Molly Ruland:

Okay. There we go. Alright. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Camp Content. I am super excited to have a fellow Irish woman on the podcast today, so you will have to welcome Bridget Murphy to the show. We are going to, Cam Content. As you know, we talk about content marketing, revenue drivers in this new crazy market that we are all trying to survive in.

Molly Ruland:

So today, we’re welcoming Bridget. She is the founder of Envision Promotions. Bridget has built a remarkable career by establishing strategic partners that drive growth and revenue With a background in securing lucrative online partnerships at industry giants like Disney and News Digital Media, Brigitte has a knack for pairing businesses for mutual benefit. We just spent a lot of time talking about that too. Her company, Envision Promotions, collaborates with sectors including retail, technology, consumer goods, gaming, and entertainment, and boasts a client list of top tier brands. Leveraging her Disney experience, Bridget has a passion for empowering women and entrepreneurs, often sharing her insights on partnership, connection building, and sales strategy through public speaking. So if you’re looking for a badass public speaker, now you know where to go. Today, we’re gonna talk about how big brands and small brands can leverage partnerships, the unique benefits of those collaborations, and what makes Envision Promotions stand out in this competitive landscape.

Molly Ruland:

So without further ado, welcome to the show, Bridget.

Bridget Murphy:

Wow. That was an intro. I’m impressed, Molly. Well done.

Molly Ruland:

I’m good. I’ll send it to you. I mean, I’ll send it to you anytime you want. Just put me wherever it says written. Me. I will. I’ll be like,

Bridget Murphy:

Here’s my intro, and I’ll cue you. I’ll do your voice over. It’s fantastic. Thank you.

Molly Ruland:

Have it on your phone like a little voice memo, and you just play it. Like, I’m here now. Thank you.

Bridget Murphy:

This is me.

Molly Ruland:

Well, I’m very excited to have you on the show today. You know, we hit it off every time we talk. True kindred kindred spirits for real. My best friend in 4th grade name was Bridget too, so I will always have a a

Bridget Murphy:

My sister’s name is Molly.

Molly Ruland:

Oh, look at that. Usually, it’s just me and a bunch of golden retrievers. So

Bridget Murphy:

Love it.

Molly Ruland:

People love naming golden retrievers Molly. I don’t know what it is, but, you know Molly. It’s a good brand. Like, golden retrievers have a good brand image, so, you know, I’ll take it.

Bridget Murphy:

It could be worse.

Molly Ruland:

It could be worse. Well, I’m very excited to have you on the show today. You know, we’ve only chatted a couple times, and we’ve always had great conversations. And I am all about the power of partnerships and collaboration and relationships. And so, I think this will be a great episode to really talk about how you’re leveraging those in your business and for your clients. So let’s talk a little bit about Envision Promotions. Can you give me a company snapshot? Like, what do you do? How many employees? Is it just you? Where are you located? Where are your clients? You know, all that good stuff.

Bridget Murphy:

So the to give you a little bit of snapshot of Envision, I’m gonna just give you a little bit of a background, which is I started my career at in New York City at Disney. And when I met the hottest guy in Manhattan, I moved back to Columbus, Ohio because he got a job with the a National Hockey League here. So I just bought a lot of my friends with me, and I started my own company called Envision Promotions. And now we’ve grown, and I have the greatest team. Most of them are virtual, but, essentially, we work with a lot of big entertainment partners like you already mentioned, entertainment, retail, technology companies, games, we focus on a lot, And we have the coolest company. We bring brands together. It’s like a dating service for large corporations and small businesses trying to get their consumer in front of other partners’ consumers and generating really cool unique content. That’s amazing.

Molly Ruland:

That’s amazing. So that’s really interesting. I love the dating site for a company. So, that sounds like a really fun job because I’m a connector myself, so I like the idea of that. So are you working with some small businesses to, like, leverage those larger partnerships, or is it usually kind of contained?

