Activate Your Audience!
Welcome to Activate Your Audience podcast! Here, you'll find a range of episodes discussing all aspects of brand activation and audience engagement, from the latest industry trends to expert insights and best practices.We will delve into topics such as events and experiential marketing, business tips and tricks, and creating experiences, all with the goal of helping you achieve your goals and drive customer engagement.Tune in to learn from the experts and get inspiration for your own brand activation strategies. Subscribe to stay up-to-date on new episodes and join the conversation on @BeImperial on Instagram. Let's activate you, your brand, and your audience together! Learn more about how IBA can support your even'ts team at your brand activations https://iba.imperialbrandingagency.com/i3ba
Activate Your Audience!
Brionna Simons - The Essence of Client Satisfaction
Join us on an enriching journey into the world of client satisfaction with our esteemed guest, Brionna Simons from ThinkTrue. Brionna's diverse background and in-depth industry experience gives her a unique perspective on the power of representation and the importance of truly understanding the demographics you're trying to reach.
We'll uncover the true essence of account management in experiential marketing, explore the obstacles of generic briefs, and discuss how personal experiences can shape our approach to work. This dialogue will serve as a mirror reflecting the importance of systems, value creation, and representation in today's marketing landscape.
Switching gears in the second half, we delve into the heart of what makes a marketing experience successful: passion, collaboration, and continuous growth. We'll dissect the fine line between merely hosting events and providing engaging experiences, highlighting how strong agency-client relationships can birth creative and effective campaigns.
And, as an added bonus, we'll share a secret weapon that can keep you ahead in this highly competitive industry: note-taking. See how capturing ideas can be your ticket to success. We guarantee you won't want to miss out on these golden insights into the exhilarating world of account executive role in experiential marketing.
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Today we speak with Brianna Sivins, an accomplished account director at ThinkTrue. Brianna is dedicated to connecting multicultural audiences with Fortune 500 brands. With a remarkable track record spanning 15 years, brianna has delivered projects for over 165 clients and orchestrated 1200 plus events. Her versatile skillset in marketing events and project management have left a lasting impact across various industries, including working with clients such as JP Morgan Chase, visa, nike and UBS. At ThinkTrue, brianna leads client relations overseas project management and provides strategic consultation for multi-million dollar multicultural experiential marketing activations. Welcome to the Activate your Audiences podcast, brianna.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Louise.
Speaker 1:So, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about, maybe, your cliff notes of your career path. How did you end up where you are now, and maybe a quick highlight on what ThinkTrue does.
Speaker 2:I'm currently an experiential marketing, which is a newer sub-industry of marketing as a whole. My background is very much events, sales and marketing and I feel I use all three on a daily basis In my current role in high school I was very involved and doing a lot of the promotion, creating and the programming for various events. That continued in college. I started sports marketing in college as an intern and I quickly learned how marketing shows up in different industries. So in sports I was really shocked that you work nine to five on a through Friday and then you have to work a five to nine almost every day of the week and the pay is not that great. So, as you can imagine, I was like what other industries are there? So I started in hospitality doing sales and marketing for a luxury property and then transitioned into food and beverage operations, learned about catering and events management, how to plan meetings and events and just kind of continued hopping from there until I landed on the agency side doing experiential.
Speaker 1:Nice, yeah, I feel like with experiential, being kind of newish but especially pre or I should say, post COVID at being very much more in demand with people wanting to connect. And now, as we've spoken, I think, in previous episodes with other guests about just the ROI from client side of like, now you can really track the measurement of the event. So for us, you know, jumping like that like you're the perfect kind of pipeline, if you will, for like from the hospitality to sports to events, to be like the experiential marketing, like poster child and so with I guess maybe a little bit of your upbringing you said you're a military so you moved around a lot. Where did or what would you say has been kind of like the biggest takeaway for you personally in terms of the world that is, events, hospitality, with that sort of like diverse background, and you know changes that all the time, I'd imagine, with moves and such.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think my biggest takeaway is that I can bring my full self to work, and what I mean by that is each of my experiences will ultimately show up in my work, and so when we do multicultural marketing if you're wondering what that is, technically the term shouldn't even exist. It should just be marketing. However, because of how the world works, we have to give it a term, and anyone belongs to a culture. Everyone has something that they can celebrate and belong to, and so by multicultural marketing, we just mean that a lot of the times, we are serving specific communities, and to be able to do that, you have to have representation from those communities, and so I'm really thankful that I have a diverse background, as opposed to growing up in the same house for 18 years and maybe going to college in the same town. I feel like that might limit me and what I can offer based on my lived experience.
