Episode 34: What it Means to be a Serial Creative

00:35

Ashtyn Morris

Welcome to another episode of Marketing Moves. I'm your host, Ashtyn Morris, senior account executive at VividFront. Today's episode is perfect for all the creatives looking to learn how to turn their passions into reality. Today's special guest is creative visionary Zosimo Maximo. From creating award-winning commercials, directing and producing hit reality shows for MTV, Style Network, and Spike TV, to working with brands like Prada, Gucci, Adidas, Puma, and Nike, he is a proven influential multi-platform creator and brand builder for all our Clevelanders. He co-founded GrooveRyde, one of the fastest-growing boutique fitness studios in the city. We're so excited to have him on today to talk about his creative ventures and experiences and how he's leveraging them to better Cleveland. Welcome to marketing moves.

01:27
Zosimo Maximo
Thank you. Thanks for having me.

01:28
Ashtyn Morris
Yes. One of the best parts of this podcast is that I have the opportunity to interview people of all backgrounds and professions, to share their story and expertise. Before talking about your long list of amazing accomplishments and work, I want to give you the floor to tell our listeners a little bit about yourself. So what's your story? Where are you from?

01:46
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, so I actually grew up in a small town in Ohio called Cambridge, Ohio, which is 2 hours south of here. I'm Filipino, so my dad was a physician who was recruited back in the late sixties. A lot of Filipino and Indian resident doctors were recruited to come to the US. And that's how like, a lot, you know, became scattered throughout the Midwest and, you know, in places like Youngstown or Cambridge, Ohio. So, yeah, I am the youngest of four. My whole family is medical, so my dad's a physician, my mom's a nurse, my oldest brother is a dentist, my sister's a pharmacist, and then my other brother was a urologist, too. So then I'm the baby.

02:32
Ashtyn Morris
You really just went a completely different route.

02:35
Zosimo Maximo
I was like, hey, there's enough, you know, people in the medical field here to make my parents happy. There's enough money in the family. I'm gonna go be the starving artist, so.

02:44
Ashtyn Morris
Well, I think you've made quite a name for yourself. How did they react to you really just going on a completely different path.

02:53
Zosimo Maximo
I think they saw it. My older brothers and sisters were very creative as well, but they just had that analytical side that they really developed and wanted to go into the medical profession. I was just a creative kid. I was a dreamer. Now that I understand, that was probably early stages of being a manifesto. Because I was the youngest, I had to go travel with my parents. Cause my irresponsible teen brothers and sisters weren't ready to watch an eight-year-old. So I got to go to New York at a very early age, you know, maybe eight. And my parents would take me to Broadway or Fifth Avenue, and I was just like, mind blown by New York City. So I knew I wanted to get there someday. And I was like, how? I'm not a good singer. I'm not an actor.

03:49
Zosimo Maximo
I want to be a New York Yankee. That's a long shot. But so it was kind of fashion, and I was that kid that was the first to wear pair of air Jordans, or I was really into, I guess, the early stages of street wear back then, which was like polo and Adidas and Stussy and Nike and things like that. So I wanted to be a menswear designer, and I actually went to Parsons New York to study fashion design.

04:23
Ashtyn Morris
Well, you have great style.

04:24
Zosimo Maximo
Thank you. Thank you so much.

04:25
Ashtyn Morris
And also, I think your story, which I'm really excited to just dive right into, is just about following your passions, especially when it's creative. I think sometimes it's a hard. It's a hard life for people to get into in terms of, they know there's a lot of risk with it. It's not a clear cut path. So I'm just going to jump right on into it because I really do want to discuss how your dynamic and creative background has informed your goals for what you're really trying to achieve here today in Cleveland. You've lived in LA, which I'll let you talk about a little bit more. But while you were there, you served as a creative director and worked with many Fortune 500 brands and different ad agencies. So I just want to know from you, what does the title of creative director mean?

05:06
Ashtyn Morris
I feel like it could mean a lot of different things and people might not know, but something they could see themselves being.

05:12
Zosimo Maximo
Sure. So a creative director kind of in my world, which is the tv, entertainment and also branding of Fortune 500 companies, means that you're kind of the lead of the creative vision that you're working with a brand or a company to create their story. It could start as early as helping a brand launch and getting into their mission statements and their core values, their value propositions. But if it's a project, like mainly a lot of it was advertising and marketing based. So how are we going to get the name out, or how are we going to do this particular campaign?

05:50
Zosimo Maximo
So I would work closely with the ad agencies and the clients to kind of develop that story, and then I would be the lead to bring on the artists around me to execute that, whether that was, you know, producers or video directors, photographers, art department stylists, the whole nine. So that was. And then I see it all the way through to the delivery, to the client.

06:20
Ashtyn Morris
What type of experience did you have to have leading up to that, in terms of, can you just become a creative director? Or what type of work experience did you have that helped you really come into that role?

06:32
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, my path was, I guess I fell into it because of my path. And I spent the first ten years in fashion. As I said, I was in New York studying fashion. I got to work with Tom Ford at Gucci. I was with Gucci for a couple years. Then I went over to Prada. I worked with Ralph Lauren for a little bit. So that was just really building my sensibility and my aesthetic and kind of learning from the best. Then I became a stylist. Well, when I was at Gucci, a lot of my celebrity clients would say, hey, I want you to style my music video, or I want you to be the stylist on my television show. So I started doing that, which led me to want to go to film school.

