How Two Women Are Reshaping The Marketing Industry

What do Northwestern University, TNT Network and Cougar Town have in common? Lori Hall McKissic and Jessica Lane Alexander. The two marketing executives met working at TNT where Lori was Jessica’s manager when the latter was part of the network’s T3 program for recent college graduates. They both developed successful careers in the entertainment industry where they had the opportunity to promote shows such as Sex and the City and work with celebrities such as Tyler Perry and Conan O’Brien.   

As two Black women in the industry, they were frustrated by the lack of multicultural agencies available to marketers — and often found themselves imagining what it would look like to build the kind of agency they wished existed.

“We wanted a space that we felt like we can welcome creatives of color, but we also felt like we wanted to welcome women were in the creative fields,” Jessica said.

By February 2020, they took the plunge and opened Pop ‘N Creative, a multicultural marketing agency. One month later, the world changed.

Starting a new business at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had its challenges, especially when promoting in-person events that got cancelled.

However, this uncertainty also brought them top talent right out the gate, mostly thanks to relationships they spent years cultivating.

“We had expert level marketers that we probably couldn’t afford who just wanted to work in our business, in our new business, because they wanted to keep their skills sharp while they look for other jobs,” Lori said.

The new focus on remote work at that time also gave the Pop ‘N team the flexibility to find marketers around the country.

“Moving virtual allowed us to then recruit folks who are really all the people that we know, and that everyone is not based in Atlanta or DC where we are, allowed us to recruit people from all across the country,” Jessica said.

The team established themselves as thought leaders in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death in May of 2020, when companies wanted to find authentic ways to express support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

“So it’s not enough to just tell people, ‘Hey, you didn’t approach it authentically, it’s not genuine, you’re messing up,'” Lori said. “We wanted to show the slight nuances and why it was disconnected, and we did that. And got a lot of buzz from press unexpectedly about this subject.”

When asked what makes a successful multi-cultural marketing agency, the two agree that being strong marketers is key.

“You have to understand all the core components of what makes you a good marketer, but then you have to then super serve a multicultural audience,” Jessica said.

Five years later, Pop ‘N Creative has launched marketing campaigns across digital platforms, social media, video and in person events for a wide range of clients. They especially love experiential marketing campaigns because they can connect with audiences in real time.

The team puts care and passion into every detail to build memorable events for their audiences.

“If you go someplace and you’re like, surprised and delighted for something, it’s always going to be, like, a small detail,” Jessica said.

Lori and Jessica also pay careful attention to ensure that the event aligns with the agency’s values of cultural authenticity and diversity.

“We also want to make sure throughout the pipeline of what it takes to do this we have vendors that are women, and multicultural vendors, that are adding to this experience, like making sure it is authentic all the way down to the to the invoices,” Jessica said.

The most rewarding part of a successful event or campaign? Sitting back and enjoying it.

“If you get the right people in place, everything is just operating like a machine. And you’re just like, You know what? This is amazing,” Lori said.