We are going into the vault for this week's episode where we'll explore some of the things our COO/VP Jessica loves in the world of marketing. From building connections and relationships with our clients to the variety of people she gets to meet, this episode will delve into the passion and enthusiasm Jessica brings to her role.
This week's cocktail is a classic Gin & Tonic, which is a refreshing and timeless drink that never goes out of style. A perfect combination of botanical gin, crisp tonic water, and a burst of citrus, this cocktail is sure to quench your thirst and awaken your taste buds.
The creation of the Gin and Tonic can be traced back to the early 19th century when British officers serving in the Presidency armies in India faced the challenge of consuming quinine, a bitter compound used to combat malaria. The officers discovered that mixing quinine with tonic water helped in making it more tolerable; however, the bitter taste still remained unpleasant. To enhance the drink's flavor, they began adding a combination of water, sugar, lime, and gin to the quinine. This ingenious mixture not only made the quinine more palatable but also gave birth to the beloved Gin and Tonic cocktail. By blending the medicinal necessity with the delightful qualities of gin, these officers inadvertently stumbled upon a timeless beverage that continues to be enjoyed around the world today.
Rich: Can record, it's fine.
Catelin: You want to, you want to. She's a nightmare dressed like a daydream. And then that year for Halloween, she was a nightmare dressed as a pegacorn.
Rich: All right, I feel like we should have saved that for our tangent, or we can just tell people hello, hello.
Catelin: And welcome back.
Rich: We're here with Rich and Caitlin again on cocktails, tangents and answers.
Catelin: We were just We skipped ahead to the tangent which is Taylor's left into it.
Rich: We were talking about nightmares and daydreams. And, of course, t-swift came up because Caitlin is obsessed, so we had a what is it dressed like a nightmare.
Catelin: A nightmare dressed as a daydream.
Rich: A nightmare dressed as a daydream. A nightmare dressed like a daydream. There we go.
Catelin: That is the, And I'm trying to remember, I'm trying to find the it's blank space.
Rich: Oh, yeah, yeah, I just heard like the opening backbeat. And we would put that music on here, but we don't have the license for it.
Catelin: We can't afford that. It's not going to happen.
Rich: Producer Zach is just shaking. He said like no, And I will not open the checkbook for that one. What do you like That might actually violate it as well. I think that we're not allowed to do a cover. Well, maybe, I don't know, would that just be a cover?
Catelin: I think it's like there's something about like artistic license with covers, Cause like cup, I mean. Covers are all over YouTube, People cover.
Rich: Yeah, and I don't think that they pay to license those. I think that it is allowed.
Catelin: Cause it's like little sweet indie teenagers who have no money and like a All right.
Rich: Well, if you're a YouTube cover artist, let us know how that works. And if you would like to sing blank space, by T Swift.
Catelin: I offered to sing it. Oh, that's what you do. No one would enjoy it, but I don't know.
Rich: We don't really sing on our podcast. Everyone's not always singing at the breaks, but usually it's just stupid stuff, all right. So this episode, we should probably talk about what it is And then we'll get into a cocktail, since we've just tangent it all over the place.
Catelin: We're good at it.
Rich: It's what you're for It is. I hope that's what people are coming for. So this one is another kind of light episode. We've got Jessica with us, our account director and she's operating officer who is in charge of keeping everything moving and running with the biz for our clients.
Catelin: And we're doing a little bit you, she's like the, she's like the best opposite For you. Cause, like where you are, like big picture, like let's do all these cool fun things and spend this money, and then just cause like Hey, um, ps, we have to make the money before we spend the money, and the two together Really funny. I think she's pretty good at it.
Rich: She's like, she's like. so that one big thing is 43 little things and we have capacity for two of them. So which two do you want to start with? Um, that's definitely a part of her role, um, and so we'll have to see if, like, one of the things
Catelin: So no, keeping you in check is not one of the things she loves to do.
Rich: Yeah, and it's like, I don't know, like being confrontational with the boss. I know it's hard or with the owner of a company, but at the same time, like you know, I welcome you to the company. And like you know, I welcome it.
Catelin: I don't know if you can get a little snippy occasionally, but like you can, basically just come at me with facts. You get snippy, but then you'll come back and be like you are right.
Rich: Yeah, I mean, and I don't take it personally and I don't do personal attacks. I really tried very hard in my career not to attack people, but it's really just like, okay, you're challenging me and now you're going to make me think about it. I'm kind of irritated that you're making me think about it, but okay, let's do this and let's have this and go through it.
