RevThinking™

"'These are the places the growth is going to be and it's not the traditional cable networks anymore so now I need to pivot my business and talking to these people about how I can help them meet their business goals." – Michael Smith In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, Joel Pilger speaks with Michael Smith formerly with Scripps and now independent consultant. He is a recognized thought leader in OTT streaming, known for providing strategic vision and inspirational, collaborative leadership in the development and launch of video content and brands. Michael shares his insights on what's going on in the world of online, streaming and TV and how that impacts you as an agency owner or studio that produces content in those spaces. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

RevThought episode 005, our newest show on the RevThinking podcast: snackable conversations between Joel Pilger, Tim Thompson, and impromptu guests. Our topic is “Marketing is not for quitters." --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

"Oh man everyone's so happy here it's such a cool place to work; but when push came to shove and hard decisions had to be made, that culture exploded." – David Schwarz In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, David Schwarz, at HUSH. n running your business, did you notice that when you started your company, it was all about marketing and growing your business? Then as you move into the later seasons, you start recognizing, "I've got a big need that's different than clients, it's resources!" Then, the journey goes even beyond that. The shift continues as finding, vetting, and growing talent inside your company becomes even more important than the clients themselves. If this sounds strange, tune into this week's podcast with David Schwarz.David is the principal owner/co-founder at HUSH based in New York, where they perfect 'concept-driven experience design.'

RevThought episode 004, our newest show on the RevThinking podcast: snackable conversations between Joel Pilger, Tim Thompson, and impromptu guests. Our topic is “Profit vs. Margin.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

"If you can't get me in the first two seconds, I'm just going to tap out!" – Rita Drucker, Snapchat In our third annual PromaxBDA Roundtable Podcast, we have a conversation with two amazing guests: Andrew Rosen and Rita Drucker. The topic of this years roundtable podcast is a little different, the focus being on content and how the changes in the content landscape are driving the industry in new directions creating disruptions but also giving rise to new opportunities. The guests are, Andrew Rosen founder of PARQOR and Rita Drucker head of premium content solutions at Snapchat.

RevThought episode 003, our newest show on the RevThinking podcast: snackable conversations between Joel Pilger, Tim Thompson, and impromptu guests. Our topic is “Reactive vs. Proactive.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

“We only know the answers because we are looking for those questions with you.” – Tim Thompson Now for something completely different: in this episode, RevThink client Marcel Ziul, Creative Director / Founder at STATE Design, takes over the RevThinking podcast. Ever brash, bold, and blunt, Marcel turns the tables on RevThink in a candid conversation exploring the why, how, and what of RevThink does in the world in its work with owners of creative firms. Curiously, Marcel even challenges the term, "consultants." RevThink may never be the same.

"One of the great things about being a creative in the twenty first century is that most things are being done already. There's a certain way of doing things, and once you understand the codes and conventions, then you can gain great traction by doing the opposite." – Richard Holman In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, Richard Holman on the topic of Creativity, Love, and the Power of Ideas.If you are a creative and you get stuck coming up with great ideas, what do you do? You know great ideas are out there, but where do you find them? What about the art of a beautiful pitch? What makes a pitch more beautiful or creative than the next one? What about the power of pictures or the power of words? These are some of the topics Richard lives and breathes.

"When I came in, narratives were rousing battle poems that got lost in a PowerPoint deck that just got filed away. But I think right now and what we are trying to do is to be able to translate that into things that can be experienced by more people. " – Matt TaylorIn this episode of the RevThinking podcast, Matt Taylor at Deloitte Digital. Unless your head has been in the sand these last few years, you know that these big agencies have been invading the turf normally reserved for the big advertising and marketing agencies. So what's changing? Matt just so happens to be director of experience design at Deloitte Digital in Sydney, Australia. Plus, he also ran his own motion design studio years ago before it was acquired by Deloitte.

Introducing RevThoughts, our newest show on the RevThinking podcast: snackable conversations between RevThink Consultants and impromptu guests. Our first topic is “Marketing Is Not A Website.”

