Damaune Journey: Full Episode Transcript

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to Question Everything, a podcast all about learning from the successes and the failures of those who dared to, well, question everything. This podcast is part interview, part therapy, and part Price is Right. We have our own game board stacked with questions that'll make even the most successful CMO sweat. I'm your host, Ashley Walter, CMO and partner at Curiosity. On today's episode, I sit down with Damian Journey, Global Chief Growth Officer at 72 & Sunny, to shape culture. Between stories about sport beach in Cannes and shooting an NFL spot in Ghana, you'll learn Damien's secret formula for multiplying campaign impact. The wholesome metric, 72 and Sunny uses to evaluate creative, and why the best way to tear down walls between departments is by building one. So grab your shades and turn up the volume because this episode will leave you optimistic about the industry.

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Damaune Journey: Damaune’s introduction 

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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Damian Journey is the Global Chief Growth Officer at 72 & Sunny, where he oversees global revenue operations, including marketing, business development, and corporate communications. Under his leadership, the agency has established over 50 new client partnerships, including CarMax, Cadillac, and United Airlines. And they've earned major industry honors, including Ad Age A-List, and most recently, an Emmy.

Business case study. One thing is clear, when it comes to winning, no one does it like Journey. Welcome to the podcast, Damien. Thank you. Geez, I was like, who is she talking about? This guy seems pretty awesome. I was shocked to know that it was me. You're the best. Thank you. You know, I dug into the files, like AI gave you a lot of information I didn't know you would have. Well, we do a lot of human research too, believe it or not. It's not all AI up here. So it was really fun digging into your journey though, because man, You've been out there. You've been like everywhere. I feel like you were just in Cannes. You're doing all this work with the NFL.

I met you for the first time at the AdAge A-List Creativity Jury Judging the People Awards. Yes, exactly. And we were at that table with all the other jurors and we were discussing our processes and the people who came out on top and all those that were deserving but may not have in that moment. It was awesome. I've got to say, was there anything like surprising coming out of that experience for you or even like the caliber of people that entered this year? Yeah, I thought it was a really, really amazing slate of candidates. And to get from like a really large group of cool people to a very small subset of ultimate winners was challenging. But the part I loved the most was the jury, the jurors, you and your peers.

You got made it so much so easy and fun that it didn't feel like we were there was no battles. There was no backroom drama. around the right people relatively easily, but we're willing to debate if need be to get to the right choice. So thank you, Ms. Ashley. Doing all the work, it was it was a shitload of work, there were so many entries I was shocked I'm like that was a lot, a lot to get through but it was so inspiring, like I like on the side, I'm taking notes, like oh my gosh, the accomplishments, many of these people have had, um, wow! You almost feel bad at times picking one because there were others who were so deserving and I remember we made a choice I won't list any names but we made a choice about really courageous decisions on our part.

And when it was announced, the room, it was like an audible gasp. And I think people were like, yeah, this person is deserving too. Like it was an opportunity for us to give other people a shot at winning some of these awards because there's so many great people in the industry that are deserving. It's good when we can spread the love a little bit. I'm proud of us for doing that. So true. I am too. It makes you proud to be in this industry when you like see the humanity and the accomplishment, the personal accomplishment behind it, for sure. I mean, there were people crying at the point of receiving the awards, and you know, that was really touching.

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Damaune Journey: Damaune’s impact formula 

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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It's good to know that we can do something that matters to the humans because they put in so much work and it's often not recognized as personal. Personal. It is personal. All right, my friends. So, you know how this podcast works. I have a game board stacked with 12 super spicy questions for you. You have no idea what they are. You don't know. Yeah, no idea. No idea. I'm on the edge of my virtual seat. Ah, well, we've got some good ones here. So we'll pull up the game board and the power is in your hands. You get to pick the first number and we'll see what's behind it. Okay. I'm going to go for number two. All right. Let's see. Number two. Okay. So explain this formula for me.

We've got purpose times perspective times persistence equals impact. What does this look like for you in practice? And is there a campaign that 72 and Sunny has done where you feel like this has really proved out to be true? Your research team is freaking phenomenal. I just want to say like hats off to you all for pulling this up. So that formula is one that has been kind of a personal impact formula for me that I've tried to live by. So let's start with purpose. Like it's important to have a purpose and to understand what that is. Let me back up before I get there. I'm an engineer by trade, 30, but 10 times 10 times 10 is a thousand. And so when you multiply things, there is a multiplicative effect, sort of an exponential effect.

