Managing Europe's biggest YouTubers The Sidemen - to succeed become dispensable | Jordan Schwarzenburger
Sep 19, 2023
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Meet Jordan Schwarzenburger, the Chief Creative Officer at YMU Group and manager of The Sidemen. He discusses the success of The Sidemen, their commercial ventures, and the importance of talent management. Topics include building a strong management team, making yourself dispensable, and the importance of humility in leadership.
Arcade Media's success with The Sidemen is attributed to their ability to build brands, manage commercial interests, and bridge audiences for influential creators.
Partnerships with industry experts are crucial for navigating challenges and achieving success in launching new ventures, as seen with XIX vodka and Sides.
Content creators should focus on making their content creation sustainable by effectively managing time and resources, and empowering others to take on responsibilities.
Deep dives
Arcade Media: Exclusive Management for The Sidemen
Arcade Media is a management company exclusively focused on The Sidemen, a group of influential creators. They work closely with The Sidemen to build their brands, manage their commercial interests, and represent them in bridging the gap between their existing fan base and new audiences. Arcade Media recognizes The Sidemen's global reach and has worked with them to launch successful businesses like Sides, a fried chicken restaurant, XIX vodka, and Sid Plus, the official Sidemen membership club. By focusing on a scaled roster of creators operating at a global level, Arcade Media has found success in building around The Sidemen's incredible business and content machine.
The Challenges of Launching XIX Vodka
Arcade Media faced challenges in launching XIX vodka, their alcohol brand. They partnered with Hero Brands to navigate the complexities of the alcohol industry, including high taxes, bonding requirements, and stringent regulations. As a result, launching a vodka brand required significant investment, amounting to millions of pounds. The collaboration aimed to leverage Arcade Media's creative and marketing expertise while utilizing Hero Brands' financial backing and operational capabilities. Despite initial difficulties, XIX vodka is now poised for success, with upcoming retail launches and a growing product lineup.
Navigating the Ups and Downs of Sides
Sides, a fried chicken restaurant brand, encountered challenges along its journey. Initially, Arcade Media opted to use ghost kitchens, partnering with Reef and other third-party delivery systems. However, the quality of delivery and consistency of the product suffered due to the limitations and incentives of the partner. This created reputational issues for Sides, as some customers experienced subpar deliveries. Understanding the importance of quality, Arcade Media made pivotal changes by opening physical locations, including Boxpark, Wembley, to ensure the gold standard experience for customers. The focus has shifted to brick-and-mortar sites, allowing Sides to offer a consistent and exceptional product to its fan base.
Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
The experiences with XIX vodka and Sides have provided valuable lessons for Arcade Media. They recognize the importance of partnering with experts in each industry to overcome challenges. Additionally, they understand that scaling quickly without compromising quality is a delicate balance. While the initial excitement and desire for widespread accessibility may lead to decisions that aren't ideal, Arcade Media is committed to continuously improving and delivering the best experience to customers. Their focus remains on providing value to fans, expanding their reach, and consistently delivering exceptional products and services.
Creating Sustainable Content and Prioritizing Sustainability
One key point from the podcast is the importance of making content creation sustainable. The speaker emphasizes the need to manage time and financial resources effectively, ensuring that content creation can be maintained alongside other priorities. It is crucial to find a balance and understand the costs associated with content creation, both in terms of time and money. The speaker highlights the need to make content creation sustainable in order to go the distance and achieve long-term success.
Making Yourself Dispensable and Prioritizing the Bigger Purpose
Another key point discussed is the importance of making oneself dispensable as a leader. The speaker shares the mindset of setting things up, finding great people to run them, and then moving on to the next thing. By doing so, the speaker believes it is possible to focus on the bigger picture and the next steps, rather than getting stuck in the day-to-day operations. The idea is to bring in talented individuals who can take over responsibilities while the leader oversees and directs the overall vision. This mindset allows for continuous growth and the ability to do more by empowering others.
If you’ve been online in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of The Sidemen.
7 guys from the UK, all successful YouTubers in their own right, who grouped together to create one of the most successful YouTube collectives in the world. With over 240 million monthly views and 19 million subscribers, the Sidemen have branched out well beyond content - launching their own fast food chicken franchise (Sides) and premium vodka brand (XIX Vodka).
Whilst these 7 guys are immensely talented creators, they needed structure and a strategy to exploit their commercial potential - and that’s where Jordan Schwarzenberger and Arcade Media came in. Jordan started his career as a creative at VICE and LADBible before he became the Chief Creative Officer at YMU Group, Europe's largest talent management company.
Having being introduced to the Sidemen by his friends and co-founders,Jordan now manages the group in all their endeavors. In fact,The Sidemen are Arcade Media’s only client. In this episode you’ll hear Jordan explain what it’s really like working with some of the biggest content creators in the world and how you can replicate some of their success.
