Team Spotlight Jesse

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Host: Rich Mackey 
Producer: Zac Hazen

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Think of us as your very own offsite, highly effective team of local marketing growth experts, from digital marketing to traditional (who you’d also happily grab a beer with). Antidote 71 is equal parts skill and personality. We’re super fun to hang out with (in our opinion) and exceptionally good at what we do. We love our work and care about the people we work with. 

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Transcript

Meet Jesse Over Bourbon And Beer

SPEAKER_00 0:08

What's up everyone? Welcome back to Cocktails, Tangents, and Answers. I'm Zach. If you've seen our socials lately lately, you've probably seen quite a lot of me. Uh I've been doing a lot of videos. But today I'm hosting our team Spotlights and uh we're pulling one of our amazing leaders in Jesse. What's up, Jesse? Zach, how's it going? Good, good. Uh Jesse is our VP and CCO at Android71. And uh his go-to drink is a bourbon neat or a local craft beer. Um so Jesse, why did you choose that as your go-to drink?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Oh man, I always like trying local stuff. Uh so if there's a beer on tap from uh any place around where I'm at, uh that's always my go-to. Otherwise, uh if I'm feeling fancy, a bourbon meat is always really good too.

From Internship To Agency Leadership

SPEAKER_00 0:53

So that's a good choice. So let's get into the first question. Tell us who you are, Jesse, and what you do at Anit Up71 and how long you've been with the team.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Oh, all right. Um, well, I started way back in uh 2015. I was actually an intern. So I started, I think it was my the spring semester of my senior year, uh started interning and was just doing a lot of the day-to-day graphic design stuff, um, almost production art. At that point, we were taking uh a lot of resizing ads and like stuff like that. But it was uh in college, I think that was always kind of my dream job. Uh after I realized like what graphic design was, um working at an agency just sounded really cool. So I was basically living the dream uh as far as my college self goes, uh just resizing ads and being part of the team. It was really fun. Uh, so I liked the atmosphere and stuff. And after graduation, uh just kind of stuck around. I did freelancing. Uh basically I'm a contractor, uh, but I was there every day uh and just kind of stuck around. I I like to joke with Rich that I just never left uh and they didn't ask any questions, and then they eventually hired me. So I stuck around. Um and yeah, I I like to tell like students and things like when you're in an internship, just make yourself uh super valuable like that, and good things will happen. Um, but that's kind of the background, and now uh worked my way up, I guess, into uh a leadership position and kind of like overseeing the creative in the agency. So spread out uh away from just graphic design and now um, you know, kind of supervise the writing side and video and content. Um still have a still have a good uh grasp on the creative and get some of that day-to-day creative work in and kind of uh scratch that itch, I guess, if you if you will.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, that's awesome. And you've definitely been here the longest out of any of the team members, right? Has it been what in 10 years yet or is it nine years?

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Uh it will be 10 officially this this May. So we're up on 10.

Discovering Graphic Design And Mentorship

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Wow, that's crazy. So you said that graphic design was kind of your dream job. Going into like college, did you fully expect to be some kind of artist or graphic designer? Or what where were you at with like with that? Because you you said in your senior year you like could see yourself getting into the advertising industry, but did you have any like direction before that, or is this kind of already something that you've wanted to do?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Um, I so growing up, I was always like really interested in art. I would just draw all the time in school, that's all I did. Um, I didn't know really any of the career paths, uh what I would do with it, but I knew I wanted to do something with it. Um, and then I actually went, I took a visit to Morningside and I met John Colbow. Um and just in the visit day, it was like an hour and a half conversation in his like super cluttered office uh in Effley, if anybody is familiar. Um, and he really opened my eyes to like what graphic design was because I really had like a bare bones uh kind of expectation of what it was. And he, after listening to him kind of talk and like ask questions, kind of pick his brain for like an hour, I was like, Oh yeah, this is this sounds really cool. I could see myself doing this. So eventually um ended up going to Morningside, took a lot of his classes. He actually took us to a bunch of like meet the pros um things, so like down in Omaha that really just kick-started, like it got me thinking like what I could do and got me really excited about graphic design and just like working at an agency, it sounded really fun. So I credit uh him with uh with a lot of that, like um with a lot of that journey and kind of giving me a little bit of direction for sure.

Creative Process And Internal Reviews

SPEAKER_00 4:59

He was an awesome guy. Me and Riley had him as a professor too. We were one of his last classes, so it's really cool to hear that you had a good experience with him. Um actually, what's your favorite task to do at work and why?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Favorite task? Oh man. Um I really like concept reviews. Like um, even before we get to the client ones, like those are obviously really fun because we get to show what we're what we've been working on and what they're paying for and uh some of that. But I really like the internal ones, um, whether it's me and Megan going over logos or websites or like with you and the content plan or just any anything where we get to review kind of internally, so without the like expectations or kind of um presentation, I'll say, with clients, like a lot of that stuff is it it doesn't come into effect in those meetings, and we're really just talking it out amongst like peers, um and you know, talking about our process, talking about what we ran into, some of the struggles and how we worked through those and like our solutions to those problems. I think those are the most fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, I agree. Some of the brainstorming stuff that we've done in the past has been really fun, just pulling everyone's ideas together.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

It gets really collaborative too. Um, so especially now that we're all all remotely, um, you can get in kind of a silo. And even when we were in the office, it was kind of like that. But in those, it's the first time where you get to kind of share your ideas with somebody else. So you really get to vet them pretty good. Like, okay, does this make sense outside my head? You know, if I'm sharing it with somebody else and seeing if they kind of get it. So it's a good uh kind of test if you're on the right track with a kind of creative solution.

