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TRANSCRIPT:

DOUG: What’s your definition of like geeks, nerds and the whole fandom space?

KAT: The reason I wanted to kind of lean towards that is because it’s the world in which I have existed and worked in since I began my career. It’s what I gravitate to. It’s what we work on the most, and the way I define it is these hyper passionate pockets of the Internet of society that gravitate towards, you know, it could be superheroes, it could be comic books, it could be the tabletop role playing game space. It could be cosplaying. It could be, you know, a gaming video gaming technology. It’s just it’s just people who Come together and passionately engage in a certain type of brand or a certain type of community. And those are areas that not only I relate to and personally gravitate to, but deeply understand because they’re spaces that I’ve worked in for almost 20 years.

DOUG: Passion is obviously a great sort of predictor of media success. If this passion about something, but having it be in a smaller pocket can make it more challenging. So, what are some of the strategies you use to be successful generating media interest?

KAT: It really boils down to when we’re talking about generating media interest. It boils down to cultivating relationships with the type of media that speak to those audiences. We’re not necessarily reaching out to a New York Times or an LA Times or, you know, a Washington Post when we’re when we’re trying to generate media interest around these different types of communities. It’s very much like geek related publications. You know, you know, ComicBook.com or IGN. And cultivating those relationships and making sure that when you’re reaching out to them, what you have for them is really juicy, really interesting, because we live in a day and age where just putting out a press release or blindly sending out pitches to the largest, you know, list of media is the last way to get coverage. It does not work anymore. I have to inform people of that on a regular basis. And so, we’re in a place where we get to work with really exciting creators and, game designers and, you know, cosplayers and people in the space that are making really interesting things for their community and developing strategies and pitches that highlight the uniqueness of that we can actually offer a member of the media some sort of exclusive or some sort of, um, you know, interesting tidbit that only they will be able to publish. That’s really the way in which we, uh, generate interest with those outlets is cultivating those relationships and offering them something special as it relates to those different brands and communities.

DOUG: You mentioned the word creator. And what is the role that the creator economy is playing and trying to drive stories in this geek nerd fandom space?

KAT: What we’re seeing now more than ever is there’s these overlapping concentric circles of the geek nerd fandom space and the creator economy. So, a lot of folks that we work with, or a lot of, you know, folks that work with the folks that we work with are huge creators in their own right. And when I say creators, you know, they have an online presence, a massive online presence, whether they have a YouTube channel, Twitch channel, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, you name it. And they’re deeply engaged on those platforms. So, therefore, they have cultivated this audience that engages with them on a regular basis and therefore, you know, within the creator economy, they’re considered creators. But what they put out there, what they generate, what they create is very much kind of in the geek nerd fandom space. So, those are that’s a lot of what we work with, especially because not only is that my background and the worlds that I have worked in, having been at machinima, which was one of the first multi-channel networks on YouTube all the way to, you know, being at Marvel, that was, you know, hyper focused on superheroes and when, you know, early days of Marvel. So, there’s a lot of overlap there. That’s kind of led to me being really passionate about working with those types of brands, people, and companies.

DOUG: First, I like to allow our guests to share something maybe a little bit personal. Um, give you a couple of options. One might be something that people don’t necessarily know about you. The other is prove your geek potential. Do you have an example of like the geeky thing you’ve got?

KAT: I’m going to go ahead and go with the something that someone might not know about you, and I think it actually blends a little bit into the second question. About six, five, six years ago, I noticed, you know, I was really I’ve always been very focused on my career. I’ve given it my all since the moment I graduated college. I’ve cultivated really beautiful friendships. I love my friends. I’m very active. I like to stay active on a daily basis, have a, you know, a wonderful relationship with my husband. Like all of those areas have been fulfilling for me, but I just noticed that there was kind of a creative void where for the longest time I thought, okay, I’m just I’m a communicator. I’m, you know, highly driven, but maybe creative in the, in the sense of like being a painter or a musician or some sort of artist is not something that, you know, is in the cards for me. Until I started watching improv and it like, clicked for me something about the art of improv, something about having to make things up on the spot, the spontaneity of it I really gravitated to. And so ever since then, I’ve been taking classes. I perform with a team. Um, I it’s not, you know, it’s not something that I necessarily publicize or share openly on a regular basis with, you know, on social media or something like that. Because at the end of the day, for me, it’s not necessarily about gaining like professionalism in it and having regular shows. It’s a creative, safe space for me that is kind of sacred in a way that I don’t want to tarnish it by over exerting it, um, to a place where outside criticism could make me feel like it’s not safe anymore. So, I love doing it. I do it sometimes a couple times a week, and every time I’m done with it, I’m just like, so happy and so giddy. And there’s so many aspects of what I’ve learned in improv that I’ve been able to apply to my personal life, to my professional life, uh, that that I find it to be something that has been gratifying not only in a creative way, but across the board.

DOUG: Yes and….

KAT: I see what you did there?

DOUG: Can you give us an improvisational answer to the most effective methods for fostering long term community engagement and loyalty before we wrap up?

KAT: You have to be authentic and genuine to what you’re trying to do, what you’re creating, what you’re passionate about that has to be authentic and genuine. And then you just create and you build and you engage. You have to engage regularly. You have to be consistent. You have to listen to the audience. You don’t always have to incorporate feedback from the audience, because I’ve seen that, um, when someone leaned or a company leaned too far into incorporating feedback from the audience, it, uh, kind of ended up biting them in the butt in the long term, because that became something that was expected. So, I think that there is a balance there, but, uh, you have to listen. You have to call out, you know, when you’re wrong, when you did, you know. Honesty, transparency. I think all of those areas are crucial, especially when you’re kind of first starting out, trying to kind of build an audience and a community. And then as you grow and grow, staying authentic to that, no matter how big your audience might get, no matter how many brand deals you might get or how much media you might generate in terms of coverage around what you’re doing, always kind of staying humble to where you originated, and, and ensuring that the audience understands that as well.

DOUG: Yeah. Well, your authenticity really showed through in this conversation. Thanks so much for being with us.

KAT: Thank you for having me. This has been fun.