BLOCK & TACKLE — Thomas De Napoli

Digital Discipline

Going from Digital Detox to Digital Balance

MarketingThomas De NapoliMarch 7, 2020Coronavirus, NationalDayOfUnplugging, National Day of Unplugging, Digital Detox, Dumbphone, FOMO, Smartphone Addiction

The Power of Showing Up

What we can learn about a new generation that isn’t waiting for the torch to be passed to them

Marketing, VolunteeringThomas De NapoliMarch 7, 2020Super Tuesday, Election, Progressive, Gen Z, Ok Boomer, Greenpoint brooklyn, Kristina Napalatarski, North Brooklyn Progressive Democrats, Nydia Velazquez, Julia Salazar, Anotonio Reynoso, Brand Lander

Learning to Trust My Instincts at 13,000 ft

Identifying a medical emergency on a recent ski trip taught me a valuable lesson in trusting my gut

Leadership, StrategyThomas De NapoliFebruary 14, 2020NOLS, HAPE, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, Flu, Influenza, Coronavirus, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Denver, Colorado, WFR, Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Medicine

The Return of the Prodigal Alum

Advice to students interested in pursuing careers in entertainment and media from grizzled industry veterans.

LeadershipThomas De NapoliOctober 26, 2019CNN, Alexander Marquardt, Viacom, Georgetown University, Boston Consulting Group, BCG, A&E, Hoya, Career Advice

In Good Company

Meet the members of my team at Viacom Velocity.

StrategyThomas De NapoliOctober 25, 2019Viacom, Sean Holladay, Strategy

Commit to Something: Brands in the Era of No Neutral

The PR ordeal that Equinox and Soul Cycle became entangled in this week illustrates the power (and vulnerability) of being a brand that takes a stand on issues that matter to its consumers.

Marketing, StrategyThomas De NapoliAugust 11, 2019Equinox, Boycott, SoulCycle, Stephen Ross, Donald Trump, Cancel Culture, Viacom, LGBTQ, Josh Brown, Ritholtz Wealth Management

11 Personal Habits Learned on a Wilderness Expedition

Lessons learned from a backcountry executive leadership expedition that are applicable to daily life in the front-country.

LeadershipThomas De NapoliAugust 5, 2019NOLS, Executive Education, Lifelong Learning, Leadership, Leadership Development, Wyoming, Wind River Range, Expedition

Out of Office

I’m taking a week to venture into the wilderness from July 26 - August 2, with no phone or devices, to develop my skills as a leader, teammate and person.

LeadershipThomas De NapoliAugust 4, 2019NOLS, Out of Office, Wyoming, Wind River Range, Hiking, Camping, Executive Education, Leadership, Leadership Development, Paul Petzoldt

Why I Give My Time to Innovators Who Put It All On the Line

How mentoring founders of other companies makes me better at my job and overall

Leadership, StrategyThomas De NapoliJuly 23, 2019Snapchat, Snap Yellow, Startup Accelerator, Quake Capital, Dave Knox, Innovation, Corporate Innovation

3 Takeaways from VidCon 2019

Last week I attended my 3rd VidCon. Here are a few patterns and observations I saw emerging across the community, creator and industry tracks that may serve as indicators for where the social media ecosystem is headed

Strategy, MarketingThomas De NapoliJuly 19, 2019VidCon2019, VidCon, YouTube, TikTok, LilNasX, Old Town Road, Cut.com, Google, Netflix

From Making Saves to Making Deals

Mike Liut offers an excellent example to anyone who wants to re-skill and make a successful “2nd act” career pivot

LeadershipThomas De NapoliJune 14, 2019St Louis Blues, Stanley Cup, Gloria St Louis Blues Song, Patrick Maroon, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jordan Binnington, NHL

The "Wild West" Just Got a Little Less Wild...and That's a Good Thing

Unilever’s strategic investment in a leading influencer data platform represents an important brand-led effort to tame the influencer marketing business

Marketing, StrategyThomas De NapoliJune 12, 2019Cannes Lions 2019, Cannes Lions, Unilever, WSJ, Wall Street Journal, Viacom, YouTube, Famebit

Make Leading Creators Your Leading Indicators

3 reasons why leading social media creators make excellent leading indicators for big media and brands

StrategyThomas De NapoliJune 7, 2019Yield Curve 2019, MatPat, YouTube Creator, Social Influencer, Strategy

Selling to the Streamers

Media companies of all sizes may have to get used to creating and selling content to rivals who are cannibalizing their core business models

StrategyThomas De NapoliMay 30, 2019Digiday, Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Viacom, WarnerMedia, Comcast, NBC

Thank You Niki

Niki Lauda is a reminder of the power of resilience, grit and sweating the details.

LeadershipThomas De NapoliMay 23, 2019Niki Lauda, F1, Formula One, Mercedes, Argentina, BBC World, Ferrari, McClaren, Advertising

Persistence + Determination

A brief thought on the outsized value of persistence and determination

LeadershipThomas De NapoliMay 20, 2019Brooklyn Half Marathon, New York Road Runners, NYRR, PopularBKHalf2019, PopularBKHalf

The Fight to Fill Your Downtime

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s short-form streaming startup, Quibi, is raising another $1 billion as they prepare to enter the red ocean of competition for bite-sized pieces of our attention.

StrategyThomas De NapoliMay 16, 2019Quibi, Katzenberg, Disney, AT&T, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, The Daily, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+

Why the Globalization of Content Matters

An unexpected encounter with screaming throngs of Gen Zers brought to life a timely trend about cultivating global cultural awareness, dialogue and inspiration through content.

Strategy, MarketingThomas De NapoliMay 10, 2019Viacom, TXTNYC, TOMORROWXTOGETHER, TXT, kpop, BTS, globalization, korea, south korea, china, asion

4 Strategies for Driving Corporate Innovation

Want to learn 4 strategies that corporate innovators and startup founders can use to navigate change?

I interviewed transformation expert and "Predicting the Turn" author, Dave Knox, on the mindset required to lead innovation within large companies and straight-forward frameworks that are being used by leading brands like Coca-Cola, P&G, UnderArmour and Chobani, that we can all adopt to participate in the startup ecosystem.

3 Industry Trends I Learned from Being a Brand Film Festival Juror

It's been a big week of media conferences and events in NYC including Brandcast, New Fronts and Social Media Week. Here are my takeaways (and links to great work) from one of them, the Brand Film Festival, about the exciting directions the Branded Content business is headed, and how we can get better together.