# Brand Building: He gives insights on relationship-building, authenticity, and visibility—reinforcing that in the digital era, it’s not just “who you know,” but who knows you.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 3 Nov 2025, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/522b2d1c-dbc0-416a-bd5c-b4000132f6d1/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Brendan Kaminsky. Founder of B Known Agency, a boutique branding and digital marketing firm specializing in sports and entertainment. Kaminsky shares his journey from consulting, to working at ESPN, to eventually launching his own agency. He discusses helping major personalities like Stephen A. Smith, Jalen Rose, Harrison Barnes, and Rich Eisen develop strong social media identities and storytelling strategies. Brendan explains why he left ESPN after six and a half years—despite the security, prestige, and Disney benefits—to pursue entrepreneurship. He describes how brand building has shifted from traditional media to a landscape where relatability, vertical video, audience engagement, and consistent content matter more than follower counts. He also talks about the pressure of managing public-facing work in real time, the importance of being accessible to high‑profile clients, the rising role of AI in content creation, and how social platforms have become core to modern marketing strategies. Additionally, Brendan shares specific examples of working with Jalen Rose on mixing sports commentary with community-focused storytelling and describes how Rich Eisen’s annual “Run Rich Run” 40‑yard dash evolved into a signature charitable brand moment. The interview closes with insights on relationship-building, authenticity, and visibility—reinforcing that in the digital era, it’s not just “who you know,” but who knows you. PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW 1. To highlight Brendan Kaminsky’s entrepreneurial journey McDonald explores how Kaminsky transitioned from a major corporation (ESPN) to founding a successful agency. 2. To educate listeners on the evolving world of branding and digital media Kaminsky explains how branding now depends on relatability, vertical video, and engagement over follower count. 3. To provide actionable guidance for entrepreneurs and creators The interview teaches how consistency, accessibility, and storytelling help build a recognizable digital brand. 4. To show how athletes and media personalities use content to expand influence Brendan walks through real client strategies—from Jalen Rose’s community work to Rich Eisen’s fundraising dash. 5. To explore the role of AI in modern marketing Kaminsky discusses how AI assists with analytics, research, and identifying viral content moments. KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Relatability drives modern branding People connect with authenticity, not polished promotion. Talk to your audience, not at them. 2. Engagement matters more than follower count Algorithms reward content that resonates, regardless of how many people follow you. A creator with 10,000 followers can hit a million views. 3. Social media requires presence and accessibility High-profile clients expect responsiveness; being available is key to agency success. 4. Vertical video is the new standard Optimizing content for mobile consumption is essential—TV graphics no longer dictate how content is built. 5. AI is an asset, not a threat Kaminsky uses AI for virality scoring, caption suggestions, research, and identifying strong clips from long-form content. 6. Data tells the story Success can be clearly measured through views, engagement, and growth—unlike billboards or traditional media. 7. Use “hot topics” to highlight deeper work For clients like Jalen Rose, trending sports conversations help drive…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:04] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:07] Speaker 2: stories and start planning your own. Now, you don't want
[0:10] Speaker 2: to miss an episode, so please take a moment right
[0:12] Speaker 2: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:16] Speaker 1: It's free.
[0:17] Speaker 2: You can follow me on iHeartRadio, app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[0:21] Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New money Making
[0:24] Speaker 2: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
[0:28] Speaker 2: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
[0:30] Speaker 2: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
[0:34] Speaker 2: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
[0:38] Speaker 2: get this podcast started. My guest is the founder of
[0:41] Speaker 2: be Known Agency, a boutique branding and digital marketing firms
[0:45] Speaker 2: specializing in sports and entertainment. Be Known has built authentic
[0:49] Speaker 2: digital brands and executed strategic media initiatives for high profile clientele,
[0:55] Speaker 2: including journalists as well as athletes like Taylor Rose and
[0:58] Speaker 2: Harrison Boards. We will make others doing this interview as well.
[1:02] Speaker 2: Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Master Class. Brendan Kamiski.
[1:06] Speaker 3: How you doing, sir, I'm doing well, Rashawn. Thank you
[1:09] Speaker 3: so much for having me and good to see you well.
[1:10] Speaker 2: You know, my relationship with you started steven A Smith,
[1:14] Speaker 2: one of the most popular talents in the media today,
[1:17] Speaker 2: and I met you and tell everybody, what were you
[1:19] Speaker 2: doing for steven A Smith at the time.
[1:22] Speaker 3: Yeah, I was working at ESPN and I sat down
[1:26] Speaker 3: with steven A and was telling him social media is
[1:29] Speaker 3: really important to your brand and he knew that, of course,
[1:32] Speaker 3: but really just help him lean in more to social
[1:36] Speaker 3: media original content and had a blast and was lucky
[1:40] Speaker 3: enough to meet you along the way.
