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Interesting people, insightful points of view and incredible stories on what’s popping and not popping in marketing, tech, and culture you can use to win immediately. Brands, Beats and Bytes boldly stands at the intersection of brand, tech and culture. DC and Larry are fascinated with stories and people behind some of the best marketing in the business. No matter how dope your product, if your marketing sucks your company may suck too. #dontsuck
DC: Brand Nerds. Brand Nerds. Brand Nerds. We back at you, took a little summer break. We got some new joints for you of Brands, Beats and Bytes and lt. We're coming in hot, we're coming in. Hot brand nerds. You hear us sometimes talk about family. So family to us means people that we know really, really well.
Like brothers and sisters. We kind of grew up together. That's what we have today, Brand Nerds. We have a family member in the building and uh, you also know brand nerds that we've been fortunate. Larry, I still don't know how we have become so fortunate where we get. The stellar guests who are experts in savants in their space.
I still don't know how we get 'em, but we, we have another one of those today in the marketing space. But we also have someone in the building today that has some hidden talents. LT,, he's got hidden, he's got the marketing on lock; but he also has some other talents that we'll get into a little later. But perhaps most importantly, brand nerds.
Uh, you'll, you'll learn this if you haven't already throughout your career. Business can be like war.
LT: Mm-hmm.
DC: And in war you have like the old school foxholes where you dig down in a trench and you get in the foxhole and there's like bullets, whizzing and bombs going off. And when you are in this foxhole, you wanna know the person that you're back to back with has got you.
That's who we have in the building today is someone who has shared the foxhole with me, and they are right with me no matter what. They have been that way from the, from the moment we met, Brand Nerds, we have been like this back to back fighting all kind of wars successfully. So, LT, will you tell the peoples who we have in the building today?
LT: D, love your preface, man. We have Scott Robinson in the house today. Welcome, Scott.
Scott Robinson: Thank you LT and DC and the, and the family. I'm, I'm so excited.
LT: Oh, we're so excited. So, so, Scott, as you know, you've, uh, listened to the show. Uh, we've gotta give, uh, you your props and, and more importantly, let the Brand Nerds really know who is in the building.
So, okay, Brand Nerds here is another Coca-Cola marketing alum doing great things. Let's walk you through Scott's. Terrific background. So like me, Scott grew up in the suburbs in New York, but he's in the town of Amityville on Long Island or as they like to say, Strong island.
DC: Strong Island.
LT: That's right island.
Growing up, Scott is that ambitious kid on the block who is mowing lawns, shoveling snow in winter, raking leaves and fall. And then while in high school getting a job at McDonald's. For college, he attends Fairfield University in Connecticut where he earns a bachelor of science degree in marketing. Now, Brand Nerds, we talk about this often when, uh, you're first coming out of, whether it's undergrad or grad school, some of the best places to go to really get your marketing chops.
Are the two BMOs of CPG, and that would be P, P&G and Unilever. Well, Scott's first real professional experience is working at Unilever in sales in Brooklyn, and this is when Brooklyn was different than it is now, and Scott's some really has some great stories about that time. Uh, so that was a great place to really cut his chops.
Then Scott finds his way to Coca-Cola and in six years with the company, does some great things, including working with DC on Sprite as a real integral part of that rocket ship. And also does great work for Coke Classic with three important consumer segments, youth, blue collar, and urban. So after that success, Scott gets a great opportunity to become the VPGM of credit card marketing for First Union Bank, and they eventually change their name to Wacovia.
And they, he was focusing on affinity co-branding cards, like for the Atlanta bras, the Philadelphia 76 ERs and, and teams of that ilk. So after that, now Scott gets to, decides to really go the entrepreneurial route where he launches and runs the Symmetry Group, which is a boutique creative and promotions agency with prominent clients such as Coca-Cola, Verizon Wireless, bank of America, One Hundred Black Men of Atlanta, Morehouse School of Medicine, just to name a few, which he grows to more than $4 million.
That's an incredible achievement starting from scratch. So soon after this, successfully doing his own thing for 11 years, Scott is recruited into what is affectionately called McDonald's World, where he first joins the Morroc Agency, where he leads an eight member account service team for McDonald's in the Atlanta office, overseeing the execution of comprehensive promotions, programs, budgets, and account services catering to the Atlanta and Augusta regions. Notably, Scott led a successful market test from Mighty Wings in Atlanta, which paves a way for a nationwide rollout the following year. So this stuff isn't just happening for Scott locally. He's making things blow up, right? So this hard work delivers impressive results, achieving a notable 10% increase in market share, which is amazing in McDonald's world.
Additionally, Scott's leadership in partnership negotiations and activations with esteemed organizations such as the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks, University of Georgia, and Georgia Tech Athletics earns them the prestigious accolade of Agency Partner of the Year. Now with this success, Scott has brought into the fold to come work for McDonald's corporate as a regional marketing manager In this role, highlights include one, developing and implementing global mobile app strategy for the Atlanta and New York metro markets achieving a remarkable second and third ranking in the United States for the years 2016 to 2017.
In that arena, next playing a pivotal role in boosting sales by an impressive 2.5% through the development of launch plans for future kiosks, digital menu boards, and more than 1300 restaurants, make delivery Uber Eats partnerships and the global mobile ordering system. And next, the third driving a three and a half percent increase in sales and validating testing proposals for nationwide rollout when the Mc Krispy Sandwich and Minute Maid slushies.
Which were introductions in the Atlanta market. With his success at McDonald's, Scott lands a great opportunity to join WPP Agency Uniworld Group as their VP Group Account director leading operations for their Brooklyn office in Scott's five plus years tenure, here are highlights and some super results.
One, securing 15 new accounts in five years. That's incredible. Two 40% increase in client billings within the first five months and three, 150% growth throughout the entire time with the company. Last year, Scott decides to join Black Health Matters becoming their senior group account director, which is his current position.
Black Health Matters is a performance based multimedia company that delivers African American and Afro Lattin patients healthcare information, from the pharmaceutical, biotech and Wellness Vectors, black Health Matters is the first video-centric multi-platform health education network for diverse populations.
Scott responsibilities include leading and managing client campaigns, co-leading growth and sales meetings, managing and mentoring, client service team members, relationship builder, connecting with medical professionals and experts, community partners, vendors and sponsors for client programs. In closing, outside of work, Scott has spent time as a mentor for a Hundred Black Men of Atlanta and is boys assistant varsity basketball coach at Riverwood International Charter School.
Really looking forward to this one. Brand Nerds. Welcome to Brands, Beats and Bytes, Scott Robinson.
Scott Robinson: Wow. Lt, I'm gonna tell you something. I'm tired. Oh my gosh. I didn't know I did all of that. Oh my God.
LT: That's why you're tired.
Scott Robinson: Oh my gosh. But I'm loving what I do. Everything happens for a reason. Thank you for all of your accolades and reading that, uh, I'm excited.
Thank excited you for doing what you did. I just read it. Scott, you did the hard part. I do, yeah. And I'm sometimes tired in the middle of the night. I'm like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. But I'm all good. Thank you DC and LT, I, I love being here. This is awesome.