Catelin: Yeah, sometimes when you have tasks in front of me or like they're the same as mine, I'll just put time in for you and close them, because I know that you don't think that's solving a problem though. It's not, but it is getting me closer to what I need to do, so you're right.
Rich: It gets it checked off. I do not think that time sheets are going to be on Jessica's list of things she loves. That doesn't sound like one. I don't know any agency people who are like yes, my time sheet.
Catelin: You know what I love? Julian is making a record of everything that I've done in the last four weeks. I have to say very quickly, because this deserves celebration. My time sheet is up to date. Today is the 24th day of the month and mine is complete through yesterday, because today's not over yet. Fantastic, how would you like a gold star?
Rich: I'll give you a gold star. I'll actually find a gold star and stick it on your desk.
Catelin: Thank you, did you say I turned on daily reminders, like if you don't have your hours in for the day, you get an email. The thing that bothers me about the daily reminder is like I wish it could be one of our faces, but it's just this, like amorphous office man with his arms crossed, and I'm like don't cross your arms at me. My time sheet is up to date.
Rich: Leave me alone. I did that mostly for me. It's also there's an end-of-the-week one, but everybody else has to suffer along with me. I mean, if you've got everything in, then you wouldn't have to see it, just ignore it, but it goes out. There's one that goes out at the end of the week too, if you don't have hours for the week and that you get that. So I look forward to that one on Friday. I'm sure I'll have it in my inbox.
Catelin: She's so cheerful about being like hey, get your shit done. But she's like the nicest about it. She is. She's
Rich: We try. So I mean, I don't remember. Like what do you? Do you have any guesses at what Jessica loves, what she's going to talk about in this episode?
Catelin: She's a helper, she loves helping.
Rich: What about? Okay, so there is one thing, a segue alert, segue alert that you've helped her love.
Catelin: There's a specific liquor that you have turned her on to. Oh yeah, yeah, I forced her to like gin.
Rich: Yes, you did, and you've also. I kind of discovered gin before you forced me to like it because it was like during, like pandemic, we found all of the wonderful flavor of gin.
Catelin: Nothing else to do.
Rich: Right, so you got to make up cocktails, so yeah, so, but you've reinforced my love of gin. And then, anytime I'm like, oh, you could do that with vodka, you're like no, but why would you like this trash? Sorry. I mean vodka is technically tasteless and odorless, so it doesn't really add anything but alcohol to what you put in it.
Catelin: Yeah, it's just like there is a Ron Swanson quote that I love wherein he says that clear liquor is for rich women on diets, and he is just like full of disdain for anything that's not Scotch or whiskey.
Rich: Well, how about?
Catelin: I still like. I agree 50%, because gin is almost always clear.
Rich: But yeah, some are not. I mean, there's like the purple gins and the dark gins and the orange gins. There's yeah, there is a black one. So what about this? What about this with vodka? Is this acceptable if you make it not clear by turning it into lemon cello?
Catelin: But I don't know. Yeah, start there typically.
Rich: I mean, if you're in Italy, they're using grain alcohol, they're using like ever clear, like it is potent stuff, but essentially so. I have friends who just did this in San Diego. They took lemons off of their tree because that's what you do there and they zested them into a jar with this, or like the peel, or maybe I'm thinking of olio olio sake.
Catelin: I'm going to find it.
Rich: So they zested, for sure. And then there was, they put in the clear alcohol and it sat for in a dark room for like 30 days or something just to get all the flavor and oils out from the lemons. And then they strained the zest out because you don't need the zest in there and then added simple syrup. And now it sits for another 30 days in a dark closet. And then they will have super sweet, super potent lemony alcohol. So my question originally is, is that an acceptable use of vodka for you? Or did you just do that with gin and you'd have your pine needles and everything in there too? But why can't?
Catelin: They do it with a really lovely gin. Sipsmith makes a really delicious citrus gin. That, which is yeah, so I'm also wondering. The thing I was thinking of is oleosaccharin, which is that? But then you add sugar and it is delicious, except is there alcohol in it?
Rich: No, I'm reading Rabbit hole. From tangent to rabbit hole.
Catelin: I think this is maybe just it's peels and sugar.
Rich: So yeah, I think there is that, and then when youput the alcohol in it, it becomes limoncello.
Catelin: Yeah, maybe you do it in that order.
Rich: Maybe it's actually. you do it in the sugar first and you make that thing, and then the simple syrup and the alcohol sit together.
