Bradley Getty is a creative director, author and advertising creative who found himself as the Executive Creative Director of the NHL's New Jersey Devils for two years. His mission was to rebuild the brand to relevance in culture while properly representing its New Jersey fan base. He talks us through landing the job and application process, actionable advice when applying for jobs, the right mindset that you need to success in pro sports and some fun stores on what it's like to get face a couple of 80 mph slap shots when the real goalie doesn't show up.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here:
https://www.mtcpod.com
Like the show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps. Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!
Bradley Getty is a creative director, author and advertising creative who found himself as the Executive Creative Director of the NHL's New Jersey Devils for two years. His mission was to rebuild the brand to relevance in culture while properly representing its New Jersey fan base. He talks us through landing the job and application process, actionable advice when applying for jobs, the right mindset that you need to success in pro sports and some fun stores on what it's like to get face a couple of 80 mph slap shots when the real goalie doesn't show up.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here:
https://www.mtcpod.com
Like the show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps. Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!
Ep 1 - Bradley Getty (NJ Devils)
Christian Parsons: [00:00:00]Coming up on Make The Cut.
Bradley Getty: Working in sports is going to be the hardest grind that you've ever done your entire life. And if you go into it thinking like this is my job, I do this. And this is all I do. Like you've got the wrong attitude.
Christian Parsons: Welcome to the show. I'm Christian Parsons. On Make The Cut , we deconstruct the career paths, work lessons and practical advice of the people who have built successful careers on the business side of pro sports from the NHL to the NBA, from football to soccer.
These are the stories of people who make it happen off the field, off the ice and off the court.
Our goal is for you - our beautiful listener - to leave with a better knowledge of what it's like to work in the world of pro sports. Different jobs that you didn't know existed and actionable steps to help you get your next job in sports. Today, we'll be talking with Bradley Getty. [00:01:00] Brad is a copywriter author, and advertising creative who found himself as the executive creative director of the New Jersey devils.
His mission was to rebuild the image of the team to represent its New Jersey fan base and make it relevant and culture with streetwear collaborations, viral stunts and good old fashioned branding. We actually knew each other from working in advertising together. And he was one of the first people that I know to have successfully broken into the world of sports from the outside. Let's jump right in to this conversation with Brad Getty.
Thanks for joining me, Brad. My goal here is really to understand your journey, to unpack what you've done how you got to be an executive creative director at the New Jersey devils. You know, you come from a background of advertising.
That's what you went to school for. You dropped into sports for about two years and then left back to advertising. So you have a unique perspective versus someone who comes up and spends their whole career in pro sports. Let's just start from the beginning , why did you end up working in pro sports?
Is it something that was [00:02:00] intentional, that you always had your eye on or something that you just kind of stumbled into?
Bradley Getty: I would like to say I'm pretty exceptionally lucky, you know, you find yourself in the right place at the right time because of your own hard work and , and that's sort of what got me there. I mean, one of the unique things in my career is I've always loved sports.
I grew up playing hockey, so it was it was something that I've always wanted to do. Um, I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know there was a path to it. I didn't, I mean, frankly, I didn't know any of that. So on the advertising side, you know, I ended up working with a bunch of sports brands, which really sort of helped , you know, create my, my vision of how I think sports should be marketed and advertised and, and, and, you know, sort of put together. And through that experience, that was how I actually, I ended up getting tapped and, um, pulled into the, the world of, professional sports. It was, it was [00:03:00] luck. I mean, right place, right time, know the right people, get your hand sorted and that's not an uncommon or an un-unique thing to have happened.
I mean, sports is very hard to get into. I mean, and if you think you've got a position that's open in sports, there's a hundred or a thousand of you that are looking online at the exact same position. So, it's not necessarily about, you know, sometimes being the most qualified, you know, the, the best candidate, sometimes it's just who, you know, and I think that that is something that, uh, sports sort of has a, an insiders, a way of allowing people into it.
And I was fortunate enough to be allowed into, into that world or brought into it being an outsider. And that's why you see so many people rise up through the ranks of it.
Christian Parsons: You have to be qualified, but a lot of it's a little bit of your network and who, you know, you mentioned being an outsider in advertising. How did you build that network? Or how did you create that connection to opened [00:04:00] that first door for you?
Bradley Getty: You know, I, I firmly believe that like in life there's Do good. Be good. Be a good person. Like don't burn, don't burn bridges. Don't don't screw people over. Um, the world, especially the, the working world is small and getting smaller. I mean, I can't even tell you how many times I've been on a phone call and I'm like, Oh, Hey, you know, so-and-so like you work there.
Do you know them? So, you know, if you're an asshole, Like, you know, pardon my French, like you're going to, and then you're going to get that reputation. So the one thing that you want protect the most is like, be a good person, do the right thing by people. Treat everyone. Well, because you never know when down the line somebody might go, oh, you know what I mean?
It's what happened to me. Like Brad's a goalie. He had a, you know, a picture of Martin Brodeur up on his wall through his entire childhood. You know, he's an [00:05:00] advertising, he's a copywriter, but he's a sports guy. I happened to know him from back in the day. I trust him, you know, maybe just chat with them. And that was how I got in.
And it was simply because somebody, you know, my old mentor knew me, knew about me, knew my passions, thought I was a good guy and put me forward. So I think that every person that you come in contact with, if you do right by them, you never know where they'll about. You'll never know where you end up and through the process of that, you might find your way into a position where you might, you might work in pro sports.
You might work somewhere else, but, um, it, the doors will open for you.
Christian Parsons: Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, it sounds like just don't be an asshole. Be nice to people and then, uh, you know, be, be responsible enough to, to build equity throughout your career and have people vouch for you. Right.
You know, not everybody's gonna know what an executive creative director for a NHL team like the New Jersey devils is and what they do.
Sometimes you were wiping ketchup off the floor. Sometimes you were [00:06:00] doing a big production shoot. what exactly does a, an ECD or an executive creative director for the New Jersey devils to do.