RevThought episode 002, our newest show on the RevThinking podcast: snackable conversations between Joel Pilger, Tim Thompson, and impromptu guests. Our first topic is “Wishing and Snapchatting.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

"We all didn’t necessarily get into this to only do client work… A graphic designer didn’t start drawing at 5 years old and love that for their entire childhood… to just sit around and go, ‘Why didn’t you pick me? Why didn’t you pick me?’ Like, make something. It doesn’t have to be in the industry... That’s my argument. Don’t make stuff for the industry. The industry doesn’t care.” – Dallas TaylorIn our ongoing Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, we interview inspiring creative entrepreneurs to learn about their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and commerce.In this episode, Dallas Taylor, Owner at Defacto Sound,discusses his journey out of the "pick me" mentality and the surprise popularity of his podcast Twenty Thousand hertz.

"We go through that creation process, we look at what's there...so we know exactly what's going on. We know the trends, we know what works, we know what doesn't work, and we know what brand is doing what." – Yann LhommeIn this episode in our Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, Yann Lhomme, CEO and founder of Thinkmojo. In our ongoing Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, we interview inspiring creative entrepreneurs to learn about their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and commerce.

"The question I really wish they would ask is, "Should I even charge by the hour?" To me it's like a collective hallucination that this is the way professional services are bought and sold." – Jonathan Stark In this episode of the Revthinking podcast, Jonathan Stark speaks about eradicating hourly billing, once and for all. The issue with hourly billing, and what is it about charging by the hour (and structuring your creative business accordingly) that is so harmful.

"What is it that makes you as the brief writer, what bit of yourself do you put into? Because otherwise it's just a flat piece of paper that could have been written by a robot." – Tim Hughes the Brief DoctorIn this episode in our the Revthinking podcast, Tim Hughes, the Brief Doctor discusses the rising importance of this little-understood thing known in our industry as “the creative brief.” As well as tackle questions like “When a creative brief is rescued from mediocrity, what is now possible?”

"So there's an underlying theme here to all of this: I've just given up on caring about looking stupid and/or failing...I have no qualms trying and then adjusting." – PJ Richardson. In this episode of our Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, we speak with PJ Richardson of Creative Studio Laundry.In our ongoing Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, we interview inspiring creative entrepreneurs to learn about their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and commerce.

"Coming up with the best solution for the visual problem is always going to be your best bet, and if you lose the job…you lost it because the other company thought through the solution in a much different way." – Carolyn HillAs President at Carolyn Reps, Carolyn and her team are experts at solving tough problems to win top projects for production companies and studios. Since 2001, her clients have been awarded well over $100 MM in projects, including campaigns for United Airlines / Olympics, Dunkin’ Donuts, Abilify, the Nasonex “Bee,” Spiriva “Rosie the Elephant,” Carrabba’s, and many more. Carolyn has represented such notable production companies and studios as Bark Bark, Blind, Curious Pictures, Derby Content, Noble Animation, Pogo Pictures, Production Service Network (PSN), Saville Productions, and Sound Lounge. Love what Carolyn has to say? LISTEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE END. Carolyn and I brainstorm. Let me know if you would like to join Carolyn and me for a one-day event to learn all of her sales mojo! — What does a rep do… really? — How has the rep business model evolved over the past decade? — Why does every studio or production company owner think, “We need a rep!” — Why is that usually a bad idea? — What are the top sales best practices that every studio / prodco ought to know? — What’s next for you?

"One of the things I learned in building Bark Bark was that the more specialized we could be, the more successful we were going to be." – Brian Tolleson In this episode in our Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, Brian Tolleson of creative studio Bark Bark. In our ongoing Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, we interview inspiring creative entrepreneurs to learn about their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and commerce.

"I look at the digital video marketplace through the supply chain and the thing that I think about that I think is missing in all of digital media publications, is writing from the perspective of, "Okay something happened, why is it worth my time?" – Andrew RosenIn episode 59 of the RevThinking Podcast Tim Thompson sits down with Andrew Rosen of PARQOR to discuss seismic shifts that they have witnessed in the industry in the last few years.To learn more, see parqor.com as well as revthink.com

"There's no cause without capital and capital is what fuels it." - Chris DoIn this episode in our Profile of the Creative Entrepreneur series, Chris Do at Blind and The Futur in our series focused on inspired creative entrepreneurs and their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and commerce.

"The seven ingredients are a common understanding, from consultant to client, on where you are and what kind of work you want to do." – Tim Thompsonn In this initial episode in our new 7 Ingredients podcast series, Tim Thompson shares the 2 A.M. issues every owner faces. In this series we will explore the seven ingredients that make up every creative firm, each with its corresponding goals, strategies, routines as well as the myriad connections between them.