07:18
Zosimo Maximo
I would be on set and I would see the director and I'd be like, who's that? You know, I want to do what he or she is doing. And that got my interest in wanting to become a filmmaker. And I went to LA to go to graduate film school at art center college. So after that led me to doing the reality shows. I became a producer and director for MTV and Viacom. And that's where I started to see, like, branding starting to come in, because all of our shows were sponsored and we had to do product placement. We had to do things like that. You know, we had to pay the bills through the advertising. So that was kind of my first taste of seeing what brands and advertising agencies were doing. And I was also directing commercials at the time.

08:07
Zosimo Maximo
So that goes through the ad agency. These are big budget commercials. So I saw that whole process, and that's kind of a natural transition to go from, like, a filmmaker that has worked with ad agencies to taking the next step, which is becoming the creative director. So that's kind of how I got put in that role.

08:27
Ashtyn Morris
That makes total sense. And it's interesting to see how many different hats you've worn. I'm sure you've heard this term before of being a serial entrepreneur, but to me, you sound like a serial creative in terms of you're always creating new things and just really expanding your mindset. I'm really curious, too. I mean, obviously we're VividFront being a digital marketing agency. We've worked with lots of different partners, but we don't often hear from people who are in that creative director seat from them firsthand. In terms of what was it like working with different agencies, did you ever feel the relationship? How did that really naturally come about? Because you obviously have your vision, but then they have their vision. So what was that interaction like with them?

09:07
Zosimo Maximo
Right. So the ad agency is really, they're on the hook. Right. They have to make it work, because if it doesn't work, the ad agency is going to be at fault. So you really have to understand who that ad agency is that you're working with. Not all of them are the same. Right. That's why there's some that are really good at pop culture. There's some that are really good at food. There's some that are really good in their specific niche. So I would say I was hired by a lot of ad agencies because I was a pop culturalist. They knew I was from MTV. So I think I was a match for a lot of brands that were looking for someone like me. But it's a very, it's kind of very structured game because there's a lot of big money involved. Right.

10:00
Zosimo Maximo
So when a client is paying a million dollars for an ad campaign, you really have to get it right or you're not going to work again. So, yeah, I was lucky enough to, again, get paired up with good brands. I would say the ad agency plays Devil's advocate a lot of times. I did run into a few that were a little bit more conservative than I would have wanted, but there were some that were a bit more conventional that allowed me to push the boundary and do work that was beyond their portfolio to help them get into the market that a lot of people want was Gen XYZ. Right. And that's a difficult market to talk to authentically. And I think my strength was being a creative that really operates from an authentic place.

11:03
Zosimo Maximo
And to say that's corny, you can't talk to them that way. You know, it's got to be presented this way, the same way my 13-year-old talks to me now. Like, dad, you can't say that word. You're too old to say that. You know, my role with a lot of brands was to be an authenticator.

11:24
Ashtyn Morris
That's amazing. And I think, too, especially working with a lot of B2C brands, you have to be, regardless of what size or really who their target audience is, you have to be in tune with pop culture because that informs so many of our decisions. I mean, I'm just thinking about one of the movies that took the past few months by storms with challengers in terms of how that has impacted so many different marketing campaigns. After you see it everywhere, tennis, pickleball, racquetball, like racket sports everywhere. And if you're not in the know and you're going to position yourself as a creative, then you're really missing out and you're limiting yourself.

12:00
Zosimo Maximo
Absolutely. And I think you could be a strong creative no matter where you live in these secondary markets like Cleveland. But you have to travel, you have to be adventurous. You have to do your research, you have to listen to podcasts, you have to see what is trending. And that is readily available with social media these days. Before, without social media, you know, you really had to kind of dig, you had to follow the magazines. You had to be in those cities. You know, you had to kind of play in those cities to see what was trending before it was trending worldwide. And luckily, I spent 15 years in Los Angeles and a good while in New York City to be right there to see a lot of trends start.

12:48
Ashtyn Morris
And you're bringing that experience to Cleveland, which I think is invaluable. Before we talk about some of your more Cleveland based ventures, can you talk about any favorite campaigns or moments while you worked in LA that you felt like, wow, this really, my vision came to life?

13:05
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, I was a part of a startup called Vimbe, which stood for video in my backyard, and I was creative director there. And it was a couple tv guys said, hey, let's do something in the digital space. Because digital at the time around 2007 was really emerging, right? That was when MySpace was still around. But YouTube was really starting to jump off in about 2007 as a trend. Traditional television people saw like, hey, this digital thing is really going to have some legs. So I was able to get in early and do probably, I would say, because I was in LA and it was 2007, I would say were doing some of the earliest digital campaigns with people like MySpace and Toyota and people that wanted to play in the music space. Vimbe was focused on music and pop culture.