Bradley Getty: That's a fun loaded question you ask. Um, no, I mean, again, like you want to say, like, I can throw the table stakes. It would be all branded communications content. And marketing for a team, including across digital and social media, you'd help develop the assets. You'd run a small team of designers and copywriters who helped deliver all of those, you know, print, collateral sales, materials, supporting, you know, partnerships, membership, and, you know, uh, above and below the line advertising, including experiential. And in game experience. So, you know, helping support the, that would be the traditional viewpoint of what your purview would be and what you'd all you work for, all those different [00:07:00] departments and help support them.
But I think that again, when you decide though that perspective of saying like, Oh, we work for as a service to all these other departments, And you start, stop thinking of it as a, a siloed and working for, but instead working with suddenly you can start to influence an impact, uh, what, what gets done, and then suddenly your role is, you know, it's not about just making stuff, but it's like, well, how are we going to evolve the arena? How are we going to bring new fans into it? How are we like, you know, what events can we create? Uh, can we create our own merchandise? Can we, you know, find a new space in our arena and actually turn transform it into something. And when you start to change that, that perspective of an ECD or creative team being in service to the rest of the organization into a proactive [00:08:00] thing, I mean, you're everything like you're the team. That works, you know, with the team and for the arena. Um, and you do everything. So I always say like, whenever, whenever I was like, what are you doing? I'm like, we just, we do everything the worst. Like none of them, like, what do you do? I'm like, well, you know, like, If in the middle of a game, the music's blasting too much.
Like why I go up in there? And I, you know, we turned, we have them turn the music down. We work on the lighting. We work on, you know, uh, in game promotions. I mean, it's, it really is one of those unique roles where. Every job is, can be your job. And that's, what's really fun about being in the creative department, um, or on a marketing team in a sports organization is you're you really have an ability to impact every aspect of everything.
And if you take that on, I mean, the, the opportunity is almost that you have things you can achieve.
Christian Parsons: Yeah. I mean, just from, just from [00:09:00] knowing you, the things that we've talked about before this, it sounds like you had designed a locker room. Right. Get the players excited and hyped up. you've worked in sneaker collaborations, and starter jacket, collaborations and merchandise collaborations you worked to, of course do the overall branding and campaign.
So pretty much anything out there for that couple of year periods that you were in New Jersey had your fingerprints on it, which is pretty, pretty insane to talk about or
Bradley Getty: It was in. It was, it was really, I mean, we also launched like a, you know, there, the East coast home of the, you know, the Grammy museum experience, uh, we launched and brought that into, uh, Newark, New Jersey, which everyone thought we'd go to New York. I mean, so everything from like, you know, we were filming interactive exhibits for the museum, with our internal content team.
And then yeah, the year point they'd be going back and. You know, being like, cool. So the locker room graphics are going to go here [00:10:00] and then like going upstairs and being like, Oh, we've got to completely rebuild this 40,000 square foot club space for new season ticket members. And, you know, we want to hang like kayaks from the ceilings and make it look like a Jeep themed experience.
That's outdoors in the middle of a hockey arena. Um, you know, It was, it was a wild adventure, but I think that was also the funding to your point earlier. Um, because I didn't, I didn't know better. I wasn't like broken when I was like, yeah, like it's, it's like a Jeep club, so it should look like the outdoors.
And they were like, but, but no, we can never, I'm like, why can't we, like, we just throw some rocks up on the wall, like Briggs and bushes it. And everyone's like this guy he's insane. So
Christian Parsons: Where are we going find bushes in the middle of Newark, Brad?
Bradley Getty: Yeah. So I think that again, that's where the outsider's perspective comes up. Cause you, you don't [00:11:00] see it in the traditional sense. You see it for, for what it could be and that's, that's where it gets fun.
Christian Parsons: Yeah, absolutely. You know, having an outside perspective or, or having that. vision that you don't know what's possible. So you don't know what's impossible, right? You haven't heard no a million times. So you keep trying and you keep trying and you're like, this seems like a good idea, and then you're able to make it happen.
That's awesome.
Bradley Getty: Exactly. And sometimes you fail massively. I, you gotta, you gotta get the other side of the coin, man. There were a lot of times that, uh, you know, I was face down in the, catch-up not cleaning it up if you know what I mean. Like I, I had some, I will admit that there were, there's a learning curve, but I think that with that learning curve, you've got to stay humble and.
And you keep grinding it out and then you, you figure out your wins. But, um, but yeah, there is the other side of it, which you do fail
Christian Parsons: wait, so you can't open a door like that and not tell me at least one story on that. So what, w what would you say was one of the biggest things that you like [00:12:00] swinging a miss? You tried, and it just didn't work out for whatever reason.
Bradley Getty: Oh man. So. I don't know if I would deem it a failure as it was just, I almost gave me a heart attack every week. Like we launched the partnership with packer.
Christian Parsons: Sorry, packer shoes is a local streetwear and sneaker store. Right?
Bradley Getty: Yeah. Yeah It was supposed to be limited edition stuff that was all run out of their store. And then there was going to be another line that was designed by them, but not the exact same, that would be sold by her Lina.
. And it was always interesting because like suddenly all of their group gear that was supposed to be exclusive to them would just start showing up randomly in our store and they're like, what's going on? And so it turned out that starter had just done one line and it was, they were just pushing it out to everyone.
And [00:13:00] so they thought that they were going to have the exclusive. I thought they were going to have the exclusive, but starter was selling it everywhere and it was a slightly stressed. So every time we would have a drop, it became contentious going to need, as you know, like you're. Your internal arena, vendor wants to have all of the support and all of the like hype and promotion.
And I'm trying to like promote a partner who helped us design and create this entire thing. So it was this balancing act of trying to make sure that everyone was happy with the promotion that they were getting at all times. And everyone was just like, they're like, this is your baby. Like you have listen.
There was times where I almost had a heart attack just trying to get some of the LA times like pushed out. And ultimately it was massively successful. It sold out like across the board with the main jackets that we did. But I would say from a, a personal growth and project [00:14:00] management and key stakeholder involvement.
Um, that was where I failed and it was a, a massive learning curve for me. And then one of the other learning curves is always read the contracts extremely well to make sure that everyone agrees on where product is going and who's promoting it. So again, that's the stuff in advertising. You're like, Oh, like, like, yeah, we're just going to do this cool thing.
