Meet Bill Horn: Communications Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bill Horn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bill, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We started Marque Communications essentially out of necessity. After working for nearly two decades for other people, having our first child in 2010 changed our priorities. Once Bill’s paternity leave was over, the 2+ hours round trip in the car was now time away from our newborn baby girl. And the casting director jobs Scout was being offered, would end up being a wash financially. And we knew that things would get harder once she started a sleep schedule. Why had we worked so hard to adopt, if only to see our daughter on weekends? Since starting Marque we can honestly say we’ve never worked harder, but we’re able to keep our own schedules.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Marque, French for “brand” and pronounced /’mark/, was formed in 2010 by veteran entertainment publicist and marketing executive Bill Horn and Scout Masterson. For more than 20 years Horn has developed, managed and implemented publicity campaigns and marketing initiatives for a wide-spectrum of clients.   Marque’s areas of expertise include consumer products and services, social media, corporate/ crises communications, talent handling, events, and lifestyle PR. But we’ve primarily specialized in working on consumer products in the juvenile space. Over the years, we’ve encountered boutique PR firms that have represented such a variety of clients that they haven’t been able to do one client well. The skills for promoting a product maybe similar, but the media outlets and contacts usually are not. So we decided to focus on baby and kid products and strive to be the best at it. The biggest challenge over the past decade we’ve been in business is the ever changing media landscape. Yes, it’s always been changing. But in the past decade, media has been flipped upside down. Keeping up and adapting has been a challenge. And we know after 25 years in the business that change will continue.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ok – this is a difficult one because of two equally scary factors – COVID and kids. So let’s pretend COVID is over and the kids are at home. We love to eat so we would create our activities around food and the variety of neighbors LA has to offer: #1 – Downtown LA – lunch at Grand Central Market, Broad Museum, and then dinner at Otium #2 – Beach Day – rent bikes on the beach and ride from Venice to Malibu. Lunch at Shutters is never a bad idea. #3 – Chinatown for lunch (Yang Chow for Slippery Shrimp or Ocean Seafood) and then Olvera Street for a Mexican dinner and margaritas #4 – Lunch at Eatley, followed by shopping at the mall, and then another meal at Eately. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so people throughout my career that I could give a Shoutout to. One that sticks out is a woman by the name of Joan Garry, who became the Executive Director of GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) when I worked there at the very start of my career. Joan had been a big time cable executive and was new to non-profit work when she started. It was clear from day one that she was a smart and capable leader. What I remember most is that she took the time to work with me to think differently about how I approached work and problem solving. I was maybe 22-years-old at the time. She could have simply dismissed me, but she didn’t. To this day, I repeat one of her mantras to people I work with – “Don’t come to me with a problem. Come to me with a solution.” She wasn’t mean when she said it. She was serious. I’ll never forget how much her mentorship allowed me to grow and gave me permission to offer my opinion.

Website: https://www.marquecommunications.com/

Instagram: @marquecomm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarqueComm/