Erin Everhart - VP of Content (Events), MediaPost

Speaker A: Foreign. Delimore. And this is digital and dirt. All right, welcome back, guys. My next guest, I always say this, how their fun facts will set the tone. And this one's already off to a banger. She has seen Dave Matthews 34 times, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't much for huge Matthews fans. She wrote in a Mardi Gras Day parade. Growing up has never made it through a full Star wars movie. Probably have some haters out there on that one. Was a twin, but ate her sibling in the wound. And she has very strong negative opinions of melons and pickleball. VP of Content events at Media Post, Aaron Everhart. Good to see you, my friend.

Speaker B: Hey, Ian. How are you?

Speaker A: Good. These fun facts are awesome. It's a Friday. We're recording it, so I'm. I'm not gonna lie, I'm jacked up. Also, I drank a Red Bull, which I don't do, so this is gonna be epic.

Speaker B: Uh, 10:00am on a Friday for a Red Bull is pretty aggressive, I must say.

Speaker A: Aggressive. I feel it. So you and I, we're gonna go through these fun facts, but you and I met Shout out to Seth and John. Met each other through media posts probably two and a half years ago. And I. I, like, fell in love with your energy and who you are as a person. We're going to go deep into that. But I also sidebar think that Aaron should be a, uh, comedian on the side. But she is great at what she does. But we're going to dive into that. I got a couple of questions. So being a father of triplets, I love now it makes sense. So you're almost like a double person. So you ate your sister in the womb.

Speaker B: Okay, hold on. You have triplets, Ian, how do we not same talk about this.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: How are you alive? How's your wife?

Speaker A: Alive, Hence the red bull at 10:00am yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah. I, uh, only have one, and she's a handful. Yeah. So I find this out on my 18th birthday in a Target parking lot is when my mom, like, casually drops this information of, like, oh, yeah, did you know that you were a twin? And I was like, no, I did not know that I was a twin. What happened? So, apparently. And the really funnier part of the story is my dad had already had a vasectomy, and then they found out that my parents were pregnant with me. So, like, I don't know if a third child was always in their plans, but in hindsight, knowing it could have been a third and a fourth child makes even a little More comical. But, yeah, I guess my mom was, like, maybe, you know, 10 or 12 weeks pregnant. Pregnant. And she's at dinner with my dad and my two. My two older siblings, and she starts bleeding, and they take her to the hospital, and they're like, well, one of the babies is fine. And I guess I just, like, kicked the other sibling out of the womb. Girl, boy. I don't know what it was at this point, but I took all the good juice. I don't know what that says about me, but I also think a lot of, like, what would have that happened if there were, like, another two of you on Earth? It would have been a lot. It would have been a lot.

Speaker A: Have been a lot. You probably would have tried to attack him at some point. But I also think maybe it was a superpower. Like, there's two of you.

Speaker B: Ooh, I like the superpower aspect of it. Yeah. Could you imagine what could that do for Media Post if now there's, like, alternate egos? This is like a imitation game movie in some other universe that we could work through.

Speaker A: Yeah. Also being a, uh, from New Orleans. So tell me about Mar. How do you. How do you ride in. In parades? Growing up, that's like a, uh. That's like a rite of passage, if you're lucky enough to even be able to do that. So how did that come about?

Speaker B: Yeah, so my dad grew up in New Orleans, so it's. My whole family on his side has been over there. So we grew up going there. We got family friends into the Crew of Jefferson parade that rode in Metairie. So it wasn't one of the big parades. I mean, I was, you know, 4 years old at this point, riding, so it was very, like, family friendly. The big truck parades. And we did that for probably, like 12 years in a row. It was me, my brother and my sister, uh, my mom and dad, and then we had family members up there. When I was really, really young, my parents partitioned this kind of wooden car seat, if you will. Like, they nailed it into the float so I could kind of sit up there and just throw beads itself. But it was awesome. It was such a cool experience ever since then. Now, too, we have family who owns, uh, who captains one of the floats for Endymion. So my husband now gets to ride. Um, so he's rid again for, I think, his third year coming up next February. It's just a lot of fun. I mean, for four hours, you're up there and people are screaming your name, and you're just, like, making Someone's day with these little plastic beads.

Speaker A: Wait, do you think there's a possibility that you as a four year old, through me, I'm just. I know I'm way older than you, but through me, a bead. We'll just say, as a 12 year old. Do you think that happened?

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, if you went to the Crew of Jefferson Parade in Metairie and we're on Vets Boulevard at. On time during. We'll call it the 90s. Yeah. 100%. This is why we're. This is why we're such good friends, Ian.

Speaker A: We're. We're definitely like. Yeah, we keep passing. Passing ways. Also, I think that we're like in the. In the. What is it called? The different verses of. Of the world, and we come in and out, like 100%. This just validates it.

Speaker B: Yeah, agreed. Agreed.

Speaker A: Multiverse. All right, let's dive in. Your. Your career journey is. Is pretty storybook. Sidebar. At the end of the podcast, we're gonna talk about why you hate pickleball and melons, which is literally like summer, but we'll save that for the very end. But your. Your career journey is very storybook. The. The brands that you've worked for. So I wanna kind of set the tone there. Like, let's walk before you got to media booth, setting up content. Your career journey.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I went to school to be a journalist. I love to write. It is one of my favorite things to do for a little bit. I was the music cor for the student music correspondent for Gainesville sun at the University of Florida, which was awesome because I got to interview some of the bands that would come through and play around Gainesville, which was fantastic. It was like Ingrid Mikkelsen and Drive By Truckers were some really fun bands that I got to interview. Realized very honestly there is no money in journalism. And as much as I wanted to do that, uh, it wasn't a viable career path for me. So had a brief set stint as a book editor, and then I found my way into a web development agency that was based there in Gainesville. Um, and I started their marketing department there. It was a little bit of SEO, a little bit of marketing automation, a little bit of social media. Like right when Facebook Ads Manager launched. I mean, this was 2010 at this point, and just kind of learned marketing on the fly. So I did that for four years. Um, and it was some of the funnest time that I've had being able to work across a variety of different industries. And then that led me to a, uh, career at the Home Depot through some kind of mutual friends that I had met as I started speaking at different conferences, started in SEO at the Home Depot, moved into kind of content strategy, and then moved into full funnel media. Um, and then my last role at Home Depot was launching their retail media network. So this was 2019. They were like, hey, Amazon is bringing in about $18 billion in ad revenue. Do you think this is something that we can do? And I'm like, hey, I mean, I'll give it a try. Let's see what happens. And there was a lot of pushback internally in year one. I mean, the idea of having paid advertisements run on our owned property, it was really, really foreign for Home Depot. And it was a hard thing to get set up. And now I look at all of the things that they've done with Orange Apron, and it's truly humbling to see where that goes. And it's so fun, too, to connect with, like, former coworkers and be like, yeah, we remember you were employee number one who kind of got this thing started. And I remember one of my colleagues was like, yeah, when you decided to leave, I was like, well, this, this retail media thing, it was like a fun little side project, but that's not gonna go anywhere. And now it's, like, taken over the entire industry. Right?

Speaker A: And it's massive.

Speaker B: Massive.

Speaker A: Well, so let's, let's talk about that. Sounds like early days within your. Your job at the radio station, but then pivoting onto the agency. Like, what was it about you? Was it curiosity that just made you want to learn? And we've talked about this with a lot of guests. Like, the media landscape when I first started was very simplistic. Today it is all over the place. Right, so what was it about? Like, constantly wanting to learn something new, bring new things to the table, you know, being the first to market. I. I jokingly say, like, internally, early in my career, I had a lot of arrows in my back because I would bring these innovative ideas, and it was just like, bro, what are you doing? So what was it about you, Aaron? That was just. Was it curiosity or. Or, uh, what was it?

Speaker B: I don't know if it was curiosity as much as it was. Well, no one's doing this, and it seems. Seems like an interesting thing to do, so let's pull on the thread to see if it's there. I've always really liked learning new things. I've always really liked kind of trying to stay fresh. But I also credit the Leaders that I had in my career that helped push me and gave me a lot of leeway to say, listen, as a web development agency, and we are predominantly a separate SaaS model, we build websites and we move on. We need to find recurring revenue. Can you figure it out? And I'm like, okay, yeah, I learned about SEO as a journalism career. I bet we can charge a couple thousand dollars a month to some of our clients and have that as recurring basis to help our P and L. Right. That probably started kind of my love of launching new things in companies when it came to media at Home Depot. I'll be honest, Ian, I can't say I'm like, super passionate about media. It's. It's interesting, right? But it is also really commoditized, and it's right now a really oversaturated industry. But it was an idea to learn something new and to try something different. And my leaders at Home Depot were like, hey, we think you'll be great in this. Uh, do you want to try it? We want you for this position. It was a promotion. I was like, yeah, absolutely. Let's give it a go. Yeah, I don't know. I can't say I was as much curious as I. I was really fortunate to have leaders who saw something in me, who gave me an opportunity to try something new, and I wasn't at least scared to say no about that.

Speaker A: Yeah, and it says a lot. I. As you're saying this, I'm thinking about my own career and thinking about the people that were my leaders along the way. And it's not everyone's that fortunate that has a boss or a leader or management that says, like, hey, we're going to. I want you to go down this path. And, you know, oftentimes it's a. It's a selfish thing. It's a trust thing. It's a, uh, hey, what if we fail? But that's what I love about innovation and thinking about new things, is you do get to learn, you do get to launch something and you get to, you know, we call it like a skunk works. Like, you get to say, like, hey, within the company itself, we're going to start this little tiny company, and if it works, great. If not, it was good R and D. But that says a lot. So for, like, our listeners on, like, what advice would you give them that now in your career, you've kind of evolved on, like, giving those opportunities? I think a lot of leaders want to, like, keep everything to themselves or are afraid to fail or maybe Something else.

Speaker B: Yeah. I would say, especially for those newer in their career, say yes to everything that comes your way. And it, uh, feels a little counterculture to kind of the work environment that we're in right now, right there. There is maybe a misconception with younger employees that they don't want to give it their all, or they don't want sign up for the extracurricular or stay a minute past five. And part of me is like, I wish I learned that earlier because I killed myself for 15 years of doing all of the extra things. But also part of me is like, well, if I didn't say yes to everything that came my way, I probably wouldn't be in the career that I have today. Um, and I love my job today, so it is kind of a balance. But when someone asked me to lead the Homer Fund at Home Depot, which was our big fundraising efforts, did I want to do that? No. But did I recognize it was an opportunity to get connected with dozens and hundreds of other people in the organization that I normally wouldn't want? I jumped on it. Like, who wouldn't want to say that? I'm just a natural. Like, I want to talk to people and I want to meet as many people as I possible, and I don't necessarily want anything from there, but who knows where it's going to come from? And for me, it led to multiple paths at Home Depot. It led to my job and inspire brands. And, you know, that brought me to this conversation with you. Without that, Ian, we would never be talking right now, so.

Speaker A: I think so.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I would just be some weirdo that, like, had shingles and gave you a hot media post.

Speaker B: True. That's true. It's looking a lot better, by the way. You're looking great. Yeah.

Speaker A: Filled up nicely. Got some scars to prove it. But. Well, so the other. Another thing that you said. And. And look, I love the controversial comment about it, too. It's like, media is saturated. And, you know, I. This is a weird statement, but I. I always wish that I can sit in a superpower that I want, but maybe just for a moment. But, you know, you and I work and live in media. You're more on the content side, but you see it every day. And what I don't. What I wish I could do is see what is my kids, what is random woman, man, child passing by in Home Depot, in Walmart, in Target, driving past the billboard. Like, what do they actually think and feel? Because I know I'm, like, been in the business for 21 years and I'm thinking of all these, like, oh, how can we future proof that when. So when you say that, like, retail media is oversaturated, I would agree. From a media perspective, you're like, jesus, do we have to put another screen at.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And look, New York is the absolute worst. I'm like, you guys are just whoring yourself out for space and you're like, whatever programmatic is going to throw me some money if I turn a TV sideways and put it in the back of the bodega. Like, it's wild to me. But when you make that comment, I'm curious, from like a consumer perspective, are you like, you walk into the Home Depot because we can beat them up because you're not there or insert any big box and you're like, do you, do you think they're like, oh, wow, this kiosk and this screen really helped me purchase that PVC pipe. Like, is it beneficial or is it kind of also a lot of like oversaturation and noise?

Speaker B: I mean, listen, I've built my career in marketing and I love marketing and there is really, really good marketing. But for every really good marketing, there's also really, really bad marketing. That happens too. It's the same with any sort of pendulum swing that you'll have. I think us in the industry get absorbed in the really bad. The crappy display banners, the things that take over your whole screen. Right. That you're just trying to click out and finish your wordle game, whatever it is. But at the end of the day, I also love that there is really good things that we're doing and I think there are some things that resonate very, very well with consumers. But I think consumers are over it just as much as we are within the industry when we hear it every day. Not everything has to be advertised. Not everything has to shove a 15 second or a 6 second splot in there. But I also know that they probably wouldn't find out about this widget, this hammer or whatever else it may be if it wasn't because of it. So, so, you know, I mean, yes, there is an overabundance of media, but also, yes, we still live in a capitalist economy and that's where we're at at this point.