“I just want to help people. So we find problems and tie you guys in and we start figuring it out.” – Tim Thompson In Episode 55 of the RevThinking podcast, the RevThink team is gathered together for avocado toast and a discussion around, Who in the world is RevThink? What do we do? How do we work? Who do we work for? And most importantly, what’s our mission? We say we help creative entrepreneurs run a thriving creative business, but what does that mean and what does that really look like?

“Whenever I start getting good at something I completely turn the other direction and somewhere else, and that’s because I don’t want to fit into a formula, I want to fit into happiness.” - Gmunk Designer, Director –– Galactic Crusader. In episode 54 of the RevThinking podcast, Tim Thompson sits down with Gmunk – best known for his work on Tron Legacy and Oblivion – and they discuss the topics of business, design, creativity, and happiness.

“As I got older, less and less of my friends were sticking around; it was like they couldn’t retain their career in such a way that they could make a living doing it.” - Tim Thompson In episode 53 of the RevThinking podcast, Tim Thompson is the guest on Christina Mendonsa's A Fresh Agenda podcast. The two discuss Tim’s Four Stages of the Creative Career: how it works, why it's relevant, and what you should do about it if you are a creative entrepreneur navigating your way through the industry.

“When I made my first documentary I didn’t know I was making content… I just wanted to make it.” - Neil Berkley In episode 51 of the RevThinking podcast, Neil Berkeley at Future You Media discussing the transition creative entrepreneurs dream about: moving into content production. If you run a studio, agency, or production company, you probably desire to produce long-form stories, films, and the like. You are not alone. There’s just something about the heart of the creative entrepreneur that dreams of telling the stories that matter most to them, and getting well paid for it. But few actually do it. Learn how Neil – while working as a successful commercial and promo director running his commercial production company Brkly – made the move into content… without even realizing it. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

“Look around and see what opportunities there are, and then learn about it; educate yourself. The only risk in life is for the uneducated.” - Tim Thompson In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, we listen in on a talk Tim Thompson delivered at PromaxBDA in New York on the Four Stages of a Creative Career.In this talk Tim opens your mind to what’s possible when you start looking at the totality of a creative career. Most of us start out as an artist, or an employee somewhere, or a freelancer; then we start our business. And then if we get to that point where we have people working for us and our name is on the door – and we’re making a lot of money – we think we’ve arrived. We’ve reached the pinnacle. Actually, there’s a lot more out there and this is what Tim reveals. It’s ultimately an encouragement for you to not sell you and your career short. There is much more that awaits.Find out more about how RevThink can help your business thrive: https://revthink.com/Join our community of 500+ creative entrepreneurs: https://revthink.com/community/

“That was one of those moments when I was thought okay, there might be more to pitching than just coming up with a great idea, having a great pitch deck, and doing a stunning presentation in front of the clients.” - Marko PfannIn this episode of the RevThinking podcast, Marko Pfann - RevThink's new European based consultant out of Munich Germany, discusses a variety of topics including Marko's journey in the industry and how he became a consultant, how client perceptions can affect your success in the industry, and how it is your job to win the client not the pitch.

"Data can't be everything and it's not predictive of future habits; it shows you where people have been but it doesn't show you where people are going." – Steve Viola, FX Networks In our second annual PromaxBDA Roundtable Podcast, RevThinkers have a conversation with four amazing guests: Chuck Carey, Marcel Ziul, Meghan Kirsch, and Steve Viola. First off we would like to give a big shout out to Kristen Huffines at Aspire Artist Agency. She sponsored this event and graciously let us use her presidential suit in New York city at the Hilton Midtown Hotel. The topic of this years roundtable podcast is, "We've got Data so who needs creative?" The guests are, Chuck Carey a Creative Entrepreneur and one of the founders & partners at Troika, Marcel Ziul a Creative Director & Founder of State Design, Meghan Kirsch SVP of Marketing & Creative at Viceland, and Steve Viola the SVP of Design at FX networks.

“By paying some attention to your pricing strategy, it’s actually the easiest way to dramatically increase your profits. There’s really nothing else you can do that is so simple to drive bottom-line performance.” - Blair EnnsIn episode 47 of the RevThinking podcast, Blair Enns of Win Without Pitching discusses a variety of topics including "The S Word," why weak sales is often not a sales problem (but rather a marketing problem), and how many creative entrepreneurs are addicted to the Big Reveal.Be sure to grab a copy of Blair’s latest book, "Pricing Creativity."

