Drew Scott (00:00): Again, this may sound bad. And some people don’t like to hear it, but at the end of the day, hard work doesn’t mean everything because it’s are you producing results and are those results goal oriented? And are they gonna, are they gonna grow? Yeah, because at, at the end of the day, everyone should work hard. That shouldn’t be a characteristic or a trait that sets you apart from somebody else. And athletes, a lot of athletes are there to produce results just because you work the hardest doesn’t mean you’re gonna be the best, whatever. That’s just the reality of it. So when you translate that into a career, you understand that you have to find a way to be better than the next person or do something better than you, as you did the day before. And that’s a trait that is very, very hard to teach.

Creatitive (00:51): Hey, everyone, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of the brand power analysis today. We have Drew Scott, why don’t you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

Drew Scott (01:00): Yeah, well, I said, thanks for having me. I really appreciate, you taking the time to talk. So I’m originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and then kind of from there, really didn’t know what I wanted to do but had an opportunity to play football at K state, uh, was a long snapper at K state. And it was kind of crazy because I never thought that, uh, long snapping was really a recruitable position. <laugh> uh, cause I was gonna play baseball and I thought that’s what I wanted to do. But then kind of accidentally went to, uh, special teams camp. I thought it was gonna be more of a how-to, so I kind of refined some skills before the season, but then ended up getting recruited, tried to play in college, but they said pick one sport. So <laugh> ended up picking football and then kind of from there, uh, bounced around with NFL teams and have kind of been in and outta the NFL for the last three years now. So, but yeah, it’s been going well.

Creatitive (02:01): That’s great. Why don’t you, why don’t talk to me a little bit about, I mean, we don’t need to get into the nitty gritty of, you know, team corporate stuff, but why don’t you, uh, give me a little bit of, uh, feel for how, how it was on the, on the field, how it was, uh, playing with other teammates and, and that transition you felt at, as you kind of went through from college to that transition period from college to the NFL.

Drew’s Journey

Drew Scott (02:29): Yeah. So honestly didn’t really know if I was gonna play football after college or not. really what kind of catapult did that was, had the opportunity to play in the east-west shrine game after college? So east-west shrine game is just kind of like an All-Star. Game’s just like the senior bowl, uh, down in St. Pete. Uh, it’s put out by the Shriners hospital, which is just an awesome game. You to go see the Shriners hospital down in St. Pete, which was, really, really cool. Cause you get to see, what they’re doing, but then kind of, so after that played well in that had a few teams look at me and then, ended up going to the Raiders. But so as far as kind of to your question about that transition, it, it was really cool because just being competitive and trying to prepare, it really takes the next level of preparation because I mean, when you’re in college, especially being a long snapper, you don’t have people scouting and preparing for you in practice.

Drew Scott (03:30): So that was just a whole nother element because I mean, special teams that’s people’s job. So, I mean, I had my own teammates preparing for practice the way they prepare for a game. And so that was really cool just because my favorite thing about the NFL was just how competitive it was and you’re going against truly the best people in the world every single day. So you have to take our approach that, I mean, you can get cut tomorrow or if you get hurt, I mean, it’s, you never really what’s gonna happen. So that for me was probably my favorite part. And plus you just gotta be around a diverse group of people that just are incredible. So you get to, I mean really explore and pick people’s brains that you would never have access to, outside of football. So that, that level of in the locker room that you get to meet people on a personal level that are in this public, this public light, and then you gotta learn them personal and really what drives them. So that was really cool. Cuz you get to take bits and pieces from these pros that have been doing it for X amount of years and try to incorporate that into your game or just your personal life. And you really learn how to, if it’s, again, if it’s football or if it’s just life in general, you gotta learn how to create the best version of yourself from watching and taking little things from other people.

Creatitive (05:04): That’s fascinating. I mean, I think, uh, we kind of chatted a little bit yesterday on the, on, on, on that a little bit. And I think that we started raining about social media a little bit. And uh, how do you feel like the impact from you as an athlete on, you know, let’s say social media or online is different than, or the same as the locker room.

