Today we’d like to introduce you to B Santa Maria
B, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was an actor and a writer with an artists background. I gigged through my network and ended up with some pretty wonderful people on some pretty wonderful projects (Suzan-Lori Parks, Ray Bradbury, Disney Imagineering, to name a few). But then, living in New York, I got sick. I was in treatments in Minnesota and Omaha, Nebraska and an ad agency recruited me off of a Peabody I had just won with The Onion. That was the pivot into brand work.
I wrote through agencies and became a Creative Director. I in-housed major clients work. And then I launched a missionary brand as a detour, and I’ve been assessing, creating, and conquering brands since then. So here I am, B Santa Maria. Flagship. Brand Conquistador.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The journey towards what I want has never been smooth. But, if I’m honest with myself, the adventure towards success has been. Obviously, a near death experience is what led me to brand work in the first place. That wasn’t smooth sailing. But sailing the waters the Lord gives me, one wave at a time, is what steered the ship towards the next outpost. My first ad agency came to me after all.
I’ve approached the career like I’ve approached the work. Teh adventure is the solution. So I assess the problem (because creative, at its core, is a solution to a problem; that’s where the creativity comes in). Then I solve that problem with the tools on the ship. An agency with a great animator should be making a lot of animated spots. An agency with a funny headline writer should be nailing billboards. And, in my case, an agency with an adventure mentality should be innovating media. You can scout for talent, and acquire skills, which of course I’ve done along the way, but doing what I myself can do, the best way I myself can do it, is the best path towards optimizing yourself as a creator and a brand.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am Flagship and Flagship is me. From scripting, to production, to brand building, what have I been about? Charting the unknown and planting flags. I’ll lead the creative through the next leg and master what’s discovered. And in a world where marketers want vertical experience, I’m not a talent based in a vertical, it’s a talent based in ability. I helmed logistics companies, tremendous retail brands, entertainment studios, and now kI’m launching the smallest brands, accelerating them from a simple idea to national credibility. There’s a unique combination of skills in me to take the concepts of a business, be they brand, market, or product, and fill every sail with air.
If you’ve got an idea, I can make it a business. If you’ve got a business, I can make it a brand. If you’ve got a brand, I can make it an identity. A brand conquistador.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
For sure. I think every single month I’m processing a new concept, and seeing it processed in the creative work around me. A new television show or National Geographic article is always helping me wrap my head around the world we’re sailing through. The standards are always there:
-The Gospels. Specifically, His words. If there are quotes, I’m reading it over and over. This is my skeleton key for the human condition and the aims of my adventure here.
-Truth in Comedy, by Del Close. That’s probably an hour read, and if you read it three or four times you’ll understand “game” better than any advertising school graduate understands “campaignability.”
-No one has tapped into collective narrative like Joseph Campbell.
-Reddit, is the new Google. Our culture is increasingly fractured, and subreddit threads offer an incredible education on anything you can dream of.
-And I don’t listen to too many podcasts, but I love How I Built This, not because everyone shares their genius, but because they often share their ignorance. Inadvertantly. All choices are validated by success, right? Even the bad ones. And so what you hear in those conversations that Guy Raz has are strange choices validated by success. You have to listen through the confidence. Because what that reminds you is that there is no right path. There is no single solution. There is no true “optimization.” There is only the next choice in front of you. And you do the best you can in the moment, then use the results to assess the next one. I tell my children that the single strongest indicator of success is confidence. But when I listen to How I Built This, I’m reminded that in reality, that confidence is often delusion… and access to capital, ha.
-This one quote: “Chance favors the prepared mind.” There’s so much in it for me. You have to by lucky. But the lucky have to be ready. And my father used to say it to me all the time growing up. He credited his engineering teacher, who would repeat it to him in broken english. It wasn’t until I grew up that I realized it was Louis Pasteur who actually said it. Which is a great reminder that what we create belongs to the world. There are no property rights on legacy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Flagshipbrand.com
- Instagram: briansantamaria
Image Credits
UP Image: Bailey Lauerman Agency
Best Buy brand: In-house Best Buy Agency
Skimpies: Flagship
This Is Not A Blanket spread: Flagship, B Santa Maria
