Recently I watched 3 versions of King Kong, the OG from 1933, the campy Jeff Bridges one from 1976 and the epic Peter Jackson version. After finishing them all I sat with it for a while on which one I gravitated towards the most. Interestingly enough it was the 1976 version with the OG being a close second, now why this is interesting is because it arguably had the worst acting and screenplay (the actress literally says she was fatefully saved by the movie “Deep Throat”…) but it had this charm about it that was undeniable. It was the most human out of all three, and there was this artisanal texture to it that made it feel timeless. I wanted to unpack this not just in a subjective coffee shop debate with your friend kind of way… I wanted to get into the science, the nitty gritty detail of it all.
Before the cursor, there was the hand.
Before pixels, paint. Before automation, intention.
Alright I’m done with my 2001 a Space Odyssey opening, here’s where I’m going with this:
In a world where AI dreams in perfect gradients and frictionless forms, something essential is at risk of being forgotten.. The lost item being the residue of the human spirit which is left behind in every beautiful imperfection. This is not a rejection of digital tools—but a reckoning with their limits. The way we shape a medium shapes us in return and our human experience. Art and craftsmanship isn’t relegated to the cesspool of content; it’s a mirror of ourselves, the shards cutting into our flesh as we pour ourselves into our work. Digital in its own right offers us the ability to scale our imagination , however there is a time and place to leverage it.
This is a meditation on that divide.
Let’s start this grand discussion by addressing the image above.
“Ai vs real photo.”
The image was generated by AI relatively easily but the idea came completely from me. Its purpose was to show the dichotomy of our shift from a rugged artform to precision. There was no image like this in stock footage obviously and I wasn’t going to sit down and create this myself for our brand agencies article. Branding is a fast paced world that doesn’t wait for anyone and we have to call a spade a spade moving forward. However, this is a great use case of when quickly generated content with intentionality can amplify a deliverable. So when do artisanal touchpoints come into play and what are they?
Simply put, artisanal touchpoints are the steps in the creative process and our decision to either handle them with digital precision and speed or artisan nuance and intentionality. I believe the decision isn’t so black and white ,at the very least it’s definitely not one size fits all. So when do we go digital and when the hell do we commit to tactile?
The craving for the perfect taps into something deep, something primal. It’s hardwired into our very being by our culture and biology. From architecture to facial attractiveness the brain perceives structural hierarchy and depth with certain reverence.
Symmetry provides a balance our neurology desires, and is often associated with health and genetic fitness. Our brains are wired to favor symmetrical faces, balanced proportions, and clean lines. This is not only in humans but also architecture and compositional mediums like photography, painting and graphic design. Symmetry often provides a pleasing guideline for artists, architects, and designers to follow to garner eye pleasing results.
The popular belief is that beauty is only married to symmetry. This is actually a logical fallacy; symmetry can be aesthetically pleasing in many contexts, but it’s not a universal measure of beauty. Our eye craves imperfection in subtle asymmetries and textures that suggest authenticity and emotional depth. It’s like a thread from our hearts to our hands and we are connected through neural empathy.
Imperfections trigger microsaccades—tiny, involuntary eye movements that increase attention and deepen visual scanning.
Neuroaesthetics reveals that tactile mediums—especially when experienced by fellow artists—activate the somatosensory mirror neuron system, forging a subtle, empathetic bond with the creator’s hand. This embodied resonance deepens viewer engagement, anchoring perception in the physicality of the creative process.
Key brain regions are consistently activated:
For instance, manual color grading—with its nuanced, emotionally driven choices—activates more of the limbic system than automated AI color balancing. The hand of the artist subtly carries intention, emotion, and rhythm.
AI-generated art often exhibits hyper-consistency, over-smoothed surfaces, or idealized symmetry. These traits bypass the usual visual tension the eye seeks, leading to less engagement over time.
Studies show that highly synthetic imagery (e.g., GAN-generated faces or overly clean concept art) elicits less emotional arousal and lower memory encoding, especially when viewed passively.
In a nutshell, AI-generated images may activate pattern recognition centers but fail to stimulate mirror neuron empathy circuits, leading to a subconscious sense of distance or coldness.
AI-generated images may activate pattern recognition centers but fail to stimulate mirror neuron empathy circuits, leading to a subconscious sense of distance or coldness.
In a world increasingly flooded with AI-generated images—perfect, seamless, and eerily flawless—there’s an undeniable paradox at play. These images, though crafted by neural networks and capable of mimicking intricate details, often fall flat in their emotional resonance. They may successfully activate the brain’s pattern recognition centers, tricking us momentarily into believing in their realism. But they rarely, if ever, stimulate the deeper human faculties—those tied to memory, intuition, and embodiment. They don’t awaken the mirror neurons that fire when we see a brushstroke, a thumbprint in clay, or a wrinkle in fabric shaped by time and effort.