Drew Scott (05:34): So I guess so I, when we’re talking about like college, especially, so that was like the one thing I was kind of in the process, like I kind of saw all of that grow, like the social media growth when I was in, from high school into college. Cuz like when I was in high school, I didn’t have Facebook or Instagram or any of those things. so it’s cool because you see these people establishing their brands almost in high school now and to get recruited, you kind of have to have social media now. And so I think it’s very interesting because social media has given people a platform to show really what they care about and you get that personal side and then you get a from in the locker room, you really get a deeper understanding of why they’re doing it. Or if it’s, if it’s monetizing their benefit, with a company or if it’s something they just really care about.

Drew Scott (06:34): So you gotta learn more and more by talking of the player. But I think it’s really cool cuz social media, especially with your really genuine people, their social media platforms are really a direct correlation to who they are. And it’s cool to see like these people that are really utilizing it in a, in a great way and they’re showing more of their personality because you really don’t get to see some, especially under a helmet. some of the people I’ve to list listened to podcasts and seen movies, especially football. You don’t get to see personality as much, cuz you’re under a helmet. You don’t really get to see what they look like. Whereas basketball, they don’t have a helmet and in baseball, you don’t have a helmet. So like you really get to see their, their character through emotion and all that stuff. Whereas football, it’s really kind of dictator around the play, but now social media is opening up.

Drew Scott (07:28): Hey, we really gotta see what this person’s all about. And so I think that’s really important because you’re getting brands to have access to these foods now where if their visions align and, their core values align, you can really get involved. And you now you with social media, I mean you can DM anybody you want <laugh> and you can, you can pick their brain if mean obviously if they respond or not. But I think that just provides a level of, I don’t even know how to it’s just so cool to see how brands and athletes have been able to interact, with everything going on.

Creatitive (08:09): Yeah. I think you brought up an important point there. I think, I think when you brought up the, if the brands and the athlete’s values, uh, align, and I know we kind of talked about this in the past, uh, when, how do I explain it aligning, uh, the values of an athlete? Can you explain that? How, what you meet, what you, what you, your part to your, your precipitation to that is? Because I think that, a lot of athletes may not understand what that means, in general.

Your Passions Outside the Game

Drew Scott (08:52): So if you have really something that you care about and you’re passionate about, you can have a direct benefit potentially with a brand or a company because when you care about something and a brand or a company cares about something, you can, there’s a chance to cross-sell one, your brand and your platform with theirs. And I think that’s really what the coolest part is because you get this opportunity to help promote each other. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and that’s really the most important thing that you get from the social media element is there are two promotions going on. Yeah, one, the brand is getting promoted by the player, but when the brand does it, they’re also promoting the player and in more of just like a domino effect, then you get more, you get more light shown on the sport, the school, and that it just kind of trickles down to, Hey, this player was really interesting. He goes to a cool school. I really like their football program or baseball or basketball rowing, whatever it is is doing. And then that opens up more and more, oh, let me take a, a deeper look into what this school is doing. And then you find other people that you like on, on that respective team. And so I think that’s the cool part because there’s so much continuity involved and you can have so much, there’s so much connection going on.

Creatitive (10:24): Yeah, no, I agree. And I think it allows athletes to follow their additional passions outside the game. And I’ll use this as an example, we, we recently did an audit for, uh, uh, a wide receiver and he was very, very big into photography and he had, you know, lots of, you know, passion shots. He was trying to figure out what he was gonna do outside the game. And when we kind of did our audit for him on social media and found, found out who his, his fan base was, we saw those were his most engaging posts. So we, you were able to align, Hey, these are the kind, this is the direction that you love to do. This is the kind of direction that you should go with your copy with your visuals, with the kind of content you’re posting. But then we were able to explain to him that, Hey, now you have an opportunity to reach, reach the company that is in that same, have that same fan base. Very similar to what you said, where it’s like, oh, now he could possibly do a joint partnership with Kodak or with a

Drew Scott (11:29): That’s that wholesome content because that wholesome content is really that genuine wholesome. And you can tell, I mean the transparency, oh yeah, you can, you can just tell when somebody cares or doesn’t care if it’s just, they’re monetizing their, their social media for something, and they’re just throwing a post up to throw a post up. Or if it’s something that they’re truly passionate about, that you can’t really replicate that. And I think that it’s from someone from a fan’s engagement, you can tell, and it’s just it’s so obvious.