DC: My man. All right. Uh. Scott, by, by the way, Brand Nerds.
This is my brother here. So, um, I don't call him Scott. I've called him Scott Larock from the, from the mobile we met. I call him Scott Larock. Some of you all who are hip hop heads will get the reference rest in, rest in power. But Scott Larock here. Alright. Uh, uh, LT, there's something else that you did not mention in the, uh, the wonderful recounting of the experience that Scott Larock has had.
And it's this, this brother can burn a grill up. He, he, he can burn now. He can cook in general, just, just a whole host of things. He can cook. A grill, he will make you slap somebody else's mama. That's how good he is on the grill. So our families grew up together? Yes. Yes. Because when he, so, when, when, when Scott and I were growing up as young pups at Coke.
He would host barbecues and so our family would come over there. There'd be other families that would come over and you, when someone invites you, Larry, to a barbecue that you work with, you don't quite know what you going to get. Right. You know, you might go over there and they got like Kentucky Fried Chicken, stuff like that.
We went over to, we went over to Scott's house. Ah, oh my goodness. Scott, the, the it, the quiz, the diversity of the cuisine, he'd have regular barbecue. He'd have some Caribbean stuff going on. He just like the, the, the brother can burn. Okay. I just wanna tell y'all that. Brand Nerds.
Scott Robinson: Yeah. Dee, I'm still doing that right now.
You know, I don't do it as much, but I only do it for framily as I say. Right.
DC: Okay.
Scott Robinson: You know, I try to hook him up because, you know, as people get like older and their taste profiles change, their diets change, I still, I can do vegetarian, vegan.
DC: Oh wow.
Scott Robinson: Anything on that grill. So, you know, and I gotta look out for my leg on Health journey too.
Right. Um, you know, and so I love it. It's like I still got those same, that big giant moon looking Daggone Grill DC Oh yeah. I remember this in the backyard. The biggest, the biggest Weber they got. Right. I still got it. And that Joker is like, it is probably like 22 years old. Wow. But it burns so great. And I got my Green egg.
I got that. So I just love it. It's like it's, you can decompress, right? Mm. It's like, okay, what are we gonna cook? And you know, my wife is clean eating, organic eating. Mm-hmm. She don't like that grill as much, but she likes that daggone grill the way I cook it though right now she likes it 'cause I take care of her.
Right. But I appreciate you bro. Those are, those are some good times and I still do it to this day.
DC: Some of the best times that I can, I can recall. Alright, uh, Scott, we gonna get into the next section, which is called Get Comfy.
Scott Robinson: Okay.
DC: Brand Nerds. You've heard me and Larry and some guests that we have had from time to time.
Uh, talk about the Sprite brand and what has occurred with that brand over the decades. There's a quote that no doubt many of you all have heard, and that is success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan. When something successful, Brand Nerds, Larry has got you. You all know this as well.
LT: Mm-hmm.
DC: Everybody will claim that they were part of making it happen. Everybody has had something to do with it. When something fails, nobody, nobody wants to say they had anything at all to do with it. I just wanna state right here, and I'm gonna come to a question I wanna state right here that the Sprite brand as we know it today, which is now the number three brand in the country.
LT: Number three, how about that? Scott, did you know that Pepsi, Scott, I dunno if you knew Thatuh.
Scott Robinson: He's getting ready to make me tear up right now. LT, oh my gosh. Go ahead Rob. What you gonna say?
DC: What we did, that brand is now ahead of Pepsi and you know, Scott, when we started, had either of us or anybody else in that small circle, cadre said that we think Sprite's gonna be bigger than Pepsi.
They would've put us out. They would've put us out on the street. Amen. But it's bigger than Pepsi. All right. So
LT: And laughed at you while they did it, by the way.
Scott Robinson: Yes. Yeah, we did. Yes.
Hard work. So many a nights on that 14th floor.
DC: Oh my god. Many, many, many nights. So, mm-hmm. Scott, I, I want to take you back in time.
So, uh, one of the iconic pieces of marketing that we did, uh, for the Obey Your Thirst campaign, uh, one of them featured, uh, Ks one and Mc Shan, and this really shook up the country because of this campaign. So, Scott, you are coming, you are coming into the brand. You're coming into the company. Yes. And this is your baby.
Yes. Standards were, standards are high. You knew, standards were high, pressure was high to make certain that we maintain the standard. Can you share with us and the Brand Nerds, what was going through your mind as you were shepherding your baby. Now you did more than just that. You, you are one of the, one of the godfathers of Sprite as we know it today. But just take us into your mind when you were shepherding that campaign.
Scott Robinson: So DC man, you just brought back so many thoughts. It's awesome. Um, here's a critical thing, man. So I grew up on hip hop, you know, I grew up in the eighties, right? Got outta high school, went to college, but I was born and bred in hip hop.
Mm-hmm. All Long Island. And you think about all of the great people and the great artists that came out from Long Island, right? Mm-hmm. So. I always listen to hip hop. I can tell you all this one factoid. I remember going home my junior year of college and I first heard run DMC on on WRKS KISS FM in New York.
LT: One.
Scott Robinson: I was packing up my dad going stuff, getting into a Buick LeSabre 1972. Hope it made it home. I was like, oh my gosh, is that, is that DM run DMC? What? So, you know, I used to sneak out the parties. We had battles when it came to sports, everything else, but we loved those street and parties that we always had, right?
Mm-hmm. At little spots. And that's what always resonated with me. I still got DC You gonna laugh at this? I still got DATs DAT. Y'all can Google it.
DC: You still have them?
Scott Robinson: I got DATs from the 14th floor, bro. Still. Wow. I do, I swear I don't have a DA machine anymore, but I got da. Yep, yep. Wow. But, you know, I wanted to always just bring forward my upbringing, what brought me up, all of my family, my cousins, I got many of them, but it was just something that just connected with me.
And you, you, you set it off, bro. And I said, I can't let DC down. I can't let Steve horn down. Oh, hell no. And the first thing you did was I remember getting in on, in my office, and you came around and you said, Hey, I'm Darryl Cobbin. And I said, uhoh. And I was like, what's going on? So I had to elevate and I had to make sure stuff was right.
I grew up on the bridge and the bridge is over. It was so crazy.
DC: Ex Explain. Explain Scott. 'cause people don't know what you're talking about. Yes. Tell them what these two pieces of of art meant.
Scott Robinson: Oh my gosh. So you gotta think about the projects in New York City, right? You think about Queens, you think about the Bronx, Bronx River.
You think about the bridge, the bridge is over. So, you know, when you looked at the radio stations in New York back in the day, KISS FM, WBLS, they had all of the artists and then the DJs that was hot. And we used to do, you know, we used to like play music. We had that, uh, that that little box, right? And you had that pause machine or that pause button.
You had to go and make your own stuff. And then they started elevating. And then it started becoming recognized, which was awesome. And that showed me that it's about ready to. It's ready. It's ready to pop off. So what I ended up doing was I reached out to a lot of my friends I grew up with, and I was talking to 'em.
