Rob Stott: All right, we are back on the Connected Design podcast and I can’t say I’ve ever done sort of like, you know, serial-esque episodes one after the other that are connected. excited that we’re going to explore this world together, having to tell a story one week after another. But I appreciate, you know, we’re continuing the Caster story this week and I appreciate that Ms. Alex Crab and Pete Gerard, president and SVP respectively of the Caster Communications team, jumping in and joining us this week as I really appreciate it. looking very much. been looking forward to this since I talked to kid even prior to talking to Kim last week. I this was going to be a fun one. So, thank you for being open and willing and wanting to dive into a podcast with us here.
Alex Crabb: Yeah, thank you so much for having us, Rob. I think it’s really cool to be able to tell this story of Caster’s evolution. I loved Kim’s story and yeah, we’re excited to be here.
Peter Girard: Yeah, I’m excited to be on not only the serialized podcast episode, but we’re also, throwing a curve ball by having two additional representatives on, because it’s normally one-on-one with you.
Watch: Succession Planning Ain’t Easy. Caster Comm Founder Shares Hers.
Rob Stott: I know. I gotta do a little post editing here in Premiere Pro or whatever. I have it all set up, you guys. It is a curve ball, but it’s a fun one to be able to throw and, you know, just exciting because, too, like, you guys are getting to put everything you do on behalf of clients, right? Like, this is, you’re on the PR circuit, sort of sharing your story. So I also have to say thanks for finding the time within that schedule. I know it’s crazy.
You know, coming out of sort of the the early year events that go on, and I know you guys were running around. chickens with your heads on because you’re not going too crazy at CES, but point given, you know, and then we’re coming up. We got another slate of events that are not too far ahead of us. So it’s finding time in within it to be able to, you know, hop in and chat with us. I appreciate so looking forward to it. I got a great for those that listened last week, I got a great amount of detail on how the both of you joined the Caster team, from Kim, she shared some really cool stories, but I want to give you guys the chance right out the bat. just tell us, Alex, you can start talking a little bit about yourself, your background and, you know, your path to where you are today, both, kind of bury the lead. I should mention it. It is serialized, but for those that weren’t, watching previously, Pete and Alex, it was announced a couple of weeks ago at this point that you formally acquired caster from Kim, the company’s founder. Just to make sure for those that we don’t want to bet I didn’t do it last week. I don’t want to do it this week either of burying the lead. That’s not a good PR form. So right now that we’re all caught up Alex, if you want to start by telling us a little bit about your background and path to where you got today.
Peter Girard: Now everyone’s sufficiently filled in.
Alex Crabb: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So I’ve kind of been in tech PR my whole life. Well, no, not my whole life, my whole career. I started at some smaller agencies in Boston. I was working for a tech PR agency in Boston when I met Kim and the CASA team. It was called Ink Communications. And we did a lot of emerging tech, like early stage startups, a lot in the mobile space, and gaining space. so that’s where like my background came from. That’s where a lot of the clients I have today at Caster are either came from that world or I met through contacts in that space. so there’s semiconductor emerging tech, kind of stuff. but yeah, I met, I met Kim, while I was working there, we had, we had Caster Communications and Inc. Communications had clients who were doing a project together at CES. So I met, well, I didn’t meet Kim there that time, but I met Nick Brown, who was handling, who was working at Caster at the time. You know, we started dating, we got married, but I met Kim through him and he, well, and she was amazing. We were like, we have to work together. But, you know, I didn’t want to like…
Nick and I were kind of early dating at the time. were like, what do we do? We’re both going to work for the same company. And Kim promised me, you guys will work on different things. It’ll be great. So I started.
Rob Stott: Does she take credit for your relationship? like does she ever is it a concept that I feel like?
Alex Crabb: She doesn’t take credit for the relationship, but she did have a lot to do with like things in the early days. Like I know Nick ran my wedding ring by, or like an engagement ring by her, like the whole plan. Yeah. So she was there for all of our big moments for sure. The, the, and, and yeah, and it’s funny because like CES is such an important part of our jobs and it is where Nick and I met, we still go together every year, not together, he works for a different company now, but we both go at the same time every year. And yeah, anyway, so it was like really kind of like a perfect fit moving to Caster and very similar type of work like in the tech space, but new industry. I was, you know, new to the CDM market. I was new to the, you know, the AV space and the Infocom space. so I’m not new to those spaces anymore, but I’m not as well known or as well versed. I have…
Rob Stott: Well, that’s why the relationship like you and Pete here, if I remember right, Kim said you guys don’t share a lot of the same clients, in a PR agency, obviously, right? So that’s kind of the yin and yang of the relationship, I have to imagine too, right? How it makes it help.
Alex Crabb: No, not anymore. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I definitely need to, you know, get to know people better in those markets that Kim has. There’s huge shoes to fill in that space. yes, Pete and I used to work on a lot of accounts together. Some of my favorite campaigns and projects have been with Pete. I’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk about. But now, yeah, he handles a lot more of the smart home space.