Creatitive (12:03): Yeah. I think a lot of athletes and we do a couple webinars for, uh, some, NFL organizations and we kind of help talk to the athletes about, about this particular thing, cuz so many of them don’t, understand the difference between like, because they don’t go through the same pain points as, as business, as business owners do when they learn certain things. And so they’re like, oh, I need an affiliate link here. I need to do a link here. I’m doing a link to make $3 dollars here, $4 here. And I explained to them, I’m like, Hey, you have so much potential. Let’s just find your passion in what you’re doing with your business. And those, the clients and the fans will come. You just can’t be forceful too many, people these days understand marketing enough and get sold to enough that they understand the difference between, Hey, this is, uh, you know,

Drew Scott (12:56): I think, yeah, getting sold is probably the key word you said there. Yeah. Because I feel like everyone’s, I mean, no matter what you’re doing, you’re always selling something. If it’s a product, a service, or yourself. Yeah. But it doesn’t feel as genuine if you’re always, someone’s always selling you mm-hmm <affirmative> and then so you really have to find the people you trust. So I think that’s key. it was for me, I think the other cool thing about this bringing social media thing is you have access to so much more. So like, one thing I did in college was I was really big into networking and trying to meet as many important people or successful people is just so I could either try to ripple, okay, what they did or take tidbits of, Hey, they did this in their life. How did they get there?

Drew Scott (13:41): How did they get to that point? So one thing that I did, and I think that was one thing that probably doesn’t get taught as much. And I wish I had somebody to help me expedite that process cuz I had to do it on my own. So I created this little manual or little book of interviews in college. I called it swim for, some success, wears a mask because I truly believed that. I mean, there is no definition of sex success because you never know who sees someone else’s success. It does not have to have whoever with the biggest bank account. Doesn’t always mean that they’re successful cuz they have other things going on in their life or whatever. So I tried to go to people who, I mean, it could be a janitor, it could be a CEO of a company. It was whoever I felt was successful.

Drew Scott (14:27): So I would have these interviews and I said, I never showed anybody or released them, but it was, it was cool because I got to the point where was asking, not like, do you wake up at 5, 5, 5 am in the morning? Because like there’s not every successful person has the same path. So I was trying to figure out what types of situations that they put them in to get to the point or what were they reading that kind of opened up their mind to different things or were they getting internships? Are they a part of certain groups? So it really tried to help me deep in deep thinking just because it was cool because I could take different things that they did in their life or Hey, they would. And usually, you’d get to some people and they’d say, Hey, this is something that I did that I thought other, cause I saw other people doing it, but it did not help me. And so I could take those parts of their life and then incorporate them into my own. And it, they were always usually willing to introduce me to other people because it, there was no, I wasn’t getting anything from it. And they, I wasn’t trying to get anything from them by asking for a job or anything. I just wanted to connect with them on a deeper basis to learn more about them. And usually, people appreciate that. Yeah. So that was, that was really helpful to me.

Creatitive (15:47): So what do you feel as you, why don’t we start off? Why don’t we start off this way? What are you, what are you kind of doing now? Like, are you still, are you still playing or are you, you had, are you working on the side?

Training Camp Lessons

Drew Scott (16:01): Yeah, so, I actually just got a training camp with the chiefs. one of their snappers had COVID so, I have a pretty good relationship with some people within the chiefs, you and also, I had used to work out with their punter kicker and also their long snapper. So had that relationship. so he had COVID so he was out for seven to 10 days. So I came in and it was good cuz I got on a transaction report and it just got me back out in the field. But outside of that, right now I’m working for a buy-side investment banking firm. So we are helping companies on the buy side, so we have capital partners that are looking to buy companies for Aline acquisitions or just whatever. And so we’re helping source and helping these other C align with, our capital partners.

