Beyond the Brand with Morgan Hurley: What Makes Memorable Marketing?

What happens when an award-winning mixologist discovers that the secret ingredient to winning competitions isn’t just in the drink—it’s in the story? Morgan Hurley, former Marketing and Beverage Director for MEX 1 Coastal Cantina and founder of Swell Marketing & Consulting, joins us to share how his journey through Charleston’s vibrant hospitality scene led him to launch his own marketing consultancy after 13 years of building one of the city’s most distinctive restaurant brands.

Growing up in the hospitality industry with a father who founded the iconic Jack's Cosmic Dogs, Morgan developed an intuitive understanding of what makes customers tick. His philosophy—that stories sell—emerged from his days competing in mixology competitions where he realized a great drink wasn't enough without a compelling narrative behind it. This revelation became the foundation for marketing strategies that consistently pushed boundaries, from bringing 50,000 pounds of snow to Charleston beaches for an annual snowboard competition to serving cocktails in branded coconuts that had festival-goers (including Al Roker) clamoring for photo opportunities.

Morgan shares invaluable insights about navigating today's attention-based economy, where traditional polished marketing often falls flat compared to authentic, entertaining content. His perspective on balancing quality (like MEX1's commitment to 100% blue agave tequila despite higher costs) with memorable customer experiences offers lessons for businesses across industries. As he transitions to Swell Marketing Consulting, Morgan aims to bring his generalist expertise—covering everything from social media and local media outreach to operational efficiencies—to help businesses develop cohesive marketing strategies with measurable results.

Whether you're running a restaurant, managing a hospitality brand, or simply fascinated by the evolution of marketing in experience-driven industries, this conversation offers a refreshing look at how creativity, authenticity, and strategic thinking combine to build lasting customer connections. Subscribe to hear more conversations with Charleston's marketing innovators who are redefining what it means to build a brand in the Lowcountry.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting Morgan Hurley
• 4:29 From Mixology to Marketing
• 9:13 Snowboard Rail Jam in Charleston
• 16:54 Marketing Strategies and Challenges
• 23:15 Launching Swell Marketing
• 30:02 Charleston Wine and Food Festival

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, brought to you by the Charleston AMA and broadcasting from our friends at Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Thanks to our awesome sponsors at CMS, we get to chat with the cool folks making waves in Charleston, from business and art to hospitality and tech. These movers and shakers choose to call the Lowcountry home. They live here, work here and make a difference here. So what's their story? Let's find out together.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Hello and welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast powered by the Charleston Marketing Association. We're recording in the Charleston Media Solutions. Big supporters of camera Gotta give a big shout out to Charleston's favorite DJ, dj Jerry's Feel Good, with beats at the beginning. Thanks to all of our supporters. What's up, gang? Stephanie here, founder of Stephanie Barrett Consulting, a digital marketing strategy agency here in Charleston, and your Camo Pass president, I'm excited to be joined by my favorite girl guest host, kelly Morris. What's up, kelly? Hey everyone, how's it going? Stephanie? Oh girl, I'm hanging in there. I got these allergies. I was just telling the crew. If I sound a little rough, it's because the pollen has taken over Charleston, but that's okay, because I'm excited because we have not only Kelly in the house but we have a friend of mine, morgan Hurley, the marketing and beverage director of Mex One Coastal Caltina. Say, what's up, morgan?

Speaker 3: 1:24

What up everybody?

Speaker 2: 1:26

All right, morgan, this is that time where you're going to talk a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 3: 1:30

Yeah, so my name is Morgan Hurley. I grew up here in Charleston, south Carolina, actually on Isle of Palms Born and brought me to Vermont, but I moved here when I was in about second grade, so I've been here ever since Been in the hospitality trade. Uh, as long as I can remember my uh dad, jack hurley, actually opened jack's cosmic dogs in mount pleasant really 20 plus years ago.

Speaker 2: 1:51

That place is still happening. In fact, I had one of our like school pto nights there.

Speaker 3: 1:57

It was like an end of year bash last year, so like shout out to jack's cosmic dogs on 17 yeah, so he sold it a few years ago, but that was my first kind of job there and I've stayed in hospitality and grown and, you know, been with a couple different concepts since then.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Okay, awesome. And for the people who don't know Morgan very well, he has been in this industry the food and bed for a long time and I met Morgan crazy back in the day when I was on the board of AMA and I was doing like the coffee talks, right.

Speaker 4: 2:28

Yep.

Speaker 2: 2:29

So you were part of my committee and we like would powwow and come up with cool speakers and stuff. So it's kind of like a full circle moment, which is pretty fun, yeah, and you have a big announcement for us.