Bridget Murphy:

So it really depends. So we started out where we primarily Nickelodeon was our first client, and Nickelodeon was looking to align and find a partnership with McDonald’s and how to explore this relationship. So we ended up creating, we took Dora’s content and applied McDonald’s characters into a game and then made this game that they could then distribute. And that was sort of how we started partners. And, we ended up moving along and working with some game companies that were smaller. They weren’t as big as Nick loading. They didn’t have that kind of brand recognition. Actually, one of our very first clients after Nickelodeon was a game company based out of Seattle, and they only had 18% brand recognition.

Bridget Murphy:

They had great content. Like, my kids played their games. I love their games. They were sold nationally through Starbucks stores. And, they came to us and said, you know, we’re really struggling. We really need to be able to get in front of moms. And so once we figured out that the problem was they needed to have moms try their games. We knew moms would buy their games.

Molly Ruland:

Right.

Bridget Murphy:

So once we established that and created a strategy around it, we got them on post cereal. We were the first agency to get cranium games on over 20,000,000 boxes of post serial. We’re the first agency to get a game company on every single brand at one time with post. We got them with Burger King and Wendy’s and all these huge national corporations, and then mom started, you know, trying the game. Within 2 years, we raised their brand awareness from 18% to over 70%. We helped them grow from 2,000,000 to $44,000,000. And, you know, so we do work with a lot of small companies really looking to grow, but we also work with, you know, Tyson Foods of the world who are trying to drive foot traffic to a different segment of the store or a national retailers who are trying to attract new, people to come into their stores, and how can we do that with really unique partnerships and and give them some exposure and drive that sale.

Molly Ruland:

That’s amazing. So a lot of your business is really based on the relationships that you have formed over the years. I would imagine a quick scroll through the rolodex. I’m aging myself with that one. But, you can probably get a lot done just from all the industry contacts that you’ve built over the years. I mean, this is really impressive stuff here.

Bridget Murphy:

Thank you. Yeah. I think I think it’s really, like you said, a relationship. I love working with certain people. As a matter of fact, 5 years into having started Envision, we ended up getting a huge national brand that hired us, and it was not enjoyable. You know, it was just really hard. You know, you and I have had conversations about working with large corporations that say no a lot, and it became like our team was unmotivated and unexcited about it, so we let them go as a partner. And that’s sort of, I think, the key to why we like our jobs and are so successful is we really want our clients to succeed.

Bridget Murphy:

And we can do that once we really dig in and figure out what their problems are and then solve it through a really unique partnership.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. I mean, you know, those are big clients and big ticket items, but to get those kinda results is really impressive. I think, you know, it’s all about that network and all about that relationship for sure. What, are you still working with really large corporations, or are you more focused on excellence. So tell me, let’s see. What are some of the ways a small company gets in front of a bigger company or really kind of, engage with you or somebody else to get some of these partnerships? Because I know, like, that would be very intimidating for a lot of small businesses. Like, where do you even start? How much does it cost? So, you know, what are some of the approaches that you use to get small businesses in front of these bigger companies?

Bridget Murphy:

You know, it’s not as hard as you think. I think what they really need is a, you know, a platform. They need to know what their value is. Need to know exactly what they can bring to the table. Often, the largest partners are really looking for that cool new whatever. The content that they can pull in with a new consumer, the buzzworthy growth within a small business, and most important, it’s the target demographic alignment. So I said jokingly earlier that we’re a dating service for large corporations. Really, we’re a dating service for companies’ target demographics.

Bridget Murphy:

So we really focus a lot on who the consumer is, core values within the organization, what their value prop is. And once we can start to discover those, it makes the partnership almost come together magically. Right? We will put together a list of all the companies that are relevant to that new up and coming brand or up and company client. Right? And then we can sew them into smaller test partnerships like we do a ton of digital and social partnerships, email campaigns, SMS, because they’re a really good way to test the consumer barometer. And once we can establish that it’s a good fit, that’s we bring everyone into a room together, and we ask everyone to be generous. I mean, I think that’s a big part of what partnerships are all about. Just like you were saying earlier with relationships, it’s that generosity factor. Small companies can do a lot more than they think.

Bridget Murphy:

Mhmm. You know, they have the data. They have the cool content, the creative elements that they can bring. They have products that they can donate, give away, reduce in price, partner and bucket together. There’s so many different cool things that we can do with smaller companies, and smaller organizations are genuinely our core client base. We do have some huge international brands that we work with, but a lot of times, it’s to fill spots within, you know, their organization in order to solve a problem as well.

Molly Ruland:

That’s pretty interesting. I love that because small businesses do bring a lot to the table, and they’re a lot more agile. Right? We can switch and move and change gears a lot faster than a bigger corporation, and we have Yes. A lot of value. And I think that’s important because I think we live in this time of, like, quantity over quality. Right? And I I think we’re shifting out of that now. I think it’s gonna be a hard fight because of AI, and it’s like getting in front of 1000 people every single day. Well, more isn’t always better.

Molly Ruland:

You know? Sometimes less is more, and I think we gotta shift into quality over quantity. And so do we know?

Bridget Murphy:

So funny. I’m doing a lot of speaking, and it’s about how things have shifted now to trust. Right. Trust is one of the key elements in a really strong partnership. The consumer has to trust that the brand is doing something for their benefit. They’re creating a magical moment. The content is really structured to speak to them directly. They’re helping them solve a problem.

Bridget Murphy:

I couldn’t agree with you more quality over quantity. I mean, quantity in terms of brand awareness is there’s no better way. Right? Through a partnership, you can get the kind of exposure that you want to your target demographic. But from a quality standpoint, true partnerships can really, you know, enhance that level of trust, especially with the consumer, which I think is I just think that’s super important.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. I agree. So in this current landscape where things are a little bit harder, how have your tactics changed at all or how you’re doing business? Has that changed at all in this year? I know it’s been a different time than for the post pan immediately after the post pandemic. People are doing business. You know, conversion times, sales times are longer. So how are you guys adjusting in this market, or are you staying the course and doing what you always do?

Bridget Murphy:

No. I think that we have been on an intentional focus to work with some more, not just small businesses, but also more nonprofit organizations and things that are more meaningful because we’re finding that those are also a real key element in these true partnerships, the fabric of true partnerships. So that’s had us we have we’ve had to go back and, like, review how we structure and price some of our campaigns to allow for those organizations to jump on board, and it’s been, it’s been really powerful. And so we have, made it so it’s easier to accept some smaller organizations, to do these kinds of really unique partnerships where they get what they need out of the relationship, and they can talk to some of these bigger organizations that can give them what they need, but also benefit that consumer of the large organization. Right? Because, otherwise, a partnership’s great if it’s just 2 brands coming together and they can comarket. You’re actually saving revenue and the comarketing. But unless there’s that magical moment or benefit to the consumer, the partnership will fall flat.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. I’m a big fan of, like, partnerships and collaborations. There’s this bar in DC that had a pretty big front and this weird little corner in the left, and they partnered with a bagel shop because they’re not open every day until 5 o’clock. And it was this weird little corner. Well, the bagel shop was like, you could eat in, but there was nobody gonna help you. You could just sit at one of the bar tables of the closed section of the bar, but they were open from, like, 7 AM until 1 PM every day, and they would close and clean up. And then by the time the bar staff showed up at 5 PM, it was just a counter over there with, you know, nothing left. And I always thought, what a brilliant, you know, simple collaboration.

Molly Ruland:

They both saved on rent. It was dead space. Now people getting bagels are learning about this dive bar, and the people, you know, and the people in the dive bar are learning that, oh, I can come back in the morning and get bagels for my hangover. You know? And it’s such a simple thing, but I just love that stuff. It’s like we think we have to work smarter, and, like, that’s just a win for everybody. You know? An absolute win for everybody. And so I love this idea of, like, and it brought more value to me. Right? Because now I have this great bagel shop right down the street from my house, and it really, really works.