I said, Hey, I'm at Sprite now, man. I'm doing some stuff in Atlanta. I'm at Coca-Cola. And they was like, what? Yeah. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I never lost any connection to my roots, right? Because I used to sneak out to parties. My dad got rest, his soul, my mom is still alive. Be 85 next week.
Where are you going? I said, no way. And that's, this is back in the day with bicycles, right? You just back around you going stuff. But DC what? What really motivated me was what we were always trying to do. Right? And you said something to me. Probably my first week we throwing in that Sprite manifest manifesto.
Yep. You set that pebble in the water, that small circle, bigger circle. Bigger circle. We want to be that small circle that impacts everything.
LT: Mm-hmm.
Scott Robinson: And that's what I did, man. And I just, I said, oh wow. A battle. But they kind of old right now, so maybe it won't really be a big battle. But it was awesome, man.
And I reached out to KR West Ks ones fan, uh, management, Shan's management. And then I said, oh, kid Capri. Oh, Marley Mar. Oh my gosh. All of these hip hop legends.
DC: Magic mike.
Scott Robinson: If you, if you YouTube it, you'll be like, is that so and so? And it was crazy, man. We did that in Brooklyn at a, uh, at a Armory man, a, a National Guard Armory.
It was cold as heck in there, but it was fun. It was the best thing in my life, and that's what I did. And the last thing I wanna say is, you know, back in the day, LT and DC you'll notice we were selling POS, point of sale, like stuff in stores, right? Yeah. I sold out of point of sale like five times. That made the company a lot of money, right?
Because people were taking it. They were like, oh, I want that. I want that poster, I want that shelf talker. I want this. It's a lot different world right now, but yo man, it was, it was about love of just straight up the hip hop culture. I just loved it.
LT: Hey gentlemen, I have to ask both of you this question, but Scott, this goes to you first.
So we've talked about this a little bit tangentially, but I want to get into this a little. What was the receptivity of artists like, did they believe you, you know, coming your, here, you're coming from Coca-Cola and where, you know, what was the first initial Was their skepticism? What? What was their reaction?
Scott Robinson: Well, LT, that's a great question. No, because DC started the whole journey, right? Right. We were doing so much, yo dc you know this, right? We, we, I'm not gonna mention no names, but we were focused on what, 1224 packs? Yeah. In the stores, right? It wasn't about single bottle. It, it was a tough journey, but the greatest thing that happened was in New York, and thanks to all of the folks, I'm not gonna name 'em, name 'em all, there was a bunch and the New York bottler in Coca at Coca-Cola.
Right. We were doing a small store program. We were getting ready to get into profitability. I wanted to bridge that profit and also the culture and just overall just opportunity for people to be exposed to the brand. Mm-hmm. So I had a Operation Red program. Right. I did a, um, a mural program all through the five boroughs of New York.
LT: Mm-hmm.
Scott Robinson: And that's what got me to Atlanta. And, but then the pressure came, it was like, right, alright, you gotta do this with Coca-Cola Enterprise. I was like, okay, I got you. And it was, it was a tough battle, but it wasn't a pushback from the culture. Because the DC already laid out right game plan. You know what I'm saying, LT??
LT: Oh,
Scott Robinson: yes, I do.
Just like, let's go now. It was like, let's elevate it to the next level. And that's what really challenged me to make sure it worked. I never slept, man. I was always like, let's go. I'm never that dude that nothing is going to fail. I'm half full all the time.
DC: I just, I just want to add this one thing here.
Um, actually two things. The first is this, uh, LT and answer to your question to, to what, uh, Scott Larock has said no. Um, the culture and the artist did not look at us sideways be where, where they did look at us sideways is that they couldn't believe that they were going to be allowed to do what they normally do.
Scott Robinson: Mmhmm.
DC: In our Sprite, uh, marketing, they thought that that. First of all, no one was really checking for them like that. Not in a, not a national brand, not a national campaign. Right. But what, but what would happen is when, when someone like Scott would show up leading, I'm sure there was a little bit of surprise.
Like this young brother's the one calling this, this guy, this guy right here, he's really calling the shots. Yes, yes. That guy's really calling the shots. Yeah. So that's one thing I wanna say. So we didn't get resistance. It was more surprise. Mm-hmm. Second thing is this, in experiential marketing, uh, Brand Nerds, which is a, you know, relatively now 10-year-old, maybe 12, 15-year-old term, long ago, it wasn't called that.
Scott took this concept of. The bridge and the bridge is over and an iconic battle. So right now, the Brand Nerds, they know about Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
LT: Right.
DC: And, and Kendrick. Yeah. Kendrick bodied Drake. But KRS one and Mc Shan, that was not a bodying. These were two heavyweights. Right. Equal footing going at each other, going different. Different people in hip hop have different claims as to who won, but it was close. It was close no matter what. Scott took the, the commercial concept, which was a boxing ring and KR Rs one and Mc Shan battling one another in a ring and took that out of the commercial and put it in real life, in real life so that people could see it.
This is just next level stuff, y'all.
LT: This is, that's amazing.
Scott Robinson: This is just, it was fun. DC man, you, you, you just hit me up because. I was worried at one point like, okay, is something gonna pop off? 'cause I'm ready. My head's on a swivel. Yep. But it didn't because they were older. Right. They knew what it did for their careers.
Mm-hmm. What it meant to them. Right. But they were very cordial. Right. Because we did
DC: Yep.
Scott Robinson: Tv, we did radio, we did print outta home.
DC: Yep.
Scott Robinson: And it was just like such a great support and elevation to the culture. And they were like, so yo Scott, what you need me to do? I said, okay, do this, I do this. And they were like, you know what you're doing?
I said, yeah, I do. Kind of, yeah, I'm good. It was awesome. Great brothers and their whole support system. Awesome.
DC: All right, final comment then we're gonna go to the next section. Um, Larry, you know this about me, Scott certainly knows this about me as well. In all of my time, in all of the work that I have ever done on the Sprite brand, all of the work.
Through, through many, many years. I have, I have only not gone to a shoot one time and it was Scott's shoot. And the reason why I didn't go is I didn't have to go.
LT: Right.
DC: It was not necessary for me to go, thank you. I knew my boy had it.
Scott Robinson: Thank you, D. Thank you.
DC: And he did.
LT: Hey, Scott, that says, the old actions speak louder than words that we missed one shoot.
And you had it, and d you probably also knew that if you did go, people would start looking at you and you knew, let let, this is Scott's deal, man. Let him know.
DC: That's the deal. Yeah, he, he done shepherded the whole thing. Right? He got it right. He got it right.
Scott Robinson: Yeah. Yeah, DC I appreciate that. I remember so many folks on the, 'cause there were a ton of people on the Sprite brand, right?
That we all Oh yeah. Do something else. There was a lot of folks, right?
DC: Yes.
Scott Robinson: But DC used to come to me and he would come in and he would be like, Hey, um. You good, you good for the shoot? I, I, yeah. I took him through everything. We were good. Mm-hmm. He said, all right, go do it. And you know, it was just a, a great time to be in brand marketing, right?
