Name: Jarrett Cobbs
Profession: Vice President of Strategy at Team Epiphany
Age: 34
I have changed/contributed to my industry: Through innovation.
One of the biggest challenges companies face in their startup phase is how to effectively market and advertise their products and services. Enter in Team Epiphany, a marketing agency with a focus on influencer engagement and one of the first to tout this as a capability and deliver metrics behind it.
Jarrett Cobbs, VP of Strategy for Team Epiphany, realized early on what influence could do and what effect it could have. “My mother became a highly regarded registered nurse, and my father worked in publishing,” Cobbs tells BE Modern Man. “They were able to raise both me and my sister in the Bronx and give us the best possible lives and have also been together for over 45 years. Their commitment to our family is a source of inspiration and influences me every day.”
A kid from The Bronx who attended an elite private school in NYC, Cobbs matriculated to Wesleyan University, and then lived both in and outside of London, England. “My interest in advertising and marketing was sparked by an internship with my mentor Coltrane Curtis at Ecko Unlimited Clothing company,” says Cobbs. “Before that internship, marketing was never a viable career option for me.”
Having been a part of the New York nightlife scene and now am an integral perspective within a successful marketing agency, Cobbs uses his unique experiences to constantly innovate and testing boundaries within a highly successful agency. “When put in perspective I have had the opportunity to live a very interesting life in my short time on earth. All these vastly disparate influences and perspectives help to inform my work.”
One of the first agencies to view cultural connectivity as a skill set, Team Epiphany faces the challenge of communicating to big brands that great programs can work for any consumer. “Demographic targeting is fairly archaic, compared to marketing towards psychographic,” Cobbs tells BE Modern Man. “Being pigeonholed into “AFAM” or multi-cultural segments is an inherent problem, not only for us but also for the consumer. At Team Epiphany we have learned to transform this into an opportunity and deliver high quality content and activations that rival “general market” programming. The industry has recognized this, and multicultural programming on the whole has taken a step up in quality and respect based on our influence.”
The latest advertising and marketing project that Cobbs is most excited about is the work the team recently produced for HPNOTIQ. “Simply put, it’s fun, irreverent and some of the best work we have ever done at the agency.”Looking back, Cobbs can only smile at the strides Team Epiphany has made and the impact they create. “To be there at the beginning with four people in one tiny room and to see how far we have come is a blessing,” says Cobbs. “I marvel at our progress and our growth everyday.”
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Although Cobbs attended the best schools and had access to the most worldly perspectives being in marketing was never a real option for him. “Men of color are extremely creative and there is a serious need for more of our creatives to be seen and celebrated excelling outside the realms of sports, music and entertainment,” Cobbs tells BE Modern Man. “We must be represented in this industry because we are the archetypes for a new kind of creative entrepreneur.”
As more of our creatives emerge, the younger generation will be able to see the opportunities that exist in advertising and marketing. “I take personal interest in the careers of younger marketers and try to give them good advice on how to avoid the mistakes that I have made,” says Cobbs. “We want the next generation to be better, but we have to arm them with the trade secrets that we learned through trial and error. It’s the difference between good, great and iconic.”
The game is changing and Team Epiphany understands that remaining on top means staying abreast of the current trends and having a vision for what’s to come. “Being a BE Modern Man means being flexible. Culture and business are moving at the speed of light and you must be ready to adjust if you want to succeed in this game.
The BlackEnterprise.com team salutes Jarrett Cobbs and Team Epiphany on their foresight and understanding of how influencer engagement would change the advertising and marketing industry. We are proud to call him a BE Modern Man and look forward to seeing the impact Team Epiphany makes of the changing landscape of advertising and marketing.
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