Speaker 1:That makes so much sense. Yeah, it's one of those clear, I think, maybe signs of diversity or even just adaptability to be able to, or maybe it's cultivated in that sort of track record or history of moving from place to place and so I'm just going to adapt and, as you said, being in the multicultural space, that is a thing now, right, and it's always been a thing. But why would there not need to be somebody who understands that language to be able to speak to the folks that now we, as clients agencies, are needing to connect to?
Speaker 2:I hear a lot of people mistake multicultural for something that's black and white in terms of race or ethnicity, and I think that's a big mistake. I just made the example of location and, like geographics, where I'm from. I was born in Japan, but I've lived in Oklahoma and California and Colorado also equally as long as I lived in Japan. So I think being able to bring different factors of demographics and psychographics into what you define as multicultural will really help brands and agencies expand how they see this segment of marketing.
Speaker 1:I love that I think because a lot of time, because of what is going on and say the lexicon of that, we don't consider that there's also multicultural in styles of music and styles of trends that do provide different types of audiences. And looking at it from that way, as you mentioned earlier, the need that, or they're being a multicultural term kind of shows how a little late we as a society may be in, just like not putting people in boxes and making people and humans humans. And considering, since you just mentioned that, working in the multicultural space, what have you experienced as maybe some of the biggest challenges and maybe some of the most positive surprises in this kind of niche or vertical?
Speaker 2:I think challenges can come from internal, like how you operate, but they can also come from the clients in terms of the problems that they give us.
Speaker 2:I think a problem I always enjoy talking about because I want to hear your opinion too is how briefs are provided to client or to agencies, and so the funniest thing is getting a creative brief that's asking you to reach everybody and it's like what, where can I like, dial in and make this a special experience?
Speaker 2:But then you see huge campaigns, like Mattel's Barbie campaign for the film, where they actually successfully targeted everybody. However, it means that they had to do this scan of the world and make this like sample size of each type of person, and I think they did a really, really good job of it. So that's something that I think is a challenge is how agencies are briefed into projects, and the other challenge is when you're presenting those creative concepts back to clients. And if you have a conservative client, we always have a rule where we try to present something that 100% matches the brief and the brand guide and it really doesn't deviate, and then we try to present something that is wild, and then we try to present something that's like right in the middle, and I think the challenge is always bringing the client into those ideas and justifying why they would work, and then having to repeat that pitch to their bosses and their bosses, bosses. That is a huge challenge, but it's fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's definitely a strategic, maybe labor of love, right. So from both sides I think, yeah. Back to what we were saying earlier is we understand we do need to in some aspect, put people in boxes right To just generate a efficient campaign, but at the same time it's kind of like paradoxical when you are asked like hey, this isn't everybody thing. And that's where I think again to bring back the point of representation. A lot of times, whether it's from the client side or just the decision makers, they are maybe so consciously trying to represent themselves in a campaign that is not targeted at themselves. Or it's like a lot of things, you know, it's a, it's a safety thing, which kind of built on the second question of like people just don't want to look dumb, right, the client doesn't want to look dumb to their bosses.
