Pokémon GO Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary

After COVID-19 forced Pokémon Go to adopt a virtual format for its anniversary last year, Niantic is making up for the lost time. To celebrate Pokémon Go’s fifth anniversary, the company has an array of events and marketing tie-ins planned for trainers, including its two-day Pokémon GO Fest with Google Play as the official sponsor, a partnership with US Verizon stores, a new official TikTok channel and more.

To kick off the month-long celebration, Pokémon has teamed up with Verizon to turn stores across the US into PokéStops and Gyms, where trainers can unlock exclusive in-game content and get access to special events. These include limited edition giveaways and scheduled raids that give users a chance to catch legendary Pokémon.

Verizon is also giving trainers who visit stores an exclusive bundle of 2x Premium Raid Passes, 1x Lucky Egg, 1x Incense and 20x Poké Balls. Before heading over, trainers can check the Pokémon GO app to see if their local Verizon store is a Gym or PokéStop. Once inside, they’ll be directed to scan a QR code with their phone to register and receive the bundle. Trainers need not be Verizon customers to participate and can expect more information on raids to be released once per week until August 4.

Pokémon GO is also hosting GO Battle League Season 8, a global matching system that lets trainers battle each other around the world and earn rewards; the season will run through the end of August. Plus, all throughout the month of July, trainers can experience different Pokémon appearing in five-star raids.

The anniversary coincides with Pokémon GO’s foray into TikTok. Since the launch of the channel on June 25, the account has posted six videos and amassed about 97,000 followers and 333,000 likes. One video, which taps into TikTok’s viral ‘Tell me without telling me’ challenge, already received 4.5 million views and over 3,000 comments.

These events are all in preparation for Pokémon GO Fest 2021, taking place on July 17 and 18. Pokémon GO is treating users to a price slash in tickets, down from $15 to $5 for one ticket, which affords them access to both days of the event.

With Google Play as the official sponsor, Google Play members will get four times Google Play points on all purchases made in Pokémon GO, including tickets. Trainers using Android devices on Saturday, July 17 will also be eligible for an exclusive sponsored gift that will enhance their Pokémon GO Fest experience. Lastly, trainers in the US and Canada can purchase a branded T-shirt from pokemoncenter.com.

On day 1 of the event, Pokémon GO is bringing back themed hourly habitats from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., during which time trainers can catch certain Pokémon more frequently in the wild. In addition, trainers will get a free shirt avatar item and may be able to witness the debut of one of seven new Pokémon.

Day 1 of the festival will also feature a music component that lets trainers help Professor Willow and the team leaders throw a concert by choosing certain Pokémon to join the in-game event. Trainers can complete Special Research in exchange for special rewards. They’ll also have the chance to determine their in-game music, with new songs created by Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda.

Also on Day 1, Pokémon Go is bringing back the global challenge arena, where fans can team up to complete a challenge each hour, which, if they complete in time, will earn them a bonus for the remainder of the hour. Ticket holders can complete four Collection Challenges.  

Day 2 is dedicated to raids, where ticket holders will be able to earn an extra 10,000 XP in raid rewards after completing a Raid Battle, spin gym photo discs to earn up to 10 Raid Passes, complete timed research to earn eight Remote Raid Passes and pick up a free event bundle containing three remote raid passes.

This year also marks Pokémon’s 25th anniversary. To commemorate a quarter-century, Niantic is releasing another Pokemon mobile game called UNITE in September and two main-core games for the Nintendo Switch later this year, according to 9 to 5 Mac.

Nielsen: Long-Term Growth Requires A Balanced Marketing Strategy

With marketers under extreme pressure to hit revenue targets, upper-funnel marketing efforts have taken a backseat. Yet the need to drive awareness has never been more important for brands, as consumers have greater access and choice and less exposure to logos on shelves and storefronts. Nielsen’s latest report makes the case for adopting a balanced marketing strategy that combines the right message and channel mix to create long-term growth.

The sales impact of lower-funnel marketing strategies materializes quicker but Nielsen’s analysis suggests that brand-building efforts are a lever to drive sales. In measuring how effective a financial services company’s marketing efforts were at driving sales across about 20 markets, Nielsen found that the correlation between the upper-funnel brand metrics and marketing efficiency was significantly strong—0.73. Building brand equity, then, not only benefits direct sales but also improves the efficacy of your activation efforts.

Marketing accounts for 10 percent to 35 percent of a brand’s equity, according to Nielsen. Given equity comes also from visibility, taking non-marketing sources of equity, such as regular product usage and seeing a product on the shelf, for granted is a mistake. For one, fewer shoppers are driving to stores, eliminating the chance that they’ll see logos. Plus, consumers have access to an infinite selection of brands online, making it difficult for single brands to stand out. Lastly, COVID-19 supply disruptions have affected product availability, forcing consumers to try alternatives.

This last point is evidenced by differences in brand retention and trial rates across traditional and digital channels. For example, data from Nielsen Commspoint found that in the US consumer packaged goods market, shoppers say that 4.3 percent of their brick-and-mortar purchases involve a brand they hadn’t bought before. For online purchases, this figure increases to 12.2 percent. That metric drops from 83 percent of brick-and-mortar CPG purchases to 72 percent of online CPG purchases.

Nielsen cautions against assuming you can directly apply benchmarks around which channel is best for equity building for your brand. Channel effectiveness across campaigns can be very diverse, as Nielsen found when measuring the impact of marketing by message strategy for an electronics brand and an auto brand in the short and long term. Upper-funnel messaging on the auto brand was 5 percent less effective than total media in driving short-term sales and 18 percent more effective than total media in driving long-term sales. To deploy the most effective messaging and measure your share of voice within each message strategy, brands can cut their competitive ad data by upper- and lower-funnel creatives.