Molly Ruland:

So I like the idea of coming together and amplifying each other’s mission to make it better for the consumer because I think I think we’ve started to miss some of that. Right? The metrics are all vanity metrics. Like, I was reading the podcast news this morning, and one of these big companies reported a $9,000,000 loss since Apple changed their download policy. And that’s basically, like, when you subscribe to a podcast, it automatically downloads the podcast. So all these ads were being run, and all these sponsorship deals being made on podcasts were never listened to. They were just downloaded on your phone. Well, they changed the thing, and now $9,000,000 loss, $7,000,000 loss this quarter. And I’m like, you guys were advertising on nothing.

Molly Ruland:

It was all fake. It was all bullshit. You didn’t lose $9,000,000. You just got caught scamming 9,000,000. Like, you know, respect you know, like, they’re like, oh, $9,000,000 loss. I’m like, no. You just proved that you scammed people for $9,000,000 the month before by putting ads on things that were never heard by anybody ever. And so this idea of more being more, right, it just isn’t.

Molly Ruland:

It just isn’t. And I think we’re seeing that left. Spotify is, like, reporting losses. Well, yeah, because you guys played the volume game, and that’s not where people are at. People want

Bridget Murphy:

Quality.

Molly Ruland:

And they wanna they wanna especially, you know, you know, I’m curious, like, navigating this corporate space because there’s a lot of pushback with corporate. Right? Like, the, you know, prices are going up, and the CEOs are reporting record profits while we’re all paying $9 for a box of frosted flakes. But how are you navigating, you know, some of that pushback? Because I would imagine some of these partnerships are probably really beneficial in helping to repair some of that.

Bridget Murphy:

Yeah. I I think with the larger corporations, again, it’s that, communication to their consumer in a valuable way. So either offering some kind of value so it reduces the cost of an $8 box or $9 box of frosted flakes, so that you feel the value when they’re picking up that product. Because right now, everything’s expensive. Right? Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

That’d be easy.

Bridget Murphy:

But just to go back for a second, I love the example of the bagel shop in the bar. We have really been trying to find ways to help small organizations that are too small. Right? So even if you’re a small business, you have to have some presence nationally or you have to have a game in all of the specialty stores across the country or something in order for us to work together. I mean, we work with retailers that are regional, but if it gets too regional, then you can’t tap into that national market. So we really try and, like, wrestle with that a lot. But with the smaller companies, there’s so much you can do through partnerships. And the Bagel store is a great example.

Molly Ruland:

I love it.

Bridget Murphy:

But the free webinars, doing podcasts together, co branding. I mean, if you can find an organization that is similar with the target consumer, there is so much you can do in terms of cross promotion. And you’re saving money, you’re capitalizing on both of your audiences, You’re both marketing. It’s so I believe in partnerships across the board, from a marketing perspective, but also just to feel like you’re not so alone. Right? Small businesses struggle to try and get their word out. And if you can find partners that resonate with your consumer, oh my gosh. Not only are you expanding your audience, but you’re also, like, you’re helping each other out. So you’re not in it alone.

Bridget Murphy:

You know? You’re doing it together. I I think that also is just a really key component of looking at partnerships from a different way.

Molly Ruland:

It makes a big difference. And, you know, like, in the mindset of the business owner, like, that validation is good. You know? It’s like when somebody super swipes you on Tinder or whatever. Right? You’re like, yeah. That person really likes me. But it’s true. Like, it helps to not feel alone and, like, feel validated. Right? And then especially in business, your friends and family will understand the least.

Molly Ruland:

You know? Like, my brother was like, so you have a podcast? I was like, no, man. I mean, I do, but, like, no. That’s not what I do. I’m not a podcaster. I produce podcasts.

