The Charleston Marketing Podcast
Welcome to The Charleston Marketing Podcast, the podcast that dives deep into the world of marketing, with a specific focus on the vibrant city of Charleston. Join us as we explore the strategies, trends, and success stories that shape the marketing landscape in this historic and captivating coastal city.
Each episode of The Charleston Marketing Podcast brings you exclusive interviews with local marketing experts, industry thought leaders and Charleston entrepreneurs who have harnessed the power of effective marketing in the Lowcountry and beyond. From strategic communication, social media, PR, digital strategy and everything in between, we uncover valuable insights and actionable tips for our listeners.
The Charleston Marketing Podcast
Miguel of Holy City Handcraft: Stirring Up Entrepreneurship and the Art of Cocktail Creation
When Miguel of Holy City Handcraft traded his software engineer's life for the spirited world of content creation, little did he know the intoxicating journey that awaited him. From the warmth of his grandmothers' kitchens in the Philippines to the charming backdrop of Charleston, we, Stephanie Barrow and Darius Kelly, are thrilled to bring you an episode that shakes and stirs a mix of entrepreneurship, content evolution, and the art of the perfect cocktail.
Step into the digital renaissance of culinary and cocktail content with us as we explore the seismic shifts in social media storytelling—the pivot from polished Instagram posts to TikTok's candid charm. Miguel opens up about the creative process, including the technical symphony of lighting and font choices, that goes into crafting the delectable aesthetics of his drink recipes. His solo journey from simple iPhone snaps to multi-camera productions is as much about personal growth as it is about adapting to the ever-changing landscape of platforms hungry for authenticity and connection.
Finally, don your apron and raise your glass to the alchemy of mixology where Miguel divulges his secrets to aging cocktails to perfection and the Boulevardier that stole his heart. This episode isn't just a peek behind the bar but an enlightening look at the rigor and rewards of freelance content creation. If you're thirsting for the perfect blend of entrepreneurial spirit and tangible tips for crafting a brand that resonates with both taste and vision, pull up a stool and lend an ear to this engaging conversation.
Presenting Sponsor: Charleston Radio Group
Title Sponsor: Charleston American Marketing Association
Cohosts: Stephanie Barrow, Mike Compton, Darius Kelly, Kim Russo
Produced and edited: rūmbo Advertising
Photographer: Kelli Morse
Art Director: Taylor Ion
Outreach: Lauren Ellis
CAMA President: Margaret Stypa
Score by: The Strawberry Entrée; Jerry Feels Good, CURRYSAUCE, DBLCRWN, DJ DollaMenu
Voiceover by: Ellison Karesh
Studio Engineer: Brian Cleary
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Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, powered by the Charleston American Marketing Association, broadcasting from our home base at Charleston Radio Group. Thanks to CRG, we're able to talk to the movers and shakers of Charleston, from economy to art, from hospitality to tech and everything in between. These leaders have made a home here in the Lowcountry. They live here, they work here, they make change here. Why?
Speaker 3:Let's talk about it. Hello and welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast powered by the Charleston American Marketing Association. We are recording in the Charleston Radio Group studios. A big supporter of CAMA Gotta give a shout out to Charleston's favorite DJ, jerry Feelsgood, with the beats at the front and the end of the show. Thanks to all of our supporters. Hey guys, what's up? I'm Stephanie Barrow here, the founder of Stephanie Barrow Consulting, a digital strategy agency located here in Charleston, and your past CAMA president. Thanks for joining us today. Listeners, I'm joined here by my friend and guest co-host, darius Kelly. Darius, say what's up.
Speaker 4:Hi everybody. I'm Darius Kelly. I'm the owner of DK Design, we're a marketing and design agency and I'm also the sponsorship director of the Charleston AMA.
Speaker 3:Yes, and we are joined today by a very special guest, Miguel Hi Hi everyone, how's it going?
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, man, we're glad to have you here, miguel.
Speaker 2:Buen Camino.
Speaker 4:There you go, the owner of Holy City Handcraft was born in Manila in the Philippines. At the age of six, he started learning how to cook from his two Filipino grandmothers, who were both incredible cooks. So hopefully next time, Miguel, we can have some of that cooking.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll bring some out, please. I love this. I need some. Totally Sounds awesome.
Speaker 4:Using his knowledge and combining the flavors with the technique, he decided to start Holy City Handcraft in 2015 as a creative outlet to share his passion for homemade meals and cocktails with his friends and family, being sure to produce recipes that tasted as good as they looked. Holy City handcraft has since evolved into a content production agency that encompasses anything from recipe development to photography and video production for various brands worldwide, with a primary focus on spirits and cocktails.
Speaker 2:Should I go like worldwide with a primary focus on spirits and cocktails.
Speaker 4:Nailed it, that was it that was it?
Speaker 2:Should I go? No, is that it? No?
Speaker 3:You accomplished a lot dude, I'm excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's honestly been such an evolution from what it was to what it is now. Happy to be here and happy to chat about it with you guys.
Speaker 3:Randomly, I met him a couple of years ago what three or four years ago when I was working with, you know, part of CAMA and I was the director of sponsorship and SIGs and all that kind of stuff and we had an influencer panel.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And he was one of our four influencers that came in and this was kind of like when you were just starting out, I think it was I in and this was kind of like when you were just starting out, I think it was uh I think I was still working in software at the time and, uh, it was me uh, charlotte burger charlotte park at the time uh stephanie uh, now ravenel, uh-huh, uh charleston foodie babe and then who was the fourth one?
Speaker 2:was it morgan? No, it was uh someone that was on mor Morgan.
Speaker 3:That's right. It's from X1. That's right. Yeah, I love Morgan. Yes, yes, he's awesome. I know Such a good dude. So you've had like a really cool journey from being a software engineer to becoming now very successful creator.