Drew Scott (16:57): So then one, one company buys another and so it’s, it’s really private equity and strategic strategic acquisition. So yeah, it’s, it’s a lot of fun. you learn a lot about companies and it’s the deal side is very, very interesting because before that I was helping and out, on the operations and business development side of, uh, of a, just a investment advisory firm and he was a portfolio manager, called Curtland Hills capital. And they just have some awesome things going because he has a, professional athlete, uh, division. And it’s really cool because he saw that all these athletes there was a financial literacy just gap. So that was one thing that I was very passionate about in school and outta school financial literacy and educating yourself on what, you need to do with your money, where you need to put it, how what’s your risk levels.

Drew Scott (17:59): Are you tolerant to risk? Are you not? those types of things. So it’s really cool to see their process and really helping athletes, develop income because I think that’s the hardest thing for people to realize, especially athletes is there is gonna come a day when you, you can’t play anymore. And that paycheck stops mm-hmm <affirmative>. So when that paycheck stops, where what’s your income source, now you, you have none. So when you can develop a portfolio <affirmative> that has dividend income, you now have a second income source coming in and you can live off of that. So it’s not necessarily budgeting, uh, not big on budgeting, but how much money can you need to make to uphold your current lifestyle? Cause that’s, what’s important because it’s, it’s hard to tell someone, especially when they’re making the millions of dollars, Hey, you need to put this amount, this amount of money away.

Drew Scott (18:53): Yeah. So can you uphold your current lifestyle? That’s you’re living by creating a path of income. So that was huge. And then soon as you create those, those different buckets and you have passive income coming in, then that opens up a whole nother realm of private investment opportunities. And you could look into investing into companies and be part of them if you can get sweat equity or whatever. So that was something that I was really passionate about and still pursuing. So it’s, it’s really cool. And one of the projects I have, right now actually it’s called athlete Intel. Dante Whitner, his name he’s a three time pro bowler, playing the year 11, uh, the league 11 years. And I’m working with a few other people right now on it and it’s gonna be an athlete development from high school to college, to pro to retirement.

Life Stages

Drew Scott (19:48): So within all stages, so it’s coaching by based, it’s on-field and we’re gonna have, a learning management system that a high school or college, a pro player is able to go in and receive coaching from these pro athletes. And so that’s really cool because I would consider that pretty much industry groundbreaking, because I feel like there’s not a lot of access to some of these pro players mm-hmm <affirmative> and that are willing to really, Hey, you need to work on this, let’s break down your film. Or if I’m a professional player moving on to retirement, oh, I’d like to go into media, we have a media coach. So that stuff is really, really fun and really cool. and then eventually, obviously <affirmative>, to get college kids involved just so they can monetize their benefit. Uh, and then another thing I’m involved with right now, actually, it’s called the legacy league.

Drew Scott (20:41): And if, if you’re, uh, uh, familiar with NFTs, it’s providing the exchange for, college athletes right now that are trying to monetize, their name, image, and likeness and the legacy league are going to provide the platform and you don’t pay anything. So they’re gonna create the NFT for you and they’re gonna show you how to market it, go through valuation analytics and all these different things, which is really cool because you’re learning how to run yourself like a business mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I feel like that’s one thing that athletes don’t really get the opportunity to do because when I was in college, I mean, let’s be honest that sport is your full-time job. You work more than 40 hours a week and that is what you have to do. So I knew I had had to really try to separate myself was how was I going to find experience while I was in college and playing so dunno how I did it, but I ended up getting two internships and three jobs when I was in college.

Drew Scott (21:39): So, and really trying to find out what you wanted to do because you don’t know. And when you’re competing with these other students who have had time to get internships during the summer and work during the year, that’s really, really important because they’re gonna have the leg up on some of these athletes because they have no, they have no experience in experience. Trump’s all. And a lot of things, not always, but until you can show how much value you add. And a lot of people wanna hire athletes because they work hard. They have time management skills and they’re great in teams. And I mean, obviously, the list goes on and on but trying to find a way to show that you understand whatever it is you want to do, especially in business or whatever it is, you need to try to find something that is relevant to have relevant experience.