And I think that with impact is kind of the same way. If you can take the right variables and kind of multiply them, you can have an outsized impact on an environment or a space. And so for me, as I started thinking about the things I've done in my life and specifically what I try to do in advertising, impact is one of those things that defines my purpose and be very, very clear about that. And if I can multiply that by some perspective, in my particular case, I'm not from advertising. I've been here less than five years. So my view of the world, of what we do and why we do it is different. I'm a black man from Flint, Michigan. That perspective is not often represented in advertising.

So I can apply that to the work that we do. I'm a dad. I live in California. That's a different perspective than many other people that I work with. And so, I can apply that. So you can apply a different perspective to a problem. and you have a purpose that is clear in your mind, if you can then apply the third piece, which is persistence, you, I think, can provide and deliver a tremendous impact. So that's the impact formula that I've tried to live by and bring to bear on my time here in our great industry. And I think, frankly, there's nothing magical that only I can do. It's not proprietary. I think all of us can apply those same elements to the work we do

results so that's the impact formula uh hopefully broken down into its component parts that's great that's great yeah now is there is there any work that like when you think about that formula that comes to mind where you actually saw it in action Yeah, you mentioned it on the top that we do at 72 and Sunny, we work with the National Football League and have for a while. And because of their platform, both with the Super Bowl and just their general media footprint in the world, I think something like 92 of 100 most watched shows in the course of a year are football games. So we have a decided advantage by the scale of the thing. But when we deliver messages to the world, the world kind of pays attention.

So we've been able to apply this same approach in the last three Super Bowls, I would say, as we talked about increasing opportunities for women to play the sport of football. In 2023, we won an Emmy for a campaign called Run With It. And that was about a young Mexican girl playing flag football, knowing to grab her flags. And it ended with an ode to the women who are moving the game forward-to include flag football as an official sport for the first time ever. That's going to revolutionize opportunities for not just female athletes, but also even Pro football players will now have a chance to be Olympians, which didn't exist before that. In 24, we took that same approach and said, well, the NFL is looking to expand internationally.

Can't we find a way to make that really sticky for people? So we packed up our production machine, dropped them in Ghana, West Africa, in Accra at a public market, and had a young African kid playing football in an actual public market in the center of Ghana, in a way that allowed NFL players to come over there and learn about the culture. We had an African production team, first time they'd ever get a chance to do a production of that scale with that sort of attention. And I think it changed a lot of lives in so far as the African diaspora being shown at the Super Bowl in a two-minute film sponsored by the NFL. And then last year, we went back to women playing flag football with a spot called Flag 50.

There was like, arguably the greatest flag football player today, young woman in high school, Kailolo, first woman ever to receive a college scholarship playing flag football, was the center of a spot around flag football. And the objective of that one is to turn flag football into a sport at the varsity level throughout the United States. And I think now we're at something like 20, 25 states have sanctioned it as a sport. And the number is growing, which is providing more opportunities for women to play, flag football. And so the reason I bring this up is because each one of those speaks to a specific purpose, having a unique perspective, and then being persistent. Because even though those events might have occurred on an annual basis, it took a boatload of persistence to get any one of those across the finish line and ultimately to have the impact we were trying to have.

So maybe that's an example of the impact formula in real time. Nailed it. I mean, incredible example. And I love that the way you’re thinking about impact is in these like micro moments too. Like, you mentioned the people behind the camera and the directors that you brought on to work on the project. Like, you're really thinking about impact along that entire creative supply chain. So kudos to you guys.

The people like me who sit in the rooms, although that’s important, but we want the people that are in front of the camera and the people behind the camera to have opportunities to diversify the landscape and to represent the world that we know is true in front of us. And you can't do that if they’re not in the room. So take every chance we can. That's right. 

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Damaune Journey: 72andSunny’s internal litmus test 

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Great. All right, let's go back to the board. Oh, here we go. Here we go. I'm going to go for number four. I'm keeping an even number strategy. I love seeing everybody's strategy. All right. So, I mean, kind of related. So when you're vetting work, when you're getting the storyboards or the ideas are coming across your desk, how do you measure whether that work is great?

