Brad Jackson firmly believes that every company’s marketing strategy should include experiential. He’s seen the ROIs speak for themselves at his previous roles with NVE Experience Agency, Live Nation, and The University of Iowa’s SCOPE Productions. But in 2018, one thing was inherently clear to Jackson: The event industry was shifting to a freelancer-centric model.
“After being freelance for six years, I saw the direction of the industry going more freelance-forward, and there wasn’t a good community platform—one place for all the freelancers to be,” Jackson told BizBash.
To catch the trend on the rise, Jackson became a freelance executive event producer himself that same year, opening an LLC that would come to make waves as Out Of Office, an online hub designed to connect brands that value experiential marketing industry with the best freelancers in the biz.
Once vetted by and accepted to Out Of Office's platform, freelancers have a profile they can update with case studies and other personal information that showcases how they work and think. "I'm a big believer that you have to have your portfolio set up; you need to be out there creating content, like getting the word out," Jackson said.Photo: Courtesy of Brad Jackson
The vetting process is thorough, Jackson explained, despite Out Of Office’s application only taking roughly two minutes to fill out and requiring just a resume, LinkedIn profile, and/or personal website link. That’s because of the site’s use of artificial intelligence, which ensures that each accepted freelancer has at least five years of “on-hand” event experience—specifically in the experiential world—and has held “producer-level [positions] and up.”
“We’re not working with brand ambassadors [and] production assistants,” Jackson said, noting his current focus on “industry veterans” and keeping Out Of Office “like the Soho House of the industry.”
Roughly 300 are already active on Out Of Office—and paying $99 monthly to do so. Experienced freelancing event profs on the platform have already assisted major brands like Apple, Google, Uber, Verizon, Tinder, and Airbnb, among others. On the waitlist are an impressive 2,000 additional freelancers.
How did he do it, exactly? Well, despite tapping four developers and three web design and research staffers to assist with Out Of Office, Jackson has operated the company itself as a team of one. He divulged that it wasn’t until this past year that the waitlist became so sought after, which he attributes to his dedication to thought leadership.
“I've been wanting to get better with content for years and I've naturally loved writing, so I finally—about a year ago—just got the courage to start posting on LinkedIn,” Jackson confessed. “I told myself for one year, I’m going to try to post every day, even if it’s things I listened to on podcasts or read in a business book.”
“I was seeing a slow growth, but then it started compounding,” Jackson said of the engagement on his LinkedIn posts, which includes relevant content such as personal branding tips, industry trends, and his own struggles as a business owner. Just last month, Jackson penned: “Honestly my biggest struggle right now is trying to figure out the damn business model.”
Thus far, Out Of Office has assisted in creating events for the likes of Don Julio-maker Diageo, Apple, Google, Uber, Verizon, Tinder, and Airbnb, among others.Photo: Courtesy of Brad Jackson
“The platform [Out Of Office] would absolutely not be where it’s at today if it wasn’t for LinkedIn,” Jackson added.
To further capitalize on his success on LinkedIn, Jackson shares similar, yet more in-depth content to Out Of Office’s website and newsletters, including in downloadable quarterly experiential marketing trend reports that vow to give freelancers “a competitive edge.” A recent post, for example, titled “Shatter that 6-figure wall!” proposed “an $85 hourly rate, 150 hours per project, and eight projects a year. That's $102,000.”
“A great start, but why stop there?” the blog reads, going on to suggest that freelancers ditch an hourly rate model in order to maximize their profits. Another post breaks down “How to help an agency add seven figures in new revenue without having to bring on any new clients.”
Jackson's best practices for standing out among other freelancers on Out Of Office include thought leadership. "At some point, you need to pop your head out, and when people go to find more information about you, they should be able to come across your content and see how you think and approach things,” Jackson said.Photo: Courtesy of Brad Jackson
“In order to stand out in the sea of freelancers, word of mouth can take you so far. But at some point, you need to pop your head out, and when people go to find more information about you, they should be able to come across your content and see how you think and approach things,” Jackson said.
And in the spirit of setting an example, Jackson—who’s based in Denver—continues to freelance as an executive event producer while working on Out Of Office, recently working on projects for the likes of ESPN, Mattel, and Google.
All the while, Jackson is working behind the scenes to further integrate AI into Out Of Office, to get it to a point where users can search its vendor database by more than just location—for parameters such as price and specialty areas of expertise, for example.
When not working on Out Of Office, Jackson still freelances as an executive event producer. Recently, his clients have included Mattel's Hot Wheels brand (pictured), ESPN, and Google.Photo: Courtesy of Brad Jackson
There’s already a lot in the pipeline for the company, such as “Opportunities,” which is launching in late July—as a free tool while it's still in beta testing—that’s designed as “a new-age version of a job board,” Jackson said, noting that it will be “super interactive with video responses from freelancers” looking to book the gig.
Another new feature dubbed “Event Studio” is also forthcoming, “and that’s really for brands that are trying to get into experiential but don’t really know where to start,” Jackson said. Brands will be able to “input their goal of the event [and other] high-level stuff.” Then, the AI-driven tool will “kick out a strategy, three creative concepts, a mood board, vendors, venues, and freelancers.”
Jackson’s innovation with Out Of Office has already garnered 20-plus offers for funding, which he described as “a great validation” for his hard work as he approaches the seven-year anniversary of working on the company in August. And though three calls have proposed potentially purchasing Out Of Office at this time, Jackson said he’s not quite ready to give it up, as he still feels he's just getting started.