Catelin: I don't remember This would be so good, though. This random article that I found that taught me how to pronounce oleosaccharin suggests using it as a sweetener for iced tea or an ingredient in vinaigrette, which would also be very good, so it's like you sit in sugar and, like the oil from the lemon peel, leaches out into the sugar. My mouth is watering because I love lemon.
Rich: So we've just discovered the beauties of champagne vinegar which we didn't realize was a thing until we had a recipe that called for it. And we now have two bottles because we do like everybody does and forget what's in your pantry and you're like, oh, we needed that. And you buy it. And then you're like, oh, except, we did that last week. So we did it actually just on a salad. We just poured a little bit of champagne vinegar and a little bit of balsamic vinegar on his dressing and that was it. It was so good. We've actually never made the dish that we needed the champagne vinegar for either. The recipe that we had that for is not anything we've cooked yet. We will and we have it. We just now that we have the vet. Why would we get out of it when we didn't have it? So what about? so, Jin, you can do a lot of things with gin, as we've learned.
Catelin: You can do anything you can do with vodka. You can do better with gin.
Rich: There is Caitlin's mantra. I do recommend that everybody explore gin, so I don't like your classic like sucking on pine needles gin flavor And I've learned that those are not great gins typically. but there's a whole bunch of other gin to be explored. And what is the best way to explore a new gin? Caitlin.
Catelin: I just prefer it with a little tonic and the spritz of lemon lime. It could go either way.
Rich: Lime, i think, is the traditional means, but unless you're doing this like an orange gin, then you would want to like a little orange wedge or something in there, versus lemon or lime, i feel like the citrus, is a garnish and is up to the citrus will do and participant.
Catelin: Yeah, yeah.
Rich: And it was interesting I learned that the like when you squeeze the lemon or lime in the gin, the oil actually has it does enhance the drink and participate. Yeah, i was.
Catelin: My husband made a cocktail the other night that didn't call for mint, but he used it as a garnish and you know he did the like the bartender, like they clap the mint to like activate it, And he's like I tried it without. Have you not ever seen this happen?
Rich: I've never heard the term clap the mint.
Catelin: I don't. there's probably like some schmaltzy bartender word for it, but that's literally what they do They like, put them in one hand and they just like, and then it opens the mint up like interesting, I mean the most.
Rich: I see mint is in it like a mojito and then they just throw it in the bottom and they muddle it and that's what activates it. I've never seen the clapping the mint. I'll have to do that now.
Catelin: You got a friend of us.
Rich: I feel like we venture down like into a territory that we're just barely like writing that PG line with you know what did you do last night? Oh, I clapped the mint. Excuse me, What was that? I don't know. Yeah.
Catelin: The moral of that story is that it released something like the oils and he did say. He said that it changed the way the drink He's like it was a lot brighter and fresher with the mint, which, obviously, but it's just interesting to like. Follow that through and verify it with your taste buds.
Absolutely All right, so we'll have a gin and tonic and garnish it with whatever citrus you'd like and enjoy this interview with our Chief Operating Officer, jessica. Welcome back. We are here with our Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Jessica Simons, and we're going to talk about some things that she loves, and I'm really looking forward to this.
Rich: I love the love episode.
Catelin: I know it's just like warm and fuzzy and everybody's happy. We've got a little gin cocktail. It's a good day. It's a good day. Thanks for being here.
Rich: Let's start it off, what do you love, tell me about it.?
Jessica: Okay. So I guess first on my list is I love when companies use original photography in their things, because it feels like the company has so much more personality when you use some of your own stuff. It doesn't have to be everything, but you should show your people. There's a time and place and absolutely, yeah, i think it just personalizes the whole feel, especially like you know, website application, like being able to see the people you're actually going to work with Exactly. That's really valuable to me as a consumer when I go to somebody's about page and I can actually see like, yeah, if you're asking me to contact you, i want to see who you are. Yeah, i think you do. Do I trust you? Are you sifty? I don't know.
Rich: Yeah, I think the people and I think the environment too, because the environment that they kind of live in or work in, I guess, but like where their function happens, says a lot about who they are and how they function and how they deal with it, just like our houses say a lot about us. It's like I want to see where you're at It. Just double if you're retail. Like, is this confusing? Is this clutter? Is this open? Like, what am I getting myself into coming in that door?
Catelin: Yeah, Well, i think, especially in our specific business too, we do a lot of professional services work where people are working directly with an advisor or an attorney or name your service Somebody that you want to be able to trust with either your money or whatever Your life. Yeah, yeah.