True texture carries history. It carries intention. It carries the signature of struggle, the residue of imperfection, the poetic inconsistency of real life. The fibers of a torn canvas, the sporadic grain of an analog frame, the uneven buildup of oil on wood, these things are not mere visual stimuli; they are ghosts of someone’s presence and commitment. They remind us that someone was there, someone who felt, who doubted, who labored, and who loved. This is why texture is not just an aesthetic… texture is truth.
To touch the truth is not to witness the perfect, but to feel the irregular. The slight shift in pressure in a charcoal line. The brush bristles caught in paint. The sculptor’s fingerprint fossilized in drying clay. These are not flaws—they are the soul of the piece.
AI can learn to imitate texture, but it cannot embed the human story behind it. It cannot embody intention, nor wrestle with uncertainty mid-stroke. It lacks vulnerability and even though that may sound like weakness, as humans that’s our strength.
In the realm of storytelling, image-making, and art, texture is more than skin-deep—it is emotional topology. It is the terrain through which the viewer walks, discovering the crevices of emotion, the peaks of revelation, and the valleys of quiet thought. It invites not just sight, but empathy. And empathy—true, embodied empathy—cannot be reverse-engineered.
So as the world leans into sleek perfection, let us not forget the beauty of palpable human imperfection.
Okay, pour yourself a lukewarm coffee left over from this morning’s frantic client call, and let’s talk about something that floods our feeds every April: Coachella. Oh, you thought it was just about music and influencers wearing things that look suspiciously like repurposed fishing nets? Bless your heart. For us marketing folks – the ones who’ve been navigating the digital swamp for, let’s say, a while – Coachella is less about the lineup and more about the bottom line.
It’s a masterclass, really. A giant, dusty, ridiculously expensive masterclass in brand relevance, audience engagement, and yes, making it rain (revenue, not actual desert rain, obviously). So, buckle up, buttercups. Let’s dissect how this behemoth of cultural moments translates into marketing gold, and more importantly, how you can apply these principles without needing venture capital funding or selling a kidney.
Every single year, like clockwork, the internet collectively loses its mind over Coachella. Held in Indio, California – a place I assume is normally just sand and quiet desperation – it transforms into the epicenter of youth culture, celebrity sightings, and fashion choices that defy both gravity and common sense.
Why do we care? Because everyone else cares. Or at least, a very large, very engaged, very online segment of the population cares. The sheer volume of searches, social media posts, articles, TikToks, Reels, and existential crises related to #Coachella is staggering. We’re talking millions upon millions of eyeballs glued to screens, soaking in the vibe, the outfits, the drama, the everything. As marketers, ignoring this kind of concentrated attention is like ignoring a fire alarm because you’re busy reorganizing your paperclips. It’s just… professionally negligent. Coachella generates a massive wave of cultural relevance, and smart brands know how to surf it. It’s the ultimate example of meeting your audience where they already are – specifically, scrolling through Instagram wondering if Beyoncé is going to make a surprise appearance again.
There are essentially two ways brands leverage the Coachella phenomenon: the “Go Big or Go Home” official partnership route, and the slightly more guerilla (and budget-friendly) “Content is King (or Queen)” approach.
Think Heineken House, the American Express Lounge, the Revolve Festival (which isn’t technically Coachella but might as well be its ridiculously exclusive, influencer-packed cousin). These are the brands with coffers deep enough to plaster their logos everywhere, create bespoke “experiences,” and pay influencers sums that could probably solve world hunger to attend their branded parties.
This is about direct association. It screams, “We are cool! We are relevant! We have enough money to build a temporary nightclub in the desert!” It works for brand awareness and solidifying an image among a specific demographic. If you are American Express or Heineken, this makes perfect sense. For Sheila’s Sock Emporium? Probably not the best use of funds. The barrier to entry is astronomical, and frankly, most brands just can’t play in that sandbox. And that’s okay. Because there’s another way.
This is where most of us live. We see the Coachella wave cresting, and instead of trying to buy the ocean, we grab our surfboards (our blogs, our social media accounts, our email lists) and ride the swell. If you can’t be at Coachella, you sure as hell should be talking about Coachella.
How? Oh, let me count the ways:
The beauty of this approach? It leverages the existing hype and search volume. People are already looking for Coachella content. By creating valuable, entertaining, or informative content related to it, you draw those eyeballs to your brand. You become part of the conversation without spending seven figures on a branded yurt. It’s about relevance by association, demonstrating you have your finger on the pulse, and cleverly inserting your brand into the narrative. It’s meeting the audience not physically at the festival, but in the digital space around the festival, which is arguably even bigger.
“That’s great,” you say, stirring your now-cold coffee, “But my customers are more interested in the annual Rutabaga Festival than Revolve.” First off, amazing. Second off, perfect.
Coachella is just a massive, globally recognized example of a principle that applies everywhere: Leverage events your audience cares about.
The real takeaway isn’t that every brand needs a Coachella strategy. It’s that every brand needs an event strategy, scaled to their own audience and locality. What’s the “Coachella” of your town, city, or industry?
