The Hidden Gems

The actions I live by And you should too

"Any Press is Good Press" It's the biggest myth in advertising. PR experts hate hearing the phrase. The recent CrowdStrike fiasco easily disproves the idea. •From the event, the company recently lost over 20 billion in Market Cap. •While CrowdStrike immediately became a "household name" it's certainly not for good reason. •The company now has the same level of negative brand reputation as Enron and FTX. Just because a phrase or thought is widespread, doesn't make it true.

A post of appreciation for this industry. Despite an unstable market for many, I'm still incredibly grateful to be in this creative & marketing world. There's so many boring jobs out there. And yet here we are: •Crafting incredibly engaging work with celebrities, concocting entertaining & transformative experiences, raising awareness for good-cause non-profits to raise donations. •Attending industry events at incredible scenes like Art Basel, SXSW, CES, Cannes. •Exercising our independence - Generally we don't have to wear a suit to work and are encouraged to be ourselves. •Collaborating with people who are fun, inspiring, approachable, helpful, and overall just pretty dang cool. Sure there some bad apples and unlucky instances. But overall I have to say - I'm really grateful to be in this field.

FIGS x Olympics Event next Friday. Happy to say The Hidden Gems played a small part in this. Come meet me Friday, July 26th @ The Washington Square Park Arch, and see some funky innovative experiential stuff on display. https://lnkd.in/eJHrTyaX

How quickly a shower thought can manifest. A week before my trip to Richmond last month, I realized I should probably put together some sorta shindig with the cool Richmond marketing & advertising folks. So I did. Thanks to all who came out, hope you had a great time. Ari Sneider Rachael Holland Elijah Hatem Peter Derby Photography Credit: Aaron Lowry

Breakfast Club Classic Report: 7.17.24. At my end we talked about the rise and fall of Revel scooters, Electrico in Mexico City, tenements in San Francisco, the Red Bull Bay Climb, the big wheel race toes over knees, leaning into the character of a city, buying in Brooklyn based on flood maps, the transformation of Greenpoint, waterfront development, the replenishment rate of the umbrella industry, and the upside of an umbrella subscription service, AirTags for easily lost commodities, inventing the umbrella twirl, never having seen Seinfeld (or Friends) rescheduling flights to accommodate breakfast club, being a brainchild, advertising in the 80s and 90s, the progenitors progeny, Water Street Associates, the idea and necessary components of a vertical artist village, WSA’s ‘Mad Men’ interiors, fasting at breakfast, giving up coffee, AI avatar-lead sales pitches, ‘eye-fixing,’ AI being your manager or your intern, creator matchmaking, providing constancy in a variable world, colleges slow speed of AI tech adoption, business model reinvention spurred by technological change, LinkedIn QR code exchange, "media corp Media.Monks," the futility of birthday surprises, sketch comedy is having a moment on LinkedIn, Corporate Bro and Natalie (Corporate Natalie), the deepening of sexism at the office, the catharsis of self-identifying, the ‘sentient salesperson,’ being a ‘Zelder’, the origins of Skibidi Toilet, Homestarrunner.Com, codeswitching for Gen Alphas, generations being bullshit distinctions, a world with three TV channels, death of the monoculture, what liberalism used to be, the Columbia University protestors, the decline of civics education, the lack of a "Schoolhouse Rock" today, individualized attention in group settings, twitch streamers as the Emily Posts of today, Sneako v. Destiny and lots more… The 21+ was Felicia Stingone, Paul Greenberg, Eric Korsh, Eve Lewis, Jasmine Takanikos, Corinne Murray, Jennifer Newman, Sharon Dang, Ritesh Gupta, Pilar Finuccio, Zachary Mallard, Rob Hubbert, Jenny Cavaioli, CeCe Chin, Elliot Aronow, Kim Taylor Bennett, Matthew Lemine, Sean Wang-Benz, Chris M. Gillespie, David Drexler, Leann Abad me and Asha the Bernedoodle. We do this every Wednesday. Everyone's invited, especially you. And if Thursday's more your speed, Jeff Weiner, Kat Popiel and Hardeep Gill are hosting tomorrow at the Ace Hotel downtown Brooklyn. All the info's here every Monday, too: https://lnkd.in/eYVhiuXu

I really ought to post more of The Hidden Gems work. Check this funky AI Photobooth for Revlon. Go in, share your preferences, then be transformed through AI. AI Photobooths have been hot this year. Engaging, hyper custom, travels well, doesn't break the bank.  From a legal perspective - extremely safe, as what's being transformed is the individuals themselves. No worry about accidentally pulling copyrighted assets from Shutterstock. Love the song too? It's the tune of Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder on the Dancefloor

Great results are only one piece of the puzzle. Seeing a great case study isn't enough, you don't know how grueling a process it could have been to get to that beautiful end result.  What makes a great partner is not just the results. You deserve a partner that provides: •Smooth process •Clear communication •Reasonable cost You shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other. And I'm here to tell you that you don't have to.

WXO Summit - an incredible experience for experientialists. I'll never forget first hearing of WXO about 10 years ago from Ron Graham. After all that time, last month I finally attended the annual WXO Summit (WXO - World Experience Organization).  3 days of thought-provoking sessions, entertaining conversations, and experience-driven parties. All conveniently located in NYC. Primarily House of Yes, with well-chosen after hours venues: BEAT THE BOMB, Artechouse, and The Stranger. What impressed me the most was the amount of science dedicated to this art.  •The deep consideration of psychology when designing the experiences. •The complex inventions dedicated to measuring responses & reactions. So grateful I could selfishly weave in the phenomenon that had been fascinating my mind lately (Hedonic Adaptation) into our group discussion on Transformative Experience Design. Absolutely loved meeting so many new faces, familiar faces, and all the "small world" moments that were shared (and that I totally LIVE for!)  Big thanks to James Wallman Fabiën Vlems Olivia Squire for building this community and putting it together. Now comes the challenge of trying to recall everyone, one month later: Kelly Vaught Dave Rife Gabe L. Brad Shelton Perla Parri Risa Puno Anthony Vade, Phoebe Siegel Matthew McNerney Farah A. 🎛 Eric Alba Brett Bagenstose Emily Rhinehart Jon Morris Josh Corn Tobias Geisler Noel Drew Jesse Nicita Alicia Yaffe Sharon Reus Heather Gallagher Daniel Hettwer Alan Geiss Omar Serna Baba Brinkman Katrina Lat Stephanie Riggs Damian Madray Kseniia Blokhina Abby Schmiedt Erica Boeke Louis Alfieri Ethan Simons PS: Despite "Beating the bomb" we still opted to get pummeled with paint. Very washable paint, thankfully.

It's weird. Why is it that servicing Google for an engagement feels so validating? Despite the short existence of The Hidden Gems and already facilitating agency engagements & productions for "major brands" like L'Oreal, Activision, Booking, UPS, Yadda Yadda, You Get The Idea, and Megacorps R Us... 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦. I hate to fall into that agency trap of "look at the big brand logos we have." Yet here I am making a post about it. Advice to self: 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐬.  𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞.