like, Barbacell started with shaving cream with little that said, hey, buy my shaving cream, right? Like, I ⁓ as we can overcomplicate everything. ⁓ And the platforms have made it ⁓ really to connect people, right? And ⁓ ⁓ it work. ⁓ basically, ⁓ you connect a human... ⁓ Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Anthony Deptula: face to face and tell them about your product. I mean, I get it. It takes time, but like, I think organic a great way to do it because organically reaching the people that you want to reach by pressing all these buttons and hitting all the demos, eventually get them and then get charged ⁓ addictive. And ROI is ⁓ not going be great because you're going to have to keep doing it forever. like for me, I get to carry a mailbox around and talk about something I love. Like giving a tag magazine to a kid at the airport and they light up. It's so much fun. Brian Aucoin: dovetails nicely with one of the macro trends we've identified, ⁓ identified at Quant Consulting, of community, which was a trend I think last year. We're still in this post-COVID space where we're trying to find ⁓ how we communicate with people? And one of the ways always found our people is through like interests, right? So it's like when you find something in your community that you're like, ⁓ that's a great thing to get involved in, ⁓ then ⁓ there's community around it. So I really love that aspect. Anthony Deptula: Yeah. Yeah, mean, a brand is a community. It's a group of people working together. I think REI is really good. It's a co-op, so it feels even more like a community. I think Dropout's doing co-op style now, which is really cool. Like comics and all things comedy, those felt like communities. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Anthony Deptula: Yeah, I mean, you do spend a lot of time with people at your job. It's not like it used to be, but if brands can really tap into who they are as themselves as a community, you know, like I'm sad, dude. I'm sad a thousand people lost their job at Disney, you know? I've been there, but it's still... Brian Aucoin: That is one of the hardest parts about being laid off. I've laid off a number of times, is that you lose that community. Anthony Deptula: Yeah. Yeah. And you kind of lose sort of this corporate mantra. ⁓ lot of work goes into those things. They tell you all these things. ⁓ ultimately, it's you that community immediately and you're like, what? ⁓ Some you know, connected and it's healthy. But I think you're doing it in the hundreds to thousands of people. ⁓ Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Anthony Deptula: you're literally like going in and just like apart infrastructure like people's relationships over 10, five, ⁓ 20 And ⁓ are supposed to stay creative that way? ⁓ And I get it's hard to balance. I've been on both sides and it's really hard to balance how to... how to find that right, that right vibe, right? And it's a, it's such a strange time in media. And you know, you mentioned like from LA to Michigan, I, ⁓ nice about being in a different state or than ⁓ Los is you kind of don't feel that macabre. you know, fog that has been on the city like since COVID, you know, like it's just, it's just trying to fight back. And I really rooting for LA and I think it will find its voice again, you know, as a person that's writing, you know, a magazine to help kids find their voice. think LA needs to find their voice ⁓ these companies need to find their voice. And just Microsoft and you know, these big giant ⁓ companies that you know, started and then became this huge They lost their voice and then they have to find it again, ⁓ you ⁓ somehow. Brian Aucoin: Well, to ask you something I ask all of my guests. ⁓ What's something you're excited about? It could be in your professional capacity, it could be in your personal life, but what's something you're looking forward to, you're excited about right now? Anthony Deptula: Sure. Yeah, we're getting a puppy next week. So, a named Alfie. So, that's next Friday. ⁓ Yeah, Alfie's best. He's like ⁓ in school right now. ⁓ And never a puppy. So, ⁓ we had dog, Addie, she was And then she went over the rainbow, as they say. And... ⁓ Brian Aucoin: I already got an ⁓ Okay. Mm-hmm. Anthony Deptula: Yeah, so we're getting a puppy. I'm really pumped up, Brian Aucoin: That's awesome. I got a lot of tips for you. I've raised three puppies. It's on my, puppy raising is on my resume, actually. It's a skill on my resume. It's down there with improv. It's usually, if people read the whole thing, then they're like, what is this improv puppy raising? Anthony Deptula: Really? Okay. Really? That's great. As we're talking about community, what are you doing? This is community driven. are other things that you're doing in your community? And can I help ⁓ you that ⁓ mission? Brian Aucoin: Yeah, this was definitely an effort. I love having these conversations with friends, with people in the industry. I'm always pressure testing ideas and trends that I'm seeing and getting feedback on it. So this was a great way to do that and to connect with people. it's pretty low lift. You can just jump on a Zoom like we were all used to. So this is good. I went to an industry event in Venice on last Anthony Deptula: Yeah. Brian Aucoin: Friday morning. And that was, it was great. Like I haven't done that in so long. I haven't been to like these ThinkLAs or these things. And I really want to do more of those because was older school people. It was really just very casual conversation. was ⁓ thing in the morning and then people stayed for like an hour and then they left. got their coffee and then they left. But ⁓ was like, I want to do more of these. This was fun. ⁓ Anthony Deptula: Cool. Yeah, being human is fun. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, in real life. thank you so much for joining us, Anthony. It was great to have you as a guest on the Marketing Brief podcast. Anthony Deptula: Good. Thanks for having me. I'm glad we're friends. Brian Aucoin: Of course, me too. This has been a brief conversation. I'm your host, Brian O'Kwan. Thank you for listening to the Marketing Brief Podcast. Stay curious, everyone.