These are your Coachellas. They offer the same opportunities, just on a different scale:
This local approach achieves the same goals: it demonstrates community involvement, taps into existing local interest and conversation, and makes your brand relevant to people in their own context. It shows you’re not some faceless corporation, but a part of the local fabric.
Look, whether it’s a global mega-event like Coachella or Brenda from Accounting’s Tupperware party (if Brenda is really influential in your office niche, maybe?), the principle remains the same. Events – big or small, global or hyper-local – create focal points of audience attention.
Your job, as savvy marketers who occasionally shower and remember to eat lunch, is to identify those focal points for your audience and figure out how to strategically insert your brand into the conversation. Sometimes that means writing a check for a sponsorship. More often, it means getting clever with your content, understanding the online chatter, and adding value (or at least, entertainment) to the discussion.
It’s about relevance. It’s about meeting people where they are. And yes, ultimately, it’s about driving engagement that leads to revenue. So, take inspiration from the desert spectacle, but don’t feel obligated to buy a lifetime supply of glitter. Look around your own community, your own industry. Your next big marketing opportunity might be less Coachella, more Chili Cook-Off. And honestly, the chili probably tastes better anyway.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go write a blog post about optimizing landing pages for the upcoming National Squirrel Appreciation Day. Don’t judge. It’s all about relevance.
Seth Rogen, along with fellow screenwriter and friend Evan Goldberg, recently launched their cannabis lifestyle brand called Houseplant. Will the comedian turned entrepreneur become a legitimate player in this budding industry? Also, how many weed puns can I fit into one blog post?
Upscale Designs
Don’t get me wrong, I like Seth Rogan. But when he pops up on my screen, I have to admit that the word “sophisticated” is not the first that comes to mind. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of maturity in his “house” products, like the table lighter and ashtray set. According to the Houseplant website, the set “features a deep well to keep ash from flying away, a notch-like rest, and a saucer with three uses…The set also comes with a matching vase for flowers”. These products are not only well thought-out with a smoker’s convenience in mind, but also seem to be doing a great job of challenging stereotypes; those who enjoy cannabis are not the airheaded hippies that the movies will have you believe they are. They’re just as worldly and successful as any other red wine drinking, middle-aged white woman.
Memorable Branding
Houseplant’s two “plant” products, Sativa and Indica, come in sleek, bold tins. Their bright fuschia and orange hues are cheerful, friendly and enthusiastic, while the minimalist designs give off high quality impressions. Also, they’re stackable. Enough said.
Seth Rogan’s Name Recognition
The actor has been a household name for awhile, so it comes at no surprise that his new venture has already received a ton of attention in the press. Outlets such as LA Times, Forbes and CNN covered Houseplant before it even launched. What’s more, Seth has built up a very strong association with cannabis over the years. He’s never been one to shy away from the topic, and is regularly seen smoking in his movies. Seth Rogen knows cannabis like Kylie Jenner knows a lip kit and 50 Cent apparently knows electrolyte enhanced water. His long-cemented authority in the industry is sure to help bring in some green to the company.
Having strong SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is important for any business because it’s how they get seen! If you’re trying to sell a product, you want to show up on that coveted Page 1 of a consumer’s Google search; people have short attention spans, and only about 25% of internet users go to the second page of search results.
The name “Houseplant” is twofold: products for the home (house), and strains of weed (plant). It’s clever and simple, but it’s already a commonly used word. To be blunt, this could pose a problem once the initial hype dies down. While the brand’s Instagram account currently holds the top spot on Google, its name doesn’t occupy every spot on the page. Rather, when I Googled “Houseplant”, the knowledge panel to the right features Wikipedia’s definition of the word, and at least half of the search page is dedicated to a local search for houseplants around the city.
As I explained before, Seth’s fame has done wonders for Housplant’s PR- how often do cannabis founders get to over ten minutes on Jimmy Kimmel to promote their brand? If the products don’t deliver, however, people WILL find out about it. Many articles will be written about it, his Twitter will be flooded with trolls, and his reputation as a business owner could go up in smoke.
For now, Houseplant is only available in California. But as more and more states become weed-friendly, there’s a huge potential for growth throughout the country. On April 1st, 2021, New York State officially legalized marijuana. According to the New York Times, the bill “moves toward the creation of a potential $4.2 billion industry that could become one of the nation’s largest markets.” Once regulations are in place, selling marijuana will soon be legal as well. And it looks like Seth already has his eye on this potential market- he recently liked a Tweet from one very articulate user who wrote “Yo @sethrogen now that bud is legal here in New York, do you see yourself bringing the #houseplant brand here at some point? (I’m dying to try that indica).”
