Detroit called. They want to resign you dress in the game. What?
Yeah. They're playing the Colts their last preseason game of the season.
Tell stories that need to be told. At the end of the day, it's a storytelling business.
They'll get way more attention from that little industry pub than Good Morning America cuz that's where their customers are going.
Kelly Clarkson show. Are there other like crown jewel achievements you have for your customers? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Quick pause in the action to tell you about my friends from Hard Truth.
This is my favorite bourbon in the state of Indiana. I was down at the Distillery in Nashville. It is a place you have to check out. This holiday season, if you're looking for a getaway, go down there, get a spot at the cabin, hang out at the restaurant, the distillery, go on all the tours. It is an amazing time. As you're thinking about holiday gifting, go pick up a bottle of Hard Truth at the nearest liquor store and and give that to the special someone in your life.
It is a gift that you definitely won't forget. There's plenty of recipes and fun stuff you can make with their bourbon as well. I love what they have. They have some amazing collabs with people like Melanchamp Whiskey Co. Hard Truth has been an amazing partner of mine. They were at the World Mixology Championship.
They were the bourbon of choice there. Their journey over the past few years has been incredible to watch. I'm a huge fan of Hard Truth and they've been a great supporter to us. Make sure you go check out Hard Truth. Today I'm joined by Chris Ditto, president and co-founder of Ditto Public Relations, a nationally recognized PR and social media agency headquartered right here in Indianapolis. Before launching one of Indiana's most successful agencies, Chris played quarterback at IU in the NFL and NFL Europe, and we're going to get into all the fun football stories.
Uh, now he's just as competitive in business, leading a firm that helps brands break through the noise with powerful storytelling. We're going to be talking through his journey through from Fort Wayne down to Bloomington up to Detroit overseas the football experience. Like I'm just really interested in that as well as his journey building DOPR over the last two decades plus. Uh Chris, welcome to Get In.
Thanks Nate. Excited to be here. Excited.
You had a a really long journey to get here from three blocks up the street. Right.
Exactly. Yeah. We've been here in Broaderpool for a long time. Love it. Love uh love everything about being here in central Indiana and especially right here in the middle of Indianapolis.
From social media and the marketing perspective, Broadripple is the hub of Indianapolis, right? Like if you're trying to grow a successful agency or be in the marketing space, you got to move your company to Broadripple.
Exactly. Exactly.
But you haven't always been in Broadripple. The journey starts in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Uh what high school?
Bishop Dwinger.
Bishop Dwinger. Is that the Knights?
Uh Saints. Close.
Oh, what's what's Lures? Is Lurs the Knights? Shoot. I had those two. That's like my whole shtick on TikTok is like knowing all the high school mascots in Indiana. So Danger is the Saints. Knights are Lew. All right. Got it. Which one? Which one had Jaylen Smith?
Lurs did.
Oh, very good.
Okay. Very good football player
with Tyler Eford.
Oh, yeah. Maybe you know him for a little while.
There's going to be Here's a preface. There are going to be some football conversations happening throughout this, but it's going to be fun cuz your journey goes from Fort Wayne and you end up uh playing quarterback at IU. Yes. Um, and obviously all of us today know that IU had a spectacular season under coach Signetti,
but we also all know that it hasn't always been that way. And this was the early 90s, mid90s.
Uh, right in the middle. Yeah. '92 to 96.
9296. What was the state of the Indiana football team
as you were coming through?
Pretty good. It was a very good kind of
like good as in like uh competing for Big 10 titles. uh one year in well in 1993 we were competing for a Big 10 title. I was a red shirt freshman in ' 87. Right before I got there, they were they played Michigan State for a Big 10 championship and lost. In 93, we had a shot at Ohio State and lost, but it was still u so we were going to bowl games. I think it was a run where we went to
six bowl games in about eight years. In fact, 75 bowl games were probably 45 to 50. So, it was respectable for sure.
Well, and as you were coming out of high school, was it like dead set? I used a place for me.
I I kind of had some numbers that you couldn't coach. I was 6'5 and uh had a pretty good arm and back then there weren't, you know, the dual threat quarterbacks at all. It wasn't a thing. I was super slow. In fact, I'm sure you um know the the sports writer Bill Benner and kind of love telling this story because and I let when every time I see him now, I still remind him that he wrote an article. I was maybe a sophomore or junior at IU and he said he wrote an article I was really really slow and got a lot of sacks. So he coined he said I was slow as an ice flow ditto could not escape the pass rush of an ice glacier. Think about that
and you still say hey remember that
yeah that think about how slowly ice glaciers move. It's pretty slow
like millions of years or whatever it is right tens of thousands. Yeah. So, so speed wasn't the thing?
No, it wasn't. Sit in a pocket and throw the ball and you really weren't recruited until your junior or senior year. Seriously. Um, getting calls and offers
and uh my the fall of my senior year was I started to get offers and asked to come out on official visits of which you could take five.
Were they limited you to five? You only
could only take five official visits where they could where that meant where they paid for you to come out. You could take as many unofficial visits as you wanted, but that would be on your dime to any school you want in the country if they invite you. But for the official visits, there's only five that you can take where they that's where they kind of whine and dine you and they fly you out. They take you to nice dinners.
This is pre obviously all preNIL era. And I just had Julie Ray Lash of the Horizon League. She was previously at the NCAA and she just talked through all the changes now cuz it's like I don't know. I don't think that's a thing anymore. like freaking these kids are going everywhere getting all the things like, "Oh yeah, not only are we going to buy your steak dinner, but we're also going to, you know, give you a check for 5 million when you show up on campus Thursday." Like nuts.
Got friends whose kids are now playing major division one basketball and football and that played in the 90s and it's it's incredible.
So you get five official
it's it was UCLA, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana.
What a wide it was wild. How how did UCLA get in the mix?
There was a a guy there, a coach there named Homer Smith that somehow got some tape of of me playing
of this 65 guy with a freaking rocket attached to his arm just chucking it.
Yeah. And so they had a quarterback there by the name of Tommy Maddox at the time and we kind of the same kind of player. So they kind of wanted me to be in that mold. And I did. I went out there. My dad and I flew out to UCLA.
It was I played basketball also in high school. So had to leave on a Friday night after a basketball game. Got there, we saved some time going out because we it was there obviously on Pacific time. Got there and the coach was Terry Donahghue. Immediately went to a steak dinner. Did the whole Beverly Hills.
Had had a really nice brunch at Beverly Hills on Sunday morning before we left, but toured, you know, the campus. And ultimately, you know, their pitch was, hey, don't think of it as you were, you know, 2,000 miles away. Think of it as we're just a 4hour flight away. That was kind of their pitch. But it's still at the end of the day, I I loved it. The campus was amazing, but still too far having been born and ra I was born in Ohio, but raised in the state of Indiana.