Bridget Murphy:

Like, whatever. Celebrity. Yeah. I’m trying to help other people. Exactly.

Molly Ruland:

It’s like whatever, man. It’s cool. And then people on the Internet who are strangers, like, know more about what I do for my business than, like, the people closest to you. So getting that validation from another bigger company can really help a small business owner, like, mentally to to give them the fortitude to keep going because, like you said, they’re not alone, and then it’s like validation. Hey. This other somebody else

Bridget Murphy:

driving business.

Molly Ruland:

To align with me, and it’s driving business, and and that, like, you know, that breeds more opportunity, more, you know, bigger thinking and and, you know, bigger opportunities or just thinking a little differently about your business could be life changing. You know?

Bridget Murphy:

100%. Yes.

Molly Ruland:

Life changing. Alright. So let’s do a couple speed round questions just to keep it fun and let because I know we got 9 minutes. Alright. So, Disney or Fox, which experience is more influential in shaping your approach to partnerships? Done. Alright.

Bridget Murphy:

I mean, I was telling you before we jumped on and started recording, I worked at Disney and I met. It was just such an incredible group of brilliant people, and I’m still close friends. I mean, really close friends with the folks that I work with, and we still connect. Like, I’m still talking to people. I had a call yesterday with a woman who works at an agency, and we were like, oh my gosh. We work together on this and that. It’s just that I cherish that experience that I had at Disney, and and and they allow you to do crazy cool collaborations and crazy cool partnerships.

Molly Ruland:

That’s awesome. They got enough money to do it, I guess. Do you know Sheila Butler?

Bridget Murphy:

No. I

Molly Ruland:

don’t. I’ll have to introduce you. She was the whole, Disney rewards. She was the one who came up with that. Yeah. She’s awesome. She’s super, she’s one of us. She’ll be on one of those calls for sure.

Molly Ruland:

You’ll love her. She’s

Bridget Murphy:

amazing. Awesome.

Molly Ruland:

But that you know, perfect example, another Disney person who was with them for a long time and partnerships and all that, so right up your alley. Right. What was, let’s see. What prompt no. That’s a boring question. Reflecting on your tenure at Disney and, news media news digital media, how has that shaped your philosophy towards partnerships with Envision?

Bridget Murphy:

How has that shaped my philosophy? I think we can talk about how successful partnerships are for an organization. I think, you know, just seeing it on that level and then, securing partners can I mean, just the caliber of exposure and the caliber of revenue that you can generate? I will say this, though, for the love I have for Disney, I have so many clients that come to us and say, oh, we really just wanna work with Disney. And I’m like, no. You don’t. Because if you’re gonna do a true partnership, Disney has the biggest footprint of, you know, how many entertainment companies and how many toy companies in the world. Right? So they don’t need to be as generous. So they’re great for, like, a partner when it’s, you know, a prize or you’re trying to drive them to, you know, win something. But in terms of, like, generosity and partnerships, they’re they, you know, they own the brand, man.

Bridget Murphy:

They’re they’re it’s like arm wrestling to Yeah. To secure, you know, large gal partners. I just can’t say enough about them.

Molly Ruland:

The house always wins. Right? And as it should. So

Bridget Murphy:

Yes. As it should, especially when you’re doing it right.

Molly Ruland:

Well and I you know, I love what you said because when you see something work or you do something like Alex or Milzy, you know, love him or hate him, whatever, but he said something a couple weeks ago about, like, it’s it’s not confidence if you’ve done it enough times and you’ve seen the results. So you’re not confident about your product. You’re like, I know it works. Like, this isn’t confidence. This isn’t a feeling. This is math. You’d I did it 10 times. I got these 9 results, so I can say that this is what’s gonna happen for you.