And we have a much bigger team now too. So we have Olivia Selke who handled PR for CEDIA for many years, Rachel Bradshaw and Megan Glickman who came from the VIXA. So we have folks that are super, super well versed in those markets. then yeah, and then I’m kind of handling a lot more of the like emerging tech, semiconductor embedded, cybersecurity, those kinds of spaces.
But I mean they all kind of link together. So I mean, I think one of my favorite things about always, you know, working in the tech, in the tech PR space has been taking those like really complex tech things and making them something that anyone can understand and try and have them be, you know, stories that land.
Rob Stott: Yeah, good story to tell. I mean, that’s what makes the job. It is the job, right? Is to help, you know, whether it’s people like us in the media world that you’re helping make sense of what’s going on and everything. just that nice bridge between the manufacturers and the rest of the people that need to know what’s going on. you talk about people that need to know what’s going on. It didn’t dawn on me until I was talking to Kim on, like, as we were recording that
I went back to that first CEDIA that I ever went to in this space and I’m fairly certain. I think I was like 85 percent sure on that podcast. I think I’m like 95 percent certain now that you were the first PR person I interacted with at CEDIA. So we went… Yeah, right? We went… So I was two months into my job at Napcomedia at the time and CEDIA was I think in late October at that point in Denver.
Peter Girard: Look. Nice. I’m going to take that accolade. I’m going to claim that.
Rob Stott: Because I started in like early September, late August in that range and CEDIA was the first event I went to in Dallas and Beale Street Audio was the first appointment I ever had. And it was right on the floor with you. So that’s pretty cool.
Peter Girard: Yeah, no, I know it’s like that. It’s the it’s the interwovenness kind of like as it goes as it goes all the way back And it’s funny. You’re like you you’re not alone in mentioning like Beale Street audio in particular There was a couple other guys like in the audio space who were just like I remember going to like see e week and you were there and and I met with you for that And so that one has come up a couple times.
Rob Stott: Right? Yeah. That’s funny.
That’s pretty cool. Well, so we got Kim shared an incredible she she said that, you know, she had permission. felt like she had permission to share your story. But now that we have you, I want to hear your take on that in that introduction and into the space. And, know, the coffee shot, I know you you mentioned it before we hopped on here, but the LinkedIn posts kind of jogged my memory as well that you said you owe a lot of your career to coffee. So dive into that a little bit.
Peter Girard: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, I know the the the humble cup of coffee. No, I do owe a lot to it. I mean, in my background, I mean, my degree is in communication studies from from the University of Rhode Island. And while I was attending that university, there’s a
It’s not this coffee shop is still there, but it’s now a different coffee shop. But so it’s it’s still within the community, but it’s not named the same thing. But there was a really popular coffee shop and I worked there all through college. It was where I made like a lot of contacts and it was just, I mean, I was working through college, so it was just it helped. It helped with that. But upon graduation, they actually needed a manager. And I mean, fresh grad, it was a salaried position. So I was just like, yeah, I mean, I’m going to take a jump at this. I waited for a little while because I was just like what are the optics of coming out of my degree in communications to like be the manager of a coffee shop but I was just like you gotta start somewhere and so and all that a lot of the skills I felt I would start to translate so I did that for about a year and it’s like it’s within that year that I did listen to the episode that you did with Kim where she would frequent there there was a gym in the same complex so like her and her family would come into the coffee shop.
What I think she omitted was Kim would order a very particular drink that had a couple stages and so there were there were a couple people on staff that made it well and I was one of them and so but yeah as she told it I haven’t seen her in a while and it until I got into into the cast or ring and and and started working here I didn’t really fully understand why but it was the the breaks in which I wasn’t seeing her was like right around September so like CEDIA was happening and then see her for a little bit and then she would disappear again around like December and January and so CES and everything so I hadn’t seen her for a bit and just as I was making her drink was just kind of asking her questions as to like I haven’t seen you in a little while like where you been how you doing and that’s when she she mentioned that she had been traveling a lot for work and I didn’t know what she did at the time so I was just like that’s that’s interesting like what do do and so she said that she owns her own PR social media communications firm.
And I know that she mentioned I did in fact run to the back. I was like before you leave hold on so I went to the back and I logged on to the computer there, which I’m not sure if I was supposed to do but I printed my resume and handed it her—not because I ever thought that I was like this is how I’m gonna get a job per se but…
Rob Stott: Right, like hey do you know anyone?
Peter Girard: Yes, it was networking is what it was. I was just like, I was like this lady knows people and if there’s if I have any shot of like at least talking to somebody who might be looking for like a recent grad in communication studies like she would know who it is and I was equally baffled when she was like we actually might be hiring an entry-level position. and I was like really well, I’d be I’d be interested in that.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome.
