Afrikan Caesar is the creator & host of The Sneaker Box, the #1 podcast in sneakers. Caesar is also a powerful voice of the sneaker culture community and a hell of a pop-marketer for not being a marketer by trade. Caesar shares with us the origins of modern sneaker culture and how sneakers have become a vessel for so much meaning and impact in popular culture. A fascinating interview, with easily one of my favorite guests of the year, if you are a sneaker enthusiast yourself, or want to...

Faris Yakob is the Co-founder of Genius Steals, a nomadic creative consultancy, that travels the world working with and chatting about ideas with agencies and brands like Coca-Cola, Facebook, TikTok & Activision. One of my favorite thinkers in the world of advertising, Faris brings an academic mind and an artist's curiosity into our commerce-driven profession of marketing strategy. We break down the relationship between brands & pop culture, explore America's "Mickey Mouse" strategy...

We go deep into esports & learn what makes a successful brand partnership in competitive gaming tick. John Davidson is an esports expert that's helping shape the future of the industry. Founder of DLC youth, host of the DLC Drop podcast, Chairman of the Esports Trade Association & advisor to many in the industry. John has the "cool dad" energy that allows him to bridge the gap between the high octane culture of esport fandom & the grown-up world of brands and businesses that...

Our favorite marketing Viking returns to the podcast. Stefan Peterson, the founder of Gameng, a travel and sustainability marketing consultancy out of Sweden, introduces us to Nordic Noir. A popular genre of literature and film, famous for its dark and depressive vibes, created by some of the happiest people on earth, where the setting and towns in the stories become a character themselves bringing in thousands of tourists each year. We discuss The Killing, The Bridge & The Millennium...

Jayson "Shag" Arrington is one of the stars of Motor Trend TV's Iron Resurrection, but before the show, Shag was an event marketing pro working with brands like Red Bull & Gatorade. We talk about life on the other side of the camera & Shag shares how car culture & lifestyle marketing have always been at the core of his career. You can catch Iron Resurrection's season 5 premiere streaming on Motor Trend TV right now....

What's a Hashtag Cult? Internet creator & filmmaker, Mike Fallek joins me on the show to talk about his work Hashtag Cult. A mobile-first bit-sized documentary released on Rizzle exposes the underbelly of internet cults and how they leverage the algorithms and decentralized nature of social media to scale their message and membership. Mike is a fascinating creator that gives us a peek into the future of storytelling and how we can utilize social media to inform and educate without...

Melanie Dibiaso is a Senior Marketing Manager for Ocean Spray Cranberries. She gives us a behind-the-scenes account of one of the most viral marketing moments of 2020. TikTok, a longboard, Fleetwood Mac & a jug of Cran-Raspberry Ocean Spray Juice helped launch TikTok into the mainstream last year and will go down as an iconic pop culture vibe in the dumpster fire of 2020. Melanie dishes all of the details, giving us a step by step account of how Ocean Spray's quick thinking and diamond...

Alicia Kolbe Poole was one of the few hand-chosen marketers chosen to introduce the US to Red Bull Energy Drink. Influencers before Instagram, content before YouTube & maybe the last brand titan to rise from a pre-smartphone world still filled with myth, legend & mystery. Alicia shares her story and her role in Red Bull's manifest destiny and the marketing philosophy that somehow resonates more today than it did in a pre-energy drink America. We talk about Red Bull's "No-Strategy,...

Brendan Shaughnessy is a Strategy Director at NYC-based cultural consultancy, Sparks & Honey where he helps brands keep up with the ever-shifting speed force known as modern culture. We explore why companies are so obsessed with understanding where culture is and where it's going and what part popular culture plays in the mix. How do flesh & blood strategists work with AI to gauge the impact & lasting power of trends? How did the pandemic put a pause on Brendan's stand-up...

Meagan Dexter is a Los Angelas-based brand and cultural strategist who works with Complex Networks to help brands stand out by fitting into Complex's toybox of shows, talent & activations. We learn the squiggly career path that makes up a modern cultural strategist, how trend-spotting works, tips & tricks for moving across the country during a pandemic, and how Complex has all growns up from the early days of toys, sneakers & skateboards (well, it's still all those things, but...

David Ramirez is a founding member & Convention Chair of San Japan, the largest fan-run anime convention in South Texas, bringing in 20,000 passionate Anime fans each Labor Day Weekend. David shares with us an inspiring peek behind the curtain of the exploding anime fandom and how brands and marketers haven't scratched the surface of the opportunity to partner with these passionate fans of Anime, cosplay, gaming & Japanese culture. San...

The role of earned media in a Pop-Marketer's toolbox is one of my favorite rabbit holes to explore and there isn't anyone better to hash it out with than Alyson Campbell, the CEO & Founder of LA-based Heart & Soul PR. The term public relations has expanded so much in the last decade that it can be tough for a marketer to understand where it fits for their brand. Alyson gives us her best advice when getting the most of your PR teams and where and when they fit into the picture. We...

