Member in the Spotlight: Marvin Jacobs

Marvin Jacobs is obsessed with audio, specifically podcasts. He is the Creative Director of audio agency Airborne, having started his career as a TV screenwriter and journalist. With Airborne, he creates formats on behalf of brands and organizations, not just the usual conversational types, but high-quality storytelling podcasts. His first project was 'The Journey' for KLM, a podcast series that not only resulted in a number of awards and international recognition, but also formed the basis for audio agency Airborne, of which he is co-founder.

As the Club for Creativity, we’d like to start by asking you to create a self-portrait.

PERSONAL

What is your favourite website/app and why?

The app I use the most is, not surprisingly, Spotify. But VPRO Koos is another favorite: this app gives you 5 tips every day. This often includes podcasts, but also documentaries, TV series, funny Instagram accounts, websites, and so on. In a time of content overload, a strictly curated selection is a relief.

What music could we find on your favorite playlist?

My favorite playlist has almost 8000 tracks. It’s a hugely eclectic mix ranging from Ethiopian tezeta to Americana from Chicago. During my work, I usually choose ‘De Buitendienst’ ('Field Work'), a podcast that we made for ANWB (Dutch Touring Club). Each episode consists of an hour-long soundscape in a specific place in the Netherlands. So, think of the surf of the island of Terschelling, buzzing insects on the heath of Drenthe. It calms the mind while working.

What is the most unforgettable place you've traveled to?

India. The intensity of this country is one that I haven't encountered in any other place in the world - yes, and I know I’m not the first one to say this. The first time a rickshaw drove me from the airport to my hotel, I didn't know where to look. The combination of a constant, apparent chaos in which everything still functioned was a very enlightening experience for a slight control freak like me.

What is your most recent 'find'?

It’s an occupational hazard, but I’m always looking for new podcasts. This week I’m hooked on the show 'The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra'. It’s a true story that takes place in 1963. A man called Barry Keenan plans to kidnap the son of one of the most famous people at the time, Frank Sinatra. A completely absurd idea, of course, that culminates in a rather clumsy series of events, reminiscent of the film ‘Fargo’. And even though there's only one source in the podcast, it's a great and funny story to listen to.

If you didn't live in the Netherlands, where would you live?

Los Angeles. As a freelance journalist, I lived and worked there for a while. It’s still a place that I love. LA is quite an inaccessible city; it’s completely fragmented and has no city center. To get anywhere, you need to spend an hour in the car. But it is precisely this scale with an enormous variety of neighborhoods and atmospheres that I find very inspiring. And the permanently perfect weather and fresh tacos on every street corner also help, of course.

PROFESSIONAL

Which phase of the creative process excites you the most and why?

It's our daily work making great storytelling podcasts together with brands. These are often large projects that involve a lot of energy and in which different disciplines come together such as research, guest casting, scripting, creating a soundtrack, sound design, and so on. The most satisfying phase is when everything comes together and it all turns out right. In a kitchen, good ingredients are nice to work with, but the real magic happens when you turn them into an awesome dish.

What makes a great or hero client?

I love to work with clients who have the ambition to build their brand. Nowadays you see a lot of brands and organizations that are just busy with performance marketing: every euro spent needs to directly result in an increase in sales. This often leads to poor communication: the goal is to convert people into buyers. In the long run, that will erode your brand and as a result, consumers won’t identify with it anymore. We generally work with brands that understand that telling great stories helps build a brand. And those are undoubtedly hero clients.

How do you learn in the best/most effective way?

For a few years, I’ve adopted the attitude of saying 'yes' as much as possible to things that come my way, whether it’s an invitation from a student or professional to meet up, a request to give a talk, or an interview. Not everything leads to something or turn out to be worth the effort. The new things I learn and the interesting encounters I have outweigh that.

Over the last year, have you developed new ways of working?

Our agency is relatively young and we operate in a domain that changes rapidly. So, our way of working has definitely changed in this past year, and it will change next year. What’s most important is that we’ve been able to build a team with complementary talent. That feels like a kind of smoothly running engine, to which we can add necessary parts as we go along.

What is the boldest move you have made?

That may well be the moment I had a conversation during the SpinAwards a few years ago with Natascha van Roode, KLM's Head of Global Marketing Communication at the time. I was a big fan of podcasts and I was convinced that this medium could be used to tell stories on behalf of brands. But there weren’t very many examples around. And I’d listened to a lot of podcasts, but I’d never made one. Yet Natascha dared to make a podcast together. It's great to be given so much trust, but also terrifying. Because how do you make a podcast for the very first time that is so good that it stands out internationally, as I had promised? Ultimately, that podcast became 'The Journey'. A show that received many awards and became the basis for founding Airborne.

What professional skill do you value the most?

Attention and focus. I can't stand it when someone does things halfway out of laziness or lack of attention. Knowing what you’re doing and why, yes, that’s the core for me.