August 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Meet Katie Hooper, the spirited CEO of Notorious111, also known as The Optimist. In late 2023, Katie saw an opportunity to buyback Notorious111 (formerly HZDG) from BCW, a division of WPP. Her strategic refocusing of the agency's skill set, fueled by her relentless optimism, has positioned Notorious111 to better meet the needs of chief marketing officers and brand leaders with creative solutions that go beyond traditional advertising.
Katie is driven by a desire to make her work meaningful and impactful; these are not just her values but those she shares with and instills in the team at Notorious111. She believes that every brand marketer should feel the weight of their influence and strives to partner with them to craft brand stories that resonate deeply and make a real difference in people's lives. This dedication is reflected in her impressive portfolio of past and present clients, including Hilton, Dollar General, State of Maryland, King Arthur Flour, Penn State Football, and National Aquarium, and the National Mall.
Before leading Notorious111, Katie was the Director of Marketing at Ralph Lauren, where she spearheaded the integrated marketing program for the Rugby brand, from its initial concept to national rollout and e-commerce launch. This experience honed her exceptional talent for driving brand growth and engagement.
Katie Hooper's work at Notorious111 is not just a job, it's a calling, shaped by her enduring belief that great work matters. Through her vision and leadership, she continually pushes the boundaries of what's possible in advertising, leading Notorious111 into its next exciting chapter as an agency committed to making a difference through creativity.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank preson CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know power by iHeart Media.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Let's be Katie Hooper.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
She is the CEO for Notorious one to eleven, a
marketing and branding agency that provides services including brand building,
integrated campaigns, digital experiences, and content creation. Before we talk
more about Katie's company, I first asked her to talk
a little bit about herself, where she's from, and her
origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I am from Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I grew up in Britamarre, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia
there and I went to school at a small little
college in New England called Trinity College in Hertford, Connecticut.
Graduated with an English major and an Art history minor.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, so this is the fun part.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
And everybody knows that when you go to college or
and you go to post secondary school, you figure out
what you want to do, and there's so many different paths.
As you were kind of finishing up school, what did
you want to do?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, so I had no idea, literally no idea.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Welcome to the club.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm still not sure I.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Know, but I graduated and my focus at college was
to absorb as much as I possibly could.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So I went to a liberal arts school. I was
an athlete.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I played field hockey and lacrosse, you know, established relationships
I still cultivate to this day. Graduated, knew I wanted
to live in Boston, knew very little else, and so
started reaching out to different, you know, people who had
graduated prior. And one of my friends said, Hey, I'm
working at this place. It's a PR agency. It's pretty
cool and they give you corporate cards and I was like, great,
(01:26):
that sounds like a good first.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Step to me.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I don't know what PR is, but let's just give
it a go. So I ended up interviewing throughout that
company and accepted an entry level position.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'll never forget twenty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
I thought I was incredibly wealthy because I was, and
got to the business of learning about the PR agency specifically.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
All right, we're going to be here to talk, of course,
about a notorious one to eleven your company, and there's
so much to talk about. But before we do that,
your resume, especially, there was a thirteen year run where
you were at one place and you've done some incredible things,
So can you talk about that journey? Because I want
to make sure I give context to listeners as you
build up your resume. Sometimes you had a place for
a long time like you were. Sometimes you hop on jobs.
(02:08):
You've been a manager before, you've run companies. You're running
this current company. But talk about that journey as you
let up to you know, starting a notorious one to eleven,
because I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, and again, I think I have always prioritized.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
While I didn't really know.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
What I wanted to do, I did know that I
wanted to constantly grow. I'm driven, I'm hungry, I'm curious,
and so how could I be in a place, get
as much as I could, and then see what sort
of the next opportunity was.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So I was started at the PR Agency.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It was in the high tech industry right when the
high tech bubble was expanding and then quickly burst, and
you know, went through a good learning around when a
category gets really huge and then all of a sudden
it shrinks dramatically. Knew it was a good time to
move on and try something different. I also knew I
wanted to live in New York. There's just something about
the experience of living in New York. For my opinion,
(02:58):
I advise everybody my nieces anybody who I know to
go live in New York and get that on your resume.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I knew I wanted to live in New York.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
I had an opportunity with a nonprofit trade organization specifically
looking to empower and elevate women in the beauty industry,
and that was sort of my first taste of Wow,
there's not a lot of women in leadership positions, but
specifically in a category that primarily, especially back then, really
paid attention to women. Seemed like a place I could
make a difference, so I jumped into marketing and membership.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
There small organization was.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Able to do a lot of things, specifically empowering and
growing younger employees, younger executives to connect with senior level executives.
Learned all about presenting, learned all about by watching some
of these really badass women executives in their category, how
to hold a room, the importance of politics, and also
the importance of being.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yourself in every single conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Ultimately, my goal was to work in retail, and I
had an opportunity to go do that. When Ralph Lauren
launched a brand called Rugby, which was a new brand.
They were launching that was aiming specifically at the college
age student, which was a student that they really weren't
talking to.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I jumped into immediately that.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Exciting work to work under the brand of Ralph Lauren,
but with a new brand, and it was a real scrappy, entrepreneurial,
grassroots kind of vibe. And I got through everything, so
from opening stores, which entailed literally opening packages and merchandising
product all the way up to working to get bands
in the store and hold poker tournaments. And this was
(04:31):
the early days of social media and CRM, and so
understanding the importance of email and all the aspects that
went along with building out a brand really from the
ground up. From there, I was in New York for
five years. I decided that was a good run. It
was time to go to something else, and I moved
home to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Where I thought I would stay.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I had some good opportunities and some other retail opportunities.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I got a call from a headhunter who.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Said, hey, we need an agency person to come for
see the Rita's Italian ice account, which is a quick
service restaurant type of model. And my mom's name is Rita.
So I took that as a sign, that's how much
I thought through these opportunities. I took that job and
the client service side again, kind of a mid size,
little known agency in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and was
(05:19):
able to really own and grow and lead a lot
of accounts that were pretty good accounts in terms of
what I was able to learn, and I had a
lot of I had a lot of power over them,
if you will, so I was able to really own
them and learn them and sort of understand what it
was to work with clients at a high level. So
that was awesome. Met my husband. I live in Annapolis, Maryland.
(05:42):
That's where he's from. I was joking he only leaves
every seventeen years. We call him the Locusts. So I
knew I would not be living in Philadelphia, and I
spent my first year of marriage actually commuting between Annapolis
and the agency.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Knew that wasn't sustainable.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Woman who ran the agency at the time called h
Z which is now notorious one to eleven. She was
looking for somebody with retail and luxury experience, which I
had now had. And they had just landed the Waldorf
account and the Brooks Brothers account, and they had also
recently won the Volkswagen account.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So this was a.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Little you know, started as a two person graphic design
agency that was on the way up and had landed
these three really good accounts, so I was thrilled came
in as an account director. We were about fifty people,
and truly, like the next ten years, we just were
on a rocket ship. So we went from fifty people
we had about two hundred people what felt like in
(06:37):
short order. We were winning and working on amazing work,
and we were truly what was called an integrated creative agency,
which just means if you had you know, if we
had social media again, for example, was just starting. So
we just figured it out and suddenly we had a
fifteen person social media team similar to website design and development.
(06:57):
We figured it out and suddenly we had a fifteen
per team. So it was pretty cool because basically our
approach was we will work with our clients to figure
out whatever their marketing solutions are, and we did it
with a lot of integrity.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
The founders decided to sell the company to WPP, which
you know, I was very much in supportive and a
part of, and that ushered in a whole new phase
where we learned a lot about mergers and acquisitions and
cultures coming together, and we learned a lot about PR
as that was the agency that we were acquired by
was a large PR agency. That agency, Conan Wolf merged
(07:34):
with Burson Marceller right before they bought us, And that
was also its own learning, because when you watched you
agencies come together, our huge agencies and figure it out,
our adorable little creative agency got a little bit lost
in the wash there. But what it did was it
allowed us to remain independent and also whenever our new
parent company needed us, we could jump into that phrase.