[1:42] Speaker 2: Now, when you talk about ESPN now, I mentioned be
[1:45] Speaker 2: known agency. Now, so let's talk about the journey to
[1:49] Speaker 2: get on board with ESPN.
[1:52] Speaker 1: What was that like?
[1:53] Speaker 2: How did people in your community and off of your
[1:56] Speaker 2: world think about that?
[1:58] Speaker 1: Successful?
[1:59] Speaker 2: You know, because everybody was to work with the with
[2:01] Speaker 2: the big big four letters.
[2:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I mean working at ESPN was a blessing.
[2:06] Speaker 3: Still to this day. It's such a big part of
[2:09] Speaker 3: the story of where I'm at. And for me, I
[2:13] Speaker 3: was doing some independent consulting before I was at ESPN.
[2:17] Speaker 3: I was working with Harrison Barnes. I was working with
[2:19] Speaker 3: some companies and I overlapped with ESPN. I kept pitching
[2:24] Speaker 3: them ideas and then eventually they were like, do you
[2:26] Speaker 3: want to work here? So I told people all the time,
[2:29] Speaker 3: you know, they, as you know, Rashon, relationships are everything.
[2:34] Speaker 3: So I was fortunate enough that it wasn't as much
[2:37] Speaker 3: about applying for the job as much as it was
[2:41] Speaker 3: you know, learning more about each other and then being like, oh,
[2:45] Speaker 3: he's got good ideas he's thinking about, you know, some
[2:48] Speaker 3: of the things worth thinking about. And then they offered
[2:50] Speaker 3: me a job there and I just I went and
[2:52] Speaker 3: moved there. I think for me, Rashon, I got to
[2:56] Speaker 3: a point where I enjoyed I enjoyed the independent hustle.
[3:00] Speaker 3: You know, I've always been entrepreneurial in nature, and you know,
[3:04] Speaker 3: I trusted my gut, you know what I mean, And
[3:06] Speaker 3: I think that to leave and start my own thing
[3:10] Speaker 3: was something that I felt like for myself was the best.
[3:14] Speaker 3: And I couldn't I couldn't hear from other people that were.
[3:17] Speaker 1: Like no, no, no, are you crazy?
[3:20] Speaker 3: What are you doing right? And you know, like like actually, Rashan,
[3:26] Speaker 3: So I was at ESPN six and a half years
[3:28] Speaker 3: I told them it was like late twenty twenty that
[3:31] Speaker 3: I was leaving to start this social media marketing agency.
[3:35] Speaker 3: I didn't tell one person in my life that I
[3:38] Speaker 3: was going to do it because I didn't I didn't
[3:41] Speaker 3: want to have my dad or maybe you be like, well,
[3:47] Speaker 3: you look, you got Disney benefits, You're working with the
[3:50] Speaker 3: biggest brands, the biggest talent. You got that paycheck. I
[3:54] Speaker 3: didn't want someone to, you know, like, you're right, someone
[3:58] Speaker 3: to tell me that and then me to doubt myself,
[4:01] Speaker 3: because ultimately this is what I felt. And I was like,
[4:05] Speaker 3: you know what, I just need to do it and
[4:06] Speaker 3: then tell the world. So I remember facetiming my mom
[4:10] Speaker 3: and dad. They were like, why are you facetiming me?
[4:12] Speaker 3: You know? And I was like, Mom, I'm leaving ESPN.
[4:15] Speaker 3: She's like, what what?
[4:17] Speaker 1: What happened? What's going wrong?
[4:21] Speaker 3: Right?
[4:22] Speaker 1: Because they cant bragging about the ESPN, you know what
[4:24] Speaker 1: I'm saying.
[4:24] Speaker 2: It's like a lot of people, see they can't brag
[4:26] Speaker 2: by the independent of being all agency. My baby works
[4:30] Speaker 2: for ESPN. What does he do? Does he know such
[4:36] Speaker 2: and such? Does he know such and such? Does he
[4:38] Speaker 2: travel or you know, the conversation just evolves at a
[4:42] Speaker 2: tremendous level. But when I when I look at somebody
[4:44] Speaker 2: like you, You've always been energetic, You've always been pitching ideas.
[4:48] Speaker 1: You're creative source.
[4:49] Speaker 2: And one thing I've learned about when I worked at IBM,
[4:52] Speaker 2: eventually when I left because I felt I was limited
[4:55] Speaker 2: because they have a way they do business at ESPN,
[4:58] Speaker 2: they have a way they did business IBM for me,
[5:01] Speaker 2: and I realized I would I felt that even though
[5:03] Speaker 2: I was successful, I wouldn't reach my potential, nor would
[5:07] Speaker 2: I stopped being frustrated because this is how they do business.
[5:11] Speaker 3: Correct correct, Yeah, no, And in your gut, I learned
[5:16] Speaker 3: it's like trust your gut and even if you fail
[5:19] Speaker 3: or even if you you know, don't get to where
[5:23] Speaker 3: you're at, that's a learning experience in itself. And I
[5:26] Speaker 3: just I couldn't have people. You got the Disney you know,
[5:30] Speaker 3: you know the Disney paycheck, and.
