Interview with Rex Cook, AvatarLabs

Titans: What do you think is going to sneak up on the market that no-one sees?

Cook: Some grassroots, millennial driven app or platform that acts like a referral system that dominates and guides Gen Z’s spending and cultural attitudes.

Titans: What is the most important rule in your life?

Cook: Trying to do the right thing. Life and business are marathons, and eschewing the short term fix for what’s right longer term is challenging. Barack’s “When they go low, we go high”. Easy to say.At work we only had one rule for the first 6-7 years – no assholes. Life’s too short. And even though ad agencies are filled with inflated egos, we made a clear choice early on to not support blowhards internally, no matter how talented.

Titans: How many advertising platforms does your agency currently use?

Cook: Multiple of course. FB and Snapchat are the big dogs, but there are always new platforms and ways to reach people.

Titans: How do you track the efficacy of cross-channel advertising?

Cook: We are a creative shop, so that task falls more on our client’s media partners. Before the work begins, we like to collaborate with our clients on what channels would serve the goals of the campaign best, and proceed from there.

Titans: What types of things do you care about when running hundreds of thousands of dollars in Ad Spend?Cook: Generally falls on the media partners, but you know, the regular type of questions. Would it have been better to buy a single 15 second Super Bowl spot? How many Teslas could we buy with that money? The usual.

Titans: What are some challenges you have with your clients?

Cook: Our clients are predominantly entertainment, so we are constantly looking at emerging tech and platforms. What is new and buzz worthy while still getting the most butts-in-seats.