Speaker 3: 2:38

I do, yeah. So I was with MEX One for 13 years and I'm officially moving on for MEX One.

Speaker 2: 2:46

Well, congratulations.

Speaker 3: 2:47

Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I'm starting my own agency, swell Marketing Consulting, so pretty excited, just kind of getting things off the ground right now.

Speaker 2: 2:56

I like the surfer reference.

Speaker 3: 2:57

Yeah, yep, I can tip on that. He's a big surfer and also I'm doing a swell job.

Speaker 2: 3:01

Yeah, there you go, so I'm doing a swell job. Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3: 3:05

Oh, I love that.

Speaker 2: 3:06

That is awesome. So when does your business officially launch?

Speaker 3: 3:10

So actually when we were at MEX One we had our sister company Islander 71 Fish House and Raw Bar opened up a few years ago in Isle of Palms where the old Morgan Creek Grill was, and I wanted to help them with their social media and just getting started with their marketing. So I actually started Swell Marketing and Consulting then probably three, four years ago now. So I kind of had that on the side and then I just saw the opportunity going into this year to push over into my own business and I'm pretty pumped on it.

Speaker 4: 3:39

That's amazing. Will you be more focused on the hospitality aspect or will you kind of be open to all clients that are in the area?

Speaker 3: 3:46

Yeah, so initially, hospitality focus is where I've really my bread and butter is, so I would definitely start with them. But you know, I'm interested in working with nonprofits, other service-based industries in Charleston, hotels, I mean even things outside of my comfort zone law offices, financial advisors I just right now I'm thinking about who's in my core group that I know and how can I help them. Yeah, no, that's smart. And then with the people that I'm not more familiar with, maybe work with them on more of a friend rate, just so that I can kind of learn the ins and outs of that sort of thing. I think eventually I'd like to lean into kind of like SaaS services and those sort of things, because I really am leaning into more of a remote style work and everything like that.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Well, coming from a remote style consultant, like it is awesome, especially when you can be so engaged with different community partners. You really feel like you're a part of, like the Charleston area, which is awesome, and you've been in, you know, the marketing field for a long time and I kind of like your story because, number one, if you don't follow him on social media, if you don't follow Mex1 on social media, you should, because they're doing some really cool stuff and I always throw this out there because I'm like such a mom but like he's like such a cool dad and the whole surfing and like I like that you're such a relatable nice guy, but I like that you're such a relatable nice guy but you're also really on top of it. You're just really making some neat stuff happen. And I like the story of how you went from mixology into marketing, because you've won lots of mixology awards in Charleston, right.

Speaker 3: 5:16

Yeah, so I started at the Tides Hotel. I really made my name at the Tides Hotel Blue in Folly Beach.

Speaker 2: 5:26

The tiki bar out there. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 5:28

Absolute blast. Loved it there, and while I was there I really started to kind of lean into mixology, I mean this is like 2008, 2009.

Speaker 3: 5:39

So this is like before. Mixology was, you know, kind of had a name and all of that sort of stuff. So I entered a couple different contests. Um, actually, the first one I entered was the heritage, uh, golf tournament cocktail competition and won that one. And, um, I've won Charleston fashion week, charleston wine and food, uh, and a few others. But what I found with mixology is that you're competing against 20 other people, right, and everybody comes to the table with a good drink, but if you don't have a good name and a good story behind it, then you don't have a chance. So I spent almost just as much time on the name of the drink, the story, the ingredients. I chose everything and really crafted that message and sold that. So while I'm making the drink, I'm, you know, actively talking to the judges and selling to the judges why I chose what I did, and that was kind of the inkling to me of, like man, stories really sell.

Speaker 2: 6:32

Like it's all about the story, Right? This was my first time experiencing Charleston Wine of Food. This is the first time. I don't know. I guess I'm always out of town.

Speaker 1: 6:40

I love that festival. It was awesome.

Speaker 2: 6:42

I went to the culinary village. It was awesome. I already bought my tickets for next year. I got an email. They're like oh, locals, you buy your tickets for next year. I'm like done and done, it's on the calendar.

Speaker 3: 6:56

It was pretty awesome. Yeah, I love wine and food. I've been a part of them for, or been helping them for, quite a few years now.

Speaker 2: 6:59

Yeah, and it was interesting how many people I met came from other parts of the world. My husband was on a flight back from Chicago and he's like they were boarding from Chicago and the people were like, oh, are you going to Charleston Wine and Food? He's like, actually I'm going home, but yes, I am in fact going to Charleston Wine and Food because the whole plane of Chicago Chicagoans, or whatever their name's called, were people coming to Charleston Wine and Food. Oh wow, it's like a big, huge thing nationally and I think that is pretty amazing that you've been such a big, intricate part of that.