“I predict there is something coming. There is going to be a movement happening within our industry.” - Tim Thompson In this 45th episode of the RevThinking podcast, we talk with RevThink Owner Tim Thompson on the need to make our industry stronger. Today’s episode is a departure from the norm. Today we will explore some news and events that are changing in the industry and even coming to a tipping point. (Spoiler alert - we are doing something about it. Stay tuned till the end to hear the news.)

"There's so little connection between how creative a firm is and how successful they are as a business. If anything, there might be an inverse relationship." – David C. BakerIn this 43rd episode of the RevThinking podcast, well-known author and speaker David C. Baker on "The Business of Expertise" and more.As David says, "Entrepreneurial expert firms don’t often fail because their work isn’t good enough. It nearly always is. No, they struggle because of the quality of their business decisions."

If you were to imagine your creative firm like driving a car, you as a business owner need to be able to see what’s coming at you in real-time. You also want to know how quickly you’re burning gas, when you should accelerate, when you should change lanes, and when it’s time to hit the brakes. Fortunately, every modern car has a dashboard so the information you need is always at your fingertips.Similarly, every modern business should have one, too. Welcome to the Ingredient of Finance.As a consultant at RevThink, Jason Fletcher applies his experience in Finance to effectively translate financial complexities into simple, clear decision-making systems for creative entrepreneurs.

Jim Read is a creative director with deep experience on the TV network side as a client, as well as on the agency side as a creative leader.Jim's experience includes stints at CMT, AMC, and his current position at truTV. His agency experience includes Pearl Media, Definition 6, Eyeball, and Trailer Park.Today’s episode is an insightful peek behind the curtain to where Joel Pilger asks Jim about his experience, how creative for marketing works inside an innovative TV network, as well as a discussion about the role of of data and intuition in entertainment promotions.

In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, Michael Waldron – senior VP and creative director of art and design at Nickelodeon. Get ready to walk a mile in the shoes of a busy TV exec. You might think that someone like this just works with vendors, and the vendors do all the hard work. Michael will give you a perspective you don’t normally hear – your clients don’t normally sit down and really tell you what their world is really like and just how crazy, how nutty, how political their world can be.

In this next episode in our Profiles of the Creative Entrepreneur series, Josh Norton, owner and ECD at the NYC-based motion design studio Bigstar.In this series we are interviewing inspiring creative entrepreneurs to learn about their journey navigating the intersection of creativity and business.

To kick off off our new “Profiles of the Creative Entrepreneur” series, Tim Thompson sits down for a conversation with Ace Comic Con CEO, investor, and fine artist Gareb Shamus. Gareb shares with us his journey, his passions, and his varied interests spanning business and the arts.

This podcast is part one of a conversation with David Meltzer, Co-Founder and CEO at Sports1Marketing. David is an executive, author, and humanitarian best known for his work in the field of sports marketing. He is a featured speaker at conferences, corporate meetings, seminars, and other events along with being featured in The New York Times, Sporting News, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. At Terranea Resort in Los Angeles, RevThink’s Tim Thompson lead a Creative Entrepreneurs conference on BULLETPROOFING PROFITS. Knowing that being our topic, we recognized our audience might show up thinking we were going to talk only about money. But much to everyone’s surprise, we revealed that profits in a creative firm are not about money, but rather about CHOICES… and maintaining CONTROL of your business. In David’s talk, he provided us with break from all the talk of numbers plus a terrific dose of inspiration. Sharing his ideas from his books – one titled "Connected To Goodness" and the other titled "Compassionate Capitalism" – David’s message featured his stories of success, failure, redemption, and purpose. For more info about David Meltzer, visit www.davemeltzer.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/davecmeltzer. David’s podcast can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-playbook/id1271087930?mt=2 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

his podcast is part one of a conversation with David Meltzer, Co-Founder and CEO at Sports1Marketing. David is an executive, author, and humanitarian best known for his work in the field of sports marketing. He is a featured speaker at conferences, corporate meetings, seminars, and other events along with being featured in The New York Times, Sporting News, Fox Business, and Bloomberg.At Terranea Resort in Los Angeles, RevThink’s Tim Thompson led a Creative Entrepreneurs conference on BULLETPROOFING PROFITS. Knowing that was our topic, we recognized that our audience might have shown up thinking we were going to talk only about money. But much to everyone’s surprise, we revealed that profits in a creative firm are not about money but rather about CHOICES… and maintaining the CONTROL of your business.In David’s talk, he provided us with break from all the talk of numbers plus a terrific dose of inspiration. Sharing his ideas from his books – one titled "Connected To Goodness" and the other titled "Compassionate Capitalism" – David’s message featured his stories of success, failure, redemption, and purpose.For more info about David Meltzer, visit www.davemeltzer.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/davecmeltzer. David’s podcast can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-playbook/id1271087930?mt=2