Looking at the same comparison through the lens of specific channels, Nielsen found that with upper-funnel messaging, video and offline media are very efficient in driving short- and long-term sales. With lower-funnel messaging, non-video and online media are more efficient in driving short-term sales than they are in driving long-term sales.

If optimizing for just one objective was a viable option, Nielsen notes, there wouldn’t be instances where brands such as Gap and TripAdvisor admitted they made missteps in forsaking brand building in the name of a heightened focus on activation.

To optimize for both short- and long-term objectives, brands should consider optimizing their marketing mix for total sales if they’ve already measured short- and long-term return on investment. If a brand lacks the total sales impact, marketers can perform sequential optimization, later weigh those stimulation results together to create a hybrid plan and set targets for what that plan will achieve.

If the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s 2013 research is any indication, long-term efforts are true long-term business drivers. The firm suggests that the optimal balance between long- and short-term efforts is 60-40.

The bottom line: Marketers should consider what the minimum business requirements are in the short term and whether their business has the flexibility to wait for longer-term outcomes.

T-Mobile And MLB Create Augmented Reality App For Home Run Derby

T-Mobile has announced a partnership with Major League Baseball that will give fans a chance to experience the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Denver’s Coors Field through a new app called MLB AR (augmented reality) that the companies created together ahead of MLB All-Star Week. In addition, fans will be able to see the batting practice and the Derby in real-time via 5G-integrated cameras mounted atop players’ hats and catchers’ masks.

On July 12 at 8 p.m. ET, fans, not just T-Mobile customers, can watch Coors Field in 3D while getting access to game stats. Perks for T-Mobile customers with a 5G device include the ability to replay home runs and unlock bonus stats like hang time, exit, velocity and max height. T-Mobile and MLB have plans to evolve the partnership by rolling out new features and equipping other stadiums with the same immersive technology.

T-Mobile’s 5G-embedded cameras will be affixed to players’ hats and catchers’ masks, virtually placing fans onto the field. This marks the first time these cameras are being integrated into a professional sports league’s jewel event. Created in partnership with ActionStreamer, the 5G cameras are also the first to deploy live, synchronized HD video and audio over T-Mobile’s 5G network. To top it off retired MLB All-Star Hunter Pence and MLB Network host Lauren Gardner will be hosting T-Mobile 5G BP online, starting July 12 online and across all MLB social channels.

Engaging fans a step further, in the days leading up to the Home Run Derby, T-Mobile is hosting activations in-person and on social media. Starting July 7, fans can enter their game predictions about who hits the longest home run for a chance to win $100,000 via MLB’s Brackett Challenge, which requires providing an email address.

Next, from July 9-13, fans who visit T-Mobile’s hologram studio at the Colorado Convention Center can project their own life-size hologram into a baseball card in real-time then share it to their social media profile.

T-Mobile is also transforming one of its Denver stores into an ‘All-Star Bat Shop’ where fans can customize and professionally engrave their own 18” bat with a logo from one of the 30 MLB clubs for free. T-Mobile says “special MLB legends” will be making appearances.

The partnership comes with a good cause too—T-Mobile will be donating $10,000 (and up to half a million dollars) for every home run hit with a magenta ball during bonus time at the Derby to the T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant Program. The Program pays Little League Baseball and Softball registration fees for under-resourced families.

For years, T-Mobile has offered free baseball streaming to those on its network. Ahead of the league’s opening day, April 1, the carrier gave T-Mobile, Sprint and Metro customers the ability to access the MLB.TV streaming service for free through its T-Mobile Tuesdays app.

Last year, MLB canceled the remainder of its Spring Training games and delayed the start of the 2020 regular season due to COVID-19. MLB hadn’t started its season on July 4 due to the pandemic, and when a shortened season did start on July 23 no fans were allowed.

What We’re Reading—Week Of July 5th

A look at the articles we’re sharing internally this week.


Navigating Ad Fraud And Consumer Privacy Abuse In Programmatic Advertising

TechCrunch

Some key steps business leaders can take to guard their reputation and programmatic ad spend include using sophisticated tools to reveal the types of ad fraud attacks affecting their budgets, analyzing their budget with quality versus reach in mind and acknowledging that the ‘age of privacy’ has arrived.

Why it matters: Programmatic advertising is a $200 billion global marketplace, with connected TV (CTV) being its most recent accelerant. While 78 percent of US households are reachable via programmatic CTV advertising, ad fraud rates are still high — 24 percent in Q4 2020.


Four Great Lessons In Human-Centric Marketing

ClickZ

In Mark Schaefer’s book, Marketing Rebellion, the marketing strategy consultant writes that the main idea of “human-centered marketing” is to create an emotional connection with consumers that’s helpful and personal. Like during the pandemic when Burger King UK posted a message encouraging customers to support other fast-food chains and when American Express surprised 100 Black female entrepreneurs with grants of $25,000 and 100 days of resources.

Why it matters: Today, the customer is the marketer and the pandemic has amplified the need for authentic human connection. As Schaefer writes, brands must abandon advertising scripts and make ads based on what normal people do, be vulnerable, put their money where their mouth is and activate all consumers.


From Surviving To Thriving: Reimagining The Post-COVID-19 Return

McKinsey & Company

Reimagining the post-pandemic return will require companies to fundamentally rethink their revenue profile; redesign operations and supply chains to prevent potential shocks; institutionalize forms of speedy decentralization such as small, nimble teams; and set an ambitious digital agenda then deliver it within two to three months, not within a year or more.

