Meet Kace Phillips, Partner at RBA

• May 18, 2018
• Agency

What is your background?

I was born and raised here in Dallas, Texas and was a 12-year man at St. Mark’s. After a perfectly normal 5 year run at Arizona State, I graduated and moved back to Dallas and began working as a copywriter in an experiential advertising agency. After getting my feet wet there, I moved on to a startup music company, and then started my own app development company. When that didn’t work out as planned, I landed back in the agency world. For some reason, I still haven’t left.

What drew you to a career in marketing and advertising?

My answer is super cheesy, but here it goes. When I was in college, there was a very short-lived show on TNT called Trust Me. It was about a copywriter-art director team in a Chicago ad agency. Even though it only lasted for 10 episodes, I found the world that it portrayed as super interesting. I was already a creative writing major, and I thought that copywriting would be a great path for me. So far, so good!

What’s your favorite part about working at RocketBrand?

I love the RocketBrand culture. It’s rare to find companies where people can truly be themselves at work, and I think we do a great job of fostering that sense of a work environment. I think it allows more freedom and people thus put out better and more creative work. We’re in the creativity business, so that’s pretty important.

What do you do outside of work?

I’m an avid music fan, especially two bands in particular – the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic. I’ve seen Widespread Panic in concert over 100 times, in 15 different states. Though I never saw the Grateful Dead in person (Jerry died when I was 9), I’ve seen various iterations of them 20 or 30 times.

Other than music, I love playing golf and try to play as often as my wife will let me. And speaking of my wife, I love going on adventures with her, our French Bulldog, Sophie, and our soon-to-be-born child (due on May 25th!).

What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on?

I’d have to say our honeymoon in Thailand and Japan. We started in Bangkok for 3 nights, where we got to experience the real culture of Thailand. From there, we went to Kata Beach on the island of Phuket, where we stayed for 7 nights. We also took day trips to Koh Phi Phi and Bamboo Island. From Phuket, we flew to Tokyo where we spent 3 days and nights eating delicious Japanese food and exploring one of the world’s greatest cities. Not only were the places amazing, but it was really fun bopping around with my wife in foreign countries where we knew no one and definitely did not speak the language. I’m ready to go back!

What’s your guilty pleasure movie or show?

I’m a huge sucker for RomComs…. and I usually will cry at some point. Some of my favorites are Love Actually, Definitely Maybe, Knocked Up, Crazy Stupid Love, 27 Dresses, and D Wears P (Devil Wears Prada).

Best Dallas BBQ?

Cattleack. Get in line early (1030 am or so) and experience this greatness that is only open on Thursdays and Fridays. Oh, and make sure you haven’t scheduled any meetings for the rest of the day.

What music are you currently listening to?

Yesterday was the anniversary of one of the Grateful Dead’s most famous shows – 5/8/77 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. So, I’ve been listening to that. I highly recommend checking out the ‘Morning Dew’ from that evening.

What inspires you?

I think my best answer here would be my Dad. He’s a shining example of the man I hope to become one day. He’s been successful in business, married to an amazing woman (my mom) for over 40 years, and raised 3 great kids. And, he’s done it all with integrity, class, conviction, and humor. I hope to be able to emulate what he’s done in his life in mine.

What advice you’d give someone looking to get into Marketing and Advertising?

Be prepared to work. Anyone who says this business is glamorous has only seen it from the outside. It’s a very very fun industry to be a part of, and you get to do and work on some really cool things — but like anything else, you have to work at honing your craft every single day, otherwise you will fall behind. In the words of Bob Dedman (and I’m paraphrasing), “You should work 60 hours a week in your 20s, 50 hours a week in your 30s, and 40 hours a week in your 40s. By your 50s, you should have had enough success to set your own schedule”.