Ed Casey is Managing Director of LR Studio. He has more than thirty years of licensing experience with major companies, including Turner / Time Warner’s Cartoon Network, Hearst Corporation, Scripps-Howard, and the British Broadcasting Company. Ed was the lead licensing person for BBC’s premiere Doctor Who brand. His licensing success resulted in two International Licensing awards for Doctor Who at Hot Topic in 2014 and 2016. His expertise is bringing together major licenses with top-quality manufacturers to make a visual statement at retail.
If you had to make a movie about yourself, what will be the story, and what will the movie title? And why?
The story is about my journey as a young boy growing up in the South Bronx, which is the poorest congressional district in the United States of America. And we grew up poor. But it was an idyllic youth. We were happy that we had a loving family that took care of us. Music came into my life at a very young age, fortunately.
And at one point, I was somewhat of an introverted person. The kindergarten teacher went to my mom and said, “Young Eddie is not mixing with the other children. And we don’t know what to do about it.” And my mother said, “You know, give him the time. He talks with us.” Then one day in the class, the teacher played the son – The Twist. And I started dancing the twist as I invented it. And people were saying, “Is that Eddie, is that Eddie?” So I came into my popular music and through dance. And it’s something that continues even today.
And the name of the song was ‘The Twist.’ And the music was impactful. And so the title of my story would be “Everybody Twist.”
Tell us about your professional background.
I started as a journalist in Rock and Roll. And that was the time when rock and roll journalism was prevalent. Writing about music was an effective form of communication and was an actual occupation. Most of that was in Oregon. I went to City College of New York, moved to Oregon, and then moved back to New York in the 80s. And I started working for Madison Avenue – started working for a trade magazine and publishing. From there, I got into advertising, sales. I started in a company called Rockville Marketing, which was a pioneer in the field of music marketing. I would go to American Express and say, “Would you consider advertising at rock concerts?” And they looked at me and said, “We sponsor concerts at Radio City – classical music, we would never dream.” Seven years later, they underwrite David Bowie concerts in Central Park. So, yes, I was a little bit too ahead of the game. It converted many companies and got them involved in music marketing, which uses music to create an emotional bond with a highly desirable baby boomer consumer market.
I went from advertising sales into the era of licensing in 1991. So you could say I had three careers one was in publishing journalism. The second was in advertising sales, and the third was in licensing. And that’s where I stake my claim for the last 30 years. I’ve worked on many entertainment programs. As a Director of Licensing for BBC, I was responsible for launching the huge cult TV series Doctor Who in North America. You’d be surprised to know that brand licensing is a $292 billion global business.
Why did you get involved with the AMA-New Jersey chapter? Why is this organization important to you?
Coincidentally, when I was retiring from the corporate world in 2018, a friend suggested, “You’re in New Jersey. You should look up American Marketing Association – a terrific group to be involved in a marketing field.” And that’s how I joined to engage with others. Especially in the last year, with the pandemic, it became an excellent social outlet to engage with others.
AMA-New Jersey brings all these minds together to discuss different topics on marketing. Many people in AMA- New Jersey come from all walks of marketing – from market research to digital marketing, copywriting, licensing, product development. In particular, I enjoy high-level conversations with these professionals. We’ve touched upon some excellent topics. For example, the day after the Superbowl, we went through the commercials, analyzed, and discussed how valuable they were.
I find that AMA- New Jersey to be more of an open forum. People are open to discussing the issues – social issues, as well as business issues. For example, recently, we discussed marketing and obesity. Many marketers would say, “I represent fast food or commercial food organization. I don’t believe what you’re saying. We’re not the cause of obesity.” I said, “A lot of these companies need to be much more responsible and take responsibility for some of the obesity issues across the United States, which is a severe issue.” And we were able to discuss that intelligently, without being shouted down. So I find that kind of environment very supportive.
What is the best advice you would give to new professionals in your industry?
I’ll tell you something that I learned in college. We had a guest speaker who once narrated a story of a shoeshine person in the street of New York. He often said, “We don’t shine feet.” He meant that if you’re coming into a career, like marketing, or coming into the corporate world, you must shine your skills. But if you come without skills, talent, or desire, we’re not going to shine that. So start brushing up your skills.
And there is another story. Somebody was in the street, and it was getting cold. This person was wearing a light jacket. Another person asked him, “Where is your coat?” He replied, “I’m waiting for the winter.” And the other person said, “Well, the winter is now.” So the advice is that, yes, it’s going to be harder to get a marketing job, given the winter of 2020. But you have to act now. It would help if you worked hard and put in the time. You have to network, use the library, use alumni resources, do your research, and always keep learning.
And lastly, your long-term career depends on your short-term. Try to stay as close as you can to revenues and focus on revenue generation, especially as we’re coming out of some bad times. It’s going to be a lot of rugged looks at the bottom line over the next several quarters.
I admire and applaud the younger generation at work. This younger generation has shown resilience by making it through the pandemic by holding companies together. I would say there will be a post-pandemic generation. And these youngsters will define how this country looks over the next 10 to 15 years. I would hope that they’re going to be compensated, promoted, recognized for their hard work.
If someone wants to connect with you, what is the best way to reach out to you on social media?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-casey-6a22081/ or contact me at https://www.lrstudiohub.com/