Speaker 3: 7:29

Yeah, yeah, it's been fun. I did some tequila presentations with them, presented on tequila education, tequila history, to luncheons, to being in the beverage. Talent tent my favorite was one one year. I wanted to always make a splash whenever I was there and they had the talent tent. So just where media and press or and, and you know, any other bartenders or just people, talent that are working the show can go and hang out Right. Um, and I went to bartend because I always figured, hey, I'd have fun, I'll go for an hour and to schmooze with people.

Speaker 2: 8:04

Get in for free. Hang out, have a drink. That sounds great, yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:08

So the second year that I did that, I brought coconuts that I had cut open and branded with Mex1 on them.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Wow, as in like branded like a brand of cow. Yes, Okay, all right, that's how I'm matching it.

Speaker 3: 8:22

It took hours to chop the tops off, strain the coconut water and brand the side of them. But I made this drink called the hydrator, which is vodka, coconut water and passion fruit, and that's got a whole separate side story there of how I created that. But I wanted to serve the cocktails and the coconut because I knew that people would then take those coconuts and walk around with them and be like where the hell did you get that coconut and why does it say Mex1 on it? So this particular year Al Roker was a guest that year and so they specifically pulled him into the tent and gave him a coconut and had me come over and do a photo op with them.

Speaker 2: 8:55

Oh, that's so awesome. What a cool PR moment for you. That was awesome, that was pretty rad. Yeah, that is awesome. Yeah, Mex1 has built a really cool brand. I went out once to the I guess kind of like a snowboard thing at the beach. Can you explain a little bit about that?

Speaker 3: 9:11

Yeah, so the Snowboard Rail Jam. So I got a lot of funny stories about some of these events. So I was talking with Dave, who's the owner, a good friend of mine and we were talking about our anniversary party, what we wanted to do, and our anniversary is always in January and it's cold in January. There's nothing going on. So I said, you know, I've had some buddies who have done a snowboard competition in the past. So I said, okay, I think I can host a snowboard event in the front parking lot of Max One. And he was like in Charleston.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Yeah, and at the beach.

Speaker 3: 9:43

What was funny was that we started with that. We thought it was our fifth anniversary, but it was actually our fourth anniversary.

Speaker 2: 9:49

We just did the math wrong, there you go. You're like have a fifth blowout, fifth year blowout and it was the fourth.

Speaker 3: 9:55

But yeah, we threw our first one and it was a big success. People loved it. Our social media obviously blew up. This was in 2017. People loved it. Our social media obviously blew up. This was in 2017. So we kind of grew it from there. We got to a point in 2023 where we just we outgrew no 2024, we outgrew it our space. We couldn't host it anymore. So this past year, just this past January, we partnered up with Firefly and hosted it at Firefly and brought in the Black and Tan Collective to help us put on the event and we were hoping for about 2,000 people and we had about 3,000 people show up. Wow, and it was a smashing success. I mean probably best event I've ever thrown. I would say it was just top notch.

Speaker 2: 10:39

And there's nothing like it in the city, so it's kind of almost like a tradition that people go to year after year.

Speaker 3: 10:44

Yeah Well, and the benefit too is it's the second. We usually around the second weekend in january and there's nothing going on that weekend, so the only thing we're competing against is like wild card nfl playoffs, but typically yeah, typically there's nothing else really going on, and also we found that it's like the second weekend after everybody's new year's resolution.

Speaker 4: 11:04

So if you're like I'm gonna do dry january or I'm gonna quit drinking you're like that weekend you're like, let's party like the worst time for food and bev around here that january, because everyone's just staying in saving their money doing their new year's resolution. So why not give them a reason to come out and celebrate that scene?

Speaker 3: 11:21

yeah, and for us too. We I mean, that was great as well the sales, all that but also just brand recognition, just awareness during the weeks leading up to it and then the weeks after that. I mean I've never had so many people tag MexOne in a story than I do the 24 hours around Braille.

Speaker 2: 11:39

Oh, a hundred percent. Probably even more than like Cinco de Mayo, which is a big spot for Mexican?

Speaker 3: 11:44

Yeah, because every Mexican restaurant in town has a Cinco de.

Speaker 2: 11:47

Mayo party.

Speaker 3: 11:48

So, we're competing against that, but with Rail Jam it's unique because you never get to see snow in Charleston, but we all just had that earlier this year.

Speaker 2: 11:56

They blow the snow. So envision people who are listening from outside of the area. You see the water, there's the sand and then there's, you know, we have all of our restaurants and there's just snow out there. It's wild.