Yes, it was. It was so different than it is now. And DC I just want to give you your damn props, bro. I appreciate you kid. It was like the most best time I ever had. It was fun. It was, it was enjoyable. Thank you so much.
DC: Back at you. Back, back at you, brother. I love you.
Scott Robinson: I love you too, man.
DC: Uh, your dear, dear friend, you helped me and others along with Steve Horn, the Godfather.
Scott Robinson: Oh, the Godfather. That, that taught us all. O Obiwan.
DC: Yep. Obiwan. That taught us all. Uh, my career would not be what it is today if you were not a part of it, Scott. So I'm
Scott Robinson: Same here. Same here at DC. Same here, brother. Much love. All right,
DC: much love my brother. All right. We gonna go to, uh, we're gonna go to five questions.
All right, Scott, this is how it goes down. Ready? I hit you with one a question. Larry hit you with a question. We go back and forth until we arrive at five. What was your first experience, Scott, with a brand that really changed your whole worldview of what it's like to be connected to a brand? You couldn't stop thinking about it.
You were just so into it. Time would go by, you think you engaged in Scott for 10 minutes. You, you've been doing it for an hour and a half and two hours, like a first love. Sounds like you already got your answer, brother. What was the brand for you?
Scott Robinson: So the first brand was McDonald's man. I worked on,
DC: Oh, McDonald's.
Scott Robinson: Okay. Okay. Route one 10 in Amityville, which they called Broadway and I was. Young dude working on the Fry station man, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is huge. And this is high school, right? Um, that really immersed me in the brand because operations is important and that's what they do through and through.
And I was like, yo, I wanna own a McDonald's. Right? I was just like, I wanna own one. Right? And I try to get my pops got rest his soul. I was like, yeah dude, we can get in. When I got outta college, he was like, I ain't gonna investing no McDonald's. I said, but Dad, we could be good for a long time. Mm-hmm. So that was my first one.
And the second one was my dad was one of the first salesperson or sales men's for Proctor and Gamble.
DC: Oh wow.
LT: Okay. Wow.
Scott Robinson: Yeah, so they had a big program where they elevated and talked about what's going on and he had a company car. I was like, yo, my pops is rolling. We ain't gotta pay for that. That means we got food in the fridge.
We're great. And so he actually was doing that before I went to college. Right. So that was like the latter part of my high school years. And then I went to college. He got me a merchandiser job while I was at Fairfield University, man.
DC: Oh wow.
Scott Robinson: In the bar soap division. And I was running around while I was going classic.
Because you know you always need that money when you in college, right?
LT: Oh yeah.
Scott Robinson: That food. So I was a merchandiser with Procter and Gamble up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, man. And that really. That resonated with me. Right? Yeah. You get some free stuff, right? You know, you got some stuff you can get, but it was just like, that was really what got me going the first time.
And those are the big iconic brands, right?
LT: Oh yeah.
Scott Robinson: And then I under ultimately got with Coca-Cola, so that helped me to really like, this is what I want, this is what I wanna do. No how, no matter how I get there, I'm gonna do it.
DC: Mm mm
Scott Robinson: And that's, that's just, that's just it, man. I just, you know, and I just took it from there and just balanced everything out. So I was happy
DC: LT got thing brother?
LT: I think we go to the next question.
DC: What I, I just got, I, I gotta say this. Not only did Scott say McDonald's, he said I was the fry guy. Okay.
Scott Robinson: Yo.
And that, that's the hardest job in that restaurant kid.
DC: Yeah.
Scott Robinson: You got oil all over you. It's on the floor. You sliding and gliding and you, yo, I'm gonna tell you something that helps you to understand what it takes to serve somebody some hot fries without salt or with salt. It really is, it's different.
LT: Mm-hmm. That's, that's, that's cool. I love you. You put us there. I love that. Uh, all right, Scott, so who has had or is having the most influence on your career?
Scott Robinson: All right. That, that's easy. Obiwan Kenobi. Steve Horn.
DC: Yes.
Scott Robinson: The Assistant VP of Brand Marketing for Coca-Cola, USA. Back in the day, that was the most diverse.
Multicultural group of people and he chose his people well. And you know what? DC I'm gonna say this. We all knew his footsteps coming down that 14th floor.
DC: Yes, we did. Yes we did.
Scott Robinson: Oh, you hear his footsteps. You're like, uh oh. Here comes Steve. And he would come in and the first thing he ever said to me one day when I was launching this single bottle program, when I first got to Atlanta, he said, you gotta put people in a sandbox.
I said, huh? He said, don't you ever send an email to anybody without your support? Mm. Never. He said, you don't wanna reply. And then he would get up and say, okay, now we're gonna talk. You good? Yes sir. I'm good. We good. And then D Money would come over and say, yo, did Steve talk to you? 'cause he came to talk to me first.
I like, yes, I'm good. I got it. That's the way I just really run my life and career moving forward. And I'm not direct or dismissive. I just try to package it up Right. For people to understand. I'm gonna see it before it happens. And you gotta make sure you do that because some folks don't do that. They're reactionary.
Right. But yo, those two right there, all my life, man. And I still think about stuff to this day. I love them both, man. For real.
LT: D, what are you thinking?
DC: Oh, so I'm, I'm smiling here because, uh, we refer to Steve Horn as Obiwan Kenobi, right? He was that for all of us. I had forgotten. Um, JJ well, I hadn't forgotten, just hadn't thought about it in a while.
Scott, your point about how culturally and intellectually diverse the group of marketers were that he led. This, this, this, this brother was, he was bad. You, you notice, uh, Larry, you've heard me talk to him several, uh, talk about him several times.
LT: Oh yeah.
And obviously I didn't work for Steve. I was in a different group, but I saw you guys down the hall, so Yep.
Witnessed it.
DC: There's a, there is one thing though that, uh, I know Scott will back me up on. So Obiwan might be the smartest strategic marketer that I've ever met in my life.
Scott Robinson: Amen.
DC: I agree with you. So he's taught, he taught, me and Scott and many others, most of what we know about marketing strategy at building brands, he had an interesting, uh, quirk.
Obiwan could not write legibly to save his life. He couldn't, you know, I'm telling the truth, Larry.
Scott Robinson: Amen. True
DC: Larry, he could not write and he, when he would. Scott down with me or by himself, or me by myself. He would, he would sit you down, have a pad, and he would draw. So he would draw charts and give you words, right?
Yes. And you are listening to him as he is drawing. And you look at this paper and you go, I don't know what the hell this means or what it says. Now. Now, strangely Larry, after a while you could figure it out, right? Yes. But the new people who had not had the reps, had no fucking clue. So they would come, they would come to Scott or I or others with a piece of paper and go, I just met, we, we, we know, we know.
Sit down, just sit down for a second. Let let us, what did he say? Now let us say
Scott Robinson: Amen DC Oh my God, am I right or am I right? Like a bad pharmacist? Hey, you know, like a bad pharmacist. Like what does that say? Right? So we SO LT, we used to go to each other back in the day early. Right? What does that say? Okay, look, lemme see that.