According to Insider, in 2018, despite making up only 31% of the population, Black Americans and Latinos accounted for nearly half of over 600,000 weed arrests. Not to mention that the exploding cannabis industry is overwhelmingly run by white owners, and operating costs make it even more difficult for POC to succeed in the industry. Assuming Houseplant will prevail, Seth has an opportunity to make sure his team does not become another statistic. This would not only influence other cannabis company owners to hold themselves accountable, but also earn Houseplant major corporate responsibility points. Upon researching, it seems the Houseplant crew indeed plans on addressing these issues: “We will always use our platform to educate people about the devastating history of the War on Drugs and help end the senseless, racist cannabis laws that, despite progress, still exist today. We won’t stop until every adult in America is able to enjoy cannabis without fear of being labeled a criminal. We are working towards a more equitable future for the industry by supporting BIPOC-owned businesses and striving to make our own company a diverse and inclusive place to work.” Here’s hoping he follows through!
There’s a plethora of cannabis companies that have been around for a long time and already earned the trust of consumers. Green Thumb Industries, for example, became the first American cannabis operator to generate in excess of $100 million in a quarter” in 2020, says Forbes. Houseplant will need to expand its product line and keep up the stellar marketing if it’s going to weed out the competition.
Is it just me, or do celebrity-owned liquor brands keep popping up every other week? Over the last 10+ years, so many have been promoted that it’s hard to keep up. Sure, Seth isn’t the first famous person to create a pot brand, but the market is still not as saturated as wines & spirits. When it comes to selling pot, Seth could possibly be the Puff Daddy of cannabis, but it’s only a matter of time before the Channing Tatums show up with their own lines (yes, Channing Tatum has a vodka brand…who knew?). With legalization on the rise throughout the US, it’s possible that other ganja-loving superstars like Whoopi or Brad Pitt will want in.
Emerald Digital is thrilled to announce that we have been chosen as a winner in the Public Relations Campaign category in Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.
West Side Community Organizations (WSCO) is a New York City based group located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Dedicated to preserving the quality of life and safety in their neighborhood, thousands of Upper West Side residents came together to advocate for a safer community during a time of challenge.
When New York City shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio made the executive decision to transfer homeless people throughout the City into hotels that were being utilized as temporary housing shelters. Many of these homeless men were assigned to stay at the Lucerne Hotel in the Upper West Side. The homeless population in the neighborhood grew and the men staying at The Lucerne were not properly taken care of as they were sent away from their normal communities and brought into a brand new location without their mental health taken into consideration. As a result, this put the homeless men at the Lucerne and Upper West Side residents and workers at risk. WSCO decided to stand up and seek justice for the homeless at Lucerne while pushing to maintain the safety of the overall community.
After the board of WSCO sought out Emerald to discuss their needs, Emerald Digital supported WSCO and fought alongside the organization by implementing integrated and targeted crisis communications, public relations, and digital marketing campaigns. The public relations and digital marketing teams worked together to garner awareness towards WSCO and its mission of fighting for their community. Because of these combined efforts and strategies, WSCO was given the platforms to use their voice, and people listened with attentive ears. On top of that, Emerald Digital also reduced the amount of online backlash against the organization. Emerald Digital’s crisis communication expertise disputed negative press about WSCO, the public relations campaigns built positive awareness surrounding the organization, and the digital marketing strategies elevated messaging across online platforms.
As a result of the campaigns, WSCO won an incredibly difficult court case in the end that determined the permanent move of the homeless men from the Upper West Side to the Radisson hotel located downtown Manhattan. WSCO’s reach astoundingly grew throughout the duration of the campaign with over 730 million media impressions from placement in outlets such as The New York Times and New York Post, and over 48K organic Twitter impressions from using this as WSCO’s primary social media platform.
Emerald Digital is a full-service digital marketing and public relations agency based in New York and New Orleans. The team is committed to working hard for their clients and ensuring that all of their digital marketing needs are met. Whether it’s through partnering with clients to help build awareness towards their brand, roll out a targeted social media and messaging campaign, or assist in navigating a crisis, Emerald Digital will always fight for our clients. The team is very grateful for the recognition and for being chosen as a winner in the Public Relations category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.
This article was originally published on Entrepreneur.
This month, I’m celebrating my 10 year entrepreneur anniversary. It’s been a decade of late nights, working weekends, networking with tremendously talented people, fostering client relationships, relentless traveling, and a myriad of highs and lows that define the life of an entrepreneur. Running a business is a journey of joy and pain, but for some of us, the siren’s song of entrepreneurship cannot be silenced.
If you’re in the early stages of starting your business or currently in the trenches of growing your business, here are the top ten pieces of advice I have for you.
Maybe you started your widget business because you love making widgets. As the new owner of a widget business, you’ve signed yourself up for dozens of new jobs, most of which are not directly related to making widgets. You need to manage people, make sales, manage accounts, track finances, create operations, and a million other little things. You need to have an understanding of how each piece of the business operates so that you can train others, hire the best people and help your team identify problems.
Being an entrepreneur is a grind. How are you going to get through those stretches of doubt and difficulty without your support network? Your family, friends, mentors and partners are crucial to maintaining mental stability. Surround yourself with people you can open up to and who you trust. Guidance and support are everything.