14:06
Zosimo Maximo
What we basically did was establish kind of what you would call the first influencer. And we set up filmmakers in 25 different markets in the US. And my role was to find them and to find stories, documentaries, short form stories on who the best DJ's were, who were the best fashion designers, what restaurants were popping off, what were the nightclubs, who were the tattoo artists, and a lot of other things in pop culture. And were able to curate it all into this website and share some of it on YouTube. But were doing things that literally were like, for example, we filmed Lady Gaga's first ever interview because we had a relationship with Interscope records. People like Miguel and B.O.B used to come to our office and do, like, live sets from there.

15:06
Zosimo Maximo
We've worked with all the big DJ's at the time that weren't that big, like Steve Aoki and Skrillex and people like that went on to become these huge superstars. We were actually filming them very early in their careers and sharing it.

15:23
Ashtyn Morris
Oh, my gosh, that's so cool. We've already touched on this a little bit, but obviously, LA is much larger of a city with more people, money and opportunities compared to Cleveland, so it obviously lends itself to having more of these unique experiences. I know, just based off of our previous conversations, you've expressed wanting to bring more of these elevated boutique experiences to Cleveland, which you accomplish with GrooveRyde. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

15:47
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, yeah. So my ex-wife, who Anjua, who was also my business partner, we moved here in 2010, and at that time, she was working for Lululemon in Calabasas, next to the Dash store. So we used to see the Kardashians all the time. Yeah, I would run into Bruce Jenner, like, at CVS, but she was asked by Lululemon to come to Cleveland to open up the stores. So that's one of the reasons why we came here.

16:21
Zosimo Maximo
And as soon as you get off a plane from somewhere like Los Angeles, you're like, oh, my God, there's no Pinkberry here, there's no boba tea, there's no poke, you know, and it was kind of the same for fitness and Anjua being with Lululemon, you know, were very in tune to what was happening on the group fitness level in Los Angeles, and she happened to be a very popular pole dance instructor. With a company called s factor, and she wanted to do her own boutique, even when were in Los Angeles, and we're like, oh, my God, it's gonna cost a million dollars. How are we gonna do this? There's so much competition. And at that time, I was going to places like SoulCycle and Barry's bootcamp and y seven, and I was training for tough mudders.

17:08
Ashtyn Morris
Wow.

17:09
Zosimo Maximo
So I said, we moved here, and that idea kind of never went away. And as it was kind of developing while she was at Lululemon, I said, hey, I want to bring cycling and yoga and boot camp and add it to your idea of bringing pole dance here, and let's call it group ride. And. Yeah. And we started it in the basement of our house at Shaker Heights. We bought, like, ten bikes. And I knew some people that had some spinning background in the style that we wanted to do, which was the SoulCycle style. And we brought a couple teachers down into our basement, and we kind of just cooked down there and came up with our own style. We started inviting our friends to take classes down there, and then we're like, okay, let's do the boutique.

18:02
Zosimo Maximo
And we opened our first one in Woodmere in 2015.

18:06
Ashtyn Morris
Wow. I love how that all came together. Such an interesting story. But I think you touch on a lot of the things that people living in Cleveland, they see what is happening in other cities, and we yearn to have it, but we need people that know how to curate that experience to bring it here, because I'm not saying that people who've lived here their whole life couldn't do something like that. You coming from LA and also having those experiences in New York, you're able to really build that experience that we all want. But, no, it's not likely for us to experience. So I think it's amazing.

18:39
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, you have to change people's mindset to here, because even when were working with our architect and were like, hey, we want to do this, like, kind of urban, you know, this is Woodmere, right? This is right in the smack of downtown Woodmere. And we wanted to be close to a lululemon in an apple store and a whole foods. That's kind of our gate.

19:01
Ashtyn Morris
That's who you're trying to hit.

19:02
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, that's our audience. So wherever there was a whole foods, an apple, and a lululemon, we wanted to be close to. So we found a spot literally across the street in downtown Woodmere. And even our architects were like, you know, we kind of know that audience. It's a country club audience. I think you're designing to above them, and you got to kind of bring that down a little. And there are a lot of people that told us just flat out like, hey, that concept's not going to work there. So we kind of were like, nah, we got to bring them up because we realized there are people here that travel. There are people that have been to New York, have been to SoulCycle, have been to Barry's boot camp.

19:46
Zosimo Maximo
So we designed the interior ourselves, and we said, no, we're going to lose that brick wall. We're going to put a lyric wall up, and we're gonna have Kendrick Lamar and Biggie Small and Eminem graphics on the wall. And we did, and it worked, definitely.

20:05
Ashtyn Morris
What was the overall marketing strategy behind it? I know we're kind of touching on it, but it feels like it was very thought out and methodical, and I'd love to hear how you really built it from the ground up.

20:14
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. Again, you know, I'm a natural storyteller. So part of that story was to introduce our story. Angela was from New York City, an actress who I met in New York. We went out to LA to do our thing out there. So it was kind of about this story of a guy from Ohio that met this beautiful woman from New York City that became a very popular fitness instructor out in LA who works for Lululemon. They were coming to Cleveland to open up a boutique fitness, which we felt was a. Was a pain point because there wasn't a lot when we got here, maybe 1 bar studio, but the rest were yoga studios.