Drew Scott (22:39): So I think that’s what this is gonna really do because you essentially gonna run yourself like a business. It’s the, it’s the, was the Dion Sanders that said I’m not a business, I’m a businessman. so I think that’s really cool cuz you can almost put that on your resume now. Hey look at all these things that I was part of and I helped revenue go from this to this and you can start learning those things and you learn these metrics and you learn industry terms and that’s, what’s really gonna help set you apart of any other candidate in a job. Or if you wanna start your own business because there’s so many other things that go into running a business or being a great employee that you just don’t get to learn while you’re in school.

Creatitive (23:24): You don’t. And I think that there are some well, and we’ll touch this on a, up on this on a, but there are some things I think from you guys playing the game that, that actually transition over to helping athletes become good business owners and bad things too. But, but I, I, I really wanna push because we can geek out on this a little bit. Cause I think my biggest message that I’m always trying to relate to athletes is yes, there’s nothing wrong with going in and investing in another company. Of course, you need to watch out. Cause a lot of these companies will have to take followers or they’re just looking for an investment and they’re, I mean nine, you know, 90% of businesses fail. So that’s probably part of your job with the risk assessment and what you’re doing with these, with these businesses.

Creatitive (24:10): And athletes need to understand that too. Like when you’re going to invest in a company like you need to make remember, and that most of these will fail. And so you have to understand of, they have to get, get kind of an understanding of, Hey, would you do that? Or do you want sweat equity to the point where maybe you’re just building, not putting sweat equity into another business, but maybe you’re building your own business around what you like and what you like to do. And I don’t know how many times you’ve seen it with what you do, but uh, and even from the financial standpoint, is that I think it also gives athletes purpose outside the game and it helps them find an additional source of passion that also becomes their, their in their, their influential direction when they leave the game. But it’s also something that they can build off of a lot, like playing in the game when you’re sorry, one second.

Drew Scott (25:05): No problem. Fire alarms are going off. Sorry about that. No problem.

Creatitive (25:11): Are we good? Yep. We’re good. Okay. but yeah, like I feel like, uh, that passion, you feel like you feel when you do a good job in a game or when you do a good job and how you got all the way to where you did that gratification and that passion for yourself that you get. It’s the same thing in business. I, I feel that same gratification as my business grows or I take that next step or, you know, I’m learning from a failure and I feel like athletes and this kind of leads on to my next question is, and you kind of mentioned it a little bit, but why do you think athletes make such great business owners?

Drew Scott (25:51): I think, the reason, so kind of what you hit on is, that one of my favorite quotes of old time is from Winston Churchill. And it’s true. Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm and failure isn’t unless it’s final. So that’s what athletes do better than anyone else. Or I shouldn’t say anyone, but a lot of people is you fail all the time like baseball, if you fail 70% of the time, you might be a whole of Famer. Yeah. Like that’s, that’s the reality of it. So taking the approach of, Hey, this didn’t work, what do I need to do better? I need to pivot or do I need to stay on this path? And so I think that that drive and determination, but also have a problem-solving skill and a complex thinking skill that you utilize every single day, because when you’re breaking down film or your training, or you’re doing whatever it is to get better, at some point, you’re trying to get better every single day.

Daily Motivation

Drew Scott (26:53): So you’re, you’re finding a different way to do something better every single day. And I think that some people that skills not, not always there because they haven’t had to do it on a day to day basis. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so, and then it’s producing results. I’m a huge believer in the, again, this may sound bad and some people don’t like to hear it, but at the end of the day, hard work doesn’t mean everything because it’s are you producing results and are those results goal-oriented and are they gonna, are they gonna grow? Yeah, because, at the end of the day, everyone should work hard that shouldn’t be a characteristic or a trait that sets you apart from somebody else. And athletes, a lot of athletes are there to produce results just because you work the hardest doesn’t mean you’re gonna be the best, whatever. That’s just the reality of it. So when you translate that into a career, you understand that you have to find a way to be better than the next person or do something better than you did the day before. And that’s a trait that is very, very hard to teach.