(07:56):
So it was sort of the best of both worlds,
if you will. So we did grade along the lines there.
We've developed a really strong muscle around corporate communications, and
I think one of the big things that we learned
was that there's actually a pretty big difference oftentimes between
PR communications focused clients versus brand innovation marketing.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Type of clients.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
And while we all have the same objectives, the PR
comms teams oftentimes are focused on protecting their clients, on
corporate reputation, on improving sort of how people's sentiment.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Is towards those brands and brand innovation marketers.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Oftentimes, while they have core business KPIs and performance metrics
that are driving their success, they also typically understand a
little bit more about the appropriate amount of risk that
goes along with standing out so that you can get
people's attention when you are a sports brand amongst other
sports brands, or if you are Volkswagen amongst other car brands, etc.
(08:57):
So the founders ultimately also launched another business called Dormifi,
which was an e comm home to core business really
focused on college kids.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So they left to focus on that.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
WPP asked if I would step up and lead the
agency HZ along with my two colleagues, my COO and
my chief chief operating Officer and chief client officer, and
we did that over the course of the next two years.
But as you know, anybody who pays attention to this
category in particular knows the holding companies. So the wpps
of the world, you know, they're going through an enormous
(09:31):
amount of change where the model is shaking up a
little bit. There's really a separation of clients who are
looking for holding company type of work versus smaller indie
boutique size agency work, and they just went through an
enormous amount of change. So throughout that process it became
clear that HZ as a part of person probably wasn't
(09:53):
the right fit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And ultimately we got to the task.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Of figuring out how to consciously uncouples the best way
I can think to put it, and this was very
much with the amazing support and collaboration of WPP to
help us figure out ultimately how to take our agency
model and make it more successful. So January eleventh, thus
(10:17):
the one eleven in the name, and we can talk
more about the name and the origins, but January eleventh
of twenty twenty four, myself and my four partners basically decided,
what the hell, let's go for it. Let's figure out
how it is that we can take this company private
and restart essentially, you know, restart a company of at
the time maybe sixty people, and aim it in a
(10:40):
new way that will help us really stand out and differentiate.
So three months later we were able to actually sign
all the papers and acquire the business, and then the
last year and a half have been about the task
of completely repositioning, completely rebuilding, and lots of lessons learned
within there as well.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I can I can tell you no.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
It's a great story, and it's almost a couple months
Shive a year and a half as CEO, and as
you know, and we talk about this in the series
all the time, it's a leap of faith when you
start your own business, no matter what it is, small,
medium or large, what you've done with your partners and
your team. I do want to do this before I
talk about mission and vision and exactly what you do
with your clients. And it's really cool stuff, folks, So
(11:22):
please stay tuned for that. Why don't you talk about
the name because notorious one to eleven to me just
as a person, if I didn't know what you did,
even though I do, it's a cool name.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
What's the origin of it?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, and let me just say this, because we know
we've talked about running your own business helps you advise
our partners, our brand partners, who are going through some
of the same challenges.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
And I say this all the time. Naming is the worst.
So of all the.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Things ad campaigns, website, social media, naming is the worst
because people are emotionally attached yes to notions and words,
and you know, words mean different things.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
We say this all the time. If I say beatles
to you.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You could think of the bug, you could think of
the rock band, you could think of the car.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And so naming is hard. That's number one.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Number two, what we felt we needed to do was
figure out how of the fourteen thousand plus agencies that
exist in this world, how we could stand out.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
How can we begin to add be.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Fourteen thousand and one and in a way that matters,
in a way that differentiates. And we knew that in
order to create that level of visibility we would have
to do a lot of different things, but one of
them was create intrigue and interest through our name. Also,
we find meaning in names, and so really purposefully, what
we are saying with our name Notorious is we want
to work with brands who want to be truly known
(12:41):
for something.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Just like the word notoriety eludes.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
We also kind of like some people read notorious as
you know, naughty, and some people read notorious says why
does it have to be naughty? So we started to
flip that a little bit on its head too, and say,
why couldn't Mother Teresa be notorious for kindness? Or why
can it and mister Rogers be notorious for benevolence or
whatever that might be, and that really hit What I
(13:08):
will say though, is our leadership team was split right
down the middle, and actually half of the team hated
the word notorious and the rest loved it. And ultimately
we were able to just again ask everybody to take
a leap of faith and jump off and sort of
help us support the name notorious because we knew that
(13:30):
it would get people asking questions and the world definitely
did not need another jumble of numbers and letters or
last names or whatever. So we wanted to sort of
say something about our ethos just through the naming itself.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And that's what we have found has been really helpful.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well I love that and it's just well thought out.
And every time I talk to leaders, when you really
well think out, including names of companies, it's important because
you have to own it and also at your brand,
which we're going to talk a lot about. So I'd
like to do this if we could just start to
briefly with the mission and the vision of the company.
What are they?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Yeah, And I mean I think very specifically our mission
is to make radical positive impact, and so part of
the reason why we founded this company was We are
all legacy marketing, mainly agency people, but as I mentioned,
I've been clients side and nonprofit side as well, and
we felt this impetus to leave our campsite a little
(14:26):
nicer than we found it at this point in our career.
So there's this inundation of all this stuff in our
life all the time, advertising, radio, you know, social media,
website scrolling, whatever it is, and a lot of it
is just stuff, is what it felt like. And so
when we started to really coalesce around what we wanted
to do when we got older, the conversation turned to
(14:48):
can we do something that actually not just leaves positive impact,
but leaves radical positive impact in some way. So that
doesn't mean, necessarily, although we would love this to be
the case, all of our clients are nonpropit fits or
are good for the environment, or are you know, solving
the world's larger meta problems.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
But what it does mean is we look for the
radical impact where we can find it.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
So, for example, we do a lot of work with
organizations within Baltimore. If we can start to thread those
types of brands and efforts together, can we collectively help
to sort of rise the tide of Baltimore for lack
of a better description, if we are when we do
have quite a foothold in sports, for example, are we
(15:30):
able to start to change the narrative about how you know?
Major League Baseball necessarily hasn't historically been the most inclusive
over the last several decades. Can we start to do
some work that changes the narrative associated with that?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So we will.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
We can make and do anything as a marketing and
creative agency, but where we're really interested in seeing what's
possible is within this radical positive impact world.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, it's very cool, and you and I both live
in narrative worlds now where sometimes it's true or fault
and sometimes it doesn't matter. So it's always a struggle
for what you and I do with your team. So
I do want to talk about that in just a
little bit. But let's do this. If people are being
introduced for the first time with Notorious one to eleven,
and you were to give a kind of a thirty
thousand foot view and say this is what we do,
what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
I would say, we're a creative brand studio and we
are truly working with brands who want to be known
for something and So what that means is, as you know,
we can make anything websites, social media, ad campaigns, videos,
whatever sort of marketing you need. But where we're great
is we can really help you as a brand, figure
out what you stand for, what is your DNA level,
(16:37):
who you are as your ethos, and then we can
create the entire world that that brand lives within.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So that's really what our specialty is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Katie.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I know you have a team of forty people, and
of course I think you're working with third parties and
your clients. Can you take us through either a day,
a week, or a month of what it's like for
what you do, because I think people hear about in
an advertising agency and they probably think of what they've
seen on television, and you know that might give a
little scope about what they used to do, but it
really is complex because there's so many layers of you
(17:08):
mentioned about broadcast, You've got streaming, TV, radio, social media
goes on and on, and my industry does the same thing.