Christian Parsons: absolutely. Yeah.
Bradley Getty: it's detailed.
Christian Parsons: Absolutely. But that's a mistake that you make and you don't make again, right. When the, when the learning is so painful and the expectations are high and you're trying not to disappoint people. That's, that's, that's, uh, that's, that's a tough one. And, and it's also like where your revenue hat comes back on, right?
Because you're obviously not obviously for people who don't work in sports, you're going to make more money selling it in your own team store than you are. Like having a licensee or somebody else, um, take 20 points or 40 points on it. Right. So
Bradley Getty: exactly. [00:15:00] And that was the main thing that we looked at packer was the reason why we wanted to do the collaboration with them is we're slipping. Two ticket vouchers into the pockets, all the jackets that were sold out of their store, because all of their shoppers that coming in, we're not coming to our games.
So we're like, how can we get them at our games? So we need to drop something. That's cool. We need to slip them a redemption. Now they're in our database. Now they're coming out to see us. They're wearing it around town and it's changing the fan base. So it was very strategic and why we were going after that partnership and why we were trying to do what we were doing.
It was because it was about evolving the fan base. And it was about getting more people into the fan base that weren't there and that was what they have. So again, it was, you know, it's the relevance, the cultural relevance, the context of it. But then to your point, it's about trying to drive revenue.
Christian Parsons: Absolutely. I mean, it, it, it makes sense. You know, you need to, you need to keep the lights on. And , it seems like something that was smart, that made [00:16:00] strategic sense and a good experiment to , see if you can grab a new audience. That's awesome.
back it up a little bit, if you will, um, , talk me through the story of landing that role. And then also talk me through the decision-making process of okay, I'm going to move to Jersey city. From Montreal.
And I'm going to tell my wife this and I have to convince her that this is a good idea. Yeah.
Bradley Getty: You know, again, it was the, it was a long journey. I mean, I think. That's the main thing to think about is, you know, whenever you're interviewing for a position, especially in sports sports, does it notoriously doesn't move fast? Um, it's, it's a journey and you've got to, you know, especially when they're in season or whatever's going on.
I mean, it's chaotic. So I was introduced to, you know, the then COO and Daniel Cherry, the third, um, who. Him. And I started chatting and we would have, you know, I mean, [00:17:00] we went through every week, every other week, you know, three, four phone calls of just feeling each other out, like, you know, what's your leadership style, how that, you know, um, you know, what's your experiences, you know, like send me examples of your work.
Um, and just sort of like functionally a, getting to know each other. But B also like, you know, him understanding my business sense, my background and who I am and kind of, you know, my professionality that I was bringing into things. So, you know, did that for weeks. And like, uh, you know, it it's, um, I was a long, long journey.
And then, you know, you slowly, you get introduced to other key stakeholders. So, you know, I'd go in, I would have another 30 minute phone call, uh, you know, with this person, a 30 minute phone call with that person. And then another followup, call it phone call with Danielle, see how it went. And this whole time there was like, we were three wide.
So there was three of us that were interviewing for this position. And we're all going through the same. I mean, [00:18:00] I've probably went through like 20 plus phone calls and interviews before we even got to like an in-person, um, meeting because I was remote and then they, they flew me in for, uh, it was like a two day sprint. And in that two day sprint, it was, you know, five hours, two days back to back of interviewing with all the VPs, all the C-suite, the presidents, everyone, and you just sit down and you have conversations and you get to know these people and it's about, you know, uh, establishing that relationship and, and, you know, being able to share your story and. It was, it was a very, very long journey. And I'm very thankful that like, um, you know, I, I, I made the cut obviously, and I was also very fortunate that I think like my wife immediately looked at me when I was like, I got the job. She was like, Cool. We're moving to [00:19:00] Jersey. Like without, even like, there was like no second guy.
And she was just like a hundred percent. And I think that was because they, we talked about it a lot from the beginning. I think that that's the way that, like, you know, if you're ever applying for a job, I always firmly believe, like only apply if you actually want to get it, your go a hundred percent in if you got it.
So that, that way, um, when the time does come. It's there's no questions. It's just, yeah, we're going to do this. And I think that that's where we're fortunate, but I mean, it was, I want to say it was a month and a half, two months of, of conversations. Um, getting to that point.
Christian Parsons: yeah, that's a lot of hours on the phone, right? Um,
Bradley Getty: I had so many, I ate so much lunch. You can't see the, you know, the quotation fingers I was doing, but I think everyone was like, man, Brad really likes going out for lunch and [00:20:00] eating sandwiches for an hour and a half at a time.
Christian Parsons: Meanwhile you're parked in the car or like behind somewhere, you know, in an alley trying to, to, to not have it be windy on the phone call while you're, while you're talking to perspective boss. Got it.
Bradley Getty: Yeah, exactly. It was always this strange world you live in when you're trying to interview.
Christian Parsons: Got it.
So how long were you in advertising before you moved over and, and made the leap to the New Jersey, New Jersey devils?
Bradley Getty: That is a good question.
Christian Parsons: It's math, it's math. It's not, it's actually not that
Bradley Getty: That's like it's yeah. That's you, you struck me on my weakness math. Well, it didn't go into the finance department at the devil was not recruited there. No, I want to say I was. Six or seven years in advertising post-master's degree. Um, but I had bounced my way across, like I had, [00:21:00] um, I've worked in a digital advertising shop.
I had run two blogs that had gone viral. I had published two books. I had worked with some major brands. And I sort of progressed my career, uh, extremely quickly. So it was a, you know, I worked traditional, I worked content, I worked digital and because I had a very rounded and diverse background, it allowed me to step up quicker and then make the jump over a lot faster.
So that's why, again, like six years is like uncommon to be able to step into a bigger role like that. But, um, You know, I was fortunate again, like they can't say that my time. I was very blessed to have the time that I had when I worked with the doubles.
Christian Parsons: So one of the things that I, that I picked up that you were just saying was just the diversity of experience, right? Do you think that was a big selling point when they started looking at you versus potentially other candidates?