Okay, now we figured out his scratch right, Obiwan scratch and he used to laugh at us man, behind the day. You know, like we used to hang out together outta out of the office. But yep, we figured it out real quick 'cause you ain't coming back to me second time or third time.
LT: Scott, you know what's funny? When Steve was on the show, he talked about, and DI don't know if you knew this, that he was originally going to wanted to be a medical doctor, he thought, and then he went to college.
So it all fits that he couldn't, you couldn't read his writing. Amen.
Scott Robinson: Yep. It does fit. Oh my gosh. D you just brought me back on that one. The scratch, the Obiwan, scratch. Wow. That's sweet.
LT: Alright. Alright, you, you wanna go to the next, uh, next question.
DC: I do. I do. Scott, all of the different experiences you've had, you would not have had them if you were not collecting Ws wins.
This next question has nothing to do with any of those wins, my brother. It has to do with your biggest L, the biggest F up that you've made in your career, and most importantly, Scott, what you learned from it.
Scott Robinson: Yeah. So the biggest L I'm gonna tell you all this, I'm gonna be very honest, and if anybody saw, sees this from McDonald's, leaving McDonald's and going back to the agency side mm-hmm.
I was doing well. I'm gonna tell you, that was the biggest F up I ever did. And the reason why was, it was like a compression of just profit sales structure, the menu, everything that was happening in the system. Mm-hmm. And I got back to New York, right. Doing things for McDonald's, and I'm like, I chased the money.
And that was the biggest L, I ever did.
LT: Ah.
Scott Robinson: I went to the agency side, right? Mm-hmm. And I'm, I'm a hybrid, right? If you look at my career, I've been on the agency side, the corporate side, the corporate side, the agency side.
LT: Yeah.
Scott Robinson: That was the dumbest move I ever did. I'm gonna tell y'all. And I talked to my wife about that today, Dana, and I'm like, she said, well baby, you just gotta learn from it.
I said, I have, I just don't chase the money no more. It's about. My passion, it's about what I believe in, what my, his history and what my life has brought to me right now. But that was the biggest L, I left McDonald's probably in 17, went back to the agency side. That was the dumbest freaking move I ever made.
Because, you know why?
DC: Why?
Scott Robinson: I would've had so many stock options? Chilling. Relaxing, yeah. Doing my thing in a different state of mind. And I could have worked anywhere in the world US. That was the dumbest damn LI ever did, and I'll never do it again. I think about everything now based on my career in LT.
You brought it up earlier. 'cause you wore me out and almost made me cry about how much stuff I did. That's the dumbest damn move I ever made. Ever made. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and, and, and D you know this right? How many times are we getting head up hit up by headhunters at Coke?
DC: Yep. Oh, e. Every week.
Scott Robinson: Every week.
And some of 'em you're like, uh, and then if you look back on some of those companies, they're not here anymore, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. But the agency side of the business, there's a, there's a brother from another mother named Tom Moroch that runs Moroch. And when he came to me and said, Hey man, I need you to come work for Moroch.
I said, okay. He said to me, Scott, you gonna be a hunter or you gonna be the hunted? Mm. And you've gotta think about the agency world or the client side. On the client side, you're the hunter, but on the agency side, you're the hunter. You always gotta think about organic growth. You gotta think about your current clients.
It's a different thing and you gotta have those hands on keyboards. Some people don't think about that on the agency side. You gotta really think of, and it takes a lot more work because you don't have that support system other than you and your client service team.
DC: Mm-hmm.
Scott Robinson: So that was the dumbest thing I ever damn did in my whole dag on career.
LT: Thanks for sharing that.
Scott Robinson: Honors to agency side, man. You got any thoughts? Not hating on the agencies though. I love them. 'cause I'm working for one now. I love them to death. No, we hear you.
DC: You, you, you go Larry, I do have some reflections, but you go brother.
LT: Okay. So Scott, first thanks for sharing that. Um, I mean, that's what this question's about.
You know, uh, the folks, the folks that are up and coming in their careers, we hope that they hear these stories and, and reflect on what they're doing. And that's, that's our gift back to them. Um, and I've shared it before. I'm gonna share it again. I did the same thing. I left Coke for the, I doubled my money to go to a startup running sales and marketing.
I thought I could do anything. It was by far the dumbest move. It was chasing the money. It was chasing. Yeah. You know, I thought I, I could do anything. And, um, I've never heard anyone DC on our show say, yeah, I made a move for money. And boy, that worked out great.
DC: That's the first time the fir fir, um, actually, there's not been a first time I hear people say what Scott has said.
Yes.
LT: That that's, we've heard, we've heard your story in different ways, Scott, many times. And so Brand Nerds, please hear what Scott told you and what I'm telling you. Same, same story, different circumstance.
DC: Amen. Yeah. Scott, I'm so glad you shared this. There are brand nerds listening now. Who are in a really good spot.
Yep. Good brands, great, great experiences. And some recruiter has called them, or some person hiring manager or owner have called them directly and said, I want you and I'm going to get like back the Brinks truck up.
LT: Mm-hmm.
DC: And for many of the Brand Nerds Scott, they are thinking, Ooh, how can I not take this job?
I I'm going to be able to Right. Get a different home, or I'll be able to, uh, do these things for my family or any number of things that it may be dancing in their head. And for you to just clearly state don't chase the money. Mm-hmm. If the Brand Nerds take nothing else from this show, this show has been worth it.
If they can take that away.
LT: That's
DC: right.
Don't chase the money. Uh, so I, I'm really glad that you said that.
Scott Robinson: Anytime.
DC: The other thing, uh, Scott Larock, I think that's important in this, and, and you mentioned this, that you've talked with your wife about this and you've, you've, you've sort of, you've, you've, uh, you've lived with this and you've learned from it.
This is critical because Brand Nerds, you can learn from Scott now without having to make the move and learn yourself. And then finally, I'll say this, I'm gonna talk about someone that Scott and I knew really well. Um, rest in power. His name is Don Cornelius.
Scott Robinson: Amen. Yeah.
DC: Don Cornelius rest in power.
Scott Robinson: Woof.
DC: Yeah.
Scott Robinson: Wu. OOF Woof.
DC: Yes. Yeah. That, that dude is woo woo. And, and he, I talk with him 'cause he, he was not only a partner of the Coca-Cola company. Uh, we used to, uh, we used to do business with, uh, Soul Train as properties and media and shows. He also was a mentor to myself, Scott, Steve Horn and others I remember calling him and another one of my mentors, Clarence Avon.
Scott Robinson: Mm-hmm.
DC: Uh, and, uh, talking to them about a potential career move. And Scott, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but Don Cornelia said to me, don't make your move too soon.
LT: Wow.
Scott Robinson: Os you never told me that, bro. This is awesome, D.
DC: Don't make your move too soon.
LT: Say it again, D. This is really, say it again.
DC: Don Cornelia said, and the opportunity was great, y'all. I don't remember what it was, right. He said, don't make your move too soon. And I did not make that move. Amen. I did not make that move.
Scott Robinson: And you gotta think about that. It's so many implications and hurdles and walls, and then you are like, you are over the, at the new opportunity and you're like, oh, shoot, I wish I was back over there, but mm-hmm.