Do you have like an internal litmus test that says, you know what, this is we're going to win the awards here. We're going to get the headlines here. Yeah, great question. So first of all, I'll say we don't work for awards. Awards are very nice. We appreciate them. It's a validator of sorts. But we work for clients. We work to advance their business. And to help our clients. Our talent actually do work that's meaningful to them. Awards are a byproduct if you've done that job well. So they're important, but they have a place. And it's not, you wouldn't walk into any of our offices and see any of our awards on shelves. In fact, my Emmy on my shelf is because. I'm an egotistical maniac and I want to have Emmy on my shelf.

And it's an Emmy. I mean, come on. But but so so there's that. But as far as work goes, for us, we want to make work that actually makes a difference, that moves people, and that moves commerce, and has an impact on culture. And so when we look at work that's coming out, like there's times where you have to actually do things that are transactional, that specifically benefits the brand's clear objective, which is number one: what is the brand's objective? And that work may not always be the fanciest or the buzziest or the award-winning work, but it moves the needle for the client, and damn it, that's success. So that counts as good work. But the other part that counts, because we're really competitive people, so we keep score, we play to win, and that counts as good work.

But on the other dimension, does the work that we do move culture? Does it make a difference in the world? So I mentioned these three NFL examples. Those were all cool. Two of them won Emmys. So yeah, you could say they were award-winning. But all three of them fundamentally moved culture forward in a way. There's more opportunities now for women. There's more opportunity for professional athletes to play flag football. Women around the world who think of themselves as potential football players because of the Born to Play spot in Africa. Those are examples of work that worked. And I think for us, that's the ultimate measure. Did it work? Does that help? Yeah, I think that's great. You know, I think a lot of agencies, I imagine, I believe this to be true, look up to you guys.

And you're one of the best, I think, in the world. Sometimes it can look easy, right? Just banger after banger after banger after banger. And so it's good to kind of get in your head. Like, what are you looking for? And when do you just feel it in your gut? Like that's going to work. And so, yeah, I think. Here's a simple other thing that we our chief creative officer, our global chief creative officer is a man named Matt Murphy. He's freaking brilliant. And he comes from a long line of brilliant, creative leaders. Our founders, Matt and John, John and Glenn are both creative geniuses. And oftentimes, I think about, and we use what we call the Murph meter. Will this meet Murph's standards?

And similarly, would Matt Jarvis, one of our early founder partners, and John Boiler and Glenn Cole, will they want to show this work or talk about this work at a dinner party or a cocktail party? If they wouldn't pull up their phone and say, 'Look at this,' or 'We did that,' then maybe it's not meeting the standard. And that's served us well over the last years. Our chief creative officer; if he won't show it at a dinner party. Back to the drawing board. Back to the drawing board. I love it. I love it. All right. 

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Damaune Journey: Thinking beyond the traditional TV spot

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Speaking of, let's go back to the board. The board. Where are you going next? Okay. See, I'm going to throw you all the way off. I'm going to go to 12.

All the way to the end. Let's go, 12. All right. So you said this to me at A-List. Actually, it was on one of our jury calls. And actually, actually wrote it down. And you said, if you want to make it in the big leagues, film can only be part of your story. So I'd love to hear your perspective. Talk about how like this old school TV first mindset has evolved and why you believe it's important to think beyond the spot. What a wonderful question. We have the benefit of living in a time where the mediums that we use to consume information has changed dramatically. Just looking at you, you're clearly someone who's not past the age of 30. So you would know this.

But before you were born back in the dark ages, TV was in black and white. And there was before that there was radio. And we're now at a place where linear TV is really struggling. I think sports is kind of the thing that keeps it alive. And even that's moving to streaming. And beyond streaming, you have all these other platforms. And so. It's not enough to be the best. Big 30, 60-second spot maker. You have to be able to make things that people can consume in the way they're consuming information today. I have my buddies. My buddy was here with his son, a 17-18-year-old kid starting college in the fall. He was with us for four days and he watched my huge 65-inch television screen about two minutes in four days.

He was on this for like a thousand hours in that period of time. Something that catches someone's attention on a small device or on an app, then you're going to find yourself going the way of the dinosaur. For us, it's about how do you capture someone's attention? And deliver a motion and a message that can move them wherever they might be. For some people, that might be radio. For some people, that's a beautiful out of home. For others, it's something on their small screen that actually can capture their attention. And so I think it's incumbent upon us as marketers to be nimble enough to deliver information where people can consume it. The old adage says, fish where the fish are. You're not doing very good if you're a great fisherman, but there's no fish in that space, where the fish are.