[5:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about this, Brendan.
[5:34] Speaker 2: You know, social media is such a dominant force. Everybody's
[5:37] Speaker 2: on it from a standpoint of either whether taking casual
[5:40] Speaker 2: photos or they talk about business, use the word branding,
[5:44] Speaker 2: and you do products, you do athletes you do people
[5:47] Speaker 2: in entertainment, What makes your skill set unique and what
[5:51] Speaker 2: advice can you give to people who are trying to
[5:54] Speaker 2: grow their brands? Is all their product on social media?
[6:00] Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I think Rashan one of the biggest themes,
[6:04] Speaker 3: if not the biggest theme, is the idea of relatability.
[6:08] Speaker 3: People want to relate to you, they want to get
[6:14] Speaker 3: to know you. The reason that there's streamers right now,
[6:18] Speaker 3: some of these big streamers like Kai Sana and I
[6:20] Speaker 3: Show Speed or on Top of the World is because
[6:23] Speaker 3: they're just streaming their everyday life. They're talking to people.
[6:27] Speaker 3: And what I tell people is talk directly to your audience.
[6:31] Speaker 3: It's like being relatable. Everything's about video, everything's about vertical video.
[6:36] Speaker 3: But I think whether it's an athlete, a media personality,
[6:39] Speaker 3: someone who's larger than life, at least appears that way.
[6:42] Speaker 3: It's like these are just human beings. And the more
[6:44] Speaker 3: that you are engaging with your followers and shooting it
[6:47] Speaker 3: more like an engagement platform versus a distribution platform. The
[6:52] Speaker 3: difference being distribution would be constantly just promoting your stuff,
[6:57] Speaker 3: constantly just posting products, but not talking to fans. I
[7:02] Speaker 3: think you really have to talk to the people.
[7:03] Speaker 2: Absolutely. Here's an interesting thing about it. One of the
[7:06] Speaker 2: famous things that was under your umbrella was the infamous
[7:09] Speaker 2: Stephen A. Smith Dallas Cowboy lost term. You know, you
[7:15] Speaker 2: know that's what you're talking about. That that was exactly
[7:18] Speaker 2: unique and people wait for it after the loss and
[7:22] Speaker 2: it's become part of his signature if.
[7:24] Speaker 3: It's unbelievable, right, Yeah, and he just.
[7:26] Speaker 1: Turned into a camera laughing. That's it, right.
[7:30] Speaker 3: Sometimes it's fifteen seconds, you know, it's it's that easy.
[7:34] Speaker 3: But it's insane that now the entire internet, they they
[7:38] Speaker 3: just watch Cowboy games just to just to see what's
[7:40] Speaker 3: going to happen with him. Yeah.
[7:42] Speaker 1: Absolutely. Let's talk about when you when you when you're
[7:45] Speaker 1: building your brand.
[7:45] Speaker 2: I've seen you in speak engagements because you posted on
[7:48] Speaker 2: your social media. Why do people want to hear from
[7:51] Speaker 2: Brendan Kamiski when they book you for speaking engagement?
[7:55] Speaker 1: What are they trying to get out of you? In
[7:56] Speaker 1: from it?
[7:57] Speaker 2: What do they want from you?
[7:59] Speaker 3: That's a great question. I don't know, man, I got
[8:00] Speaker 3: people fooled. I don't know why that will me to talk?
[8:03] Speaker 3: I do, I do, no, you know, I think for me, Rashan,
[8:09] Speaker 3: you know, certainly it helps that you know, you worked
[8:11] Speaker 3: at ESPN, you worked with a lot of big brands,
[8:13] Speaker 3: big talent. I've worked at, you know, at some of
[8:16] Speaker 3: the most high profile sporting events running around the NBA Finals.
[8:19] Speaker 3: And I think for me, I have always tried to, like,
[8:27] Speaker 3: at least the way that I've built my career up
[8:29] Speaker 3: to this point is being focused on like, you know,
[8:33] Speaker 3: let me focus on this one thing and people can trust. Hey,
[8:36] Speaker 3: I'm trying to figure out what my social media what
[8:38] Speaker 3: to do? Who do I call? Oh, maybe Brendan like
[8:41] Speaker 3: And I think for me, I have tried to storytell
[8:44] Speaker 3: in a way that makes sense and that and and
[8:47] Speaker 3: I have confidence about it. So what I and I
[8:50] Speaker 3: will tell say that, you know, five years ago, six
[8:53] Speaker 3: years ago, whatever, I don't know if I had the
[8:55] Speaker 3: same level of confidence. Not that I wasn't confident Rashan,
[8:58] Speaker 3: but I think as I've gone on, I've had more
[9:01] Speaker 3: of a confidence in explaining the path and also being
[9:06] Speaker 3: confident in what I do right. Like I fully acknowledge
[9:09] Speaker 3: it's not easy sitting in front of high powered executive
[9:13] Speaker 3: personality like yourself or someone who's a big star at
[9:16] Speaker 3: ESPN or Fox Sports whatever, you know, they're high profile people,
[9:20] Speaker 3: and so I think for me, I've developed over time
[9:23] Speaker 3: being like I don't care who it is, whether it's
[9:25] Speaker 3: that wall behind you, whether it's for Sean, whether it's
[9:28] Speaker 3: Steven A, whether it's an NBA player. Like, I feel
[9:30] Speaker 3: confident that this is the formula because I've done the
[9:34] Speaker 3: ten thousand hours, and I hope that as I'm talking
[9:40] Speaker 3: people can see that and they can relate to it.
