Today we’d like to introduce you to Brook Jay.
Brook, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My business partner, Sarah, and I were working at an event company that was hired to produce all the events inside the Athletes Village for the ‘96 Olympic Games in Atlanta Georgia. Day in and day out we would walk into the Athlete’s Village with VIPs and production people and be bombarded by brand messaging from the sponsors of the games that was all “shouting” and one-way conversations.
The only messaging to break this mold ended up being right outside our production trailer. It was a 20×20 ft. wall with cubbyholes and each cubbyhole had a flag of a country that was participating in the Olympics and t-shirts stuffed inside. Sharpie markers where attached to the walls with signage that read, “If you want to take one, you have to give one.”
Sarah and I watched this social experiment for about 30 days. Strangers walking up to the space, pulling a t-shirt with the country flag on it and looking at one another to acknowledge they were about to sign and exchange shirts. As the month went on, we discussed how these shirts were going to become part of these people’s social currency (the more shirts you got, the more people you met) and how they’d eventually become part of their story at the Games. Most importantly though, we talked about how we knew that this experience would down the road have an impact on their purchase decisions. The brand was Champion. Sarah and I talked for weeks about how we wanted to create this type of authentic experience between brands and consumers, where brands show up in stride with consumers, provide value and build lasting relationships.
We founded All Terrain with that purpose, and 19 years later the philosophy still drives our businesses.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Like most “self-taught” entrepreneurs, we’ve learned that starting and growing a sustainable business requires courage to overcome adversity, flexibility to adapt, and self-awareness to know that what got the company to one level of success may not get it to the next. With this mindset, All Terrain has persisted through major set-backs like economic downturns and increased competition. Recognizing that “what got us here will not necessarily get us to the next place,” we’ve taken bold steps including appointing a President to lead the agency in scaled growth and launching a staffing subsidiary. Our goal is always to continue to build upon our 19-year history with a resilient and evolutionary mindset.
All Terrain – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Over the past 19 years, we’ve built All Terrain into one of the fastest growing privately held, woman-owned companies in the United States, making the Inc. 500/5000 list five times in six years. Our company has been a pioneer in redefining the Experiential Marketing space through its work with brands like General Motors, Maserati, Jim Beam, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Treasury Wine Estates and The Illinois Lottery. Our innovative strategies have garnered national press attention, including features in Adweek, Forbes and Event Marketer, and our campaigns have received Marcom Gold, Davey and Reggie awards.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I don’t believe a true entrepreneur ever feels like they have totally made it. That said, there were several moments during the launch of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas campaign (TCOLV) that were pinch-me moments. Those moments included building a 2-story room replica and placing it on the 7th hole of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Gansevoort Plaza in NYC and on the beach during South Beach Food and Wine. That year we also played a part in the grand opening events, where Jay-Z and Coldplay performed together for one of the first times ever and the audience was a who’s who of the entertainment and business world. After the inaugural year of openings for TCOLV, we worked with them to find a way to amplify casino gaming and created a new media channel on board United Airlines where guests received an in-flight gift containing offers and a premium. This program was widely successful with an average return of over 5%, paying for itself in the first year. As a result, All Terrain, United and TCOLV were guest speakers at many major industry events sharing the story of this game-changing program.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2675 W Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60612
- Website: http://allterrain.net/
- Phone: 3125883701
- Email: brook.jay@allterrain.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allterrain/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllTerrainExperiential
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AllTerrain
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