Speaker A: No, and I think you're, I think you're spot on. And from a screen perspective, if it, if it does delight and surprise, and that's more on the media or more on the brand to make sure the creative's relevant, which in the out of home space we push heavily, like Be relevant, whether it's culture. Like right now, even driving around Baton Rouge here, where we are at our corporate office, and there's no soccer match within, you know, four hours in Houston, eight hours to where you are in Atlanta. It's still on all of our digital. Every single brand has jumped all over FIFA in some way, whether they're a major sponsor or they're, you know, side sponsoring it, whatever it may be. And it feels good and you drive anywhere. Also, we would never be friends because I'm an LSU guy and you're a, uh, UF grad, but we'll put that to the side. But you can attest to this, like in Gainesville, the whole entire town feels different, even from a media perspective when it is SEC football. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah. And people want to get attached to it. And that's where this notion of culture marketing that's kind of spun up. I love it because I do think it makes things more relevant to the consumer. I think like any marketing, marketing tactic, we as marketers see something that works and we beat it to death until it is not worthy or not relevant anymore. It will happen with creators, it will happen with culture marketing. But being in Atlanta, seeing, uh, all of the things happening around the World cup and also seeing the creative and clever ways that people who are not advertising directly with FIFA are kind of working around that within the city, that's fun for me. It's like, oh, yeah, I know that truly isn't FIFA sponsor of FIFA, but that's an actually creative way for them to stay relevant without actually ever mentioning the words World cup or FIFA for obvious legality reasons. At, ah, the end of the day, it comes back to who can be clever, who can be creative, who can take a little bit of risk and make it fun.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm thinking about the one that I saw this morning. Raising canes has a goal and it has chicken tenders that are flying into the goal. Like, okay. And. And I think that, you know, we, as consumers, to your point, we're overwhelmed with advertising. So if you stand out from a creative perspective. But. But I do want to go back to like, obviously influencers. That's my favorite is when you see an influencer that does it really well. Like, it's powerful and it sticks. Thinking about like Paris Hilton and McCormick and how she does these clever TikTok reels, which are amazing, but then the ones that get just absolutely torched. It's like, how are you relevant to that brand? So what are your thoughts around that? Like the influencer world and brands and influencers that are just trying to catch a check as opposed to brands being sloppy with it. But the brands that do it right, they associate themselves with relevant.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I think, I think the average influencer is probably too expensive for what they're trying to do. I think the amount of money that brands pop into some of these mega influencers for a, you know, 15 second reel or for a host of content stories, it's kind of nauseating to be how, how heavily financed it is it works. Obviously I don't know how long the effects of that it works for because everything feels so myopic and it disappears and there's not kind of long withstanding things. But I also know that there's some really smart people who work in these companies who are shelling out very successful influencer programs. And I know that they're also keeping a very ey on every dollar spent for marketing. And especially now when budgets are always getting tighter, everyone's shifting back into the performance landscape. They're going to figure out if it's not driving the measure of return, they're going to cut it, they're going to reinvest it someplace else. I do think to your point though, it will always, and this is me saying like, I'm not a creator, like, um, I'm not a creative by any means. But it will always come back to the creative. It will always come back to the messaging. Like a perfect example of what I love right now, I'm from the influencer one is what Olipop and good Wipes is doing is like, oh for your gut and good for your butt. And it's like that is super clever. And it's like, is it really Marketing is just. If you can make it rhyme and make it catchy, that's what's going to happen. But frankly, yes, right. Like I love this is not influencers but what Domino's has done with their new Extro or their new outro, Dom Mano's. It is super snappy. It is very catchy. People remember that like those little snippets are going to be what makes a stand. Not necessarily. Did you partner with this influencer or did you have placement on this area? Like, I truly think it goes back to the messaging of what you're trying to say and if you can do it in a really fun, catchy way.

Speaker A: Yeah, and I'm uh, glad you brought that one up because they're running billboards both static and digital across the entire US with literally just those Words so touch on that a bit like the, the, the changing and the impacts of consumers and the Omnichannel approach as we use our own little, you know, verbiage. But at the end of the day, it's like brands that follow the consumer journey and they don't because we as consumers, I don't care what media. I'm not like, oh, you hit me on TikTok, I'm going to definitely buy this product. Although sidebar, Instagram, like, torches me all the time. I'm like, oh, cricket Polo. Yeah, buy every brand. Buy the power of that Omni channel Omnichannel approach the screens following the consumer on their journey.

Speaker B: I don't know if it's ever totally possible to follow the consumer everywhere that they're at. And that's what the pubs and the trades and the best practices will say, is that you need to follow that customer journey and they're going here and you want to have them on their billboards and you want to catch them on their screens. In practice, that's a lot harder to orchestrate than it actually is said and done. And so while it is important, obviously, while you need to figure out what are the right mixes, you shouldn't be everywhere. You shouldn't be everything to everyone. I have always, in my personal life, in my professional life, I've always taken the mindset that I would rather be really, really good at a few things than okay at a wide variety of things. So as brands, um, I think we can take that same advice. What things can we as a brand really, really be good at? What areas do we have a right to own? We are going to go all in on influencers, and damn it, I'm going to be the best influenced brand out there with the best creative and the best content. Do it. And if that works for your consumers and that works for your brand, that's awesome. But that doesn't mean that you have to then run, you know, no offense, 15 out of home boards if it doesn't make sense for them. Like, my people are on the go, they're travelers, they're commuters, whatever. It makes sense, right? They're the, the buc ee's of the world. That makes sense for them. And they are really, really good at those things. That's what I wish we as marketers would do more of. Focus and go deep on the things that you have the right to own. And don't stress so much about kind of the little tentacles that may come up or like the shiny moments that are like, we have to be here. We have to be here. Obviously, so much easier said than done because I also know what it's like to have leaders come up to you and be like, aaron, we need to be in Pokemon Go. Right? Like, that was an actual conversation that we navigated 2016. Now we're 2015 at Home Depot. And it's like, do we need to be in Pokemon Go? Do we really need to do this? Harder to say no to, to those higher ups. I get that. But that's also what will make you a trusted partner in the end.

Speaker A: Wait, that's such a great comment. Because do you remember the, uh, Metaverse? Like everyone had to own, own property, own blocks. I remember we even went down the path and it was like a hard pass, but we were like, should we put billboards in the metaverse? And then lo and behold, like roadblocks. As I'm researching this and you'll find this and you probably do, I think you did tell me this. You do this with your daughter. But you know, my kids, they're like my constant like guinea pig and side story about everyone having to be in the metaverse. It's like, we gotta own land and Metaverse. And like, I think Snoop Dogg bought a bunch of land. And like, you saw all these random like, brands, you're like, bro, why, why would I go to like Kentucky Fried Chicken land? Like, what is this? But, but saying that we were like, well, we should put billboards all throughout the Metaverse. And there was, I won't call out the out of home companies. A few global ones or one in the UK was like, built a whole experience. It was the exact replica, uh, of their Piccadilly inventory. And it's just like what? They're like, yeah, it's the extension when you drive past the billboard and then you go into Roblox. And then lo and behold, I'm watching my son play Roblox one day a couple of years back and Bad Guys, the movie, like just came out and we had just got a huge contract for like, bad Guys. And he's playing Roblox, Aaron, and like he pulls his little car out of his driveway. And I was like, jake, is that a billboard? And he's like, he's like, yeah. And then it's literally like cycling just like ours. So the guys that, uh, the developers at Roblox, like built a couple of billboards and they were like generating. And it was the same exact Bad Guys the animation movie. And it was running it. And I was like, somebody was tapped like you were, was like, we need to, we need to build out, uh, Pokemon Go. So I'm just curious, like, what was, what was that experience going to be like? You walked into a Home Depot virtual and got your Go.