Yeah. So yeah, that's really great advice. When you guys are concepting, do you start with the spot or not? Like, we don't even need to see the 30-second script or the 15-second script. Yeah, for us it's about the idea. And what the brand plans to do. So, we really, really like to know if we can what their media buy is or how they're planning to deploy media. If we understand that, then we can begin to concept specifically to that objective. If the brand doesn't yet have that or we don't have access to that information, we tend to show it in a variety of forms so they can imagine where this can live and how it can live across platforms.

Clarity and it's something that people still connect to in the room, but that does not mean it will always show up that way in the final deliverable. I can think of a time we did this work with Tinder, where it was not a commercial spot at all. We basically took the app and turned it into a choose-your-own-adventure movie that you would tune into every Sunday night. And by swiping left or right, you would decide whether you would save the puppy or whether you wouldn't. And people would make these decisions over the course of this window of time, and they would then be matched based on their choices.

Activation, if you will, for that brand, there was not a TV spot associated with it, but it played perfectly to the audience they wanted to reach and their core audience and it delivered for them. So it was a movie on an app, which is very different than a television spot on the screen. Brilliant. I love that. All right, let's go back to the board. 

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Damaune Journey: When advertising is impactful

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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Back to the board. Oh, now you're really messing me up because I've got to like, I picked my easy ones. I like nine. Okay, let's go nine. All right. So I want to talk about your daughter for a second. And I know your kids have both been an inspiration, but specifically, let's talk about your little girl. I know that she was part of the inspiration for you joining this amazing advertising industry.

And I also know that today you're a passionate advocate for authentic representation. We've already talked a little bit about, you know, women in sports. You're also a member of See Her, which we are a member of See Her as well. Share that passion I would love to know has there been a moment in your career where you've sat and thought you know what my daughter would be really proud of this work I'm doing? Well, you know, what a wonderful thing to bring up. So this is my daughter. This is Kennedy. And she makes me happy. There's moments that we probably don't get along, but I love her dearly. And so much of what I do, I think about through her lens. I grew up with a brother; you know, I didn't understand women.

I'm not sure I even got married. So she's like opened up a valve in my life that I didn't know existed. And so. So much of my choice, as you point out, to join advertising was in watching her during the pandemic. We were trying to win this time. If you recall, the pandemic was locking us all in our homes. George Floyd had just been murdered. And I've got this, I don't know, five-year-old daughter who's stuck at home watching media. And so I could choose what shows she watched that had representation that met my needs and standards, but I couldn't choose what advertisements she saw. Those would appear without discretion. And so as I became more aware of our industry and 72 and Sunny, I was like, I could spend some time in my life helping to shape those images and messages because they matter no less than the images on a TV show or a cartoon. So she was largely the inspiration behind the move. And so I'll tell you, there were two moments that really stuck out in my mind as points of pride.

Deanna Flores, who was the star of the Mexican national football team, a flag football team, young Latin woman. My daughter is a Black and Mexican. And so, when I was able to meet Deanna and have her talk to Kennedy, Kennedy views her as her best friend, her pen pal. Even though they've never met in person, this is a human that has transformed how my daughter sees herself and sports and what women can do. It's Diana Flores, and she has a signed football, and she sends video notes to her on WhatsApp. And so they have a relationship, and it's only because we were able to meet Diana and have her as part of our Super Bowl spot that she's impacted my daughter and millions of other young women through her work with football and beyond.

So that's one moment. And then the other was today. I was driving my daughter to camp, my daughter and son to camp. And they were having a conversation behind me, nine-year-old and five-year-old son. And she mentioned that commercials are her 'football game'. And daddy and mommy like to watch football, but I like to watch the commercials. And it really makes me sad when they fast forward through the commercials to get to the game because they're basically making me miss my football game, which is the commercials. And I was like, wow. My daughter thinks about me as a person that makes commercials, even though, let's be honest, I'm in business development and growth. I don't make any spots. But in her mind, I do.

And she's gotten so drawn into commercials and what they mean and what's funny and what's interesting that for her, that's her football game. Whereas I'm looking at, you know, the men and women on the field, she's watching the spots in between. So that to me, that really made a difference. And I think it speaks to a broader point, though, Ashley, which is the work we do actually does matter. I mean, we're trying to move goods and services on behalf of our brand clients. People are paying attention. Young people are paying attention. And if we are lazy with our work. Or if we're crass with our work or if we're unintentional with our work, that is also being picked up by the people around us. And so we should be thoughtful and intentional and deliberate.