Speaker 2:You guys flatter me. Thank you, no, no, no, incredible. So you're from the Philippines originally. Yes, yes, yes, um, okay, so born in the Philippines.
Speaker 3:I feel like there's going to be a long story. How much?
Speaker 2:time do you guys have? Okay, Buckle up everyone. You got two hours here. No, I'll try to make it short. Um so, uh was born in the Philippines. Um, lived there until I was six years old. Was born in the Philippines, Lived there until I was six years old. My family decided that hey, we're going to pick up and move to Orlando, Florida. That was in 1992. Home of Disney. Home of Disney. Shout out, Mickey Mouse. Sponsor us Joking.
Speaker 3:Got me crazy there Not really I take it.
Speaker 2:Let's go to Disney, but, anyways, lived in Orlando for a while. But, you know, as I was growing up, like I said, or like Darius said, I had two grandmas that were very much integral into Filipino culture, right, like your grandmas are always there and again centered around food, the culture centered around food, and so I was always in the kitchen with them and they wanted me there, you know, to learn how to do these things, um, uh, in the cooking world, and um, it was just incredible. So, uh, fast forward to way, fast forward. This is 2012. I uh meet this girl who is now my wife, and um, and, and uh, it was one of these things where, uh, we met in orlando. Uh, she was on a girl's trip and um, I didn't know that at the time, and we met the old fashion way at a bar and um right that's right that's right and um, uh, you know.
Speaker 2:I was just like so what are you, what are you doing next week? It's's like, well, I live in DC, so working in DC. I was like, oh, shoot, okay. Anyways, long story short. With that, we started dating long distance for about a year and a half, until it got to the point I'm getting Charleston, I swear.
Speaker 4:Take your time. We want to slow walk this story, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We got to the point where I was like, all right, what are?
Speaker 2:we doing uh. She was in dc at the time. I was in orlando, uh, she worked for, uh, exxon mobil and hr and I worked at a? Uh in the defense industry, um, um, in orlando, and so, um, we were like you, what Like. We've been to a couple of weddings in Charleston, uh, and we always loved visiting Um. She actually had lived here after undergrad, uh, so she was very familiar with the city and um, it was like a pretty easy pitch. But I feel like every time we visited here, she already had friends here, um, but one I always loved visiting, of course of course.
Speaker 2:But her friends here, I swear to God, it was like a recruiting trip. Every time it was like, hey, I wonder what's happening.
Speaker 3:Let's take you down King Street.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, yeah, yeah, yeah Look at the Rainbow Row, totally Well, you know what the funniest one for me was? I was just like, like this is we have to, we have to move here. This is like unreal. Uh, we went to um, they took us to dinner in shem creek, which like shem creek food whatever, but like shem creek sunset that was dolphins jumping. Okay, yeah, that's incredible and I swear to god, like with the shrimp boats, the sun setting, uh, and like dolphins, literally coming out of the water Every single time and I'm just like, what Did you guys plan this Like, cue the dolphins, cue the dolphins.
Speaker 4:Disney yeah, they did it Right.
Speaker 2:It was like a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper.
Speaker 4:Oh, Lisa Frank.
Speaker 3:I want a Unicorn puppy sticker right now.
Speaker 2:So at that point I was just like man, okay, this is the city, you know. I was just like man, okay, this is the city, you know. And went home after our visit and started looking for jobs. And again, coming from the defense industry, you know, which is very structured, you know, time sheets, all that stuff um, one of our friends in charleston was like, hey, my buddy's company is hiring uh, it's a startup. And I was like I wouldn't even know how to react to that. And uh, you know, went on their web page and it was like, oh yeah, like here I am coming from like military, like defense software, and it's like you can bring your puppies to the office and we have beer on the roof and, like you know, it's like, yeah, it's gonna be great mario kart anyone.
Speaker 2:And uh, yeah, it was. Uh, yeah, unfortunately they're out of business. That's probably why um too much mario kart too much mario kart. Uh no, the company was called people matter um I know People Matter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that sounds familiar.
Speaker 2:That's a great company, so People Matter. Right on King Street, it was actually the most incredible.
Speaker 3:Right near Halls.
Speaker 2:Right near Halls across from what was then Macintosh. Yeah, it was right dab in the smack dab middle of Upper King. Yeah, and for someone new to Charleston and working in that office, it was just like the best. You could just walk everywhere. Um, anyways, took ended up applying and I got the job, um, within like two weeks and I was like, oh shoot, I think I need to move, like, and meanwhile my uh now wife wasn't even uh looking yet, you know, and she was like, okay, I guess I'll move too yeah, totally, and uh, so long story short.
Speaker 2:That's how I ended up in charleston so you, you and the lady moved. Yes, got married here, yep, yep you have two beautiful kids now we do now.
Speaker 3:All right, you know I getting to know everybody. I'm like so do you have children? I love children. Yes, yes, yes, oh my gosh, yeah uh, they're five and three.
Speaker 2:they are just incredible. They're the best I love it. We're working on my daughter. She's three and she's in her three-nager phase, you know, but my son is like the sweetest kid ever. Aw, that's awesome. Is he active in the kitchen with? Me more Okay okay and they're kind of picky eaters. But I've found that when I cook with them they're a little less picky because they're willing to try a lot more stuff. So I just need to do that more, because I really do want to foster this whole like idea of being you know, coherent in the kitchen and I just feel like it brings a lot of creativity into.
Speaker 2:you know, whatever they're doing. So yeah.
Speaker 3:So, speaking of creativity, like I said earlier, like I absolutely love your content, your aesthetics, your authenticity, like I just absolutely love it, and I'm always in awe of people who are just like very forward facing, like you're looking at the camera. In every picture and every video, I feel like you're speaking to me.