Speaker B: I never went anywhere. You know, thankfully there were people smarter than me who could navigate the conversations with the higher hire ups, we'll call it. So it never went anywhere. Right. But there's been dozens of conversations throughout my career. We need to be able to do this and we need to be able to do that. And you know, I'm not going to sit here and say that, like, I've, uh, always pushed back because that's not true. I mean, there are things that you just have to do to satisfy the needs of what some people want to do or what they think it's going to do. Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it's a flop. I mean, we all as marketers will have to suffice to the vanity metrics or the things that may be trendy and fatty. But we also don't know, hey, if, uh, we never do it, we don't know if it's going to work or not. Right. I also think Chili's does this really, really well of, uh, trying like a lot of a little different things and then honing in on what works for them. Like, they are fantastic. Within the creator economy, within the social media space, they've had things that worked really, really well. But then they've also been like, oh, you know, back in April when every CEO was like, trying their product and heating their burger, Chili's wasn't part of that conversation. I mean, they made a conscious decision. And I bet someone in Chili's was like, do you think we need to do this? We need to. And collectively they were like, actually no, we're going to kind of keep going on this path. It's out there. You just kind of have to look for it.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I think you talked about this on stage as well. But Wendy's, how cheeky they are with their Twitter account or X account. The best follow ever.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Because you're like, what is this woman going to set it at? Because it is going to pop off about something random and just have nothing to do with the brand. But it's just, it's fun and it's culture. Right. It's part of like, what it would be like in your house when you woke up in the morning, your kid comes down. It's like, I wonder what, uh, Wendy's going to say on X.

Speaker B: Well, and they leaned into it. You know, they realized that the social media culture is a bit, uh, it's a bit picky. You know, the comment section can be sometimes a little contentious. It can be a little snarky. And they found a way to be able to take that and run with it and they've created a brand voice for it. I don't know if in Wendy's they were like, this is exactly what's going to be our brand voice or if it just kind of fell into that way and it's what happened. But yeah, I mean, they're doing it really, really well.

Speaker A: So let's pivot back so your career home. Um, Depot Inspire Brands is next. Let, let's talk about like the, the dark side of corporate America. You know, you're, you're a high performer. I mean, still are today. And you kind of mentioned like cutbacks for advertising, but also cutbacks of employees. A lot of people over the last few years have experienced that where brands are like, we're cutting teams, we're cutting back. What, uh, if you will. And I know we prep for this, but would love for you to kind of share a little bit more like being a high performer and still you experience the like, hey, you've done great. Maybe you should have done our Pokemon Go idea. But what was that like? And the setbacks, the uncertainties. It's obviously worked out really well. Which we're going to dive deeper into your role today. But just want to share because I know a lot of our listeners have probably been like, yes, I was there as well.

Speaker B: Yeah, I left Depot for Arby's in 2020. So I started January 2020 at Arby's which was a really great time to start a new job in the fast food industry. Knowing what would have happened, uh, three months later. It was at that time too, like Arby's didn't even have delivery. We didn't have online ordering. So it was a really hectic time to make that, that jump and that pivot. Obviously we didn't know Covid was going to happen in January 2020. It is what it is. I had four amazing years at Inspire Brands. That company grew and changed so much in that four year period. I mean, in 2020 it was only a two year old company. Arby's had just purchased Buffalo Wild Wings to form Inspire Brands. They were just kind of figuring out their stuff, right? And what we built in terms of a shared services platform that, that had and empowered E commerce for a number of different brands. It was so Great to be able to see it grow. At the end of the day, though, I got laid off and it was terrible. It was so terrible. And it is the hardest thing that people will have to go through at the moment. It came out of nowhere. In hindsight, I probably saw it coming. But hindsight is 20 20, right? And certainly myself, as always, being one of those, those people who had the up and to the right and the upper nine box, whatever you want to do it in, their kind of yearly reviews, I never thought it could happen to me. It was like, oh, my gosh, I am completely invaluable to this company. Well, in reality, Arby's existed before me and it's going to exist after me. Whatever company you're with existed before you, it will exist after you as well, too. Right. It was a very, very hard thing for me to go through. Uh, I remember it happening. It happened virtually, which was also painful to deal with. And I'm sitting there later that afternoon and I'm sobbing at my computer screen and I'm just applying for jobs, tears running down my face, just applying for my jobs. And I remember my husband comes up from the basement where he was working, and he, like, closes my laptops and he's like, you need to step away. He's like, this. This is unhealthy. Whatever it is going on, everything is going okay. And it was right. But in that moment, in the, the four hours where it's raw and fresh and you question your professional ability, you question the relationships that you had, you question everything that got you to this point of like, maybe I am like a terrible employee and maybe I am a terrible human and people don't like me as much as you think they are. All of those thoughts went through your head, you know? And then, to be totally honest, I got super drunk and I moved on with my life. Right. Like, you have to. I was very, very fortunate in that, uh, I was already feeling like my time at Arby's was coming to an end personally. Right. Like, I had been there four years. I've been in the same role for four years. I was ready to try something new. I was getting a little scratchy. And it was around that time where Media Post approached me and they were like, listen, how about you just come work for us full time? I, uh, had been attending their events for many, many years. Gosh, ten plus years or so. I have always loved the events. Some of the people that I met at my first Media Post event shout out Morgan HP Jeff from geico, who's no longer at Geico anymore, but they're still close friends. Like, we text regularly. Right. And so I was bought into the product of what we would have to market. They were like, hey, just come work for us. I was like, this. This is not a job. I'm like, what? This is not a real thing that I could do. I'm a marketer.

Speaker A: Travel.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is weird. So we were flirting back and forth for a little bit. Right. I was interested and I was curious, but I didn't know if it was the right thing to leave. I had a couple other job offers from consumer brands, or at least exploring other job offers with consumer brands at around the same time. And then so I got laid off on a Friday from Arby's, and I went through all of those emotions that we talked about. I called John Woodfield on Monday and I was like, hey, I don't really have a time stipulation anymore. Right. I'm kind of open and on the market. And he's like, all right, let me see what I can do. I had a verbal offer the Monday after I got laid off. Um, that. That I recognize does not happen. Like, that is surreal life. My husband has been like, well, it is, but you also recognized of, like, it's always good to kind of keep your options open. Sure. Um. Because at the end of the day, you should be loyal to a company. You should give it your all. But at the end of the day, it is a job, it is a business. And in corporate America, you are a number. However well performing you are, however high up you are, unless you are literally the founder and owner of the company, you are just a number to them. And so making sure that you always protect the most important things yourself, your family, that will go a long way. I was extremely fortunate that it worked out in my favor, and not just because I quickly got another job, but because it pivoted me into a career that I didn't even know I was preparing for my whole life. Like, now you're sitting here telling me I can work in marketing about the skill that I love and I'm so passionate about, But I also have this journalism side that I'm able to write stories and talk to people and showcase other people's work. Like, oh, my God, sign on the dotted line. Like, how did I get. Pinch me. How did I get so lucky that this job even exists itself?

