Marketing for Massive Brands | Anthony Chidoro

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re here with another excellent interview.

This time we got Anthony Chidoro - a man with a resume full of conglomerates. From Snapchat to Roblox to Lyft to Pandora.

He has one of the most diverse and interesting portfolios I’ve seen - he is a guy you’ll want to listen to.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Q: Tell us a little bit about what you currently do for Magic Leap?

Yeah, for sure. So, just for context, Magic Leap is a tech company based in Florida. Their primary product, The Magic Leap Two, is an augmented reality headset with the goal of enhancing visual capabilities, aid in planning, and utilize augmented reality for various tasks.

As a social media manager, my role is to narrate the story of Magic Leap, position ourselves as subject matter experts in the augmented reality (AR) space, and showcase why Magic Leap Two surpasses other devices in the market. This improvement is achieved through storytelling, partnerships, and collaboration with vendors.

In my day-to-day activities, I focus on creating content, involving a significant amount of copywriting and strategic planning. For instance, we have already planned out content for the remainder of November and are currently working on the December calendar. Additionally, I'm looking ahead to January, February, and March, considering the next couple of quarters for social media.

This involves contemplating what aspects we want to enhance in our content strategy moving forward. Therefore, my daily routine revolves around content creation and planning, both for the present and the future.

Q: How did you go about working in all these big name brands like Roblox, Snapchat, Pandora, etc?

I at sometime secured a full-time job at Oracle in Massachusetts and was preparing for my start date, set for February 2016. During this time, I was still casually interviewing. A close friend of mine, living in California and working at a startup called Outco, suggested that I apply for a position there.

Despite already having a job offer, I decided to apply, went through the interview process, and received a job offer. Now faced with two job options, I had to make a decision: move to California or stay in Massachusetts, where I was comfortable.

Ultimately, I chose to decline the offer from Oracle in Massachusetts and moved to San Francisco, specifically the Bay Area in Oakland. I worked in San Francisco for the first year and enjoyed my time at Outco.

After about a year in Oakland and the Bay Area, I began searching for social media jobs. However, I realized that my experience wasn't sufficient for the roles I desired, hindering my progress in interviews. So I began to explore other opportunities within the tech industry, leading me to talent acquisition, or recruiting.

I discovered that Pandora, located in Oakland, my current city, was hiring. I employed a technique called reverse recruiting, reaching out to people on LinkedIn who worked at the company. Using this approach, I connected with my first mentor, Andre, and successfully interviewed for a University recruiter position at Pandora. Although my initial goal wasn't to be a recruiter, I saw it as an opportunity to get my foot in the door.

Once at Pandora, I actively sought out mentors on the marketing and branding teams. Despite being hired as a recruiter, I took on small projects in marketing to build my skills. This strategic approach paved the way for my progression to subsequent roles.

Q: What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned along your journey?

So, I think first of all, first and foremost, it's about your product, right? It's about your product. What is your service? What is it that you're looking to sell? What is it that you're looking to? What is the thing that is your bread and butter? What is it that makes you who you are?

At Pandora, it was trying to showcase that there were this streaming giant that could compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. And they're trying to push Pandora Premium. At Roblox, they were trying to showcase that this is a powerful platform that is not just about gaming, but it's about music and fashion. And people can create metaverse experiences.

So they were trying to showcase the power of the metaverse. And that was a lot more than just a video game. They never wanted to be just a video game. Right. So I think first of all, knowing what the heck your project actually is and what you see for yourself, what you see as your product? What do you see as your product's potential? What you see as your product? When you look at yourself in a perfect case scenario, what would you be? What would your product be like?

And so you have, like I mentioned, those past two companies. They had a product that was what their product was, as in the app itself, but also the dream for what their pictures of the app could be one day and how they were taking steps towards that. And so I think the reason why social media and marketing is so important is because as marketers, we are storytellers. So I think trying to figure out the story more than anything.

Know who your customer is and build that customer profile based on who you think your product is best fit for and using your resources and making sure that segment is well fed.