Speaker 3: 12:08

Yeah, it's so fun. We bring in about 40,000, 50,000 pounds of snow and they literally put it in a wood chipper and just blast it right onto a custom ramp that we have built.

Speaker 2: 12:18

I love working with brands that just like think outside the box, like that, because that's that is. Do you think they'll continue that after you? Yes, okay, good.

Speaker 3: 12:25

Yeah, we actually. Just I was with in a meeting with Firefly and Black and Tan Collective planning for 2026 and beyond. So we've got goals for the new next couple of years.

Speaker 4: 12:35

Yeah, do you think you'll still stay involved with it?

Speaker 3: 12:37

I would love to. I had a conversation with Firefly and Black and Tan Collective and this was right around the time when I was planning on leaving and I said you know, I don't know how MEX One's going to be involved. Obviously it's their event, it's their host event. So I know they want to be involved, but I don't know to what level now that I'm not there. So I've already talked to Firefly and Black and Tan. I'm like sign me up, like, like I'm in. I don't know how I can help, how.

Speaker 3: 13:03

I'm factored in, but like I'm going to be a part of this event, oh, that's awesome yeah it sounds like you.

Speaker 2: 13:09

When you just get involved in something, you take it like to the next level, didn't you like go? I remember when we were hanging out doing the, the committee and stuff, you went to like Mexico and you came back and you're really excited because I guess something just like the flavor blaster. Do you remember the flavor blaster? And it wasn't a thing then but you're like telling me the flavor blaster and show me all these videos oh my gosh, that's so funny.

Speaker 3: 13:32

Yes, so the flavor blaster. This is a random name. Uh, it was a cocktail bubble gun, so it was this like it's really cool, it looks like the kind that you like.

Speaker 2: 13:45

You go to disney and you walk around with these like bubble machines. They make these huge bubbles.

Speaker 3: 13:49

Yeah, it looks like that, but it's got like flavored alcohol in it well, no flavored alcohol, it's just a flavored smoke and the bubble is edible. So the the point of it is that you garnish a glass, like the top of a glass, with a big bubble and serve it to people and people, and then you could also like take the bubble and float it in the air, right, so it kind of like made a show.

Speaker 3: 14:08

Yeah, that was also what I brought to wine and food talent tent done so I had branded coconuts and this bubble gun, so I would like float the bubble in the air and then it would drift down and people were trying to catch it or land it in their drinks. And yeah, you know from a distance, if you're looking around and you see this bubble and people are clamoring and a crowd of people staring at it.

Speaker 3: 14:28

It's just, people loved it, and we did it at MEX One for a while. Actually, we had it at two of our locations. The tough part is that bubbles and wind don't really work out that well and both of our restaurants are kind of open air.

Speaker 2: 14:40

Was it at the Park West location? Because I'm pretty sure I went in there and asked for it. And sure, I went in there and asked for it and I got the thing and my mom was with me from Virginia, and we were all like, look at the bubble. Like this is an amazing mom, I gotta do an Instagram story it was.

Speaker 3: 14:52

What's funny, is that? So it depended on the bartender of how excited they got with it. If I had it, I loved it, I used it as often as I could. I would just show it off just randomly. But we had other bartenders that are a little more introverted and didn't like the attention. So, you know, it worked for a time and then the guns started to jam and break down and it became a whole issue in and of itself, and anytime the wind blew or they're walking to the table and the bubble pops before they get there, it just it kind of became a hassle. So it eventually lost its kind of wow factor. But man, that was fun for a little while.

Speaker 2: 15:25

I think you're like on the head of the curve. You're always coming up with cool marketing ideas that stick for a little while and then you switch gears and come up with something that's cool. How do you do that? What's your process like?

Speaker 3: 15:37

Oh man, I would say imitation is the best form of flattery. I'm always looking at what other people are doing. I found the bubble gum on Instagram probably and just saw that's cool shit, how do I get it? And then I just went out there and got it. So you know, I would say that a lot of it is, you know, just brainstorming with other people. Looking what other restaurants are doing across the country is always a big one. I have a ton of like. When I was doing more of the beverage side, I was looking at different cocktail recipe books and just reading through them and saying how can I make this mix one? How can I make this? How can I use local ingredients or local flavors to really make this our own? And I always want to push the envelope Like I don't I get bored with just the standard. I want to really, how do I take this up to the next notch? You know how do you make this memorable yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 16:31

So, having built the strong brand with mechs one and now you're doing all this cool stuff with islander 70 I pulled up there by on my boat, by the way, like the food is good so, like lights out, good sunsets, like it is, it is a beautiful scene. So if you haven't checked that out, like with the hospitality industry in charleston, like being so saturated, what do you think? Like how do you think marketing really helps, like doing cool things like this, like how do you think you're setting yourself apart and how would you suggest other people who are like in the industry doing it?

