On June 16, 2016, I received my Ltd. registration in England for Phoenix Road Creative. The company would later become Pike x Digital, but reaching the 10 year mark still gives me pause to reflect. Actually, not just on those 10 years, but on my entire career in marketing. After all, it was around June of 1996 that I got my start at 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Looking back, that means I’ve now spent nearly 30 years in the industry.
Three decades…how is that possible?
I’ve always felt like marketing was wired into me from the start. In kindergarten, I vividly remember watching a classroom film about the advertising industry. It showed how cartoon characters were used to sell sugary cereal to kids. I was fascinated.
Even at that age, I understood that marketing was about more than just selling. It was about psychology, emotion, and influence. That moment sparked a lifelong obsession that has only grown stronger as the industry has transformed around me.
The 1900’s (Yes, Millennials, even you are old!)
One day in first grade, my mother started receiving phone calls from the other mothers in my class. Apparently, I had invited all of the girls to a Japanese-themed tea party at my house. The invitations were on notebook paper in a child’s handwriting so the mothers wanted to know if it was real. Put on the spot, my mother agreed to it and helped me put together my first event. For me, event planning was just another way to express my creativity.
In college I became the Social Chair for my college sorority. This entailed planning events with other sororities and fraternities on campus. Because we were a new sorority on campus, the job also involved a bit of promotional marketing to get noticed in order to set up the events. Some pretty creative publicity stunts came out of that.
It was only natural that I would end up first in the publicity and event departments. Doing that at 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and the FOX Network was a bonus. I was in event planning heaven.
My favorite events with Fox included the annual Primetime Upfronts in New York City. This was a big project that entailed a live corporate presentation. It featured all of the talent on the shows for that upcoming year. Following that was an extravagant party attended by a thousand advertising and studio executives and celebrities.
Other events included premiere parties and milestone parties for 90210, Melrose Place, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and That 70’s Show.
Fun Fact
At a party for The Simpsons, I was tasked with finding series creator Matt Groening and bringing him to a room for a press junket. He was in the middle of a conversation and I didn’t want to interrupt him. He thought I was there to ask for his autograph so he took my staff access pass, drew a picture of Bart Simpson and signed his name. I then had to say “thank you but really I need you to come with me to do some interviews.” I still have the autograph though.
More Events: A Sidenote
Another of my favorite promotional events was the summer I spent at Gladstones Malibu.
Known as a highly successful tourist destination for decades, Gladstones saw huge crowds throughout the summer but was much quieter during the winter months. They hired me as their marketing manager with the goal of finding a way to bring locals back during the off-season.
My idea was to build on the momentum of summer in a way that would excite tourists and locals alike. If I could get locals coming during the busy summer months, I could then retain them through drink specials and smaller events once winter arrived.
I started by creating a weekly event called Rock Lobster. Every Sunday, I featured a different up-and-coming Hollywood rock band and hired a rock DJ to play in between sets. The bands would show up with their friends, fans, and local followers, many of whom rediscovered Gladstones for the first time in years. The vibe each week was great.
I was able to generate local magazine coverage, and eventually celebrities were being spotted and photographed there as well. Once the momentum was established, I continued into the fall and winter, transforming the summer Sunday events into a Thursday night live music happy hour geared toward locals.
The downside? Like anything new, there were a few growing pains.
At the time, the landmark restaurant did not have a license to play copyrighted music, so when the bands played covers and the DJ played his music, the calls from ASCAP began. We ended up being fined $5,000.
A small price to pay for all the publicity we received. More importantly, it helped bring Gladstones into the future and paved the way for more live music at the beach.
To this day, I still meet people who tell me they met their spouse at one of my shows. I’ve also run into Malibu residents who remember hearing the music coming from Gladstones up in the mountains above. They would sit on their patios with a beer and enjoy the music from home.
Those are the things that make it all worth it. You can catch some of the memories here.
…but I digress
The Beginnings of Email Marketing
In the year 2000, I took on the role of events manager at Key Club, an iconic music venue situated on the bustling Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Having already garnered experience in film and television, this marked my foray into the music industry. My responsibilities included marketing the event services for the club, as well as overseeing event operations.
This was a time when the internet was in its wild west phase. Illegal music file sharing was rampant, while email marketing was a fledgling concept. In those days, promotional emails could be sent to any email address that was available. If the sender didn’t think to put the addresses in the BCC section, the recipient could steal their entire email list for their own purposes. No privacy laws back then! At least people were more receptive to receiving these emails and actually read them.
I must admit I am guilty of hijacking some emails for use of pitching the venue’s event services as well as inviting guests to our promotional parties. But, hey, I was a pioneer of the future of digital marketing!
Marketing in the New Millennium
In the mid-2000’s, I was working at LA Weekly, aka “the bible” for all things happening in Los Angeles. Charged with the tasks of attracting a younger audience as well as getting all readers to migrate to the newly launched website, I created the magazine’s Street Team. This was a group of early 20-somethings who attended various events throughout the city to promote LA Weekly. The Street Team’s efforts included giving away branded prizes and taking photos of attendees to post in photo galleries on the website, thereby generating web traffic.
Before Social Media was a “Thing”
Also at that time, I had become obsessed with MySpace. Seeing the impact of MySpace on my friends in the music industry, I recognized an opportunity to leverage social media to promote LA Weekly. I started the magazine’s social media accounts and was among the first to use social media from a corporate standpoint to reach the public. A pioneer again.
Back then, MySpace allowed users to override their code with HTML and CSS so that they could further design their own pages. I found myself very interested in learning how use this code to come up with my own designs. It was actually the work on I did on MySpace that inspired me to return to school and pursue an education in web design and development.
Funnily enough, about a year after graduation, I came full circle when I accepted a position as a web developer at 20th Century Fox, where I developed two internal websites.
Since graduating from UCLA at the end of 2009, I’ve built websites, developed social media strategies, and run email campaigns for a wide range of companies including Joico Hair Products, Molton Brown, Sainsbury’s, Palm Springs Life Magazine, and many more. These projects have allowed me to blend creativity with technical skill while adapting to the needs of both global brands and independent businesses.
These Days
Marketing has changed dramatically over those years and, along with it, the technology, the platforms we use, and the way people discover and connect with brands. I barely had email when I began my career. Since then I have worked through every major shift, from early websites and social media to today’s AI driven, well, everything.
These days, I spend most of my time helping businesses get found online and making sure their websites are ready when people arrive.
Through Pike x Digital, I work with clients on SEO, AI search, and websites that not only attract visitors but help turn them into customers. In many ways, it’s not all that different from what I was doing at FOX, Gladstones, Key Club, and LA Weekly. The tools are always changing, but the goal is still the same: help people discover something they might have otherwise missed.
AI is simply the latest evolution. While I have the same concerns as most people, I’ve also spent the last few years learning how to work with it rather than fear it. A few of my clients are already enjoying mentions on ChatGPT due to my efforts, and I look forward to seeing where this technology goes next.
The years have flow by and the work has changed, but I’m still just as fascinated by marketing as I was when I sat in that kindergarten classroom.