Went to Michigan, visited there, loved that, too. It was an incredible experience. And then visited IU. Uh like it was like three out of the three out of four weekends in December and January, I took these visits. And then I became kind of worn out because there were coaches that would call every night. every night.
Every night. Multi like multiple coaches. It just got tired of it. You know,
you're like 17, 18 years old. It's cool until it's not cool.
Exciting, right? It was it was very exciting, but I was like, I'm I'm ready to make a decision. Uh, and it came down to Indiana and Michigan. And Michigan at the time had Elvis Gerbach, Todd Collins, also 65, 66 pocket passers that I could have kind of just slid into that mold, too. But I be having been raised in the state of Indiana and the success that Indiana was having under Bill Mallerie at the time, I really wanted to go there and continue that. Trent Green was a senior when I was a freshman. So, learned a lot from him. He went on and played in the NFL for I think 12 or 14 years and had an incredible career. And unfortunately, I didn't have that same success, but did get a chance. So,
yeah. And so, you end up when did you start to get playing time at IU? So my first start was my red shirt freshman year. So I was the backup.
You take you take a year red shirt, you know, and then you're coming in. Uh so it' be start of your second year, red shirt freshman year, and you're like you're the guy.
No, I I was the backup.
Oh, you're the backup.
I was the backup still. Yeah. I was the scout team quarterback my first year when I red shirted and that was wild because back then quarterbacks were live 100% in practice. We would get hit like it was a game. And that was just kind of Bill Mallerie's culture. It was the way he ran his program. Um, and now quarterbacks don't get touched. They hardly get touched in games, but back then it was full go
with the with the second team line.
Oh, yeah. All freshman line and the in the first team defense. Yes. And and back then this this defense was our defense was loaded. In 93,
I think seven or eight guys played the NFL off the 93 defense. It was incredible. A couple guys played for the Colts. So then in 93 I was I came in as a backup. We're seven or eight games into the season. and the starter gets hurt. I'll never forget on a Monday night we're playing against Ohio State. We were actually ranked 17th in the country at the time. So we were I think seven and two having a really good season. Coaches come up to me, our starter, his name was John Py separated his shoulder and like Chris uh you will be starting this game you better get ready. So then I spent if I wasn't at class I was at the football stadium watching film or preparing or you know and getting ready for the game. And the game was a 3:30 kickoff and Keith Jackson and Bob Greasie had the game. So it was a nationally televised game and it was
in Bloomington
in at Ohio State in Columbus. So that adds another level of
first start in front of 100,000 plus.
Yes. Yes. So it was
that all hate you.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Talking about welcome to the show kid. How'd the game go?
We did very well and our philosophy was play good defense, do really well on special teams and run the ball. Coach was very very conservative but we had some success throwing the ball. uh I think threw a touchdown, passed, did not have any interceptions, but we ended up losing the game 2317.
Okay. But you're in it and we had a chance.
And it's not you got like picked apart and like threw five picks.
No. No. I I No, we we actually had a very conservative game plan, but we did throw the ball downfield and our defense was the best in the Big 10. Honestly, it was it was us and Ohio State as the two best defenses in the Big 10 at the time. And we had the ball. We got the ball with two and a half minutes left and the and down 2317. This still keeps me up at night sometimes, but just we had I had a guy open down the middle and I threw the ball late. Patted the ball one too many times. Threw it a half a second late. Gave the safety time to come across and knock it down, but he was open and he it would have been a huge gain, a huge momentum, but
man. Yeah.
But sometimes sticks with you.
Yeah. Like you know it's like in those ones probably more than you know the the touchdowns you did score. It's like, oh yeah, you always like focus on the, you know, the little things that you what I could have done different%.
So then a as you kind of went through there, did you start the rest of the season? Did the starter come back?
Starter came back, played about a quarter against Purdue and got not and his his shoulder was just messed up. He tried and then I and then I came in, played three quarters of that game.
And then the rest of the rest of college, you knew like you were kind of the guy.
Well, so then my sophomore year that quarterback was coming back. John Pacy. So, he was a junior and we came in into that season where the co our coach's plan was to split quarterbacks. Uh because I had done well.
That always works.
Yeah, exactly. It didn't work at all. Uh John did was technically the starter and he was he's an East Coast guy. He's from Long Island, New York. Very much a Long Island guy, but a great athlete. He was about 6'3, probably 220. Ran like an absolute deer. very very athletic, not the most accurate passer, but very strong, very good runner and a great leader. So, he was not but he wasn't happy with the kind of the split quarterback situation. But by we get to the Penn State game and that was back when Penn State was ranked number one in the country. They had Kyle Brady could they were loaded. He was struggling in the middle of the second quarter. They put me in and then I stayed in and and then started the rest of the year and started then junior and senior year. At what point during your college career did you realize like, oh, there's a chance for me at the next level?
Around that time, sophomore, junior year, we had some success and we uh you do get agents start to contact you. It's not totally illegal for them just to send you letters and just to introduce themselves. So, I started to get some letters and contact from agents. They would just they sent it to the football office and you get it and they want to introduce themselves and they would you know they'd try and tell you hey this is where I think where I think you can go what I think you can do and so that was kind of the start of it and then you know you play through your junior senior year and then after that you have the pro day and all that stuff.
Were you thinking like football was my career or were you like okay you know this is a means to end I'm going through college and then I'm going to go do something else. I did. I I was hoping footballer could be a longer term career. Yeah. It was always a goal.
Were you taking school seriously enough or was it more like I'm here for football and school is just something that I do?
Probably the latter. Yeah.
It was, you know, my major was sports management and marketing.
Yeah.
Not the toughest major at IU. And it allowed me to spend more time watching film and playing football and and you know, right, wrong or indifferent, I that was that was my goal. I wanted to play professional football and um my major was a little bit secondary at the time which I think if you'll talk to anybody that played college athletics that was you know pretty common
D1 you're Big 10 football like and and when you start getting you're a sophomore like you're 19 20 years old and an agent starts reaching out to you thinking like oh the NFL could be a potential for you it's like dude how am I going to do my my calculus homework or whatever I'm thinking about how I'm going to get in the league.
It's tough. It's tough to to focus on for sure.
Uh so so you go through junior and senior year. NFL prospects are starting to pan out. Like how does that whole transition process go for you?
My senior year ended and eligibility is up. You've got, you know, it's it's December time frame, January. Then you just kind of work out. So I'm still in Bloomington working out, getting ready for the draft, which was in April. signed with an agent who was actually from Fort Wayne, but he was a very well-known um agent called his name was Eugene Parker. Had huge big-time clients like since past, but he had Deion Sanders. He had um I heard of this guy and he he was just a
an incredible
person that started his agency in Fort Wayne, Indiana from Fort Wayne and just started and got a load of roster, loaded roster of football NFL guys. Since I was Fort Wayne, I you know, I was way way down on his totem pole, but since I was Fort Wayne, I think he just kind of took me as a chance and the draft came around.