Speaker 2:Like I know it probably really resonates with your audience. Yeah, yeah, um, you know, it didn't always used to be like that. I feel like when I started my instagram in 2015, it was like instagram in its infancy, right?
Speaker 2:so, um, it was very much photos of things instead of being in front of the camera so, um, back when I started was mostly food, like I started holy city handcuffed as a cooking blog, um, which happened to just have an instagram to funnel into the blog, which sounds, sounds like crazy now, um, but uh, with that, um, uh, I was taking everything on my iphone, right? Like I didn't have, everyone did, and it was pictures, pictures on your iPhone, and they had Instagram filters, which I think they still have, you can put a frame around it. Everything was a boomerang, that's right, that's right. That was even before boomerang.
Speaker 3:There were like videos Year one, two of Instagram.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you had like four or five filters to choose from. Yes, exactly supposed to choose from yes, exactly, exactly. But uh, yeah, I was like oh, do you want the super?
Speaker 3:green one, the sepia tone, one and um yeah, it was white, it was a.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seemed like a really long time ago uh, but anyways, um, with, uh, what it was before photos, uh, of food and um, and, and, eventually, cocktails and whatnot.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, it eventually, uh, well, let me, let me backtrack real quick, because it was just pictures of drinks in your hands. Sometimes, if I was feeling frisky, you would put your hands in there to pour something, um, and then fast forward to the pandemic 2020, right, and uh, all of a sudden, you've got all these people at home, um, producing their own content on their phones as well, but all of a sudden, it kind of shifts because of TikTok, and TikTok kind of brought forth this idea of hey, you know, you know, we are now creators, we're in front of the camera. I want to show you how to make it from my perspective. So it went from like Instagram, which was very much like here's a very curated feed, a beautiful, you know, cocktail shot professionally, to now TikTok, which was a little bit more organic. It was a little bit more hey. Today I'm, you know, going to show you how to make this from my kitchen with my phone.
Speaker 2:We're also eager for any kind of connectivity, because we're all at home by ourselves.
Speaker 4:For sure, we brought a lot of authenticity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, short form video was introduced during the beginning of COVID, and then, all of a sudden, it was like now, everyone was your own audience from home.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it's still shifting right. It is Even with Holy City Handcraft, where it was just pretty pictures of cocktails, it turned into more short form videos of cocktails and then it transformed into like okay, I'm actually going to step in front of the camera now, right? So? And I think everyone's kind of in the same boat and you're starting to see a transition again from short form to a little longer form, you know.
Speaker 2:Yes, uh, open it up to be a little bit longer exactly tick tocks, doing the same thing exactly so where it was short, very short form videos like 15 seconds.
Speaker 3:Totally remember, remember vine oh vine it lasted.
Speaker 1:Remember Vine? Oh, vine didn't last very long. Vine was TikTok before TikTok.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right, and now TikTok's encouraging over a minute long videos to even get monetized, so I think it's definitely trending in that direction now Trying to go after the YouTube Totally, but I think that people's personality and the way they present themselves on social media now is so important and it's here to stay. Honestly it is. It sets you apart from everyone else Having that personality sets you apart.
Speaker 4:I think you do a lot of that with your videos. I notice like when you shake the ice and you pour you do let it spill over sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I think those little things right there.
Speaker 4:Just add to the authenticity and showing you know it's okay. Yeah, just make your drinks how you make them, totally well you know what?
Speaker 2:um? It's funny you say that I uh was talking to another creator about, um, what changed in your content, right? Uh, you know, from even just like three years ago to now, and the biggest part that I feel like I changed is, like you, authenticity in the form of I leave the mistakes in Right. Back then it was everything's perfect, everything's curated, but it also got to the point where, like, I was looking at my old videos and I'm like not even smiling anymore because I was so focused on not making a mistake, and now I just leave it in because I just think one. It's funny, it's so relatable.
Speaker 4:Exactly Everyone does it and it looks better, I think, visually Good when the ice is falling like that. I'm just using that one example. Totally, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. But the amount of things I knock over on, like I shot a cocktail this morning at 10 am but I didn't drink that, by the way. No, I didn't drink that, by the way.
Speaker 4:No judgment. I see you guys. No judgment. I was going to ask you that too, if you're drinking these cocktails.
Speaker 2:Oh, sometimes it depends on the situation, because there are days where, you know, I start at like 930 and shoot cocktails all day and I just that's a Tuesday. And I don't I end up like I feel bad dumping them. But my wife will come to the kitchen at lunch we both work from home and she'll just see like a line of like pretty cocktails. This looks like trouble. Totally, this is a problem.
Speaker 4:We've got to do this so much temptation at 10 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, it's like bearing dilution rates, you know.
Speaker 3:More and more watery.
Speaker 1:That's pretty in the loop. Let me go for that one.
Speaker 2:But no, unfortunately, I end up dumping those ingredients or those full cocktails only because, like yeah, I think that's the most common misconception I get with what I do. It's like oh man, like you have a bar, like you make cocktails for a living, you must be like getting drunk all the time. I'm like, like, not really like. If my wife and I go out, we'll probably just have a beer like you know, and we probably drink like one or two drinks a week, you know like.
Speaker 3:So it's not. We don't overindulge full grown up we're responsible.
Speaker 2:We have to take care of kids in the morning.
Speaker 3:That's right I hear that yep, yep, totally.
Speaker 2:How did?
Speaker 3:you go from being a chef, you know, growing up with learning and then getting into cocktails okay, uh, good transition I.
Speaker 2:So uh put it out there I've never worked in a restaurant I was gonna ask if you read food no, never, I uh not not even cooking.