So as you either search out a client or Sony
comes to you and you say, either we've got a
great idea for you, or we need a great idea
from Katie and their team how does everything work when
they partner up with you.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Yeah, so we pretty much always start with the strategy
side of things, and so what does that mean? What
that means is, for example, we're working with a very
well known professional sports team right now. So if I
said their name, you would know them. You've probably been
the game. But what they don't know. If you were
to ask how would you describe this team, most people
would say their star player, their uniform color, their mascot.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
But they're not saying words with emotion.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
They're not saying words with depth or things that actually resonate.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You know, in a more meaningful way.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
So our job number one is to create that strategic
DNA level footprint, if you will, of what that brand
can actually stand for. And so we go through immersing ourselves,
certainly into the business and the brand itself, and interviewing
all the stakeholders and the customers and all that to
really try to articulate that. But I think what also
(18:15):
makes Notorious different is we are building brands that are
driving the conversation around culture. So culture is another very
buzzy thing right now. Lots of agencies and lots of
brands will say, you know, we want to make sure
we're in culture. For us, what that means is if
we're in a city, pick a city, Detroit, let's just say,
then we become experts within that community. And that doesn't
(18:38):
just mean going out and hanging in the coffee shop.
That means finding the influencers, finding the taste makers, finding
the politicians, even the people who have voices in those communities,
and we immerse ourselves into those types of conversations, both
using tools that we have as well as literally physically
going and having conversations with these influencers within communities. We
(18:59):
need to understand what the environment is that these brands
are trying to operate in so that when we pair
what that brand can stand for, what's their ethos, with
here's what's happening in the background, we can.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Create that world in which they live.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And it's really hard for us to explain it until
you go through it in a way, because that world,
if you will, could be a new name, a new brand,
all the identity work that goes along with the new packaging.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, in the example of for example, we're working
with a.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Brewery called Black Viking Brewery, so they just they needed
all their identity stuff. So that's one thing, but it
could also be content series, TikTok series, in stadium experience,
it could be advertising as a component, but it's not
the only component. So what we really do is explore
(19:53):
the entire world. We might even say, if this sports
team opened a hotel, what would that hotel look like,
and feel like, we.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Don't ever think they're going to do it.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
But that's how we pressure test sort of the boundaries
of a really strong brand proposition is we make sure
we can see all the different ways that this brand
could really come to life.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So that is much more.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Cut through, if you will, then if we just came
and said we're going to do a social media campaign,
we're going to do an advertising campaign, because we can
tell any story. But the work that really disrupts is
when you do that brand strategy work to begin with,
and then you can tune it into anything.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, And there's obviously different different levels of what brands
and companies want. Something that's fascinated me and I've had
it behind the scenes look at for many years, and
I'd love to hear how it affects you and your
team as you work with your clients and brands out there. Obviously,
when let's just say a sports team hires you, they're
hiring you because you are another set of eyes ears
in the industry and might have something fresh that they don't.
(20:53):
But you're also working with a brand that thinks they
really know their brand really well. So when you come
to the table with your right is do you have
a plan, A, B and C. And how do you
convince somebody that thinks they know their brand that hey,
I actually have a good idea for you that.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You maybe you haven't thought about. How does that work?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
It's a great question, and honestly, part of the evolution
of this last year has been finding the kinds of
partners that are great for notorious right.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So it has to be a relationship. I think that's
number one.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
We are not I don't think our industry is well
served when we talk about vendors and clients because it
sort of automatically insinuates some sort of imbalance and power there,
which is not where the best, most vulnerable work gets done.
So the first thing is we are who we are
from pitch all the way through, and what we say
is there's no surprises in our game. So what that
means is when we have, for example, if we're working
(21:43):
on a new identity, which means like logo, name all
the things that go along with that. We will not
go away for six weeks and come back and present
three options and the client has no idea what it
is that we're doing.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
We'll check in with them along the way.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
And we'll give them sneak previews, and we'll make sure
we're align at each sort of step of the road
because we want them to feel as much a part
of the build of whatever it is we're doing as
we do. So I think that's really important because we
want to make sure that when we understand whether or
not they say they know brand, or whether or not
(22:17):
they really do say they know, or they whether or.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Not they really do.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Rather, we're cool either way, because we have partners who are.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like, look, I don't know anything about this.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I trust you guys, but like, I have a perspective
as a stakeholder within the organization, so bring me along.
Those are relatively easier, quite frankly, to work with, to
your point, because they're willing to know what they know,
and they're willing to know what they don't know, and
they're looking to surround themselves with partners who are experts
to sort of shore up the things that they're not
(22:47):
great at. So that's really sort of how it is
that we typically go about it is we we work
with our clients in the best way that they're comfortable
and as much as they want to be involved, but
I find the best work with the most integrity has
them tracking with us all the way throughout. The other
thing I'll say quickly is research can be incredibly helpful.
(23:11):
So there's a world of opportunity there, and it just
depends on how much you need that as a brand
to sort of reinforce the creative ideas or the direction
you're heading.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
But there's so many ways for us.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
To build credibility within the communities we're targeting by saying, hey,
we did put these three things into market and this
is what we learned about this and this is the
one we're going to go with, and that can certainly
help create some confidence there too.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Outstanding, and Katie, you've also alluded that there are thousands
of agencies out there, and I imagine you know, you
kind of talked about differentiating yourself and what you do
with your team. With that said what other kind of
challenges are in today's climate for your industry right now
that you know you're working on hopefully you'll solve, But
they are presenting themselves right now to you.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I mean, the constant of change impacts all of us.
Right You wake up any morning and there's a tariff,
there's not a tariff, there is a flash flood.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
There's not a flash flood like you sort of have to.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
We're living in this moment where everything changes all the time,
and that markets don't like that, so we are in
a moment of uncertainty, and that's just a category challenge
in general. I feel really fortunate, I'm knocking on wood
that we chose the right moment to decouple from the
holding company environment, in particular because where we are building
(24:31):
our model is small and nimble, but we keep saying
we're the like less creepy version of I Got a guy.
Because what we have is an enormous, notorious network of freelancers,
of contract workers, of super skilled individuals who always want
to be freelanced first and foremost. And that enables us
to keep our core team really small and efficient, and
(24:53):
it enables us to call on all the talented people
out there as much or as little as we need to.
I think that's helping us because that's a that is
one of the challenges in our category in general, is
as agencies you kind of ride the highs.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
And loads of your clients.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
You're either you want an account and so you higher up,
or you lose an account and you have.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
To let people go.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And that's just relentlessly exhausting for all the humans that
work in our category.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
So we're working to overcome that as well. And then
I think just the notion.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Of often sales and marketing budgets can be cut pretty
quickly when you know numbers are down, and just this
constantness of specifically publicly traded companies are held to a
growth standard on a quarterly basis. So you I think
for us, we sort of have decidedly work to aim
a little bit more in the disruptor category of companies
(25:46):
where either they are founder led or founder informed, you know,
think five hundred million to a billion dollars in revenue,
where they typically are still privately held and are growing
towards something. That's a place where we can really have
a lot of success in partnering with the founders so
I guess also just being really deliberate about the types
of businesses that we think are the best fit for
(26:06):
us helps a bit to inoculate us from the uncertainty
of the constant change of the marketplace.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Okay, here's one of my favorite questions. And I love
this and I'd love to hear a story if you
have one for us, and I'm sure you do. But
I always ask people about you know, this is why
we get up story, and this is why we do
what we do. And you work with so many different brands,
and you don't have to mention the exact client if
you want to mention the category, but is there something
special that happened where you and your team made a
difference and really knocked it out of the park, And
(26:33):
you say to yourself, this is why we get up
every day. We made a difference for this client. Can
you share something with us?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, I mean two come to mind.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
One was a long time ago, but I think for
many people will be certainly memorable is we were hired
by Penn State Football right after all the terribleness of
what they went through with the scandal, and that was
a real low point for a program that had a
lot of pride, right, and all the people that were
involved in the horribleness of it obviously or were not
there any longer. But the people who had picked up
(27:02):
the pieces were quite literally being threatened for their lives
on a bili basis. I mean, I will never forget
the athletic director who stepped in, who was a doctor.
He was an orthopedic surgeon, who raised his hand and volunteered.