Where are you at for the draft? Uh we were at my sister's house actually not far from here and she lived at 57th in Pennsylvania at the time. It was tough because I didn't get drafted.
But you're like expecting to call
kind of. I mean they were like they were like you probably you might get fifth, sixth, seventh round around there. And they were there were teams calling and saying hey we we're going to we might calling my agent. We might draft him here or there or we might sign him after the draft as a free agent. And
and did you watch every minute of the draft?
Yeah. Yes. For the most part. and you get down or and then I you know it's it's really ironic because I was engaged at the time to my college sweetheart and we're there my family's there it's not happening I go take a walk and we're walking in this neighborhood where it we're at like I don't know if you're familiar with like central and we're at 50 my my sister lived at 57th and Penn we take a walk just down to like 57th and central you know that was 1997 seven. And five years later, my wife and I buy a house at 56 in Central, right? A block away from where we're walking around this park, which it was school 84 at the time.
Yeah.
And we ended up living in this house for 23 years where one of the worst days of my life was because I didn't get drafted. So, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm getting married in a month. I don't have a job. I'm gonna have to start looking for something to do because maybe maybe this football thing isn't going to work out."
Talk about adversity. Especially because you were getting the agents and like the okay, we believe this was realistic, you know, and then you sit there and you watch
I believe they call it Mr. Relevant gets drafted and you're like well if he's Mr. Irelevant like
right
I'm going to have to go like sell used cars or something like what am I going to do?
So when when does uh so things end up I will give the the story away there. Things end up working out where you get on the roster with Detroit.
Yes.
How does that process work?
When the draft ended I didn't get any any calls. So I literally have to look find a job. I'd go I find a newspaper. Back then there was there was no well there were no jobs posted online. The internet was just kind of becoming a thing in 1997. But I get a newspaper and I f I'm circling jobs. I'm crossing out jobs and I find a job. My first job was uh working at a telecom company, telecommunications company because I always want to do sales. I knew I was going to go and sell something. I was selling long distance B2B for 10 cents a minute. I get this job. I immediately go to Cleveland for two weeks of training.
Are you are you done with You're like I hate football. I'm done. Whatever.
I think I'm done. Yeah. I'm like I got to move on. I'm This was like the draft was around April 25th. I'm getting married May 24th.
Gosh.
Yeah. I have to find I have to find something to do. So I take this job. I go and I and I do get a pretty cool mentor. I remember they were like, "This is you can make money doing this. It's hard." And we literally going door todo to businesses saying, "Hey, can I speak to your decision maker, please? I think I've got a great plan that can help you guys save 10 cents a minute on your long distance calls." Sounds insane right now, doesn't it? Like, yeah, I tell I tell our kids that that was that was my first job. I'm like, "What are you talking about? 10 cents a minute?" And there were Yeah, there were no cell phones then. It was just it was a grind. And 3 weeks into that job, the Detroit Lions called my my agent called me. Actually, I'm sitting in my office on a Friday afternoon.
Eugene.
Yes.
Eugene gives you a ring.
Probably somebody that worked for him. I don't think it was Eugene himself, but the agency called and they said, "Hey, Chris Lions called. They want to sign you. They want to get you on a plane tomorrow, fly up, physical, and they want you to come to training camp, which starts in a month." And so I'm like, "Cool." that I mean I'm obviously over the moon excited and immediately walking into my boss's office. I'm like, "Hey dude, I quit. I'm out. I'm going." So, and they knew kind of my background and that maybe was a chance, but it wasn't really counting on it at that point. Um went did the physical, signed, and then was in training camp with the with the with the Lions. It happened really fast.
Where is the wedding between the time you were born for training camp?
Yeah, the wedding was May 24th in Bloomington. So my wife is from a small town, Whitland, Indiana, just south of Greenwood. Not
Go Warriors.
Yes, sir. You got it. Go Warriors. It's It's since grown. I mean, back in when when we were in high school, she was in high school, it was probably
600 700 students. I think they're up to 2,000 now. So, it's it's all grown down there down south. Yeah.
Me being from Fort Wayne and and she being from Whitland, we we met in Bloomington and it was just a place where, you know, our life started and we want to get married there. All our friends went to IU and we had our our wedding in Bloomington on actually the president's lawn right there on campus in the middle of it. It was incredible. Yeah, it was very lucky.
So, you get married in May?
Yes.
When's report date for training camp?
I think around July 10th.
Okay. And then when was the physical?
The physical is like June 10th.
So, like you got married with no NFL prospects. You got married as a long-distance phone salesman.
Yes. Oh, yeah. Dude, this is unreal. Okay, so things go on. Um, you, you know, get time in Detroit. You end up I mean because because it's still pretty You have to make the 53 man, right?
Yes.
From training camp,
correct?
How is that? I mean, is there like And I don't want to I know we've been going, but I could talk about this all day cuz I'm just so fascinated and I do want to get into obviously like what you've been doing for the last two decades, but it's like you get
this is way more fun.
Oh, yeah. I mean, right. Come on. So, so like how cutthroat is it to get on the roster? It's tough. It was tough. So, I was the fourth quarterback.
And they had a guy named Scott Mitchell who was probably a 10-year veteran. They also had Frank Reich, ironically, who was, you know, obviously with the Colts for a while. And I think at this point, Frank was probably in his 13th, 14th, 15th year, 15th year in the NFL.
So, kind of a veteran on the way down.
Grizzled veteran backup for Scott. And then they drafted a guy named Charlie Batch who was
I've heard of him. Yeah, he was um Eastern Michigan and then was their second round pick. So, it was it was going to be a tough tough road for me. Got cut, but then when they cut me, they said, "Hey, we want to resign you and send you to NFL Europe." So, I was like, "Cool. I will um would love to do that, sir." So, I come home. I don't have a job again. You quit your job. You join the training camp. And it's like, do you get like 20 grand, 50 grand, 100 grand? Are you a millionaire? Like, where where is the area of like, "Okay, I have a wife now. I can, you know, take care of a family.
Yeah. So, the the the salaries the the big salaries don't start until the season starts. So, during training camp, at least back in 1997, everyone depending on how many years you were in the league. Everyone got the same amount of it of money during training camp, which training camp lasted four or five weeks. So, I think I was getting like $500 a week.
Gosh. No. Yeah. I was a first year guy. Um, you know, veterans were probably getting 2,000 a week. Not a lot of money, but then when you start your salary is paid over 17 weeks and the league minimum in 1997, if my memory serves me correctly, was like 131,000, which back then was great.
Now I think the league minimum is 500,000 plus for a first year guy. The higher salary, I wouldn't I didn't I never got it because I was cut before the season started. But if I were, then I would have gotten 131,000 divided by 17 over the 17 weeks of the season. But I only got the training camp money. So I come home, still don't have any money. I need to get a job.