You can't make decisions baked based off of, um, I would say emotion. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. A lot of times it's logical. It's not the money and, and you know, you could just still be doing what you're doing. I still look at some peeps. I stay in contact with a Coke. They've been there 30, 40 years. I'm like, what the heck?
Yeah, that's right. Right. But I never knew that D and, and Don Cornelia's rest in power. He was awesome, man. He was a great person.
DC: He was.
Scott Robinson: Just to bounce off, off of and he just, he just brought the pain very honestly, but very, yeah. Professionally. Yeah. I love that dude. Rest in power.
LT: I love him too. I was a fan.
You all, you all actually, and, and DC's obviously shared this with me before, but what a great mentor, uh, he was. So, um, great man. I'm glad you guys great, man. I'm glad you guys are organically sharing that, that's really cool.
Scott Robinson: Um, yes sir.
LT: And, and before we get, I'm gonna, I'm gonna move us to the next question, but before we do that, Scott and I are telling you the same story, brand nerds, and we've had other folks, please heed this advice because if you do it just for money, somehow, it's the universe saying it's tantalizing you and it's, it, it, it's a bad route.
It just is.
Scott Robinson: And LT, I'm gonna just close that out in this, in this state of what we're going through with marketing ai. Yep. Digital. It's not the same anymore. It sounds good on paper. But Brand Nerds, I'm gonna tell you something. Don't believe the hype, don't believe it. Because you gotta do your real, real detailed research reconnaissance.
You know, you may go somewhere and you be there for six months and then they just fold up and then what are you gonna do? Right? And you're like, I should have stayed there. So just, just, just be calm, be collected. Mm-hmm. Understand what you're going to do. And just really just like make the right decision for you, not for money.
That's all I want to say. 'cause it ain't important. That's it ain't.
LT: Closing this out. I, for years, I blamed the recruiter for me making the move. It was all my fault wasn't recruiter's fault. Yeah. They told me some things that were were that, that weren't true, but it was all my fault because of what we're saying.
Okay. We beat that to death. Let's get to the next question regarding technology and marketing, can you tell us, Scott, where you think marketers should lean in or best leverage tech, or you can take us to areas that you think they should be leery or simply avoid?
Scott Robinson: So I think that right now we all have to leverage tech tech's not going away.
There's a brother in DC and Larry, y'all know him, Doug Jackson, he has his own firm. He was on the 14th floor with us. Right. We chop it up all the time. Right. AI is going to take over. Everything we do from a marketing standpoint. Mm-hmm. Why? We all know when you go online and you check or you type in, anything on those AI platforms, whatever's posted in the world is gonna pop up, right?
Mm-hmm. So you can even do creative out of that. Oh, you want some, um, recommended assets, let me show you. So I think what we gotta do is we gotta embrace it, we gotta be knowledgeable of it. We have to be able to, um, get more educated on it. Anything that you can do, any classes you can take online or in person, do it.
I mean, the, the area that I work in with Black Health Matters now, you know, the biggest thing for us is how do you build the enterprise and see it before it happens? Because our partners, even if it's a community organization or if it's some of our biopharma, or even if it's our pharma, um, partners. They have the same access to information that we do.
So sometimes you gotta be ahead of them. So I embrace it, it's gonna be here no matter what I do at my age right now, I'm gonna be gone. But you gotta be really, really ready for what's happening and, and just absorb it. And how does it make your solution better? And that's what we're doing at Black Health Matters.
And I'm doing this because I lost my brother early at 40. I lost my dad like in 2015 at like 72. My thing to me right now is I'm just pushing it out there like, you know what? It's your health journey. You gotta take care of yourself. You gotta know what's going on. And we're using media platforms to be able to do that.
And this is, I'm, I'm at the most happiest part of my career right now. I'm just like, this is awesome. I enjoy it. And what we gotta really, really understand that technology. It's, it's everything right now, and you gotta absorb it. You can't deflect it. You cannot ignore it. You gotta go for it and you gotta absorb it.
LT: Love it. And what, what you're really saying, Scott, I think is don't be fearful of it. You know, life, we traverse life. Every step we take, you sort of have the, the, if you're on the front foot or on the back foot and what you're saying is be on the front foot, right? Lean in and figure it out. You know, none of this is brain surgery brand or that's what Scott's really saying.
And so instead of go, go going from the place of fear, like, oh, it's gonna replace me, or Oh, you know, it's, um, you know, it's gonna be divisive for me. Do the opposite. Go on the front foot and figure out what it's about and how you can lean in DC And I quite frankly. Uh, there's so much AI has helped us in, in our jobs in the last few months because we're so leaned in on it and it's actually helping us be that much smarter for, for opening up abilities for what we have because AI is taking away some of the mundane things that we, that we had to think about before that we no longer have to, and again, we've, we've said it on this podcast before, we were at the, uh, marketing Innovations Conference at Georgia Tech and DC and I were asked about this.
I was on a panel about this. Lean in all the way. Scott's saying that too. Lean in all the way. Get yourself smarter, lean in all the way, and you be the expert of that confluence between the marketing and tech.
Scott Robinson: Absolutely. LT, perfectly said. Thank you for summarizing that. That was awesome. That's perfect.
LT: D, anything to add before we go to the next question?
DC: No, brother. You all put a nice little cherry on the top of that. I'm going to the final question, Scott Larock. What are you most proud of, brother
Scott Robinson: Yo. The most proud, the thing that I'm most proud of is still being here, still being an influence, still being a mentor to folks. Talked to a few people at our company, um, day before yesterday and yesterday we just held our biggest, um, health community education event in Harlem, New York at the Riverside Church.
Awesome. 1200 in-person folks, right?
DC: Wow.
Scott Robinson: I'm still in per, I'm still. I like to, I love to be able to help people understand what their mission is, what they are about, right. What can I do to impact others? And the old saying is that dash, that dash is short, right? Right Between you born and you end. I am so proud that I'm still able to talk to core and key people.
I've connected with and worked with, and we still connect with, I still talk to owner operators at McDonald's. They may have semi-retired, their children are running their organization. Um, Coca-Cola folks, you know, people in bank insurance industry. What I'm most proud of is I'm still here and I'm still relevant and I'm still able to help others understand where they need to go.
And the last, but not least, my wife, Dana Hill Robinson, she's a entrepreneur for life. A d you gonna, you gonna trip on this one? She worked for Phat Farm back in the day when we were shooting commercials. What she, she worked for Damon when he was launching his brand. Wow. Really? She's, yeah. And so I didn't know all of this.
She worked for Arista. She was in talent development. I've got pictures all over the house in her office and stuff. I'm most proud of that. I found my equally yolk partner friend that we can bounce stuff off of each other and we just like living life and we're just supporting each other in our, you know, in what we're doing for our business moving forward.
But those are the key things. I know it's not one, I'm sorry, Brand Nerds, That's No, you're fine. It's just, you know, I'm, I'm really excited and my spiritual, my spiritual journey. Right. Um, I've been a part of Elizabeth Baptist Church for 20 some years. The deacon, not the deacon. My, my, my bishop and pastor asked me for certain leadership roles.