He told me that he had a sleep every night
with a gun under his bed because he was under
so much constant threat. In comes this little branding agency,
this little marketing agency that was asked to help people
(27:27):
care again about football, which at the time didn't really
seem very important. But I think what was meaningful to
us about that process was that team was so earnest
and so human and they needed as much help as
they could to really shift the narrative and in an
authentic way. And you know, I joked, I had just
had my first child, so this was a while ago,
(27:50):
but I felt like I missed that first year of
my kid's life, which I don't even mean that in
a terrible way. I mean that in a like passionate way,
because we cared so much about what it was doing,
what we were doing there, and we came ultimately with
this creative platform that we called Unrivaled, which really was
just about the whole experience of Penn State football, playing there,
(28:11):
working there, going there, driving there for a game is
just unrivaled. And so that's still today. That was twelve
years ago, and that's the creative platform that they still
use today for every decision that they make within the organization.
That's it's pretty cool, so it has longevity. The other
one actually is Dollar General where they were you know,
(28:32):
dollar dollar stores in general have a poor reputation and
you know there's some sort of predatory, poor reputation type
of threads out there, and Dollar General was doing some
really meaningful work, not just by going into markets where
no other retailers weren't offering goods and supplies that these
people needed, but literacy programs bringing all kinds of opportunities,
(28:54):
essentially career opportunities, et cetera, to these markets. So they
needed somebody that could help and compus that, and we
worked really closely in partnership at the time with our
parent company person to come up with this platform called
Here for What Matters and again it actually felt authentic.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I think for me personally, it's when we're landing on
these creative expressions that do feel really real and I
feel proud of it as opposed to like, ooh, I'm
saying something that doesn't feel real.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
There's there are there are.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Really good things happening in a lot of these companies,
and I think the more we can find those types
of opportunities, that's the place where I feel purpose around
what it is we're doing as opposed to just get
being a job.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, well that makes sense because I think you and
I can agree that authenticity is lacking these days. You know,
it's just I mean, watch the news, right, I mean,
it's nuts south that the world's on fire. So at
point take it. I'm glad you shared those. Thank you
so much. Before I get some final thoughts from you,
and we're going to give the website and a few
other things. I'd love to talk about leadership.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You've done so.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Many cool things and now you're the leader of a
company and people of color, women are in this company.
You're running the company right now, and while we need
to see more women in these prominent positions, you're leading
in company right now, as your journey's very specific to you,
and I realize that when it comes to leadership, what
does it mean to you?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
How do you execute it?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
So I think first and foremost, I don't know how
to be other than natural.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So truly, I truly feel this way.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
From the time I was fifteen years old and worked
in a retail store, I have just operated honestly and
assumed I would get fired. So every day if I'm
telling you what I think, but I'm wrapping it in
respect and integrity, but I'm just assuming I'm going to
come up against somebody who doesn't like it, and I'm
going to get fired. In a way, that's been very
freeing because it has given me the confidence to sort
(30:55):
of walk into any room and not feel like I
don't belong there, even if I was a twenty one
year old starting out at a PR agency and didn't
know what PR was, or even still today.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So I think part of what I have found to
be really.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
Helpful in my leadership journey is like I just assume
I belong there even if I don't feel it. And
we all have imposter syndrome and vulnerabilities, and am I
good enough and I definitely am not the.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Smartest person in the room.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
But what I really seek to do is kind of
lean into that because what I have also found to
be helpful for me whether I'm presenting. I mean, you know,
I've had the good fortune of spending time with billionaires,
right because some of them are clients and other high
powered people, and I just have to assume they're people too.
And I know that feels like a common adage, but
(31:46):
that's been helpful for me. And then I guess one
of the other principles has been and I'm really getting
good at this given all the change that's occurring all
the time. Is the more I can ride the curve
of change and accept it as normal, I kind of
go with the flow. I mean, I'll give you a true,
real life example. This is absolutely true. A tree fell
(32:07):
on my house last night in the storms. Oh I'm sorry,
and I'm like, well, I guess we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Nobody was hurt.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It happened before everybody was asleep, so we could do
what we could do.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And does it suck? Yes?
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Could I control lightning striking a tree and slamming into
my house? No, So that in a way, I think
has really helped me address and deal with all the
minutia and all the big of what happens in the
business every single day, and ninety eight percent of it
stems from caring about the people. So I feel a
(32:43):
huge sense of responsibility, and I've felt this forever before
I owned this agency. I felt this in every company
I've ever worked for. I feel responsible for my teams.
I feel responsible for the individuals that are bringing their
best every single day. I feel responsible for my clients,
and I think that sort of accountability of doing my
best on a daily basis is the least.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I can do, no matter what my position is.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
It's great words of wisdom, and it also brings up
a couple of things that I've learned over the years too,
Katie that I'm sure you agree that if you listen
more and talk less, that's always a big win.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And I hear that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
From so many leaders, and something I learned in my
business because there's a lot of people, including myself. When
I was young, I was introverted, and somebody gave me
advice a long time ago, just fake it until you
make it, And sometimes you just have to do that.
And I know you're kind of alluding to that. It's
not necessarily leadership, but it's how you integrate yourself into
society so you can feel comfortable in your own skin,
(33:38):
like you talked about when the poop hits the fan,
And that's what being a leader is all about, is
being able to, hey, how do I handle this situation
after something bad has happened?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
How how do I follow up? Now? That's leadership, right.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
I mean, I think the people who I trust, like
right off the bat, are the ones who are vulnerable
about their reality. And I think the good news, at
least for sort of our particular generation, is that it's
kind of cool to be vulnerable. Like. I don't think
it's popular right now for leaders to carry a big
(34:13):
stick and act really bully like because we get we
don't believe you, right, And I think it's it's better
now in this moment to be more relatable. And again,
I think the biggest, one of the biggest things I
try to do, and I try to be really honest
about it, is this is what I think I'm good at.
There is a world of things I think I'm not
(34:33):
good at. So I'm constantly practicing growth mindset? How can
I get better at it? How can I be curious?
How can I absorb more? But I'm also into like
leaning on all the other super smart people in the
room so that I can talk less Like there, I'm
with you. Actually, I think I am an extroverted introvert
where when I'm all on all day, every day, it
(34:55):
drains the.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Life out of me.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
So by the time I get to you know, whatever
Netflix thing at nine PM, I can barely keep my
eyes open. But I understand how that feels for other
people as well, and that sort of has helped me,
is just to understand the nuances that everybody is completely
different and shows up completely different and that's a blessing
more than anything else.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, that's well said. Well, let's do this before we
give the website. And I know people listen to this
series that if you're hiring the best of the best, Katie,
they want to hear about that in your incredible agency.
But let's do this first. I'd love to get some
final thoughts kind of recap what we talked about, So
let's talk about Notorious one to eleven into some final
thoughts from you.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
The floor is yours, yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
I mean, I think what's really exciting about this moment
is we're building something completely new on the heritage of
all the sort of the fabric of the learned experience
that my colleagues and I are bringing to bear. So
my leadership teams me and four other women. The first
thing that we did was hire our global chief creative officer.
I asked him how he felt about working with five women,
(35:58):
and he was thrilled about the prospects. So just building
this sort of super team of smart, cultivated, diverse leaders
and all the other people within the organization has been
a major joy. And to your point, we are absolutely
looking for anybody who was looking for that kind of
career path where it is highly creative, highly strategic, but
(36:20):
also very challenging. Those are our people that we're looking for.
But I think just also I sort of want everybody
to feel like we're bringing our best to work every day.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
And I don't mean that quite literally.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
Again, a treefile on my house last night, So I
may not be my best today, But I mean, are
we actually working towards something that we can all be
really proud of? And can we actually work collectively to
improve our communities? Can we work to improve our teams.
I do really feel a responsibility at this moment to
(36:55):
sort of empower as many men and women to be
able to do that this moment, whatever it is that
we're working towards, I think if we can sort of
link arms into it together, we have a really good
shot of making our world a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
All right, And not to embarrass you, but and I
know agencies have to do this, but some do it better.
Your website is gorgeous and it's easy to navigate. It's beautiful.
I'm sure you're proud of it. Let's give the URL
to everybody in just a little bit about the navigation,
but let's talk about the website very quickly.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Well, thank you, first of all, flowers to all the
people because they are amazing. The website's notorious one eleven
dot com, and you can follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Those are the two places where we're hanging out the most.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
But yeah, I mean, the website really just helps expand
upon our story and we have some real specific ways
that we get to the brand's ethos and the way
we create the world that we love to talk as
much about as possible, and we do it for all
kinds of brands, sports, food, beverage, engines, automotive, hospitality, kind
of you niame it, and we're purposefully diverse in that way.