Speaker 2:So I would at best consider myself a prep cook. No, no. And while I had a passion for cooking and I think growing up cooking, you start to put together the flavors that go together Right. And again, obviously I didn't drink when I was very young and so I just cooked, cooked, cooked and figured out what went together different cuisines, different flavors until, obviously, it got to that point I think it was like 2010, 2012 when I had my first old fashioned my husband loves an old fashioned oh yeah, who doesn't?
Speaker 4:I don't, so I wish I could. Okay, I'm a fan Okay. We're going to find you a cocktail Okay good.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I need to upgrade from a coffee college.
Speaker 4:Why don't we record this at like 4 pm? I know, hey, next time. Part two is coming soon, uh-huh, just let you know the cocktail edition. That's right. That's right, it'll be a different podcast, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But anyways, yeah, I went to this bar, saw this guy make an old-fashioned and this was early 2010s and like I lived in Orlando. So it was very much like a Red Bull vodka kind of city. You know, yeah, I can see that, and so I watched this guy just like make this cocktail for like five, 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:I'm like this is incredible, like someone's cooking in front of me you know, like and uh, I kind of just fell in love with not only the cocktail but also the process, right, and that's kind of when I started kind of like putting it together, that, hey, this is like cooking, you know that you can put these flavors together and they work, and it's simple and and it's kind of a show as well, and I tried it, tried my hand at it and I made the classics, you know, old-fashioned a Manhattan and a Groney, and I ended up just loving it. And so when I started the cooking blog Holy City Handcraft, it was unsuccessful as a cooking blog only because at that point it was so saturated, the market was so saturated already with cooking and food blogs.
Speaker 3:Was it always called Holy City Handcraft? It was.
Speaker 2:It was. I'll have to send you guys like my old logo there we go. It's very much like not what it is now, because mine is just like an H, but back then it was like two crust forks and pigs and like a cocktail Everything.
Speaker 4:It was everything.
Speaker 2:It and pigs and like a cocktail and like everything it was. It was too much, it was too much and, uh, it just didn't pan out as a food blog only because, like you know, people have been doing it for so long that you know they kind of like I guess what I'm doing now with like cocktails, where they have professional equipment, they're, you know, they have every single step documented, it's beautiful and like, um, I couldn't compete with that with my iphone, sure?
Speaker 3:uh, at the time, but you have your own thing going.
Speaker 2:Yes, so you know. Going back to the cocktail thing, um, there weren't many cocktail blogs I see, okay, so it wasn't a, it wasn't a very saturated vertical, if you will, right, uh, and with Instagram, instagram in its infancy had started getting more food blogs, but not a lot of cocktail content, if you will.
Speaker 2:So, here I am a home bartender, if you will trying to make an old fashioned at home and just posting pictures of it with a recipe. And people were just like what? Like I can't believe you made this. I'm like, well, it's three ingredients and you probably paid $12 for it at the time. It's probably like $18 now. And so I was like, yeah, you can make it at home too, it's super easy. And so I got a lot more traction, I think just because of the scarcity of cocktail content on Instagram at the time.
Speaker 3:Okay, I was going to ask so what was your strategy? What was your strategy? Did you just post every day, not even every day?
Speaker 4:I feel like back then, for Instagram, there was no strategy because it was so new. Everybody was just trying to figure out how to figure out an algorithm Exactly, even though they're still trying to figure that out now.
Speaker 3:People are on the phone all the time.
Speaker 2:I don't even think there was an algorithm?
Speaker 3:I don't think there was either.
Speaker 2:It was so bad.
Speaker 3:Bane of my existence.
Speaker 4:So bad? Because it was just chronological, yeah, and there was no plan or purpose. Exactly, you were just putting stuff out there, no, legit.
Speaker 2:It's like I went to a restaurant. I'm going to post this right now. Yeah, and versus now it's like well, I've got to edit this, so were you part of Tastemakers Charleston during this time yes.
Speaker 3:So me and.
Speaker 2:Charlotte, I remember. So. I worked in software at the time and she worked at. Well, I worked at People Matter, she worked at Lou Hammond Group.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then Bread and.
Speaker 2:Butter and then Bread and Butter after that. But while she was at Lou Hammond I got a again very new to Holy City Handcraft and, like the media space I got an invite from her to go to I believe it was like five church, like as like a press thing and like.
Speaker 2:That's why I think, like Charlotte's like a genius, because she was doing influencer marketing before there was influencer marketing Like usually it's traditional media at the time that you'd invite to these things, and here she was inviting Instagram people. So, charlotte, you're a genius, that's why you're successful. I know you're going to listen to this, but we had done a couple of them with her clients at Lou Hammond that I was like let's get coffee, let's figure out what this is, and me and her sat in a coffee shop and we're like I think it was at now Second State, it was Black Tap and we were talking about like okay, how can we like leverage this like this like group that we have now that goes to all of these events? Um, and charlotte like kind of took the reins on it and was like well, like, let's do like a tastemakers but for charleston and let's like put a um element of charity into it for nonprofits.
Speaker 2:And like it just took off from there. And all of a sudden, you know you've gotten restaurants reaching out to like essentially promote their restaurants, and Charlotte at the helm, just started gathering all these influencers, like new to old, you know, to go to these restaurants and try them out and give them. So it's a win, win for everyone, because I feel like you got free press for your restaurant, but also the charity element of it too is raising money for for charity. So but yes, that was the start of tastemakers and that's also kind of evolved Right. It has.
Speaker 3:It has Yep of tastemakers and that's also kind of evolved right. It has it has yep. It's very much your instagram feed, mostly you going to restaurants, or was it?