Speaker A: Yeah, there's so many perfect nuggets. Um, I'm on your husband's camp. It's. You have Been preparing for this job, and I don't want to say it's luck because it just appeared, but I think that you, you and so many others, what they forget is, is it's like you're constantly building your blocks. You know, so many people have this misconception. It's like, well, let's get. I want to climb the corporate ladder and I want to be, you know, a director, and then I want to be a vp, avp, evp, blah, blah, blah, all the way up to the top. But the reality of it is, is if you're not building your base, and maybe there's not the wrong word, earlier when I asked you, is it curiosity, but what you are constantly doing as you were building that pyramid base the entire time of learning things, saying yes, you know, probably you went and explored the Pokemon Go and augmented reality world and it was still a no, but you still had that nugget of knowledge and then going towards, you know, people. I think at the end of the day, there's this gray area between being very passionate and loyal to a company while also constantly meeting people. And I think that's the part that people miss out. And, and I won't say the, the gentleman's name, but a good friend of mine now runs a major Holdco, and the moment he got fired from his previous agency job five, seven years ago, he's like, I found out real quick that all the people that loved me and like, took me to places and all these things, they were so superficial. He was like, this many people texted me five, and he was like, you, John Miller. And this guy's gonna know who he is. I don't want to say his name, but we had a Duke basketball game on the, on the books, and we're going to fly him to, to Duke, to Durham. We were going to watch a game and he. And then the week before he got fired, he was like, well, I guess. I guess this is off the books. And we're like, bro, we weren't taking you to Cameron Indoor because we want you to spend money. Like, yeah, that's great. And again, this says a lot about Lamar. And I'm not bragging about our company, but I am. But it was like, we're bringing you to Cameron because you played ball in college. You're a good friend. Like, Like, I don't give a shit. Like, you're gonna land somewhere. And so I think that's. That's key, right? So all the media posts, which I want you to kind of explain the media post process and the event specific side, but every single person you meet, it's not that you're, like, flirting and you're like, hey, so if you guys ever got anything, wink, wink, like, give me a hire. It's, hey, I'm just pure. Like, I love to talk to humans and learn more. And then organically, that person's gonna be like, hey, Aaron's badass. I don't know if we have a spot for her, but we should go after and get it. So I would argue that you've built everyone else out there. Like, that's the way that you should behave. Like, treat your job as that, but treat the opportunity. And maybe it's unique in the ad world. Like my doctor friends and lawyer friends, which all their careers, except for mine, are, in my opinion, it's very, like, siloed. Like, we get to meet some very interesting people. Like, use that as, like, a benefit not to grow your career, but just to want to learn about new people and surround yourself with, with, with knowledge. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah, dude, you're so right. Like, it's not, it's not about, like, me. And I'm not like, I'm happy as can be a media post, you know, like, these people. I'm not like, oh, I would love to go work at this company one day. Right? It's more of, like, God, they're doing something really cool. It's like, isn't that such an interesting thing to add to your, you know, little brain cells that we have about, like. I think if you approach networking, for the lack of a better word, of, uh, what's in it for me? You're approaching it the wrong way. Um, and it does. Not everyone is a natural networker, and not everyone has the interpersonal skills where it just clicks and it's harder for a lot of people, but it's just a matter of it. Maybe it does go back to that curious word, being curious around what other people are doing and just figuring out ways to make their lives a little better. I've loved connecting people to other folks. I've loved seeing people being like, yeah, I got my job because I came to a meeting post event, and I met this person here. If I, uh, you know, everyone will say this, and in hindsight, right. The elder millennial that I AM in my 20s, people would tell you all the time of, like, you never know where the opportunity is going to lead you. You never know what's going to happen in the future. You never know what this person may come out for you. And you don't And I didn't understand that in my 20s. And if you do understand that in your 20s, you are far better off than anybody else. Because there is no way when I was 26, that I would have. When I went to my first media post event, like, side note, where I thought it was a total scam, they were gonna steal my kidneys. I'm like, what do you mean you're gonna, like, pay for me at Stein Erickson? I'm like, this is not real. And I never would have thought that, like, 15 years later, I'm now on the other side of things, running the content itself. Like, you don't know what's going to happen. And it's also not just about the job, Ian. Like. Like, these are friends. Like, I've met some amazing friends through this job and through all of the networking that I have. So it's not about, like, the career opportunity or what's this in it for me or how can I make this person? It's like, I don't know. I just genuinely like people. And it is funny too. Cause like, you talked about the career ladder and it's like, I'm gonna raise these rungs and I'm gonna go do these things. And I was that person. Like, I was gonna be the cmo. Like, you can talk to me, to anyone that I talked to. I was like, yeah, I will be a cmo. Like, this is my job. This is what I will do at a major consumer brand. And I don't know if it was getting laid off or the birth of my daughter or getting older, but priorities changed and they changed for the better. And I am so happy having a job where I am making a true impact. I'm not selling widgets, I'm not selling sandwiches. Like, I. I truly believe I'm making an impact being able to connect people who otherwise normally wouldn't be able to get connected. Oh, and by the way, I'm able to have time with my daughter when she still wants to be around. I'm able to, you know, go work out in the middle of the afternoon because I can block my schedule accordingly. I'm able to be here for my family. Right. Like, I wouldn't trade that passion for any CMO title in the world. And I didn't think that that was ever going to change for me, but this has offered me that opportunity to do it. And I wouldn't look back anywhere.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I feel like I forgot to ask you to tell people what the media post is and the events, because Right now it sounds like it's a dating app slash timeshare.

Speaker B: It does, it does.

Speaker A: We've been members of Media Posts, I think for our fourth year now. And so maybe give our listeners like very high level on the event side and then I'm going to be very braggadocious about you because I think you're like the greatest MC of all time.