21:01
Zosimo Maximo
I think, you know, harness at the time, cycle at the time were just kind of getting started, and I really wasn't even aware too much of what they were doing until I learned about them. But, yeah, on the east side, were kind of the first to deliver that. So some of the really, the early marketing was, like, introducing who were. I think people were fascinated with us as a couple because we're showing up to school with tattoos, dressing the way we dressed.

21:31
Ashtyn Morris
A little different than these.

21:32
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. So they're kind of like, who are those people? I think she works for Lululemon. I think he's, like a filmmaker artist of some sort. But, yeah, getting that story out that I'm returning back to Ohio, I'm returning back to my competitive athlete roots, that we're trying to bring something fresh and new straight from LA was the main part of our marketing. And then something we did, because it took a year to build out our space, was we spent six months of premarketing. We had the mindset after we established, like, a lot of our vision and core values. One of our core values was community over competition, like, because Audra Washington, the store manager of Lululemon, you know, we wanted to spread love and continue what she had started at Lululemon in building the fitness community.

22:28
Zosimo Maximo
So were partnering with other studios because we didn't have one. And one of the earliest things we did was we brought. We teamed up with Tremont Athletic Club. I think they were in their first year. We brought 60 bikes to their rooftop, and we sold out in, like, 30 minutes. Yeah. So we continue to follow that route. And were doing workouts in whole foods. We were doing workouts in Lululemon, you know, Woodmere and Lululemon, Akron, Athleta, at the mall, anywhere that we could do a workout before our studio opened, we did, and we filmed everything, and that was one of the things. And then we had a viral moment. We wanted to introduce our instructors, and we had a holiday party. This is even six months before we opened.

23:20
Zosimo Maximo
And we had them in my garage, and we made a music video to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas. And they lip synced the whole thing, and we put it on our page on Facebook. Actually, we ran the video on Facebook, and I think it got 30,000 views in the first.

23:39
Ashtyn Morris
Wow.

23:40
Zosimo Maximo
And that was like, oh, my God, the word got out.

23:43
Ashtyn Morris
Yeah. What was the response? I mean, obviously, with those type of views, it's, I'm assuming great response, but was it questions of, like, when are you guys opening? I want to get involved. That's. What was the response to it?

23:53
Zosimo Maximo
Oh, it was crazy. Like, you know, the engagement was high, and this is at a time when Facebook was. Didn't have so many walls. Right. And it was like, oh, my gosh. Like, you can throw content up on Facebook, you're gonna get a thousand to 30,000 views. And, yeah, the response was just like, this is fresh. Can't believe this is coming. Didn't take long for the whole east side to kind of hear about it. And, yeah, we just. We did open in the middle of summer, which is the worst time to open for a fitness studio, but within three months, were wait-listed, and you couldn't even get into class.

24:36
Ashtyn Morris
That's amazing. Seems like you had a clear vision of your brand identity and mission and core values, but did you form brand guidelines that your team had to follow? How did that roll out? As everything was coming together?

24:49
Zosimo Maximo
So, luckily, on our staff, one of our teachers, Samantha Friedman, that was her maiden name at the time. She was working at Ernst and Young. And I found out she was like a bedroom graphic designer. Like, that was her true passion. So I was like, oh, my God, you could do graphics great at Photoshop. She's great at illustrator. So were kind of like, I have this vision. This is kind of what it's going to look like. You know, the branding's got to be strong. It's got to be consistent. We're going to make our instructors superstars. We're going to make them local celebrities. We're going to put Anjua as the face and Anjua that worked. She's excellent spokesperson. And I'm just going to behind the scenes kind of cooking. And it took Sammy and I probably two years to kind of get it right.

25:39
Zosimo Maximo
And when we opened downtown two years later in 2017, after the Woodmere studio, that really gave us the opportunity to get the right content that matched the brand identity. Like, Woodmere was great, but we had. It was. It's still a bit of a mix of a east-side country club mixed with some young professionals. So we did film a lot in there, but downtown was like, okay, this is us. This is right where we want to be. So downtown kind of became our content studio where we really mastered our brand identity. Everything went black and white, and then we came up with a style guide at that time that all of our instructors and staff, whenever they posted, they had to follow our social media guide. We had certain fonts they could use, we had certain colors that they could use.

26:36
Zosimo Maximo
And our teachers became our biggest ambassadors. And then a lot of the GrooveRyders is what we called them. The people that were coming kind of caught on to that look, too. So they would want to make their stuff black and white and say, I was at GrooveRyde, and try to take the sexiest picture that they could so that UPC part of it, or the UGC. I'm sorry. The user-generated side of it really helped with word-of-mouth marketing. We didn't do any traditional marketing. Wow.

27:06
Ashtyn Morris
No. Before I get to some of the marketing on that side of things, I just want to say, you are speaking, first of all, my language in terms of having those established brand guidelines. But what I think is really important, and that I want our listeners to really understand and hone in on, is that it took you time to figure out, really, the brand guidelines. And that's okay, because sometimes it might seem like you want to get everything perfect and as quickly as possible. Everything can roll out, things evolve. And when you're really setting the tone for what you want your creative vision to be, take your time with that, because that really dictates the flow and mood of everything else. And I think that's really key that you identified that.