Creatitive (27:58): And I think, and I honestly think that you nailed two. You, you nailed my next track of questions too, which is what are the strong struggles? Because I think that, I think that, you know, as an athlete, what makes you separate you apart and what you’ve learned, it’s a positive. When you, when you said, Hey, you work hard, you work hard and you work hard. And, but as you also said, you, you need to work smarter, not harder. So I see a lot of, I see a lot of athletes opening like eight businesses or trying to do 80 different things at once and thinking, oh, I’m working harder. But when it’s really like, Hey, no, like you need to focus on this one, one, maybe two things right now. Yes. Diversify assets, you, there’s nothing wrong. You hear it all the time, diversify you this as, but the other ones come over time. You need to start with one and you need to it to a point where you can kind of.

Drew Scott (28:47): You know, be the best at one or two things. Yeah. Really one thing. But nobody is the best at everything. Yeah. That’s just the reality. Yeah. So it’s like, Amazon is a great story because Amazon was an online book, book seller like they sold books on the internet. They didn’t start with selling the world. Yeah. They, they, they started with one thing and they were the best at it. Then they grew and then they grew. And it’s, it’s the same thing. When you’re training for a sport, you, you already have, you’ve shown that you have strength. So then let’s, let’s build on that strength. The Patriots do a really good job, when they’re evaluating talent, they don’t look at their weaknesses as something that this is why we’re not gonna sign ’em. What are strengths? Are they gonna bring something that adds value to our team that is gonna help us win?

Drew Scott (29:41): So that’s really a cool piece because when you’re working for yourself or somebody else, you’re not gonna be good at everything right away. So you need to know your strengths and know your weaknesses, and then really just hone in on your strengths and obviously get better at your weaknesses. But mm-hmm, <affirmative> when you are really good at something, be the best at that skill and those skills come natural. So if I think a lot of people try to force things that they’re not incredible at, but they might be really good at something else. Those are the things that you need to do, Hey, I need to really focus on this so I can be the best at whatever that skill is. And I think that’s really important to be successful really with anything.

Creatitive (30:26): Yeah. No, and I agree, and I think it, it’s very big. It’s a very big concept. I mean, it even takes effect in my business. I mean, we’re really big on brand strategy, brand identity and, and web development. We also do, you know, digital marketing services for athletes and, and, and focus on social media and stuff. But we tend to really promote, Hey, we need to do the brand strategy and the web development first. Cause that’s our strong point. That’s what we really like to sell first. And as we continue to grow, then we’re gonna really push out to those other services more. Cause when you spread yourself too much, you kind of, you know, you kind of put up and where I have to hire like 80 people now. And that’s another good point is, you know, and I say this all the time in very simple terms, especially with, with businesses and it, it really works well with athletes because I think that the difference between athletes and regular business owners, is that athletes don’t go through the pain points that regular business owners do.

Creatitive (31:23): They, you know, like you said, athletes come out and they have, you know, a few million in the bank or they have stuff to really invest in growing their business right away where a lot of business owners start with $0 and they learn real mistakes as they go, yes, there are the ones that get the investments and stuff. But besides that, and they learn from those mistakes first. So when they get to the point where they have, you know, millions, they’re like, oh no, we, we will spend money on this because we know how important it is or, or we’re not gonna go cheap or we’re not gonna, you know, we see the value. And so I always say, Hey, you know, when you first start out, time equals money, but you really need to have the opposite mindset. You really have to understand over time, money, equal time.

Creatitive (32:05): Start hiring out, start, you know, growing your business. I, I, I’m a big component of growing slowly. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with growing too slow. Cause I don’t want to, you know, grow too fast and you can, so you can kind of keep yourself up above the water as you continue to grow and be able to have that profit margin grow, all that nifty stuff. But I think athletes, uh, athletes have that cap. They just don’t understand. So they sometimes make those mistakes and that’s where you come in, that’s where you kind of come in and kind of help them from the literacy part with the finances and not really telling ’em what to finance, but talk to ’em about those are helping them with those. As you said, helping the athletes with your one company were maybe teaching ’em some media, not necessarily so that they do the media, but maybe that they learn it enough that they can hire someone better than them to do it for them.

