When it comes to marketing products and services, engaging, firsthand experiences should be at the top of your company’s promotional strategy. Allowing consumers to test out and truly experience what your brand is about is so important, as it can lead to word-of-mouth buzz and a greater following of loyal fans and new customers. Mirrored Media is one experiential agency that has reshaped how brands interact with consumers.
With a robust client portfolio that includes BMW, NBCUniversal, and Mattel, Mirrored Media is a top-notch, experiential agency that creates high-impact, enduring lifestyle campaigns specializing in music and entertainment. Mirrored Media helps brands reach their target markets through authentic, buzzworthy and memorable experiences. Home Business Magazine recently connected with Mirrored Media CEO Justin Lefkovitch, who was happy to share insight on his business journey, his top tips for entrepreneurs, and more.”
HBM: Tell us about the Mirrored Media brand. What sets it apart from other experiential agencies within the market?
Lefkovitch: “Mirrored Media is a full-service experiential marketing firm that creates high-impact, enduring lifestyle campaigns specializing in music and entertainment. We stand apart from the competition through the emphasis of creating authentic, immersive, memorable experiences. By bridging the gap between music, technology, influencers, art, automotive, and fashion, Mirrored Media has curated some of the most successful and influential experiential activations and campaigns.
What makes us unique is our specialized creative and client approach. We have award-winning creative that has helped to change the way brands reach and engage with their consumers. We are a one-stop shop with all in-house capabilities, from ideation through execution, including: rendering, creative, fabrication, staging, lighting, sound, permitting and so much more.
In order to ensure complete continuity in both communication and our work product, our clients have the same producer from beginning to end. That producer is well-versed in each element of the production to ensure the creative vision isn’t lost as it moves from pre-sale, to fabrication, to on-site execution. Every client experiences transformational results.”
HBM: How did the idea for Mirrored Media come about? What was the inspiration behind the company?
Lefkovitch: “As a teenager in Los Angeles, I was an acclaimed touring magician and a regularly featured performer at the world-famous Magic Castle alongside some of the industry’s biggest names. Soon after, while attending Pepperdine University, I began to manage a well-known singer and songwriter, giving me more exposure and expertise in the world of music and entertainment.
During this time, I often saw firsthand the inherent issues that were present when brands were attempting to market with talent. It was during this paradigm shift in marketing and music, that I wrote a business plan and submitted it to the school’s Graziadio Business Plan Competition. After emerging as a finalist, I soon realized that I had a viable business model. Also around that time, I met Steve Kofsky and world-renowned film composer, Hans Zimmer. Kofsky and Zimmer believed in me and my vision and invited me to join them at their Santa Monica campus.”
HBM: What has been your biggest achievement thus far?
Lefkovitch: “The Road to Coachella is a yearly campaign with BMW that has garnered us over four-dozen industry awards and accolades to-date. The ongoing campaign allows us to create innovative ways to reach Coachella-goers and fans worldwide, where we are met with new challenges every year to keep it fresh and unique.
After conceiving the inaugural namesake in 2017 that sought to create an organic relationship between Coachella, a performing artist, and festival partner BMW i, Mirrored Media expanded that narrative in 2018 and shattered expectations in 2019 with a robust creative strategy targeting Coachella-goers and millennials. The annual campaign has featured artists such as Hans Zimmer, Marshmello, Portugal The Man, and Khalid. Khalid, our 2019 artist partner, catapulted to global superstardom in the midst of our April 2019 campaign. This year’s initiative reached over a billion people through social media, press, and marketing efforts.
This campaign took a localized festival sponsorship, and has created a value proposition for BMW and our artist partners, utilizing the Road to Coachella campaign to create long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. The legacy of the campaign has continued with BMW sponsoring Khalid’s Free Spirit tour and working with Hans Zimmer to design the sound of the brand’s newest electric vehicle.”
HBM: What has been your biggest challenge you’ve overcome?
Lefkovitch: “I realized that as a startup company, especially in an unestablished marketplace, I would always be trading sales for some uncertainty because the clients betting on us, often had risk associated with them. I learned to be very thorough and specific with my payment structures, and I learned to anticipate and even plan for the associated risks.
As a new entrepreneur, especially when dealing with larger clients, you expect to be paid based on a reasonable payment structure. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Whether through extended payment terms or accounting for late payments, you need to consider realistic cash flow expectations.”
HBM: What is your biggest tip for other aspiring entrepreneurs within the experiential and events-driven industries?
Lefkovitch: “The best advice I could give is to get out of your comfort zone and accept any opportunity to get out and meet people while expanding your professional circle. The goal is to build a network of people that you admire and trust and would want to work with both personally and professionally, even if there is no specific job at the moment. Become actual friends and figure out how you can be beneficial to them without expecting an immediate return.
Speak with passion about your vision and the company you are creating because when it comes down to it, people are buying into you, not just the product. People want to get behind something they believe in. When your passion shines through, it excites people. I always aim to seek out mutually symbiotic partnerships and empower people to help me along my way. I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for these people who believed in my vision and were excited to be a part of it.”