Why it matters: One example of how acting with urgency pays off in crises is a Chinese car rental company that invested in micro-customer segmentation and social listening to guide personalization after its revenues dropped 95 percent in February. The result: three new agile teams with cross-functional skills and recovery of 90 percent of its business year-over-year. Before the crisis, the company took up to three weeks to launch a campaign; now it’s down to two to three days.


4 Tactics Mobile App Makers Can Steal From Game Companies

Venture Beat

One key strategy mobile app makers can learn from game companies is leveraging engagements that make their ads more immersive, such as playable ads that hook users before they install the game.

Why it matters: For a fast-casual restaurant, this tactic might translate to a playable ad that invites the user to build their perfect burrito. When finished, they’re inspired to download the app and have that same burrito delivered.


3 Biggest Challenges To Successful Influencer Marketing

Inc

Instead of leveraging influencers to highlight product offerings, brands should partner with purpose-driven communicators who seek to change or impact the world in meaningful ways and through them, address the pain points of younger generations.


Why it matters: Recent Harvard research found that the rate of loneliness is particularly high among young people who feel as if no one cares about them.

Marriott Bonvoy’s New Global Campaign Calls On Consumers To Embrace The Healing Power Of Travel

The hotel industry is expected to close out 2021 down 500,000 jobs, a prediction that has prompted the American Hotel & Lodging Association to team up with Unite Here to call on Congress to pass the Save Hotel Jobs Act. The bill aims to support workers until travel returns to pre-pandemic levels.

Though half of Americans over age 12 are fully vaccinated and while some are ready to hit the road again, business travel—the largest source of hotel revenue—is down 85 percent and isn’t expected to slowly return until the end of this year.

Amid the industry’s sluggish rebound and growing adoption of contactless check-in services and digital keys, Marriott’s rewards program turned travel platform, Bonvoy, has launched a global campaign called “Power of Travel” calling on consumers to embrace the healing power of travel after a year of being confined to the walls of their homes.

With the tagline, “Where can we take you?” the campaign marks Marriott’s biggest full-funnel campaign and will come to life in an omnichannel media strategy comprising streaming and television spots, in-flight entertainment, display, digital, mobile, paid and owned social, and out-of-home placements.

The campaign’s 60-second spot features a diverse cast engaged in heartfelt travel moments with loved ones in international locales including Shanghai, Barcelona and Los Angeles. According to a press release, every aspect of the film was intended:

“Casting features a range of age, body type, race, ethnicity, skin tones, sexual orientation, abilities, gender, and more; wardrobe is done authentically through styling and clothing choices; cultural and experiential cues with key signifiers are weaved throughout; filming locations represent a global mindset; and storylines portray diverse perspectives and experiences, underscoring how travel is transformative – no matter where you come from, what you look like, who you love, and what your abilities are.”

The spots began on June 24, airing during the NBA Finals, and will also run during the Olympics. Additional TV and streaming highlights include Wimbledon and ESPN Monday Night Football. Some travel category firsts include Marriott utilizing shoppable connected TV to leverage mobile quick response codes with Hulu Gateway Go and Disney+, custom placements with HBO Max Brand Block and an ad takeover within a single show on Hulu.

Marriott is targeting Gen Z and millennials through mobile-first placements, including augmented reality filters on Snapchat. In collaboration with Pinterest, two storefronts in New York City’s Soho neighborhood will feature campaign creative that employs Pinterest’s technology that takes consumers to an immersive in-app quiz where they can learn more about the hotels within the Bonvoy portfolio.

Across social, Marriott is inviting travelers to share their images and videos via the #TravelMakesUs hashtag on Instagram and TikTok, the latter platform being a first for Marriott Bonvoy.

The “Power of Travel” is Marriott’s second campaign since COVID-19; the first was a global holiday campaign that launched in December last year. So far, it has launched in the US and Canada and will soon deploy in China, Australia, Europe and more international markets.

According to a press release, the campaign will extend into the fall with a mini docu-series that shows real traveler stories as they embark on journeys for the first time in a year.

Harris Poll research released in mid-May found that 77 percent of Americans plan to take a trip this summer and that 29 percent planned a leisure trip last summer. Fifty-two percent of Americans expect they’ll continue to have flexibility with remote school or work throughout the fall, which could mean more opportunities for travel during and beyond the back-to-school season.

While some hotel properties have yet to bring back their employees, others are busy filling roles to keep up with demand. One consideration most hotels have in common now, however, is whether their guests are willing to accept fewer services than before the pandemic—like daily turndown and breakfast buffets—according to analysts. This new shift could mean a smaller hotel workforce in the years following the industry’s rebound.

TikTok Increases Video Length Limit From 60 Seconds To Three Minutes

This week in social media news, TikTok increases its video length limit from 60 seconds to three minutes, Snapchat shares insight on how its Product Experience Lenses drive online purchases, Instagram announces new changes coming to its video experience and TikTok adds a ‘Shoutout’ feature that lets fans pay their favorite creators for a personalized video message.


TikTok Expands Its Three-Minute Video Format Globally

TikTok is expanding the option to create three-minute videos to its global user base, the company announced in a blog.

Why it matters: Up until now, TikTok users could only create videos up to 60 seconds.

The details: The update comes after TikTok ran a global test of the expanded format with select creators and hearing from them that they’d like a little more time to create tutorial-like content, such as cooking demos and educational lesson plans.  

YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok copycat that launched in March, allows users to create videos up to 60 seconds in length. Comparatively, Instagram’s TikTok clone Reels also caps it at 60 seconds long.