It's actually a huge power and responsibility we all have. I have a very similar story, slightly different circumstances, and I won't share everything about it because it'll take too long. But before I came to Curiosity to become an owner, I was working at a media agency. agency. And my daughter at the time was very young and we were sitting on the sofa and we're watching some TV together and a commercial comes on and she says, mommy, skip it. And it had a profound impact on my career. Those simple words. I went to bed that night thinking, 'I have dedicated myself to an industry that my little girl cares nothing about.' She just wants to get through it and get onto the good content. Yeah. And I went and reevaluated my whole life.

I thought about leaving advertising altogether. So many things happened. Well, a few weeks after that, I met Mark Pritchard at P&G and he was talking to the audience at ANA about See Her. And I went and introduced myself to the See Her team. And it was in that moment that I was like, 'I think I have found part of my purpose.' And I've been connected and brought See Her over to Curiosity immediately, and have done a lot of really great work with them and through them. And so, yeah, I hope that one day my daughter says she wants to watch the commercials. She's always pointing them out. She'll be like, Mommy did that one. Mommy did that one. Mommy did that one. Which I appreciate.

Well, hats off to you for bringing in See Her; amazing group of people, Christine and the group are just phenomenal. And they're doing such important work that, uh, they should be highlighted and honored. Agree. And, and the measurement, the gem score, and everything that they do to help us, uh, just, you know, stay accountable. I think it's really important to 100%. All right, let's go back to the game board. Oh my goodness, the game board. All right. Let's see. So I've, I've added in a, um, an odd number. Okay. Let's see. I like to win. So do you. 

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Damaune Journey: How 72andSunny is using AI in their creative

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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So let's go with number one. Let's go. Number one. All right. So when 72 and Sonny joined Stagwell, they called the agency the Creative Horsepower. So I'm curious. This is the only AI question in here. But how are you guys using AI right now to fuel that creative machine? I love any question about AI. Primarily because it's like 70% of all questions in the world today. So much. It's so much AI. I just want to point out that three years ago, it was so much metaverse. It really was. Now it's AI. Anywho. I view AI, and I think we at 72 and Sunny view AI like we do most tools, right? Like there was a point in time in our history when people built houses without hammers. And without nails. And then those home builders got their hands on hammers and nails. All of a sudden, they could build a bigger, better house faster. And I think we view AI in the exact same way.

We are artisans. We are experts in our craft, and this is an amazing tool that will allow us to do our craft better and faster than before. And so we use it as such. We don't see it as a replacement for anything, certainly not for human creativity. In fact, AI has not, nor will ever get to the place where it can actually connect emotionally the way a human can or understand nuance and context the way a human being can or groups of human beings can. And so there will always be a place for humans in the loop. Certainly at 72 and Sunny, forever. But we absolutely find value in using the tool to make our lives more efficient and to get to the right answers sometimes faster.

It's a great tool and we want to use it. I mean, there was a point in time. It's funny to think about where we used like tools that didn't allow you to collaborate. And now we use those same tools for, we use, we're a Google company. We tend to use a lot of Google tools that allows us to move much more quickly and efficiently. Didn't replace us, it just made us more efficient. So for us, that's kind of how we think about it. And I know in other parts of the business, of our businesses, if you look broadly across the Stagwell family and other sorts of, marketing services companies, there's places where AI will have a much more profound and deeper impact and their place of war have less so.

But I think in the creative space, it'll be a tool that we use to get to the best place. And frankly, we have the fortune, the good fortune of working with some of the pioneers, the technical pioneers in the AI space, which gives us a firsthand look at what's coming down the road. And we can be kind of a client zero or customer zero those tools as we develop materials going forward. So it's really awesome. I know you mentor a lot of like younger creatives and younger people coming into the industry. What would you say to a younger creative that's fearful that AI could take their job? Yeah, I'll say that AI won't take your job. The person knows how to use it well.

And if you're a person coming up today and you don't know how to use AI, it's like someone coming up in the 90s that doesn't know how to use the Internet. Like, you're going to get smoked. So understand it, you know, its powers, its weaknesses, its drawbacks and its benefits, and then apply those with your brilliant creative brain and you're going to find yourself pretty well positioned. In the future. Well said. All right, back to the board. Back to the board. Let's go. Oh my goodness. So I've killed row one just about. I feel like row two has gotten some love. It's time to dance in row, sorry, row three, time to dance in row two. So what's your favorite number, Ashley? Well, you already picked my favorite number. Mine's number nine.

