In this episode of the A-List podcast, sponsored by Adhouse Advertising School, Tom Christmann talks with Jaime Cabrera, Group Creative Director on Hyundai at Innocean USA in Los Angeles, California.

Jaime’s focus at Innocean is what’s called “Experiential marketing”. It’s sometimes called "engagement marketing" and “event marketing". Encompassing everything from car shows to virtual in-car experiences, experiential is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and invites and encourages them to participate in the evolution of a brand or a brand experience. To experiential marketers, the audience isn’t just a passive receiver of messages. Rather, the audience is actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs, developing a relationship with the brand.

Jaime (pronounced HY’-may) was born in El Paso, Texas to Mexican immigrant parents and he went to the University of Texas Austin where he studied broadcast and film. A talented musician, Jaime headed to L.A. to record some albums. He’s got some excellent music on Spotify under the name J Cabrera. While he was pursuing his musical dreams, he started working at a small agency in El Paso called The Laster Group (now known as CultureSpan) creating 360 campaigns for car dealerships. He was even the star of his very first ad.

Jaime is, at his core, a storyteller. In addition to his music and his ad work, he’s also an author and podcaster. His book is called What’s The Big Idea?: An Indispensable Guide To Becoming A Kick-Ass Creative Director and his podcast, Confessions of a Creative Director, takes the ideas in that book and uses them as discussion points with Creative Directors from all over the world, including our very own Tom Christmann.

Samples of Jaime’s song about his mom, entitled “Hey Maria”, are used in this episode with permission from Jaime.

Enjoy the episode. And remember… ADHOUSE SUMMER ZOOM CLASSES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON. REGISTER NOW AT ADHOUSENYC.COM.