Meet Jessica/David Blumberg/Hunter: Paid Media Planning Professionals

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica/David Blumberg/Hunter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica/David, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We both had spent our careers working in advertising agencies, and while we loved the actual work we did, neither of us enjoyed all the other issues that go with working for a bigger corporation – the office politics, the one-upmanship, and just the general sense that we were working crazy hours to make someone at a holding company richer. In a nutshell, we were tired of “working for the man.” So we set out to create a company where we could just happily create media plans for our clients and ignore the rest. We built hunterblu media setting out to avoid all the things we didn’t enjoy when working elsewhere, and incorporated the good. For example, both of us hated the office commute, so we decided on being 100% remote, and that was a pre-COVID decision. Now that our team has grown – we have had five full-time employees join in the past year – we know we have a responsibility to provide an environment that makes them feel welcome and motivated. They each took a big leap to join our company, a small start-up, and we want them to feel valued.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
hunterblu media is an integrated media planning and buying agency. We work with brands to make recommendations on when and where they should spend their marketing dollars to reach their target audience, and then we execute on those plans. While there are many companies that do this (and we have previously worked for several), our approach is to make it just as easy as possible to work with a media agency. We have the knowledge and experience of a much larger agency, and have invested in the appropriate research and tools to able to compete on that level. We are most proud of the fact that our growth over the past two years since we launched has been 100% organic – through our colleagues and referrals from past clients. While we have clients of varying sizes, we put just as much thought and effort into some of our smaller clients than we do with our larger ones, and we think that shows in the work. Growing our team has been a challenge. At first, it was difficult to try and recruit new employees as it was just the two of us for the first year, and it is hard to convince someone who has never heard of your company to come and work there. As we have grown, that part has gotten easier, but we still have to pinch ourselves every time someone new accepts an offer to come work with us – it’s the best feeling.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The sun comes pouring in and that can only mean one thing….BRUNCH! Let’s head to a little hidden gem in the Grove where the pancakes are fluffy, the steak is juicy, and the Very Berry Mimosas the perfect mix of fruity and bubbly! Peacock Café is a hidden garden in a busy city and it’s the perfect spot to start a Sunday morning. The buzz is strong and your feet start craving a little beat. Sunday Funday anyone? Let’s head to a place where you trade real money for fake money and fake money for booze. El Patio in Wynwood is what Miami is all about…loud music, eclectic vibes, techno and reggaeton, champagne and beer buckets. Are those pancakes wearing off? Enjoy a bowl on Colombian sancocho homemade in the middle of it all. Perhaps it’s time to unwind and get a little fancy. Throw on a little black dress and sports coat and head out for a delicious treat. How about a place where the white walls and blue trim make you feel like you’re dining on the Mediterranean? Mandolin Aegean Bistro hits all the right spots with Greek cottage feels and the best tzatziki sauce outside of Greece. You might even forget to post a picture before diving into this delicious meal! The night can’t be over before feeling the ocean breeze and hearing the boom of YOUUURRRRRR MIAMI HEAT! Catch a game at the AAA. Get a drink at the lounge and enjoy the game until the very last “DOS minutos!” Don’t forget to play your favorite Bad Bunny song during the parking lot traffic jam. It’s the price you pay when you visit Paradise.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of our past and current clients – some of them Miami-based including Ryder, TUUCI, and Relebrand. We are also incredibly grateful for our network of colleagues from our previous job at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, many of whom have gone on to start their own businesses and with whom we work with today in several different capacities. We’re also eternally grateful to one another – we can’t imagine being able to do this by ourselves, and it’s so nice to have someone off whom to bounce ideas, share frustrations and most importantly assure the other person that everything is going to work out.

Website: www.hunterblumedia.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hunterblu-media/

Image Credits
tb punk films Ian Garatt Photography