2 Minutes With ... Matt Robison, CEO & Founder at Robotproof

Matt Robison founded and serves as CEO of Robotproof, an experiential marketing agency. Robison entered the consumer electronics and retail industry a decade ago, leading a global sales and strategy team for Beats by Dre. As part of the Beats organization during its acquisition by Apple in 2014, Matt played a critical role in aligning sales channels and strategies.

He currently resides in Venice Beach, Calif., and balances his professional life with a variety of personal interests. He enjoys cars, fine wines and trading cards.

We spent two minutes with Matt to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he’s admired.

Matt, tell us…

Where you grew up, and where you live now.    

I grew up outside of Philadelphia, which is where I learned what passion was. Relentless belief and commitment beat in the heart of any Philadelphia sports fan. Today, I live in Venice Beach, surrounded by a creative community and the beauty of the ocean.

How you first realized you were creative.        

I started creating when I was a small child, inventing and building things that popped into my imagination.     

A person you idolized creatively early on.        

Architect Philip Johnson with his work, the Glass House. I admired how it brought to life the core elements of a home, and then deconstructed them.

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

In college, I had lunch with Lowel McAdams, former CEO of Verizon. I was struggling to raise money for a research program I was leading, with our goal being to build a 100-MPG car. He taught me the value of good storytelling. He told me that the size of the project and its complexities were not where my focus needed to lie. The complexities can always be solved. But if you can take that a step further and tell a great story, then you can get people hooked. 

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.  

Tom Everhart—and who doesn’t love Snoopy? 

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring. 

Air was a great film and you can take many inspirational messages from it.

Your favorite fictional character.            

Ironman, because he’s got all the coolest tech. 

Someone or something worth following in social media.

I’m not spending too much time on social media right now. But I do think it’s important to follow some accounts that share opinions or perspectives you might not necessarily agree with or relate to.

How Covid-19 changed your life, personally or professionally.    

Having launched Robotproof right before the lockdown, it was a powerful lesson in resilience. It would have been easy to cut bait, when every project was canceled or put on hold. Instead, I put my mind to work. I wrote the business plan for an exciting project in the VR space, slated to launch later this year. 

One of your favorite creative projects you’ve ever worked on.   

For the launch of Powerbeats Pro, I worked with an amazing agency team, and we built Beats’ first end-to-end campaign. There was so much creativity in that room. We created a never-before-seen training tool and work that was so impactful that it proliferated into every facet of the business. To this day, it is seen as the most successful and cross-functional creative work to come out of Beats. Fast forward a few years, and that team stood beside me to found Robotproof. 

A recent project you’re proud of. 

The work we did for the Uber Eats and Harry Potter collaboration is a project that I will always consider to be one of my favorites. Every aspect gives me pride, from the quality and detail of the creative to the innovative components (like building voice recognition into a cake board to create magic).

Someone else’s work that inspired you years ago.

I don’t think I would be in this position if it weren’t for the Blade Runner 2049 experience at Comic Con. The blend of VR with a physical experience and the pure quality of execution inspires me to push everything we do farther. 

Someone else’s work you admired lately.   

Porsche stole the show for me at SXSW. Can someone please tell me where I can get one of those giant Porsche pencils?

Your main strength as a creative person. 

I am an engineer and a problem solver. So I like to say that I use my expertise to build creative solutions for our clients.     

Your biggest weakness.

I don’t like to do the same thing the same way twice. Sometimes, that means changing things that aren’t broken. And sometimes it leads to the greatest breakthroughs.         

One thing that always makes you happy.        

French fries with Heinz Ketchup 

One thing that always makes you sad.    

Sarah McLachlan ASPCA Commercials

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in marketing.    

Alternative fuels.