Speaker 2:mostly you doing it from home uh, it was most at the time. It was mostly like charleston things, so it was like restaurants, uh, yeah, uh, very small part of it was like making stuff. Yeah, uh, until, like I want to say, 2016, yeah, yeah, yeah, but it was a different time. I feel like, yeah, like you were saying, darius, like you kind of just posted whatever you want to post, and now it's very like curated and a little more strategy, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4:Speaking to the strategy, I noticed in some of your earlier videos, when you were especially doing the drinks, you changed some of the grades grades on your on your videos more of a warmer tone even um the fonts and the clothes that you used to announce the ingredients, like how did you?
Speaker 2:what changed what? That's a great question. Um, I feel like, uh, with uh, my content. It was all about like leveraging light, uh, and at the time I was using natural light for a lot of it. I have this big window next to my bar and I was leveraging that for my kind of my fill light, okay, and I was like I don't want to do that anymore.
Speaker 2:Because, like you know how Charleston is, it's raining every afternoon in the summer, in the summer, and so I started to try to teach myself how to use artificial light video lights to produce my content, and in my head, I wanted to create something that was a little unique in terms of the aesthetic, and I feel I wanted to feel like if you got on my page, it's like you stepped into my bar.
Speaker 3:It feels that way. Yes, it does Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Thank you, it's a lot of consistency from the visual standpoint.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So yeah, the lighting in my bar is very like warm white and I kind of just yeah.
Speaker 1:So kind of inviting.
Speaker 2:you know I wanted it to feel a little like homey Gotcha and with the font and everything else that was. Honestly I still haven't figured it out.
Speaker 4:Uh, I, I think I started with um.
Speaker 2:Helvetica was when I said right and uh, just classic, simple, and then everyone started doing it. Not, I'm not saying I started the helvetica movement, uh for cocktail instagram, but I mean a lot of people started doing it.
Speaker 4:It's a very popular font. A lot of people started doing it. It's a very popular font. A lot of people just trend straight towards it. Exactly which I love, right?
Speaker 2:But I also wanted to like set myself apart, so I kept changing it, changing it, changing it. And there was also this weird thing that happened on social media, where it went from like very curated photos, videos, like if you put text on your videos or photos, you're like what are you doing, man?
Speaker 2:like you're ruining your video. And now it's just like text and graphics everywhere, um, real cover, totally, which exactly? But you got to adjust because people are interested in seeing what you're doing, yes, uh. So now I put captions on everything, uh, and make sure they actually do stand out. You can follow each word. I I did a poll about a month or two ago about like, what do you want to see? Like, what do you? How would you prefer to view my content to my audience? And overwhelmingly, I want to say it was like 90% of people wanted to see captions on posts.
Speaker 3:It's probably because they're watching at their desk at work. Correct, correct.
Speaker 2:Was that a surprise to you in any way? A little bit, a little bit, you can turn captions on on Instagram, but also I got a couple messages from folks that were hard of hearing as well, that were like hey, this actually really helps me when you turn them on, because I love seeing your work but I want to know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, from then on, I started putting captions, uh, and the recipes uh, on each video, just because I just feel like it helps people and your point about having text mixed into the video.
Speaker 4:I think you do a really good job of not letting that overshadow because your ingredients are like very like small. They're in the corner. I can see them coming up but it's not interfering with my viewing. Was that a process of trying to figure out how to balance?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that negative space. It's always like, where can I squeeze this into? Because what I didn't want to do for any captions is one block the content. But I also didn't want the viewer's eyes to have to try to hunt for where it's going to be that's important so I had to find something in the video where there was negative, consistent negative space to put these captions into. Okay, um, so now I keep that in mind when I'm filming. I know that, hey, the upper left corner. I can't put anything there to block it.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it's been a process. I feel like I started shooting.
Speaker 2:How I?
Speaker 3:edit. I was going to ask so, do you partner with videographers for all of this? Are you doing all of the shooting yourself? Do you have like a tripod, like how are you?
Speaker 2:creating this content, I shoot everything myself, thank you.
Speaker 3:Even the photos and everything Photos. You look very welcoming and like I want to be friends with this guy. We can be friends.
Speaker 4:She's just trying to get some drinks. I love friends and I love children.
Speaker 2:And I love drinks. This is good news Perfect, perfect, we'll get along great, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's. I think for me, a big part of what I do, too, is like learning the photo and video side of it, like another part, another wing of Holy City Handcrafters of my services are as commercial production, so, but it's been a learning process. I started again with an iPhone and the only reason I got into photography with like an actual interchangeable lens is because, like I happened to find like a Canon T1i, which is the most base level Canon you can get in our closet, and it was like my wife's ex-boyfriend had given it to her like a couple years back and I was like can I have this and she was like like well, here's the backstory, as long as you want it, totally, totally but uh, but yeah, no, um.
Speaker 2:But from there I started getting uh more acquainted with photography. I just wanted to learn more and learn more uh, and then when video came along same thing with video it's like okay, well, like I want to get this gear because I know I want to be able to produce this kind of content. So it's been really fun to learn and I do have a true passion for not just the cocktail side. I would say I actually have more of a passion for the production side of things.
Speaker 4:I was going to ask that. So how much of a game changer was? I can't remember the name, but I saw in one of your videos you've got a camera that shoots at what? 120?
Speaker 2:FPS, oh yeah yes, and you're able to do like the slow smooth video.
Speaker 4:How much has that changed? Yeah, it's it has.
Speaker 2:it almost defines my content these days because, uh, being able to see something, uh, you know, four times slower than it should be, um, it just looks visually appealing and that's like my hook sometimes. I love it. So where? Cause I'm not? Yes, I'm in front of the camera, but you can only do so many things for cocktails in terms of, like, you're going to want to drink this for the summer.
Speaker 1:You know like.
Speaker 2:I don't want to be that cheesy, so I want to capture with visuals, so I want to capture the audience's you know attention with visuals. So but yeah, it was a game changer because all of a sudden you could see, you know, the zest come out of an orange or, like you know, the ice pour out of the ice scoop and like all these things that happen so fast at a bar, you're finally able to slow it down and see it.
