⚡How to build incredible collaborations with Jordan Schwarzenberger
Read time: 3 minutes
According to his Forbes 30 under 30 bio(!), Jordan Schwarzenberger is the co-founder of entertainment company, Arcade Media, manager of the British YouTube group, The Sidemen, and the host of the UNBOXED podcast. Which also makes him a brilliant person to speak to about building really incredible collaborations.
This week’s webinar was a Q&A where the community put their questions to Jordan on:
🔍 identifying potential partnerships
🤭 managing egos
🚀 creating epic launch runways
Watch the full webinar back below, or read on for the key takeaways.
👥 The best collaborations begin from a place of genuine affinity and mutual admiration
You receive a collaboration request, or maybe you want to reach out to someone to collaborate for the first time – what happens next? Jordan explains how incredible collaborations are created when there is an alignment in terms of vision and creativity right from the beginning. You have to really nail down the why and understand the value that each side brings to the partnership. Ask yourself:
- Do you share a value system?
- Do you trust each other to work towards your shared goal in a way that is authentic?
- Is the collaboration genuine?
From there, you can move forwards as formally as you see best. Jordan doesn’t personally find the more explicit contractual agreements the best way to go. For him, it’s about making sure you have that shared vision and commitments in place and then trusting each other to apply your own voices and creativity to bringing them to life. Clarity is important, but Jordan finds most success comes from commitment to the project, rather than rigid rules that have been approved by two legal teams.
👥 Tell the story
With any incredible collaboration, you’re trying to build two brands and gain attention. You’re trying to make people sit up and take notice. In order to do that you have to have a super tight narrative, and then consistently and repeatedly tell the story.
👥 Great people create great opportunities
When it comes to generating collaboration ideas, Jordan’s key insight is to create and nurture a great network. If you have a personal network, you also have access to a great collection of people. The key to creating great collaborations is working with amazing people.
Personal branding is essential for this. Being present and having a presence online gives you access to the conversations happening and gives you a valid reason to contribute to them. Building a personal brand helps you keep up on what’s happening culturally, and pulls talent towards you. So, get yourself out there.
👥 Lengthen your launch runway
Once you’ve got your partnership idea, Jordan shares the importance of creating a sense of grandeur around the collaboration. Making it feel special will make it more valuable to your audience. The more time you put into the build up, the more you’ll get out of it. For Jordan, it’s all about building a longer runway for launching your collaboration, and over considering every part of the process.
In order to not only build but also maintain momentum, you’ve got to adopt the mindset that people are lazy and don’t care about what you’ve got to say. With that belief, you’ll work harder to build a launch runway full of moments, activations, and comms that keep coming right up until launch. Every single piece of content needs to tell the story and be entertaining and fun. Create the most engaging launch plan you can, and then make sure there’s enough time and space to get the intended message across.
👥 The most incredible collaborations are built on great communication
Like all relationships, the way to nurture and build trust is to communicate openly and often. When the going gets tough – and there will be moments of tension between partners – the key is to check back in, realign on the higher vision, and listen to what all parties want.
Jordan shared his principles for managing power imbalances, and resolving conflicts;
- Know what your value is
- Leave ego at the door
- Have a shared vision and idea of where you’re going
When it comes to collaborating, everyone wins when one party wins. So communicating your value, boundaries, and expectations consistently, from the beginning is key. From day one, you need to make sure that your foundations are good.