Meet Dylan Gerber | Creative Director, Copywriter
We had the good fortune of connecting with Dylan Gerber and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Dylan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I grew up in the mid-Wilshire area (Olympic & Crescent Heights). As a kid, I remember driving up Fairfax past the CBS entertainment complex known as “Television City” on my way to pick up lunch at Canter’s before heading further up the street to my father’s ad agency, which occupied a half a block of storefronts just north of Melrose. Television City. Even then, there was something about those two words that fascinated me. I didn’t know what was going on in there, but I knew I wanted to be a part of whatever it was. And it wasn’t long before I got my chance. As luck would have it, my dad’s agency would soon win the CBS account and, as a fledgling copywriter working in his “shop,” I found myself attending meetings in that giant building I had driven by for years and years.
Those were heady days. Los Angeles really was a television city writ large. CBS, NBC and ABC were behemoths, churning and burning out episodes for scores of new and returning shows, year after year. The local TV station business was lucrative. Fox Network and Fox News didn’t yet exist. Cable, with its handful of channels, was a nascent concept whose paradigm-shifting popularity no one could have predicted. The internet was still a decade away. The metaverse we live in now was unfathomable. And me? Well, I lived and worked through it all. First as a writer, then as a creative director, later as the EVP Marketing charged with launching the sixth broadcast network, UPN, and finally as the owner and president of my own ad agency, Planet 365.
Fast forward to 2024. The entertainment world is pivoting yet again and a new generation of television marketers are facing existential challenges from streamers and social platforms. Surviving, let alone succeeding in an era of shrinking ratings and profit margins requires letting go of the past and embracing new approaches. That’s why recently, my team and I created Brandit 247, a new service for TV stations and Station Groups that offers a cost-effective, yet creative alternative to the way things have always been done. At its core, Brandit 247 is a disruptor in an industry that could use a little disruption. Why now? Because after four decades in the biz, I’ve learned two things. One, that change is inevitable. And two, a good idea is as timeless as a corned beef sandwich from Canter’s. With a side of potato salad and a pickle, I might add.
What should our readers know about your business?
BrandIt 24/7 comes along at a time when stations everywhere are cutting back across the board, trying to remain competitive amid reductions in budget, staff and inventory. And as a result, increasingly relying on topical promotion at the expense of branding robs them of one of the most effective ways to differentiate themselves from their competition.
By bringing together a unique combination of experienced station marketing execs who possess a deep understanding of the broadcasting business and a team of creatives with an equally deep passion for big ideas, strong copy and bold design, BI24/7 offers a response to the challenge.
And this fusion of insider knowledge with outsider perspective has already led to some fiery internal brainstorming sessions. Thankfully, it has also yielded some compelling, affordable and effective solutions. And we’re just getting started!
In practical terms, BrandIt 24/7 offers customizable, market-exclusive image promotion for TV stations and groups, that address many, if not all of the marketing challenges they face on a daily basis. From positioning their newscasts to promoting their weather team to generating tune-in for their morning shows, afternoon block or late edition.
What makes us different from other agencies?
—Our long and storied track record of success in this space.
—Providing the agency-quality solutions stations need at in-house costs that align with today’s economic realities.
— What’s more, any station can license one or more of our turnkey brand campaigns (edited, fully-graphicked, originally scored, ready-to-air) right now.
— BrandIt 24/7. Designed for the kind of smart, next-level tactical thinkers who will not only survive but thrive in this ecosystem.
Best of all, we even wrote our own tagline. “BrandIt 24/7. Get The Creative. Skip The Process.”
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We live in the rocky hills high above Chatsworth in a place called Box Canyon on a horse property that borders the old Bell Movie Ranch, an oft-used film location back in the day for everything from Bonanza to Star Trek to countless movies including one of my all-time faves, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. We’re not far from the infamous Santa Susana Field Laboratory (google SSFL meltdown). The area is one of SoCal’s best kept secrets boasting its own quirky history replete with a litany of kooks and cults including Krishna Venta’s Fountain Of The World compound and, of course, Charlie Manson and fam’s Spahn Ranch hideout.
We like to take visitors into Simi for a walk under the giant oaks in Corriganville, then pop over the hill for soul food at Les Sisters on Nordhoff or Grandma Kim’s on Topanga for bomb Korean BBQ and hot pots or Woodlands on Lassen for truly excellent vegetarian Indian cuisine. Hitting the driving range at the Simi Hills Golf Course is an hour’s worth of fun for ten bucks. For our more physically fit friends, rock climbing at Stoney Point Park and a mountain bike expedition along the Rocky Peak Summit Trail are both musts — each provide amazing views of the entire SFV!
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout goes to my dad for his love, support, mentorship, patience and belief in my potential through many years when I didn’t share that believe in myself. Not a day goes by when I don’t reference him in conversation or utilize the countless lessons he taught me about life, business, relationships and parenting.
He was the glue that held our family together and a fully-realized version of the Larry David character long before that show existed. Sadly, he passed in 2018, but is still very much alive in my thoughts. And always will be.
Website: https://planet365.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandit.247/
Image Credits
Planet365
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