27:43
Ashtyn Morris
You know, you knew what you wanted, but you also recognize you couldn't do all of it yourself. You needed to bring someone in, and when you found that person, you found that flow. And once you got into it, the proof was in the pudding and it just started a flow of everything coming in. So that's amazing.

28:00
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, absolutely. I think the key there is just consistency. And when you bring new staff members on and making sure that they're trained to maintain that level of consistency is really what it's about.

28:12
Ashtyn Morris
Yeah. So, I mean, you've already said this, and I think our listeners understand is that you were really ahead of the curve in terms of understanding the importance of content marketing, especially organic, social. All in all, how did you get all of this content? Did you with yourself, with your video making background, did you take a lot of content? Did you bring other people in? Or once word got out, did people just start sending content as well?

28:37
Zosimo Maximo
Oh, me.

28:37
Ashtyn Morris
All you?

28:38
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah.

28:39
Ashtyn Morris
Oh, my gosh.

28:39
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. So were in house and I can't take all the credit because, again, Sammy Freeman was huge with that. And then we had Alicia Hansen became one of our instructors who is just a marketing guru, event guru here in Cleveland. So eventually it became Sammy, Alicia and I doing everything, and were pretty big on the event side. We were an experienced company. We weren't just a fitness company, were a lifestyle brand. So a lot of our events, which started with the Tremont Atheltic Club rooftop cycle event, turned into us doing morning workouts at Forward. So I met the Forward team very early. Shout out to Bobby Rutter. He's like my brother.

29:26
Zosimo Maximo
But when I saw that was going down, I drove down there, I met with Bobby and his team and, you know, they knew that I was coming from LA and had a lot of nightclub experience with the people that I had worked with. And we just kind of hit it off and I said, I think I can bring you an early morning crowd before your crowd gets here, like on Saturdays and Sundays. So we started the outdoor fitness series at forward, I think year one with them where we would do yoga or we would bring all the bikes down at like 09:00 a.m. And then we would have a pool party up until about two when their crowd starts showing up.

30:06
Ashtyn Morris
Wow. I love that. I think event marketing and just creating experiences for people can really strengthen those brand ties. So it's really cool to see how you really just moved your studio to where to in Cleveland so you could reach more people. I think that's something everyone can take note of. When it came to real, especially early on, as you were building GrooveRyde, what type of KPIs were you focused on when it came to social media? Was it looking more so at reach impressions, or was it really looking at likes, comments? I'm just curious how that maybe evolved on your team's end.

30:43
Zosimo Maximo
A little of both. Like, we would respond to every comment we tried to and that just set, like, the tone that this is kind of a community that the owners will actually speak back to you. And I think that was really important. The teachers will respond to you. You know, the teachers started tagging everybody in their classes. But we also did really study the KPIs of social media, which were time of day, you know, how long they're on or watching a video. We had specific demographics that we knew with interest. So once we got into a little bit of the Facebook marketing, you know, we could say 18 to 35, loves yoga, loves bar, you know, wants to be part of community that lives right here from Pepper Pike to Cleveland Heights and a five-mile radius from our studio.

31:42
Zosimo Maximo
So, yeah, were really able to study those and just kind of play around a lot of trial and error, but we followed a lot of sops that were at that time, like, post eight times a day, do that. You didn't have stories, so you were really posting. We were probably posting four times a day, at least.

32:03
Ashtyn Morris
That means we're getting a lot of content.

32:06
Zosimo Maximo
We were. And I always had a camera, so the groove writers knew Zosimo was there. Zosimo would probably have his camera out and he'd probably be filming classes. I would just walk from class to class and get things and because I can edit. Yeah, it was like, it was easy, but, you know, it was a lot of work. Right, but it was, yeah, I mean, it got us out the gate quick and filled our studio within six months because of all the. All the work we put in on that side.

32:35
Ashtyn Morris
Once Instagram started to become more popular, what was your guys strategy there? Was it a little. Did you tell yourselves, okay, this is working on Facebook, let's take that over here. Or did you want to take a little bit of a different approach?

32:47
Zosimo Maximo
A little bit. Because when we really were activating Instagram, Facebook was starting to slow down. Unless you paid them to play. So we knew we could be slightly edgier, sexier. And that was right around the time downtown was opening. So it was all kind of coming together. And then our focus shifted from Facebook to Instagram, and that was more on getting us back aligned with our identity and this really strong look, our Instagram page homepage became our portfolio. We always wanted to be a global brand. The idea was to become kind of like the SoulCycle of the Midwest because we knew SoulCycle wasn't going to come here because they couldn't get the prices that they need to get. So we said, okay, we'll be that at the right price point.

33:49
Zosimo Maximo
So when we go into the branding and the design, it's not to be a Cleveland-based company but to have a global look. And I was, because I'm a creative from LA, I was like going, I'm going to make this sexier than some of the stuff I'm seeing in LA and New York. And when I still design to this day, although I live here in Cleveland, I am designing to be one of the best in the world, not just here in Cleveland.