Snapchat Shares Advertiser Best Practices For Leveraging Augmented Reality

With the rise of digital shopping, brands are increasingly leveraging augmented reality to recreate the in-store try-on shopping experience. To help marketers get the most out of AR, Snapchat shared new insight about how its Product Experience Lenses are contributing to users’ purchase journeys.  

Why it matters: According to Snapchat, 75 percent of its 265 million daily users engage with AR every day on average. In addition, Snapchat said campaigns that include its Product Experience Lenses, which enable users to experience a product or service, are twice as likely to drive significant lifts in Action Intent compared to norms.

The details: Snapchat analyzed 10 campaigns that incorporated a Product Experience Lens along with Snapchat ads to drive online purchases. It observed different combinations of ad product exposure pre-purchase and the extent to which a user’s exposure to a Lens was the final touchpoint before purchase. Snap then compared these to Snap ads exposures that led to a conversion.

Snap found that Lenses would’ve been credited with 45 percent more purchases on average when looking at any-touch compared to last-touch conversions. In comparison, Snap ads were much lower at 16 percent. 

Though more tests are required to see how Lenses drive incremental purchases, Snap’s findings show that under any-touch attribution, Lenses drive more purchases than they’re typically given credit for.


Instagram Announces Upcoming Video Features That Mimic The TikTok Experience

In a video posted to his Instagram and Twitter profiles, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the company is no longer a photo-sharing app and that it’s testing a full-screen video viewing experience and recommended videos feature to keep up with the “stiff competition” from TikTok and YouTube.  

Why it matters: Instagram’s plan to lean into entertainment comes amid its larger push to support and woo creators. Recently, it announced a native affiliate program and the ability for creators to link their shops to their perusal profiles, not just their business profiles.

The details: Instagram is working on new experiences in four key areas—creators, video, shopping and messaging. Instagram’s internal research shows that people are heading to the app to be entertained, which is why Mosseri said in the next couple of months Instagram will test a feature that shows content in the feed people may not already be following. Next, Instagram will run a test that enables users to choose which topics they want to see more or less of in their feed.

In addition, Instagram has plans to embrace mobile-first video more broadly, though Mosseri didn’t share any specific details how Instagram plans to do that.


TikTok Adds ‘Shoutouts,’ Revenue-Generation Feature For Creators, Fans

According to Social Media Today, TikTok has rolled out a Cameo-like revenue-generation option called Shoutouts that lets fans pay creators in exchange for a personalized video message.

Why it matters: Shoutouts will be powered by the virtual currency TikTok launched last year, TikTok coins, which enables users to buy and send virtual gifts to creators during their TikTok live streams.

The details: As seen in this screenshot from Fabian Ouwehand, TikTok’s Shoutouts can pay a creator for a personalized message using TikTok coins. The creator has three days to either accept or decline the fan request, plus an additional week to create the video message, which gets sent to the paying user’s inbox.

Forbes Appoints Sherry Phillips As Chief Marketing Officer

This week in leadership updates, Forbes elevates Sherry Phillips to chief marketing officer, Domino’s Australia taps Adam Ballesty as chief marketing officer, Burger King Americas president Chris Finazzo exits, Captain D’s promotes Bindi Menon to chief marketing officer and more. 


Forbes Appoints Sherry Phillips As Chief Marketing Officer

Forbes veteran Sherry Phillips has accepted a promotion as chief marketing officer, the magazine recently announced.

Phillips has been with Forbes for 25 years and most recently was senior vice president of Forbes Live.

Phillips replaces former Forbes CMO Lynn Schlesinger, who was recently appointed to the newly created role of chief customer experience officer.


Domino’s Australia Taps Adam Ballesty As Chief Marketing Officer

Adam Ballesty has been named CMO of Domino’s for Australia and New Zealand.

Ballesty was previously marketing and innovation director for Diageo Australia and general manager, Asia Pacific, for Seedlip.


Burger King Americas President Chris Finazzo Steps Down

President of Burger King Americas, Chris Finazzo, has exited the company after seven years.

According to Restaurant Dive, chief marketing officer Ellie Doty and chief operating officer Tom Curtis will oversee the company’s US and Canada businesses in the interim.


Captain D’s Elevates Bindi Menon To Chief Marketing Officer

Captain D’s has promoted Bindi Menon to chief marketing officer, according to a press release.

Menon has been with Captain D’s for the past 16 years, most recently as vice president of national marketing.


Jaxsta Hires Beth Appleton As Chief Marketing Officer

Jaxsta has named Warner Music executive Beth Appleton chief marketing officer, reports Billboard.

Appleton joins Jaxsta from Warner Music Australia, where she was general manager of Australia and senior vice president of marketing for Australasia.


Amerant Bancorp Taps Christine Esteve As Chief Marketing Officer

Amerant has hired Carnival Cruise Line veteran Christine Esteve as chief marketing officer.

Esteve spent the past 26 years at Carnival Cruise Line, most recently as vice president of performance marketing.


Asda Appoints Meghan Farren As Chief Customer Officer

Asda has hired KFC executive Meghan Farren as chief marketing officer.

Farren’s tenure at KFC UK and Ireland spans a decade, her most recent role being chief marketing officer.


Chili’s Promotes Michael Breed To Senior Vice President Of Marketing    

Chili’s has elevated Michael Breed to SVP of marketing for the company’s domestic operation and virtual restaurant spinoff concepts, according to Restaurant Business Online.

Breed has been with Brinker International, Chili’s parent company, for 17 years.


KiwiCo Appoints Katie Soo As Chief Marketing Officer

KiwiCo has named Katie Soo as chief marketing officer, reports Ad Age.

Soo joins KiwiCo from HBO Max, where she was senior vice president, head of growth marketing.