Speaker 3: 17:03

yeah. So you know, the big thing is we're in an attention-based economy. Right now, right Like everybody is on their phones or getting notifications all that sort of thing.

Speaker 3: 17:11

So you know we've got to get in front of them but we've got to entertain them. You know, I went to Meg, which was a marketing executive group, for the National Restaurant Association seminar. It was two years ago and this guy was talking about TikTok. And how do you get famous on TikTok or not famous, but how do you become relevant on TikTok? Build an audience, yeah, build an audience on TikTok. And he's like TikTok is entertainment. He's like picture it like Netflix. So if you're not doing like Netflix for your you know, your TikTok or your Instagram or something like that, then it's hard to kind of stay relevant. So I'm not on TikTok, I'm terrible.

Speaker 2: 17:50

I was going to say are you on TikTok? No?

Speaker 3: 17:52

I am. So I'm Instagram. It's the algorithm has got me hook, line and sinker. There you go. I spend too much of my time on Instagram. I would say I dabble on TikTok a little bit, but it's not. I'm 42. I'm just. I'm a little too old for it, but I've. I do understand some of the frameworks behind it and stuff like that. I think the one nice part, though for you know, most business owners out there now is that what used to, you used to need, like, a full video production team to come in and get content, and nowadays it's not really about that. Actually, sometimes that content does worse than the stuff that's shot on like an iPhone 11.

Speaker 2: 18:31

They like the authentic, organic feel of just walking in there and getting the real experience versus the highly produced, which is just sad for a lot of our friends who are videographers and that kind of thing.

Speaker 3: 18:41

Well, I think there's guys that are getting it right. I'll give an example the Thomas Brothers brothers, in my opinion, are. They're great surfers, they're good friends of mine. They are just killing it in the content scene. They actually just did one for hirayali, which is one of my favorite restaurants here in town. Um, and they put it was well produced, it was obviously shot on a nice camera and drones and all this, but it felt like it felt like a real video like an authentic video and I watched the video.

Speaker 3: 19:06

I was like blown away. I was like this is one of the best videos I've seen for an advertisement for a long time, you should tell them submit it to Spark. I will.

Speaker 4: 19:13

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:14

I'll have them submit it actually, but yeah, so I think the other thing too is there's so many ways to talk to a customer from your Google profile being up to date and relevant. Social media, marketing your reputation on all of these platforms, email marketing, I mean, it's almost overwhelming and I think-.

Speaker 2: 19:34

So many things to maintain as a small business owner. There's just unbelievable. You can put reviews on Google, you can put on Facebook, you can put on Yelp, you can put on Nextdoor, you can put on Angie's List. It is wild.

Speaker 3: 19:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:45

Reputation management, especially the hospitality industry, has got to be a huge thing for you guys A huge factor, yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:50

So that's the thing that I think has benefited me with working with Max One and Islander is I've kind of become a generalist over the years, and so I have now with Swell Marketing.

Speaker 3: 20:00

I can kind of bring that generalist attitude to anybody that I work with. So whether somebody is needing reputation management, social media, local media, outreach, like I'm not a PR firm, I don't have contacts at New York Times, but I know all of the writers in town and I know a lot of these sort of people that I've just made contacts with influencers, all of this sort of stuff. So for me, I'm not necessarily an expert at one thing like PR, but I know the ins and outs of what's worked and what hasn't worked over the years. So I can, one, bring that kind of like top level strategy to people and see, okay, you're launching a campaign, where do all of these different things fit? But then, two, I can also implement them too. So I can be a strategist at times and then also a technician or a tactician and really get in there and get my you know roll up my sleeves and get dirty.

Speaker 4: 20:50

Well, I feel like that's important in an area like Charleston, because you kind of have that trust with people.

Speaker 3: 20:55

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 20:55

And I feel like Charleston is really big area where you need like a good reputation and trust and need those respected partners in the media or in the other creator spaces and I feel like that really helps if you have that.

Speaker 3: 21:06

Yeah, and I think it's the proof's in the pudding of MEX One and Islander. You know we've put together some pretty cool things over the years. So you know I can point back to the Instagram page or our website or any of the media hits we've gotten over the years and say you know that I did all of that with the team. Obviously I had a ton of help with everybody at MEX1 and Islander 71. But you know there was a lot of that strategy was kind of my direction on that sort of thing.

Speaker 2: 21:30

Yeah well, you're the marketing director for a long time that's going to be. Are you already looking for your replacement?