Business is a team sport, not a one-man band. Your business should not be the “you” show. Your job is to find the absolute best people, who can do every aspect of the job better than you can. You set the tone, but your team should feel they have a stake and a say in the work product, culture and output. If you don’t trust your team to make smart decisions, then you’ve assembled the wrong crew.
Sales are the lifeblood of every business. Without constant revenue, your business will cease to exist. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to ensure your business generates revenue. Sales won’t just happen, especially for a new business. In the first few years of owning a business, you should be pounding the pavement non-stop. Knock on every door. Write and mail physical letters. Identify prospects. Send personal notes. Attend every networking event possible.
You’ll eventually piece together a dedicated sales team, dedicated inbound marketing efforts, and other advertising tactics. Even then, the business owner is an essential piece of the sales funnel. Prospective clients, customers, or partners will want to know your leadership team.
As a business owner, you lay out the vision that dictates where your business is headed. You define what success is. Your team cannot achieve a goal they are unaware of. Start with the end in mind and create a five-year plan to make those actionable goals a reality.
Have a vision, but be able to pivot if the market demands. You can’t always control market conditions, competition, or external factors. Sometimes your initial hypothesis just doesn’t work out, and you need to have the ability to change.
Learning should be your addiction. While the fundamentals of your business may stay the same, the technology, tools, your audience, audience expectations and competition are always changing. You need to be leading the pack, and not falling behind. More importantly, foster a team culture that encourages learning and an enthusiasm for personal growth.
In a world overloaded with messaging, content, notifications and interruptions, you need to differentiate yourself. You need to be remarkable. Position your business so that every consumer touchpoint consists of a unique and meaningful experience — everything from your emails to your website design to your physical storefront.
Running a successful business is not a passive experience. You can’t sit back and let it happen. You need to be a leader who motivates your employees, customers, and partners. You need to lead without overwhelming others. Let others be heard and encourage participation, but the final decision is yours. You are going to be making thousands of decisions on a weekly basis. Act decisively. Act intelligently. Be willing to take calculated risks.
People love having “a guy” (or girl) that solves problems. Need a manufacturer? I’ve got a guy. Need a lawyer? I’ve got a guy. People recommend the individual who shares, helps, and provides value. On the other hand, people don’t recommend the person who is constantly taking and not giving, constantly pitching and trying to close you.
Entrepreneurship can be a lonely endeavor. Connect with as many entrepreneurs, C-level executives, and leaders as possible. Not only will you be able to share experiences, insight, and advice, but these meaningful relationships can lead to fruitful business opportunities. Just be sure to focus on relationships — not transactions.
DesignRush has recognized Emerald Digital as a top branding agency in New York City.
Emerald Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency founded in 2018 led by President & Partner Matt Berman and CEO Warren Cohn. When working closely with a client and detailing all of their needs, it is clear that Emerald Digital is dedicated to providing clients with customized branding expertise and targeted messaging purposed to click with new and broader audiences.
DesignRush is an accessible B2B marketplace that allows individuals and businesses to explore specific services from a variety of marketing companies, tech companies, and much more. Users on the digital platform seek to partner alongside agencies with solutions tailored to their needs and their goals.
The team at Emerald Digital carries out sharp branding campaigns with the client at the very top of mind. All of Emerald Digital’s branding strategies are curated with the goal of providing sharpened messaging and digital exposure that will cause clients to reach their own sales and business goals.
DesignRush recognizing Emerald Digital as a top branding industry in New York City is an honor and one of the many qualities that make Emerald Digital’s innovative team and leadership stand out in the digital marketing industry.
DesignRush has recognized Emerald Digital amongst the most prominent digital agencies in New York. Emerald Digital’s work, achievements, processes, and client reviews were evaluated alongside leading agencies across the country.
Emerald Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency founded in 2018 by two Tulane University alumni and friends, President & Partner Matt Berman and CEO Warren Cohn. For nearly three years, both leaders have been directing a team that consists of passionate and creative individuals committed to elevating brands and businesses to reach the highest levels of success.
DesignRush is a B2B marketplace that partners agencies with businesses according to their precise goals and needs. DesignRush is an accessible platform that allows users to find solutions from brands according to their needs.
This recognition from the platform is one of the many factors that sets Emerald Digital apart, as the Emerald Digital team is committed to excellence and ensuring that they are providing clients with the service and resources to thrive in their industry.
This article was originally published on Authority Magazine and Thrive Global.
Shoot Straight — Be authentic. Tell it like it is. Don’t be full of it. People need to believe in you. Your team members, your clients, your partners all need to buy into your vision. If you have a reputation for exaggeration, lies, or nonsense then that necessary fundamental trust is broken. Grit- It takes tens of thousands of hours to become an overnight success. You need a ton of patience. Expect a high level of difficulty, and you’ll need to super-focus on delivering the best product or service for your end customer.
