Scott Baum of Talent Resources Talks Strategies On Celebrity Sponsorships and Activations

It is evident that influencer marketing has been very successful for a number of brands. Experiential marketing has also made tremendous strides. The clutter on social media has allowed for advertising to become primary again. User-generated content allowed individuals to thrive off of the flow of organic traffic but the majors have, for now, put a lid on the spout. One of the beneficiaries is Scott Baum of Talent Resources.

“Talent Resources provides premier brands with instant access to the massive audiences of the leading celebrities and influencers in the world.“

Over the past 12 years they have worked with brands like Sports Illustrated, Dunkin Donuts, Hublot, Heineken, Amazon, Duracell and many more.

Scott Baum has earned his stripes in the industry and now sits as Director of Brand Relations. Here he capitalizes on his expertise to perform inbound strategies, implement campaigns, and manage the success for the client. Here is an interview on an inside look at his day to day, inbound strategies, and future plans for him and Talent Resources.

For people that don’t know, what is the primary thing you want people to understand about Talent Resources?

Talent Resources is at the epicenter of celebrity marketing.  We curate talent suggestions for different scopes of work through the use of audience data for each celebrity.  Our partnerships span the spectrum of event appearances, social media posts, brand ambassadorships, and more.

What was the catalyst for you to get into this industry?

I entered this industry through numerous internships and lots of networking.  After working in the ticket sales department for the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers, I started my career selling premium inventory for the Oklahoma Sooners football team and then VIP hospitality packages for the NFL’s Super Bowl 52.  After working with C-level executives on more of the emotion and passion side of sports, I wanted to get more experience working directly with brands making ROI-based decisions, and I ended up at Talent Resources through my mentor Mark Zablow and his connection with TR’s CEO Mike Heller.

What does a day to day entail for you?

I spend about half of an average day working on account management for current clients which entails helping to oversee the workflow of current projects and finding additional opportunities for brands to consider.  The second half of my day is spent speaking to new brands and PR/Marketing agencies that we haven’t previously worked with while introducing myself and TR’s capabilities. We are always looking to connect with up and coming direct to consumer brands that can benefit from the use of influencer marketing and/or could see value from leveraging consumer experiences and content creation from culturally charged events at Super Bowl, Sundance, Coachella, NYFW, and more.

We all see influencer marketing is popular because it really works. What do you think is the future of sponsorships as a whole?

Given the improvements in technology and the lifestyle of millennials, brands have an endless amount of opportunities to evaluate where is best to reach and build relationships with consumers.  The future of sponsorships is less about traditional awareness and more about 1 to 1 connection and experiences. How can a brand make an impact on consumers that goes beyond their direct product is a popular trend marketers are thinking about on a daily basis.  Being able to interact or utilize a brand in a relatable moment helps to create more value and brand affinity.

What is the toughest part about working with influencers and brands? Is it communication? Is it campaign set up?

The most challenging aspect of working with talent both celebrities and influencers is timely communication.  The social media channels may be ancillary to celebrities that come from the world of sports, music, fashion, etc as those people are also focusing on their main career and not as concerned about their next social media partnership.  For influencers whose primary career or passion is social media, communication with them is tricky as well since they are typically working on multiple branded campaigns at any given time. On the brand side, one of the largest challenges is getting brands to lean in and give influencer marketing a try.  While we use our past experiences and data as much as possible, there are no exact predictions anyone can make before an influencer campaign goes live. We focus on putting brands in the best possible position to succeed, and without firm forecasting abilities, sometimes we are challenged by getting the brands the make that final commitment.

What has been the best variable for helping you build your connections?

One of my most favorite benefits of working at Talent Resources is that we get to work in so many different buckets.  One month we’ll focus on finding talent for an appearance at Miami Swim Week and the next we are working on finding an alcohol sponsor for a party at Super Bowl.  The ability to work across almost every category such as sports, music, fashion, art, technology, etc. has greatly improved our ability to form relationships.

What advice would you give an aspiring marketer that looks up to you?

There are so many different roles and opportunities in this industry that the best thing anyone can do is network and be educated on industry trends and happenings.  Each day I’m working on being aware of new brands entering the market or brands working on interesting activations or campaigns. I frequently check sites such as Bevnet, Nosh, QSR Magazine, Marketing Dive, Event Marketer, Mediapost, Adweek, etc. to help find new brands to connect with and explore potential collaborations.

What is next for Talent Resources?

While we do a bulk of our work on influencer/celebrity partnerships, we have significantly grown both our social media management and experiential events division.  Talent Resources is always looking for the next disruptor brand and we value getting in the ground floor whether it be helping on their influencer, social media, or experiential needs. The earlier we can work with a new and exciting brand in the marketplace, the more we can grow with them and look to implement more and more unique ideas and consumer experiences.  Our Sports division has also seen incredible growth over the past year has worked with Sports Illustrated for their Super Bowl party in Atlanta. We hope to have an even bigger impact at this year’s Super Bowl in Miami and are considering building out more tentpole sports moments at events like the Masters in Augusta.

What is next for Scott Baum? What are your future plans?

In my first year here at Talent Resources we have been able to implement a strong vision for how to develop and scale our new business team.  We have multiple full-time employees and also heavily rely on full-time college students completing their school capstones/co-ops where they have to get more hours than a typical internship.  I’m focused on continuously growing and strengthening my relationships with industry professionals at brands and agencies while looking for the right opportunities for Talent Resources to create newsworthy marketing waves that can be seen in the likes of sources I previously mentioned.