Speaker 3: 21:39

I'm not really sure. Right now we're kind of going through restructuring, all of that sort of stuff. Just we have a new director of operations and a director of culinary who are just absolutely killing it and it's been great to work alongside them. So I know they're kind of like working through all of the kinks. I don't know if they're going to go back to an agency route or go director. I'm not really 100% sure.

Speaker 2: 21:57

Well, I'll tell you my mom, Diane Pierman in Chesapeake, Virginia, likes your email marketing because she'll forward it to me and be like hey, honey, I know you probably have plans this weekend, but this looks really cool and you know I love next one. So I'll be like thanks for the tip. Mom appreciate you. Yeah, she loves your margarita. She still talks about it. She's like it's just they use the real stuff.

Speaker 3: 22:16

Stephanie the real stuff like well speak on that. 100 agave tequila that is the the crutch. When we first opened max one 13 years ago, I remember sitting with my brother and talking about because I came up with the margarita recipes, like the full bar menu, everything was all of mine the sour mix, everything and I remember we were talking about whether we use 100% blue agave tequila or not, because all of our competitors use mixed-o tequilas which I could take us on a tequila talk on a whole separate day.

Speaker 3: 22:47

But 100% blue agave was key and I really wanted to implement that. I remember being on the fence about it because it meant that our bar costs would be a lot higher. But I remember my brother was like you know, if you believe in the quality, so much and just stick with that. And we've stuck with it ever since. So our house margaritas, our infusions, our frozen margaritas everything is using 100% agave blue agave, tequila, and that makes a difference in the world. You said it already. You can taste the difference and it's so true.

Speaker 2: 23:16

I actually am not a huge margarita person, but I will get multiple margaritas at MexPum. I don't wake up feeling sick too, which is great. Yes, that's the difference, all the sweet stuff makes me feel sick, Yep absolutely Because. I'm not a huge drinker, but when I have two of those and I'm like lights- out down like carry me out, but they're just fantastic.

Speaker 3: 23:32

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:35

And I like the incorporate live music and all the things. So I feel like you're hitting on all cylinders with your marketing, which is amazing.

Speaker 4: 23:39

Yeah, I'm looking at your Instagram page here. It's very eye-catching, like a lot of just fun, creative ideas I really love it yeah, skulls and all the stuff.

Speaker 2: 23:47

You've done a really good job. I'm excited to see your next venture.

Speaker 3: 23:51

It's funny with Instagram and how much it's changed over the years. You know it's, especially now it's. You know so much of it is about entertainment. Now They've really leaned into the TikTok side of things, the short form videos.

Speaker 2: 24:04

Yeah, game changer side of things.

Speaker 3: 24:06

So the short form videos yeah, game changer, yeah, I mean it's, it's wild. So the you know, I feel like gone are the days of having like a perfectly branded looking instagram platform or people don't want that anymore.

Speaker 3: 24:15

It looks boring, it does I think people can see through it, so they want to see more originality. I mean there's you've got to have some you know brand guidelines and it's got to look like it's coming from you. And there's more of the don'ts than the keeping within the do's, but still I feel like you've got to look at it from what's shareable, what's getting eyeballs on it and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2: 24:36

The killing me was that they've changed all the specs, now for 1080, over 1080. So now I'm looking at profiles that I've been managing for three years and I'm like, now I you know profiles that I've been managing for three years and I'm like, now I have to go back and put a white banner around all of them and I'm like, oh, it's just, the whole thing has changed, which is good and bad.

Speaker 3: 24:52

So yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:52

I like to roll with change. It keeps it keeps life interesting.

Speaker 3: 24:55

Keeping us on our toes, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:58

So what's the next step for your business? How are you going to roll it out to?

Speaker 3: 25:03

Oh, good question. I mean at this point initially I've got so many contacts that I've worked with you know, businesses, other restaurants, hospitalities, even just networking with Charleston AMA.

Speaker 2: 25:18

Charlotte Berger is a good friend of yours. Yeah, Charlotte Berger is a great friend of mine.

Speaker 3: 25:23

Hospitality. You know the Low Country Hospitality. There's so many associations and everything like that that I think initially it's going to be just a lot of networking, a lot of talking to everybody. I know, because I don't want a big roster, I don't have big eyes of having 10, 12, 15 clients. I want three, four, five really good, solid clients that I can get down and dirty with.

Speaker 3: 25:45

Well, because I have a lot of experience, but in different areas. You know if I have like restaurant marketing as an example, if a restaurant or business uses toast, which is like a point of sale system, I spent years, you know, building menus and editing menus and all of that sort of stuff and toast. But a lot of times over time those menus get like big and they just it gets overwhelming. So from a project basis I can go in there and clean somebody's toast up so it's.