The Financial Impact Of Customer Connection With Khoros’s Katherine Calvert

Katherine Calvert is the Chief Marketing Officer of Khoros, a digital engagement platform for social marketing, online communities, and customer care.

In this episode, Katherine and I discuss her path to become CMO at Khoros and her perspective on customer engagement. She also shares what platforms marketers should consider if they want to create great experiences for their customers and prospects.

Katherine believes “there is a real opportunity for marketing leaders to be the champion within companies to elevate CX,” saying customer experience should be the “north star” by which they lead. Studies show that over 60% of consumers stop doing business with a brand after just one negative instance. On the other hand, 80% of consumers say they will pay more for the same product or service if it comes with a delightful customer experience.

Listen to find out how customer experience is transformational to your company’s finances.


In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • The importance of staying connected 
  • The financial impact of having good CX
  • Utilizing platforms and channels

Key Highlights:

  • [01:22] Katherine’s brush with Kevin Bacon
  • [02:55] Katherine’s path to becoming CMO
  • [05:32] What you should know about Khoros
  • [09:15] Stay connected with your customers
  • [15:05] How marketers should think about channels and platforms 
  • [20:01] Katherine’s advice for customer engagement
  • [24:15] A defining experience that made Katherine who she is today 
  • [26:34] Katherine’s advice to her younger self
  • [27:29] A topic Katherine believes marketers should learn about
  • [30:24] The brands and companies Katherine follows
  • [32:35] What Katherine says is today’s biggest opportunity for marketers

Resources Mentioned: 

Subscribe to the podcast:

Connect with the Guest:

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.

Terry Crews Launches Virtual Production Studio Amen & Amen

When Los Angeles halted in-person film and TV production last year, actor and entrepreneur Terry Crews took on a role he’d never played before: nurse. Going into what he calls “battle mode,” he spent the better part of lockdown caring for his wife Rebecca King through her breast cancer diagnosis and a double mastectomy. To make a challenging situation more difficult, he faced an all-out attack from the internet over his tweets regarding the Black Lives Matter protests.

Out of the darkness of 2020, Crews created a state-of-the-art launchpad for the next generation of storytellers, named Amen & Amen.’ His new virtual production studio is set to open in Pasadena, California in late July. Equipped with furniture designed by Crews and cutting-edge technology that accelerates the filmmaking process, the small, pandemic-proof space will play a big part in Hollywood’s messy recovery and beyond. 

So what does the pec pop king and father of five know about building a virtual production studio? At first, Crews admits, not a whole lot. But after propelling Old Spice into the fan culture stratosphere, immortalizing Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” illustrating a children’s book, writing two books (most recently, a memoir with his wife, Stronger Together), and leading a prolific acting career without formal training, no order is too tall. Ahead of the feverishly awaited eighth and final season of his sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, airing on August 12, we spoke to Crews about his latest venture.

Click here for a tour of Amen & Amen with Terry Crews and David Rielly, group creative director of a.network’s space.camp.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.


Nina: I saw on your Instagram that you rang in 2020 in Shanghai. You come home and shortly after, quarantine and Black Lives Matter protests are underway. Where’s your mind at?

Terry: When the George Floyd incident happened, I actually went on CNN and was asked to speak because of an Instagram post I put out that basically said I could be George Floyd. I have experienced very, very violent racism in my life. I don’t know too many people who have had four police officers point their guns at their head at a traffic stop, and that was me. This was back in 1982 when I was on the Rams. And then once the country was tending to get very, what I would call “segregated,” I saw the need for all of us to work this thing out together. 

About a week later, I put out a tweet that said, “Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.” My issue was the fact that everyone needs to be involved, be it white, Asian, Hispanic, every nationality, every gender needs to be included. And I wanted to be very, very succinct in what I said. But it really blew up all over and it caused a huge backlash on the internet. But I stood firm and I followed that up by saying it doesn’t matter what race, what color, creed or denomination, I’m going to stand with good people, no matter what. We need to include everyone at this table because what we had and what we still have is an amazing opportunity for all of us to really see each other.

What did a typical day in quarantine look like for you?

This quarantine was especially difficult because my wife was recovering from a double mastectomy right before the world shut down. My wife was diagnosed in early February with stage one breast cancer, and it took us for a loop. She took this like a warrior and she attacked and she said, you know what? I’m going to go in and get my treatment and let’s make this happen right away. so we scheduled a double mastectomy. And it was a miracle because that was right before everything started to fall and everything started to shut down. She came out of the hospital probably a week before they called all of the quarantine actions in L.A.

So I was taking care of my wife during this whole time. We had no caregivers in the house. We had no housekeepers. We had no one even coming through. I was her nurse for roughly five months straight, on top of all of these things happening in the world. So it was a really tough, tough first five months of the quarantine.

I decided, OK, I’m going to go into what I would call battle mode. I had to be strong for my family. But one great idea that came out of the pandemic was my virtual studio. I decided that I was going to build one of Los Angeles’ best, most incredible virtual production studios that it’s ever seen. This is what I was consumed with during the entire pandemic. I mean, every day I would go down there and work on and find out what else we needed.

When did you first have the idea to create Amen & Amen?

The first time I got the idea was back in May last year. We had to come back and do judge cuts for America’s Got Talent and we were the first production to go back to work in the middle of a pandemic. I saw the technology of this AR (augmented reality) wall. It was this small, pitch LED wall technology that we used to create virtual environments for the acts. And I went… “Oh my God.” When I saw it, I went, oh, this is the future and I need to be a part of this.

We decided that small was going to be the new big because the thing about Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is my sitcom, is that we could not go back to production simply because there were 400 people in the crew and cast all working in close proximity.