Rich: Yeah, you got to be able to make that connection. Like it is horrible to see stock photography in place of people Like, especially if it's like people stock photography on our like our team page And you're like It feels spammy, Like are you real?
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: Can I try?
Catelin: Russian bot. I don't like this, Yeah exactly. Down to your Yeah.
Rich: Exactly. It's like the Twitter handle with all the numbers at the end.
Catelin: It's like you're a bot.
Rich: You're a bot or you're a human. I don't know anything So.
Jessica: Yeah, so just like things I love in marketing in general and kind of working in the industry for so many years now, is the variety of people that work in marketing, whether it's the agencies I've been with or like the clients that I've worked with. You get a lot of different perspectives, you get a lot of different ideas. So it's never stale, it's always fresh and new, and even if you're doing the same thing kind of over and over again for a client, the people make the difference. Yeah, it's interesting. I think what's been fulfilling for me is like getting to learn about so many different industries and businesses As the Like on the account side I wear a lot of hats at the agency, with them also in my life and just being able to like know a little bit about a lot of things. But also there's something really rewarding in getting to watch people do the thing that they're best at And I think it's like I don't know I'm nerd out about that.
Rich: Yeah, and looking at somebody and going, god, i could never do that, but I'm so impressed that you're doing that. Well, i'm so thankful that you're doing that Right now.
Catelin: That's a service or a niche that needs to be filled, and I'm really thankful that there are people that are passionate about insurance or construction and building codes And, like all you know, i don't have the heart for that.
Rich: Yeah, we get to see people geek out on some of the weirdest stuff. We're like, okay, you do you That's awesome. Yeah, but it's really like a celebration of how it all comes together. Yeah.
Jessica: Well, i think that kind of leads into one of the other things that I had on my list, which is the relationships. Like my role at the agencies I work for, and especially now, all revolves around relationships with people, whether it's building a relationship with my client or helping them build a relationship with their customers or our vendors, and kind of being able to grow those bonds, like if I can go into a meeting and talk to my client about their kids baseball tournament or where they went to eat with their husband that last weekend like that makes me feel like I'm doing my job right.
Rich: Yeah, that's what I'll talk really builds relationships to Like. There's a moment where you think, god, am I just wasting their time on this conference call? But if they're truly engaged in it, like, it's really good And we tend to not spend more than a few minutes on that stuff. But it's especially if, like, you're waiting for people to dial in or join the Zoom. Having those conversations can be. it can be really fun And it just gives us that human side of the business that we really, really need.
Jessica: Well, it builds that trust with us and our team too, which I think is a huge deal in our business. I mean, you're paying for our ideas, you're paying for time, so having that trust with people is key, yeah.
Rich: So like a good trust fall, or maybe a good icebreaker, or am I getting ahead? That's another episode, right?
Jessica: Icebreakers are not a good choice. Icebreakers are not a good choice. I would. I would. I would self-identify as an extroverted introvert and because of that, icebreakers are one of my least favorite things.
Rich: I think we'll get to that in another episode, because I'm pretty sure things. Jessica hates is coming up, i'm gonna have to add that to my list, a note to sell.
Catelin: So I like shouldn't ask you about your, like, top five dinner party guests. I mean probably not if you want me to answer that. If you told me to turn to you I was not gonna answer that I'm gonna need, i guess. I think I have a call. I have to go.
Rich: The dinner party gets. I know is a question because and she her problem is she's like well, on Tuesday These are my five, and then by Saturday I need these, but only for cocktails, and then I want these to come at dinner, but the cocktail people have to go like yeah, caitlin loves people and loves doing things with like Those kind of icebreakers are right up here.
Jessica: Yeah, it's to the heart of people, which is maybe that's we need to reframe an icebreaker. See, I think I like it without the pressure if you know of it being forced, like when it's natural.
Yeah, it's so much easier. All right, it's got time for maybe two. Two more loves. Okay, we make it quick. Something else I love about marketing is when content makes people feel something. Do commercials regularly make me cry? Yes, they absolutely do. I think it like ties in with I'm just like overly sensitive about things like that, and also One of the reasons I got into this business is because I really enjoy figuring out what makes people tick, kind of like I have my psychology degree and all that stuff.
Rich: You knew that a while, since I looked at your resume.
Catelin: Yeah, so like Making people feel something or act on something and realizing why is so fun.