Peter Girard: That came about I know I did interview actually I came to it to my Caster interview directly off of a shift at that coffee shop I brought coffees for everybody in the office. Actually a funny aside is I had received a text from Nick Brown and
Rob Stott: Did you? I hope you brought her drink. Yeah, there you go.
Peter Girard: Because I was actively working a shift. And so he was just like, hey, I know that you probably like wanna go home and change for this, but like, you don’t have to, just come in. And so I had earlier in the day, spilled a bit of like hazelnut iced coffee on like my khakis. And so I showed up with like four iced coffees for everybody that was there, but like reeking of hazelnut iced coffee for like my interview and I was just like well no shot here but I’m gonna go for the interview this is good experience but no we had an awesome conversation I kind of met with everybody that that was at Caster at the time and went through went through the went through the process went through the communications and then yeah then I was offered the account coordinator position so I haven’t fact-checked this but I think I’m one of or I might be the only one to have had the distinct privilege, I think, of holding every position from account coordinator up to where I am now. So I’ll take that accolade too.
Rob Stott: That’s really… I mean, two really cool origin stories to know where you both started, how you’ve kind of… I mean, anyone that’s in this space has seen your trajectory over the last years and whatnot. And the role you’ve played in helping, like I said, people like me and being able to tell stories that are out there and uncover these things to now being owners of a business. And that’s awesome, first of all. Congratulations to you guys.
Peter Girard: Thank you.
Rob Stott: Really cool, really cool story to be able to tell on behalf of a storytelling agency. So one thing I wanted to ask, because I… Well, let me ask this first. Have we all purchased a home or house? All three of us? we purchased a house? Now, purchasing a house, purchasing a business. I want to ask you. I know there’s a lot of paperwork and writing that has to go on. Signatures, things like that. With buying a house. If you’re leveling them out, what was the more difficult process?
Alex Crabb: Thank you. Yeah. I mean, 1,000 times the business. I mean, I don’t know, almost feel like they were giving out houses compared to what it was like to buy a business.
I mean, I don’t know that that’s my, my feeling it was, it’s, feels, it was way bigger to me. I mean, a house doesn’t come with like employees and clients and payroll and insurance and all of the things that we needed to learn and do and transfer. but also, you know, we ha we, we went through and I think Kim talked about this in the last one, but we’ve went through and an SBA loan, like that has a lot of small business associations and has tons of paperwork and took months. So I don’t know, my take is this was way bigger. It’s very exciting, slightly terrifying, but I’m actually not terrified anymore. It was during the process, but it’s great now. I feel good now.
Peter Girard: Yeah, yeah, hands down the business that was, I think that’s a, it’s a, it’s a totally different animal. Number one, we were talking about like, I remember buying my house or my condo here and like going and sitting and signing paperwork for like a long time. Obviously that was like my first experience with just like, how many like pieces, how many pieces of paper do you need my signature on? And then be like, this is…
Rob Stott: When are we gonna poke my finger for the blood? It’s like…
Peter Girard: Yeah, I know. I know. This is what this paper means. This is what this one means. And like, I mean, you also don’t have any negotiation power at that point anyway, where you’re just like, like, well, what if I disagree with that? Then like, you don’t get the house. it’s kind of is what it is what it is. I mean, Alex and I did have to we did go to a meeting where we both sat down and had to sign a bunch of paperwork. But that process was way faster than the house buying process.
Going through the process, I was thinking about it, because there was a lot of, I know Kim touched on this a little bit, but there was a ton of things for the process of kind of acquiring the business that we just didn’t know about. And a lot of, not running around in the bad sense, but like, we would get a notification like, hey, we need this from you guys. And it would be like, well, A, what is it that you need and when do you need it by? And they’d be like, by the end of today, if you can get it to us. So there was one that stuck out in my head was that we needed to take, because I know Kim mentioned we had the building and then we do have office space over in Newport. And one of the stipulations was we needed to go and take a bunch of photos of the office space to kind of prove that it existed and that it was there. And this was at like two in the afternoon and they’re like, we need these by the end of the day. And somebody was supposed to go out and go and get them. And so I was like, I will fly over to Newport to take these photos. Because I was just like, do you need these? Can we do them? so it was a lot of cooperative effort on that front. there were a lot of side quests as a good, probably a really good way to refer to them.
Alex Crabb: But we had, I mean, we had a lot of help. We had a lot of good people helping us, lawyers and bank people. And I got to do a shout out to Lee Abraham, our operations manager. She was the only person on the team who knew about this besides Kim, Pete and I, because she had to help us get so much paperwork and stuff together. And she did a lot for us. So that was really helpful. But I mean, I would say it’s…
Peter Girard: Yeah.
Alex Crabb: It was, the process itself was daunting, but it doesn’t feel like a huge leap because we’ve, and I have been working on, you we’ve been working here for so long. We really know that business inside and out. remember like some of the people we were talking to, like lawyers and even like the bank, banking team and stuff, asking us questions like, have you, have you had access to this and, or you get, you need a list of contracts and we’re like, yeah, we know the contract. work here. We’ve worked here for a long time. We know everything. So there were definitely parts of the process we didn’t know because Kim has never sold a business and we’ve never bought a business. So the three of us were learning how that was going to happen. But in terms of like what’s going on at Caster and what happens behind the scenes, we’ve been filled in. We’ve been working here.