Bradley Getty: Yeah. I think, I mean, like I'm [00:22:00] not going to pull punches, like. Working working in sports is going to be the hardest grind that you've ever done your entire life. And if you go into it thinking like this is my job, I do this. And this is all I do. Like you've got the wrong attitude. I mean, you know, there was nights where I was walking around the arena on game night in a suit cleaning catch up off the floor because I didn't want to fan the slip.
I was like, I had puck stashed in my pocket. If I saw a kid, I would hand a kid, a pock and the kid would be, uh, you know, just. Forever thankful. I mean, you know, putting wristbands on people, doing check-ins doing the grinding out of like stroll marketing campaigns, you know, doing the fun commercial shoots, developing posters, like it's not like a one silo, you know, type thing that you go into it.
I think that the more you're able to say, like I'm just willing to learn and do and do everything and understand [00:23:00] that like you can do anything and you can really expand your skillset and be open to that. That's when you really thrive in sports because the teams aren't that big, there's not enough support.
Anyone who can jump in and play any position is as powerful that team. So you got to have that mentality going into it. And I think that that was where my background paid off because I was always trying new stuff. Like I always love learning. Um, you know, I'm obsessive about trying new things and that's kind of where my experience my career came from.
And then. When I was in the team side, I just kept going with that. And it was really fun too, to be in deep water, to have, you know, never done a lot of these things before. And be challenged to learn them, grow, get good at them and then keep going. Um, but yeah, I think that's the, the main thing is just be open to, to, to do a lot of different things and, and sort of diversify yourself.
And that's how you can [00:24:00] really, really compliment a team or be valuable.
Christian Parsons: Got it. Got it. Yeah. I know. You know, speaking of that diversity, jumping into sports from advertising, writing books, having a couple of viral blogs, all of that kind of stuff. You know, what lessons or skills from advertising or writing or storytelling were you able to pour over and apply immediately to the sports world that you're like, ah, this is a gap that, that exists in traditional. NHL hockey marketing. And this is where, where I think I can make a big difference.
Bradley Getty: one of the biggest things is like sports gets stuck in its own head. Like, they're always looking at the other teams, what are these other, what's that team doing? What's this team doing? How is that team different? How can we take whatever they're doing and apply it to us. And, and they get really lost in the weeds of being in their own industry.
And I think that sometimes as an outsider, you have the power of coming in and being like, why are we doing [00:25:00] this way? And that was one of the advantages that, uh, you know, I think. I I had is like being able to take a step back and again, take that 40,000 foot view and be like, You know, no other industry does this.
Like, no. Why, why, why are we doing this? And then you can kind of ask some provocative questions, but still understand that like it's always going to be sports. Sports is very, very hard to change, but you can have these little wins, um, doing things differently. Um, you know, again, elevating a story, understanding brand at a much, much higher level.
And then being able to trickle that down instead of your brand being built and all the little micro assets that happen and ultimately giveaways the chotchkies, the theme nights, you know, all of this, you can start to influence the brand differently from the top down versus the bottom up. And I, and I think that that was a, a powerful advantage that I had.
But again, like, I will say it man advertising in [00:26:00] no way, shape or form. Truly prepares you to go client side and vice versa. Like it's, it's two different worlds. And I think that everyone should experience both of them simply because like, you know, advertising prepares you for brand messaging. But when I got to the devils, I'm sure you've experienced this too.
Like there's so much that like advertising people just don't do. That drives 90% of the revenue. And you're like, and it's like database management, database retargeting, uh, a, you know, AB testing, banner ads, like email campaigns, like all that, like grind, like little sales promotion stuff like on sale calendar, man.
Like, you don't do any of that in advertising, but all that little stuff. Can drive so much revenue on the other end of things, that advertisers just ignore. So I think being able to bring, again, that story down into those [00:27:00] elements actually helped us unlock more revenue on the other side, through a couple of promotions, which was interesting.
But again, you you're just not prepared for the day-to-day grind of being your own client. It's it's, it's an interesting beast.
Christian Parsons: it's interesting. And then the other thing that I've personally noticed moving from advertising to pro sports is just on the advertising side. You liked creative as King, right? Like you want something that gets out there and gets people attention where in most businesses. What makes money, you know, what makes money in the short term?
What makes money in the longterm? Right? And when you're talking about those, those things like your CRM strategy, your conversion strategy, all of that kind of stuff, you know, selling tickets, selling sponsorships . That's what brings into the dollars. That's what lets you afford to sign a marquee player.
For a seven year contract, right? Like that's, that's what, that's, what pays the bills. So it's, it's, it's really interesting. I want to double click on, on [00:28:00] something that, that you said a little bit earlier, you were talking about, you know, coming in and having a new perspective. And sometimes within within the NHL teams, just kind of focus on the other teams in their area but really don't look for inspiration out, outside of, outside of that, you know, where did you find?
You know, and I, my assumption, and this is assumption is that, you know, the devil's competitive market is not the Rangers, you know, or. Or the Philadelphia flyers or something else, or someone driving somewhere else to, to, to go see a game. It's really other stuff that's happening in and around New York and New Jersey.
So how did you take a look at that? And you were like, you know what, guys, we should be focused on this and not all of this. What are the flyers doing business?
Bradley Getty: honestly, it's like, I feel like too often, you, you have all these brands that are like, [00:29:00] we just need to weed the North. And that'll solve. And you're like, ah, I like, I can't tell you how many times. We just need to be like, what's our, what's our version of we the North. And you're like, man, like, you're just the reason why that existed is because they went to an advertising agency, you know, Sidley gave him a great perspective on how to like shift their brand out of the tradition of looking at everyone else.
So now you're looking at them and it's, again, it's becoming self-referential, but what, what it did, and this is where I kept always taking that conversation too, as they understood their fan base. I understood their, their culture. They understood what made them unique. And I think that that is where we started to take a look at Jersey and we're like, you know, what's unique.
New Jersey, how, you know, chronically enough for not ironically enough or, you know, whatever it may be. It had like the, one of the most insane sneaker [00:30:00] cultures, like the, you know, the biggest collectors, you know, people who are, you know, dropping just insane amounts of money on there. They loved sneakers, streetwear culture.