34:22
Ashtyn Morris
Since we're talking about Cleveland, I do really want to discuss your vision for Cleveland. Since you have set up your roots here now, you've had your hands in a lot of different creative ventures and businesses and opportunities, and really are playing a key role in bringing a more elevated experience vibe to Cleveland. There's been a lot of buzz recently about the Strongroom, which is an emerging member's club, coming to Ohio City. So I know we can't talk too much about it, but I'd love for you to share just your vision for this.

34:51
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. So I am finally getting to partner with one of my best friends of 30 years. His name is Morgan Yagi. Morgan and I were in college together. We had an idea to do a sushi restaurant back then called Sushi Lords. So remember that name because it may pop up at some point. But Morgan was my roommate in New York, and then we moved to LA together. And while I was working in fashion and TV and throwing parties at night because I was a DJ and a nightclub promoter. Morgan was 25, managing Yamashiro, which is in Hollywood, a really iconic Japanese restaurant. And his family comes from the restaurant business. The family owns Hibachi Japan and Cuyahoga Falls, which has been around for a very long time. So that is Morgan's wheelhouse. He actually went to London to pursue music.

35:52
Zosimo Maximo
So he has just an incredible design sensibility from being who he is and spending time in all of those places. So he opened up Bartleby. When they opened Bartleby, which they took over the old crop space on West 25th and Lorraine, the old bank. It's beautiful, right? It's breathtaking when you walk in, and they said, we have a vault downstairs. I was like, what? So they showed me the vault, and right away, my DJ, nightclub brain, was like, nightclub? Yeah, let's do a nightclub.

36:29
Ashtyn Morris
Let's throw a party.

36:29
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. So they weren't ready kind of for that. They wanted to get the restaurant established, but they knew that the vault was going to be phase two about maybe six to eight months ago. They were like, I think we want to do a private social club. So both Ryan and Morgan are members of Soho House, so they've been to a few, and they really love the concept. And I'm not that familiar with the private social clubs, but when they brought me or they told me the idea, I was like, is it too soon? Will people get it? Same thing that, you know, people told me about GrooveRyde, but I was like, I get it. And the space is so beautiful that I think it can work.

37:19
Zosimo Maximo
So I started DJing at Bartleby on Saturday nights starting in January, and that was just to kind of get the vibe down, right. We wanted to see Bartleby is very rock and roll inspired. Like, Morgan and I were living in New York and LA during a very, like, sex, drug and rock and roll era, and that's kind of who we are naturally, and that's authentic to us. Obviously, you can't. You got to find a way to present that right? But that is the underlying tone of Bartleby. And you come in, you're going to hear this incredible playlist of indie music that Ryan and Morgan curate. I was traveling a lot with my work, and I was going to, like, last year, I was in Lima, Peru and Mendoza, Argentina and Prague and Paris and in the UK.

38:11
Zosimo Maximo
And everywhere I was going, the coolest spots were these lounges with a house music DJ. So I was like, Morgan, I started bringing house to borrow me on Saturdays. Let's feel the vibe. And it really complemented the space, and Morgan really dug it. And at that time, I didn't see my involvement in the Strongroom just yet. And I was actually thinking about moving to New York because GrooveRyde had ended. I had handed GrooveRyde over to one of our instructors, and I said, you know what? I'm gonna go back and play in New York City. And then Morgan and Ryan were like, we want you to run the Strongroom. So I was like, okay. Let me think about this. And then we threw our first preview with. Yeah, there's a good turnout.

39:06
Zosimo Maximo
We threw our first preview, and I kind of saw it. I saw the vision, and I said, all right, I'll do it. And, you know, I had to, you know, I'm moving because of my divorce. So I was like, you know what? There's a cool-looking building right across the street called Intro. I think I'm gonna move in there. So that's what I'm doing. Yeah. Moving in the intro, and we're actually gonna start previewing the Strongroom here soon.

39:33
Ashtyn Morris
That's quite the story. I didn't know all of the ins and outs behind that. What would you say? I'm trying to think, because my mind's spinning on so many different questions, but taking inspiration from a private social club like Soho House, how do you want to make the Strongroom different based off of. We are in Cleveland, a Cleveland experience. Where do you want to lean into that?

39:57
Zosimo Maximo
I think I learned a lot from GrooveRyde. Right. Where is that balance? Obviously, there's people here that can cater to a mass audience very well. Like, they know it. They know how to do it. That's not. Morgan and I like our brains. Again, we don't work like that. We were about value. We're about experience. We'd rather have ten of the right people in there than 100 of the wrong people. And I hate to say that word wrong, but off-brand, we'd rather have ten high value on brand people that work with our idea, that get our idea. What makes Cleveland challenging is not only finding those ten people, but can you find enough people that you have a viable business? Right? And I was able to do it with GrooveRyde.

40:50
Zosimo Maximo
And the only reason why GrooveRyde is not around is because COVID. But are we too soon with the. With the private social club? I don't think so. Because in the suburbs, you're already seeing private social places. Bourbon clubs, mainly whiskey clubs, starting to pop up in Columbus. And that's a great indication. Even in Aurora, there's one being built. So that downtown private social club is a different element and a different beast. The great thing is that we have one of the best corners in Ohio City. I know we have one of the best buildings in Ohio City in that southern section of West 25th, where Intro is, where Bartleby is with. Where Exhibition is.

