In this podcast episode, Jared Nieuwenhuis discusses his journey from marketing in the video game industry to serving as a council member and deputy mayor in Bellevue. He shares how his marketing experience has influenced his approach to public service, particularly in terms of branding, messaging, and community engagement. Jared also highlights the importance of digital channels in reaching diverse audiences. He shares the complexities of managing passionate fans in the gaming industry with persuading local residents on community initiatives, emphasizing the value of feedback in both arenas.
Learn more about Fujisan Marketing here or email your questions/comments to contact@fujisanmarketing.com.
Full episode transcript:
00:13
Welcome to the digital markets guide podcast where we break down digital marketing topics into bite sized episodes that can help make your marketing program and you a little better. I’m Preston Parshall, the founder and CEO of Fujisan Marketing. We’re here today with Jared Nieuwenhuis. Welcome to the show, Jared. Thank you, Preston. You got my last name right. So we’re off to a good start. We’re off to a very good start. So now I’m going to go through Jared’s lengthy bio, so just give me one second here and humor me. Will do Jared Nieuwenhuis has been serving on the Bellevue City Council since 2017 and became deputy mayor in 2020 with a strong focus on improving neighborhoods and getting real results for the community. By day, he handles Marketing and Communications for Nancy Drew games at HeR Interactive actually, he doesn’t do that. Hold on one sec. Wait. Actually, I do again, really, we can keep rolling.
01:07
originally from Canada and an excellent soccer player, he played collegiately at Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin, that’s right, Jared is passionate about Bellevue’s diversity and enjoys cycling through the city’s neighborhoods where he lives with his wife and daughter. Welcome to the show, Jared. Thank you, Preston, that sounds like the abridged version of the bio. It is the abridged version. I have an aversion to talking for too long, Jared, I know that’s how I want to put you on the spot.
01:37
And Jared is he’s my longtime friend as well. So Jared, your career has had an interesting transition from marketing in the video game industry to serving as a council member and deputy mayor. What sparked your interest in politics and how did your experiences in marketing and gaming shape your approach to public service? Well, first of all, thank you for having me today on your incredible podcast series that you’re developing as part of Fujisan. And for the record, I have hired Fujisan previously at past the spots in my career, and you’ve always done a fantastic job, but it’s an honor to be a part of your podcast today. So the way I got into it, you know, it was really just organic. I think, as I did, whenever you show an interest in your community, I did that by being on the board of my local neighborhood association. That led to being on the board of a couple of different nonprofits that dealt with domestic violence and also dealt with women who are experiencing violence. That led to me being on a board at the city of Bellevue, who’s a parks and community services board. So whenever you take that active interest in an active role, it’s not long before people start tapping you on the shoulder and start saying, Hey, have you ever thought about, you know, taking this a step further and running for office? And that conversation happened multiple times, but it was never just really the right timing, mainly due to family and but back in 2017 I decided to throw my hat in the ring, and I was honored enough that the residents of Bellevue sought fit to elect me as their council member before position four. So I took office on January of 2018
03:16
and I’ve gotten reelected once, and actually I can’t believe running for reelection again next year for a third term, and we are so proud of you. Thank you, Preston, that means a lot. I appreciate that. What lessons from marketing have you found most applicable to navigating the complexities of Local Government and Community Leadership? There are a lot, actually even more than I might have anticipated getting into this, because part of my job, too over the years, has been community management. Now that’s online management, or digital management of fans. And I think actually managing and dealing and developing relationships with residents is a lot easier than some Nancy Drew fans that I’ve had to manage over the years.
04:01
It really and truly is, but, yeah, it’s, it’s a lot of the same core concepts in terms of overall marketing and what you’re doing as an elected official. I mean, you have your brand, your messaging in terms of what you’re focused on and relaying back to the community in terms of what are their priorities, how you’re giving back, what your priorities are, what you’re working on, and then, and then all the different channels that you have for communicating that, and a lot of it as you know nowadays is, you know, it’s not just the direct mail and the meetings and the conferences and during a Campaign, like the candidate debates, etc., but it’s a lot of its online. You know, it’s amazing to me, how many people who have voted for me but have never met me until, like, recently. But we’re connected on Facebook, we’re connected on x we’re connected on Instagram, and they follow Me and they come up to me and be like, thank you so much for taking care of that issue. We’ve never.