So my sister was selling pharmaceuticals at the time. My wife, by the way, is doing PR this entire time. My wife is excelling in public relations. So that we can we can get to that. But she worked for a very large PR firm out of Chicago. And that's how
So not only not only do you not have a job, you made 500 bucks a week. your wife's crushing it. You're coming home as like the, you know, your your college sweetheart. You were the starting quarterback at IU and now it's like, what the world?
Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was tough. It was very hard. And I think she remembers those days, too.
It was tough mentally just because I'm like, I thought this might happen. I thought this was going to work. And it I keep getting cut. I I still wasn't finished yet though because they said we I knew I needed like a part-time short-term job because I've got now September through December where I know and in February I go back no January I go back to this NFL Europe training camp which is held in Atlanta and so that was in 1998 the spring of 98. So for four or five months I'm driving around the state of Indiana delivering drugs to people in their homes. She I I can't remember the name of the company that she worked for, but it was back when Jim Rome just started.
I was driving around listening to sports radio, listening to him and delivering drugs and I was on the road and I was doing these things and I would go to this the office and pick up the delivery for the day and then I'd be out on the road. So that was September, December and then January of that next year I went to Atlanta for the NFL Europe training camp.
I mean I don't even know what happened with NFL Europe.
Yeah. So it was so that league was owned by the NFL and they were trying to expand it and they were trying to you know have you know American football become more popular in Europe. So there were six teams over there. There was one in Frankfurt, Germany which that was the team that I was on. Dusseldorf, Germany, Amsterdam, London, Barcelona and Scotland. So it was a 10game season.
You had a home and away which with with every single team. So it was it was incredible because we would go to these cities on a Friday afternoon and every game was on Saturday night and then we come home on Sunday. So we would have Friday night which was pretty relaxed just have dinner and go to bed because you play the game but then we have the game on either Saturday afternoon or Saturday night. and we go we would be able to go out in the cities that night. It was kind of like AAA baseball for the NFL because it was all guys that were young that were cut off of NFL teams and the rosters were small, maybe 47 guys on each team, but you know, it was all American guys uh that were over there to play and you know, expenses were paid. You got you made some money and it was it was incredible cuz you were over there for four months and and
with also no wife with wife.
No wife. No, but she did come over. Uh she came over for about five weeks during the season.
That's good. Cuz that would also be hard, too. It's like your first like two years of marriage, right?
And you're like, "Oh, yeah. By the way, I'm still chasing this NFL dream."
Uh and I'm going to be gone in Frankfurt, Germany for 4 months.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And And
And by the way, I don't get my discount on longdistance calls anymore.
Exactly. No, I had a freaking calling card, you know. I was like, "No, did not get the the discount cards." but she was very supportive throughout the whole process and she was meanwhile killing it at this PR firm that had offices all around the country. Go through that season and then I go back to training camp with Detroit. Things are going really really well.
It was myself they Jim Miller, Charlie Batch and Scott Mitchell. So we're in training camp. I'm I'm actually playing pretty well. I feel like playing some preseason games and I'll I'll never forget I had a um we're playing in Cincinnati and we're it was a two-minute dribble. We're driving down the field. We're on probably their 15 yardd line.
Got an out. I throw it late, pick six go went goes the other way and that was kind of my last pass with during for that game. The problem was there was a guy wide open down the middle in the end zone and I just missed him. And I feel like if I would have made that throw, I think I would have made that team because the next day I was cut and Jim Miller, we were both cut and they brought back Frank Reich out of retirement for him to uh Yeah, cuz Frank was like, I'm done. I I I don't want to play anymore. Uh, but they had all they had left was Scott Mitchell and uh, Charlie Batch and they're like,
"So, we're getting rid of both of you guys who were bringing this guy out of retirement."
Jim Miller, he actually had about a 10-year career in the NFL and he had a terrible training camp. Yes. They cut us both, brought Frank out of retirement. But the really the other t the other interesting story, I was driving home from Detroit, but no cell phones. I'm driving back to Indianapolis. I get home and my wife Liza says, "Hey, Detroit called. They want to resign you. They're playing the Colts in their last preseason game of the season. It's a Thursday night. They want you to come and dress in the game." What?
Yeah. So, I'm like, "Okay, cool." So, I go downtown. I meet him in the Weston. I sign the contract on Wednesday night. I play in the game on Thursday night. Thursday night, the game's over. We kind of shower in the locker room, play the Colts. It's kind of fun. There's a lot of family here. And I say to my quarterback coach, I'm like, "So, what's the deal? What am I, you know, am I coming back with the team?" He goes, "No, you can just you can stay here. We're going to cut you in the morning anyway, so you don't have to come home with us."
I'm like, "All right, well, I'm cut again." And
it's like that that scene with Michael Scott from The Office like snip snap snip snap snip snap. Like what?
Yeah. It's very cutthroat for sure. And it's it's just
So when was your last pass in the NFL? Uh so that season which you know was so that was right at the end of training camp. That season Charlie Batch got hurt was done like with three games left. So they actually called me and said, "Hey Chris, I'm I'm working at this point. I'm working at Crown Commercial Products Group selling forklifts to large manufacturing warehouses." Which I really like that job.
It was great. I was going in and out of warehouses and um selling forklifts for a a huge company called Crown Corporation that was just right out of Ohio. They call and they're like, "Hey, we want you for the last three games to be the third quarterback emergency quarterback." So, I'm like, "Cool." I go in, I tell my boss. They're like, "Yeah, great.
Good luck. Go do it." Playing those last three regular season games for Detroit. And that was in 98 or that, you know, that was the fall of 98. They cut me after the season. So, I I'm I'm not back.
you like in like a course of three years or two years, you've been cut like five times.
Yes. Easily. And then that spring of 99, NFL Europe again, I actually go back and I play with the Berlin Thunder, a different team, and have a pretty good year. Come back from that. There's no teams that sign me. So, at that point, it's time for actually another really silly thing that I did was I went and played I tried arena football, which was um not for me because that was a much more fast-paced game, but I went out to Portland, Oregon, and I played for the Portland Force Dragons for two weeks, signed with them. I was like, "Okay, I'm I'm done. This is I I I'm not a fit for this particular style of football." Have you I'm sure
it's faster and like it's running starts and like
Yeah. And so
it's not the same game.
No. And so I was like, I I went into the coach's office. I'm like, I appreciate the opportunity, but I'm finished. I this isn't for me. I'm going back home. So that that whole time, you know, Liza is working at this large PR firm, basically supporting us. I do have some income coming in just in, you know, sporadically.
Two weeks of Arena Football. I mean, we got that Arena Portland. What was the name of the team? the forest dragons.
You got that forest dragon money coming up, baby. Come on.
The Portland Forest Dragons. So,
you come back home. She's still crushing it. How How long from graduation is this now?
So, she was a year older than me. Uh she was probably 3 years into um her
career. You at that point, you start to get your feet underneath you and you're like, you're no longer the low man on the totem pole. You're making some stuff happen.