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Damaune Journey: The origins of Sport Beach 

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

So we want to go number five. Oh, you're on five. Yeah. Sounds like number five. I don't, I have no idea. We're going to find out. Oh, here we go. Alright. If you're watching, look at this photo. If you're not watching, Damien's going to explain this photo. So tell us, tell our listeners what's happening in this photo. And then I'll read the question. So in this photo, this was taken, I don't know, a month ago or so, not even quite that long. I had the great benefit of interviewing Matt Spiegel from TransUnion and my man Chad Ochocinco-Johnson, that great Cincinnati Bengal. And so this was a photo taken at the very end of our panel on identity. And I'll tell you more about that after you ask your question. All right.

So the question here is you're kind of, the inventor of Sport Beach, if my research is correct. What would you say? Who's like the most interesting guest to hit the sand? And maybe what's the most surprising thing you've heard while on Sport Beach? Wow. Well, I want to give full credit. I'm about, you know, they say that it's better to give than to receive. And so there are some other people who are behind this beautiful thing called Sport Beach. Glenn Cole, co-founder of 72 and Sunny, and I had the initial idea. And we went to our current CEO, Evan, who's amazing. And we said, we've got this idea. And she's like, it's wonderful, but we can't afford it. Let's find some partners. So we went to Stagwell and said, hey, we've got an idea.

Let's work together on this. And Beth Sidhu and Brian Linder and Jay Levitan, Reagan Considine, and a bunch of others, a tremendous group of people at Stagwell and partner agencies within Stagwell got together and built this thing called Sport Beach, which has been doing pretty freaking great in Cannes the last few years. We're really proud of it. It brings sports figures, and athletes, and leagues, and teams all together in one space to both celebrate sport, and then also to talk business and have a darn good time in the middle. We play ball there. That's the critical part is you have to play sport at Sport Beach. So one of the cool things I hooped with James Worthy. What? Every day you get a chance to play basketball with Hall of Famer Big Game James or golf with Annika Sorenstam.

I had a chance to interview Spike Lee. Who's like a personal hero and in many ways redefined how the world thinks about Malcolm X and the Black experience in the world today. I mean, The opportunity to interact with these people as people and not as if they're zoo animals that you gawk at from behind a screen. The barrier is removed. It provides a level of humanity and interaction that is just foreign to most of us. Even high-powered executives don't get a chance to meet these people one-to-one. And when you do, you recognize they're human beings that have desires and aspirations, and they like to smoke cigars, or they prefer a certain type of wine, brand and dah, dah, dah, dah. So those sorts of moments are really amazing.

So when you say the most interesting, impossible. Leslie Jones, if you haven't looked at it, was one of our guests this year at 72 and Sunny at Sport Beach. And I had her in our content studio and she spent, of the 15 minutes, she probably spent five minutes just clowning the spelling and the pronunciation of my name. Like I got joked on by an SNL legend and I couldn't say shit, but like, you're kind of funny. I can't be bad. I couldn't be bad. Right? So those are moments in time that are just hard to put your hands on in any other setting. So it's cool. And my hope is. That's what I've heard and what I hope to continue being true is that the athletes benefit, the athletes and like celebrity folk benefit greatly from having the direct access to the marketers and to the agencies without a barrier.

And the agencies and the brands have great benefits from access to the athletes, deals get done, opportunities are created, and expanded from those interactions. So my hope is it continues to be a success. And I hope to join you next year. I want you to be my guest. And we'll goof off and have a good time. An honor. I will be there. I'll throw a football with you. And maybe we could get Joe Burrow out there. I'm predicting a Super Bowl win for the Bengals this year. Yeah. Okay. That's good. Joe Burrow was there, not this year, but last year. I know. I'll tell you that Saquon Barkley was my coach in our sand flag football game in Year One. I caught an amazing touchdown thrown to me by Vanita Crouch, arguably one of the world's greatest quarterbacks, flag football quarterbacks.