Speaker 1:We always want to do things that are safe and so I love that idea of like the Goldilocks approach right, yes yes, the nice one in the middle one, and even though it is exhaustive, I think that does give this sort of it's almost kind of meta marketing at that point from my experience of like, yes, you have your end consumer, you have, you know, the audience, but then you also have to pitch these stories, as we know, to the clients and to different sort of flavors of these clients. So it's definitely not tricky, it's not a one-self thing but it's one of those. It's challenging but, as you said, like it's, it's fun because when it works or even just that sort of you know, say, you have a real driven or mission driven, like what you guys are doing with JP Morgan right now with, like, black wealth, right, so that story having to go through the channel, sometimes it's, it makes sense and it's easier when there are a lot of people who are understanding of the mission and then that sort of like accomplishment, even sometimes when there are other things, whether it's, you know, prejudices or safety from their position, role whatever, or subconscious, just you know, work that the client may not want to do or think about, making it easy for them to to sort of make these decisions and understand the story is a fine art and when it clicks it's like it's all for the mission, right, it's all for this great goal. So that's kind of helped me of just like anchoring to. We're all telling stories at different levels and it's just that refining of who is our audience and how do we tell that story. If that makes sense, yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's go into maybe some of the since we're talking about clients, the approach of value creation. What is as an account director is an account exec. What are some ways that you approach that sort of like, not just relationship building, but value creation for your existing accounts or new accounts?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that ThinkTrue provides as an agency. One is definitely that representation that we talked about. So, part of our process when we're reviewing project opportunities, obviously we're assessing profit we're an agency, we're a for-profit company but we're also assessing the passion and the people. So if we're being offered an opportunity to work with the HBCU community you know this is students that are 17 to 21 years old we have to consider how we can represent that community. A lot of 17 to 21 year olds are not full-time creatives at marketing agencies right now. However, do we have HBCU alumni that work for our company? Do we have brothers or sisters or parents, cousins that work in that community or have that lived experience currently? And so what I like about what we do is that if we don't feel we have enough representation on a project, we will go and outsource and bring those people in based on our own relationships, just to develop those insights and study that demographic With HBCU communities. Just being Black is not adjacent enough. That's a very specific niche group of people that you want to understand. We just recently activated at Clark Atlanta with Chase, doing a financial health festival, if you will, with Sweetie. So it was super, super fun and I'm really glad we did the early research to dig in.
Speaker 2:I think something else that ThinkTrue provides is that we're good people, which I know maybe not sounds like the deepest, most prophetic thing. However, being in a group of people that you feel have similar values of honesty and transparency and doing the right thing has been a huge cultural shift for me in the workplace. I've come from places where I've been undervalued, overworked. I've felt comfortable to speak up. That's been a part of my personality since I was a kid. But to get rejected when you do have that courage and then pivoting to a place where it's you're safe and you're insulated from bullshit, it's an incredible place to be and I think, beyond being praised for our activations, the number one comment I hear back from clients is like this is the most fun group of people that you'll work with and that makes me so proud that we're enjoyable to do six months of projects with, or whatever the ask is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's beautiful. I mean, you don't see that a lot. As you mentioned with different industries, I don't want to say that our industry has a black eye. As far as events and even back to sports, there was history of toxicity in a lot of places, but definitely finding, I think, the tribe, if you will, of these healthy, good people. It's weird, back to even multicultural, that we have to say that we're good people. It makes sense and it translates to what the client will feel, what the end consumer will feel. So passion and people, would you say that's maybe the foundation of the campaign and then maybe, from the internal side, the sort of vehicle that carries that through, of having maybe that camaraderie and that connection with clients, from that that builds the value creation. That's what I'm hearing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a big differentiator for us, based on feedback I've gotten from my clients. I also think when it comes to producing activations and experiences, there is a difference. I hear a lot of people not in our space don't know what experiential marketing is. I feel like if I tell my family what I do, they're like oh, you do experimental marketing. And I'm like, well, no, I don't even know what experimental marketing is. But a lot of people, just you know, dull it down to we do events, and I do think that there's a big difference between an event and an experience.