Yes. And she was she was very good at what she did. So, we took kind of her experience with this firm, which they did. They had an office in Chicago, New York, LA, and San Francisco. And she was her first job was in Chicago, and she told her boss, "Hey, I'm going to get married and I'm I'm going to go live in Indianapolis." And he said, "Okay, cool. You can go open an office in Indianapolis." So, she did. She came. She opened an office here in Broadbable, hired six or seven people, and she was basically running an agency. But
at like 23, 24,
she was probably 25, 26. Yeah, she was she was really good. She was just good at the earn media side of the business. And so I came in and we kind of learned her business model and started the business in the basement of our house, which was at 46 and Capital at the time.
So, and she left the other company and you guys started, you came back from Marina.
Yep. So, let's fall of 99. Yeah. September of 1999 is when we kind of officially incorporated did OPR.
And what was the first customer that you guys got?
First customer was a company called Voice Pilot which we got at a trade show in Las Vegas. It was a voice recognition software. So it it was you know if you were talking into a microphone it would dictate what you were saying into a computer. So it's supposed to save people time. You know, it was kind of cutting edge tech cutting edge technology back at and they had these thought these CDs that you put into your old computer and then you would download all this software and then you would be able instead of typing you could just talk into it.
That's kind of sick.
Yeah, it was cool.
I mean in 99 it's like it's like the first first iteration of Siri.
Yeah, exactly. There you go.
Except voice pilot.
Voice pilot. I wonder what they're up to these days.
Good question. So, and I think when it comes to PR, it takes a decent amount of time to build up the relationships that come with this, right? So, when you think through earned media, and for anyone out there that's not like a PR uh guru, could you give us like the the 10,000 foot flyover of what public relations looks like
for us? And you know, back when we get started, the public relations for us really was that earned media side. So, we kind of get lumped into advertising a lot. People think, oh, you do PR that and think it's just advertising. Well, so if you're going to advertise, that's going to go out. You're going to create a commercial.
You're going to put, you know, create an ad, put it in the newspaper, a magazine or on TV. And so you're going to pay for that time slot in within the the the television or in the newspaper, which is very very expensive. Where we come in, we'll say, "Okay, let us get to know your story. We'll know your story as well as you do. will create all these different angles, all these different pitches about your company, about your entrepreneurial story, about your product, and let us take that to this newspaper, this magazine, this television station, and get earn media. It won't cost you anything.
You pay us for our contacts and our ability to create a story that Good Morning America might be interested in, that get in might, you know, that you guys might be interested in. and we have a third party tell the story which for us is instant credibility for that company. They are able to use that down the road for sales pitches and then it'll just create attention and sales for them. That that at the end of the day that is the big reason why we get hired is to create instant credibility for our clients and that hopefully generate sales and get their phones ringing.
Yeah. And it's it's uh based around your firm's relationships within media credential context, you know, Good Morning America, The Today Show, whatever there.
Exactly.
And I I'm actually curious. This is interesting. How much of what we see on TV, you know, like
uh again, let's just say the Today Show, right? Usually the one of the biggest shows. How much of that is someone's PR firm booking them to get there versus them their team scouring the internet and finding the stories? I would say 90 plus% is a PR firm getting that story told on those national publications.
Isn't that crazy? Like we all think like you watch it and you're like
how did they find this crazy cool thing and it's like no somebody just paid someone for an introduction there.
Exactly. For sure.
And that was like new to me. Like I didn't know that this was I thought it was just like oh you know like
Kelly Clarkson or whoever is like has a team of people that are finding all these cool stories. It's funny you mentioned Kelly Clarkson. We did have a client on Kelly Clarkson about a year and a half ago.
Wait, what was the client?
They were a band of adults that all had autism. And so it was just an incredible band where these kids, they're probably all in their 20s and they created the band all there were four of them in the band and all autistic but made incredible music together. So we pitched the producers of Kelly Clarkson and they're like, "Yeah, we love it." And
how do you get the contact information of the producers of Kelly Clarkson Show?
So, we there's just a number of different ways, but it's a ton of research. It's just a ton of backend time spent on um you know we we do subscribe to a service called Mukra that a lot of PR firms will subscribe to it and it basically is an online service that tells us exactly who covers what story in what industry. So we can put in just about any kind of publication, any television, any radio, any newspaper and say, "Okay, New York Times, who would cover music in be interested in a feel-good story?" And it'll kind of say, "Okay, here's here's what you want list." And uh
well, that's different today versus, you know, you're thinking like 20201.
Oh, we had it was books. So there was a there were books called Bacon's media books and they would they would it was kind of like the encyclopedia for media relations and media contacts and there were books probably that thick and every year they would publish you know here's your 1999 Bacon's media book for TV here's your 1999 Bacon's media book for radio and those have those aren't printed anymore because it's everything's online now
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When when did you see cuz nowadays when you think of like PR, it's like we're getting our blogs back linked somewhere else. We're getting, you know, appearances on like the traditional is like the television, the radio, but now it's like, you know, podcasts or
social media. Like there's just all these other things. How how quick has that evolution uh happened over the last 20 years?
Oh, it's incredibly fast and I think it it just seems to be changing every single day with new podcasts with, you know, new ways to generate media or just generate attention for your company or your product, your service. And and you mentioned social media. That's another important way for companies to get their name out there as well. especially if you get a hit, you know, you amplify that. You kind of, you know, you hopefully that multiplies and then you tag people and then hopefully that turns into more and more eyeballs on your product or your service and that story that you're able to get or that we're able to get for you on your behalf. You know, the longer that we do this, in my in in my eyes and in in our team's opinion, the more valuable that earned media is for companies because it's so hard to get the opportunities, the publications, they're shrinking.
People, you know, within news, television, you know, anywhere that you're covering news, those departments are getting smaller and smaller. So, if you can get their attention and if you can get a story for your client written somewhere, that's just more and more more and more valuable because it's it's so much harder to get now.
And it is so crowded from a sense of like everyone thinks they belong on Guy Ros's podcast, right?
Like, why isn't why isn't Guy Ros called me? Like, why am I not How I Built This, you know? And it's like he puts out 20 episodes a year,
maybe. Like,
I don't know. It's not a lot. It's definitely not 52. Like we put out 104 episodes and I've already like scheduled out to June
and I always have people pitching me someone and I actually love it.