They were extremely diverse. Um, and they, they knew what was up. And I think that that was part of. Our challenge was to say, how do you bring that culture into the doubles? How do you start to bring these other influences in to then change people's perspectives for long-term so that it's not a hockey team so much, it is like a belief system.
And I think that's where you, you saw the shift with the Raptors is like they understood who they were. And then they turned, turn their team into a culture. And I think if you can turn a team into a culture, then it's bigger than a sport. And that's how you start a movement. So I think that that's where, why teams need to get out of their, their own head at times and, and get out of the industry of like, you know, always did this promotion that it's like, [00:31:00] no, like start with what's the, what's the culture, like what what's your, your team's base.
And then, then you can work on all that stuff once you know who you are.
Christian Parsons: and then how do you go about finding out the culture? Right. , you know, from our previous discussions, I know that you grew up in Detroit, you were, , in Virginia for awhile, and then, , you just came from, from Montreal moving to, to. To the New York area, you know, how did you go about finding out about culture in New Jersey and how is different from just across the river in Manhattan?
Bradley Getty: I mean, there's only one way to do it. And, and, you know, I think you've done it. We've done it like it's it's immersion. And I think that if you're afraid to be part of culture, then you won't understand what the culture is. And if you're not allowing yourself to be a hundred percent present in it and put [00:32:00] yourself into those scenarios, like you got to go into.
Every, like we used to like walk around the building and like, you know, go into every single belly. Like we would go into all the restaurants around town. You get to know people, uh, you know, I lived in Jersey city, like I was up and down. I was always in packer shoes, buying new sneakers, like connecting with them, like, um, you know, that was how, like we, we ended up getting connected.
Um, it's just always being out in the community. And getting to know people. And I think that the more that you sort of immerse yourself into it, the more that you understand it and the more that you're willing to put yourself out there and be like, yeah, like, I mean, if you're part of a team, then you're an extension of the brand and everything that you do.
Like every person you come in contact with, they should know that you work for said team because then you're extending the olive branch, or you're saying like, you should come out and see a game. And you can bring people into it and then it's like, and then you get to know about them and you get to know about like, you [00:33:00] know, whether it was a season ticket member who was the, you know, the florist on the corner that I would always pop into and pick my wife up flowers and head home, and we would talk hockey or the night's game before, you know, I was heading in, but like when you're immersed in it, That's how you get to know it.
And you get to know the people who live, eat, and sleep and breathe it, and you can create something that's for them. And then that's what you're doing. Like you're, you're creating, it's not like your team. It's not there. It's the fans team at the end of the day. Like that's, that's really what we're doing was all forwards for them.
And I think that, uh, that's an important thing to do. So, I mean, just get out there, put yourself out there. Eat eat every, like, I, I'm still obsessed with like, it's Taylor ham. It's not pork roll. And if you know what I'm talking, that's how I know like, if a new Yorker and they were like, they were like tailor him, like, yeah, exactly.
That's how I know you're in New York. You don't know what Taylor ham and pork roll is. Um, you've never had a breakfast sandwich on like a hard roll, like get outta here. [00:34:00] So that was again, it's like you, you immerse yourself. You get to like, just eat, sleep. Free drink. Like, you know, we would always go down the shore, like just have fun.
I mean, that's the thing, like it's, it's fun getting to be in a different place and fully understand that.
Christian Parsons: and the beautiful thing about sports is that, you know, it crosses so many socioeconomic barriers, right? When somebody is loyal to a team, they could be the florist. They could be, um, a doctor. They could be a, multi-millionaire season ticket member , real estate developer, or they could be a custodian at a local high school, and you're still able to talk to the team and, and, and understand the culture of where they're coming from, what they're excited about.
Bradley Getty: Yeah. I mean, I will tell you this, I'll give you one, one, one of the things that I learned, like, so I always thought, you know, there's always this people who are like, Oh man, I could have gone pro like I was so good, like back in the [00:35:00] day, me, like,
Christian Parsons: You're one of those people.
Bradley Getty: I'm a goal. Yeah, no, I I'm a goal thee and I like the thing that I was very good.
Like I was like, man, I can do it. I can put me out there, put me out, but he put me out there a few times. And I don't know if you've ever been shot at, by light. I mean, it was just like the age old guys who took some shots at me. And like, I remember getting hit by one of those pucks once and it bounced off my shoulder.
My whole shoulder went limp and I was like, guys, I'm done. And I just realized, I was like, uh, I'm dead. I'm so dead. And. So one of my biggest learning curves was, um, I am not of the caliber of pro sports or semi-pro sports. And in fact, I'm actually quite embarrassed. And when the mascot thought it was hilarious because the mascot was a forward and he was a phenomenal skater, a phenomenal player, um, [00:36:00] He would personally make it his mission to embarrass me as many times as he could on the ice.
While I was in net, in every, in the, like the whole rest of the week at the office, he would not let me live it down. So, um, I was, I did not that that's my, my biggest failure. There was, uh, I was not a very good goalie, I tried real hard, but man was I pathetic.
Christian Parsons: you could get on the ice like the business operations side would go in and get time on the ice to scrimmage during lunchtime or something like this.
Bradley Getty: the team would let us on to go play pickup games every so often, um, which was another opportunity for me to get, uh, publicly embarrassed while all of our, you know, uh, employees, uh, were watching me. But then there was even moments where I was fortunate enough where.
They were doing testing for, you know, a new tracking system and one of the goalies didn't show up. So they [00:37:00] were like, okay. Do you want to skate? Can you come skate? And my boss is like, you have to go skate. And I was like, okay, I'm kind of terrified. And again, that's when you take an 80 mile an hour shot to the shoulder and you just, you try not to cry.
And luckily goalies get to wear face masks, but like, I'm not saying I was crying. It was just, I had ice in my eyes and it melted and it was just running off of my face.
Christian Parsons: Yeah. Uh, I'm not sobbing into my glove. This is just, this is you be processing this, this 90 mile an hour shot. Got
Bradley Getty: it doesn't, it doesn't hurt. It's just completely numb and maybe bleeding and, uh, yeah.
Christian Parsons: Cool. So that's, that's awesome.