Matthew Berman
Being a founder, entrepreneur, or business owner can have many exciting and thrilling moments. But it is also punctuated with periods of doubt, slump, and anxiety. So how does one successfully and healthily ride the highs and lows of Entrepreneurship? In this series, called “How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur” we are talking to successful entrepreneurs who can share stories from their experience. I had the pleasure of interviewing Matthew Berman. He is the President of Emerald Digital, a digital marketing agency that specializes in services tailored to deliver targeted traffic, generate qualified leads and grow business with measurable results.
Berman has worked with brands such as Heineken, Hennessy, Delano, Fireball Whisky, and The Law Center, among hundreds of others. He oversees all agency efforts to create click-worthy content, PPC campaigns, social marketing, and to develop aesthetically pleasing websites with back-end SEO efforts.
Myname is Matthew Berman. I am the president and co-founder of Emerald Digital, full-service digital marketing, and public relations agency with offices in New Orleans, New York, and (soon to be) Miami. I’m the president and founder of Ember Networks, a digital agency in New Orleans. I also run an Airbnb with my wife in New Orleans. I have a house full of guitars, animals, and baby toys. I keep pretty busy.
Music is core to my identity and has shaped my path as an entrepreneur. As a young musician, you need to figure out how to create something out of nothing. It takes years. Over time, you grow confident, you figure things out, you watch yourself get better. You learn to connect with other musicians, build a team, to grow your skillset. You learn how to make ‘it happen.
I co-founded a business in 2008 and I met my co-founder through music production. I sold him jingles. In 2011, I founded Ember Networks, a New Orleans-based digital marketing agency. Around the same time, my college roommate and dear friend Warren Cohn founded HeraldPR, a public relations firm in New York City. Over the years we worked on a series of joint projects. Ultimately, our work continued to grow closer and we ultimately decided to officially join forces. In 2018, Emerald Digital, a full-service marketing agency was officially born.
In 2018, I received a call from my now business partner Warren. At this point, we had each been running separate businesses for at least 5 years. Warren asked me if I would be interested in traveling to Turks and Caicos and working on a project there. We would be staying at an 11 bedroom villa on a private beach. Of course, I was in. Our businesses had been growing close, teaming up on more and more projects over time. We were both at the point where we knew what worked, what didn’t and wanted to share the highs and lows of business ownership with someone we were really close with. I was a solopreneur and signing a huge deal wasn’t as fun without someone on the inside to celebrate with. I spend so much time working, that I want to be with people I care about.
Warren and I have been on parallel entrepreneurial paths since our early twenties. Through the years, we’ve been each other’s springboard, advisor, and confidante. We’ve both shared less than positive experiences working for, with, or in tandem with other business service or marketing agencies. We believed that by joining forces we could deliver a superior work product, and also act in our client’s best interest. We wouldn’t sell for the sake of selling. We wouldn’t ignore. We wouldn’t rest on our laurels. We would be at the forefront of digital communications, always creating value for our clients.
I was always entrepreneurial and, from a very young age, was always inventing ways to make money. While I do believe that people either have what it takes or they don’t, no one is innately born with a fully developed skillset. You can be born more adept at skills that help you excel in entrepreneurship, but you should be nurturing and developing your entrepreneur skills over time. Most people are not cut out for entrepreneurship. The people that make it have both natural ability and single-focused dedication to their craft.
When I was 6 or 7 years old, I sold candy bars on the streets of Springfield Blvd in Bayside Queens. My mom would buy packs of chocolate bars, and I would stand in front of a candy store and try to sell chocolate to people before they walked in. The owner of that store probably wasn’t too happy. I was able to make a few dollars (and buy some toys), but I would not have been able to turn my candy bar business into a million-dollar venture, managing dozens of people, or growing the business as a sustainable operation. I had the hustle, drive, and motivation to get started, but success takes work.
I’m very lucky to have an incredibly supportive family who has always helped nurture my entrepreneurial ventures. My wife is incredibly supportive, my sounding board. She’s my personal adviser and has a great sense of people and situations. She is a creative powerhouse in her own right and even designed the Emerald Digital logo. My Mom has been there in more ways than I count. She’s supported dozens of crazy ideas, hosted hundreds of jam sessions, and gave me enough leeway to sell tickets, candy, music, and more. My Dad did my accounting for a few years and is my first call for financial questions, market conditions, or tax advice. helped with accounting, tax advice, and finances. My stepfather was there to give me rides to internships, business meetings, networking events, and breakdowns over beers. My brothers are incredibly tech-focused and are almost always showing me something that blows my mind. My grandparents are a huge inspiration, all of them giving their own brand of sage advice and helping me see the forest through the trees. Their insight came from decades upon decades of experience and helped shape my view that we need to look at the big picture of this thing called life. We were all incredibly close.
The marketing and advertising business is extremely competitive so it’s imperative Emerald Digital stands out. Over the last decade I’ve seen that prospective clients have three general pain points: 1) They found their former agency/vendor was untrustworthy, 2) They found their former agency/vendor was ineffective, 3) They have been dealing with too many vendors and the process is cumbersome.