When you need to understand how social media works in 2021, you call the OG of influencer marketing himself, Brendan Gahan. The Global Chief Social Officer of the agency Mekanism has been there from the start and brings us a rare look-see behind the curtain of how we got to where we are when it comes to anything from live streams, influencers & the modern social ecosystem. We talk about the boons of early adoption on social channels and why it's so tough for brands to color outside the...

Jaret Reddick, frontman of Bowling For Soup & a Pop-Marketer of the highest order. We talk about pivoting with your fans during 2020, and how streaming has already changed the game for giving fans access to your art. Jaret goes deep on his career in popular culture and we find out the origin of Danny, Love Händel & Phineas & Ferb, working with Sonic the Hedgehog & how Jaret became the modern voice of Chuck E. Cheese. If that wasn't enough, we chat it up about Jaret's...

This week the PMP talks w/ Brentos Fernandez, Head of Creative for Listen. Listen is a venture capital firm based in Chicago that focuses on investing in early-stage companies that have the potential to put a dent in culture. From the cosmic space jackets of Oros to the Goop of Cannabis, Miss Grass, Brentos and his team invest millions of dollars to help these cool kid brands scale by helping them articulate what makes them matter through the art and science of brand building. Brentos...

Scott Jones, Senior Producer/Writer at Disney Channel Global Marketing is one of the creative minds behind the content and on-channel promotion of Disney icons like High School Musical, Gravity Falls, Ducktales, and Descendants. Scott has been creating short-form videos since before it was cool and he shares a ton of smart thinking around what goes into the mashups, music videos, and marketing behind Disney's TV magic. We discuss the free-range creativity of college, how he found his home...

Anna Jordan Douglass, the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Makefully, a studio & consultancy specializing in research, design and production of educational media, technologies & learning environment for kids. A former VP of digital development & Interactive at the iconic Jim Henson Company, A PhD of creative education from University of Wisconsin & now at Makefully she’s working with every big name in children’s entertainment & education to bring kids directly into...

Rosie Yakob is a thinker, maker & founder of the creative consultancy Genius Steals and the lead camp counselor for The School of Stolen Genius, an online community of creative minds with members all over the world. I finally get a chance to sit down with one of my favorite Pop-Marketers over a couple of pots of coffee to catch up on how the team at Genius Steals have been dealing with being grounded in the states after living the nomadic life over the last 6 years and how they've been...

Talking Mondo, the pop culture phenomenon that gives fans physical representations of their fandom through posters & vinyl records. Also a rundown of how Hollywood is working/or not working within the pandemic and the future of Hollywood production. Paul Hogan is a director, creative motion designer, and illustrator. He is a multi-disciplined director and creative who approaches everything with a visual mindset and a sense of wonder and humor. In this episode with Paul, he will...

Joe talks with Jason Elm about his rad career running and building creative campaigns for big brands and even SuperBowl ads. Jason finally gives Joe the skinny on his 6 years running the Sony PlayStation account and we get a really cool window into the PS3 era and what it's like running creative point on one of the largest fandom's in the world. Deeply caring about the people he works for with who they create for, Jason will dive deep with us in the world of creative marketing and the...

“Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” We are joined by Eric Melin an award-winning business communicator and senior social media community manager. Best known as the 2013 World Air Guitar Champion, and a tireless ambassador for the sport of competitive air guitar, one of Eric’s dream is to achieve world peace. In this episode, Eric will walk us through the amazing world of competitive air guitar, it’s nature, and how fascinating the sport is which has been enjoyed by thousands of...

Joe & Jeff talk about how Jeff found himself in the world agency PR and how he became a young adult fiction writer. A man between worlds, this episode is a raw and wonderful peek into how a pop-marketer lives between worlds. You can find Jeff's new book SCORPION on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Scorpion-Mayfly-Jeff-Sweat/dp/1250139228/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=scorpion+book+jeff+sweat&qid=1598326884&sr=8-1 His PR consulting agency Sweat+Co and Agencies Under...

Are you a media literate person? Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is the Executive Director of NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education. We talk about what media literacy is and how 2020 shown us why it's a critical skill set for a generation growing up online. If you work in media in any capacity, this episode is a must listen and if you don't, it's probably just as important to know more about media literacy & how we help make it a fundamental part of education as reading...

This week on The PMP Joe talks w/ John Kreicbergs about pivoting into virtual events with Planet Comicon, The Musicology of 19th century Russia & the beautiful ways that despite creativity finds a way to flourish, especially during a pandemic. Connect w/ John linkedin.com/in/johnkreicbergs https://twitter.com/patchchord https://patchchord.com/ Connect w/ Joe &...

Joe talks with OG Pop-Marketer & creative entrepreneur, Andre Filip about working and living in the Pop-Marketing mecca of Los Angeles. Andre talks about beginning his career at an iconic entertainment ad agency, creating a culture of breaking ideas down to build them up, how to make great ideas at the speed of lightning , and launching TikTok in the US. Check out ELA: https://www.ela1.com/ Check out Pop-Marketer: https://www.pop-marketer.com/