Latest / The Marketing Brief / Social Fabric Sessions: E10 Justin Henry
Transcript
- Justin Henry: Yeah. Brian: Hello and welcome back to the Marketing Brief Podcast. I am your host, Brian Aquan, and this is the podcast where we talk about marketing. This is also a special episode, and we've been calling these subsets called the Social Fabric Sessions, where we better get to know the members of the Social Fabric. And so I have a member of the Social Fabric with me today, Justin Henry. Justin, welcome into the podcast. Justin Henry: Thank you, Mr. Aquan. It's good to be here. Glad to do it for the team. You know. yeah. Let's talk marketing, podcasts, social fabric, life, liberty, and happiness, digital media, fatherhood, state of the industry, the weather. What else can we fit in? Brian: You're you're layering it all in there. It is a short format, Justin, just so you know. But I think we could hit all of those. Justin Henry: Damn it. Okay, good. Brian: Well, I've known you for a long time as a friend and a colleague. so I know you very well. I've been having people introduce themselves without saying what it is they do for a living. and if I ask you that question, how would you introduce yourself? And just so you know, if you don't say Academy Award winner, I'm just gonna throw it in there anyway. Justin Henry: Well, I'm not the winner. I'm only the nominee, but I'll throw it in. Brian: No sorry. Justin Henry: it's good. I I I'm glad that that's the image in your head. Yeah, Brian: Yes. Justin Henry: I I mean I'm I I'm a I'm a very curious person at heart. And it started a long time ago in in the film and TV business. I was plucked out of school at a young age, but I think I was six and seven, to star in in Kramer versus Kramer. Which was really amazing. I could have been sick that day and I probably wouldn't be here talking to you, Brian, or know you the way I do. and I do for the record value our friendship. Brian and I have known each other for a very long time. and I consider you one of the real great people in our industry, and I'm glad to be talking with you. Brian: Thank you. Justin Henry: and then you know, I did the movie thing for a long time. I I, you know, Kramer versus Kramer was very successful, changed my life, my family's life, changed everything. even the people that lived around us changed my town. and then you know, I made the decision to not do movies and TV, to not keep going that direction, really sort of lived my life, but it did take a good two-year chunk out of my life. And I think, you know, that experience just sort of set the stage for things that I do in my life, which is like to jump in with everything with both feet and to enjoy and to just see where things roll to. and so then I focused on school, I went to college in upstate New York to Skidmore College, which I love. I played hockey and then I moved out to California and continued acting pretty seriously. I got deep in it. It was continued on ER, did some probably seven or eight movies and maybe maybe more altogether. and then slowly but surely got into digital media. So I I produced a movie with some friends called The Junior Defenders, which you can get on Amazon. with Brian O'Halloran and Ali Sheedy, really fun, campy movie about a crazy guy who who kidnaps child stars from his favorite 1970s television show. It's super campy and fun. It's really great. It's a kind of a Brian: Yeah. Nice. Justin Henry: dark comedy. And then we needed to get it shown. So we created a film festival to do that. And this is like, you know, before the internet was the internet. And then we were the first ever film festival to distribute movies digitally. 100% Brian: Gotcha. Justin Henry: digital. So we We would take all of these movies and we'd have them digitized using this new thing called Windows Media Player. I don't know if you've ever heard of that back in Brian: Hell yeah. Justin Henry: the day. and and that was really cool. So we would go to different we go to the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and help these movies get made and distributed and finished and then ultimately find homes, whether that's being bought or sold, or or a lot of them, you know, movies like Dogtown and Scotch and milk and and just tons of really quality independent films. And then that kind of got me deeper and deeper and deeper into the digital media world where I've stayed pretty much ever since. you know, working in in various various roles, mostly in the sort of sales and biz dev world, which sort of follows along of that, like let's see where things go. How do we partner? How do we find, how do we make the scene? How do we find and get the movies built and done and finished? How do we put together a deal, how do we how do we build advertising around content? And so now I sort of sit in this intersection of sort of content monetization and technology. doing biz dev for large scale companies like like Vio, like the very f one of the very first ever sort of precursors to even YouTube. Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: then I move deeper into the to the actual mechanics of video delivery with companies like Telestream And and now I just sort of sit in that in that world. I consult a little bit for companies that need stuff to get done. you know, I was on the team at Prohaska, Prohasca Consulting, shout out to Matt and his folks working on deals with Spot Exchange buying Magnite or Magnite buying spot exchange or whatever it is, you know, really focused on the sort of biz dev sales go-to-market strategy, you know, putting the pieces together to Help companies develop and build and technology come together. And very similar to like making a great movie, you know, like you gotta have a good Brian: Mm-hmm. Justin Henry: architecture, good screenplay, good people, good directors, good vision, and then you gotta execute. that's kind of what I love about it. And the social fabric, something really cool that you and AJ have started up, and it seems like it fits that kind of mold, right? It's really about how personality and people that drive these businesses. You know, these are people driven businesses and I think we forget that in this day and age in a lot of ways. And we need to remember that it's the the people that make the business, not the business making the people. Brian: Yep. People driven businesses and most of the time built for consumers who are also humans to to date. Checks notes. Yes. Justin Henry: Yes. They need marketing, not like, you know, we don't need you know, AI can help us make a pretty picture, but they're not even that pretty and and people are the things that buy things and buy products and invest their hard earned dollars on what they're going to be consumers of. And I think we've got to really focus on that as an industry and as a as a really as a Brian: I agree. Justin Henry: as a as a people, you know, we forget that we're the ones that buy the stuff. And everyone seems to be focused Brian: Yeah, of the human race. Justin Henry: on efficiency and CPMs and driving down and and outcomes based measurement and that stuff is valid and has a place. Brian: Uh-huh. Justin Henry: But we're losing the humanity of the marketing machine, I think. Brian: I agree with you. I agree with you. That so everything you've just said was kind of you were already answering questions I haven't even asked. but I'd love to ask you, because we've been exploring this idea of relationship shaping opportunity. You've certainly had a ton of relationships in your career, even when you pivoted your career. Is there an example or is the or does is that a statement that you kind of resonate with that relationships have shaped opportunity for you in your life, in your career? Mm-hmm. Justin Henry: One thousand percent. in my sort of transition from, you know, acting to digital media. I remember somebody who's been really actually transcendent in in my in my media career is is a mutual friend of ours, Dave Levine. Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: you know, I people give you opportunities, people trust you, people are mentors to you, people help you discover things about yourselves or put you in opportunities where you can discover something about yourself. And And that comes from trust, which I think comes from you know, people knowing each other and and trusting each other. Brian: Yeah. I mean, trust is a theme I've been just exploring on this podcast all year because I think we are living in a very inauthentic world, maybe increasingly inauthentic. And trust in partnerships, trust with consumers is really the thing that's kind of coming through. I think consumers are now making decisions where they're like, I have to verify if this is a real company. Justin Henry: Yeah. Brian: that the that's reaching out to me, not just something on Instagram that that might steal my money, but also they're making decisions like more increasingly because they have to find value, right? We're in a tight economy. So trust is really the thing that's kind of shining through or or the thing that can shine through to consumers when they're making decisions. Justin Henry: I think that's the really the the most important thing, right? Even, you know, I'm a salesperson at heart, I think, you know, and and deserving trust and earning trust is super important in in the conversations that I have. The brands that I trust and the and the way that they that they approach me. you know, great, I can get fifteen dollars off my Prestusory, you know, subscription, which is great. And it is a brand that I trust, right? And and I appreciate that. I don't appreciate it every day. But I do appreciate it and I do trust those those those things. And so I think it's you know, that's our currency, right? and when you break somebody's trust or when you when the trust is challenged, whether it's a bad message or it's a conflicting message or it's puts you in a bad light, something that that that they've done or that is being done, you know, people are really we don't have a lot of bandwidth in our heads and so we kind of move on, right? If you if you You burn me once, you burn me twice, off I go, you know, 'cause I've only got so much bandwidth that I can handle as a human. Brian: Yeah. Well, trust as certainly as we're building out this this social fabric community, trust is important. it's important to me because I'm working as a consultant and I'm looking for people to do business with, I'm looking for people to you know, plug into a project that I might hear about and hopefully they can do the same for me. what is the social fabric for you? Like what what why would you join the the social fabric? What do you think you can bring to it? Justin Henry: I joined the social fabric because it it's got a lot of people that I that I trust, number one, and and in some ways look up to, right? The the things Brian: Mm-hmm. Justin Henry: you have done, the experiences that you have, a lot of the experiences AJ has and others have that I can learn from, right? That I can help hopefully take in a little bit and and learn from and add back to, right? I want to be in a situation where where our our industry marketing Martech that it becomes more human. And I think the people that are are involved right now I see as being really good humans, first of all, which makes them very good at their job, which hopefully we can all take a little something from or