What was your vision for Amen & Amen?

One thing about Hollywood is that most of these studios are filthy because they’ve been there for 100 years. But I thought, OK, we’re going to do this small and clean. I was actually looking for a gym because I was going to make my own little gym. I found this beautiful place on Maple Street in Old Town [Pasadena, CA] that used to be a stable for the firehouse, which is now a studio next door. And it was open. I couldn’t believe it. We grabbed it.

We redid it from the inside out. And I mean everything. We redid the bathrooms and I had these special, Neorest toilets, which I call the Lamborghini of toilets, put in. We redid the air conditioning with a UV system that cleans the air. We insulated the place; we have a handheld mobile UV light that they use in hospitals that would disinfect all of the equipment every night; we have a handheld UV light that you can run over all the keyboards and anything that’s touched by human hands would be clean. We had ‘Purell’ stations put in, and it has a little outdoor area with seating. So only the people who are necessary could be inside.

We put in outdoor professional steaming units that steam all of the doorknobs, I mean, we went in. You’re going to be safe when you come through our doors because I’m liable for the safety of my employees, the safety of my family and any client that will come through there.

I think small is the new big because this virtual wall creates any environment you want.

Tell us more about the virtual wall.

What we found using Unreal Engine is that you can actually digitally create the foreground, and this is one thing they did on AGT (America’s Got Talent). Unreal has created all of these wonderful virtual environments that they were giving away for free. And we were like, what?! It’s groundbreaking.

One thing we decided to do was go all in because once I saw this, I said, wait a minute. The vision was to create a full-fledged movie. You wouldn’t even have to do the turnarounds. What you do is turn the background around, not the actor. It was so sick because all you would need is a 3D play of any environment and you could be anywhere and no one would know the difference, which was so scary. We got the best, best pitch LED wall we could afford. The wall we have is at 1.2 [pixel] pitch.

We were like, “OK, we’re going to need one wall.” And then we found out we would do better to get a dog-leg, so we have a 20-foot wall by a 15-foot wall. This creates the environment fully so you’d be able to get lighting. It gets people’s faces off the other wall while you’re in the background. It was really, really difficult at first because the whole time I was like, this might all be a mistake. But, to me, it’s worth it. I said, “if we do this right, if we just make our mistakes quickly, we’ll be able to adjust on the fly.

What style were you going for design-wise?

I’ve always been a big fan of Milk Studios, the one down in LA… because it’s so classy, oh, it’s a beautiful place. Like if you got a photoshoot at Milk, you know it’s ‘the big time.’ I wanted the studio to compare with Milk. So we put walnut on the walls at Amen & Amen. We upgraded every detail of the studio. We changed all of the lighting and made it really clean and beautiful.

We’re still working on it every day. There are always little things we’re adding. We added bookcases. We basically outfitted the whole place with the furniture that I’ve designed—my new armchairs, my sofas, my benches, my tables. We wanted it to feel like you would never want to leave. It feels a little bit like Melrose Place, but it’s in Pasadena, you know what I mean? And we love Pasadena.

Who do you hope to work with and what do you hope to work on at Amen & Amen?

Well, first of all, I plan on doing a full film that I wrote there. This is the ultimate goal—to show people, “Wow… you can do this from beginning to end.” We’ve had so many people who’ve come and vetted it. I’ve had the head of Disney, Paul Briggs, who directed Raya, come through and give us all kinds of advice on the workflow that they do at Disney. He recommended this technology called Bluescape which is basically like Pinterest for projects, so we put up two giant touch screen monitors adjacent to the wall. I was just so thankful.

Then I brought in the AGT guys that create all these wonderful video packages for all the acts. They helped us decide what camera system would work best with the wall so we got a RED KOMODO because it has a global shutter so it captures everything on the wall perfectly.

And I had the DP from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, my man Rick Page, come down and he was like, “Terry, do you know what you can do in this thing?” And I was like tell me, tell me!

We also hooked up with Stargate [Studios], which is in South Pasadena. Sam Nicholson, a leader in virtual production, came by and audited our studio. He’s been pivotal in coming through and helping us build this studio. Right now we’re about to get all our volumetric lighting, which is lighting that attaches to the ceiling that changes color to the background. So let’s say you’re in the desert and it’s a hot day, that same sun will play against the volumetric lighting in that color, which will be indistinguishable from you being in the real place. It’s unreal.

A company called AR Wall came in and created the tracking system. They have proprietary software that allows the camera to move perspectives inside of every environment. So when the camera moves, it looks like it’s there. I mean, the background moves. And you just go, “oh, my God, you would never know.”

I never ever thought, I know what I’m doing. We don’t even know, even now, the capabilities of what this could be. But we’re finding out day by day because the technology is changing so fast every day, and we’re ready. 

What role do you hope Amen & Amen plays in fostering the next generation of artists?

Artists have the hardest time owning their own ideas. If you write a novel, you can own it when you sell it. But if you write a script, you don’t. I’ve been on sets where the writer has never been invited to watch, which I think is a shame.

A lot of times it’s their vision but Hollywood has a way of taking things and yanking them from people and it’s lost forever. I’m not saying people are evil, but what I’m saying is that when you’re viciously competing, things get really, really weird. And artists don’t want to be a part of that. They just love to create.

Here in Amen & Amen, with this technology, people can create their own intellectual property from start to finish, at least in some sort of iteration. Let’s say you have a graphic novel. You can do it stylized. You can actually do a film.

This is going to be my big test when I start. In the fall, I plan on doing this movie I wrote in the studio to show people it can be done from the beginning to the end and you can create your own IPs, own your IPs, and if someone wants to expand it or take it, make it bigger—that’s up to you, not up to them.