Speaker 2:I love that we get to design these moments for people. I love that there's a psychology to what we do. We have to study this entire group of people and we have to create something that is meaningful to them, with different touch points, and I think that's to me, where the creativity starts to show up the most and everyone on our team can contribute. We do not isolate the creative responsibility to only a strategist or only a designer. It's a full collaborative process that's very iterative with our agency and with our client. We can't leave them out. Their feedback matters and so, even when we're 11 rounds deep, I'm proud of it at the end of the day, especially if the whole team is contributing and getting excited, that's when I feel the most hype to be on this team. I love that.
Speaker 1:Now, what have been, maybe some of the key lessons back to you know, say, ways of working or bringing it more to the technical side, maybe not exactly technical, but in terms of optimizing processes. Do you have any sort of key lessons or learnings that have helped you optimize process, because you know we're dealing with a lot of things that are not easy to do?
Speaker 2:I take notes like crazy.
Speaker 1:Same, same same.
Speaker 2:Everything I hear or read I'm instantly organizing into a place in my head or a list or an action item or a responsibility. I am constantly processing chaos, and something that my team is always clowning me for is like we have this key doc in every project called the Rolling Notes. So every meeting agenda and notes are in this doc and you just keep pushing it down and by the end of the project sometimes it's like 100 pages by the end of 12 months or whatever and my team is always like Brianna's got her rolling notes. It's just something that has helped me.
Speaker 2:I don't take notes on the obvious things like oh, we said he's going to give me that deck by Friday. I take notes on the things I don't know. So if you say a term or some acronym I've never heard of, I'm writing that down because I'm going to go study it later. Or if my client is saying, oh, I got to go talk to Ashley and Judd about whatever, I'm like well, who's Ashley and Judd? I'm going to go research them. And then it helps me understand the network of decision makers on the client side and by the end of the project people think I work for my client. I'm like no, I actually work for an agency and we're a partner of yours. I'm glad that we can look like we're an extension of their team just because we're studying constantly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it shows one a testament to kind of like I don't know if it's just growth mindset, but just this thirst for kind of like a steel trap of knowledge which I can relate to. And it's definitely funny when other people see it, because it's like that's just the way you operate, right? Yes, very vulnerable.
Speaker 2:And then even with rolling notes.
Speaker 1:Oh, I bet. And with those notes do you ever feel like you track a lot of stuff and then at the end whether it does or doesn't get used? Because I don't know if you share this experience? But for me I do the same and I track same, not on like the basic stuff, but more on just the other. Like this could be important information, but sometimes it's just the list that the project went well, things got done, the debrief was kind of finalizing and complete, and those notes never get looked at like analyze and process.
Speaker 1:But it's still nice to have and I feel like some of just the work of jotting them down, just like good studying does, let it kind of sit there somewhere. But even if it does or doesn't and a lot of times it does you're looking into it, you're preparing your friggin the final debrief, the pre production load in schedule, whatever it may be, and you pull stuff out of it. But a lot of it is just almost. For me it's like this. It is a rolling notes. It's like a parking garage of sometimes ideas to things that you may or may not get to, but it's nice that it's there, right it is.
Speaker 2:And just yesterday I have like a story of now how my notes from 18 months ago are being used. So one of my coworkers asked me about this like hologram vendor that we had used for the NFL draft a year and a half ago and I was like, yeah, just go into, you know, I really know it's the last meeting was our debrief and you'll see what our key learnings were from working with this vendor and we pull it up it's right there Like things that she is going to use next week at her activation.
Speaker 1:So it's really really funny. I love that, yeah, cause it's almost like a hoarding. That's the funny part of it. People are like well.
Speaker 2:I could feel some time. I wouldn't say that in my home, but yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a knowledge hoarding, but that's why you're like it could be used, right, I totally relate. So final question what advice would you give to your younger self regarding professional and personal growth?