(38:00):
Believe that we want to work on all kinds of
brands and that makes us better at what we do.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
All right, Well, listen, I've got a lot of takeaways,
but one of the big ones that I have Katie,
going away from our conversation over the last half hour
plus is that you're passionate about what you do and
we get that from all the leaders out there that
are successful.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
So congrats to you.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Continue success to you and your team, and I'm glad
we could feature you on CEOs you should Know.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Thank you, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
Should Know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
M and T Bank preson CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know power by iHeart Media.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Let's be Katie Hooper.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
She is the CEO for Notorious one to eleven, a
marketing and branding agency that provides services including brand building,
integrated campaigns, digital experiences, and content creation. Before we talk
more about Katie's company, I first asked her to talk
a little bit about herself, where she's from, and her
origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I am from Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I grew up in Britamarre, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia
there and I went to school at a small little
college in New England called Trinity College in Hertford, Connecticut.
Graduated with an English major and an Art history minor.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, so this is the fun part.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
And everybody knows that when you go to college or
and you go to post secondary school, you figure out
what you want to do, and there's so many different paths.
As you were kind of finishing up school, what did
you want to do?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, so I had no idea, literally no idea.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Welcome to the club.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm still not sure I.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Know, but I graduated and my focus at college was
to absorb as much as I possibly could.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So I went to a liberal arts school. I was
an athlete.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I played field hockey and lacrosse, you know, established relationships
I still cultivate to this day. Graduated, knew I wanted
to live in Boston, knew very little else, and so
started reaching out to different, you know, people who had
graduated prior. And one of my friends said, Hey, I'm
working at this place. It's a PR agency. It's pretty
cool and they give you corporate cards and I was like, great,
(01:26):
that sounds like a good first.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Step to me.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I don't know what PR is, but let's just give
it a go. So I ended up interviewing throughout that
company and accepted an entry level position.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'll never forget twenty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
I thought I was incredibly wealthy because I was, and
got to the business of learning about the PR agency specifically.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
All right, we're going to be here to talk, of course,
about a notorious one to eleven your company, and there's
so much to talk about. But before we do that,
your resume, especially, there was a thirteen year run where
you were at one place and you've done some incredible things,
So can you talk about that journey? Because I want
to make sure I give context to listeners as you
build up your resume. Sometimes you had a place for
a long time like you were. Sometimes you hop on jobs.
(02:08):
You've been a manager before, you've run companies. You're running
this current company. But talk about that journey as you
let up to you know, starting a notorious one to eleven,
because I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, and again, I think I have always prioritized.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
While I didn't really know.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
What I wanted to do, I did know that I
wanted to constantly grow. I'm driven, I'm hungry, I'm curious,
and so how could I be in a place, get
as much as I could, and then see what sort
of the next opportunity was.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So I was started at the PR Agency.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It was in the high tech industry right when the
high tech bubble was expanding and then quickly burst, and
you know, went through a good learning around when a
category gets really huge and then all of a sudden
it shrinks dramatically. Knew it was a good time to
move on and try something different. I also knew I
wanted to live in New York. There's just something about
the experience of living in New York. For my opinion,
(02:58):
I advise everybody my nieces anybody who I know to
go live in New York and get that on your resume.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I knew I wanted to live in New York.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
I had an opportunity with a nonprofit trade organization specifically
looking to empower and elevate women in the beauty industry,
and that was sort of my first taste of Wow,
there's not a lot of women in leadership positions, but
specifically in a category that primarily, especially back then, really
paid attention to women. Seemed like a place I could
make a difference, so I jumped into marketing and membership.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
There small organization was.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Able to do a lot of things, specifically empowering and
growing younger employees, younger executives to connect with senior level executives.
Learned all about presenting, learned all about by watching some
of these really badass women executives in their category, how
to hold a room, the importance of politics, and also
the importance of being.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yourself in every single conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Ultimately, my goal was to work in retail, and I
had an opportunity to go do that. When Ralph Lauren
launched a brand called Rugby, which was a new brand.
They were launching that was aiming specifically at the college
age student, which was a student that they really weren't
talking to.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I jumped into immediately that.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Exciting work to work under the brand of Ralph Lauren,
but with a new brand, and it was a real scrappy, entrepreneurial,
grassroots kind of vibe. And I got through everything, so
from opening stores, which entailed literally opening packages and merchandising
product all the way up to working to get bands
in the store and hold poker tournaments. And this was
(04:31):
the early days of social media and CRM, and so
understanding the importance of email and all the aspects that
went along with building out a brand really from the
ground up. From there, I was in New York for
five years. I decided that was a good run. It
was time to go to something else, and I moved
home to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Where I thought I would stay.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I had some good opportunities and some other retail opportunities.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I got a call from a headhunter who.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Said, hey, we need an agency person to come for
see the Rita's Italian ice account, which is a quick
service restaurant type of model. And my mom's name is Rita.
So I took that as a sign, that's how much
I thought through these opportunities. I took that job and
the client service side again, kind of a mid size,
little known agency in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and was
(05:19):
able to really own and grow and lead a lot
of accounts that were pretty good accounts in terms of
what I was able to learn, and I had a
lot of I had a lot of power over them,
if you will, so I was able to really own
them and learn them and sort of understand what it
was to work with clients at a high level. So
that was awesome. Met my husband. I live in Annapolis, Maryland.
(05:42):
That's where he's from. I was joking he only leaves
every seventeen years. We call him the Locusts. So I
knew I would not be living in Philadelphia, and I
spent my first year of marriage actually commuting between Annapolis
and the agency.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Knew that wasn't sustainable.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Woman who ran the agency at the time called h
Z which is now notorious one to eleven. She was
looking for somebody with retail and luxury experience, which I
had now had. And they had just landed the Waldorf
account and the Brooks Brothers account, and they had also
recently won the Volkswagen account.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So this was a.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Little you know, started as a two person graphic design
agency that was on the way up and had landed
these three really good accounts, so I was thrilled came
in as an account director. We were about fifty people,
and truly, like the next ten years, we just were
on a rocket ship. So we went from fifty people
we had about two hundred people what felt like in
(06:37):
short order. We were winning and working on amazing work,
and we were truly what was called an integrated creative agency,
which just means if you had you know, if we
had social media again, for example, was just starting. So
we just figured it out and suddenly we had a
fifteen person social media team similar to website design and development.
(06:57):
We figured it out and suddenly we had a fifteen
per team. So it was pretty cool because basically our
approach was we will work with our clients to figure
out whatever their marketing solutions are, and we did it
with a lot of integrity.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
The founders decided to sell the company to WPP, which
you know, I was very much in supportive and a
part of, and that ushered in a whole new phase
where we learned a lot about mergers and acquisitions and
cultures coming together, and we learned a lot about PR
as that was the agency that we were acquired by
was a large PR agency. That agency, Conan Wolf merged
(07:34):
with Burson Marceller right before they bought us, And that
was also its own learning, because when you watched you
agencies come together, our huge agencies and figure it out,
our adorable little creative agency got a little bit lost
in the wash there. But what it did was it
allowed us to remain independent and also whenever our new
parent company needed us, we could jump into that phrase.
(07:56):
So it was sort of the best of both worlds,
if you will. So we did grade along the lines there.
We've developed a really strong muscle around corporate communications, and
I think one of the big things that we learned
was that there's actually a pretty big difference oftentimes between
PR communications focused clients versus brand innovation marketing.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Type of clients.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
And while we all have the same objectives, the PR
comms teams oftentimes are focused on protecting their clients, on
corporate reputation, on improving sort of how people's sentiment.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Is towards those brands and brand innovation marketers.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Oftentimes, while they have core business KPIs and performance metrics
that are driving their success, they also typically understand a
little bit more about the appropriate amount of risk that
goes along with standing out so that you can get
people's attention when you are a sports brand amongst other
sports brands, or if you are Volkswagen amongst other car brands, etc.
