Makers of Sport® Podcast

“Fear is good, you can feed on it and it makes you work harder to be good and be better. If you get too complacent and happy, that's where you get in trouble.”

A special episode from MLC Connect 2019 with two of the keynote speakers, Amy and Jen Hood of Hoodzpah Design of Southern California. Through their studio the duo have worked with companies ranging from small California businesses to major brands like Google and Target.

Jay F. Hicks, a digital strategist and content lead at Bayler University Athletics and also the host of Sports Creatives Podcast, joined me to co-host in the MLC media room in the Atlanta Braves' stadium.

Listen along as Jay and I chat with the Hood twins as they share how they began their company,imposter syndrome, how they developed soft skills and emotional intelligence, managing imposter syndrome, how they collaborate seamlessly with one with another and more.

Mentions Include:

• Hoodzpah Design
• Hoodzpah Design on Twitter
• Hoodzpah Design on Instagram
• Jay F. Hicks on Twitter

My next guest is Peter Robert Casey aka PRC. Peter is the Vice Chairman at SLAM Magazine and is a digital marketer, tech startup founder and CEO of JDS Sports, a venture capital fund for sports-related companies.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

“Working with people is something you need practice with. Everybody has their own agenda, everybody has things that are important to them. You have to respect that but there’s times you have to fight for what you believe in.”

Insung Kim joined the show to discuss his cross country journey from enivironmental design in Southern California to Kansas City to now working in the South as Senior Creative Director for the Atlanta Braves.

Insung discusses how his immigrant parents supported his creativity leading him to attend art school and eventaully find a job as a designer in environmental graphics at a company where he stayed 15 years.

Looking for a change, Insung moved his family to the middle of the country to work for internationally-known sports & entertainment architectural firm, Populous (formerly HOK Sport). While designing graphics for the Braves new Atlanta stadium, Insung struck up a relationship with Braves executives and was offered a job as Creative Director where he now leads a team of creatives and manages the Braves' iconic brand.

He sheds light on how to have difficult conversations and what we as sports designers should really focus on and get joy in instead of the cool hero imagery.

Listen along as Insung shares his story.

Mentions Include:

• Insung on Twitter
• Insung on Instagram
• Seth Godin
• Harvest Crusade
• David Riley Associates
• Hunt Design
• Populous
• Robzilla
• Kev Roché

My next guests are Amy and Jen Hood from Hoodzpah Design. The Hood twins are a graphic design duo running their own studio in Southern California. They also happen to be Kentucky natives which, y'all already know, makes me drawn to them. The interview was conducted at MLC Connect 2019 after their keynote.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

Damer on getting work: "You have to be a hype machine. You have to create hype around yourself and most artists are very uncomfortable doing that because they feel they are bragging or they feel like they are going to get made fun of online."

Barton Damer, founding artist and creative director of the boutique 3d animation and motion design studio AlreadyBeenChewed, joined the podcast for a chat about his career and how he has grown his company into one of the leading studios for producing motion content in sports and entertainment.

Barton reveals how an injury skateboarding—a sport and culture he has always been passionate about—pushed him to learn graphic design and motion so he could continue to hang out with his skateboarding buddies.

Damer touches on how he moonlighted nights and weekends for years while having a full-time job because he was the sole income supporting his family of 5 and how fourteen years into his career he began getting his first big brand work from sneaker companies as he developed a new style outside of his job.

I ask Barton many questions about how one can get into motion, where to start, etc. as a total n00b on the medium and he shares some great advice.

Lastly, Barton shares his thoughts on the future of motion including where VR/AR fit into the space.

Mentions Include:

• AlreadyBeenChewed
• Barton on Twitter
• Barton on IG
• ABC on IG
• Computer Arts Digital Artist of the Year
• Peter Drucker, Business Author
• Andrew Kramer, Video Co-Pilot
• Troika
• DigitalKitchen
• Shilo
• Jab Jab Jab Right Hook by @garyvee
• GreyscaleGorilla
• Houdini by SideFX

My next guest is going to be Insung Kim, Sr. Creative Director of the Atlanta Braves. Insung is a designer that began his career in the architectural space of sports working for Populous before joining the in-house team at the Braves.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

Did you like this episode? You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and by writing a review of the show on iTunes.

Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"On a Saturday afternoon when every sports fan is going to watch their chosen sport, there are thousands of brands barking at them whether it's a print paper, online, in stadium on LEDs, in the matchday program; there's all these messages and presumably only the best are going to get taken home with fans and that's what our job is: to be the best messengers."

Simon Dent is a former sports business lawyer & agent turned creative agency founder in the U.K. As managing partner of Dark Horses, Simon leads a team of world-class creatives working with brand such as Peloton, PUMA, City Football Group, Southampton F.C., Under Armour, Nissan and more.

Whilst working as an agent, Simon realized that brands were missing opportunities to better engage fans via athletes he represented, so he founded an advertising agency.

Simon discusses the emotional aspect of sport and how consumer brands can leverage those emotions to engage consumers in a more authentic way rather than simply sharing a logo on the scoreboard.

We also chat about how an outside agency can bring a different high-level, strategic perspective to clubs and avoid being pigeonholed as production creatives like so many in-house creatives do with team marketing execs.

Simon elaborates on why sporting brands should be vary weary of the competition for attention in future fans now that the internet offers attention grabbers like Fortnite, YouTube and Netflix.

Lastly, we discuss creative culture and more specifically how Dark Horses uses it to recruit and keep creatives.

Mentions Include:

• Dark Horses
• Simon Dent on Twitter
• Dark Horses on Twitter
• Dark Horses on IG
• Lucky Generals
• BBH Sport
• Fornite brand activations
• Droga5

My next guest is going to be Barton Damer. Barton is the founder of AlreadyBeenChewed, a 3d animation and motion shop in Dallas, TX that has worked with many major brands such as Nike, Marvel and more.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"It's 100% about relationships. Probably the most important part of Mitchell Bat is the people I've met along the way that I consider true friends or trusted advisors."

Jeremy Mitchell, agency creative director, web designer and most notably founder of Mitchell Bat Co., joined the podcast for episode 100 to discuss his passion project; a company that provides custom, hand-painted wooden bats to passionate & passive baseball fans, corporations and brands alike.

Jeremy discusses how his college degree in sports management, playing in a band in college and a crush on a graphic design major (who eventually became his wife) eventually led him to pursue a post-grad career in design.

A passionate baseball fan, Jeremy created a mockup of a hand-painted, striped bat one night and posted to his Instagram. The post got some likes and requests on where to purchase the bat, whom fans thought was a real physical product. Thus began the quest to start Mitchell Bat Co.

We discuss the social mission of MBCo, how a conscious effort should be put into building a brand, and how passion projects lead to incredible opportunities and collaborations that one would not always expect or receive from a full-time paying job.

Lastly, we discuss the value of relationships and how important they are to any career, let alone a side project.

Mentions Include:

• Mitchell Bat Co. Twitter
• Mitchell Bat Co. Instagram
• Mithcell Bat Co. Website
• Salemtown Board Co.
• Todd Radom
• BLDGrefuge 199c gallery
• Mattingly Chartities
• MBCo collaboration with Louisville Slugger
• "Kern & Burn" book
• Episode 97: Chris Do, TheFutur
• Leatherhead Sports
• Billie Creek Bats

USE CODE "MOS" AT CHECKOUT ON MITCHELLBATCO.COM AND GET 20% OF A BAT.

My next guest is going to be French designer & illustrator, Caroline Blanchet. Caroline is the founder of Ptitecao, French design studio that focuses on creating visual design and digital illustrations for the sports industry.

Sign up for the weekly email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"There's so much emphasis on people getting a job right after they graduate and getting into the workforce. You'd be hard pressed to find a lot more real life lessons than working at a restaurant...the real life world lessons and the things that you learn by serving people is something that can refine skills."

Starting a business as a young person takes a lot of courage. You are often looked down upon by older professionals as having too little life & professional experience and too great expectations. It takes grit, perseverance and hard work. These are the key traits of an entrepreneur. Adam White has those traits.

The founder & CEO of Front Office Sports joined the show discuss how a failed goal to be a member of the U.S. Coast Guard eventually led to starting one of the sports business's leading online publications.