Speaker 4:Love that camera, though, yeah, I can tell. Like I saw the way it was pointed, I was like, yeah, it's very smooth.
Speaker 3:I probably make a whole video in slow-mo.
Speaker 4:Legit legit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, it's a bummer sometimes when you forget to turn it to that frame rate and you're like trying to play, play back and slow and it's like super choppy, oh so you have to.
Speaker 4:You have to record it in that frame. Oh yeah, yeah, I thought you could do that in post-production no, no, no you have to record that frame rate, or else it just looks super choppy. So do you record with two cameras at the same time? Two, uh, so I have uh your setup is pretty impressive, it's uh, it's almost two extra but, also because I shoot myself.
Speaker 2:I feel like I have to have it's on. They're on sticks, they're on tripods, um, because, right, there's no one else there pushing the camera. So if someone watched me produce a video, it looks ridiculous like there's uh cam B cam and then there's my photo camera just waiting by Do you have remote controls and you're like I do. I'm like record record.
Speaker 1:I gotta check my I need the blooper reel. I need to just set up a GoPro A little behind the scenes.
Speaker 4:It's pretty involved, I feel like, between I need to just set up like a GoPro, yeah, and a little behind the scenes, Totally Because there's, there's it's pretty involved.
Speaker 2:I feel like, yeah, between even just like sound, like sounds like something that people don't really take into account. I think they're only worried about the visuals but like sound is so important, like you know with with ASMR and like you know, talking Sounds of making a cocktail, oh my gosh, yeah. So sound mixing is another thing that, like I had to learn, you know, on my own and like, but it's been a process, but I feel like I've got it dialed down now where I can like record a video in like two, three hours.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. So what's on the horizon for you? Because I have a vote.
Speaker 2:And my vote is coffee coffee table book. Yeah, uh, I actually did get approached, funny enough, by by a publisher to publish a, uh, coffee table cocktail book, um, which we're kind of in talks right now, but we're still kind of working out some details, um. But, yeah, no, I I recently hired someone, um, as an assistant to essentially comb my instagram and scrape the recipes from it because, I don't know, they only live on my notepad, which is like a terrible place to I wonder how many recipes you have on instagram.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you oh it's 335 so far um, and this is 235 cocktail recipes, and some of them are classics, you know. But I mean for the most part. You know it's almost 10 years now of cocktail content.
Speaker 3:You need to put out a book.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Or have your own TV show there we go, that's next.
Speaker 2:I don't know how I'd be on TV. You're doing natural.
Speaker 3:I think you're doing great.
Speaker 2:But I think next steps, I think it's going to be potentially a book and, yeah, if there's any TV production folks out there that you know is looking for a Filipino dad of two to make cocktails and cook for them, I think this is an easy sell.
Speaker 3:We're going to make this thing happen. I'm on board. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:First two viewers yeah, I love it. So some of your recipes do you have? I'm on board, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, first two viewers. Yeah, I love it. So some of your recipes do you have like one recipe just for old fashioned or do you have like multiple ways that you go about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a ton. So, actually, because we started organizing my recipes and by the way they're on, they're all on the blog now, holycityhandcraftcom slash blog. But you can actually like search by category now. So whenever folks are making cocktails and it's like, what should I make?
Speaker 2:There's really only like eight categories of cocktails if you really think about it. So there's the stirred and boozy, old-fashioned right, there's a which also that same family has, like a manhattan, and, like you know, it's those stirred bourbon drinks. But there's also like the sours, which is a margarita, which is a gimlet, which is a daiquiri. So it really depends on, like you know, what you want. But at the end of the day, you're just interchanging, Like, for example, first sours are a great example the classic cocktails, for example, like a Tommy's Margarita, which is just lime juice, agave and tequila. So if you swapped out the tequila for rum and swapped out the agave for simple syrup, you've now got a classic daiquiri. If you swap the rum for gin, you've now got a gimlet. So it's like they're all interchangeable and, by the way, it's the same recipes, like same ratios. So it's just swapping out ingredients and call them something completely different, which is what, like, bars do.
Speaker 3:I still think bartenders and mixologists are very impressive.
Speaker 4:When I'm watching them, I'm just like how do you know how to make all of this so quick? I don't know. I get the flavor bombs.
Speaker 3:This is amazing.
Speaker 2:I am constantly in awe of what the industry does, because I just make drinks for Instagram and the internet. I don't have to talk to anyone. They have to provide full service while they're making these drinks. At a rate, I am.
Speaker 4:They have to provide full service while they're making these drinks, and at a rate, yeah, you've got to punch them out.
Speaker 2:So I am always impressed with the industry folks and you know they drive this industry. Like a lot of people think, like, oh, like you drive. No, it's whatever the bars and restaurants are doing that drives the industry forward in terms of cocktails and spirits, and I have the utmost respect and especially with what I do, I don't ever want to like, step on any toes, you know, um, but like, I have the utmost respect for, like the industry, uh, and hospitality in general especially here in charleston.
Speaker 3:Charleston is just, oh my gosh, this is what brought me here all the, of course I'll travel, leisure, all these different magazines. I was living in nashville. I was like well, I better go visit there oh yeah, a couple later I made the move because it's just the hospitality is just incredible here in Charleston. It's incredible here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:We're so lucky to call this place home.
Speaker 2:Yes, Well, no, like you can go to any other city, I feel like any small city, and like I mean, the difference is stark in terms of, like you know, I feel like we're very spoiled here. Granted, sometimes, I would.
Speaker 4:I would say we do. Uh, being a native, sometimes I do take it for granted.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will travel to new york and la, because I love to travel. Um, people that listen to this know that and I will be like can't wait to go home because I got disappointed for the last three meals.