[9:42] Speaker 2: I'm speaking to the founder of be known as b
[9:45] Speaker 2: kN Own Agency, a boutique branding and digital marketing firm
[9:50] Speaker 2: that specialize in sports and entertainment. His name is Brendan Kamensky.
[9:55] Speaker 2: Very talented social media expert, branding expert. Let's put that
[9:59] Speaker 2: let's perspective, you don't work with the talent he works
[10:03] Speaker 2: with Rich Eisen and you know, brands that allow him
[10:07] Speaker 2: to say, I want you to shape my voice in
[10:12] Speaker 2: the in the digital media world and the social media world.
[10:15] Speaker 2: When you hear that, Brendan, how much responsibility does it
[10:20] Speaker 2: do you wrap your head around and and how the
[10:23] Speaker 2: what is the what is the planning that goes into that?
[10:25] Speaker 3: So one big thing as far as being successful, I
[10:29] Speaker 3: understand you need people around you and people that are
[10:32] Speaker 3: executing and have the same vision as you. But I
[10:36] Speaker 3: think for us Rashan and for me, one thing that
[10:39] Speaker 3: I impress upon people the accessibility is everything. You know,
[10:44] Speaker 3: when you're working with talent, like you could be the
[10:48] Speaker 3: best person in the world of your job. But if
[10:49] Speaker 3: they hit you up and sixty percent of the time
[10:52] Speaker 3: you respond in a timely manner, They're gonna be like,
[10:54] Speaker 3: what the heck, I don't know, I'm hitting up Brendan,
[10:57] Speaker 3: where's the act? Right? Right? Right? I understand, like maybe Mike,
[11:02] Speaker 3: to my own detriment, maybe when I get a family
[11:04] Speaker 3: and I have a bunch of kids, hopefully someday it'll
[11:06] Speaker 3: be like listen, I got to put my phone down.
[11:08] Speaker 3: But I understand that we're working in a very fast
[11:12] Speaker 3: paced environment. And my message to folks in this is like,
[11:15] Speaker 3: accessibility is everything, and it's a very important part of
[11:18] Speaker 3: working entertainment.
[11:19] Speaker 2: I've learned that it's not about the nut followers, It's
[11:23] Speaker 2: about the metrics, correct, because that's what an influencer or
[11:26] Speaker 2: ambassador is all about. Talked about audience.
[11:29] Speaker 3: Yes, this is actually I love this topic right now
[11:33] Speaker 3: because it's really it's always it always comes about right
[11:36] Speaker 3: people want followers, right, clients, we all want followers. By
[11:40] Speaker 3: the way, I personally on my account, I'm checking how
[11:43] Speaker 3: many followers are. But over timer Sean and I will say,
[11:47] Speaker 3: I really feel like over the past couple of years,
[11:49] Speaker 3: it is become a lot more just about engagement on
[11:54] Speaker 3: posts and views on your page and less about the
[11:57] Speaker 3: follow the total follower number. Now, I've always felt like
[12:00] Speaker 3: quality over quantity. I've always felt, even five six years ago,
[12:05] Speaker 3: engagement over followers. But right now the beauty of this
[12:10] Speaker 3: day and age is the way the algorithm works. The
[12:12] Speaker 3: way Instagram has moved. I've talked to metadirectly about this,
[12:16] Speaker 3: is that it's a lot more AI based. They're not
[12:19] Speaker 3: signaling as much, Oh, because you follow this page, we're
[12:23] Speaker 3: gonna serve it to you more like it used to
[12:25] Speaker 3: be a lot more about that, but now there's just
[12:27] Speaker 3: all these signals they're like like, for instance, you know,
[12:29] Speaker 3: I was at this event a couple of days ago.
[12:32] Speaker 3: The USA hockey team was celebrating winning the gold medal.
[12:35] Speaker 3: I was fortunate enough to be there. I only have
[12:37] Speaker 3: about ten thousand followers on my Instagram, but I have
[12:41] Speaker 3: a video reach of million views and half a million views.
[12:44] Speaker 3: And it's just because if you know how to work
[12:47] Speaker 3: the game. And so this is what I feel like individuals.