Rob Stott: Yeah, that was kind of like, you know, in listening to you guys talk about this, my like, not just sort of natural in my head follow up is, you know, what is change? Like, obviously, there’s a big portion of the you know, Kim’s not going to be there. And I know that’s not an immediate thing. For those that listen, she’s got I think she’s staying till the end of the year, roughly. And, you know, so but you know, beyond that, you know, what changes for like for you guys day to day? Is it is it sort of, are you trying to operate, you know, continue as if or like, are what’s going on sort of behind, maybe not behind the scenes. I don’t want you to feel like you have to share that secret sauce, right. But like, you know, like what is changing in terms of how you guys operate? If anything.
Alex Crabb: Yeah, well, I mean, I can start and then deep feel free to jump in. I mean, Kim’s created a really great brand and a really strong culture. The people here are amazing, the team. We have clients that stick around. So we’re not trying to change how we do things.
I feel like we have a responsibility to kind of keep things strong, maintain that trust with our clients and with our team and with the industry, with our press and with everybody. So that’s not something we wanna change. So we’re really trying to keep the core the same and consistent in how we work and what we offer. But I do think there’s a lot changing in the world, right?
We have to be prepared for—there’s AI and media. think we really need to understand what that means for our clients and be able to leverage it. I think there’s an opportunity right now for companies to sort of change how they’re showing up in search and stuff. And it’s going to be a big shift. So we need to help guide them and we need to help…
I mean, earned media is going to play such a big part of that. We need to help like drive that from our end. So that’s going to change how we do things. It doesn’t necessarily change the things we do, but you know, maybe there’s different emphasis on different, on different aspects. we need, and I think, yeah, I think we launched a new website, but it’s not really a new brand. It’s just, wanted to, we’ve been, this is something we’ve been working on since before anyway, but
It’s, we’re trying to elevate our, package a little bit, but not, not change the core of who we are and how we work. But we definitely need to, you know, PR and AI and search and visibility, all of that, how that intersects is, is changing a lot right now. There’s going to be a huge shift and we are doing everything we can to be ready for that and make sure our clients are ready for that. And I think that’s kind of one big thing that we’re planning for.
Rob Stott: Yeah. that to me, sounds like and Pete, I’ll give you a chance to tackle it too. But to me, it sounds like things you whether there was a sale of the company to you guys or not, you would have been doing anyway. Like these are all sort of outside forces that are impacting your space, my space, every not my I don’t Tom, I don’t know what you know. That was unintended. The happy accident.
Peter Girard: Yeah, Myspace. There we go. It’s probably coming back. It’s probably coming back Rob. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Yeah, maybe it’ll relaunch. Who knows? AI can do anything. But that’s incredible. But like, it’s all things that we’re going to take place or have to like these outside forces that are impacting the industry in a way that you have to evolve. So it’s it’s not like the sale is forcing any of this. It’s just you guys kind of approaching things how you would have anyway.
Peter Girard: Yeah, we’ve had a lot of internal like communication conversations and communications around like what the landscape looks like right now. We’ve kind of harkened it back a little bit. It’s not exactly the same, but like it is a bit reminiscent of when social media came on the scene and like what that did.
Rob Stott: Speaking of MySpace…
Peter Girard: Yeah, speaking of MySpace, it’s a constant web of keywords, but it’s reminiscent of what social media did when it really came onto the scene for businesses. We’re always tracking kind of like where, even in the integrator space, like where’s the proper platform for them to be spending their time on and what’s that look like. And it was a whole new channel and a whole new thing. And at that time there was a lot of ability to on top of the traditional PR which is nice in the fact that like that drum beat stays like pretty similar like there’s there’s not too much different between like once you’ve mastered the fundamentals really or if you stick to the fundamentals there are things that you can kind of add on there so social media when when that came on the scene was something that we similar time frame where we’ve been taking a hard look at like how is AI and media kind of changing the landscape there and what there’s a lot of information just like when social media came out like or was really kind of taking off like there’s a lot of information out there there’s a lot of experts you can go to in the sense of kind of like what that looks like and what you should be doing so kind of parsing through all of that so that like you’re you are doing purposeful—your activities are purposeful and that you’re just using it to further amplify what you’re already doing rather than letting it drive like everything that you’re doing.
Alex Crabb: I mean, and I would say, sorry. I would say Kim was, Kim and Caster were really early on the scene to like lead clients in social media programs. I mean, they were doing, we were doing Twitter really early on and even LinkedIn early on for clients. And so we wanna sort of keep that true and be the, you know, be the agency that’s getting ahead of these trends and these changes and, and sort of understanding what it means for our clients early and doing what, you know, helping them do what they need to do now before the shift happens. Cause I think there’s a real opportunity right now for them, for, for anyone to become an authority and, and sort of take charge on, visibility and AI. I think, sort of just like what Kim did with Caster and social media back in like the early 2000s, I think that’s what we’re trying to do now.