41:45
Zosimo Maximo
Shout out to my guy, Rob Rosenthal, because Exhibition was one of the first to be on that block and stay on that block, even through COVID and Rob has an incredible brand that's very complimentary to our brand. And I'm really excited to move into Intro and just Intro being anchor of something different than what Ohio City knows. On the next block over the west side market block down the street, Intro was like a risk, right, for Harbor Bay to put an all black building there, to put the price tag that they did. But it is one of the most beautiful, cool, sexy apartment complexes that I've seen worldwide.

42:37
Ashtyn Morris
Oh, I have to pipe in here because, I mean, I live there. I love it. I love Intro. I tell everyone, if you have the opportunity to move in, but you are really encompassing. The building is an experience in terms of, yes, you are paying a premium price. That's not. There's no ifs, ands, or buts around it, but the amenities. You get the experience and just the community. But when I was touring, I was moving out post-college. I needed to get out of Berea, love Berea, love BW. However, not the most fun place to live post grad. And I was touring apartments, and I walked into the building, I looked around and I said, this was. I'm not touring anywhere else. This has everything I need. And of course, there's always going to be drawbacks wherever you live.

43:20
Ashtyn Morris
But when you look at the location, the amenities, the people, everything's walkable. And Ohio City is on the up and up. I mean, Cleveland as a whole is. But that is an area that I feel like there's so much energy and there's so many eyes on it that it's the place to be. And you picked an amazing building to live in. But also, too, with Bartleby's location in the Strongroom, this is. You couldn't have picked a better spot.

43:46
Zosimo Maximo
Oh, yeah. We're really excited. And that bleeds right into Tremont, right?

43:50
Ashtyn Morris
Oh, yeah.

43:50
Zosimo Maximo
So down the block, Fossa Industries is going to start demolishing here soon and turn that into residential. I hear that Intro is going to expand. You know, the designer of Intro, Dan Whelan, great job. Again, like Chicago sensibility, to be able to come in and say, this is what Cleveland needs, and to elevate people into that premium price tag. But what you get, like, that gym is gym.

44:20
Ashtyn Morris
It's better than most private gyms anywhere near.

44:23
Zosimo Maximo
I got to talk to them and just see if I could turn it into a GrooveRyde. But that, yeah, that gym, the rooftop pool. So I'm very excited about the next five years of that southern block of.

44:34
Ashtyn Morris
West 25th development has just begun. And Ohio City, Tremont. There's this new energy, especially with young professionals, and also, too, people just looking for something new and different. I've met a lot of people in the building, which you will when you move in, maybe in the second stage of their life, where maybe they're divorced or they're retired, but they want to be where the action is. They don't want to live in a home where nothing wrong with the suburbs. Don't get me wrong, but they're not around anyone. They're not around anything to do. You're surrounded by people at all times. And I think this is just. This is a time for Cleveland that if you can get in on your idea, whatever it may be, especially for people, creatives like you, this is the time to do it.

45:17
Ashtyn Morris
We're going through a bit of a renaissance.

45:18
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, definitely. I think COVID threw a wrench in a few things. Like, there were a lot of us that were trying to develop downtown, so were all there pre-Covid, and it was. It was growing, right? And residents of, you know, occupancy was, like, 97%, and then here comes Covid. And downtown became a ghost town, right. Because were all relying on the people that came to work to be in our studios and our businesses. And so everybody started closing downtown. Ohio City is the destination, but it's also residential, and it has a lot. It's not dependent on whether you got to go to work downtown. Right. Like, a lot of people live in that neighborhood. Ohio City has been developing for, what, ten years or so, you know, Townhall, all the stuff Sam McNulty is doing.

46:13
Zosimo Maximo
And, yeah, it's just really, I think what I've learned from GrooveRyde two is you can't be too far ahead, but you want to give Cleveland the benefit of doubt of nothing being too far behind and going, okay, it's time. It might take a second to. For people to catch on, but there's enough people here that kind of want this. And it'll be the same instance or same kind of example of GrooveRyde that we had enough people on the east side that had been the soul cycle that traveled, and they're like, oh, my God, we got our own. It's in our neighborhood. So Soho House is not new, right? So house has been around, and there's a lot of great ones popping up in New York, like zero bond.

47:05
Zosimo Maximo
And so the concept's not new, so people are ready to understand how that works. And again, if you're going to create something that is within 5 miles of where people live, there's a better chance that they're going to be there three days a week.

47:24
Ashtyn Morris
Absolutely. So, last question before jumping into our rapid fire question round, what advice would you give to fellow creatives looking to make their mark?

47:36
Zosimo Maximo
I would say you can't get to c without going to b. Right. You got to do ABC and you got to do your homework. You got to be diligent. It's okay to fail. It's. Can you get back up? I think a lot of people have a great idea, and if you have that idea, that means ten other people have that same idea. It's in the execution and it's in the planning. Work with good people. Right. You don't have to do it yourself. There are plenty of resources, especially here in Cleveland. Like, we use Jumpstart. We use great attorneys. Don't skip. Don't skimp on your attorney. That's one. Don't skip on your real estate attorney. Don't think that you can do a lease on your own. Get great advice. There are great mentors in this town, whether they work for someone like Jumpstart or not.