[12:51] Speaker 3: If I'm working with clients, I really stress to them. Okay,
[12:55] Speaker 3: maybe your followers didn't grow to the number that you wanted,
[12:59] Speaker 3: but wait, your views are of fifty percent over the
[13:01] Speaker 3: last NFL season. Is it that more important? Right? And
[13:05] Speaker 3: that's what I want people to know and learn.
[13:08] Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere.
[13:09] Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass.
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[13:47] Speaker 1: On Facebook, X and Instagram.
[13:49] Speaker 2: Let's just talk about a talent that you have on
[13:51] Speaker 2: your roster, Jalen Rose, because he's very you know, he
[13:54] Speaker 2: has a great school or charter school program he has
[13:58] Speaker 2: in Detroit. How do you balance that and and and
[14:01] Speaker 2: support him because you know, he's still a guy who's
[14:05] Speaker 2: an analyst and everybody wants to know about him being
[14:08] Speaker 2: an analyst. Okay, everybody wants to know about where he's going,
[14:11] Speaker 2: but real, but we know that school is very important
[14:14] Speaker 2: to him. Talk about how you balance that for a
[14:17] Speaker 2: client that knows what his primary job is but constantly
[14:21] Speaker 2: wants to remind people what he does for the community.
[14:24] Speaker 3: Jaylen Row, Yeah, I like this example a lot because
[14:28] Speaker 3: this is a conversation I'll have with Jalen often where
[14:32] Speaker 3: he likes to talk more than basketball, Like he doesn't
[14:35] Speaker 3: want to be you know, all jail and who's who's
[14:38] Speaker 3: going to be the MVP this year. It's like, all right,
[14:40] Speaker 3: here's the top five picks, Like he wants like he
[14:44] Speaker 3: knows he has to do that and if you're in
[14:46] Speaker 3: that position, you're a next NBA player, you're an analyst.
[14:50] Speaker 3: But the good news for him is he wants to
[14:52] Speaker 3: talk about the community, the culture, other things happening besides
[14:56] Speaker 3: the NBA. So I think we just we use and
[15:00] Speaker 3: my strategy generally would be, like use those sexier topics
[15:06] Speaker 3: to at least the fans. I'm like, Yo, what do
[15:08] Speaker 3: you think about lately there's been a lot of fights
[15:12] Speaker 3: in the NBA feels like on the court talk about
[15:14] Speaker 3: that fight, or you know, what do you think about
[15:16] Speaker 3: NBA All Star weekend? And do you think they're doing
[15:18] Speaker 3: it right? You use some of those hot topics to
[15:21] Speaker 3: drive the engagement that might get from fans to then
[15:24] Speaker 3: be like, hey, look, I also have this going on late.
[15:28] Speaker 3: You know you also post that later that might not
[15:32] Speaker 3: get in the fans eyes as much likes and views,
[15:36] Speaker 3: because sometimes it's like, look, naturally we talk about Lebron James,
[15:39] Speaker 3: the Lakers, the numbers might just be higher. But I
[15:42] Speaker 3: think what you do is you give the fans enough
[15:45] Speaker 3: of the good content, high engaging content to then bring
[15:50] Speaker 3: your own products, your own things that you're promoting. And
[15:53] Speaker 3: like you said, what Jalen has done with the Jalen
[15:55] Speaker 3: Rose Leadership Academy, nothing's more important to him than that.
[15:59] Speaker 3: So the good news is he's always talking about it,
[16:01] Speaker 3: and we just make sure that it's an integral part
[16:04] Speaker 3: of the content strategy.
[16:05] Speaker 2: Tell us about something that started as a I want
[16:09] Speaker 2: to say, is a funny moment, right him run into
[16:11] Speaker 2: forty Zio Jazz and the Dash in a suit and
[16:14] Speaker 2: now that's his logo. Tell everybody how you balance him?
[16:18] Speaker 2: High profile guy, daily shows merch now with ESPN NFL Network,
[16:23] Speaker 2: so it's like you can't get away from ESPN.
[16:25] Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, we'll talking about Jalen Rose. Now let's
[16:29] Speaker 1: switch over to Rich Eisen.
[16:31] Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, I mean Rich, like you said, incredible story.
[16:35] Speaker 3: I mean the fact that he started as one of
[16:36] Speaker 3: the og Sports Center anchors. I mean, I know, he
[16:39] Speaker 3: just shared this picture last week. I don't know if
[16:41] Speaker 3: you saw it on social media, all the twenty original
[16:44] Speaker 3: Sports Center anchors and something like Tariko in the photo
[16:47] Speaker 3: it was Stuart Scott, all the legends, and then he
[16:51] Speaker 3: built his own show and then brought it back to ESPN.
[16:55] Speaker 3: I think it's one of the best stories for him.
[17:00] Speaker 3: You know what's great for him is he's got that
[17:03] Speaker 3: North Star, He's got that show five days a week,
[17:06] Speaker 3: and working with Rich is incredible because he understands it's funny.
