Dean McFlicker
Dean Mcflicker, CEO of McFlicker Media, is a branding and marketing expert who offers keynotes and workshops. “Great storytelling is not limited to the entertainment industry, it’s at the heart of marketing and a successful business or product.”
Dean was born in a small town in Canada. When he first came out to Los Angeles, he knew no one and had zero connections to Hollywood. Through years of hard work, he slowly worked his way up and landed in the entertainment industry as a director, producer, Hollywood executive, and marketing expert – somebody that people turn to to help tell their story. Now, Dean is helping small businesses refine their brand stories so they can share them and have their version of “Hollywood success.”
Dean’s long list of accomplishments working with huge shows and big personalities all started by digging in and hustling. Dean got a scholarship to New York University Graduate Film School with notable professors like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee. While he was in film school, he started his own small production company in his little cramped apartment in New York. He hustled jobs to bring in some money and get the experience to put on his resume. Dean would offer cabaret and nightclub performers free music videos. He also offered to produce free local commercials for small businesses in the area. He did it enough times and started getting more clients who started paying for his services. Dean got better at producing and attracted real, paying, clients which led him to have legitimacy as a small production company. “You need to knock on doors. You never know which door is going to open some new opportunities for your life and for your business.”
Why branding is important
According to Dean, branding is one of those buzzwords that not everybody has a deep understanding of or how it can tremendously help a business. In a world of too many choices, the first step in building a brand is establishing an identity where somebody can identify you and your business as one that provides a solution for them. True branding has to be authentic and accurate. “When there’s a value proposition that makes you unique against the marketplace, then you’re really a winner.”
Dean has worked with some celebrities whose unique brands have made them extremely successful. One of them is Betty White, a great actor and comedian who has a clear persona in the marketplace, tailors by type, and always offers that extra something. Dean believes that as a business, you need to do the same: know your identity, be specific to your potential customers and what you can do for them, and offer that extra something to establish better relations and a stronger brand.
Dean shares one key point used in Hollywood that entrepreneurs can apply to their businesses to streamline their decision-making in establishing their brand. It is finding the authentic thing that you can offer your customers that goes beyond products and services. It is tapping into the reason somebody might be connecting with your business. “You have to look for something deeper because when we care, we share, and your business grows.”
About McFlicker Media
Working in the entertainment industry for 30 years, Dean has often been the bridge between business and creative especially in his job as a Senior Vice-President in NBC. His new company, McFlicker Media, provides full-service marketing for different business people and teaches them how to tell a story that means something to everybody. “Great storytelling is not limited to the entertainment industry, it’s at the heart of marketing and a successful business or product. With Mcflicker Media, I’m teaching other people how to do that.”
The media industry is going through a huge change with new forms of technology that change the way we consume messages. Dean believes that it is a great opportunity for businesses to tell their brand story regardless of the platform. “Technology will change. Great content doesn’t change. As great storytellers, the medium and method of delivery might change, but what we talk about does not.” Businesses must tell their business story in a way that’s authentic, but at the same time, gives people a reason to come back again and again.
Personal Questions with Dean McFlicker
LI: What is your favorite sound?
DEAN: Laughter. I just love hearing crazy laughs. Everybody has a different sound of laughter and yet it communicates the same thing across all cultures.
LI: If you could be anything or anyone else for a day, who or what would you be?
DEAN: A teacher. I’ve always been involved in mentor programs. I love public speaking because the idea of communicating an idea that might help somebody, to see something fresh in their eyes, is so invigorating. If I can tell somebody anything that’s going to help them, then that’s an amazing gift that I’m happy to share.
LI: On this day in one year, what are you doing? Where are you?
DEAN: I am Renee Brown’s best friend because she is a woman that I admire not only for the incredible work that she does but also the success that she’s had in her career as an educator and as a speaker. I love being a public speaker and I’d love the opportunity to work with small businesses more and more. Getting to speak on bigger and bigger stages, I’d love the opportunity to be doing more of that.