48:37
Zosimo Maximo
I have mentors just in Cleveland here that are very successful, have gone through it, trial and error. I get to ask them, you know, great questions, and that's just going out and seeking these people and, you know, inviting them for lunch or coffee. Take advantage of people like me. So, yeah, you know, if someone has a question for me and they reach out, I usually respond. So that's what I would really say is, like, talk to people, have mentors. It's not as easy as you think. There's a lot more that is involved of just going, hey, there's no yoga studio on my block. I'm just going to rent this space and do it right. You got to think about the marketing, the branding, the pre launch, the money. Do you have enough to survive?

49:27
Zosimo Maximo
You know, the one thing, and I think we almost crossed every t and dotted every eye, but we just did not see Covid coming for GrooveRyde. And that is really why we're not doing it. The goal with GrooveRyde was to get to about six on our own and then sell it to somebody bigger. And were well on our way. You couldn't get into any three of our studios at the time that the lockdown started.

49:59
Ashtyn Morris
Do you think could ever come back?

50:01
Zosimo Maximo
Possibly. And I think the idea. The ideas are, I don't call anything dead right, whether you rename it or you repurpose it somehow, a lot of it will still live. A lot of it will live in the Strongroom, because we're gonna be focused on some of the programming for our members are gonna be wellness, the creative arts, music, things like that, events. So some of the same experiences that were giving you at GrooveRyde, we're gonna continue to do, whether that's outdoor yoga with DJ's, you know, run clubs, eventually, we'd love to have our own gym at the Strongroom. And if we do multiple locations, like Soho House, we'd love to have our own pool and our own gym. And you never know, those could be GrooveRyde branded.

50:51
Ashtyn Morris
Wow. That was amazing. Thank you. I love that. Before ending today's episode, I'm gonna hit you with these questions, but I want to make sure. Are you ready?

51:01
Zosimo Maximo
Yes. Let's go.

51:02
Ashtyn Morris
Who is your favorite creative visionary?

51:07
Zosimo Maximo
Wow.

51:08
Ashtyn Morris
I know. I came in hot.

51:10
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah. You know, I was working for Tom Ford at the height of Gucci, and that just. Yeah, I mean, this is a Gucci jacket. I got a Gucci belt on, so I. I mean, I love Gucci. I love everything that it represents. So I would say Tom Ford was one of my biggest influences.

51:33
Ashtyn Morris
Love that. Favorite brand of anything. Yeah. It's open to interpretation. Whatever comes to mind.

51:40
Zosimo Maximo
Wow.

51:41
Ashtyn Morris
You can also name a few. These rapid fires often result in multiple answers.

51:46
Zosimo Maximo
Oh, really?

51:46
Ashtyn Morris
Yeah.

51:47
Zosimo Maximo
Okay.

51:47
Ashtyn Morris
It's hard.

51:48
Zosimo Maximo
Okay. I'm a Nike guy. I love Nike. Yeah. I still love Prada, but even I love streetwear, so I support a lot of streetwear. I love Noah out of New York, and I love human made.

52:05
Ashtyn Morris
Awesome. What is your favorite marketing tactic?

52:10
Zosimo Maximo
Word of mouth?

52:12
Ashtyn Morris
Favorite form of social media reels? Favorite restaurant in Cleveland.

52:19
Zosimo Maximo
Oh, I'm biased, but, you know, when I'm not at Bartleby, I love Amba. I think Doug Katz did a great job with that. The ambiance and the food are exceptional.

52:28
Ashtyn Morris
That's been a very popular answer for a lot of our guests. And last question. Favorite coffee shop in Cleveland.

52:37
Zosimo Maximo
Shout out to Jenny Andrew at Judith Cafe. Beautiful. Judith could be anywhere. If that was in Brooklyn or if that was in Silver Lake, there'd be a line out the door.

52:47
Ashtyn Morris
I still need to go. Yeah, I need to go. I.

52:49
Zosimo Maximo
Wonderful.

52:50
Ashtyn Morris
So many great things.

52:50
Zosimo Maximo
Yeah, they have. Jenny has just a beautiful aesthetic that was established at room service. They were neighbors of ours at Van Aiken, and just. Yeah, I love it. I love the vibe in there. I wish I could go more. And I will be going more when I move to Intro.

53:06
Ashtyn Morris
Yes. Well, this has been a dream episode for creatives and marketers alike. Thank you so much for joining us today. I can't wait to continue to witness and experience your impact on Cleveland as your creative vision for the city is truly inspiring. Where can our listeners find you if they want to connect?

53:24
Zosimo Maximo
Sure you can. Follow me @Zosimomaximo that's my Instagram. It's private, but I'll let you in. @thestrongroomcle, that's our next project, so please follow us there. And @Bartleby, love it.

53:42
Ashtyn Morris
Well, thank you so much.

53:43
Zosimo Maximo
Thank you.

53:45
Lisa Perry Kovacs
We hope you enjoyed this episode. Now it's time to start making moves. Head to vividfront.com marketing moves for exclusive marketing materials. Every episode, we add more of our greatest insider secrets to help you move towards success. See you next time.