[17:12] Speaker 3: And I'm sure you can relate to this. You don't
[17:14] Speaker 3: just become one of these high profile talent and content
[17:17] Speaker 3: person It doesn't happen overnight like he understands content, He
[17:21] Speaker 3: understands the importance of reels, and he gets in the
[17:24] Speaker 3: weeds on content and we love it. And for him,
[17:30] Speaker 3: I wasn't involved at all. Like we've been working with
[17:33] Speaker 3: Rich now for a few years. But his forty yard
[17:35] Speaker 3: dash incredible idea by him and his team, right, and Yeah,
[17:39] Speaker 3: what he does now is during the combine, he runs
[17:41] Speaker 3: out forty yard dash, raises a ton of money for
[17:43] Speaker 3: charity for cancer. And it's a great idea of branding
[17:47] Speaker 3: right where it's like people like the idea of him running.
[17:51] Speaker 3: He turned it into a content play, right. Actually, going
[17:54] Speaker 3: back to what we're just talking about, it's like Rich
[17:57] Speaker 3: had all this great content. He's talking about the NFL,
[17:59] Speaker 3: he's talking too about culture, He's getting big guests on actors, actresses,
[18:05] Speaker 3: and then he uses that to be like, Hey, I'm
[18:07] Speaker 3: going to promote my thing going right, I'm gonna run
[18:10] Speaker 3: this race, I'm gonna raise money for a good cause,
[18:14] Speaker 3: and it's going to become a part of my brand.
[18:16] Speaker 3: I think it's an incredible story and it's about leveraging
[18:19] Speaker 3: your brand to then be like, let me give back
[18:22] Speaker 3: to a good cause.
[18:22] Speaker 2: You know, how do we get in touch with your Brendan.
[18:25] Speaker 3: Yes, so I would say it's funny. I mean my
[18:29] Speaker 3: emails Brendan at Benown Agency dot com, it's just be
[18:33] Speaker 3: known bdkn Own, Instagram at b Coavinsky. I love Instagram,
[18:40] Speaker 3: as you know, it's funny. I gotta commend you, Like
[18:44] Speaker 3: I remember working with Steven in the beginning, and you know,
[18:49] Speaker 3: oh man, the beginning was so much fun. And then
[18:51] Speaker 3: you know he's he's loving the numbers and he's like,
[18:53] Speaker 3: I got my my manager. He wants to talk to you,
[18:56] Speaker 3: my number two, and uh probably like looking at these graphics,
[19:01] Speaker 3: you're like, well, what's going on, Steve? But all these
[19:03] Speaker 3: social media posts and you know, and you were very
[19:07] Speaker 3: supportive and it was really appreciated because you understanding the
[19:13] Speaker 3: value of branding and it was just so fun. And
[19:17] Speaker 3: I always appreciated and admired sort of the kingdom that
[19:21] Speaker 3: Rashan McDonald has has built. But again, yeah, your support
[19:25] Speaker 3: on my initition.
[19:26] Speaker 2: What's important because I always tell people I wake up
[19:30] Speaker 2: dumb and I like to be around people who can
[19:32] Speaker 2: pour intelligence or smart stories and smart information into my head.
[19:37] Speaker 2: And when I looked at you, I always always go
[19:39] Speaker 2: and anybody like you that specializes in the skill set
[19:43] Speaker 2: that is groundbreaking, Like right now, AI is groundbreaking, and
[19:47] Speaker 2: I'm sure you use AI and your process. Now you
[19:51] Speaker 2: have traditional marketing, and I have to say this used
[19:55] Speaker 2: to be called non traditional marketing, but it's moving to
[19:57] Speaker 2: be traditional marketing. How does that play itself out when
[20:01] Speaker 2: you look at the social digital world and in traditional
[20:04] Speaker 2: television marketing?
[20:06] Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, like you said, I think it's become traditional. Right.
[20:11] Speaker 3: A lot of the deals that people are getting when
[20:15] Speaker 3: they're getting a brand partnership, what are the deliverables? Right?
[20:18] Speaker 3: Of course you might be in a movie, you might
[20:20] Speaker 3: be a TV commerciate. What are they doing? Oh? What
[20:22] Speaker 3: do you got on Instagram? Right? How many you know? Oh?
[20:25] Speaker 3: You got a TikTok too, let's get it on TikTok
[20:27] Speaker 3: or LinkedIn as you and I love LinkedIn. I know
[20:30] Speaker 3: you love LinkedIn. I do as well. But yeah, it
[20:35] Speaker 3: feels like it's become part of it. But I think
[20:37] Speaker 3: one of the bigs you talk about marketing TV social.
[20:41] Speaker 3: One of the earlier questions, how do we tell people
[20:45] Speaker 3: how to market themselves on social? What do I do?