Speaker 2:I had in new york city. I can't wait to go home and go to like you know, chubby fish or wherever I like totally there's some. There's some like street cred with charlesteston too. It's like you're from Charleston oh yeah it's cool now?
Speaker 2:absolutely no, it's. It's great, I and again, like you know, moving here, this is our 10th. This is gonna be our 10th year in Charleston, or a decade here, which thank you um, but like we planted our roots, like we can't see ourselves living anywhere else at this point. You know like we love it here.
Speaker 3:Our kids do too I love it here too we'll all have to hang out and get drinks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. What are you guys doing at?
Speaker 4:two, I'm joking, hey if the bar is open that's awesome.
Speaker 3:You've partnered with some big brands in the past too yeah, um.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, with what I do, and specifically in spirits, um, I think, now more than ever, they do rely on, yes, traditional marketing, but also influencer marketing, because they want it to be relatable as much on premise as it is off premise, and by that I mean people are drinking as much in bars, in restaurants, as much as they are drinking at home, and you know, the more products they can sell to either premise, if you will, everyone is just a little bit happier, right so? But, yes, with what I do, I think, on both sides of it, right so, creating traditional ads and commercials for brands, but also on the quote unquote, the influencer side of it is being able to develop recipes but also produce the content associated with those recipes. So, for example, a brand will say hey, miguel, you know we have Mother's Day, father's Day and the holidays coming up.
Speaker 2:We need you to produce five recipes two for the Mother's Day and Father's Day and then three for the holidays, and this is like in February, you know. So they're already thinking that far ahead in terms of like what they want to produce. That's good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Do you have to come in and teach the staff how to create it, or are you just giving the recipe?
Speaker 2:Oh, this is for the brand itself.
Speaker 2:Wow wow, oh, look at you, I love it. No, it's uh, I I admittedly, admittedly right. We were talking about like I'd make drinks for the internet, but like I yes, I've stepped behind a bar before for pop-ups and whatnot, but man, like, the real rock stars are the people who actually work there and so I I would feel like I don't know, huge imposter syndrome. I was like I'm training you today, but no, I for the most part work with either an agency or their actual brand team to produce recipes for the brand directly.
Speaker 4:Nice? Do they bring you in into the whole campaign and what role do you play in? Getting out there and the perspective of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so usually okay, uh, I'll approach this two ways. One is like the influencer side of things and that one, um, it's already kind of baked out like um, they, the agency, will put together together the creative brief, okay, and the creative brief will flesh everything out. Here's our messaging, here's our mood board. Um, here's kind of like you know the direction we want you to go in terms of the type of cocktail we want to make. And then there's like the production side of things where it's like, hey, we have again. I'm going to use like Father's Day or like summer as an example. But they'll say we want to produce a commercial that appeals to the summer crowd. So think like pool parties, grilling out father's day element, and so it's like help us do that. Here are the deliverables we want, but we want you to come up with the creative um. So it is uh, it's fun, it's challenging.
Speaker 2:It's a lot more challenging than the you know stuff that's already like pre-made and you just have to make it but I get a lot of like uh, I don't know fulfillment and joy, like being able to like bring those visions to life, like I love being able to be like hey, we have a good crew here in Charleston, we are going to bring this to life. And the biggest payoff obviously is when they see the final product and they're like this is everything we asked for. Thank you, that's really cool. They see the final product and they're like this is everything we asked for. Thank you, that's really cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. It's challenging. You sound like you have a really fun job.
Speaker 2:It can be pretty stressful sometimes. I think another misconception people have with being freelance is oh, you must have all the time in the world.
Speaker 4:You can do whatever you want. That is the biggest misconception. That is the biggest misconception is that you, just you can take vacation whenever you want. You can wake up whenever you want to do whatever you want.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah, having no backup and having deadlines is hard yes, very much so.
Speaker 2:Like, especially like you were talking to, like going to new york, for example right and if you were there for like four days like that's four days I wasn't able to go in the studio and shoot anything, or whatever it was right.
Speaker 2:Yes and um, and you fall behind and it's uh, that's that's kind of what's been happening lately with me, with all the media. We were just talking about media trips before this started, but, um, you know, being able to go on these media trips that's great and it's such a fun experience, but also, like there's no one at home holding on the fort and making sure, like contracts are being signed or, like you know, projects are moving forward, exactly, exactly so, um, but yeah, no, freelancing is tough right.
Speaker 4:How do you handle client expectation when you're coming up with these videos, especially on the creative side, and they don't have the brief?
Speaker 2:Yes, uh. So that's another great question, because there are some clients that are super easy to work with and they're very much like hey, you know, we trust you Like usually I've worked with them in the past but as much as possible and you try to like figure out what they want, right. So by that I mean, hey, listen, I can come up with these ideas, but I can't come up with what in your head you think this is going to look like exactly. So send me as much info as possible, send, send me pictures, send me inspiration, send me other commercials that you really liked. We're not going to copy it, but I need to know what direction we need to go. And, um, uh, you know, with my page, I feel like there's a certain aesthetic that I have but, like you know, client work is very much all totally different.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you're learning that exactly so making sure that their message is being put forth right on these campaigns and making sure these ideas line up with what they have in their heads. Because, like I've had some clients that were like ideas line up with what they have in their heads. Because, like I've had some clients that were like hey, like here's what we need. I was like okay, how does this sound like? Do you have any more information? It's like no, no, no, that all sounds good, yeah, and then you shoot it and then they come exactly it's like well, we didn't want that.
Speaker 2:I'm like you like it was right here totally and those are kind of tough right, because then you have to go back and explain like, hey, like, listen man, like we had an entire crew there that day producing content for something that you agreed upon.