(08:57):
So the founders ultimately also launched another business called Dormifi,
which was an e comm home to core business really
focused on college kids.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So they left to focus on that.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
WPP asked if I would step up and lead the
agency HZ along with my two colleagues, my COO and
my chief chief operating Officer and chief client officer, and
we did that over the course of the next two years.
But as you know, anybody who pays attention to this
category in particular knows the holding companies. So the wpps
of the world, you know, they're going through an enormous
(09:31):
amount of change where the model is shaking up a
little bit. There's really a separation of clients who are
looking for holding company type of work versus smaller indie
boutique size agency work, and they just went through an
enormous amount of change. So throughout that process it became
clear that HZ as a part of person probably wasn't
(09:53):
the right fit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And ultimately we got to the task.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Of figuring out how to consciously uncouples the best way
I can think to put it, and this was very
much with the amazing support and collaboration of WPP to
help us figure out ultimately how to take our agency
model and make it more successful. So January eleventh, thus
(10:17):
the one eleven in the name, and we can talk
more about the name and the origins, but January eleventh
of twenty twenty four, myself and my four partners basically decided,
what the hell, let's go for it. Let's figure out
how it is that we can take this company private
and restart essentially, you know, restart a company of at
the time maybe sixty people, and aim it in a
(10:40):
new way that will help us really stand out and differentiate.
So three months later we were able to actually sign
all the papers and acquire the business, and then the
last year and a half have been about the task
of completely repositioning, completely rebuilding, and lots of lessons learned
within there as well.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I can I can tell you no.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
It's a great story, and it's almost a couple months
Shive a year and a half as CEO, and as
you know, and we talk about this in the series
all the time, it's a leap of faith when you
start your own business, no matter what it is, small,
medium or large, what you've done with your partners and
your team. I do want to do this before I
talk about mission and vision and exactly what you do
with your clients. And it's really cool stuff, folks, So
(11:22):
please stay tuned for that. Why don't you talk about
the name because notorious one to eleven to me just
as a person, if I didn't know what you did,
even though I do, it's a cool name.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
What's the origin of it?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, and let me just say this, because we know
we've talked about running your own business helps you advise
our partners, our brand partners, who are going through some
of the same challenges.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
And I say this all the time. Naming is the worst.
So of all the.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Things ad campaigns, website, social media, naming is the worst
because people are emotionally attached yes to notions and words,
and you know, words mean different things.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
We say this all the time. If I say beatles
to you.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You could think of the bug, you could think of
the rock band, you could think of the car.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And so naming is hard. That's number one.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Number two, what we felt we needed to do was
figure out how of the fourteen thousand plus agencies that
exist in this world, how we could stand out.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
How can we begin to add be.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Fourteen thousand and one and in a way that matters,
in a way that differentiates. And we knew that in
order to create that level of visibility we would have
to do a lot of different things, but one of
them was create intrigue and interest through our name. Also,
we find meaning in names, and so really purposefully, what
we are saying with our name Notorious is we want
to work with brands who want to be truly known
(12:41):
for something.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Just like the word notoriety eludes.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
We also kind of like some people read notorious as
you know, naughty, and some people read notorious says why
does it have to be naughty? So we started to
flip that a little bit on its head too, and say,
why couldn't Mother Teresa be notorious for kindness? Or why
can it and mister Rogers be notorious for benevolence or
whatever that might be, and that really hit What I
(13:08):
will say though, is our leadership team was split right
down the middle, and actually half of the team hated
the word notorious and the rest loved it. And ultimately
we were able to just again ask everybody to take
a leap of faith and jump off and sort of
help us support the name notorious because we knew that
(13:30):
it would get people asking questions and the world definitely
did not need another jumble of numbers and letters or
last names or whatever. So we wanted to sort of
say something about our ethos just through the naming itself.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And that's what we have found has been really helpful.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well I love that and it's just well thought out.
And every time I talk to leaders, when you really
well think out, including names of companies, it's important because
you have to own it and also at your brand,
which we're going to talk a lot about. So I'd
like to do this if we could just start to
briefly with the mission and the vision of the company.
What are they?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Yeah, And I mean I think very specifically our mission
is to make radical positive impact, and so part of
the reason why we founded this company was We are
all legacy marketing, mainly agency people, but as I mentioned,
I've been clients side and nonprofit side as well, and
we felt this impetus to leave our campsite a little
(14:26):
nicer than we found it at this point in our career.
So there's this inundation of all this stuff in our
life all the time, advertising, radio, you know, social media,
website scrolling, whatever it is, and a lot of it
is just stuff, is what it felt like. And so
when we started to really coalesce around what we wanted
to do when we got older, the conversation turned to
(14:48):
can we do something that actually not just leaves positive impact,
but leaves radical positive impact in some way. So that
doesn't mean, necessarily, although we would love this to be
the case, all of our clients are nonpropit fits or
are good for the environment, or are you know, solving
the world's larger meta problems.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
But what it does mean is we look for the
radical impact where we can find it.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
So, for example, we do a lot of work with
organizations within Baltimore. If we can start to thread those
types of brands and efforts together, can we collectively help
to sort of rise the tide of Baltimore for lack
of a better description, if we are when we do
have quite a foothold in sports, for example, are we
(15:30):
able to start to change the narrative about how you know?
Major League Baseball necessarily hasn't historically been the most inclusive
over the last several decades. Can we start to do
some work that changes the narrative associated with that?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So we will.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
We can make and do anything as a marketing and
creative agency, but where we're really interested in seeing what's
possible is within this radical positive impact world.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, it's very cool, and you and I both live
in narrative worlds now where sometimes it's true or fault
and sometimes it doesn't matter. So it's always a struggle
for what you and I do with your team. So
I do want to talk about that in just a
little bit. But let's do this. If people are being
introduced for the first time with Notorious one to eleven,
and you were to give a kind of a thirty
thousand foot view and say this is what we do,
what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
I would say, we're a creative brand studio and we
are truly working with brands who want to be known
for something and So what that means is, as you know,
we can make anything websites, social media, ad campaigns, videos,
whatever sort of marketing you need. But where we're great
is we can really help you as a brand, figure
out what you stand for, what is your DNA level,
(16:37):
who you are as your ethos, and then we can
create the entire world that that brand lives within.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So that's really what our specialty is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Katie.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I know you have a team of forty people, and
of course I think you're working with third parties and
your clients. Can you take us through either a day,
a week, or a month of what it's like for
what you do, because I think people hear about in
an advertising agency and they probably think of what they've
seen on television, and you know that might give a
little scope about what they used to do, but it
really is complex because there's so many layers of you
(17:08):
mentioned about broadcast, You've got streaming, TV, radio, social media
goes on and on, and my industry does the same thing.
So as you either search out a client or Sony
comes to you and you say, either we've got a
great idea for you, or we need a great idea
from Katie and their team how does everything work when
they partner up with you.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Yeah, so we pretty much always start with the strategy
side of things, and so what does that mean? What
that means is, for example, we're working with a very
well known professional sports team right now. So if I
said their name, you would know them. You've probably been
the game. But what they don't know. If you were
to ask how would you describe this team, most people
would say their star player, their uniform color, their mascot.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
But they're not saying words with emotion.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
They're not saying words with depth or things that actually resonate.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You know, in a more meaningful way.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
So our job number one is to create that strategic
DNA level footprint, if you will, of what that brand
can actually stand for. And so we go through immersing ourselves,
certainly into the business and the brand itself, and interviewing
all the stakeholders and the customers and all that to
really try to articulate that. But I think what also
(18:15):
makes Notorious different is we are building brands that are
driving the conversation around culture. So culture is another very
buzzy thing right now. Lots of agencies and lots of
brands will say, you know, we want to make sure
we're in culture. For us, what that means is if
we're in a city, pick a city, Detroit, let's just say,
then we become experts within that community. And that doesn't
(18:38):
just mean going out and hanging in the coffee shop.