[20:47] Speaker 3: And it's like TV is built for the widescreen, right,
[20:52] Speaker 3: it's graphics it's important when you're marketing on social to
[20:56] Speaker 3: understand it's vertical. The graphics should be optimized for the screen. Right,
[21:02] Speaker 3: we talk about those Cowboys videos, like you know those
[21:05] Speaker 3: are built for social media, right when you're talking on TV.
[21:09] Speaker 3: Oftentimes the TV can translate to social very well. But
[21:13] Speaker 3: there's also an element of like, yeah, those graphics are
[21:16] Speaker 3: why they're for TV. Let's promote for social media. But yeah,
[21:22] Speaker 3: all the deliverables now, it's like social media is part
[21:25] Speaker 3: of it.
[21:25] Speaker 2: Really, it's important that people understand what you're saying is
[21:29] Speaker 2: that this is a brand that is taking over in
[21:33] Speaker 2: a way and people don't understand how to control it.
[21:36] Speaker 2: But here's the beauty of social media. When it comes
[21:39] Speaker 2: from brand support or somebody wanting to buy into you,
[21:43] Speaker 2: they can see what you're doing.
[21:46] Speaker 1: Like you said, like on television or streaming, they.
[21:49] Speaker 2: Might not know when that commercial airs and they said around,
[21:51] Speaker 2: but when you post, they know you post it and
[21:55] Speaker 2: they can see the engagement, they can see the likes.
[21:58] Speaker 1: Talk about how you have to.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Navigate that brenda because your work is immediately on display
[22:05] Speaker 2: and can't be challenged.
[22:06] Speaker 3: Okay, no, it's funny, and I will say it's one
[22:09] Speaker 3: of the biggest challenges of this job is you could
[22:14] Speaker 3: do ninety nine things amazing, right, I could do ninety
[22:18] Speaker 3: nine incredible posts, incredible thing the one time you do
[22:23] Speaker 3: let's say you do a tweet, right, because the media
[22:25] Speaker 3: is just all over Twitter, sorry x X, all over X.
[22:29] Speaker 3: But the one time you screw something up, you post
[22:33] Speaker 3: something that is precarious, you misspelled, the client will be like,
[22:39] Speaker 3: I'm gonna fire, you know, like fire the intern right,
[22:42] Speaker 3: so right, right, right, right, Everyone sees it. Right, It
[22:45] Speaker 3: doesn't matter all the ninety nine amazing things you did,
[22:48] Speaker 3: So that's one of the hard parts, and everyone sees it.
[22:50] Speaker 3: But I will say to metrics and data, I love
[22:55] Speaker 3: the fact that everything's open because number One, I'm very
[22:58] Speaker 3: confident in the work that I and my team does.
[23:01] Speaker 3: Number Two, we use it as storytelling, Like we will
[23:04] Speaker 3: talk in metrics. You know, I remember sending you recap
[23:07] Speaker 3: reports back in the day, and we will use that
[23:12] Speaker 3: because we I'm obsessed with data, right as you I'm
[23:16] Speaker 3: sure are with your show and your clients. Like data
[23:19] Speaker 3: tells the story and we like to, oh, look at
[23:22] Speaker 3: the views, look at the increases that you've seen. So
[23:26] Speaker 3: we like the fact that we can point to those, right,
[23:28] Speaker 3: because that's a way to measure success for us, and
[23:32] Speaker 3: I feel fortunate, and I don't. I know that it's
[23:36] Speaker 3: a lot harder sometimes if there's a billboard that I'm
[23:39] Speaker 3: driving down Miami Highway and I see a billboard, I mean,
[23:43] Speaker 3: it's not my industry, but like, I don't really know
[23:46] Speaker 3: how to measure the impact as much of the billboard.
[23:49] Speaker 3: But when you look at an Instagram post, you can
[23:50] Speaker 3: see like, oh wow, it's got one hundred thousand view
[23:53] Speaker 3: it's got a million views. We got all these comments, right,
[23:56] Speaker 3: And I will say that it's it's a blessing. It's
[24:00] Speaker 3: it's the other thing that I just thought of when
[24:02] Speaker 3: you said the commercial came out. They don't have to
[24:05] Speaker 3: find it. I remember talking to an ESPN talent and
[24:10] Speaker 3: when I was working there. They're like, he's like, yeah,
[24:12] Speaker 3: I'm really tight with the big boss. You know the
[24:15] Speaker 3: number two at ESPN. Right, I know the number two
[24:18] Speaker 3: at ESPN. Doesn't he can't watch my show every day, right,
[24:21] Speaker 3: he's watching five million shows. But he's like, he commented
[24:24] Speaker 3: about something in the show recently. It's like, it's definitely
[24:26] Speaker 3: because I posted on Instagram. It's because he follows me
[24:28] Speaker 3: on Instagram. He saw that show. The only way he's
[24:32] Speaker 3: watching my show is because he follows me on.