Speaker 2:I'm still following the same advice, to be honest, which is If you would regret not doing it, then do it. This has driven me to make a lot of decisions and a lot of change decisions for my career, for where I lived, for how I am just growing as an adult and as a person. Right, I still follow that advice. I think I just shared something on my Instagram yesterday that was like you have exactly one life to live, so you need to do everything you're going to do, act accordingly, and I think that still applies when it comes to just silly mistakes I've made. I would say, like, don't claim exempt on your tax forms, something like that. But other than that, the advice is really just focused on, you know, following your heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true, and a lot of people will give that advice as kind of like a blanket of like. This is a passion statement and it can be a sometimes. If it works, then yes, you could say it didn't. And if it didn't, like it has this sort of what is that called a confirmation bias? But it's one of those ideas of like the way that you approach something that, yeah, if it's regrettable and you wouldn't do it, that's not.
Speaker 1:That doesn't fall into a confirmation bias, like threat, if that makes sense, Cause if you at least know you went through that process and you, as you mentioned, learn from the mistake or just like saw what was on the other side of that. Why wouldn't you grow from that? So that's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just brought something up about following passions, and I do want to say something that's probably unpopular. I feel like a lot of younger people starting out in their careers are really eager to be in that era of passion projects and, to be completely honest, I don't think a career always has that sustainability of being in your passion project, like there are areas where you're building the foundation. There are areas where career is not the forefront of your life. Family is so career. If it's not you know the coolest thing that you're doing during the week, that's okay, and so I do hope people know that there are other things to prioritize in your career decisions beyond passion. Sometimes it is people, sometimes it is profit, sometimes it is just the convenience or proximity to your current lifestyle.
Speaker 1:And that takes this sort of self-awareness and discipline, too, of ignoring the noise, the Instagrammable moments, the sort of like just the cheap quotes, and they may make sense, but do they make sense to you, like, are you living these things? And once you do, try them, like you said, you know, yeah, profit's a thing, but maybe in your personal life and your personal situation, because you are a unique individual, people need to matter more. Right now, right, or if you're leading an organization or a project, profits need to matter, but that will shift into people like so having that sort of again, flexibility and self-awareness, both as an individual and as an organization, that seems to be like a winning formula for sure.
Speaker 1:So, I'm going to tie a ribbon on it. I'll kind of hit a high level of some of the stuff that I got as takeaways and then you fill in anything I might have missed. So first, diversity as its own kind of value approach. I think a very important point is to highlight something beyond just multicultural being a race thing and being multicultural in terms of as you put it beautifully understand that we each come from cultures, we're each part of culture, and just reminding ourselves that that is a value approach. Second, passion in people and the quality of team being the sort of fertile soil for value creation. If you have both of those as again I saw as this vehicle, and then the sort of you know foundation, that is something that a client would definitely see as valuable, as well as just the people and the communities that we impact with these projects.
Speaker 1:Next, I got that process and chaos and turning it into order. You know that idea of just with this sort of system. Being very much a systems person, as I think you are partly too, and also having both that creative side yeah, that's just an idea that I think has been in us inherently as humans turning chaos into order and in terms of like a strategy and a process for that, with the rolling notes. I think that's awesome. And then last you know if you would regret not doing it doing. I think, again, that's a great mantra to live by because, yeah, when you talk to the research, right talks about just the elderly and the last things that they they feel either pain or joy about, or regrets and non regrets. So that's a beautiful kind of way to live. Anything I miss, anything you'd want to add on.
Speaker 2:Great spinner of stories, and that's a compliment.
Speaker 1:Thank you Appreciate that. So where can people learn more about you? Anything you got going on anywhere that you want to lead our audience to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think with think true, there's a call to action to check us out and consider us for experiential activations. If you need a partner or a strategy thought starter, whatever we are at think-truecom or on social at think true. I also invite anyone who's interested in this industry to reach out to me on LinkedIn. Brianna Simons, we hire full time freelancers brand ambassadors for events. I always think being a BA is a great way to just see what it's like and if you're interested and want to join the chaos, like let's go. But those are two places that you can reach out to me.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, brianna. It's been a pleasure and until next time chat soon.