Rebrands, Community Impact, And Favorite Work

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yeah, 100%. That's awesome. Um, do you have a project that you've worked on here that you're really proud of or just had fun doing?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Oh, I think all of them are fun. Um to not not pick favorites and uh be on the fence, but I think uh selfishly, our kind of soft rebrand a while ago was really fun because we got to do that without um any restrictions basically. Like it was it was completely up in the air, and so we had a lot of fun with that internally. Um for a client thing, I thought the LAM uh rebrand and websites that followed was really fun. Uh, because they gave us a lot of freedom on that too. Uh we and it kind of in affected the whole community. It was like a community project, uh, which was really fun. Um, and then the website that followed. So we really got to kind of establish that brand um from back to like square one. So that was that was a really fun one that I'm pretty proud of.

Dream Project: Designing For The Bears

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, that one looked awesome. I love that one. That's one of my favorites that I've seen too. All right, so now we're gonna do a little bit of a what if question. If you could I have if you could create a website or logo for any company in the world, but honestly, it's if you could do any kind of design work or website work for any company in the world, who would it be and why?

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Oh, that's a good question. Um, if I could do any project for anybody, um, it feels good to be able to admit this without shame, but I'm a Bears fan. Um so I haven't been able to say that like out in in public for uh a long time. But obviously being a sports fan like my whole life, uh, I've got a soft spot for the Bears. So and I see some of the stuff that those teams are putting out, which is really cool. Um their social like any NFL team, uh, and you're familiar, has has some really good social presence and their graphics are really cool. But uh I think a lot of their websites are kind of like templated and kind of dictated by the NFL. Um I think they have a few like different kind of arrangements that they can kind of pick from and populate their colors and stuff. So getting uh free reign to do something like that would be really fun. Kind of a pipe dream, but it it would be fun.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

That would be awesome. That was a good game, by the way. I don't know if I forgot to tell you, but that was an awesome game to see. I'm sure they'll do good next year.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

I hope so. It's it's good to I think it was John Madden a long time ago who said that the NFL is is better when the bears are good. And selfishly, I'm a little biased, but I I agree.

Hot Takes On Food And Trying Everything

SPEAKER_00 9:30

100%. It was awesome just watching those games with the atmosphere and everything. Like, oh, it was so cool. It's crazy. But uh now we're gonna ask some fun questions. So one of the questions that we ask almost everybody on here is what is your most unpopular food opinion? So, for example, for me, I hate ranch. So, like if you have an unpopular food opinion like that, that's always good. But if you can't think of anything too, we can move on to other questions. But yeah, that's my example, and people always uh give me some like hate on that one. So I'm interested to see if you have any.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

All right, yeah. Uh my son would fight you on that. Um for sure. Um I might give two, and I don't even know if they're that unpopular, but I don't think any food is really bad. Um so I don't I don't think that there's like a bad food. There's stuff that people don't like, obviously, and that's super subjective, but I think uh that's just kind of a little pet peeve, like, oh, this is terrible. Like, oh it's not you just don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Um, my caveat is I'll try anything once. Yes. So that way I can see if I like it or not, because I'm not gonna hate something I've never tried. Exactly. Sometimes, like with ranch, I've given it maybe like five or ten tries, and I still don't like it, but yeah, I'll keep trying.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

And kind of my second one, and it's exactly that. It's like, I I really think you should you should try everything. Yeah. Um, and a lot of people, oh not a lot of people, but some people find some people just like doing their own like little thing and they eat the same thing every time. But um, I like trying different stuff. So um, and I know you do too. You're you're all over the place and adventurous with food and drinks and stuff. So that's always really fun. Um, especially if you go somewhere. I think you should really try to um venture out a little bit, venture out and do some of like the local cuisine and like some of those staples. I think that's uh that's a really fun part about food.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

100%. Yeah, don't go to Europe and order chicken tenders or something.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, don't don't find a McDonald's uh if you're anywhere and and just eat like a Big Mac.

Rapid Fire: Snacks, Shows, And Cigars

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Uh so 100% agree. All right, so the last ones we'll do are just some quick questions that we'll just blow through. Um, favorite snack?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Oh man, when we were in the office, I got so hooked on Sour Patch Kids that it it became dangerous. Um, so during Halloween, like I I would that night I always steal all the kids' Sourpatch kids and they don't need it all guilty snack.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

That's awesome. Yeah, I love Sour Patch Kids too. Um what's the last show you binge watched?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Ooh, uh we just got done watching uh his and hers on Netflix. It's like a limited series, kind of like a murder mystery type thing, and that that was so good. We binged like we stayed up way too late the last night. Like, I think we watched the last three episodes after the kids went to bed and before the last one, we're like, we can't let it hang like that. We've got we've got to watch the finale. We've got a powerful.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

That's awesome. Yeah, I've seen ads for that. I might have to give that a watch. All right. Last question uh interesting hobby. Do you have any interesting hobbies or hobbies that uh you want to share?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Uh yeah. Um kind of going along with the bourbon and beer thing. I'm really into cigars. Um, nice. Uh hard to do this time of year because it's kind of an out outdoor hobby, which is partly why I like it so much. It gets you outside for an extended period of time. Um, and but it's a it's a really nice way to kind of relax and just kind of slow down, especially in the fast-paced world of everything, to just kind of shut off and sit there and relax and have a cigar at the end of the night and just slow down. It's it's really relaxing.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, really good with bourbon, too.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

It is, it is.

How To Reach The Team

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Well, that's all the questions I have. Uh, thank you for being here, Jesse. I really appreciate it. It was awesome to hear more about you. Uh, thank you guys for listening in. If you want to get in contact with us, head to ctapodcast.live to send us a question or leave us a voicemail at 402 718 9971. Uh, see you guys next week.