I, I'm just at a calmness right now. All of this knowledge and experience in my head, I'm just excited to give it to others. That's what giving and spiritual connection and just balance is. And I'm good. I, I, I, I, I'm just happy as heck right now.
LT: Great. Love this. Great. I don't think there's anything to add, D.
DC: Nothing.
LT: That's, that's awesome, Scott. That's awesome. Uh, we're gonna segue to, to our, uh, to our next segment, uh, which we affectionately called What's Popping? What's popping? D what's popping, Scott? Okay.
DC: What's popping?
Scott Robinson: What's popping?
LT: So, Scott, this is our chance to shout out, shout down or simply Air something happening in and around marketing today that we think is good fodder for discussion.
And we understand you have something for us.
Scott Robinson: Yeah, I think what's popping is still food man. Food and culture is popping and it's elevating and it's doing so crazy. I have bad boys grilling, right? I just do it for fun. So I go to the big green egg Eggtober Fest every October, but I think that they're still so much opportunity for the food and culture and food kind of vertical that's gonna keep on moving.
I don't care if you're a backyard griller, you're a kitchen person that's cooking, you're you, you know you've got your spices, your marinades, how you cook. Is it healthy? Is it not healthy? It's up to you. I think what's coming up still, what's popping is food and culture combined together. I still do it.
I'm, I'll be out at, uh, a Stingray field on October. In October. I'm just gonna be out there cooking jerk chicken d if you wanna roll through, I'll be three free. It's all free. It's all free. It's all free. But I think that's what's popping in accordance with, in alignment with ai. AI still plays a big part of that, and that's what I'm seeing a lot of innovators starting to do.
But I don't think there's anything, we all gotta eat right in this geopolitical climate. We all gotta eat food and culture is gonna continue to elevate and I, I, that's what I think is still popping.
LT: Ooh, I love it. D, what do you think?
DC: Larry, you've heard me use this analog before as it relates to music. Um, we've done this in our business, Larry, where we say music is like a train on a track, and it travels. All around the world and in the cars are parts of culture, language, dance, travels on the music, uh, train, um, um, uh, mores and norms and all of these different things we get in, in contact with by listening to music so we can listen to a form of music and understand more about a culture.
The same can be said for food. Yeah. To Scott's point, you, you understand something about Jamaican culture. When you understand what goes into making jerk, you understand something about a Creole culture. When you understand what goes into making, uh, shrimp tufe, you understand what goes into. Uh, French culture.
When you start to understand what goes into making for aua, like you can understand more about a culture by understanding the food, and I hadn't thought about it the way Scott Rock is laid it out. Food and culture. And here's the other thing that when I think about what Scott has done with food for as long as I've known him, he's used food as a connector.
Many people can come together, many cultures can come together and understand and appreciate one another more through food. I think that is definitely something that I hope is going to be popping. And that, Scott, I hope you, you are at the forefront of making it pop. I love that.
Scott Robinson: Yeah, I love it. And you know, my wife now, Dana, um, you know, her family is lives in the Netherlands, right?
In the, in the Hague area. Oh, okay. Okay. Her mom is Indonesian, so I didn't understand Indonesian food and culture until I go to the Netherlands to see her once a year. Oh, okay. And you know, you gotta understand like, colonization, right. The Dutch Right. So when I go there now, they only speak Dutch and they're like, you better put on your translator.
We ain't speaking English right now. Okay. But they take us to different foods, food, restaurants and stuff. And so I use those ingredients, but you see the connection point for how things happen around the world. Mm-hmm. I just love food, man, but I cook it healthy now. I, I'm a healthy dude now. I lost 40 pounds since February. I'm slim
LT: Wow.
Scott Robinson: Sexy right now. Yes, sir. 40. Wow.
DC: Good for you.
Scott Robinson: I changed everything, but I still use the ingredients. It's just how you, you leverage them, right? Sugars are really your bad friend carbohydrates. But D money, if you saw me now DC you'll be like, oh my God, look at Scott. That's high school cruising weight.
I like that.
DC: Wow, man.
Scott Robinson: Yeah, I'm a testimony man. I love it. I'm
DC: gonna have to talk to you after this to learn more about how you did that.
Scott Robinson: I got it. I got the Scotty too hotty diet. I got it. So all laid out.
LT: Cool. That's awesome.
DC: Larry, your thoughts.
LT: So I love this. You know how whenever you are in a situation business-wise, where you go, you know, I'd like to get to know folks better, or I'd like to figure out, you know, to understand what that person's about.
The first thing DC and I always talk about Scott and I know you'll, is we need to break bread with these folks. Mm-hmm. Right?
DC: Yeah.
LT: And the world would be a whole lot better if there was a lot more breaking bread to use that analog. Yeah. You know, to, to get folks down and eat together and see people as human beings and get to know them.
You know, when you're at a meal and, and you're eating good food and, and it's just a conduit to really connecting with people more. And so I, in that spirit, I feel like there's something there actually for the marketing of mankind right now, to not sound corny or too deep, we gotta get folks breaking bread.
Scott Robinson: Yeah.
DC: Yeah,
Scott Robinson: yeah, yeah. Social media, lt, I love what you're saying. Social media. We get in, we scroll. Right, right. I joke with my wife sometime. I'm like, scroller, that's my nickname for her. You scrolling? She's like, I'm a scroller. And you hate Mm. That's what we be playing with each other in the crib. Right.
But it's like, you know, you gotta get out of that. And we do that a lot. Right. She has a lot of family here in Atlanta. Um, and we just break every time there's a big holiday or not a birthday, we get together. But I, I love what you're saying. It's just connectivity, human connectivity is important.
LT: Right.
Scott Robinson: I love that.
LT: That's exactly right. And, and I think you bringing that up is perfect because, uh, I feel like you've been a conduit to just positivity and connecting folks your whole life. That's what you do.
Yeah.
Scott Robinson: I i, I'm always that dude, man. I'm, I'm never gonna be negative. I'm never gonna go at anybody. I just sit back like DC knows.
I sit back in the back of the room and I go like,
LT: mm-hmm.
Scott Robinson: Mm-hmm. Scott, you got anything to say? No, I'm good. I'm like, you know, I just, I'm just that guy and I've alway I've realized I was a lot different back in my younger days.
LT: Sure.
Scott Robinson: But now I'm just like, yo, I'm good. I, I, I'm gonna help you. If you wanna reach out, hit me up.
I'm good. And I'm always open. I'm always open.
DC: Woo. A LT,, I. Yeah. I just wanna speak to what Scott said. All right. Brand Nerds, if you not heard this saying, I'm gonna bless you when you're out and about in this world. Pay attention to the quiet ones. These are the ones you got to worry about. Okay? These are the ones, they are watching everything.
And so, Larry, I'm telling you, man. Scott and I, we'd be out somewhere at some meeting out. Okay, I'm out, I'm out here kind of doing, doing my thing. And they like, they, they trying to figure out what's happening here. Scott would be in the back like, yeah, I got everything on lock, bro. I'm watching everything head on the swivel.
