Former Observatory CEO Jae Goodman and his former partner at CAA Marketing, John Kaplan, are launching Supperconnector Studios, a strategic business consultancy that aims to connect all the stakeholders in brand entertainment: brands and agencies, talent and studios, and media companies.
The two launched the new venue, which sits at the intersection of brands and entertainment, to help find new ways to reach consumers and drive revenue at a time when ads have never been less popular with consumers.
Observatory garnered three Fast Company “World’s Most Innovative Companies” nods in a row in 2020, 2021, and 2022, a slew of Emmy- and Cannes-winning brand content, including Chipotle’s “Back to the Start,” Netflix and Doritos’ “Live From The Upside Down,” and gravity-defying initiatives such as Nike’s Waffle Iron Entertainment, which Goodman conceived and launched. His goal has been to move away from interruptive advertising and toward brand content that stands on its own as entertainment.
Goodman will pair up with his longtime collaborator at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Marketing, entertainment producer and brand entertainment innovator, John Kaplan. Together they’ve developed entertainment-based marketing solutions for the world’s leading brands, including Nike, Netflix, Diageo, AB/InBev, General Motors, Microsoft, Chipotle, Coca-Cola, Revlon, and Unilever, with Kaplan often serving as the lead producer and creative executive on the most ambitious global initiatives.
Jae Goodman (l) and John Kaplan have launched a new venture, Superconnector Studios.
“As creative agencies, we were too downstream from our clients’ business and content strategies, we were too competitive with advertising and media agencies for brand resources, and we were too far removed from the value we were creating for our brand clients,” Goodman said in a statement. “Our aim now as Superconnector Studios is to help brands, agencies and entertainment entities reinvent their relationships with each other.”
Superconnector Studios’ management consultancy services brands, agencies and entertainment companies simultaneously. Its brand entertainment productions and studios generates direct revenue and value for brands, tapping into first-tier talent. And its consumer products accelerator creates mutually beneficial partnerships between consumer brands and entertainment talent and properties.
“We occupy a unique space in two worlds. In the C-suites of the brand world, we’ve always been the entertainment guys. And in the corner offices of the entertainment world, we were the brand guys. I don’t know anyone else who is equally comfortable in both worlds,” said Kaplan in a statement.
While Goodman and Kaplan are just now announcing Superconnector Studios, they’ve been working for months, with significant clients and initiatives in all three divisions, including Sony Pictures Television, Major League Baseball, Chipotle and TIAA.
The management consulting division is currently working with financial services giant TIAA and its lead agency, Martin, to build out premium content and partnerships.
“Superconnector brings insights around entertainment-like content creation and high-level entertainment partnerships, as well as unparalleled Hollywood relationships,” said Kristen Cavallo, CEO of The Martin Agency and global CEO of MullenLowe Group. “It’s a complementary relationship, and I suspect you’ll see us collaborating on more brand clients soon.”
The Brand Entertainment Production Studios division is working with brands including AB/InBev and Gibson Guitars. It will also develop one-off projects such as brand-produced documentaries, films, podcasts and television series.
The talent-accelerated consumer products division creates business partnerships between talent and entertainment.
Superconnector will defer most of the up-front service fees an agency would require, and instead participate in revenue alongside the brand and talent once the products are on shelves.
“There’s an imbalance in the business dynamic between brands and talent, with established brands paying more than ever for commercial endorsements while getting fewer commitments from talent,” Goodman said. “Talent increasingly prefers to take ownership in brands they represent or create—and we’re here to help that happen.”