Meet the Experientialists: Legs Media's Adam Joseph Always Puts His Neck on the Line

This is the fourth in a series of profiles on notable players in the world of experiential marketing. Read about Ted Sabarese from Chobani, Vitro's Marc Wilson and Geoff Cottrill, VP-general manager, brand and segments for Converse . Experiential marketing doesn't seem like a risky business, but when it comes to his job, "my neck is on the line," said Adam Joseph. That Mr. Joseph sees his job as treacherous speaks to nature of his work, which often plays out on a live stage and entails real-time experiences that you can't patch up in post production. "I always have this feeling that I'm being watched and our directors are being watched -- it's our performance." More recently, the outfit teamed with Wieden & Kennedy, New York, on Heineken's "Departure Roulette," which invited travelers at New York's JFK airport to push a button to win a potentially more adventurous alternative to their existing itineraries. Last September, it also teamed with Lexus and Team One on a holographic show that aimed to "disrupt" the spectacle that is New York Fashion Week. Mr. Joseph came into advertising through an unexpected window -- casting. He started out as an intern for one of the biggest firms in the business, Liz Lewis Casting, before making his way to MTV, where he found talent for shows including "House of Style," "MTV Spring Break," "Beach House" and "Total Request Live." Along the way, he also freelanced as a photographer shooting assignments for Warner, Universal and MTV -- he even got his first Times Square Billboard at the age of 22. A call from a former casting boss in 2003 drew him to Milk Studios, which was about to open its own casting affiliate, House Casting. Six years later, Legs, whose name Mr. Joseph likes to equate to the longevity of an effective idea, was born out of the desire to streamline the often-bureaucratic and complicated production process that he often witnessed at frenzied Milk Studios' fashion shoots and productions. Legs is home to a roster of directors with experiential chops, including fellow co-founders Geremy Jasper and Georgie Greville, MTV alums who directed the Target campaign, and Radical Friend, the team behind the Lexus effort. The company launched with an ambitious production-heavy idea for Diesel out of the much-celebrated but now defunct Swedish agency Farfar. Legs was tapped to "hijack" Diesel's retail website and turn it into an internet TV station and produced six months worth of content that aired on Diesel.com. Since then, the projects have moved deeper into the real world. Mr. Joseph said Legs is working on another iteration for Lexus and an "immersive" campaign for Heineken and W&K, New York. Mr. Joseph said the best experiential efforts often don't come from a playbook or mimicking a case study. "I'm not saying take a blind risk, but there are people out there who are capable of putting together something unique that they don't already have in their portfolio. It could end up better just because they haven't done it before."

Meet the Experientialists: Legs Media's Adam Joseph Always Puts His Neck on the Line

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