RevThink consultant debriefs the COLLIDER Conference in Chișinău, Moldova in addition to sharing his thoughts on THE 5 SHIFTS that evolving creative firms must make to reach the next level. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

This episode of the RevThinking podcast is a departure from the norm. Paige Albiniak from the PromaxBDA DailyBrief podcast interviews Revthink on the topic of Creative Entrepreneurs and their upcoming conference “Bulletproofing Profits” on October 27th at Terranea resort in Los Angeles.

In this episode of the RevThinking podcast, we talks with Lorey Zlotnick, consultant at Zequity Marketing, about what separates good agencies from great agencies: their ability to get inside their clients’ minds… and their brands.Having spent her career on the client side working for companies such as NFL Media, FOX Sports, Bravo, and Disney, Lorey now consults with agencies on how to better manage their relationships with their clients and with their client's brands.

In our first annual PromaxBDA Roundtable Podcast, Tim Thompson has a conversation with five amazing guests: Alberto Scirocco, Josh Norton, PJ Richardson, Lorey Zlotnick and Patalia Tate.

Patrick Jager is a content consultant at RevThink. In this episode, Patrick talks about getting into Content development. Patrick has been in the content game for decades and shares his thoughts on how the marketplace is shifting and what that means for small studios looking at getting into content development. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

Steve Kazanjian is President & CEO at PromaxBDA, the global community of marketers and creatives in the media & entertainment industry.Steve has a heart for the creative agencies. On the RevThinking podcast, we interview Steve to hear how Creative Entrepreneurs is fulfilling his vision to more fully meet the needs of agency leaders and their businesses.

When it comes to success, many want to know the formula. RevThink Founder and Owner, Tim Thompson discusses the origins and importance Entrepreneurial Formula: Needs + Resources = Solutions. What are the origins of the formula and what does it mean to creative firms and the creative entrepreneurs who run them?

Creative Entrepreneurs, the regular gathering of agency/studio owners, consultants and guest experts to help you discover a path to actualize the future of your business. HOW IT STARTED We first lit the fire at PromaxBDA: The Conference in NYC last June with the first-ever gathering of principals to address the unique challenges that agencies face in our industry. Tim Thompson led the conversation with special guests Tricia Melton, Andy Baker, Michael Waldron, Will Travis and Gareb Shamus. Next was our one-day conference at Terranea resort in LA where we focused on the topic of Sales. RevThink spearheaded a lively day along with guest experts Robert Blatchford and Bill Sewell. THE NEXT EVENT: FEBRUARY 22, 2017 IN NYC Now we are heading back to NYC. Join us for this upcoming event where guest experts Will Travis and John Young will join us to focus on the topic of Marketing and Positioning at your creative agency. Creative Entrepreneurs is partnership of RevThink and PromaxBDA. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/revthinking/support

RevThink owner Tim Thompson continues our series "The Six Reports Every Studio Should Be Running." In this episode, Tim Thompson discusses The Production Rollup. What does a weekly production report – and corresponding meeting – look like at a motion design and/or production studio? The conversation also gets into the critical role that Production – and Producers – play inside every one of our creative firms.

Maria Rapetskaya is Creative Director and Founder at Undefined Creative in NYC. After writing a popular article entitled "Why Small Studios Struggle," We interview Maria in this episode on the contrarian topic of “Why Small Studios Rule.”If you run a motion design or production studio, do you live to work? Or do you work to live? Put another way, does your business run your life, or does your business support your life?

Robert Blatchford is a brand strategist and management consultant at Makebrave. In this episode, we interview Robert to get a peek inside the mind of this business development innovator. Having led business development at notable creative agencies Troika and LoyalKaspar, Robert offers us a rare and valuable perspective.

Tim Thompson is the founder and Chief Revolution Thinker at RevThink. In this episode, Tim to shares the 6 Reports help studios large and small solve issues proactively. Listen in to discover how to create tools that are so easy, that you always have accurate information thereby providing you with time to implement solutions before problems get out of control.