, I want to transition just a little bit back to your career in sports versus some, some other people's . So when people. When people don't climb their career ladder in a sports organization, the culture shock can sometimes be rough. Did you experience any of that? And, and [00:38:00] if so what was your biggest surprise moving from advertising to becoming the executive creative director for the New Jersey devils?
Bradley Getty: The advertising industry is like living in a five-star hotel with an entire staff and, uh, you know, colors and waiters and chefs. And like, it's like the best way glove treatment. Like, you know, especially as a creative, you're sort of like pampered and pre-Madonna and. It is absolutely fantastic if you want the light.
And, uh, then going into the, the other side of the things, like my crash course, it was like going from being pampered to being a line cook and like a fast food restaurant, like the speed and the pace was at such a different level. And there was like no white glove treatment. They were like, no, no, like I need this now.
And like [00:39:00] the. That was the biggest thing was the shift in the pace because advertising works in a very slow mythology. There's a lot of people managing and coordinating and figuring all this out. And like the first week I think somebody, it felt like they had just lit my suit on fire and they were just watching me run around, trying to figure out what was going on.
Like, I didn't know anything about project management. I was a terrible project manager. I was like, Timeline timeline, like, like working, like what the, you remember people doing this for me? And they're like, no, no, like you got to do it all, but what is a Gantt chart? I don't know what a Gantt chart is and such like that was where the biggest learning curve happens.
I think as a creative, because like, as a creative, you're extremely good creative, so you're a little bit disorganized and, you know, The flip side of that is I was forced into a world where [00:40:00] I had to, I learned speed. I, I, I learned project management. I learned a lot about just management in general in advertising.
They're like, Oh, well, you're good at advertising. Like, here's a new title, you know, like, what does it mean? And you're like money, but they don't like, it doesn't come like with, so they never really, like, they just sort of keep promoting you up through the ranks and then they're like, Oh yeah, like, we're going to give you a team now.
And like, you just, you know, like just. Work with them, but they don't ever like how to be a leader. So I think like my time in professional sports, I'm forever grateful for the fact that, like I got to learn the business side, the grind, the speed, the project management, and especially the being a leader.
And I think that that's something that advertising really doesn't understand is how to create leaders. Um, or spending time working on their leaders or, you know, uh, you know, coaching them up or giving them the [00:41:00] tools to help them show other people how to succeed. So I think it's, it's interesting. I mean, like less than I have, I've lost a lot of hair.
I went gray too in the process of that. So, um, it's an interesting challenge, but I think that again, everyone should go clients. I just so that they understand the different struggles.
Christian Parsons: Yeah, absolutely. You know, an empathy imbued on you from a different perspective is always helpful. No matter where you go next, I wanted to follow up just with one of the things that you talked about from, The opportunity to, to build leadership. And I think it's so interesting because , , one of the most fascinating things that I've found working in sports is that the flip side of the business side is the sports side, whether it's football, whether it's hockey, whether it's basketball, whatever it is.
And their mission is very, very clear when a championship. Right. And, you know, from even [00:42:00] being associated or close and, and understanding how those general managers make decisions, how those coaches make decisions, interacting with the players on their decision-making, you know, obviously leadership is a big thing that kind of comes out of that.
You know, were there any lessons or stories that you were like, you know what, this is actually really intelligent. And I was, you know, I picked up a business lesson from this. You know, hockey side.
Bradley Getty: I mean, yes, no. I mean, my kids it's, uh, it's I think and like that, I think that that's something like. When, you know, the do-do sorta hits the fan and you're like, you're stuck in a bad position. One of the things that you see a lot and like, you know, you know, your coach will take all this, like, you know? Yeah. Like we [00:43:00] messed up there on a nice night, like, and as a leader, sometimes you've got to stand in front of your team and.
Learning that like you, as a leader, can't be a bus driver. You've got to be on the bus. Like you can't run people over. Um, it is important. And sometimes that means like you got to get punched in the face. You N it sucks. There's nothing worse than like standing in front of your team and knowing that they messed up and not throwing them under the bus, but like that's part of the learning is like your team's got to learn to fail.
You've got to learn to coach them up, but like, you can't do that by, by burying them. And I think that that's where you see the coaches do a, do a great job of it. And. And I think that that was a, uh, a valuable lesson for, for me is like, you know, you, you are responsible and you take the blame, you take the, you, you send the winds [00:44:00] down, you support the people with the winds, but then you take the losses and, and that's, you're, you're that buffer.
Christian Parsons: absolutely. And. Just to add into there, on the hockey side, it's really clear when you win or you lose. Right. It's really, really clear because at the end of the game, there's a score and you can kind of look up and be like, yeah, okay. We might've played poorly, but we won or we might've played well, but we lost.
And at the end of the day, it's not really that result that matters. And you have that content constant feedback mechanism, right. I think it's interesting. One of the things that you're saying about, you know, taking responsibility, being that coach at the top, that takes, that takes ownership and it, and holds themselves accountable, but also is able to give clear directional feedback of like, Hey yeah, you fucked up, you know, this is on me because I didn't, you know, I didn't double-check the work or I didn't double check XYZ before this goes down, but please know that, like, we can't have this happen again and, and holding people accountable, but [00:45:00] not to your point.
Throwing them in front of the bus.
Bradley Getty: Yeah. And I think, you know, you, you, you unpacked a great, a great point there. And I think it is it's crucial for them to, like, everyone has understand, like you all played a win and you all play by the same playbook, but you never leave anyone to hang out, hang out to dry. And, and that's where people understand the, I mean, they've got responsibility too, and that's why I say it's like responsibility as a whole, because it's like, they've got a responsibility to put the right work forward and do the right thing, and then it's your responsibility, but it's not right to work with them to make sure it can be right in the future too.
So.
Christian Parsons: and , I would also say. You know, accountability, isn't something to be shied away from. Right? if you truly care about your team and you truly care about the people working for you or in the organization, you want to hold them accountable. You want to raise the standard because that's how you win,
Bradley Getty: Yeah, I thought thousand [00:46:00] percent and that's where like, again, but the, when you got to keep track of score, And I think that that's something too, that again, you can learn from the sports side of things. It's like, if you don't know what it takes to score the points to win for the project that you're working on, then you don't know how to track the score, which means you're, you're not clear and you're not all working on the same vision. So I think that that's another crucial part of that. Like, what is success? What is the, what is the end goal here? And if that's not defined, that's when you really need to start asking some questions, you know, for your team, because that's how your team can fail too, is they don't know where they're going and you don't know where you're going, you're just doing stuff.