These three pain points have shaped the way Emerald Digital does business, and how our team engages and interacts with clients. We approach each and every client with a unique point of view. We want to be proactively offering new ideas, new tactics, new strategies specifically crafted for you. I’m not interested in selling you something that I don’t believe will work. I’ve worked for agencies in the past that put short-term profit over long-term relationships. My feeling is the opposite. I’d rather implement a plan that’s best for the client and work with you for many years. Then we’re all winners.
We have a slogan, ‘We Have An Expert For That’. If a client needs something done, and done well, we get it done. Our clients are incredibly busy. Most of them don’t want to be micro-managing their projects. They want results. We’ve assembled a great team capable of delivering world-class work in multiple verticals. My clients know that if they call me and ask for something, that it will get done. We’ll figure it out one way or the other.
Perseverance.
Being an entrepreneur is tough. There’s no road map. There’s no instruction manual. There’s no boss telling you what to do. Starting and running a business requires a massive investment of time and effort. You will fail. The best entrepreneurs keep picking themselves back up again and learning from their mistakes. You need to be mentally and physically equipped to handle failure.
People Focused.
You must be able to talk to people. You need to inspire your team. You need to pitch your vision. You need to sell your product/service. VCs don’t invest in ideas. They invest in talent. You need to be persuasive, compelling, and on the front lines, all while being authentic.
Creativity.
Entrepreneurs are constantly putting out fires. This job is a big puzzle where the pieces don’t want to fit. We need to be creative in our problem-solving approach.
The worst advice I’ve received is that in order to build a successful business, you need to tear down competitors. My agency and another agency can co-exist. We can be friends. We can help each other. I’d rather build bridges than burn them. I believe in collaboration. A client may be a great fit for the agency down the street and not for me. Some of our best clients come from competitor referrals. They know we do great work and we can work together.
“Burn out” is very, very real! I believe that all of us need three things in our life: a way to make money, a way to be creative, and a way to improve our physical/mental health. Our normal workflow is the way we make money (and the prime contributor to ‘burnout’). Luckily, I work at a creative agency, so I encourage the team to follow creative passions. I encourage my team to follow their interests and to be creators. I’m confident we can find ways to associate their passions with our business or our client’s businesses. Finally, I’m a firm believer in physical and mental fitness. I encourage my colleagues to stay active and to take time off when they need it. At the end of each day, you need to look at one ‘life’ item (money, creativity, health) and come away with a win. Some days you’ll be lucky and win at all three.
I stay connected to people all day. It’s my job to be ‘on’. I have a baby. For her, I need to be ‘on’. For me, in order to stay sane, I need quiet time late at night or early in the morning where I can do something creative or fun for myself and scratch that itch.
We live in the age of the digital frontier. For the first time in history, we can connect with billions of people from anywhere in the world. This means you are fighting for attention, and in order to get it you need to be a publisher. You need to be writing, shooting videos, streaming, connecting, and creating. You need to put yourself out there. No one is going to pluck you out of your house and prop you up as an authority for no reason. You need to make it happen. You need to be ‘the guy’ or ‘the girl’ for what you do. In order to do so, you need to establish authority. Show the world how you think, the value you offer.
Two common mistakes immediately come to mind. The first mistake is a CEO/Founder trying to do everything yourself. It’s hard for entrepreneurs to let go, but you need to trust the people around you to get the job done. Bring in people smarter than you to do the jobs you can’t or won’t be able to do.
The second mistake is not following the money. At the end of the day, the success of the business falls on your shoulders. Your business cannot operate indefinitely if it’s not profitable. An entrepreneur needs to be able to ensure that operational activities are tied to revenue. Make sure you have internal processes in place to track profitability. Hold profit meetings with your leadership team and assign accountability.
Creating and operating a business is a stand-off between excitement, possibility, and opportunity versus putting out fires, generating business, fixing technology, improving customer satisfaction, and the reality of operational processes over time.
Sometimes your business is exhilarating. You are the king of the castle, you run the show, you’ve taken the plunge into business ownership, and have put fate in your hands. You’ve invented a new process, you’ve signed a huge deal, you’ve assembled a killer team, you’ve created something from nothing. Life is great. You’re making money, the trains are running on time, and you’re on your way to be the next Elon Musk.
Sometimes your business is a lesson in pain. Launching a startup can be a harsh and brutal reality. Your technology doesn’t work as planned, your employees stole IP, equipment, or money. Your customer’s checks have bounced. You’re waiting 90 days for payment for work that has already been completed and payroll is due. You have unexpected expenses. You’re having a hard time finding customers. These problems can all be compounded by external factors — a recession, supply issue, or global pandemic.
A regular job has limits. You have limits on earning potential. You have limits on responsibility. You have limits on accountability. An entrepreneur has no limits. When something goes wrong, it’s up to them to deal with it. For an entrepreneur that means more work, and a tremendous amount of stress. The livelihoods, mortgages, and welfare of your employees are on your shoulders. The buck stops with you. The quality and effectiveness of your product or service is up to you. You put the pieces in place. You hire the team. You set the tone. Working for yourself typically means more hours. It’s being addicted to the job. Parts of your life are going to suffer due to your commitment to the business. Your work/life balance is tilted in favor of the business.