Creatitive (32:58): You, you know? Yes. and so, yeah, no, that’s brilliant. And uh, so what do you think, what do you think some things athletes can learn from in regards to right now in our timeframe? Cuz you’re very similar to me. I think with our timeframe. I mean, I didn’t, we just had cell phones in college. I mean in high school, I, I didn’t even have, I didn’t have Facebook until I think I was a junior in college, and I, I was against it. I was a MySpace person at that time. So <laugh> uh, I was like, I’m not doing Facebook. I can’t customize it, blah blah. But, uh, nowadays there’s so much and, and we get so many prospects and we have a couple of clients on board that we’re even getting ’em young at like 13 years old and their, their prodigy and stuff. And so what do you think some things athletes of any age is I think, especially with athletes are starting to really think about this more, but what are some things athletes can learn in regards to building their brands, uh, from you particularly since you’ve kind of gone through this, in your kind of working with okay.

Drew Scott (34:02): that’s a good question. So I think that the biggest thing is really being true to, I mean your content, if it’s, you are your own brand and you have to put things out there that represent you. So, so, and I think I’m trying to think the best way using other people around you too. I, I think is another big thing because other people wanna surround themselves with either you or them based on you and what your brand brings. So I think that building some lowly and really showing people what you want to show them because I think that really is the biggest thing as far as when you’re branding yourself and what athletes can do to produce content is they need to produce the wholesome, genuine content. I mean, that really is cuz you just see it so, so much where the content that people are producing isn’t theirs or it’s it, it’s not what they wanted to produce and the best people on social media and really any medium is you can tell that it’s theirs and they wanted to produce it.

Drew Scott (35:24): So I think that to really the biggest thing and, and if you play in college, utilize the people that can help you ask for content or if it’s the pros or wherever, I think really looking to people that have expertise in it is another big thing. yeah. I don’t know. As I said, I was, I, the social media element is, is still new to me, so I didn’t get in Instagram until I was, I think a junior in college or, and in, so yeah, it’s very, but I think that there’s a lot to learn from it and you can just benefit better than we could. So yeah, taking advantage

Two Sides of the same coin

Creatitive (36:05): Of it. I think there’s two sides of the coin there because I think what ends up happening is, and I’ll, I’ll deal with this when I talk to prospects and like, oh I do my own Instagram. I, when I always say that we do digital marketing or branding and do digital marketing agency, but like I do my own digital marketing and I have to one, I have to say, you know, well, digital marketing just isn’t Instagram. Like mm-hmm <affirmative> you have to remember there are all of the social media platforms. There’s your website. There’s, mm-hmm, <affirmative> your brand and your brand language. There’s your, uh, organic search, your, your paid marketing. There’s so much. And it all works to get, you blogging. A lot of athletes don’t leverage blogging. And I think that’s a huge one for athletes right now. be able to write down, their voice as well and be able to do that.

Creatitive (36:51): But I think that you’re right on the other aspect, it’s, it’s really authentic. And I, I think is what, you’re, what we’re going after. I think it’s authentic and con and consistency are the two main things and consistency and authenticity could go many different directions. And I think consistency is a huge one because it could be everything from your, your tone of voice, your, your imagery, your copy, your, your graphics, your everything, that’s really kind of helping keep your brand socialized. But, uh, one thing that you really hit on that that really got me is, is you said, as athletes are building their personal brand out, start leveraging other people. because it’s funny in the business world, I have to tell this to business owners all the time when they get to that point where they’re, they’re, they’re wanting to focus on social media and they were doing like, they were a personal brand.

Creatitive (37:42): And I say, you know, you really need to focus on, you’re no longer a personal brand, you’re a corporate brand, but that doesn’t mean that what you think it means, what it really means is your team is now your brand. And so leverage, leverage your, the positives. And there’s a few what I say, positive GOs out there that actually, I, you can feel are authentic. Like I, you can tell the ones that are authentic mm-hmm <affirmative> and well, most people can, but, uh, and, and you can see they have their teammates doing their, helping with their YouTube videos being on there, being on social media. And I think athletes being able to, you know, leverage not just some of the people they’re working with, but even having, you know, live chats with some of their fans or doing certain situations that helps have the fan also be part doing shoutouts for some of these companies for free doing stuff like that, that really kind of brings value to their community, I think is a really positive impact towards what they’re trying to do on social media.