And then that becomes the grind that we've all experienced through. Like, we did a ton of work for nothing, like all the shit. We just did it for like two months. Like you guys, it was pretty pointless. Cause it was the wrong thing. And like, I think we've all been there.
[00:47:00] Christian Parsons: Absolutely. We should always, before you start anything, you should ask the question, why are we doing this? You know, what, what goal does this ladder up to define that? And if you can't answer the question, maybe you shouldn't be skating that way on the ice, you know? Uh, very cool. All right.
So, A little bit of the inside baseball, you know, what are, what are some of your top memories from being either in the office or, or on the ice and what did you kind of learn from them?
Bradley Getty: I mean, we've covered off on a lot of the valuable lessons. I think I took away from, from being in an organization. I think one of the things that was very, very interesting was, um, I interviewed quite a few people. And I cannot tell you how valuable the opportunity is to ever [00:48:00] be in an interviewing position. Um, because suddenly when you need to be on that flip side, you understand it from a different point of view. And I will never forget. There was a time that. It was 10:00 AM on like a Tuesday. And I was like, I had a small office. I am normally a big online. You were talking like, I had like a 10 by 10, like, like prison cell kind of, you know, um, it, it was, it had a window, but it was good, but it was small.
And I, you know, I liked it. It was my small little office, but. This, this guy came into interview. And I remember like he just looked a little bit off. Like, I always say like a watch and shoes, complete the outfit. And those are the first two things that I look at to like judge someone and is like, what?
What's on your feet. What's on your wrist. Because that sort of is indicative on like the finishing touches that you can put together. Like when you're going to show up. And I remember this guy I looked down and I was like, he doesn't mean shoelaces on those dress shoes. [00:49:00] I was like, this is weird.
Christian Parsons: so sorry, like they were loafers or like
Bradley Getty: know, they were like, they were.
Christian Parsons: no laces.
Bradley Getty: Well, they're fucking dress shoes with no laces. I don't know if you've ever wore like legit dress shoes with no laces, but basically they're, flip-flops like, let's just call a spade, a spade here. Like they're flip-flops. So I looked down at this guy wearing these like dress flip-flops basically. And I was like, this is, this is really, really interesting.
And he came, like he came into my office, we have a, a little bit of a conversation. And what about like 15 minutes into the conversation? And I'm just like, My office smells like booze. Like I quite close the door behind me so we could talk. And all of a sudden I was like, man, it smells like a, I, it smells like a, like a, [00:50:00] a brewery in here. And I was like, well, what's going on? So it turned out, the guy has an amazing CV. He had a phenomenal book. He had everything right on paper, but. Was wasted. And that was like, and then he came in and interviewed. So it was like this weird, surreal moment of like him showing up and, and he showed up in a way that was so unprofessional.
It's just like, Oh my God, like, how is this happening? It was one of those surreal moments where I was like, Okay.
Like if you're going to interview, like you've got to make sure that you're on PI on point, like the night before, the day of like people are really, and it was surreal to see all of these like horrible. Like interviewing moments that I had. Cause I had, I must have had like six or seven of these kinds of terrible interviews.
I mean [00:51:00] everything from them, like, so why do you want to work for the team? And they're like, Oh, I love sports. Sports are great. I loved them. My entire life was like, okay, what do you like about the team? And they're like, you know, well, they're, they're doing great. I'd love to, I love sports. This has been sports are my dream.
And you're just like, Oh, okay. Like you don't know anything about the team
Christian Parsons: Yeah, you want to, you, you want to work in sports, but you don't want to work for the team that I, that you're interviewing for right now. You just want any job is sports.
Bradley Getty: Yeah. Like, right. It's like pop quiz, five players now, not the stars. And they're like, uh, and you're like, exactly, but yeah, I mean, it's just, that's, that's the funny thing like that, that I've seen.
Christian Parsons: Yeah, that's interesting. I'll give you a, just a side conversation from my side, from, from interviewing, uh, one of my favorite questions to ask when I suspect that that, that somebody doesn't actually know the team or hasn't done the research is [00:52:00] what player on the team do you hate? Because and why. Right.
And, and it's easy to say, Hey, who's your favorite player and why? Cause they just look up whoever the, whoever the all-star on the team is, or whoever the big names are, but it's hard to like pick, uh, somebody that you don't really like on the team and why. And in answering that question, even if you're not going to answer specifically about a person, it kind of shows what.
People value and what people are looking for and if they've done their research, but yes.
Bradley Getty: exactly. I agree. Fun fact. I have one of those when I was, uh, it was for the Detroit red wings. I'm not going to name which player was, but he played with a white hockey stick and I fundamentally disagree with hockey sticks being white. So I called it was, um, I called him El Diablo Blanco. wait, stick devil.
I was like, I hated him because you can see it anywhere. It was on the ice. I was like a hockey stick [00:53:00] is not white. Like you can't paint them that way. So that's a good one. I never thought about that.
Christian Parsons: Yes, absolutely. Um, so flip, flipping this a little bit. Why shouldn't somebody work in sports? Why is it terrible to work in sports?
Bradley Getty: It's only terrible if you're bad. Uh, and I'm not, I'm not going to say like, no, I'm not going to pull bunch. It's like, man, I've seen a lot of people. Shit. The bed, like there's like. If, if need an environment that's extremely structured. If you need an environment that you need to be told exactly what to do at every moment, if you are looking for a place where, um, you you're just like, yeah, like I like to come in and work like nine to five and I want to have to like think too hard.
Don't go into sports. And it's, it just comes down to the hustle. Like there's, you're probably like a [00:54:00] great grinder, you know, we'll use this, another sport analogy. Like you're, you're a great, you know, you know, third, um, you know, third line player, but that's like going to get you very far. And I think the people that succeed the most, like the ones that are happiest are the people that are going to want to go out there and.