Saquon Barkley ran down the sand and chest bumped me, like this. We're about the same size. But when he chest bumped me, he came back down, and I flew backwards because his chest is a little bigger than mine. And then two years later, he won a Super Bowl. So I'm suggesting to you that if you want your team to win the Super Bowl. One of their stars should come to Sport Beach and maybe be my teammate. And I think that's the key to their success. All right. All right. You're on that, right? You can make that happen. I can do it. Okay. All right. Let's go. We already had Joe Burrow. Can we get like Jamar Chase? Yeah. Jamar Chase would be great. It'd be perfect. Let's do that. Okay.

All right. I'm all in. I think I'm already getting emails from people asking if they can go with me to Cannes next year. So they're welcome to, we'd love to have them. Oh, I love it. All right, my friend, we've got time for one more. 

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Damaune Journey: 72andSunny’s unique process to breakthrough work 

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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We've covered all the rows, but we've not covered all the columns, and that's bothering me about some version of symmetry so let's go with number seven. All right, number seven. Okay, so what is something about 72 and Sunny's internal creative process that outsiders would be shocked to know? So you're basically asking for our secret sauce? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can give that to us, right? Yeah, I mean, everybody gives their secret sauce in public forums to their friends. No, I'm just kidding.

I think. Something that most people would be shocked to know is that we truly and fundamentally believe: that the next great creative idea can come from absolutely anywhere and from absolutely anyone. And so we have a process that allows us to put our work on the wall. And anybody that happens to walk by that wall, as long as you're part of the company, can comment, can ask a question, can throw an idea. And you'd be shocked how many people without a creative title come up with an idea or advance an idea that really moves something into the stratosphere and I think it's part of us having a fundamental belief in optimism. You know, there's opportunity in every challenge. Then we should provide opportunities for everybody to see both the challenge and the opportunity and then weigh in on it.

Who cares if your job is, whether you're in the finance department or if you're an EA or a biz dev growth type guy, you might actually see something from your perspective, provide some insight that can advance an idea that can really create breakthrough work. So we're really proud about that. I really like that you inspire that type of creativity from anywhere. So is it a physical wall? Like if I'm envisioning it, what does it look like? You'll have to come and visit our office or offices and then show you exactly. But in fact, there's a wall. And you're putting up storyboards? What are you putting up there? There's all I mean, You're getting into the proprietary method now. I can't share all of that.

But let me just say that when you're open and willing to display the thinking, and invite others in to be a part of that thinking, you get some really amazing ideas that come from very unexpected places. So, I know some organizations are a bit more structured and this is my department and I toss my output over to you and you do your thing and toss it. We're like, screw that. Drop all those walls. Let's collaborate on all dimensions and we get to better outcomes and oftentimes much faster as a result. That's great. Well, kudos to you guys. That's cool. All right. Well, we like to end every podcast with a little of this or that, there's no right or wrong answer. Uh, first thing that comes to your mind. Um, all right.

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Damaune Journey: Closing remarks

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Learn more about 72andSunny on their website

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Are you ready? I am. Okay. Here we go. All right. This or that: a can lion or an Emmy. Amen. Uh, Nikes or Converse? Well, you know, Converse are owned by Nike. But I rock a lot more Nikes than I do Converses. I respect Converse, but I rock a lot more Nikes. I know you like shoes. All right. Detroit or New York style pizza? Detroit. All day. Yeah. Go blue. I'm all about Michigan things. Super Bowl Sunday or NBA Finals Game 7? Ho ho ho! That was so fun. I would say NFL Super Bowl Sunday. All right. That's the right answer for lots of reasons. It also has the benefit of being true. But I'll tell you what, I love them both.

Like, sign me up for a center court seat for Game Seven with two teams that I like or one that I hate a lot-either way, one that I love or one that I hate, I'm in for that all right, last one, 72 and sunny LA or Brooklyn, Bon f**k! Good answer. Not even a question. And Amsterdam, which is our European hub, and Sydney, which is our APAC hub. You know, these are-we love all of our children the same, and our partners. This was so much fun. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

If they want to connect. Yes, well, you can reach out to 72 and Sunny on our website, 72andsunny. com, or our IG, which is very active and lots of fun, or LinkedIn. Me personally, you can find me on LinkedIn. It's just my name. There's not any other Damien spelled like that; journeys in LinkedIn. And on Instagram, I do believe I'm at dyjourney. I think that's true. Journey. Damien spelled this way on Instagram too. I'll fact-check and we'll link to all of that in the show notes too. So everybody has easy access to it. Excellent. Thanks so much, and looking forward to doing this again. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Bye-bye.

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