Speaker 3:Those conversations are tough.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And well, now I have a clause in my contract that's like we limit reshoots if we met all the um uh items on the creative brief right so just kind of protect yourself exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:So yeah, if we were completely off base and like what we did looks nothing like what we said we were going to do, by all means, yeah, that's our fault, we'll reshoot it. But like if we nailed it and like you in your head, you were like, well, I didn't want it like that or this looks really good, but exactly exactly so it's a it's tough sometimes, but there hasn't been a client yet that wasn't exactly, exactly, that's great yeah, thanks.
Speaker 3:love all these original cocktails. I'm going to go home and be inspired, so what is your favorite drink to make?
Speaker 2:Okay, my favorite drink to make is a beer.
Speaker 3:You can make beer. No, no, no, okay, no.
Speaker 2:I would say my go-to cocktail is a Boulevardier.
Speaker 1:So Boulevardier.
Speaker 2:I don't know that one Ne Boulevardier, so Boulevardier.
Speaker 4:I don't know that one Negroni Heard of Negroni. I have heard of Negroni Yep, so Negroni is. I'm so extremely uneducated. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:It's an easy, classic cocktail. It's three ingredients. So Negroni is we were talking about this earlier you can interchange things right. So a Negroni is gin, sweet vermouth, campari. A Boulevardier is, if you swap out the gin with bourbon, okay, same ratios, and that's essentially a bourbon Negroni.
Speaker 4:Sounds good.
Speaker 2:It does sound good what I like to do is at home, which is a great entertaining trip for people listening. I bought one of those two liter barrels that you can age your own spirits in. I put my cocktails in there because they get better over time. Spirits in. I put my cocktails in there because they get better over time, so just don't put anything acidic in there. But you can put like an old-fashioned and a groany already put it in the barrel, already mixed exactly how long can it stay in there?
Speaker 3:forever, forever. Yes, doesn't get interesting you reuse the same barrel.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can just rinse it, but um, but, yeah, I mean I didn't know that there's a. Well, the nice part is right. Like you have guests over, like you like having friends over for drinks.
Speaker 3:I feel very sophisticated going to my barrel and getting a nice cocktail that I made two years ago.
Speaker 4:Oh, for me, for me, let me give you a little taste, it's not going to last that long?
Speaker 2:It will eventually evaporate because it's alcohol, but it's also why it doesn't go bad. But yeah, the best part is people show up to your house You're probably still prepping, doing stuff, Like, hey, go ahead and serve yourself in the barrel and you literally just turn a spout and it's always ready to go.
Speaker 3:In college that was called jungle juice.
Speaker 2:That was college days you can put some Hawaiian punch and some. Everclear in there.
Speaker 4:Everclear. Give me flashbacks. I'm good on that. Uh-huh, same, same.
Speaker 2:I use it to disinfect my bar now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh, that's hilarious. Gotta get the job done, that's right, that's right, tell everything else too, I could talk to y'all all day about that.
Speaker 3:I just have one last question. I know we're wrapping up.
Speaker 4:Do you have a Miguel drink? Do you have your own special drink?
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say I have a signature drink, yeah, okay, I'll answer this two ways, because I've created a lot of original recipes. Okay, but I haven't created one that's like this is Miguel's drink, but what I do like making at home, and this is always in one of the barrels at home- is, how many barrels do you have?
Speaker 2:two, okay, three okay, three okay four actually, actually there's only two full right now um, so I mentioned my favorite drink is a boulevardier. Yeah, uh, so I make a rendition uh of it. That's a salted banana boulevardier, so salt banana liqueur Boulevardier. Yeah, it's been like my signature drink in the barrel, so people can always count on having that at my bar. I want to come to your house. What are you guys doing after this?
Speaker 4:This is our second invite.
Speaker 2:You guys need to Uber there.
Speaker 3:You're so awesome.
Speaker 2:We would love for you to get like more involved in ama and do some another event or some stuff for sure, just let me know okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Oh, all right, I got one more question. Yeah, so I have friends who are trying to like blow up on you know, make become content creators, and doing that kind of thing like how do you feel? Like, what's your secret sauce?
Speaker 2:like, because, you mean you I?
Speaker 3:mean, you have been doing this for a minute now. So what was your secret sauce, do you think?
Speaker 2:Um, secret sauce, yeesh Um consistency, I think. I think a lot of people get discouraged when they post, they post, they post and it goes nowhere and like that's what me sometimes right and my biggest piece of advice for people that are trying to I don't say make it on instagram, but like trying to grow a following is like tell their story yeah, tell your story, but also don't let instagram gaslight you into thinking your content is bad, like which tends to happen, because the algorithm is the thing that's saying, hey, we're not going to show this to anyone right, it's not your content.
Speaker 2:It's a stupid algorithm Exactly. So I would say consistency is key, but at the end of the day, people want to see you and want to be relatable to you. So I think a combination of those two things is consistency and authenticity are huge keys to Instagram or social media success.
Speaker 3:Well, you've mastered that For sure. Thank you guys, everyone, please follow him on Instagram and follow his blog please, because he's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's a good NPR voice. Thank you, I'm working on it. It's been so much fun.
Speaker 4:I'm having a great time.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for being with us today.
Speaker 2:This was great man. I appreciate it. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your time, Thank you.
Speaker 3:Anytime. Before we leave, I need to just shout out to our sponsors Thank you, charleston Radio Group for having us today and, of course, Jerry Feels Good and the American Marketing Association. Please follow us on Instagram. If you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to us, please follow us on Instagram so you can be up and up on all the upcoming events Spark Awards, all those things. And if you want to be a sponsor or be on our show, please reach out to us at podcast at charlestonamaorg, and we will get back to you. So thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2:Thanks again, guys.
Speaker 3:Until next time, charleston. We'll be seeing you next time. Bye.
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