Try to when they're going to, you know, go above and beyond. But if, if that's not you, if you're just looking for a job and not a career, don't go into sports, go into something that, where like, when we talked about go get white gloves, go advertise, advertising, stay in advertising. It's cushy. Like it's easy.
Like you can hide in sports. There's no hiding. If you're bad, like you get found out really, really quickly. So that's why I say like, if you're bad, don't go into sports. Like. Like you can go in there and you can learn and you can become good if you are bad, but only if you have the right attitude. But if that's part of who you are and you don't want to hustle, you don't want to grind.
You don't want to fight it out. You don't want to learn, you don't want to keep it going. It's not going to happen. [00:55:00] And you're going to be miserable. You're going to be stressed out. You're going to get burnt out and then you're going to get kicked out. And I think that, that's why I'm, I mean, you know me, like I'm, I'm pretty blunt and I'm not going to like sugarcoat it.
I mean, you've probably seen it too. And that's why I think like, you've got to go in with the right Headspace. You've got to go in with the right attitude and you got to know what it's going to take. And if you're not willing to give that, then, then don't do it.
Christian Parsons: what is the right head space to go in with?
Bradley Getty: I mean, it comes to the same thing as sports hard work and hustle. I mean, you can not have the experience, but if you've got enough hard work and hustle, you can learn anything. You can do anything. Um, but it's about trying. It's about, you know, the, the giving shit it's about showing up and, you know, again, it comes a lot back to like the mentality of a team sport, but, you know, at the end of the day, You gotta be there and you gotta be present.
You've got to be able to own your failures. You know, that's part of learning and growing [00:56:00] and, and part of the hustle is like, yeah, I'm going to fail and accepting it. Not being defeated by it, but allowing it to empower you. And that's why I think that, you know, you've got to be the right kind of person.
You've got to ask yourself that like, am I, is this, am I the right? Like, Am I at the right point, because you might be the right person at the wrong point in your life. And I think that that's where it's like, you got to ask yourself, like, am I on the right point? Am I, am I, you know, in the right head space?
Is this like, you're committing to something that's above and beyond the ordinary job in terms of demands on your life. And if the answer is yes and you're like, let's go, let's go hustle. Let's go grind. Let's go, you know, make some magic, then you're the right person. But if you're not, you know, I mean, you just ask yourself that you got to look in the mirror.
Christian Parsons: That's awesome. That's really, that's really good advice. So someone has the hustle has the hype is [00:57:00] excited to grind, take some on the chin and learn, get back up and, and, and keep going. They want to step out of advertising and into pro sports. What do you tell them? What's an actionable thing that they can do to even start down that path.
Bradley Getty: go to a bunch of games. Go to go to the conferences, find your way into the places where the teams are and where the people are that are working with the teams and get to know those people, um, network, get on LinkedIn, find out the team events that are going on. Like there are ways where you can put yourself around those people.
And do it more often. And it's just a getting to know you thing. Like, Oh, like you're always kind of around aren't you like, Oh, I see you a bunch of these places. Like you have to get into the network. It's not late. It's not going to happen unless you make it happen the same again. That's why I say it's it's, you know, you gotta have a certain hustle cause it'd be wanting.
That's how it's going to happen.
Christian Parsons: and I think just to add on to that point, which I think is, is an [00:58:00] excellent point. It's about consistency. It's not about doing something once and going to. One draft event, shaking some hands and then bouncing, right. Because nobody remembers when they met you once, you know, it's doing it over and over and over again and building that level of consistency. Cool. All right. So now let's flip it. What's the, what's the best advice that you've gotten or absorbed over your career? Either at the devils or somewhere else?
Bradley Getty: I mean, I think it goes back to like being okay with failure. Like you can't win every game. You're not gonna win every game. Um, and being able to, to take that as a lesson and not let it defeat you. Right. It's it, it's something that like, I. I think a lot of people struggle with. I struggle with it as like you take it personally.
And when you take it personally, you care more [00:59:00] for every loss hurts that much more. So, um, I think that's the valuable thing is like learning how to lose.
Christian Parsons: it's tough, man. It's tough because on one side. Yeah, so absolutely, uh, you know, losing is tough cause I don't think anyone sets out to not win. Right. Um, and that taking it personally can sometimes be that fire. You know, that gets that extra 10% out, that gets you over the edge that gets that project to happen, that you didn't necessarily think, the other people didn't necessarily think was going to happen.
But I agree with you, it's it, it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily make it easier, but learning how to lose. And, and I think it just comes with experience, right? Realizing that the world didn't fall down because you know, um, the, the person at the team store yelled at you seven times, Cool. All right. So wrapping this up, is there anything that I haven't asked [01:00:00] you that would you like to say to the audience?
Bradley Getty: You know, I think the biggest thing I can. I, I would impart his care. He's like, if you can show that to an organization that you care that like you truly care, you know, the team, you know, the history, you know, the culture, you, you know, the people that you care, you care on a deeper level. Um, I think that's really what, what is going to help set you apart?
Cause it was a lot of people that want that as a job. But if it's not a job, I mean, like you're applying for a lifestyle, like that's part of your life. Like it's not nine to five it's you got to care. And, and that is the biggest. Thing that I, I, I hope that, you know, anyone who's trying to break into it understands like you can't like, Oh, like I like football.
Like, no, [01:01:00] you gotta like, love football. Like you gotta love, you've got to love hockey. Uh, you know, you've got to love it, the sports, um, to be part of them because it's different. And I think that's my, my, my big piece that connects us all together.
Christian Parsons: Big thank you to Brad Getty for joining us. I love the conversation and I thought there were a lot of great thoughts on accountability. The right type of hustle mindset that you need to succeed in the sports world, as well as some great stories, as you can see, I'm new to this. So any feedback that you have that could help us make the show better is greatly appreciated. Even if it's something like get a better internet connection so we can hear your guests. I know we're working on it and that's still useful.
Once again, I'm Christian Parsons and you can reach me @ThisIsParsons on Twitter and Instagram. You can see our show notes and transcripts at MTCpod.com that's M T [01:02:00] C P O D dot com I hope you able to learn something valuable from every single episode of the show. If you found it helpful, I asked you share with friends now, get out there and get hired in sports.