Rob Stott: What, and that’s where I was gonna go anyway, and I’m glad you brought it up, because the opportunities that do exist are, well, where are you guys sort of putting your efforts or what are the, again, without getting too much into the secret sauce of what you’re trying to do on behalf of clients, but what are those opportunities that exist and how can brands, what are some of the ways you’re seeing them be successful and how they leverage AI?
Alex Crabb: Yeah, I mean, think, yeah, I mean, I think we’re understanding, we’re seeing more that earned media is really critical for AI visibility. So owned media is a big part of it. And so trying to, yeah….
Rob Stott: For those, I’m sorry to butt in, for those that don’t know, can you explain the difference between earned and owned media?
Alex Crabb: Yeah, sure. So owned media is like your company blog or a press release that you put out on a wire or if the CEO of your company has a substack or you run your own podcast or some of the bigger brands have things like that. That’s owned media. And so that is really important. And it’s becoming a big part of, I guess you could call it AEO, GEO, SEO, PR for AI. There’s a million different things that they’re calling it now. But basically, we usually use the term AEO or GEO, which is Generative Engine Optimization or AI Engine Optimization. so own media plays a big part of that, but earn media is even higher ranking in the AI searches. So earned media is basically what we do. It’s PR. It’s getting third parties to validate your brand with articles on media sites, things that are not paid for. So not sponsored articles, not press releases on wires. It’s press writing articles. It’s analysts doing reports, those kinds of things. Podcasts.
Rob Stott: Yep. hey. Yeah.
Peter Girard: Podcast appearances exactly what we’re doing right now.
Alex Crabb: And podcast and video, think, is going to be a really important piece of it. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Yeah, now I see why you agreed to do this now. Yeah, Whoo. No, that’s awesome. Well, I so I appreciate that. And I know I cut you off, to to dive back into it, the the areas and maybe that kind of answered it. don’t know, Pete, I’d give you a chance to tackle it, too. But sort of the the early benefits you’re seeing or the areas of early emphasis around AI for the space. What do you what do you see in that regard?
Peter Girard: Yeah, what’s really interesting and what I think is working well is kind of given the way that the chips are falling with this right now, it’s giving companies and it’s giving those within the space, opportunity to really own their message. rather than, rather than again, chasing kind of like what’s the latest, what’s the latest algorithm update and like what is being prioritized right now, like everything that we’re seeing to Alex’s point is like with earned media being ranked so high, those are your chances to kind of tell your story authentically and to be the, be part of the source for where those stories are being told from and kind of like the well that they’re kind of being drawn from in that sense.
And I mean companies know their companies the best and so like you’re kind of already the you’re kind of already set up to be the expert in that space and so it’s not as burdensome a lift as trying to how do I create something that is filling filling the mold of what I think like the algorithm is looking for rather than just kind of the opportunity to be authentic because that’s what we keep seeing over and over again is that the algorithm now is prioritizing authenticity like it wants kind of like that not like kind of that unfiltered a little bit they want access to as much information as possible and I mean the the companies that are kind of taking advantage and doing well right now are telling their stories well telling their stories authentically and That’s where we’re seeing like a lot of benefits. So it’s just trying to kind of continuing to drive clients and companies to kind of go down that path and embrace it too because it’s a bit of a shift from what it’s been before. So it’s certainly a really exciting time for kind of like what comes next and I feel like the fit could be a little bit more natural like especially as we’re kind of like talking to the audience that you serve like they can be a little bit more of their authentic selves and their natural selves and that’s going to benefit them kind of in the new landscape we’re finding ourselves in.
Rob Stott: Yeah, it feels like there’s always this rush and I come from the media side to certainly feel that way where it’s how much content can we get out as quick as possible to drive eyeballs and it was all about just gaining those impressions and they’re be real they’re still impressions are important but at the same time it’s you know, do I care? I care more about having the the authentic story told the real story like being true to who you are. Whether that’s as the brand writing it the brand you’re talking about. And driving the right eyeballs as opposed to just a massive amount of eyeballs does that make sense? So but no
Alex Crabb: Yeah. I think we’re about to see just a big shift in how people search for things. So that they’re going to be searching for brands, solutions, products, even B2B, B2C. They’re going to be using AI instead of Google to search for stuff. so we’re doing, you know, we’re trying to figure out what’s the right way to make sure that you’re showing up on AI. And yeah, I think exactly what Pete said, like telling your story, helping our clients tell the story. Tell interesting stories about their technology or their products or whatever it does. But I think we’re seeing more and more. have been a ton of reports that have come out recently, like even a Gartner report saying that non-paid and earned media, so the stuff that you guys do, the press and traditional public relations is going to be a primary driver of that. So yeah, so think it’s continuing to do what we do well and what you guys do well.