add a little something to. you know, like I said at the top of the show, you know, we've gotten away, I think, from really sort of human-driven marketing initiatives. And I think the social fabric seems to be trying to rekindle that and I I appreciate that a lot. And I was honored to be asked to be honest to be part of it. Yeah. I'm a Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: good person. They like me. You know. Brian: They accepted me. It's just nice to be nominated, isn't it? Justin Henry: Yeah, it's just nice to be in with somebody that you're in the club with. You know, Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: if I if I can be in any club you're in, Brian, I'm a happy kid. Yeah. Yeah, man. Brian: I love that and and vice versa. We're we're in it together. Justin Henry: I do have to I do have to come see some of your your stand up and your your your acting bits. I I'm sorry I have not done that. Brian: Yeah, I'd love to have you come out. I've been doing a Justin Henry: Yeah, man. Brian: lot more musical improv, which I really love to mix those two things together. Justin Henry: Do you play an instrument? Brian: I do, I play guitar now. Justin Henry: All right. Well we can do that. I I do too. And I I Brian: Nice. Justin Henry: write terrible songs for my kids every day. In fact I wrote one this weekend about the rain, you know, things we can do in the rain with Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: yeah, with and my son is playing trombone now, so we can we get to Brian: my gosh. Justin Henry: we worked on we worked on some John Williams tunes this this afternoon or yesterday, which was great. Yeah, yeah. Brian: that's awesome. I've been do similarly, I've been writing songs with Calvin, my my son, and and I actually put out a couple albums this year of just the songs I wrote. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a project just to kind of see what it was like and go through the whole Justin Henry: You what? No way, dude. I gotta All right. Brian: process. So yeah, I'll share those with you. Justin Henry: I'll put on in the car for the kids and that they'll be the real witness test. That's cool. Brian: There you go. Yeah. Every cookie is the best. Yeah. A lot of them are are are are real earworms, as my wife would say. Justin Henry: Yeah. I love that about you. You you sort of you you're really you do all so many different things and you really you really mix it up. I think that's so that's so great, man. it's cool. Yeah. Brian: Thanks. Yeah, I need to keep challenging myself. Justin Henry: I get a you know, I i I still get like I get I get stage fright sometimes, you know, I like worried. what's somebody gonna think if I do something super silly, you know? And that's it's kinda it's kinda stupid. Brian: Yeah. Although that feeling is very human and very real. And I will tell you, before every improv show I have, I get that feeling. And it just makes me feel alive. And it's like one of those things where, you know, if you're in a good troupe, someone will tell you, use that. That is a human emotion you are having. And you can use that on stage instead of trying to pretend you don't have it. But yeah, every show I do, I still get nervous. Justin Henry: That's right. Good good advice, man. Good advice. Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: So what does the social fabric mean to you? I've this is something I've wanted to kind of, you know, Brian: Turning the tables. Justin Henry: as we self direct this this juggernaut, where do we want it Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: to go? Brian: I I love it as you know, almost like a support group for for people trying to navigate the economy we're in, the how our business has changed. I really look at the people and and much like you had, of like people I admire, right? These are people in in business that I've worked with and really like what they've done and how far they've come in their careers. But we've got this WhatsApp group where it's like you can just ask a question. You're looking for to learn about something. you're learning you're you're in a new industry or you're trying a new vertical and you want some an an opinion on that. And then I also think, you know, I I was having lunch with AJ last week and we talked about how this is just a group that you can go and do things with, right? Whether it's an industry related, like a convention or or you know, a a meeting you go to, but also like a ski trip or you're going hiking. And it's like here's a group of people who are up for doing something in real life that You can then use you you you build these relationships and then you leverage kind of everybody's network together. So that's that's how I'm looking at it and that's how I've been kind of jumping in and and out of it on that WhatsApp and kind of engaging people. Justin Henry: I like that. I like that a lot and I think it makes a lot of sense. And for anybody that's listening that's out in the Calabasas Valley area, you know, let's go for a hike. Let's go grab some coffee. Let's go catch a bad show or a good show and and do that together. I'm I'm always down for that. Brian: Yeah. And and while while you're on the subject of dates, we do have a meetup in Los Angeles on September twenty-fifth. So we'll have to put that out there. Yeah, absolutely. So we'll see the crew there. Justin Henry: That's right. Yeah, the morning of the twenty-fifth at zinc, right? Yeah. That's very cool. Well, I I'm looking forward to that. I'm going down to San Diego tomorrow for the the Lion Entertain News Summit, Independent News Publishers Summit. One thing I'm working on is creating a new local news platform called The Local