You took me
of course as a Detroit Lions fan. I had to. Right. Well and and it's like for me I actually like not a lot of agencies like come and pitch me because I kind of look through it and I'm like okay well I I know what's going on in Indiana. I know the stories that I want to tell. So I I kind of like am my own booker in that sense. And and sometimes it'll be like I get pitched somebody and I'm like, "Well, I already know that guy. I'll just like DM them or whatever." Like, and I'm sure agencies actually don't like me for that because they're like, "We want to like show the value that we booked." And I'm like, they're like, "I could have DM'd that guy. I know that guy or I know that gal." Um, and so it's interesting, but like how many people have
This is the best one. It's like people that aren't from Indiana and they're like, "Hey, we see Get In podcast. We'd love to have this restaurant tour from Chicago." And I'm like, what does that have anything to do with Indiana? Like this guy from New York has started this new med device company. And I was like,
well, that and that's that is the that is one of the challenges that we'll have a client that say, hey, get me a story in the Dallas Morning News. We're like, well, do you have an office there? Do you have a product there? Do you have you have anything there that ties you to Dallas? Because they want to cover companies in Dallas. So, you want to cover companies in Indiana and that's it.
And it's like, yeah, you get that and you're like, how do what are we gonna do here? How are we going to tie this into
de, right? And that's that is that is a challenge a lot with clients is kind of setting realistic expectations
and how do you balance the relationships, right? Like I'm actually game like there are sometimes I get really good introductions to like, oh my gosh, yeah, I absolutely want to have this person. I've been wanting to have them on. I just haven't made the time for it. And I'll be like, okay, yeah, sure. Like, yeah, we we want them on. Um, how do you balance like but if that same person was every week just like nagging at me like have this person, have this person, have this person, this that the other thing, like how do you balance that from the PR side of like not abusing your relationships with the media?
We we definitely try not to do that because our relationships with the media is is our bread and butter and we try and be respectable of their time. We are very very careful about the stories that we pitch because we don't want to waste their time because we don't want to burn that bridge for if in the future we know we've got a story that they want to tell. So we're not pushy. We we know if our client is a fit for what media outlet most of the time and because it's so important for us to be able to go back to that outlet with a different client in the future. So, it's that's, you know, it's where we go back to stressing the research that we do is so important because if we've gotten ourselves in trouble before, we will we will pitch the wrong editor or writer. Well, we'll say, "Hey, can you please cover our client that has this new piece of art that they're going to be displaying and then they're like, uh, we don't I don't cover that.
You're wasting my time." Then it's tough to go back to that person.
Yeah. Hey, sorry about the time that we did this. Yeah. Like, sorry, we thought that Yeah. get in was about uh Indonesia. My bad.
Yeah, exactly.
And yeah,
and I could it would be annoying for a person like you or anybody that's covering news and and doing a great job
and in a world where so many people can pitch themselves too, right? It's like actually I won't say stressful, but it's it's like a definitely a challenge that I didn't think about where it was like I was oh early on I'm like reaching out to like like taking my shots at guests and then it's like you get like the Doug BS of the world and I'm like oh well like I got Doug like I could probably go get him and then it like then the tables flip and it's like yeah I mean obviously there's still like you know the Caitlyn Clark and the Colts players and Pat McAfee of like that like you know superstar in Indiana But, you know, like this next tier, it's like, okay, those people want to come on the show. But then that opened the floodgates of like I I own and this is no, but I own like a a startup clothing boutique in, you know, rural southern Indiana. Can I come on your podcast? I own there's one and I don't want to put anyone on blast, but it's like but it's like, oh man, there's just like so many.
I could put out 365 episodes this year and we could probably have good conversations. And I'm not saying you have to be like entrepreneur this or that or the other thing. Like there's probably a really good story, but it's like then all of my time would just be like talking like I wouldn't have any other time to do like the social media piece or this and it's like the my DMs or my emails are just like hey I think this is a good story. I think this is a good story. You should cover this. And it's like if I had unlimited time I would cover every story.
It would be awesome.
Sure. So I do think yeah being that that balancing act of PR and uh making sure that you find the relevant topics for your the media as well as for your customer and like that balancing act can be pretty hard.
It is and it's it's critical because we have to be respectful of that writer or the editor or the podcaster. We have to think about hey what do your what's your audience consuming? What would they be interested in? Is this story realistic for us to pitch for this particular outlet to cover? And you know, we've been doing it. It'll be 27 years this falls, which is really, really hard to believe, but we've got a got a great team that and and we've got a great just system in place where we all work with within teams with each of our clients and everybody has a
a particular job that they're doing.
You talked about getting one of your clients on Kelly Clarkson's show. Are there other like crown jewel achievements, pinnacle moments that you've had for your customers?
You know, we've been able to get our our clients the best of the best. You know, Oprah back when Oprah was really really hopping. Um,
you got someone
Ellen back, you know, I know she's taking a dive, but
but like, you know, five, 10 years ago,
was was Yeah, everybody wanted to be on that Good Morning America Today show. We've been lucky to be on all those shows or have clients on all those shows. And then, you know, here locally, the star IBJ inside, you know, Gary Dick is a a legend and, you know, we've have been fortunate to have our clients on with with him a number of times over the years.
And for some businesses, let's say like a local Indiana restaurant, gym, whatever it might be, like Good Morning America is actually not the best fit,
right?
I think that sometimes everyone's like, "Oh, we need to get on." It's like, would you rather see millions of if you own a gym,
are millions of people all over the country better or are
50,000 hooers better that are in your neighborhood that could actually be a patron at your restaurant, be a patron at your
That's a very very good point. You know, we'll we'll have clients that are first meeting and they'll say, "I want to be on Good America, Good Morning America. I want to be on whatever they whatever their pie in the sky is of a media outlet that comes to their mind." While maybe we think that's a good fit and maybe we can get them in that outlet, we have had many examples where we'll get a client in a smaller just vertical trade publication that is their industry specific and then also get them on Good Morning America and they will get way more traction. They'll get way more attention from that little industry pub than Good Morning America because that's where their customers are going. That's where their customers are going for that product or service.
But, you know, people think, "Oh, I've got to get on this national or this media national media publication." And where that's that's where I think the value too of a PR firm comes in is being able to strategically think about let's be realistic. Where are your customers going to find you? Where what are they reading?
Yeah. And it's even like um entrepreneurs or, you know, whatever the business might be wants to get into Forbes
and it's like, "Oh, we're going to get so much business out of Forbes." when realistically the right fit could be the IBJ.
Exactly.
And it's like that's like going to make a bigger impact. Like whoever at the local coffee shop reading the physical copy of the IBJ is actually going to be a decision maker at a local company that's going to buy the thing from them versus like all the people that are looking in Forbes because they're like, I can't wait till I get in here. Like I want and they're not actually your buyer. They're just like envious.
This is cool. Right. Right. Exactly.
And it's like, okay, you want to be I can get a whole thing on this. Right.
Yeah. And it's it's our job and you know for us to really educate them on hey this is in our experience this is where your your customers or you know maybe you're trying to raise money you know people that are you know the VCs this is where they're reading or maybe you're trying to retain or attract top talent to work for you then this is where the outlets that we should be pitching on your behalf.