05:00
Ever met before, but you let me know about this, this new ordinance, and I was able to, you know, connect with the city, get it, get it changed, or resolve that issue. And I wouldn’t have known about that if I hadn’t been following you on instant. So, so you know that’s really, really important, as we always seek for multiple different channels at all times to connect with the community and to hear their concerns and to resolve them. This, to the best of our ability, talk to me a little bit about messaging. So messaging so important in marketing. I mean, coming up with your messaging, crafting that putting around a brand, how does that translate to what you’re doing? Yeah, it’s, to an extent, is all about storytelling. You know, it really, it really is, you know, remembering those stories that you’re hearing from the community and making sure that, you know, they live on in different ways. No, like for
05:52
I’m not sure, being in Seattle, you really want to hear me say this right now, but you know, one of the core things that I have constituents tell me all the time is, don’t let Bellevue turn into Seattle. Now, there’s a reason they say that, and it’s maybe a little over simplistic, but what they mean by that is sometimes, because you see it every night on TV, right? You know, via drug issues on Third Avenue or some of the crime or graffiti, they don’t want that in their city. So that’s what they mean by that. They still love Seattle, but they have concerns about Seattle, so enable to create that narrative and let them know what I’m working on to ensure that that doesn’t happen. So for example, I created what’s called the Keith Bellevue beautiful program. So that’s a program that addresses abandoned shopping carts, graffiti, litter, amongst other things, and that’s been incredibly successful in it, and it gives people a sense that that’s Jared has heard me, and he’s going to ensure that Bellevue remains the beautiful city that I know it’s been since, like the 50s or the 60s or what have you, but even for new residents as well. So taking that input, trading that story, taking action and then, and then, you know, sticking with that messaging and letting folks know what I’ve done and will continue to do as a representative execution
07:09
so important as you know you’ve received numerous awards for your contributions to public service. How has your background, both as an immigrant and as someone with experience in marketing, influenced your approach to these social issues?
07:23
Well, I’ll give you a recent example of that one. So couple years ago, we started to see the rise of antisemitism throughout Washington State. I worked with a group called the American Jewish Committee to pass the first ever definition. Previously there wasn’t one of definition of antisemitism on the West Coast, it was adapted from one that has been used in other countries and also on the East Coast that have a large Jewish community, like New York, etc. Because I firmly believe you can’t identify something unless you can define it, and sometimes it’s not always clear what antisemitism looks like or sounds like. So that was so that was that was passed by the Bellevue City Council after I brought it forward, and it meant a tremendous, a lot to the Jewish community throughout Washington state. And, you know, part of my immigrant experience growing up, you know, I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but I have Dutch parents every year, going back to the Netherlands, I was reminded of the atrocities of World War Two, the atrocities against the Jewish community in Amsterdam, the story of Anne Frank that everybody knows, those stories always stayed with me, and when I saw an opportunity to make a difference, because I’ve always said never again, I believe that Never again is now. And hence why I took that, that initiative and that leadership to get that passed, and is proud, proud to do it. Working in marketing requires a deep understanding of your audience, clear communication. Have these skills translated into your work on the Bellevue city council and what digital marketing techniques have used to reach different audiences. Well, we touched on that a little bit. I mean, it’s been every possible channel that I can think of in terms of reaching every community member as possible. I want to hear from everybody, if they’re a recent immigrant or have been living in Bell since, you know, the 1950s I want to know about their thoughts and concerns as previously mentioned. I mean, I think the city is slowly starting to catch up a little bit on digital tools to use, because too often it’s like, when something’s happening in your neighborhood, look for that postcard that’s going to come in your mailbox. Well, well, you know, you know, it’s changing, and values demographics have changed quite a bit too. You know, our downtown is our fastest growing neighborhood, and it’s increasingly younger all the time, as more tech workers come into coming to Bellevue, a lot of them are Amazonians. With 25,000 jobs coming into Bellevue, we’re also a minority majority city, so we need to be translating across multiple language, languages, and 40% of Bellevue.
10:00
Residents were born outside of the United States. So we have a very strong Indian community, Chinese, Asian American community, Eastern European, Ukrainians, Russians, etc. So we’re constantly using different techniques. Like Personally, I use whatsapp to connect with a lot of my Chinese constituents, because that’s their platform of choice, so I’m trying to make it easy for them to connect with me on their preferred platform. There’s a lot that still preferred Facebook. There’s a lot of people that email me or call me the old fashioned way, but I want to be everywhere that my constituents are to make it as easy as possible for them to connect with me. So a little bit of a fun question. Let’s talk more about audiences. So what’s been more challenging, convincing gamers to buy the newest Nancy Drew video game or persuading Bevy residents to support a local initiative? No, definitely the gamers, I think they hold us to a much higher standard, although it’s case dependent, really, to be honest. I mean, there are certain issues that come up at the city. So for example, right now, we’re looking at the different ways of implementing what’s called bike Bellevue, and within that, we’re looking at different routes around the city. Some prefer that bike lanes go down major arterials. Others prefer that bike lanes are on slower, safer local streets, even if it takes you longer to get to your destination. Now, with the Nancy Drew, you know, our fans are just so fanatical, and they know everything that has ever happened to Nancy Drew doesn’t matter if it was in movies, books, games, whatever. So they are very quick to point out any discrepancies or inconsistencies in storylines or characters or what have you, and they hold us to a very, very high standard, and they expect to be heard, and they expect that their input is going to make it into every game going forward. And sometimes are disappointed when it when, when that doesn’t happen. But yes, but you know, they’re a fanatical group, but I love them dearly, and I so appreciate just I do with residents, all the great feedback, either positive or negative. I always appreciate that feedback, because we can always get better, either on that next game or on that next ordinance or policy coming out of the city. We can always do better. Well, thanks Jared, and thanks for listening to the digital marketers guide podcast. Be sure to subscribe. Stay up to date when a new episode is released. If you have any feedback or topics you’d like to see covered, email us at contact@fujisanmarketing.com
12:29
or learn more about us at www.fujisanmarketing.com
12:32
See you next time you