I am incredibly lucky in that I get to meet, associate, and learn from incredible business owners. I meet hundreds of people I wouldn’t get the chance to if I worked for someone else. We become friends. We get beers. We have each other’s confidence. We become part of each other’s story. When a client signs with us, we are their partner. We are in it to win it, together. I get a behind-the-scenes crash course in how their business operates, their leadership style, vision, and operational processes. I know the alcohol business, the law business, the hospitality business, the restaurant business, the consumer goods business, and more. It’s wonderful.
Your first year or two in business is especially tough. Prospective clients want case studies and a compelling portfolio. You may not have these yet. As a new business owner, your sales funnel is immature, your ad budget may be minimal, and your professional network may be small. I opened Ember Networks in 2011 and finding consistent, quality clients was incredibly tough. I spent many late nights and early mornings worrying about bills, overhead, and keeping the lights on.
I refused to give up. For years, I worked all day and all night. I passed out with my laptop on. I called everyone. I emailed everyone. I knocked on doors. I went to every networking event possible. Eventually, people respected my hustle and gave me a chance. The rest is history. I did things that made me feel uncomfortable. I knew the business wasn’t going to come knocking on my door. I had to go out and get it.
Bring Others Into The Journey — Leadership is a naturally lonely endeavor. Celebrate with your team, commiserate with your leadership or with your advisers. You need people around you that you can trust. You need to bounce ideas. You need to be told no. Yes, men aren’t going to help.
Shoot Straight — Be authentic. Tell it like it is. Don’t be full of it. People need to believe in you. Your team members, your clients, your partners all need to buy into your vision. If you have a reputation for exaggeration, lies, or nonsense then that necessary fundamental trust is broken.
A Plan / Process — Your business needs an overarching plan to dictate a 50,000 ft strategy, and a process that tells your team how to get there. The big plan is always going to be tweaked (you still have to be nimble), but you need vision. Without a plan, you’ll have a hard time knowing if you’re on the right track or not.
Passion — being an entrepreneur is 10x harder than everyone says it is. You need to be incredibly passionate, obsessed, and dedicated to whatever it is that you do to make it through.
Regiment — your body and mind need to perform at peak levels. This is especially important during tough times. Find rituals that make you feel better. Stick to them every day. You need to set the tone instead of simply responding.
Grit- It takes tens of thousands of hours to become an overnight success. You need a ton of patience. Expect a high level of difficulty, and you’ll need to super-focus on delivering the best product or service for your end customer.
A very small amount of people have the ability to sustain their livelihood predicated on the success of their own business. Resilience is falling off the horse and getting back on again. We’re all going to fall off at some point, but we have to keep going. Resilient people are stubborn. We won’t accept failure for long. Resilient people are quick studies. We will figure out what went wrong and do it better.
I wasn’t given a business. I wasn’t given a lesson plan. My parents didn’t give me keys to a BMW or indulge my every childhood request. You need to be told you can’t do something, you can’t have everything, and you need the desire to prove them wrong.
I moved to New Orleans two days before Hurricane Katrina ready to attend Tulane University. The storm came, the city was devastated, and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. I ended up in Syracuse, NY for the next 6 or so months. I love making music. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with New Orleans. It’s a musical city full of adventure. My whole life, I’ve played in bands, jammed, and made a lot of noise. In Syracuse, I had none of that. I didn’t know any musicians. I was completely out of element and a piece of my life was just gone. I thought, if I can’t find people to play with, I’ll figure out a way to make music without anyone. I stayed in my apartment with an mbox2, Pro Tools, a guitar, and keyboard and I taught myself music production. I played every instrument. It took hours upon hours to figure it out, but I put in the work.
I’m naturally a very positive person, and I like to think I keep a cool head. I ask myself, ‘what is the absolute worst thing that could happen right now?’. Then I ask, ‘can I get through it?’.
Most business (or life) decisions are not life or death. You might lose the deal. You might make a mistake, but at the end of the day you’re still alive, and so is your family. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and to hyper-focus on the situation right in front of you, but we need to think with our head and not our heart.
Your energy is infectious. You set the tone for your team, your clients, and everyone around you. I don’t want to be around a negative nancy. I don’t want to do business with a debbie downer. I try not to be that for others. Life is short, enjoy it.
This past year is a great example. We’ve gone through a year of incredible uncertainty. Our team members were worried about family, job security, and their own safety. Our clients were worried about the viability of their businesses, about putting food on the table. There’s enough uncertainty out there without me adding to the mix. If I can keep it together for them then I can be a rock, a source of stability in an unstable world.
“The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye. Until we meet again.”
None of us are here forever. We have a small blip of time to contribute to humanity, to make the lives of the people around us better, to fall in love, to smile, to create something bigger than ourselves. Let’s get to it.
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