Yeah. And I think that that whole the idea of PR marketing advertising the whole thing it's like at service level everyone looks at it. Okay, that's just to get more customers. But there is so many other lifters of like like when I mean one of the easiest forms of PR is like when you're founder or CEO posts on LinkedIn consistently and builds up a personal brand,
people are invested in maybe going to work for you or buying from you or they like it is like kind of your own founder PR is by if you have an influencer type, you know, content creator, founder,
it's cheat code. It is
like you get more people discover you. Michael Burton, he's with Yeah. with Stitch. He did like founder Fridays I think when he was at Lev and they hired a ton of or fellows and I was coming through there and I was like it's so cool that you're a founder is like always posting about what's going on and we you get to learn so much and he gets he hires some of the best talent in Indianapolis
because he's well known. Uh Max Yodar similar way like they've built up these personal brands that not only help with sales
but talent attraction, talent retention. this this whole piece it's almost like a extra side that leads to marketing recruiting
well and that I think that's your your point is is spot on you know that is why we started the social media side of our business because business it's critical even if you're B2B and you don't think I don't really have a presence on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn well a lot of people you know younger in their 20s and 30s they're going to consume their information and they're going to do research on you and your on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Facebook. So, it's important to have, you know, relevant, up-to-date content. And that's another thing that we do help our clients with is a social media strategy. And, you know, back in, I always kind of compare it to back in, you know, around 1999, 2000 when the, you know, the internet was coming out and everybody was getting a website and then they would be like, "Hey, are you on what's your website?" And people would be like, "I don't have a website."
And then everybody's like, "I gotta have a website online. This is where people go information." Now it's like not only do you need a website, but you also need a live and upto-date content on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Facebook just to show your personality, show your who you are, show your knowledge, and it does lead to sales, retaining talent, and attracting talent.
And I think it does a good job of um yeah, giving you another place for your voice, like another voice that's out to um right the group. If you had a few tips or strategies, let's say uh there there are listeners out there that are considering whether it's working with an agency or just trying to get some more of that earned media, maybe they want to like explore it on their own first. What are some some tips or strategies you have for getting earned media?
Knowing the story really really well, having multiple angles of that story that you can tell because a lot of times the first pitch that you take to the media may not work. So, you've got to kind of come back and do another creative pitch. But the most important thing is making sure you're pitching and contacting the right person at that publication. As we've we've kind of talked about, that is that's that's number one. And that's really the hardest part is doing the research and then being able to contact that person in a professional manner. That's one of our biggest, you know, everyone on our team, their strengths is communication, writing, speaking, all of those things because we essentially become almost a salesperson for each of our clients because we've got to know their story as well as they do.
So, we've got to tell it. We got to speak very very eloquently about what they do and then making sure that we're pitching the right person because if you don't you're you could you could get black ballalled from that partic particular publication if you do it enough you know first time you apologize say hey I'm sorry for wasting your time or whatever it might be but it's really critical to contact the right person about that story because you don't want to waste their time and you also want to be realistic about your story
well and it shows like you don't really read their like you don't know who they are like if someone it's Oh yeah, like when they when they like talk about Oh, they pitched me someone from New York on Get In and I like I instantly deleted or whatever and I'm like I will never work with you because you didn't you don't actually listen to my show. You don't actually know anything about like literally the thing it's like like everything about me screams Indiana ties to Indiana. from like what on why on earth would someone from LA that's maybe born cuz then there are sometimes like hey this guy or girl was raised in Indiana now is on doing this thing and I'm like oh yeah that's that's it I'm in on that relevant and it's like you've done your research you know a thing or two so yeah I think that's really good advice
well and I your point is exactly what we tell our team is go and read the articles that they've written in the past go and watch the stories that they've done in the and then reference it in your pitch. Say, "Hey, I saw I read the story that you wrote about X, Y, and Z. Love that information. Thanks for writing it. I thought you'd be interested in this story as well." Flatter them a little.
Yeah. And even bigger, uh, if you can like, you know, you like I really like I totally agree that like, you know, Broad Bagel Deli is the best bagel spot. And it's like, you know, talking about good bagels, Side Door Bagel downtown's really good. Maybe you should check that out. And it's like, you know, you tie it all together and make it easy for them.
Exactly. I I mean I get people too that like that want to work like that. It's like they'll be commenting on a lot of my stuff and like which just like keeps them in my sphere and it's like oh they're helping me out and like they're doing this piece and they're being a really active engaging member of my community.
I'm at least willing to like hear what they have to say. I think that's interesting. Well, we've come down to the end of the show where we have some fun segment type questions to ask you. The the first one you guys are going to love this. The first one is brought to you by our friends at OR Fellowship. They're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young business leaders across the state. You guys obviously know that they just opened a second chapter down in Evansville. It's kicking off this June. Um they're doing great work. I uh I love all the team at uh at Orf Fellowship. I was an Orfellow. It I mean they uh they took good care of me. It was a great program and I'm excited to be working with them. What advice would you give to your 22-year-old self? You know, that's interesting because I have a 22-y old. So, and I've got a uh a 24 year old and a 20-y old. So,
when they they clearly like you give them you give them all your advice and like they roll their eyes like this way people are wanting to hear it, right? So, yeah.
Yeah. A 22-year-old that I do talk to almost on a daily basis. Yes, she does kind of roll their eyes. But, you know, I think it's important for whatever career that you choose to get in and and especially since co and there's all of this kind of remote first work that if whatever wherever it is, whatever company you're in and if you are just starting your career, just be visible to the people that you work with, just go into the office. Being in the office, starting out in a career that you may not, you know, that you're just grinding on, you're going to learn and you're going to advance in your career so much more than just working from your couch every single day. You're going to see other people that might be in their 30s or 40s and how they operate, what they do with their kind of their downtime, what they do when they're really, really focused and doing focused hours of work.
If you're not in the office, you won't be able to see that. So, just be as visible as you can in whatever career it is that you choose.
22-year-olds are going to roll their eyes that one. They're going to hate that one. But it's so like I can't say it enough. It's easy to stay home. Whatever you're saying is like, "I'm more productive here. I'm more this. I'm more that." The truth at the bottom of it is that it's easy,
right?
Like it's easy to roll out of bed, open your laptop at 8:59, get on Slack at 9:00. Like that's
right. for the most part like I would say four days a week, three days a week plus you're going in like yeah you can have like you know your Friday or your Monday or whatever and that that might make sense. There are certain times working from home makes sense but if you're doing it every single day and you're like under the guise of of I'm more productive or this that it's
I don't think it's the the move to advance your career in the best way possible. Right.
Um, you know, you talk about rubbing shoulders, getting good mentors, uh, seeing this, uh, going this this challenge of like, uh, being at your desk at 8 and staying till 5 and, you know, I just think there is a
there's such a benefit. I sound like such a boomer for saying it, but I like firmly believe going in.