That means finding the influencers, finding the taste makers, finding
the politicians, even the people who have voices in those communities,
and we immerse ourselves into those types of conversations, both
using tools that we have as well as literally physically
going and having conversations with these influencers within communities. We
(18:59):
need to understand what the environment is that these brands
are trying to operate in so that when we pair
what that brand can stand for, what's their ethos, with
here's what's happening in the background, we can.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Create that world in which they live.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And it's really hard for us to explain it until
you go through it in a way, because that world,
if you will, could be a new name, a new brand,
all the identity work that goes along with the new packaging.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, in the example of for example, we're working
with a.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Brewery called Black Viking Brewery, so they just they needed
all their identity stuff. So that's one thing, but it
could also be content series, TikTok series, in stadium experience,
it could be advertising as a component, but it's not
the only component. So what we really do is explore
(19:53):
the entire world. We might even say, if this sports
team opened a hotel, what would that hotel look like,
and feel like, we.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Don't ever think they're going to do it.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
But that's how we pressure test sort of the boundaries
of a really strong brand proposition is we make sure
we can see all the different ways that this brand
could really come to life.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So that is much more.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Cut through, if you will, then if we just came
and said we're going to do a social media campaign,
we're going to do an advertising campaign, because we can
tell any story. But the work that really disrupts is
when you do that brand strategy work to begin with,
and then you can tune it into anything.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, And there's obviously different different levels of what brands
and companies want. Something that's fascinated me and I've had
it behind the scenes look at for many years, and
I'd love to hear how it affects you and your
team as you work with your clients and brands out there. Obviously,
when let's just say a sports team hires you, they're
hiring you because you are another set of eyes ears
in the industry and might have something fresh that they don't.
(20:53):
But you're also working with a brand that thinks they
really know their brand really well. So when you come
to the table with your right is do you have
a plan, A, B and C. And how do you
convince somebody that thinks they know their brand that hey,
I actually have a good idea for you that.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You maybe you haven't thought about. How does that work?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
It's a great question, and honestly, part of the evolution
of this last year has been finding the kinds of
partners that are great for notorious right.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So it has to be a relationship. I think that's
number one.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
We are not I don't think our industry is well
served when we talk about vendors and clients because it
sort of automatically insinuates some sort of imbalance and power there,
which is not where the best, most vulnerable work gets done.
So the first thing is we are who we are
from pitch all the way through, and what we say
is there's no surprises in our game. So what that
means is when we have, for example, if we're working
(21:43):
on a new identity, which means like logo, name all
the things that go along with that. We will not
go away for six weeks and come back and present
three options and the client has no idea what it
is that we're doing.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
We'll check in with them along the way.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
And we'll give them sneak previews, and we'll make sure
we're align at each sort of step of the road
because we want them to feel as much a part
of the build of whatever it is we're doing as
we do. So I think that's really important because we
want to make sure that when we understand whether or
not they say they know brand, or whether or not
(22:17):
they really do say they know, or they whether or.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Not they really do.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Rather, we're cool either way, because we have partners who are.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like, look, I don't know anything about this.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I trust you guys, but like, I have a perspective
as a stakeholder within the organization, so bring me along.
Those are relatively easier, quite frankly, to work with, to
your point, because they're willing to know what they know,
and they're willing to know what they don't know, and
they're looking to surround themselves with partners who are experts
to sort of shore up the things that they're not
(22:47):
great at. So that's really sort of how it is
that we typically go about it is we we work
with our clients in the best way that they're comfortable
and as much as they want to be involved, but
I find the best work with the most integrity has
them tracking with us all the way throughout. The other
thing I'll say quickly is research can be incredibly helpful.
(23:11):
So there's a world of opportunity there, and it just
depends on how much you need that as a brand
to sort of reinforce the creative ideas or the direction
you're heading.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
But there's so many ways for us.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
To build credibility within the communities we're targeting by saying, hey,
we did put these three things into market and this
is what we learned about this and this is the
one we're going to go with, and that can certainly
help create some confidence there too.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Outstanding, and Katie, you've also alluded that there are thousands
of agencies out there, and I imagine you know, you
kind of talked about differentiating yourself and what you do
with your team. With that said what other kind of
challenges are in today's climate for your industry right now
that you know you're working on hopefully you'll solve, But
they are presenting themselves right now to you.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I mean, the constant of change impacts all of us.
Right You wake up any morning and there's a tariff,
there's not a tariff, there is a flash flood.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
There's not a flash flood like you sort of have to.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
We're living in this moment where everything changes all the time,
and that markets don't like that, so we are in
a moment of uncertainty, and that's just a category challenge
in general. I feel really fortunate, I'm knocking on wood
that we chose the right moment to decouple from the
holding company environment, in particular because where we are building
(24:31):
our model is small and nimble, but we keep saying
we're the like less creepy version of I Got a guy.
Because what we have is an enormous, notorious network of freelancers,
of contract workers, of super skilled individuals who always want
to be freelanced first and foremost. And that enables us
to keep our core team really small and efficient, and
(24:53):
it enables us to call on all the talented people
out there as much or as little as we need to.
I think that's helping us because that's a that is
one of the challenges in our category in general, is
as agencies you kind of ride the highs.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
And loads of your clients.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
You're either you want an account and so you higher up,
or you lose an account and you have.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
To let people go.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And that's just relentlessly exhausting for all the humans that
work in our category.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
So we're working to overcome that as well. And then
I think just the notion.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Of often sales and marketing budgets can be cut pretty
quickly when you know numbers are down, and just this
constantness of specifically publicly traded companies are held to a
growth standard on a quarterly basis. So you I think
for us, we sort of have decidedly work to aim
a little bit more in the disruptor category of companies
(25:46):
where either they are founder led or founder informed, you know,
think five hundred million to a billion dollars in revenue,
where they typically are still privately held and are growing
towards something. That's a place where we can really have
a lot of success in partnering with the founders so
I guess also just being really deliberate about the types
of businesses that we think are the best fit for
(26:06):
us helps a bit to inoculate us from the uncertainty
of the constant change of the marketplace.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Okay, here's one of my favorite questions. And I love
this and I'd love to hear a story if you
have one for us, and I'm sure you do. But
I always ask people about you know, this is why
we get up story, and this is why we do
what we do. And you work with so many different brands,
and you don't have to mention the exact client if
you want to mention the category, but is there something
special that happened where you and your team made a
difference and really knocked it out of the park, And
(26:33):
you say to yourself, this is why we get up
every day. We made a difference for this client. Can
you share something with us?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, I mean two come to mind.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
One was a long time ago, but I think for
many people will be certainly memorable is we were hired
by Penn State Football right after all the terribleness of
what they went through with the scandal, and that was
a real low point for a program that had a
lot of pride, right, and all the people that were
involved in the horribleness of it obviously or were not
there any longer. But the people who had picked up
(27:02):
the pieces were quite literally being threatened for their lives
on a bili basis. I mean, I will never forget
the athletic director who stepped in, who was a doctor.
He was an orthopedic surgeon, who raised his hand and volunteered.
He told me that he had a sleep every night
with a gun under his bed because he was under
so much constant threat. In comes this little branding agency,
this little marketing agency that was asked to help people
(27:27):
care again about football, which at the time didn't really
seem very important. But I think what was meaningful to
us about that process was that team was so earnest
and so human and they needed as much help as
they could to really shift the narrative and in an
authentic way. And you know, I joked, I had just
had my first child, so this was a while ago,
(27:50):
but I felt like I missed that first year of
my kid's life, which I don't even mean that in
a terrible way. I mean that in a like passionate way,
because we cared so much about what it was doing,
what we were doing there, and we came ultimately with
this creative platform that we called Unrivaled, which really was
just about the whole experience of Penn State football, playing there,
(28:11):
working there, going there, driving there for a game is
just unrivaled. And so that's still today. That was twelve
years ago, and that's the creative platform that they still
use today for every decision that they make within the organization.
