New TV Show “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon” #FeelingFriday
If you know me, you know I’m all about elevating my craft. If you read my blog (which presumably you do if you are reading this right now), then you know I’m all about elevating our industry and celebrating our collective work.
Which is why I am so on brand with Jimmy Fallon’s new reality television show called “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon” because it is all about celebrating the craft of advertising/marketing/communications and showcasing the work that goes into our work.
And if you look really closely, Jimmy may just be launching his own agency as well ala Ryan Reynolds. Just sayin’. Reality. Ryan, you’re going to get a run for your money, honey.
So basically Jimmy is taking real clients and pairing them with real teams to create real marketing campaigns to build their businesses. With his real creative team.
This is what I do every day, and I love it. So bringing it to a national spotlight and celebrating it all just warms my heart.
Now, truth be told … there will be drama and all of that but of course. It’s reality television. But then again that’s also real.
This is what I do every day, and I love it.
And just so you know, this isn’t a new idea. Sorry, Jimmy. When the now iconic show “Mad Men” was hot hot hot back in the day, the network AMC launched a reality show called “The Pitch” which was essentially the same concept. It ran right after “Mad Men” every week. The show created real teams of advertising professionals to pitch concepts to real clients. It lasted two seasons, if memory serves. It wasn’t an agency per se like what Jimmy is doing, but it was led by agency lead Donnie Deutsch ala Deutsch Agency fame so maybe it was an agency?!? I don’t know; blurred lines.
I had a friend on the show who pitched a real client, Waste Management (the folks who pick up our trash every week), with a campaign called “Trash Can,” to show the sustainability of recycling. To this day, I think it’s one of the most brilliant campaigns I’ve ever seen. Thank you Paul (who has since passed away RIP). Hugs.
True story … the producers of “The Pitch” reached out to me to see if I wanted to be on the show with my team at the time. I got so excited! My CEO at the time immediately agreed and then we both slept on it and decided the next day that it could be the worst decision we’d ever make. The worst. How could we do this to ourselves and our people?!? So we said no. Reality television at the time was just turning into (shall we say) reality and we weren’t sure we wanted to be a part of it. Lots of drama and lots of negativity. It could have ruined our careers much more likely than propel them.
Good call. But I still wonder about how much fun it could have been!
Back to Jimmy. I think his show will be different because he’s going to bring a comedic lens to it all, which is a good thing. Our industry is FUN. It should be fun. Bring back the fun, please. Jimmy’s co-host is celebrity CMO turned Real Housewife Bozoma Saint John (aka Boz), who I’ve seen in action and she is brilliant too. Her experience spans Netflix, Uber, Apple, and PepsiCo. Sounds familiar! She will bring the experience and bring on the drama and the fun right alongside Jimmy.
This is marketing after all. I’m in!
Make no mistake: this is the launch of Jimmy’s marketing agency called “On Brand.” And this is his way of picking up new clients. Why not?!? I’m in. I’d do exactly the same given the opportunity.
And what a way to launch it! I’m here for it all. I’m here to celebrate it. I’m here to elevate our industry! Jimmy has the chance and he’s taking it and elevating it.
From one Jimmy to another, thank you. What’s your experience? JIM