Molly Ruland:

And so I think having experience where you can see it really working, and you’re like, okay. I know it’s possible. I’ve seen it done. I know it’s possible. I’ve seen the results, so we can do the same thing for you. And I think that really transfers a lot when you’re talking to people. Because it’s like, listen. I’m not selling you an idea.

Molly Ruland:

I’m selling you a formula.

Bridget Murphy:

Love that. I’m gonna steal that. I’m not selling you an idea. I’m selling you a formula. But it’s true. I mean, if you take these specific steps and we understand who your target demographic is and we’re aligning you with the right consumer brand that speaks to your target demographic as well as your core values and you’re creating a message that resonates with that consumer, it’s a win win.

Molly Ruland:

And you know it and you know it’ll work. It’s like as long as you do what you’re supposed to you know, if you put butter and flour and sugar in a pan and then put it in the oven, it’s gonna turn into a cake. You know what I mean? You know, Hopefully, if as long as you put

Bridget Murphy:

all the you do it. Yeah. You don’t want me to do that.

Molly Ruland:

Don’t forget the baking powder or soda. That’s very, very important. But, yeah, I mean, I think that goes a long way. It really helps you sell because you’re very, you know, confident and secure in what you’re offering because you know that it works. So having that big company experience, you know, really helps kinda pave the way as an entrepreneur. Okay. Name one emerging trend in partnership marketing that you’re excited about in 2024.

Bridget Murphy:

Oh my god. An emerging trend. A lot more of it’s experiential. So, making it where the consumer engages with your brand in a really unique way. So getting a toy at a Pinkberry where you’re walking in and you can scan with your phone and suddenly you’re actually playing with a device in a, like, experiential way. I think that’s one thing that we’ve been seeing a lot of. And also, like, giving something meaningful to the consumer that, you know, helps them out. We’re seeing a lot more companies be really generous, especially with the climate and the way it is, you know, with interest rates and how things are perceived in the media right now.

Bridget Murphy:

I think that kindness I mean, that’s a horrible example, but I believe that. Like, there’s this underground movement of partnerships that can be really beneficial to, to specific people. And if you can find that link, that’s the way to go.

Molly Ruland:

I love it. Listen. I think we gotta lean in on kindness. I’m nervous about what’s gonna happen with the elections because I think no matter what, half the country is gonna be really upset. So I’m all for leaning in on kindness.

Bridget Murphy:

Bring it. Let’s get out. Let’s all come together. Let’s all help each other out.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. Let’s stop listening to the media, and let’s get back to people, and let’s get curious about one another and not try to change people’s opinions and lean into kindness. I’m not a big little person, but, like, let we gotta we gotta lean all the way into kindness because we got some problems.

Bridget Murphy:

You, man. I’m with you. Like, how can I help you? I would love to be able to help, and, yeah, I think leaning into kindness is thank you. I 100% agree.

Molly Ruland:

We can make money and still be kind. You know?

Bridget Murphy:

We can make money and still do a really good job and not be mean.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, alright, on this note, we’re we were gonna have all your links and everything below, but if people wanna connect with you and explore some of these partnership ideas and opportunities, what’s the best way for them to get ahold of

Bridget Murphy:

Website’s a great way. It’s Envision P with an e, so e n v I s I o n p. You’re gonna put all of it in the links.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah.

Bridget Murphy:

LinkedIn is really a great way, but you can connect to me through both of those channels really easily, email, phone, all the fun stuff around. You can’t can’t miss me.

Molly Ruland:

She’s easy, she’s easy to reach, guys. So if you have found this information valuable, which I’m sure you would, and I think this is an interesting conversation, Don’t be intimidated if you’re a small business about reaching out to a bigger business because they are always looking for opportunities to reach new markets in that authentic way. So don’t sell yourself short. Hit up Bridgette. Get on, get on a discovery call with her. Make those partnerships happen. Thank you for tuning in today. And until I see you again, be excellent to each other, and we’ll see you on the next one.

Bridget Murphy:

Thank you, Molly.