Rich: Yeah, so like the chime commercial. Are you familiar with that one where they go through the whole like people meeting and like all that stuff and like that a baby, and then they're the fake Little tear on that one?
Catelin: Yeah, the Google commercials the Google, google, i hate you, get me right now. My favorite was the Think it was a super book or show from Apple. The iPhone like toddler proof iPhone, it's real is like running around like to the lake, dragging the phone through the vanister on the stairs and like running away Screaming I'm pretty sure we both have that exact Right now, right now.
Rich: I think sometimes content can seem so dry. I mean in commercials or TV commercials what we always think of yeah, I mean That's me but even when you get to like websites, websites and you know for you, especially Bridging that gap between the client and the customer need and then the creative team getting all that put together, i can see that that's a huge like I Pride moment.
Jessica: But it's also a very big like I love what I do when I see it all come together in this positive To be super cheesy, but I mean it does happen it's like the They go back to the relationship with the relationship with your clients helps to cut through that noise, because it is like Everything is content, now right, and it just gets so. It's so much harder to like get to the Derivative, you know, or not be derivative, you know? yeah, cut to the heart.
Rich: Yep, everybody's a creator and like, but some are creating absolute crap. That like doesn't do anything for anybody and I think that those moments that give you that emotion and give you that feel Or take you to another place, i like stuff that makes me escape, like I'm like get lost in the book, get lost reading kind of person. Yep, choose your adventure books as a kid like I.
Know. But like the nice thing about it and what I always did is I would pick a path. But I would. I was nerdy about it. I'd write down what path I took and I go back to the book and I take a different path. And then you've got to like cross the path.
Catelin: You know, like watching time travel shows so much.
Rich: I mean, it might be Time travel is just like there's so many problems.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: Yeah, like so many problems. Yeah, so, but I digress a little tangent there.
Catelin: No, but it ties into my last one, which is like solving problems for clients, and I'm not the person that's usually Creating those pieces to help solve the problems, but doing the strategy and thinking about it and seeing it all come together gives me a lot of pride in Like our team and the work that I do. So being able to kind of see it all Actually happen and work for clients is something that I just love.
Rich: Yeah, and I like being able to come to you and being like, hey, i've been thinking through this workflow and I Think I've got it, but I kind of need some other eyes. And then you've done more than I have and you're like, oh, like, this is redundant, you can just drag from over here, put them down this path. And here's where this comes together And, oh, this should be in this workflow. You should actually push them into a second workflow, because then you can opt into both.
And I'm like, holy shit, like this is amazing And it's like that your enthusiasm like to meet me enthusiastic and it's weird to be like We've created this like rude Goldberg machine.
Catelin: I.
Rich: When you tested and run stuff through it. It works. Yeah, the same as like if the marbles starts in the attic and finishes in the backyard. Are you like?
Catelin: I was doing one actually this morning and I like being over and I was like Jesse, look at this workflow. And he was like that makes me want to die and I was like, isn't it? beautiful, it's great. So, chinky, i have that like 30,000 foot view capability like I just I can never pull back so that, like big picture of you is so valuable when you're talking about long-term project planning or, you know, campaign planning like that Pullback is so necessary for those long-term goals for clients.
Rich: Yeah, and I think it's like if you're in the weeds of something like a workflow, it can. You can get caught on where you're at, but if you can't step back and really think through the problem differently, that's a lot of my clients How it's. We're different brains in the room. Yeah, i think about stuff differently. That's why it's not just me like running a solo thing, because I know I need other people who think about stuff differently. I did, and that's where we get those wins. And those wins that we try to celebrate those because they're really fun, and just we just kind of geek out on stupid stuff. But I'm here for it, nice.
Catelin: This is great. Thank you for sharing. That's what you want, thank you.
Rich: That's it for another episode of cocktails, tangents and answers.
Catelin: We hope you enjoyed listening. We enjoyed recording and this week's cocktail.
Rich: You can find me on Twitter or Instagram at rich Mackey. I try not to make it too difficult, it's just my name and you can find our agency at antidote, underscore 7 1, that's a N T I D O T E underscore 7 1 on Twitter and Instagram as well and you can find me at home sipping a craft cocktail Prepared by my in-home bartender is my husband.
We'll be back next week with another episode and a whole new cocktail recipe, plenty more tangents and, of course, answers to those pressing marketing questions and if you'd like to send us a question, you can go to CTA podcast dot live to get in touch. Or you can call our hotline at 402 718 997 1 and leave us a voicemail. Your questions might be used for future episodes of the podcast. You.