You’ve played an array of characters — from Latrell Spencer in White Chicks and President Camacho in Idiocracy, to Hale Caesar in The Expendables and Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Is there anything that unites these disparate roles?

Yes. One reason why I think I’ve been able to last is that they’re all a version of me. They’re all Terry Crews. Remember, I never went to acting school and I didn’t start acting until I was 30 years old. So everything I had was just me to go off of. It may not be the studied way, but it was the way I knew to do it because I said, man, I just have to be myself. When you are yourself, the characters become alive. The truth is when you’re acting, it doesn’t really work. It looks a little “ehh.” But every character you see is really, really talking out of their own experience.

I heard that Amen & Amen created puppets based on your previous film and TV characters. Tell us about them.

I got a lot of backlash for things I said and people got really, really mean on the internet. So I created this puppet who basically represents every troll. He hates Terry Crews. He really dogs me out. All those mean tweets or mean things that people say, he’ll say to me, but he’s me. And we call him Lil Terry.

Then I created AGT Terry, who I call AG Terry. He’s my angel. He’s like, you’re the best. I love you. He cheers me on. Then I have President Camacho who deals with political things. And then I have Julius Terry from Everyone Hates Chris who kind of deals with financial stuff, like saving money. I have another puppet of my wife, who is much cuter, and there’s a puppet of my son.

We got together with a brilliant company that created these puppets that really look scary… like you touch them and it’s got skin. It’s not a Muppet. He’s like a really distorted version of me. We’re going to do a reality show with the puppets that we could do at the house. 

And actually, I really want my puppet to have his own branding deal. There are a lot of things that people may not see Terry Crews right to represent, but that the puppet Lil Terry could be perfect for. There’s some product, something somewhere, that may not be me, but the puppet Terry could work in any kind of advertising situation.

My whole philosophy has always been go ahead and try it. If you can do it, do it and see what happens. You know what’s funny? People do not remember my failures. And there were plenty of things I did that sucked, and no one ever comes up to me about those. They come up to me about things that they love. The same goes for building a studio — we’re just going. It’s totally for experimentation and freedom. I don’t need to make money. I have other things for that. This whole thing is just to try stuff. The funny thing is that you end up making money when you do that.

It feels like whoever follows you on your social channels gets to experience the genuine Terry Crews. What community or brand-building tips do you have for creators and brands, perhaps even for your son and rising star Isaiah Crews?

My biggest piece of advice is to team up. I like to share. Terry Crews by himself? Ehh. But me in an ensemble—wonderful. I’ve always done better working with other people. All the way down to a 30-second TikTok. I teamed up with Michael Le and his little brother Jonathan, and we did a TikTok that went so viral. It’s almost at 100 million views.

The team up is everything. Like when Supreme does a new backpack with another company, you know what I mean? I’ll never forget when Dior did the Air Jordan shoe.

That’s me. I want people to go, oh, man, he would be great with so and so. And I have to say this, too, because I worked with Ayzenberg on my Crackdown 3 deal and it was so great. Right now, Dave Batista is trying to do Gears of War and he’s always brought me up. I told him I would love to do this with you. So I’m putting that energy out in the universe. Because my thing is you’re much, much stronger when you team up. And that’s the title of my wife and I, our book, Stronger Together.

Do you have a dream brand partner?

Old Spice was iconic. You can’t really beat it. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t even think that relationship will ever be surpassed. You can get as good but Old Spice, man, those guys, it was incredible. I also did a Nike campaign before the Old Spice stuff. I would love to regroup with Nike or another fitness brand like Adidas. I said this to David [Rielly]—I don’t mind selling. Terry Crews is for sale. That’s why I pop my pecs. But what I’m selling is health, wealth, and love. That’s the Terry Crews brand all the way.

When I say wealth, it doesn’t mean being richer than anybody. It’s about having wealth through your experiences. Living life to the fullest and doing things all the way makes you wealthy. Health being I love fitness. I love being in shape. I love the fact that I’m 52 and have the energy to hang out with the 25-year-olds. The third thing is love, and that we all truly have to love each other. Love is literally the energy of the universe. It makes your world operate. Once you find out what it is and who it is you love, now you know your purpose.

You have dozens of brand deals and commercials under your belt—have you noticed one factor that sets successful creative apart from not-so-successful creative?

The story is paramount. I am really good friends with Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Those guys did The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. They’re amazing. They actually directed the pilot for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Oh, and they are story mavens.

The creatives who know how to tie in a story and make you care, they continue forever. Look at James Cameron, from Terminator to Aliens all the way to Avatar. The story is so big, every time those movies are on I have to watch.

Even in advertising, what’s so amazing is that they know the brand story and they’re able to tell it so that you can get it. I’ve never seen it fail. Where I’ve seen creatives fail all the time is when they make you look at bells and whistles. Like this looks like a commercial, but it’s basically a rip-off of everything people have ever done.

When do you plan to officially open Amen & Amen?

I would say we’re about a month away. I’m getting a star on the Walk of Fame on July 30th, which is my birthday, and July 29th is actually my anniversary. So it’s a big, big week. We’re going to have a huge party for about 200 people at the studio as our giant summertime coming out, and I call it “My Love Letter to Pasadena.” We knew in July the world should be pretty much open. We are requiring that our guests be vaccinated.

We are going to be very, very picky about who gets a chance to be here because the technology is so good and it’s also very, very delicate. Right now, though, I do want it to be a total experimental place. There are certain people that I said, “just come here and experiment.” One of the organizations I want to come and just experiment any time they want is Ayzenberg.