I got you. Do you, you do you, you do you D, money. I got, I got everything on lock right here. That's Scott. That's Scott.
Scott Robinson: Every, every exit DC I see that thing. Soon as I come in the dag on building every deep, I'm like, oh, exit, exit, exit. Let's go. I got, that's my boy. That's my boy
LT: Got. Alright gentlemen, this has been so much fun.
Thi Scott, man, when we do these shows and we have like you on this, I, I feel, I feel like I, we started this five minutes ago. Um, it went so fast. Yes.
Scott Robinson: I
love y'all man.
LT: I love what, yeah. I love you too. This has been amazing. Um, we're at the show close and I'm gonna posit my learning. DC's gonna do his. And then Scott, um, we, if you, if you, we would love to hear anything that you've learned from, uh, this podcast at the end before we close out.
That's the run of the run of where we're at now. So I'm gonna hit you with, uh, with five things brand nerds that are five amazing things. Number one, this is a throughput for the hour plus that we're talking to Scott. For you, Brand Nerds, be your authentic self. Always. There's no substitute for it. And no one lives this more than Scott.
That's number one. Number two, as Scott alluded to with the story, uh, talking about the things he was learning from Steve Horne. Be proactive. See stuff before it happens, and don't just observe, act, act accordingly. Mm-hmm. That's number two. Mm-hmm. Number three, we hit this really hard. Brand Nerds, can't stress this enough.
Chasing the money doesn't work. Uh, we, we, both Scott and I are, are, uh, evidence of that in our 150 plus shows. We have never heard anyone say, yep, I chased the money and that was a great thing for me. Never heard it. Don't chase the money. That's number three. Number four, lean into tech. Embrace it and be knowledgeable of it.
As Scott said, if you have to take classes, online stuff, whatever, read more, just really delve in all the way and go on the front foot, go on the front foot and lean in and embrace it, and it's going to catapult you forward. And the last one, number five, perhaps one of the most important ones or it not the most important.
Pay it forward. Can you be like Scott and help others find their mission and help figure out their best way to live their life? That's awesome. That's what Scott does. Those are my five.
DC: Wow. Larry. I think we're about to have another first in this, uh, in our, uh, podcast lives for six plus years, approaching seven.
So, Scott Larock, you know, I think you do that in this part of the podcast. At the end, what I'm attempting to do is to process and codify what I've heard from the human in front of me and what it is I believe, and it's just my humble opinion. This human in front of me on this podcast offers the world that none of the other 8.1 8.2 billion people can offer.
So if this person isn't giving this thing, we ain't getting it. Not in the way that this person is giving it. I'm gonna attempt to do that. Now, here's where I come to the first, Larry and I, Scott. Will have different views. So he'll go through his points and I will go through mine. Sometimes there's overlap.
Most of the time there's not. We'll see and hear different things. But this time his first one was be your authentic Self. Always. That was his number one. And Scott, LA Rock and Larry and Brand Nerds. That's mine. I normally end with what mine is, but that's where I'm gonna start. But I'm, let me walk you how I got here.
When we were talking in the Get Comfy section, Scott. Mm-hmm. About KR Ks one and Mc Shan and how you were able to shepherd that. Uh, shout Reginald Jolly gotta give Reginald jolly his amen. Rest in power. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No,
Scott Robinson: he's still around. I'm sorry. He's still around. Yeah, he's still around. Yep. Yeah.
Jolly's still around.
DC: Yep. Jolly around. Uh, is, is, uh, as the creative at uh, at Burrell. You talked about your upbringing and your love of hip hop. Hip hop was not something that you learned to do while working at the Coca-Cola Company. Hip hop was part of the fabric of who you were. The reason why you were able to do all the work that you did on Sprite was because you were a smart and are a smart businessman and savvy marketer, while at the same time being true to your roots, which you said, which are rooted in hip hop.
That's number one. The second is your cookie. When you cook, you cook not just for yourself, Scott Larock. You cook for the others. You just talked about how changing pallets have happened and how Dana, uh, she's into health and clean and organic, and you have switched up your game. In order to cook for those different pallets.
Yet at the same time, you are still authentically Scott La Rock on the grill or in the kitchen. Finally, when you talked about Black Health Matters and the fact that you lost your brother at 40 rest in peace, you, you lost your father at 72 rest in power. And then you mentioned this event, the largest event that you all have done, 1200 people in Brooklyn, and, uh, uh, you, you said that, uh, and, and to question you're most, what are you most proud of?
That I'm still here and relevant, so still here makes sense because you lost a brother at 40 years old and your father was still relatively young. Your authenticity allows you to continue to do the work you're doing with Black Health Matters because health is authentic to Scott.
LT: Yes. Right.
DC: I wrap all, I wrap all of that.
Thank you, brother. I wrap all of that up to say this Brand Nerds, most of you all are listening to this on a podcast. You're not seeing the video here behind Scott is a picture of Malcolm X and what else is behind him. I see you got some other things framed.
Scott Robinson: So that is when the commemorative stamp came out and I went to, I lived in Brooklyn.
It was 1999. I got the first issue that are all of the postcards and everything, and I got it postmarked for 1999. So I got it framed. Perfect. So that is everything. The stamp. His photo and it was a whole package. And I said, you know what, this, I want this forever. And that's what I got right there. I I'll be on calls and I'm not on blur.
That's my background. I don't care if people like it or not. That's me. That's right. I understand his message. No matter what was going on back then, that, that's who it is right there with my big head. Let me get my big head out the way. There it is.
DC: All right, Brand Nerds. Thank you for that Scott. So, Brand Nerds, uh, you may debate the politics involved with Malcolm X, right?
What is not debatable is his authenticity.
LT: Yep.
DC: That is not debatable. I believe that is what separates you from everyone else, Scott and has for your entire career in life. So my nickname for you, we, we have one for Obiwan. We got Obiwan, we got Obiwan. We good now. My nickname for you is that you are the Detroit Red of the Marketing Game and Detroit Red Brand Nerds is one of the many nicknames that yes, Malcolm X had, and I say Detroit 'cause he had Malcolm X had roots in New York, Boston, and Detroit.
Right? And I say Detroit Red because affectionately I'm from Detroit. Right? And so Scott, you are the Detroit Red of the marketing game, brother.
Scott Robinson: I appreciate you dog. I appreciate you and and Brand Nerds, these two brothers right here. I appreciate your platform, what you bring to the forefront. It's a changing world and I love what you are giving access to the nerds and they got to understand.
And all I want to say is one sentence in closing. Don't let anybody take away from who you are and what you believe in, in personal life, marketing, branding, what you believe, what's in your gut, and what you've learned in your experience. Stay on it. If it's not that company, it's the next. That's all I'm gonna tell y'all to do, and you'll be a happy Brand Nerd.
For real.
LT: That is a mic drop if there ever was one right there. That is awesome. So brand nerds, thanks so much for listening to Brands, Beats and Bytes, the executive producers of Jeff Shirley, Darryl "DC" Cobbin and Larry Laman and Hailey Cobbin, Jade Tate, and Tom Dioro
DC: The Podfathaaa..
LT: That's right. That is he.
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