Speaker 3: 26:13

It's not necessarily marketing specific, but if it's making them operate more efficiently, it'll make them more profitable, which ultimately, that's all that matters. If I can help make a company more profitable, get more sales, then I'm doing my job, you know.

Speaker 2: 26:26

Yeah, no, I've never edited toast. That's a very niche thing that you can bring to the table.

Speaker 3: 26:31

Yeah, from routing printers to the taxes and all sorts of stuff that go along with that, yeah, Now.

Speaker 2: 26:38

Would you ever open your own restaurant one day?

Speaker 3: 26:41

No, I don't think so. My wife is a school counselor. I could not be doing this life without her, that's for sure. But she is a school counselor, so she has summers off, we have long holidays around the breaks and everything like that. I have two kids, six and nine. I'd like to eventually keep the aspect going to where we can kind of lean into traveling, going to Costa Rica and staying for a couple weeks.

Speaker 2: 27:06

They're big surfers, All of you are right.

Speaker 3: 27:07

I am. My wife not so much I'm trying she's probably going to listen to this podcast and listen because I've tried over the years and teaching your significant other a skill like that can be hard.

Speaker 3: 27:17

But my kids I'm trying to push as hard as I can without feeling like I'm pushing too hard, cause I don't want them to hate the sport. But my daughter loves the sport. I'll actually I'll give a shout out to the Folly Beach Wahine surf contest. So when my daughter was four years old, five years old, they have what's called the push and surf contest. So the push and surf is you bring any young surfers out and you push them. So myself, the dad, pushes your daughter or son into waves. So it's very cute, it's in the crowd, kind of cheers.

Speaker 3: 27:51

Yeah, it's like a big fun thing. There's no real winners or anything like that but at the end, what they do is they always go up and you immediately afterwards go up and get a trophy or something around your neck or something like that. Well, what they did this year was they took recycled trophies from previous winners, and I mean I'm talking, my daughter got a trophy that was probably three foot tall, three foot tall surfing trophy that said like first place, push and surf. And to a four or five year old, I mean, it's still in her room.

Speaker 3: 28:23

I was gonna say we went to the restaurant that night and she just spent the whole night walking around the restaurant with her giant trophy and people are clapping at her and things like that.

Speaker 3: 28:31

I mean like it was just such a special moment for her. It's something she'll never forget. So you know, that's an example of them doing just such a great job with, like, building you, you know, younger surfers and getting them into it. And the esa does that as well um, not necessarily with the big trophies, but with that. So they always like to have fun with the pushing surfers, the younger kids I can see you working with some kind of surf brand in charleston yeah, I think lifestyle brands would be something I would, you know, love to do eventually.

Speaker 3: 28:59

Uh, you know, marshwares like a great brand I, I love those guys, shades, and you know I know those guys really well so, and there's there's quite a few other ones locally here too. I'm really good friends with Alex who owns Parrot Surf Shop in Mount Pleasant. I've been a team rider for them for a long time, so I don't know if I'd necessarily work with him, but I'd love to be able to just like talk shop with him and things like that.

Speaker 2: 29:21

And sport, all the cool gear. Yeah, yep, you get normally are rocking a pretty cool hat, aren't you?

Speaker 3: 29:27

Well, it's funny, All my cool hats are always all max one hats. Okay, so I got. I got to reinvest in my hat game. I have plenty of other hats. My wife would agree, but uh, yeah, I had a lot of really cool max brand called shuckable.

Speaker 2: 29:40

If you need some shuck hats, have you seen the brand with the oyster?

Speaker 4: 29:43

yeah, oh, that's cool. I have seen that.

Speaker 2: 29:46

Yeah, yeah, they're great they're great brands so yeah, nice, those guys are, those guys are awesome have you been to odyssey bottle shop on james island?

Speaker 3: 29:54

I have, yeah, they've got like the really big surfer vibe. I always like going there yep, yeah, they've got like surf videos playing on tv and everything like that. Yeah, so funny enough, uh. Last january actually stopped drinking, uh, which being a tequila kind of sewer and like all of this sort of stuff.

Speaker 3: 30:11

It kind of was like for a while that was also the beverage director for maxwell and for the longest part of my um time and you know I just felt like it just wasn't really a fit in my life anymore. I just wasn't doing it as much or drinking as much. So I just decided one day to kind of stop. So I don't go to bottle or to Odyssey as much because it's mainly for drinking and everything like that. But it's funny I miss places like that and the camaraderie and going to have an MA beer just isn't quite as cool.