It's true. I do I mean, precoid when I think about the amount of hours that everybody spent at their office, it was, you know, at the end of the day with all the technology that we all have at our disposal, that was probably too much. and not necessary. There's still so much value in being around your team, being around your the people that you work with every single day.
Turns it from, oh, I just push buttons on a keyboard from 8 to 5 or whatever or 9 to 9 to 4:30 to I'm on this team, right?
You're like being collaborative. You're It makes it more fun, you know?
That leads me into my next question. What do you miss the most about football? the locker room, you know, just being in there, whether it's after a big game, after a big win, after a big loss, after a hard practice, after super challenging times for your teammates. And being in that space is you can't replace it. And maybe that's why I try to go on so many golf trips with guys, but and that, you know, my drives my wife crazy. But it is, you know, going back and being in those situations, there's so many great memories because that's where where really where you bond as a team and being together and, you know, learning about everyone your everyone's background and and the travel too, you know, when you would travel to and stay in a hotel and learn about your teammates outside of the the locker room, outside of the field and in the huddle, you know, I guess in a smaller sense, being in that huddle and just kind of looking 10 other guys in the eye and telling them, "Hey, this is what we got to do to get the job done."
Piece of adrenaline that cannot be replaced either. It's just a rush that gives me chills to this day.
I love it. Locker room guy, come on.
Maybe cliche, but it's true. And I think anybody that played long enough would
say that's top, too.
Yeah. And it's like before a game, you know, like there's some music going on, everyone's like no one's talking, right?
But it's funny when you're like the red shirt freshman or whatever and you're like, "Oh, you're
you're like in it." But I don't know. I remember being a freshman at Depot. I like wanted to crack a joke, but I was like worried if I talk someone like the middle linebacker was going to like rip my head off my shoulders, right? Like, so you just shut up and don't say anything.
You got to got to kind of know your place.
Yeah. Oh, exactly. These are the same three questions that I ask everyone who sits in the chair all around the state of Indiana. So, the first question, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana? It's so easy to get around the city, Chicago, whatever big city it might be, and you just kind of get bogged down by traffic and people and crowds. And I just feel like no matter what is going on in the state of Indiana, especially here in central Indiana, even this weekend when we have Kentucky, Purdue, Tennessee, and Houston come to
for those Yeah, I say for those that Yeah, this is recorded right around the time of March Madness. Purdue is making even though you're an IU guy, our our who's your our current who's your basketball team is the Purdue Boiler Makers.
Well, unfortunately, but yes, hard not to respect Matt Painter and everything that they've done. But even when people go downtown this weekend, I don't it's not going to feel too crowded. Everyone's going to feel welcome. There's going to be room to roam around and go to different bars and restaurants. And there's always something to do. Also, I think that people don't understand how much, especially here in Indianapolis. There's just there is to do. And I think a lot of times people that have never been here think, "Oh my gosh, you're in the middle of the country. Sounds boring. It's a flyover state." No, I take a ton of pride in being here and setting, you know, raising a family here and feel very lucky to be able to to remain here.
But it's not as easy. Like, you live in Denver, you look up in the sky, you see mountains. You live in Florida, you see the beach. you know, oh, I'm supposed to be doing something with that, right?
It's like, it's not as easy. Like, you know, but it doesn't mean that there's not stuff here. And that's kind of like the whole ethos of what we built here. It's like I'll go uncover again, I'm going on this this road trip this weekend. I'll go uncover the craziest 4ount road trip that no one's ever thought of. And like I'll share it with you so that maybe you'll go visit one of the spots next time you're driving through. Love it.
And like kind of being there, being the Hoosier Sherpa to all the things that are going on here. Uh, and it shows it's like it's not that it there's nothing to do here. You just need to be like spoonfed like go do this. It will be fun. You'll have a good time. Right.
Next question. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
Go to the Vogue and check it out. See a show there. They have a wide variety of music. This is a cool old venue that I think is incredible to
The marquee is like iconic here in Broadripple.
Exactly. It is. And it's The Marquee is so old and traditional and I think it's just an a cool spot, but
they've done a really good job trying to modernize it. Like I feel like the 45 has like been like that whole relationship there and they've done a really good job of like
revitalizing it almost,
right? They have. And they trying they get a wide variety music
and they they've they did the holiday part.
Yeah. Rock the ruins. Rock the ruins. Now they're doing Broadripple Broadripple Park. They're helping put that on. I music city music region music neighborhood. That might be us here in
broad. I agree. And and I'm, you know, being sports in my background, I think obviously what Gamebridge did, the redo there, you still going to Lucas Oil to me, it still feels brand new. Both of those venues still feel like they were built yesterday. And I think what Gamebridge opened in 1999 or 2000. So thing feels brand new to me. So it's our sports venues are as good as they get anywhere in the country.
Yeah. Between the Vogue just venue. We're just it's the host city. You got to have good you got to have good amenities.
Hotels we keep getting incredible hotels.
Yeah. That new one is going to be massive.
The intercontinental just is
that one just opened, right? But then the other one that's like right diagonal from Harry and Izzy's.
Uh that one is going to be
the Omni just redid. Just totally gutted the Omni. It's brand new on the inside. It's absolutely incredible down there.
Final question. This is how we source new guests and find new people that I need to go talk to. So, who's who should we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.
Scott Craigy. Don't know if you know Scott, but
I know of Scott. I've actually never met Scott, I don't think.
Yeah, he is just an eclectic guy. He uh he's an entrepreneur. He's sold businesses. He's invested in businesses.
Is he Ivy Ventures? Is that like his Exactly.
And he is he also with the Does he use it with the
45? with those guys, you know, and he's always born and raised here, done incredible things for central Indiana,
hires a lot of people, develops a lot of different things, whether it's technology or just hands-on work. Big fly fisherman, too. Loves going out to uh Montana and fly fish, but and just an overall good, you know, mentor type of a person who is great in business, great family guy. Yeah, he's he's
I'm going to need to get Scott on the podcast. Yeah, he'd be he'd be great. He'd be great.
Um, Chris, thank you so much for giving us the time and coming on today and telling your journey from from Fort Wayne down to Bloomington, the NFL, overseas, NFL Europe to, you know, building what you you guys have built with Ditto OPR and the way that you're helping not only who's your companies, but you know, companies all over find the right earned media, find the right social media strategy, like all the different ways you're helping your customers tell stories that need to be told, right? Like that at the end of the day, it's a storytelling business from whether it's Get In or Inside Indiana Business or Wish TV or Good Morning America, Kelly Clarkson Show, the whole thing. It's all a storytelling business and you're doing a great job of helping amplify who's your stories that need to be told. So, I appreciate that.
Thank you, Nate. Really appreciate. Congrats on all of your growth and success and can't wait to see you all over the state of Indiana telling stories. So, thanks for having me.
I appreciate it, man. Uh it's uh it's been a fun ride and I'm excited to keep uh telling more who's your stories. Love it. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all of my gear recommendations at sweetwater.com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get
