Blog

I grew up in Houston, and many of us high school boys could not get enough football. During the week, we had daily football practice. And most weekends, rain or shine, it was touch football in the park. We wanted to be the best.

With the conclusion of Black History Month and the beginning of Women's History Month, we are excited to introduce Azana Williams, Founder and CEO of Azana Serene, as part of our ongoing effort to celebrate and uplift BIPOC voices within and outside of our industry.

This week, we are joined by Justin Barnette, Strategist for TBWA/CHIAT/DAY and host/producer of the ADcademics Podcast. His experience navigating different avenues has led him to his amazing journey from being an independent artist to podcast host.

Our featured guest this week is Danielle Erves, Social Strategist at 180LA. She has created and developed engaging communities and campaigns for technology and entertainment companies.

We are excited to announce a new series here at ThinkLA. One of our main goals is to uplift and highlight BIPOC voices within and outside of our industry. To kickoff this series, we have the one and only Boye Fajinmi, Co-Founder and President, FutureParty, a community-based media platform built for the next generation of creative leaders.

The past year has been a challenge on many levels. Professionally, marketing has managed to pivot all over the place, resulting in some distinct positives like rethinking the workplace. Yet, the pandemic has upended lives, and its effects remain in a perpetual “TBD” state, where stress and the emotional and mental health cost are yet to be fully understood.

My experience in “the industry” taught me just enough to know that it wasn’t my forever career path. I learned more than I could have imagined, met incredible people, learned the business of business, and then some. But I had always been drawn to the convergence of advertising and entertainment to create emotional brand connections through storytelling. That said, I was compelled to dip my toes into the ad world. I somehow fell into the tech side of advertising (who knew?) and have been entrenched in it for about 10 years now.

First, allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re NinetyEight, a creative ad agency founded by 2020 grads from the M-School at Loyola Marymount University. We are dedicated towards empowering, understanding, and connecting the new generation with the world. We speak the language that advertisers so desperately want to know: Gen Z.

Strategizing and buying media in Canada is nothing like the US. And for brands and agencies, it can be difficult to navigate. And the challenges don’t start with just the buying of media. They start in language, culture, heritage, and history.

At a time when the creative industry is being gutted, and nobody feels safe personally or professionally, our social feeds have been filled with empty platitudes from thought leaders telling us to look for silver linings. Meanwhile, our inboxes are overflowing with mass emails from companies we have no interest in hearing from right now, interrupting us with their perspective on COVID-19.

With everyone talking about doom and gloom, how the world will never be the same again, and what will be the new norm… who is going to come up with the next big thing? I think it’s time to pause and reflect.

Jay and I both started out as Graphic Designers. When we first met, Jay was working for Disney as a Flash Developer and I was doing freelance Graphic Design. He introduced me to Flash, and like him, I became captivated by the possibilities. We started sharing creative ideas and working together to learn and create personal projects.