Speaker B: That's very sweet. I think I have a very skill set for this. Yeah. So Media Posts, they're the best conferences you've never heard of, truthfully. And they've done it through the ground up. Word of mouth. It's not broad based advertising, which I love. They are intimate, they are small events by design that is, is so focused around just a community. Right. It's not an expo hall, not our vibe. Um, it is a hundred person event capped there. Right. You will know everybody by the end of the three days. It's a mix of content. In the morning it is then afternoon activities because no one wants to be locked in a windowless conference room for eight hours a day. And then it's dinners. Right. It's, it's. The best way I can describe it is summer camp for marketers. Whether that's by an industry where you'll connect with other folks in retail or QSR or health and pharma or cpg, or it's going deep into a particular marketing channel where you'll connect with other subject matter expertise from a variety of industries, whether that's email and loyalty or TV and video out of home experiential or performance marketing. Right. I loved the summits when I went to them. I love the summits even more now that I'm kind of curating these, these little groups of people. You know, selfishly too, it is so fun for me to meet someone, get them to come to a conference, see them in real life. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like that is so rewarding for me that I have a job where I can like choose and figure out who can come hang out with us in Tahoe for three days. Right. And share insights to other marketees in the community. It's, it's a pretty surreal experience if you think about it.

Speaker A: Yeah. And from uh, a, from an advertiser publisher perspective too. It's like at first I was like, this seems weird, like why? And also you're not in a conference room, you're at some like phenomenal hotel resort, always super bougie. So you know, good for John for always picking the best possible places. But it does. Like, when you sign up for it, you go to the first one, you're like, does this work? Or are we like. Like, we gonna. Are we just trying to like, is this like a friend app? Like, what are we doing? But you're right, because I think what, what it does is in a world of, like, people being curious, but also more importantly, people selling all the time, it's like, this is exhausting.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And what I love about the event, and obviously we're a publisher. I'm. I'm not a seller. I'm not on the sales team at Lamar, but we're a publisher. And even this, the companies that are there, they understand, like, hey, at the end of the day, like, uh, shout out to this woman, Katie Green, who probably doesn't listen to the podcast, but she's been on the podcast. I met her on a paddle board experience going in Nashville. And, you know, she worked for this non alcoholic brand and it was like, she's one of the coolest people I've ever met. And we didn't talk about. I didn't even know what she did. She had no idea what I did until like day three when I got up and spoke on stage. And she was like, oh, that's cool. So organically you get to interact with people and it's really just sharing, like, best practices content. And one of my favorite parts, Aaron, about this is, like, in those breakout sessions and even on stage is, uh, you'll have like, competitive CPG brands, competitive QSR brands. The last one that I went to, and they're like, sharing things like, oh, we did this, but we really messed this up. Like, like, don't ever, don't ever do that. So watching brands share best practices and then like actually leaning into media partners and being like, hey, how would you guys have handled this? Like, the woman from Blaze Pizza who I'm trying to get on the podcast, and she sat on stage and talked about how they partnered with, like a comic book. And I remember the woman from Wendy's raised her hand. She's like, hey, how'd y' all do that? Like, I want to get into a comic book for Disney plus. And it was like, yeah, it was super easy. But the ability to share and then you leave and then you're like, you go do some wild activity, like riding horses. It's like, of course I'm going to answer that call when Ian calls. Because we rode up the mountain horses and we found some butterfly garden. Like, yeah, like, this guy's my friend. He's not trying to sell me something. So that's what I love about it is that you guys have curated and now knowing you're the mastermind, like, like putting certain people all in the room together and you're like, wonder how this person's going to interact with this person. Like, it's fun.

Speaker B: It's super fun. And it's the most rewarding thing for me is hearing from people of like, oh, yeah, we still have a group text from the Deer Valley event when we were all at the same table. And it's like, you know, Western Union and Synovus and Delta Airlines are all in a group text together. And I'm like, that's super cool. You know, like, we have such a great team who's able to help curate all of those people together. And that's. Honestly, you hit the nail on the head, Ian. Like, what I loved about these events when I was attending, when I was at Home Depot or when I was at Arby's, like, it was like you felt equal. You never felt like you were an ice sculpture that, that, that sponsors just kind of navigate around and grab your name tag and scan your stuff and like, let me show you this quick 45 minute, you know, PowerPoint deck. Like, I never got that feeling. I met some amazing, not only people, but awesome vendors who I worked with throughout my career at both of those companies. Right. Because you approach it in just a human way. Uh, I think that we miss that in both the media, when you're going to the consumer side and in just the industry itself is we're all here just for a really short period, amount of time. At the end of the day. I also know that, like, when we retire, people don't like, focus so much on what you did, but you focus on these life experiences that you've gathered and these people that you've met along the way. And I just feel incredibly fortunate that I'm able to do that for a living and find a way to like, have just a good time while I'm doing it.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I hope that, and I hope that people, it's. It's beyond the media post event is my hope. It's like, all right, look, Ian is just trying to contact you because he wants to share something uniquely cool. Like, I love the ice sculpture because, because most major conferences you go to, it's like, and I've been very blessed to be one of those people that come off a stage from a non sponsored perspective. But it's like, I'm always the one that's like, when you come off a stage, like, who wants to talk to me? Like, I'll share everything. But you have so many of these conferences that it's like, I'm, um, the cmo. How dare. I would never talk to you in the crowd. It's like, bro, we all came here to learn from you. Like, you're not.

Speaker B: That.

Speaker A: You're not that important. Yeah, nobody's building a statue for you because you work for QSR brand xyz. Again, back to your point. Unless you're the owner, founder, Like. Like, no one gives a period.

Speaker B: Not really. And if Megan is not gonna be on this podcast, you let me know. I will text her right now and tell her, because she is a force, and she is fantastic. I met her at a media post event when she was at Waffle House and I was at Arby's. Like, and now we see each other, like, every three months here in Atlanta. Like, it's. It's friends.

Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, maybe I'll just. We'll just. I'll start calling out people on the podcast.

Speaker B: Oh, I love this. Who else do you want? I'm better. We can get.

Speaker A: Who else do we have on the podcast? Have a live. A live viewing. Call in. So I do want to talk a little bit more about this and then the last couple of minutes, because I don't want to glaze over the fact that you're a working mom and how well you balance the career. And you and I talk about this a good bit, um, kind of sharing stories. But the last thing I'll say about the conference is, and I want you to kind of share with. With the listeners, but you do these opening monologues every morning, and they are, like, the most epic thing in the world. And so to give the listeners, from my perspective, sitting in the audience, you know, Aaron runs the content for these events, and you do your kickoff talk, but then the next day, next morning, when you kick it off, you summarize what everyone said throughout the day. And it's not like a boring, like, this brand said this and this brand said this, but you curate this like, and I told you this at the table at the last one, but you curate this like. Like, most phenomenal roast, slash summarized, slash, like comedic slash very informative in, like, five, seven minutes the next day. So maybe give a little bit more context of. Of what I'm speaking about. But also, I'm so blown away about how your mind works. Like, I think you called some guy out the next morning. You're like, and oh, by the way, we also learned that, you know, Tony in the audience, his questions are last two and a half minutes. Like, this is so hilarious.

