🌴 Working with Brands

How did I find myself sipping on an ice cold Heineken at the 2023 F1 Miami GP? It all started on the set of a documentary I was working on for Xeela Fitness in early 2022. I asked my friend Ilya what the documentary about his company would ideally look like, and his answer was “Drive to Survive.” I went home that weekend, binged every episode, and loved every second of it.

In early spring 2022, (not long after crushing the first season of Drive to Survive) the new F1 season was airing live. I tuned into races on Sunday mornings and again brought the vlog along with me. A couple of you guys pointed out in the comments that the Miami GP was right around the corner, I had fully contracted F1 fever by that point, and I realized I had stumbled upon an opportunity! How would I seize it? Without an existing network in the motorsports space, I set out to create my own. I sent out 100+ emails to every team asking to get involved. I ended up hearing from the Alpine team two weeks before race! We jumped on a call, and they asked me to come with them to Miami and film the team’s content. I was amped. I went from not knowing a single thing about F1 to shooting for Alpine in the span of two months because of curiosity, persistence, and a little luck 🍀 

Shooting for Alpine was an incredible experience. I followed the team everywhere and captured some incredible moments (as you can see in the vlogs 213 through 219). It was such a success, I ended up joining Alpine for the Austin GP a couple months later. After both trips, I had officially added F1 to my resume. Fast forward about a year later and the Miami GP was right around the corner again…I started talking about it in the vlog, and this time an agency reached out to me (!) with an opportunity to work with Heineken. Also different this time? I went as creator, not a videographer.

As we touched on last week, I started the vlog as my creative outlet. It was my untouchable content that I created for myself as I pursued my career in film making. About 400 days into the vlog, the momentum started to shift. I was receiving more creator opportunities than film making opportunities. And then on day 578, I got to experience an F1 grand prix as a creator. It was threshold moment for me. As I sat in the Heineken suite and enjoyed an ice cold bev with Mallory, I felt like I had earned the title of full time creator in that moment.

With that feeling washing over me, I remember asking someone at Heineken “Why me?” We spoke for a while but their answer can be boiled down to this: I had made the vlog so many times that it was easy for them to know what they were going to get. They could visualize with a great degree of clarity the content that I was going to make from the experience. Because of this, the expected value of my content punches far above the weight that my top line follower count presents as. A creator who’s content is sporadic and/or more varied just naturally comes with more uncertainty. This isn’t any sort of value judgement, just a reality of the different routes we can take as creators! The phrase “no one ever got fired for choosing IBM,” kind of applies to my content in this context. It’s important to consider the risk that your counterparts may be weighing when they’re considering hiring you. This is only compounded by the fact that an experience like the Miami GP, comes with such a huge opportunity cost if the brand selects the wrong creator.

I am pumped to go back to Miami for this year’s GP with JP Morgan, and I’m pumped tell you guys about it next week…so stay tuned!

🌴 Mystery Links

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro

🌴 Jack’s Guide to Miami

Some of my favorite spots in one my favorite cities…

🍔Restaurants: Casa Tua, Los Fuegos at the Faena Hotel, LPM, Ball & Chain (for a Mojito + Cubano), Estiatorio Milos.

🏖️Activities: Sitting on the beach is my #1 priority when I’m in Miami (assuming I’m not at the track). Everything else is secondary…I love going for runs on the East Coast Greenway-Dade Corridor. It’s a nice path right along the beach. Also, renting a jet ski is always incredible!

🏘️Neighborhoods: Wynwood for the art on the walls and Little Havana for the vibes different food spots!

🛏️Hotels: The One Hotel in South Beach is my favorite! Followed closely by the Arlo Wynwood.

🌴 Looking Ahead…

I am starting my own company, and I can’t wait to share all of the behind the scenes details with you guys right here via the Weekly Bev! If you have any initial questions about it, please let me know. Hit reply!