Rob Stott: It’s a sigh of relief. It’s like, we are still important. Like, that’s awesome. Thank you.
Alex Crabb: I know, well, was like, you know, like last year at this time, everyone was like, AI is going to take these jobs away. But I think we’re finding like, it’s, it’s these, this is a real opportunity for us and for you guys and for brands.
Rob Stott: Yeah, for sure.
Peter Girard: To Alex’s point about the like the shift and the change is like in search in particular is it’s now it’s now conversational like people are not necessarily it was the frame the format and the framing was like through queries before which is which is still similar like you’re still ultimately asking a question but it’s in the way that you’re asking your question now where kind of the way that the language models operate and the AI systems operate where people are, you’re more casually conversate, like having a conversation of just like, hey, and people are giving probably more information and more context too of just like, this is what I have and this is what I’m looking to add, or this is the situation that I’m in and this is the thing that I’m looking for where you could not, I mean, you guessed you could put that into a search bar before, but like it was kind of ignored. And so like the context rich environment that we’re…
Alex Crabb: Or didn’t get the answers you wanted. Yeah.
Peter Girard: …to find ourselves in. Yeah you have to wait through the answers to try and find the thing that you were looking for and the sources now. Yeah. No, go ahead.
Alex Crabb: So on the back end, yeah, sorry. So on the back end, that’s what we’re trying to help figure out. What are those queries that people are asking and how do we make sure we show up in those? Like we recently did a new business proposal, but it was like we’re thinking through like the specifics of, I have a Jeep, and I want to put speakers in my Jeep, but how do I make sure that the sound is good because it’s open air? Like those are the kinds of things that people are going to be using AI to search for.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Yeah. And it well, it’s a crazy space too, because of how quickly it’s evolving as well. And like just constantly having to keep up with whether it’s new tools or just new ways of working with it, the updates that come around to it. Like it’s just it’s a we talk about the whirlwind of buying a business, the whirlwind of trying to keep up with AI is on another level right now, too. And I’m sure to some it’s probably, you know, the ones that don’t want to evolve along with it are probably looking at it like, it’s too much. I’ll never understand it and just kind of stay away from it. And, you know, those to me are the ones that are probably doing themselves and their businesses a disservice by not at least trying to.
Peter Girard: Well, it’s that same conversation when social media came around of just like, this new thing. I don’t need social media. Yeah, so it’s it’s it’s just…
Rob Stott: Yep. We’ve been here. Yep.
Alex Crabb: Yeah. We had to push a lot of clients back in the day. Like you need to be on Twitter.
Rob Stott: Well, it’s neat that that conversation is happening again. Again, this kind of I wasn’t intending on going down an AI rabbit hole, but here we are. This is a podcast in twenty twenty six with a bunch of PR and comms people. It was going to happen. So, you know, it was going to happen. So I appreciate you guys doing that and kind of pushing us down there. But I do want to give you a chance to to talk about, you know, the the honoring a legacy to write like you get to.
Alex Crabb: I was going to say, doesn’t every conversation, every conversation ends in this now?
Rob Stott: In acquiring this business, we talked about it a little bit at the top, but you get the chance to leave your thumbprint on it or what you want to see this become. And I think a lot of maybe, again, what we were talking about with the direction of how services or the AI stuff probably plays a big part in that. But Pete, start with you. When you think about the impression you want to leave on… You guys are just a couple weeks into being owners of this business. But when you think about 10, 15, 20 years from now, what are your hopes for Caster?
Peter Girard: Man, heavy question. Outside of the coffee story, really, my entire professional career has been here at Caster. So in earnest, I probably haven’t fully wrapped my head around the fact that how deeply tied I am to this, but am.
But I mean, Alex and I have had a ton of conversations around like kind of our commitment to this and everything. Like I can’t really think of a different direction that I would want to be going in. having spent all, I mean, I think, yeah, I always mix up the numbers. I think I’m on year 14. always hop like leapfrog over this in terms of the exact number, but I’m pretty sure I’m on year 14 going on 15 or something like that, kind of like here at Caster. And so, I mean, everything that I have learned about this business and how Caster operates and everything that also everything that it stands for I mean was directly from Kim and from Alex and so I’m in a really unique position to kind of continue to learn from Alex in this this set and take everything that Kim has kind of imparted because you hit the nail on the head with like—there’s a super legacy behind like the Caster name and kind of like it’s well known. It is out there. I mean, we were doing some new business bidding and the note back from like the corporate folks that were kind of taking a look at it was like, yeah, we know who Caster is. And so there’s a lot there. Leaving, it’s such an interesting moment to be involved in in terms of kind of like where we get to leave our thumbprint and kind of continue to shake it, but I think it kind of goes back to, like you said, we’re a couple of weeks in, so definitely not trying to shake the boat in any major way, but continuing to just serve the clients that we have and bring on new clients that we can serve in the same fashion that we have for the 20 plus years that Kim has been doing this with the same level of performance and the same level of support and the same level of guidance is really what I’m focused on for or would like to be focused on for the next 10, 15, 20 years. I mean, we’ve talked about that there.
Yeah, it’s really, it’s like we’ve taken, it’s carrying the torch and having it kind of progress forward in the same, in as best of the same fashion as it can. There’s going to be some new things that we get to do, just kind of given the nature of how everything’s changing and like what the future of comms and PR and even like the businesses within our industry look like. But what’s always been really comforting to me about communications and PR in general is like the fundamentals are pretty much the same. Like once you can kind of get back to like telling those authentic stories. It’s one of the things that I’ve loved most about working for an agency, because we always talk about…
Like agency life versus kind of like working doing PR directly for like for a singular client or a singular company And for me the fact that like every day is a little bit different and you never know exactly know what curve while you’re gonna Yeah that you’re gonna get served up or kind of like what the new problem of the day is going to be has been like one of my most favorite and most cherished parts of working for a PR agency so I’m looking forward to that continuing because it definitely keeps it keeps us fresh I feel like it keeps you, you never really know like what’s gonna what email you’re gonna receive that day and there’s been more than one occasion where I’m like I can’t believe I’m devoting the next like three four hours of my day to researching this I never I like I didn’t think that I would be doing that today So I didn’t have that on my bingo card is like something that we’ve used before so it’s really for me about just Having kind of come up all the way through caster and worked here for as long as I have just continuing to preserve the the reputation and the legacy that we have.
Rob Stott: Yeah, that’s awesome. Alex?
Alex Crabb: Yep. Yeah, I mean, I definitely, I totally agree with that. We talked about it a lot, but it’s not making changes. It’s really trying to protect that brand, protect that culture. Kim has, I mean, I’ve worked for other agencies and I’ve worked with a lot of other agencies on projects over the years. Casra is pretty unique in that, you know, we’re really high touch.
It’s a really senior, it’s pretty much an entirely senior team at this point. And every client has a senior leadership on it. There’s so much transparency in what we’re doing. Clients, sometimes when we’re talking to new business or potential clients, they’re very worried because they’ve worked with other agencies that weren’t like this, or they have never worked with a PR agency before. They’re very worried about, how are we going to know what you guys are doing? Trust me, you know, like we’re very high touch. We’re very outcome driven. And, and that’s all, you know, all of some, all things that Kim has have driven into the teams. And I mean, I think it’s one of the reasons we have clients that stick around for 13, 14 years. mean, some of our clients have been here since Pete has been here. Um, and I think that’s, you know, that’s pretty special.
So we, you know, want to, we want to, our responsibility is to protect that and maintain that, that same level of service and that trust, and also make sure our, our team feels supported in the same way that they had, they have some, you know, with Kim at, at the helm. So, I think that’s, that’s really important to us. And yeah, things in, in the industry are like how we deliver PR in, to manage trends and new things happening that might shift and change and we’re always trying to keep on top of that. But I think we’re not planning to make big changes in how we operate and how we work and how we deliver for our clients.
Rob Stott: Yeah. No, that’s awesome. I think that’s a testament to you, like you guys are saying, right? The foundation is well established. It’s more than just a foundation. There’s a whole full-blown house that exists on it as well. Almost quite literally, right? So, you know, you did! Full circle. So, you guys really get to come in and maintain it and be those next owners that are just continuing the…
Peter Girard: There we go. Yeah, so in a way we did buy a house.
Alex Crabb: Few houses now Rob, a few houses on it. A few houses.
Rob Stott: The metaphor that keep it up and make sure it continues to run well. no, that’s awesome. I’m excited to follow it. You guys have always been a really great team to work alongside with in this industry. And I’m excited for you guys for sure. And look forward to continuing to follow the story, follow your clients and all that good stuff. I appreciate. The deep dive and doing it.
I want to end on a lighter note, a lighter question. And that just being if you have a favorite PR story or pitch or campaign or anything that comes to mind when you think of just kind of your time in the space that you had the most fun with.
Alex Crabb: So many good ones. I mean, the very first campaign I worked on at Caster was with Kim. This is why I was brought on. We launched Health Spot. was like a dock in a box. It was going to be inside Walgreens. You would walk in and you’d go into like a kiosk and have a virtual appointment with a doctor. And there was like a scale on the floor and like a blood pressure cuff and everything in there. We launched that at CES and it was really fun, like major media, tons of broadcasts and all that. that was a really fun one to work on with her. They were a client for several years until they actually got acquired by a company. But yeah, that was really cool. And one of my other favorites, I mean, a lot of my favorites revolve around CES because we always have really fun things that we launched there. But one of my other favorites was Pete and I worked on what I think one of the first accounts we worked on together was the Kivo Smart Lock. So one of the first smart locks really, we were, we handled Unikey, which is the technology that made it smart. They were actually a shark tank winner and we did tons of fun reviews with them. I think we got them on the today show. And yeah, that was a really fun one. And I think it was one of the first accounts that we worked on together.
Rob Stott: Awesome.
Alex Crabb: Just got to meet a lot of great press through them.
Rob Stott:
Yeah? Pete, how about for you?
Peter Girard: Yeah, I mean so Alex kind of alluded to it I mean I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Z-Wave Alliance in particular because that that’s been an account that since like day one for me here at Caster that I’ve been a part of so it’s been really, really, really interesting to watch how the alliances evolved in the 14 years or whatever that I’ve been here and transcend from the alliance as it was before and become like a standards development organization. So that is one where the Z-Wave technology just touches so many different parts and pieces that…
There’s always like something new to do on that account or a new angle to take or somebody new to talk to. So that’s been one that just because I’ve gotten to work on it for so long definitely deserves a shout out. For a short, not for it, well for a while, Caster represented a private island resort down in Belize that I did some work on. And that was… just through the power of connections and stories, kind of similar to the coffee shop, kind of just like you never, my takeaway for that story always is you never know exactly who you’re talking to and just to kind of like always kind of just put your best foot forward in that sense. so we got to run some media trips to that. I did get to, for a cast or get to go down to Belize to network with some media and showcase kind of like what the what the resort did. I mean, we’re known as like a technology PR firm and there were, there were tech threads that tied back kind of like the work that we did there because I know it feels like very it feels very obscure I know it feels very outside what we normally do but like actually that resort did a ton of like eco-friendly and they had a bunch of tech like on the on the island itself because it was like 15 miles or something like that off the coast of off the coast of Belize and like in terms of like how they repurposed rainwater and did all these other aspects and and things and so I tell that story a because like well it made all my…
Rob Stott: I was gonna ask.
Peter Girard: …friends jealous too when I was just like I do I get to do PR for a private island resort I tell that story though too because it’s in dick it’s like a really great example of like kind of what I feel our superpower is which is like really getting immersed with clients and really being like not being pigeonholed really like it like to the to the fact that like We are able to go after new markets and we’re always we were always able to go after new media and new and learn new things It keeps us from being stagnant and gives us opportunities that kind of continue to translate like over and And you never really know when contacts even from that because we made some really excellent media contacts with folks from travel and leisure and stuff that may or may not be a good fit for future safety and travel products that are on our roadmap. that’s probably one of the most obscure, but it’s a really great case study for kind of our ability to glom on to new markets. it’s like, just the phrase that we use is kind of like drink from the fire hose. Like when we do kind of have like new business come on, just like learn everything that we can. Cause like our ultimate goal is to be just like a natural extension of those teams. It’s probably one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. Just to round that out was the, we did PR for Nortech Security and Control for a long time. That was another account that was here when I started and I remember being at a trade show and talking to somebody and they’re like, so like what division do you work for? I was like, oh, we’re with your PR agency. And the person was like, I swore you guys worked for us. Like, he’s just like, I see you at all the shows and everything. Like, I thought you just worked for our company. I was just like, well, in a way we do, but like not in the way that you thought.
Rob Stott: Heck yeah! Well, yeah. That’s incredible. Well, my only follow up to that is what media was I part of and why wasn’t I invited to Belize, but that’s okay. I’m not going to hold that against you. Maybe next time. No, that’s incredible. Hey, we got the hospitality space, the commercial space. Let’s go. I’m down. No, Alex and Pete, this was a ton of fun. know, I again, really appreciate it.
Alex Crabb: Next time. I mean, what you’re doing with Connected Design, yeah, it actually could be a good fit.
Peter Girard: Yeah.
Rob Stott: Like I said, looking forward to continuing to follow your story and your client’s story. And just all around excited for you guys. Just some really great people that are having some really awesome things happen to you and for you and for your team and everything else. So best of luck. I know you don’t need it because y’all are incredible at what you do. But thank you. thank you. I appreciate it.
Alex Crabb: Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I really appreciate it. they always, you know, the thing is PR agencies have the hardest time doing PR for themselves. So thanks for giving us a chance to kind of talk. And we’re really excited about what you’re doing with Connected Design too. So this is a cool time for all of us, I think.
Peter Girard: Thank you.
Rob Stott: Thank you. Thank you.
Peter Girard: Yeah, I know you said you were looking forward to this conversation and I was too. was just like, yes, it’s Friday. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Means a lot so yeah let’s go let’s have some fun no it’s certainly not the the last time either anytime you guys want to pop on just let me know maybe the next one will do from Belize how’s that sound you did I’m not gonna let it go no awesome well thank you guys so much and we appreciate it
Peter Girard: I’ve really dug myself a hole with that probably.
Rob Stott: You definitely have.
Alex Crabb: Yeah, let’s do that. Perfect. Thanks, Rob.
Peter Girard: Thanks, Rob.