Speaker B: I'm, uh, really, really humbled. And it pinches. I'm still surprised that people just laugh at my jokes, frankly. Again, I'm funny in a very, very specific way. Apparently that way is about marketing, so it works out. Yeah. So when I kick off the summit, I try to figure out ways to connect something in my personal life that's going on with the industry or. Or what we're talking about, whether it's a channel or something else. Right. And I've gotten pretty lucky that I've been able. There's a lot of things if you just sit there and think about, like, the crossover. Obviously, I spent many years in QSR and retail. Those are pretty easy for me. We have a sports marketing one coming up in July. As an avid Florida fan, like, I could probably write that in my sleep. Just drawing from personal experiences. But also, like, we'll have the VP of Sports marketing at Lowe's as our opening keynote. I spent six years at Home Depot. I mean, the content just writes itself, right? Like, that's an easy fodder to have. So I just. It goes back to like, being human and being. Being okay to be a little messy and to share some things that hurts. Right. Like, one of the hardest ones that I did was when at our farm and healthcare summit, I talked about my mom getting diagnosed with. With cancer. And that. That sucks. Right? With colon cancer. Right. And she is fine now, but that moment is a moment that you will never want to live in your life. Right. Um, and you're okay to talk about those things. You make it relatable to somebody else because they're like, hey, yeah, I went through that same thing too. Or on a lighter note of like, yeah, oh my God, my four year old loves Moana. How do we get away? Just figure it out. Um, the second day ones are always really, really fun. Just because you have to listen. It's part of the job. I tell my daughter that we have two eyes and we have two ears and only one mouth, so we should listen and look twice as much as we speak. Right. I think that as adults, we kind of forget that sometimes. Um, but you pick up on the cues of what made people laugh or what resonated really well with people. You also very much have to read the room because not everyone can understand my snarky and sarcastic humor. And the last thing that I wanna do is to pick on Someone who can't have a little fun with it. Right. So I have to read the people a little bit to make sure that they're gonna be okay, that I pull in these little personal anecdotes. And I'm sure that I've maybe crossed a line, one or two here. I'm sure I have, but. But you find just the ways that resonated well with people. And I write little notes down of like, oh, yeah, um, Kelly from Hyatt, her foot fell asleep on stage and she almost tripped coming off and she took it with stride kind of thing. But I'm like, I'm absolutely going to mention that. Or, yeah, whoever he was, Tyler asked like 45 minute long questions. And you can roast him a little bit for that at the end of the day. I've always lived my life, or I've always, always thought of these summits as like, people want to be educated. Absolutely. But they want to be entertained. And that's my job. Right. Like, keep the vibes high.

Speaker A: Well, you do an excellent job with it. And my, my goal is to try to make the next day monologue. But I also, simultaneously, I've, I've spoken at, ah, probably over 5,000 plus pitches, stage keynotes, all those things. And I do have to say my worst performance ever. And I'm glad you were doing the opening monologue the next day, but in my, like, sponsored speech, like, my voice just completely went out. Not because I lost my voice, but for whatever reason. And look, I could talk to a stop sign. I have a host of podcasts. Like, I don't get nervous, but my worst one ever, I just like. And I just remember the rest of that trip. I was like, oh, my God, everyone's gonna be like, what's wrong with this guy?

Speaker B: You told me I was gonna mention you in one of the opening ones with our shingle interaction, but you said, oh, yeah, yeah. Not to do that on stage. And so I think that.

Speaker A: Well, I appreciate it now. Now all of our listeners know that I had shingles, and I showed up at a conference anyway looking like a freak.

Speaker B: To be fair, you also introduced that earlier on the podcast. So if you're going to put it out in the world, I'm going to watch it.

Speaker A: Yeah, this is not my fault. Um, last. I literally could talk to you for, for days and days and we could record. But as we kind of wrap up here, I don't want to glaze over the fact that. But you know, you're a working mom, but you do, and you Kind of alluded to this a bit, but you bring your daughter into the conversations. You talk about the flexibility of your job, but maybe just give our. Our listeners. Because a good bit of. And I have four or five women that work for me. One of them is a mom. And we stress this all the time, like, a job's just a job. Like, perform at your highest level, but, like, I don't want you to. You have the flexibility. I jokingly told her, shout out to Shirley. I jokingly told her when her first born, I was like, hey, the moment your little guy starts to look like he's walking, you go work from home. Because we're in office. I'm, um, like, you go work from home for that week because I don't want you. And I was like. And even if you're not at the office, I was like, give me your husband's cell phone. And you push that little kid on the ground. Him. Um, and just be like, hey, I think you maybe want to come home. He's getting close to walking. But I think that that's important in a world of, like, what we push our employees to do and to strive to be, but to also not forget the most important thing in the world, which is, why are we doing this? Right. You're doing it for. I see your little girl over your left shoulder. Like, that's key. But I don't think a lot of leaders think that way. It's like, I just look at you as an employee and as a cog, and maybe we're different at Lamar, but that's extremely important to me. So touch on that a bit because, uh, it sounds like you have that flexibility, but also you do have to travel. And so maybe give our listeners a little advice on that as well.

Speaker B: Yeah, I have to travel probably about once a month. Sometimes it's just for three nights, Sometimes it's for a whole week. And I wouldn't be able to do this job if it wasn't for my husband. He's awesome. He is so supportive of the opportunity that I have personally and professionally, but what this means for our family. And he has always leaned in probably more than I have sometimes on the parenting side. Right. So, like, first and foremost, I guess, like, don't marry an asshole. One. Um, yeah, like, he's. I couldn't. I couldn't feel good about me traveling as much if he wasn't such a fantastic dad and partner to me. And it's gotten. My daughter is four and a half. It has gotten to the age where she Gets a little weepy whenever I leave. There was like this last one that I was gone. My husband texted me and he's like, hey, she's having a really hard time. Like, can we FaceTime? We FaceTime. She's like crying into her lasagna at dinner because she like misses mommy so much. I mean, I'm sure she was fine like five minutes later. But yeah, like, that sucks. Oh my God. It like tugs on your heartstrings. And so I thought about that a lot as I was considering taking this position role because I, my daughter was two whenever I left Arby's. But that was equally as hard, Ian, dropping her off at, you know, 7:45 in the morning so I can make it into the office by 8:30. Uh, trying to rush back, picking her up by 6. You know, she went to bed at like 7 when she was 2. So like, that is no time whatsoever. And so while I travel a lot, I am a full time employee when I'm at these events. Like, I can't parent from, from Nashville or from Tahoe. Right. And that is allowed me to be more of a parent when I'm here than any other corporate America job ever could. Right. And so I do think it's also so important for my daughter to see both of us working and for my daughter to be okay when one of us is not there. My husband also travels for work. She's used to it. She's flexible. She gets it, right? She sees us, us being and doing something that we both love and that we're passionate about. And she also knows, like, our lives exist not around her. Like we have lives outside of our daughter. And as much as I love my daughter, like I love my husband more, right? Like that that's a shift that I had to have in my brain because I don't want my whole life to be around her because I don't want to her to think that is the way that you should parent. It's not for me and for some parent that is. And that's awesome for them. That's how you do it. This is just how we approach things to make sure that we have a balance and for it. I want her to find a great career. I want her to realize that you can have both. Um, one of my most memorable mentors, um, Patrick Schwing, when he was a CMO at Arby's, um, I was getting ready to go on maternity leave. We were obviously all remote. Um, it was like three days before I was about to give birth. And he's like, I don't know why we're having this conversation. Like, you're not doing anything right now. And he said to me, uh, he's like, just remember, Aaron, you can have it all. You just can't have it all at once. And I've really taken that mentality that I am going to be all in as a parent sometimes, and that means I can only give 50% at work, and there's gonna be other times where I have to get 100% at work, and that means I can only be a 50% parent sometimes. And again, it all goes back to, like, I found a partner who's able and we understand each other in a way that that balances it out for it. None of this would be able to happen without him. And without having, you know, a company that understands, like, as important as this is, like, she is way more important.