That's it's pretty cool, so it has longevity. The other
one actually is Dollar General where they were you know,
(28:32):
dollar dollar stores in general have a poor reputation and
you know there's some sort of predatory, poor reputation type
of threads out there, and Dollar General was doing some
really meaningful work, not just by going into markets where
no other retailers weren't offering goods and supplies that these
people needed, but literacy programs bringing all kinds of opportunities,
(28:54):
essentially career opportunities, et cetera, to these markets. So they
needed somebody that could help and compus that, and we
worked really closely in partnership at the time with our
parent company person to come up with this platform called
Here for What Matters and again it actually felt authentic.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I think for me personally, it's when we're landing on
these creative expressions that do feel really real and I
feel proud of it as opposed to like, ooh, I'm
saying something that doesn't feel real.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
There's there are there are.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Really good things happening in a lot of these companies,
and I think the more we can find those types
of opportunities, that's the place where I feel purpose around
what it is we're doing as opposed to just get
being a job.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, well that makes sense because I think you and
I can agree that authenticity is lacking these days. You know,
it's just I mean, watch the news, right, I mean,
it's nuts south that the world's on fire. So at
point take it. I'm glad you shared those. Thank you
so much. Before I get some final thoughts from you,
and we're going to give the website and a few
other things. I'd love to talk about leadership.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You've done so.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Many cool things and now you're the leader of a
company and people of color, women are in this company.
You're running the company right now, and while we need
to see more women in these prominent positions, you're leading
in company right now, as your journey's very specific to you,
and I realize that when it comes to leadership, what
does it mean to you?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
How do you execute it?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
So I think first and foremost, I don't know how
to be other than natural.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So truly, I truly feel this way.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
From the time I was fifteen years old and worked
in a retail store, I have just operated honestly and
assumed I would get fired. So every day if I'm
telling you what I think, but I'm wrapping it in
respect and integrity, but I'm just assuming I'm going to
come up against somebody who doesn't like it, and I'm
going to get fired. In a way, that's been very
freeing because it has given me the confidence to sort
(30:55):
of walk into any room and not feel like I
don't belong there, even if I was a twenty one
year old starting out at a PR agency and didn't
know what PR was, or even still today.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So I think part of what I have found to
be really.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
Helpful in my leadership journey is like I just assume
I belong there even if I don't feel it. And
we all have imposter syndrome and vulnerabilities, and am I
good enough and I definitely am not the.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Smartest person in the room.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
But what I really seek to do is kind of
lean into that because what I have also found to
be helpful for me whether I'm presenting. I mean, you know,
I've had the good fortune of spending time with billionaires,
right because some of them are clients and other high
powered people, and I just have to assume they're people too.
And I know that feels like a common adage, but
(31:46):
that's been helpful for me. And then I guess one
of the other principles has been and I'm really getting
good at this given all the change that's occurring all
the time. Is the more I can ride the curve
of change and accept it as normal, I kind of
go with the flow. I mean, I'll give you a true,
real life example. This is absolutely true. A tree fell
(32:07):
on my house last night in the storms. Oh I'm sorry,
and I'm like, well, I guess we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Nobody was hurt.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It happened before everybody was asleep, so we could do
what we could do.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And does it suck? Yes?
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Could I control lightning striking a tree and slamming into
my house? No, So that in a way, I think
has really helped me address and deal with all the
minutia and all the big of what happens in the
business every single day, and ninety eight percent of it
stems from caring about the people. So I feel a
(32:43):
huge sense of responsibility, and I've felt this forever before
I owned this agency. I felt this in every company
I've ever worked for. I feel responsible for my teams.
I feel responsible for the individuals that are bringing their
best every single day. I feel responsible for my clients,
and I think that sort of accountability of doing my
best on a daily basis is the least.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I can do, no matter what my position is.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
It's great words of wisdom, and it also brings up
a couple of things that I've learned over the years too,
Katie that I'm sure you agree that if you listen
more and talk less, that's always a big win.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And I hear that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
From so many leaders, and something I learned in my
business because there's a lot of people, including myself. When
I was young, I was introverted, and somebody gave me
advice a long time ago, just fake it until you
make it, And sometimes you just have to do that.
And I know you're kind of alluding to that. It's
not necessarily leadership, but it's how you integrate yourself into
society so you can feel comfortable in your own skin,
(33:38):
like you talked about when the poop hits the fan,
And that's what being a leader is all about, is
being able to, hey, how do I handle this situation
after something bad has happened?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
How how do I follow up? Now? That's leadership, right.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
I mean, I think the people who I trust, like
right off the bat, are the ones who are vulnerable
about their reality. And I think the good news, at
least for sort of our particular generation, is that it's
kind of cool to be vulnerable. Like. I don't think
it's popular right now for leaders to carry a big
(34:13):
stick and act really bully like because we get we
don't believe you, right, And I think it's it's better
now in this moment to be more relatable. And again,
I think the biggest, one of the biggest things I
try to do, and I try to be really honest
about it, is this is what I think I'm good at.
There is a world of things I think I'm not
(34:33):
good at. So I'm constantly practicing growth mindset? How can
I get better at it? How can I be curious?
How can I absorb more? But I'm also into like
leaning on all the other super smart people in the
room so that I can talk less Like there, I'm
with you. Actually, I think I am an extroverted introvert
where when I'm all on all day, every day, it
(34:55):
drains the.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Life out of me.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
So by the time I get to you know, whatever
Netflix thing at nine PM, I can barely keep my
eyes open. But I understand how that feels for other
people as well, and that sort of has helped me,
is just to understand the nuances that everybody is completely
different and shows up completely different and that's a blessing
more than anything else.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, that's well said. Well, let's do this before we
give the website. And I know people listen to this
series that if you're hiring the best of the best, Katie,
they want to hear about that in your incredible agency.
But let's do this first. I'd love to get some
final thoughts kind of recap what we talked about, So
let's talk about Notorious one to eleven into some final
thoughts from you.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
The floor is yours, yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
I mean, I think what's really exciting about this moment
is we're building something completely new on the heritage of
all the sort of the fabric of the learned experience
that my colleagues and I are bringing to bear. So
my leadership teams me and four other women. The first
thing that we did was hire our global chief creative officer.
I asked him how he felt about working with five women,
(35:58):
and he was thrilled about the prospects. So just building
this sort of super team of smart, cultivated, diverse leaders
and all the other people within the organization has been
a major joy. And to your point, we are absolutely
looking for anybody who was looking for that kind of
career path where it is highly creative, highly strategic, but
(36:20):
also very challenging. Those are our people that we're looking for.
But I think just also I sort of want everybody
to feel like we're bringing our best to work every day.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
And I don't mean that quite literally.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
Again, a treefile on my house last night, So I
may not be my best today, But I mean, are
we actually working towards something that we can all be
really proud of? And can we actually work collectively to
improve our communities? Can we work to improve our teams.
I do really feel a responsibility at this moment to
(36:55):
sort of empower as many men and women to be
able to do that this moment, whatever it is that
we're working towards, I think if we can sort of
link arms into it together, we have a really good
shot of making our world a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
All right, And not to embarrass you, but and I
know agencies have to do this, but some do it better.
Your website is gorgeous and it's easy to navigate. It's beautiful.
I'm sure you're proud of it. Let's give the URL
to everybody in just a little bit about the navigation,
but let's talk about the website very quickly.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Well, thank you, first of all, flowers to all the
people because they are amazing. The website's notorious one eleven
dot com, and you can follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Those are the two places where we're hanging out the most.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
But yeah, I mean, the website really just helps expand
upon our story and we have some real specific ways
that we get to the brand's ethos and the way
we create the world that we love to talk as
much about as possible, and we do it for all
kinds of brands, sports, food, beverage, engines, automotive, hospitality, kind
of you niame it, and we're purposefully diverse in that way.
(38:00):
Believe that we want to work on all kinds of
brands and that makes us better at what we do.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
All right, Well, listen, I've got a lot of takeaways,
but one of the big ones that I have Katie,
going away from our conversation over the last half hour
plus is that you're passionate about what you do and
we get that from all the leaders out there that
are successful.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
So congrats to you.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Continue success to you and your team, and I'm glad
we could feature you on CEOs you should Know.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Thank you, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
Should Know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
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