Speaker 4: 30:37

Yeah, a little different there.

Speaker 2: 30:39

Yeah, there's a lot of cool brands that are kind of adapting to the whole non-drinking thing. Yeah, which is amazing.

Speaker 3: 30:46

Yeah, oh, you have to. I mean, like it's between the cocktails, the NA beers, you know, na wines, na spirits. I mean there's so many options. Even on the MEX-1 menu, we adopted a lot of non-alcoholic options or even low ABV options as well, things that didn't have as much alcohol in them.

Speaker 2: 31:04

That's a smart move. Shout out to my dad, who's also doing that. I should bring him from.

Speaker 4: 31:08

Virginia again.

Speaker 2: 31:09

Lots of Virginia shout outs today. Well, this has been really fun. I'm really excited for you. I think you're going to do some really amazing things.

Speaker 3: 31:16

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2: 31:17

Yeah, were you at Charleston Wine and Food this year.

Speaker 3: 31:20

I was. I wasn't wanting food this year, I was. I didn't run into you, I was, I was looking for you. So, yeah, we were there. Uh, I try to go to as many events as I can, but we were um in the village. No, we hosted a tequila luncheon on thursday, uh, and then we were in the village serving serving tuna poke on friday oh, nice, okay, I was there saturday.

Speaker 2: 31:38

Yep, next year I'm gonna do the locals day, do you do I? Was partying saturday so you were my wife and I were there all day, saturday, so I got hot. I was an idiot. I showed up in like a sweater and like a cute skirt. I ended up buying this shirt as a locals. On it, I was feeling myself. I was walking around with my big white hat.

Speaker 4: 31:56

You've been better dressed for sunday with that, because sunday was kind of rainy and a little bit chillier, so that was like the perfect day for food and wine, just because you weren't like standing out in the sun or anything yeah does the locals?

Speaker 3: 32:07

day get really, really busy saturday is the busiest okay, for sure, yeah, and I think this year saturday was the busiest because of the weather on sunday. Like typically, my wife go on sundays, but we decided to go saturday because of the weather on sunday.

Speaker 3: 32:22

But yeah, saturdays are typically the busiest days, but Sundays, in my opinion, are the most fun because a lot of brands are like this is the last day. It's kind of the last hurrah. You kind of get that feeling from everybody Like we pulled this off. I mean, last year was such a hard year for wine and food as a whole.

Speaker 2: 32:40

I had tickets last year, of course, and then it rained.

Speaker 3: 32:42

Yeah, I know Alyssa pretty well and I felt so bad because it was her first year kind of taking the reins. She'd been with them forever and they did an amazing job.

Speaker 2: 32:50

I think they handled it like champions.

Speaker 3: 32:52

All of the communications that I got the way they handled.

Speaker 2: 32:55

The PR was fantastic.

Speaker 3: 32:56

I remember seeing Alyssa at closing ceremonies and it was like nothing had happened. Good, cool, as a cucumber, I mean, she was probably like dying with stress, but like right she, it was amazing. And I thought this year's wine and food was one of my favorites. I mean I love, love, uh, being a part of wine and food and definitely look forward to working with them next year.

Speaker 2: 33:17

That's awesome, awesome. All right, so you're gonna let us know when your new company launches hopefully by the time airs it'll be launched and ready to go. Okay, and where can everybody find out more information about working with you and your journey and that kind of thing.

Speaker 3: 33:30

Yeah, so on Instagram, my handle right now is Morgan Hurley CHS, but my website is going to be wwwswell-marketingcom.

Speaker 4: 33:40

Okay.

Speaker 3: 33:41

So, swell-marketingcom, I have a LinkedIn profile profile, but I'm not very active on it, to be honest. So I would say instagram and then, uh, the website, for sure that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 33:52

Well, we loved having you. On anything else you want to close out with anything exciting happening in your world?

Speaker 3: 33:58

uh, no, not really, just launching a new small marketing business in charleston. That's what I, what I feel like I'm drinking from the firehose of opportunities right now. I'm trying to figure it all out. So yeah, right now it's just go, go, go.

Speaker 2: 34:12

So appreciate the opportunity. You're going to do wonderful things, big things, and we're excited for you.

Speaker 3: 34:16

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2: 34:17

Awesome, all right. Well, before we leave, we need to thank our sponsors. Uh, charleston media solution studios. Of course, jerry feels good for the beats at the beginning of the show and the AMA. If you want to be a guest or a sponsor or podcast, please reach out to us at podcast at Charleston AMAorg, and we will get back to you. Uh, thanks for being with us, charleston, and we'll see you next time. Bye.