You’ve built a custom gaming PC with your son. You and your wife recently launched your audiobook Stronger Together. You’re about to open Amen & Amen. You’re back as the host of America’s Got Talent. You even have your own cryptocurrency now. The list goes on. What venture or medium are you eyeing next?

I want to own a farm. There’s some property I’m looking at where my grandmother lives in Edison, Georgia. One thing I got from the quarantine is that I need outdoor spaces. I thought I liked football, but what I really liked was playing outside with my friends. I went to Iceland with Bear Grylls and had the time of my life because we were outdoors, and I realized I need more of that. A farm would give me that. It would give me this connection to the Earth, where I could just be out there tilling the ground, watching something grow, and taking it from the seedling all the way to my table. That would be hot. That’s hot!

a.network’s CFO On The Company’s Expansion Plans Ahead Of IPO

We’re proud to say that by 2022, a.network will be a publicly traded company. A company comprising great teams, great businesses and great operators. Under my purview as chief financial officer, there are two requisites for this monumental goal: vision and collaboration.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the physical workplace, so too did it shift our outlook on how we work with others. The metrics and the avenues through which we collaborate have become hybridized, and so far it seems to be working out well. Where it was once the case that merging or partnering companies required the sharing of physical space, there are now systems in place that eliminate that proximity requirement. 

a.network embodies the next phase in the evolution of the workforce and workplace given all our operations are rooted in collaboration—whether that collaboration happens in the physical, hybridized or digital space, it really doesn’t matter. What truly matters is that in the last 18 months, we’ve learned what it truly means to collaborate. Now we’re ready to implement that knowledge into a workable solution for growth.

It’s more clear to me now than ever that guidance and collective intelligence is far more important to smaller agencies who’ve potentially been jolted by the effects of the global lockdown and its aftermath. What a.network can provide those companies is the opportunity to exist as a single or limited-discipline company while operating within our multidisciplinary network.

There’s strength in numbers. Those who were caught off guard or were not in the best position to service sustainably or even better during the pandemic, a.network is the opportunity to shed that inability, thus future-proofing itself against the possibility of another global fallout. Just look at the defining features of companies that were successful in the post-pandemic world: solid infrastructure, great talent and financial backing—three components, along with collaboration and diversity, that a.network can offer. This realization and our plan for implementing it as part of our road to an IPO is primarily exciting for like-minded companies for the three following reasons.


Infrastructure

In order to have a successful and scalable company, the infrastructure must be conducive to sustainability and growth. a.network has been investing in and working on its IT, HR and financial infrastructure for the last 10 years or more, and really intensively for the last six years.

Companies interested in coming under the a.network umbrella are already successful, but they may just be starting out, they may be growing faster than they can keep up with and may need help with their infrastructure. Or they may not have the financial backing to invest hard dollars into infrastructure.

We’ve been fine-tuning our systems, not for the purpose of sustainability as we had when we first began, but for the purpose of scalability and adaptability. This means once the onboarding phase is complete, an incoming company will instantly be ready for take-off.


Value

The second element of interest to incoming companies is the way a.network values businesses within our infrastructure. a.network provides the technology and the SAAS platform that network companies can bolt onto their name, thus increasing their valuation. Once they’re through the door, we provide them the technologies and data that will directly improve both their top and bottom line.

As an example, let’s say a service company is interested in joining a.network and their valuation is six times its earnings. Not a bad business to be in. But as soon as that company has the access and ability to add technology and scalable infrastructures into their business model, the multiplier by which they’re judged on Wall Street is taken to new heights. 

That service company’s valuation may now be 10, 15 or 20 times its earnings.

In essence, by joining a.network, what was once a relatively successful service provider is now a very successful technology and brand accelerator, in addition to a service provider. How do we know this? Because we did it. a.network has evolved its business model over time from a pure advertising agency and consulting model to a technology and data-first digital marketing business.


Brick & Mortar

The last element is really two – revenue and operations. As a part of the network, we’d be able to service more revenue for incoming companies, and here’s a summation of how it works. The premise of our “Listen. Create. Share.” model is that no matter which door a company enters through, as a part of the network construct, we’re able to sell more in the other two doors. This is particularly intriguing to companies who’ve become successful for finding their niche market and sticking to it. Their particular discipline and how they operate within it is a part of their secret sauce.

a.network allows them to carry on with that vision while we offer the other two services, thus rounding out the network company and even insuring it against unforeseen disruptions to their business model. Needless to say, rounding out the services a particular company offers its clients will have a direct dollar impact on its revenue and growth.

The second portion of this is simple: operation. In financial terms, this translates into better profit margins. How am I able to make this kind of claim? Ayzenberg has been operating within a.network for the last 10 or so years. We’ve gone through the journey of building infrastructure, investing in technology, valuing technology, creating and implementing the SAAS platform and learning how to service more revenue for our businesses with a better bottom line. None of these feats came overnight. Our hope for a.network is that once a company comes on board, it won’t take them five, six, or 10 years to get to where we’re at today.

Once we really start approaching IPO, we’ll have an infinitely better story to tell because we’re valued at a completely different multiplier. And that’s one of the final elements that makes a.network appealing to companies. As a result, we anticipate an IPO launching within the next two to three years.

And we’re taking a.network participants with us. The forward-focused companies we partner with will receive a multiple-fold lift on their valuation—a result that would otherwise only be possible with an immense amount of time, investment and trial and error. What I know for sure, given that we’ve already gone through the process, is that those within the a.network will get to that greater valuation faster with us than without us.

The time has come for us to propel ourselves into the future together. We’re looking for great businesses and operators with a vision to get there faster with our help and together rather than on their own.