At IAN, we don’t believe in silos. (And we’re pretty confident you don’t either…otherwise you’re in the wrong business!)
That why this episode of #IndieThinking–much like our sponsor and favorite 4 o’clock snack, Doughlicious–is packed with goodness wrapped in even more goodness!
We kick it off by diving inside the mind of Doughlicious’ Managing Director, Russell Barnett, who’s had some “modest success” launching indie brands like Mike’s Hard Lemonade and My/Mochi among others. Russell gives us a glimpse of his storied career as a brand marketer, takes us through his process of finding the right agency partner (hint: chemistry is everything) and doles out even more advice for successful agency/brand relationships.
Next up, we spoke with fellow professional multitaskers, Cornett owner and CEO, Christy Hiler, and Zambezi principal and CEO, Jean Freeman, who co-founded OwnIt, a community of women and non-binary agency owners. The organization, which recently held a sold-out in-person event in New York, empowers underrepresented groups in the industry and seeks to increase agency ownership within these groups.
(Did you know that of the 20,000 agencies registered in the U.S., less than 1,000 are owned by women? The actual number is smaller than that, but the point is: Changes need to be made STAT.)
Christy and Jean also take us through some of their respective agencies’ upcoming projects to be on the lookout for.
It’s a jam-packed episode!
In Part 1 of this #IndieThinking episode, you’ll learn about:
- Russell Barnett’s career path as a marketer with high-profile, fun brands
- What Russell learned from his past work that informs the Doughlicious direction
- How to help brands break through when they’ve hit a ceiling
- Refreshing the Doughlicious brand
- The distribution plan in the US and beyond
- Why Russell is attracted to indie agencies
- The importance of chemistry with an agency
And in Part 2 of this episode, you’ll get:
- An introduction to Christy Hiler and Jean Freeman
- A quick snapshot of OwnIt
- The evolution of OwnIt
- The OwnIt gathering in NYC, with 90+ women agency owners
- Catching up on work from Zambezi and Cornett
Learn more
- Russell Barnett on LinkedIn
- Find Douhlicious Here
- Christy Hiler on LinkedIn
- Find Cornett Here
- Jean Freeman on LinkedIn
- Find Zambezi Here
- Find and Get Involved with OwnIt Here
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