Adam tells the story of how FOS began as a schoool project and later scaled to a much greater audience demanding more content. He also touches on how he worked full-time at a UMiami restaurant where he climbed through the ranks of fry cook and kitchen trainer before eventually becoming manager all while traveling the U.S. creating content for Front Office Sports and working on his bachelors degree.

We chat about the common entrepreneurial stategy of faking it until you make it, being comfortable speaking the language of business and interviewing professionals and the importance of focus.

Lastly, Adam discusses where he sees the future of Front Office Sports and more.

Mentions Include:

• Adam White on Twitter
• Adam White on LinkedIn
• Front Office Sports on Twitter
• Russ Wilde, Jr. on Twitter
• The Rathskeller at University of Miami
• Adam Martin on Front Office Sports
• Win Without Pitching Manifesto
• "The One Thing"

My next guest is going to be Jeremy Mitchell, founder of Mitchell Bat Co. While working as a creative director at a Nashville ad agency by day, Jeremy creates custom-pained wood bats for consumers, clients and brands on the side and it has grown into lucrative brand. This show will also mark the 100th episode of Makers of Sport Podcast. We will be giving a way a commemorative MoS bat to a lucky listener. Follow @makersofsport on Twitter for details.

Sign up for the weekly email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"What makes a successful brand from a brand identity and visual language standpoint is having consistent style that can also be fluid and flexible where not everything necessarily looks exactly the same but everything should "feel" the same."

Sam Silverman, assistant director of creative media & branding for Ohio State Football, joined the podcast to discuss his work with one of the nation's top football programs and how classic typography inspires his work.

Sam touches on how his passion for cars & sneakers and how they led him to a degree in the prestigious industrial design program at Ohio State University.

We discuss his transition to graphic design, learning typography skills and being inspired by historic design movements such as Swiss typography and the Bauhaus Movement, and how he is applying these things to the football brand at Ohio State University.

The ethics in sports design are a very hot topic in this episode as Sam & I chat about respecting and knowing the history of the discipline, denounce the braggadocious nature of sports designers and try to determine why rip-off culture runs rampnat in college athletics marketing and design.

Lastly, we go deep on Sam's work with OSU and specifically discuss the new intitiative, BrandU, a program that helps teach college athletes about the importance of their personal brands.

Mentions Include:

• Sam Silverman on Twitter
• OSU football on Twitter
• Dieter Rams 12 Principles of Design
• Bauhaus movement
• Swiss typography aka International Typographic Style
• World Wildlife Fund logo
• Jason Mayden, former Jordan brand designer
• BrandU

My next guest is Adam White, the founder and CEO of Front Office Sports, a new era sports business media platform bringing readers insight, news and authority at the intersection of sport and business.

Sign up for the weekly email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"Designer as maker is what is celebrated in school, not designer as entrepreneur; designer as business problem solver. To me, when you're in the mechanics, when you have your hands in the work, it's all production and I make no distinction between doing that versus becoming a brick layer."

Creative therapy. That's how I refer to this episode as it takes us down a path MoS hasn't been on before.

Chris Do, Emmy award winning creative director, entrepreneur and founder of TheFutur & Blind studio, joins the pod to share his views on many topics including higher education, entrepreneurship, money, self-worth, depression, and how designers can win the battle of business.

We come in hot discussing the often divisive topic of higher education and wonder if a college degree is important any longer.

Chris also discusses the value of time and we why should understand that value is in the eye of the beholder and oftentimes, we aren't the beholder of the work we create.

Lastly, we discuss the modern state of design criticism and how if designers want to win in the war of business, we have to start thinking more about strategy and less about aesthetics.

Mentions Include:

• Chris Do on Twitter
• TheFutur
• Blind
• TheFutur on YouTube
• ArtCenter College of Design
• Value of designer vs. art director debate
• "The E-Myth Revisited"
• "Real Artists Don't Starve" by Jeff Goins
• Blair Enns, Win Without Pitching
• Mathias Omotola of Cinema4d on TheFutur
• Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement
• Jim Rohn
• Chris Do's F-1 logo crit
• Evolving the Google Identity

My next guest is Tim Tadder, an advertising photographer for sports, commercial, CGI portrait photography. He has worked with brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, NFL, adidas, Under Armour and more. You can checkout his work at his website.

Sign up for the weekly email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.