Speaker A: Yep. Yeah. And that's powerful. And what great advice. And again, going back to having leaders that you feel comfortable around, that you can say yes to, that you can be given those opportunities. It's equally important. And we have that here at Lamar, obviously, which is why I manage. The way that I manage is because my boss, a long, long time ago, I gave a keynote speech to 2,3000 people in New Orleans. And I was so excited about it, overly prepared, gave it, killed it, texted my boss, who's our, uh, CEO, and he was just like. Like, he's like, hey, how's your son? Doesn't he have a game? And I was like, I realized. And then I. And to make you even worse as we wrap up here is, I said, yeah. And he actually hit a home run in his game last night. And he was like, oh, were you there? And I was like, no, I was coming off a stage. And he was like, hey, man, let me remind you, no one will remember that speech, but your son will remember you missed this. Uh, and that very similar to your conversation, shifts your mindset. And again, I want to make this clear because I think a lot of people are like, oh, well, to your boss's point, like, you can't have it all, but you can have it all at different moments, because so many people are all in. In their career and see their kids on the weekend. New Yorkers are adamant, uh, about this or opposite. It's like, I can do both, and I can have that knowledge. You just have to find the balance, but also, more importantly, find a company that's going to inspire you, but also understand the importance of family and work. And look, there's plenty of. Of widgets to sell out there. People like, go find another widget.

Speaker B: Um, capitalist economy. So we're not exactly.

Speaker A: Because we can't leave without. Why do you hate melons and pickleball?

Speaker B: Okay, well, melons are one. Like, all melons are absolutely disgusting. They taste like nothing. Watermelon, honeydew, even papaya, who likes to persuade itself that it's not a melon. A Papaya is 100%.

Speaker A: I agree with that.

Speaker B: They're all absolutely terrible because, Ian, they are the herpes of fruit. Meaning if a cantaloupe and a blueberry are next to each other, that blueberry no longer tastes like a blueberry. It tastes like a cantaloupe. Like, it is worthless, worthless fruit. I have very strong passions about melons. Pickleball, I think, is just a lazy person sport. I am an avid tennis player. I am. That they have put pickleball lines on my tennis courts. I'm annoyed that they don't understand the proper etiquette of, uh, court games. Like, don't I need. When I'm in the middle of a serve. It's loud as hell on there. Like, I think it's great, like, for my parents, they're loving pickleball. Some people love it. Fantastic. Cool. But, like, don't take my tennis courts. Like, have your own pickleball courts. Like, stop taking the courts that I have from there. It drives. I probably hate melons more than I hate pickleball if I have to.

Speaker A: It sounds like it's pretty close, though.

Speaker B: It is pretty close. I have very strong opinions. Welcome to my.

Speaker A: Though I'm a. I'm a purist, obviously. I'm a baseball guy, so I'm a. I'm a purist when it comes to that type of thing. And I'm tennis over pickleball. Also.

Speaker B: A lot of pickleball players, baseball player.

Speaker A: I do. I love that. I. I think it. I think it's the fun side of it because people aren't in wiffle ball, but, like, pickleball ball. I've seen the worst videos ever where you, like, see, like, uh, uh, you know, male, female partners, doubles, pickleball, doubles. I guess everything in pickleball is doubles because you can't get to the ball because you're. You're not actually an athlete. Sorry, Shout out to everybody. Um, but I've seen so many people where it's like the man's, like, dominating the court, like, diving in front of the woman. It's like, dude, just everybody relax. We have a Pickleball court here in Baton Rouge that's like, taken off. And then even our, our tennis club right down the street, they actually removed a couple of, like, not the clay courts, because I think everyone. But they removed a couple of courts and turned them into pickleball courts just because they wanted to increase membership. And it's like, dude, be a purist. Stand behind one thing. I'm gonna probably die on the way to the parking lot today because I. When this publishes, because people are gonna be like, bro, why you hate pickleball? Why'd you say I wasn't an athlete?

Speaker B: My tennis team and I want to go through all of the tennis court courts in Atlanta, the public tennis courts, and put signs outside that says, no pickleball allowed only tennis players. We haven't done it yet, but maybe we will one day.

Speaker A: And then put like a QR code that links to a micro site and just like, so heavily branded, like, and get, like, find some, like, former tennis player to get behind it and have like, a video.

Speaker B: We can totally make this work. This is going to be my project for the rest of the afternoon.

Speaker A: Not to say, seems like you got your Friday filled up. I love it. I'm excited. I'll see you in July.

Speaker B: Oh, excellent. The sports marketing one.

Speaker A: Sports marketing, yeah, of course, sports guy. I have to be there. I'm. I'm blown away by this. But look, this was a ton of fun. Um, I think that what you're doing and how you position yourself early in your career put you to where you are. I love you as a human. I think that you have so much energy, and I think what you bring to those events which I think you brought to our listeners today, it's like marketing, advertising. It's fun. And stop being so serious about yourself and understand that, like, we're all here to do something in this world and it should be about your family, but also learn something new, like become something that, that you were meant to be without being caught up in this. Like, I gotta get to the top as fast as possible and I'm gonna run over everybody else. And I think that that's kind of what, in my opinion, from my eyes, what. You've kind of built your career and I think think you're kind of just getting started too. Like, it's, it's fun to watch you and everyone else at Media Post and, and what you guys have built. I think it's why you have the audiences that you have, because at the end of the day, we're all trying to sell sandwiches like you said, but it's just so much fun if you just, like, organically do this with friends along the way.

Speaker B: I. You summarized it perfectly. I mean, signed seal delivered. Wrap that up. Ian, we couldn't have done this without people. People like you, too. So it's, uh, it's always been fun on our side as well.

Speaker A: Well, I appreciate everything. And enjoy your husband and daughter the rest of the afternoon. And go get that pickleball.

Speaker B: Thanks, Ian. Have a good one.

Speaker A: All right. Thanks, my friend. Thanks for listening to this episode of Digital Endured. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Follow us on social media for the latest updates, and stay tuned for our next episode.