Why Brands Should Trust the Moment with Jeff Suhy


October 16, 2017

jeff suhy

“Brands today are looking for immediate feedback. And if it’s negative, they’re done.” What are brands missing today? According to Mod Op’s Jeff Suhy, it all comes down to one thing — consistency. Or lack thereof. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

About Jeff Suhy

As President and Partner at Mod Op, Jeff is responsible for building the strategic function at Mod Op from the ground up. He oversees all brand, digital, media and interactive operations for the agency. His breadth and depth of experience across the advertising, music and technology industries provides a unique creative insight into building cohesive digital narratives for some of the world’s top brands including, Belvedere Vodka, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Nike, and Ubisoft.

Jeff began his career in the music industry working his way up at A&R and promoted to Vice President while representing top artists such as Soundgarden. As the music industry experienced radical change with the advent of streaming music, Jeff launched Nine Systems, a technology company dedicated to developing software platforms for entertainment companies. In 2006, Nine Systems was acquired by Akamai Technologies, one of the world’s largest content delivery network providers for media and software delivery.

With a unique hybrid of entertainment and technology experience, Jeff joined Zoic in 2009 to help media companies solve the riddle of how to market to consumers in the digital media era. Jeff worked with advertising agencies and gaming clients to build meaningful online media experiences.

Episode Highlights

A branding lesson from the band Soundgarden? Yes, please! Find this story in the first five minutes of the show.

What’s lacking today? Consistency. In our hustle-and-pivot culture, brands today are afraid of doing the same thing for too long. This isn’t always the best move.

Trusting the moment. Jeff’s background in the entertainment business meant we could talk about the gray areas of the creative process. What happens if your gut tells you to do something different than the research? “There are variables beyond what can be measured.” That is a great answer!

What brand has made Jeff smile? Instead of a traditional smile, Jeff went with more of a smirk as he told us about the work Uber and Volkswagen are doing to turn the corner from their recent missteps.

To learn more, go to modop.com.

As We Wrap …

Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …
Steve Hutt gave us a shout on Twitter for several of our recent episodes. Thanks for listening!

Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show.

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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

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is a strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Brand Now: How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World and Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. He is the Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, an educator at the University of Iowa, and host of the On Brand podcast. More about Nick.