by N2 Media Holdings. So we're trying to build out a new way to think about local news, hyperlocal news. for many cities around the country, and many Brian: Nice. Justin Henry: regions trying to address the news deserts that we all face. I mean, we're lucky in in California and LA, but there are parts of, you know, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska that don't have any local news at all and Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: everyone's losing all their all their newspapers and so we're trying to to work on that kind of stuff. Brian: Yeah, I mean we could talk for a while, but the idea of journalism has kind of gotten lost, right? Where our news is entertainment now and it's not about trying to figure things out on behalf of the people. Justin Henry: Yeah, there's no limit to that. It's become, you know, sort of this this short attention span theater in some ways Brian: Mm-hmm. Justin Henry: of of news and that what drives eyeballs and drives clicks and drives things like Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: that. So we we really think that, you know that news as a as a category can be can drive a lot of content, a lot of engagement, right? Because it's something we all need to follow along with, we all need to know. And it doesn't have to be if it bleeds, it leads, but it does need to be to your point journalist driven. and that's really the point of N2 Media and the locals to drive real journalism on a on a video daily video basis. So knock on wood, if any of the social fabric folks Brian: Mm-hmm. Something that Justin Henry: can, you know, help me navigate that one, I'll appreciate it. Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Certainly something that serves the consumer or the or the person more than the shareholder would would would be something like Yeah. Justin Henry: Yeah, well it comes back to the again the idea of trust, right? You gotta build trust and you gotta build you know, you you do that at slow drip over time and I think we need to we need to focus on that. Brian: Well I've got to ask you the question I've been having fun asking everybody, which is when's the last time you danced? Do you remember? All right. Within twenty-four hours. Justin Henry: I guess yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. I was my my son was playing trombone and and I was being a goofball for him. Yeah, it was it was Brian: Yeah. Justin Henry: a lot of fun. He he got it going. It got you know, I try to get him to like, you know, like work on different rhythms and things like that. I played drums since I was very, very young and since I was about six actually. Dustin Hoffman bought me my very first drum set because my half brother Todd played drums and I wanted Brian: Amazing. Justin Henry: to play drums and so Anything he did, I I wanted to do better. So with Kieran, my son, he's learning trombone, but he's very, you know, it's orchestra driven. And so I wanted him to start doing a little beeboping to try to dance for him and you know. Brian: Is that the Elaine you're doing there? Justin Henry: Yeah, you know, just you're trying to really make him see that embarrassing yourself is is an okay thing to do. Yeah. Brian: Yeah, yeah. It really breaks down walls. Justin Henry: It sure does and it breaks down, you know, dignity as well, which is important. Brian: Which as a dad, I mean, w we've used all of our dignity at this point. It is. I'd rather Justin Henry: Yeah, you know, dignity is overrated, I've discovered. Brian: have the laugh. Justin Henry: yeah, how about you, bud? When was the last time you danced? Brian: It was definitely this weekend, hanging out with Calvin and he Justin Henry: Nice. Brian: he loves music and we're always putting music on and dancing. Yeah. Justin Henry: That's great. Yeah, dancing is a good thing. It gets you gets you out of your head. Brian: Yeah, it's free too. No cost. Nope. Yeah. Justin Henry: It is free. You don't even need music. Make up your own, exactly. Brian: Well, let me get you out on this last question. You mentioned Dave Levine. Is there anyone else that you would nominate to either join the social fabric or someone that's within the social fabric that we should talk to? We should bring on the podcast. Justin Henry: Yeah, I think well I John Napolitano comes to mind Brian: Okay. Justin Henry: from another former a former Edconian alum. Brian: Nice. Justin Henry: a wonderful human being as well and lives right down the road for me now that I think about it I should reach out to Brian: There you go. Calabasas chapter. Justin Henry: Yes, we we rise above. let's see who else. I mean why let's get sc go Kanye. Let's get Kanye in here. Brian: Hey, we'll tag Justin Henry: You know? Let's get to get it going. Yeah, the Brian: We'll tag yay. Justin Henry: church of Ye, the the social church. Yes. Brian: Well, thanks so much, Justin. It's always great talking to you. So thank you for coming on the podcast and being a guest of Social Fabric Sessions, part of the Mar Marketing Brief podcast. It was really a joy to have you on here. Justin Henry: I appreciate that, Brian. Thanks for inviting me and and thanks for doing this and being a part of the solution, or a solution. I think that's really commendable of you and and AJ and everyone doing the fabric and your podcast as a whole and your marketing career. I mean, you've run some some pretty impactful campaigns and teams and businesses through Brian: Thank you. Justin Henry: the years, and I I think it's great that you're giving back. Yeah, man. Brian: I really appreciate that. Thank you, Justin. And to all the listeners out there, stay curious. Find your community. Justin Henry: Hundred percent.