[24:35] Speaker 2: Instagram, right, And that's really important. Now, AI, we've brought
[24:39] Speaker 2: up that those magical letters. Is AI an asset for
[24:43] Speaker 2: you or is a challenge because of the fact that
[24:46] Speaker 2: so many people using AI to create marketing tools.
[24:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, AI is absolutely an asset, and I think anyone
[24:54] Speaker 3: who's sitting here in this position would be remiss to
[24:58] Speaker 3: not express that it's an asset. Is it a threat? Look,
[25:04] Speaker 3: you're always going to need the human component. I think that,
[25:06] Speaker 3: especially working in sports entertainment, as you know, you know,
[25:12] Speaker 3: people want a guy or girl. It's like they just
[25:14] Speaker 3: want to be able to be like people who are
[25:15] Speaker 3: very impatient or of limited time. They just want to
[25:18] Speaker 3: be able to call Reshana, be like rashon what's going on.
[25:20] Speaker 3: You know, I haven't seen all the so I think
[25:23] Speaker 3: that will always be the case. But AI helps us.
[25:25] Speaker 3: AI will help us build decks. AI will help us
[25:28] Speaker 3: do research. A I will help us with the analytics.
[25:32] Speaker 3: And there's a component where there's this one tool where
[25:38] Speaker 3: we can put in a podcast and it'll give us
[25:40] Speaker 3: the virality score. It'll look at everything an hour long
[25:44] Speaker 3: podcast and be like, we think these five videos are
[25:49] Speaker 3: highest on the Virality score list. That doesn't mean we're
[25:53] Speaker 3: blindly just accepting that, but it's a data point, right,
[25:57] Speaker 3: and we can look at that and be like, oh, okay,
[25:58] Speaker 3: let's try it, or we can use it for captions
[26:01] Speaker 3: on videos and so AI. Look as time goes on,
[26:06] Speaker 3: will it continue to eat into jobs? Yes? Will I
[26:11] Speaker 3: be out of a job probably tomorrow? No, but there's
[26:16] Speaker 3: absolutely like we are continuing. I continue to be self
[26:19] Speaker 3: conscious personally that I am not using enough. But it's
[26:23] Speaker 3: an asset. There's incredible ways to build it, to use
[26:27] Speaker 3: it to build what we're doing, and I encourage everyone
[26:30] Speaker 3: to use it. Wow.
[26:32] Speaker 2: He's the founder of be Known Agency, a boutique branding
[26:35] Speaker 2: and digital marketing firm specializing in sports and entertainment based
[26:39] Speaker 2: in Miami. Thank you for coming on the show, sharing
[26:42] Speaker 2: us your journey, your knowledge, your expertise, and more important
[26:45] Speaker 2: than your humbleness. Your humbleness is keep brother, because that
[26:48] Speaker 2: allows people to communicate what you know and they're getting
[26:51] Speaker 2: an authentic response from you.
[26:54] Speaker 3: Means so much. The last thing I'll give you, one
[26:56] Speaker 3: last thing, nugget that I think of a lot always
[27:00] Speaker 3: say it's not about what you know, it's who you know. Right.
[27:04] Speaker 3: My thing is, it's not about who you know, it's
[27:07] Speaker 3: about who knows you. Right. So meeting you know, you
[27:12] Speaker 3: know a lot of people Sean like, but it doesn't
[27:15] Speaker 3: mean you would go to bath for them necessarily. They
[27:18] Speaker 3: might vaguely know you, right, right, but if you intimately
[27:22] Speaker 3: know my work, you're like, oh, I know Brandon like,
[27:25] Speaker 3: he does good stuff. I want to have Mama Pod.
[27:28] Speaker 3: There's a difference, right, because a lot of people. Now,
[27:31] Speaker 3: you know a lot of people, but it doesn't mean
[27:33] Speaker 3: everyone do they really know you? You know. So that's
[27:35] Speaker 3: what I always think.
[27:36] Speaker 2: About, which is really cool because you know, you and
[27:39] Speaker 2: I we see each other rarelyand and we ran the
[27:41] Speaker 2: jails the super Bowl in San Francisco, and.
[27:44] Speaker 1: I went, why hasn't Brendan been on my show? Out
[27:48] Speaker 1: of sight, out of mind?
[27:49] Speaker 2: That's why you have to get out there, stay in
[27:51] Speaker 2: front of people and let people know that you're available.
[27:54] Speaker 2: And when they see that, they just steps you back
[27:56] Speaker 2: into another opportunity, which is his interview. And I want
[27:59] Speaker 2: to thank you again, my thank you for listening to
[28:01] Speaker 2: this episode. No I need for you to do me
[28:03] Speaker 2: a favor right now to follow or subscribe to Money
[28:07] Speaker 2: Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it on
[28:10] Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
[28:15] Speaker 2: your podcasts. Please do me that favor, follow or subscribe
[28:19] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations.
[28:21] Speaker 1: Keep winning.

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