Drew Scott (38:46): Yeah. I mean, I think that’s probably just, just the consistency of engagement. Like you were kind of talking about, I know George Kittle does that better than a lot of people. He’s very consistent in engaging with his fans and it’s very positive. Yeah. So if you can consistently engage positively with your fans, that just brings more attention to you, even though you’re not trying to. Yeah. And so those are some of the things in business and in, well, what we’re talking about is not always trying to have an ulterior motive. Sometimes it’s just positive engagement that gets the most engagement for you. It’s just because it’s, you were just being positive and you were reaching out to a fan or you were shouting somebody out and you have no other angle. It’s just, that you were just being positive. And I think that brings a lot of attention and can say a lot about a person. And again, that just all goes back to you and your brand.

Creatitive (39:47): Yeah. And I agree. I think that’s one thing that I have to tell a lot of the athletes that, that we talk to is, I mean, a lot of them don’t even comment on things, you know, on social media. And I get why they, I mean, LinkedIn, I think LinkedIn is probably the best solution for them to comment because it’s, it’s much more business oriented and less fan base, but when you’re dealing with your fans, uh, there’s nothing wrong with, uh, replying back. And honestly, if you have negative comments or, or anything like that, I mean, it happens to even business owners and, and Gus, there’s always gonna be the haters out there. So just ignore ’em, but talk to your fans, don’t just say stuff like thanks for the comment or that’s great like really get in there and talk to ’em cuz that helps the, that makes the fan feel special because social media now has that ability for fans to interact with the athletes like they were before, you know?

Drew Scott (40:43): It shows your personality and your creativity and that’s what people are engaging with you for yeah. Is because they like something about you. And so if you can say something funny or humorous, but, or if it’s just, it’s really, maybe you make some type of illusion to another thing or that’s the funny part, because, and the cool part, because you get so much organic conversation about whatever it is you want to talk about through those types of conversations and engagement.

Creatitive (41:20): Yeah. Athletes are the next influencer. And I don’t like saying influencer. I think a lot of people take the word influencer negatively because they’re so used to it being associated with people just taking pretty pictures. I look at influencers as more so like, Hey, you’re, you’re able to have a much more positive impact on a certain message more so than, other people are. So take that to your advantage. If you have something that you’re really passionate about, mm-hmm <affirmative> and say it to the world, no matter what position you’re in, no matter what leverage, you know, the, what you’re doing on the field and oil really help off the field, but, lore close to the end now. So why do you kind of tell everyone, how can you help athletes move forward? Like what are you doing right now that can really help athletes?

Drew Scott (42:07): I would say one thing is, I mean, really, if you’re interested in, uh, at NFT, I said, I would really look into the legacy league. That’s one thing I think it’s really, a win-win for you. It doesn’t cost you any money and plus you get exposure and you can monetize, your nail in a way that you couldn’t before. the other way is really, I would say diving into whatever it is that you’re passionate about and looking into, how can I potentially use everything that I have with it, your school, your team, your league, whatever it is, and reach out to the people that you wanna work with because that’s what social media does. And you get this, you have of this ability, uh, to really engage with other people. And I would say probably the final one is, uh, really watch out for pro athlete Intel when we launch here a little bit. So it’s gonna be a really, really cool platform. And I think it’s really gonna, revolutionize the way that you can engage with people, learn from the best and really have someone that advises you through the whole process.

Interview Summary

Creatitive (43:24): Oh, athlete, Intel. yeah. Send those over to me after the podcast as well. And I’ll throw ’em up, I’ll throw ’em up in the, in the thing. what social, anywhere they can reach out to you, at.

Drew Scott (43:37): Yeah, so, uh, my Instagram, I, I don’t have Twitter, but my Instagram is, uh, D Scott under square 43. So I said, if, if you ever have questions or anything, if you said I’m always here to, to help anybody that I can. So if you have questions or just wanna be connected with somebody, feel free to reach out.

Creatitive (43:56): Good. Well, I wanna thank you again, drew for being on another episode of the brand power analysis. And I hope everyone has a great rest of their day. Watch our interview with George Asafo Adjei here >

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