Interview with Creative Director Jody Watkins
Luxury air travel, Los Angeles, chef culture, and more.
Jody Watkins is a Los Angeles-based creative director, brand manager, and car enthusiast. For the past decade or so, she has collaborated with some of the coolest LA luxury and lifestyle brands such as Aero, House of Spoils, and The Motoring Club, and she has also worked on international campaigns with Apple, Google, and Netflix.
As a dynamic creative with an eye for design, she takes on select unique projects. During the week you can find her at her local coffee shop partnering with one of her branding clients to develop a new merch collection, out on a ranch in Wyoming photographing western life, or trading classic cars with her father in their 3-generation family vintage car business.
She can be found at jodywat.com or on IG.
What does "good taste" mean or look like to you?
Good taste is having the confidence and creativity to express oneself authentically while simultaneously demonstrating an eye for elegant refinement. To recognize and appreciate the subtleties of craftsmanship. To have a discernment for the arts. To have personal sensibility.Â
How has your taste given you a competitive edge or opened new opportunities in your career?
Having taste is the defining difference between landing the deal or not. Nowadays, anyone (including AI) can design a product, develop a social strategy, or invent an entire brand. The difference is - was it done in good taste? A brand that capitalizes on trends or margins will never develop or maintain a strong brand equity. To create timelessness is to have taste.
I learned early on from one of my mentors, that having an interesting and exciting personal life is what leads to finding yourself in an exciting career. Maintaining a curious spirit has always expanded my personal taste and inherently expanded my career opportunities.
Living in the beautiful city of Los Angeles has always been an exciting culture that encourages adventure and ambition. It's the perfect spot to meet inspiring growth-minded creatives while also being able to get out in nature - the mountains, beach, lake, desert, and snow are all within a 2-hour drive. And when you have a '65 Springtime Yellow Mustang, there's nothing more freeing than going for a drive to fuel the creativity.
How does your taste play a role in the branding of Aero? Has there ever been a time where trusting your taste was key to making an important decision?
Aero was born out of a tech and design-fueled environment, the brand has always been very sleek and sexy. For me, the all-black designer jets are just beautiful inside and out and our guests feel the same.
But along the way, we noticed another special element in the Aero experience that our guests continuously rave about: the personalization and attention to detail in service. At the heart of the brand are the people of Aero, the Concierge, Flight Attendants, Pilots, and Hosts that make it an unparalleled 'airline' worthy enough to force you to redefine what air travel even means.
Aero's initial branding excluded that humanistic experience, so over the past 2 years, the team and I have been evolving the brand visuals to tap into this 'special sauce' that our operational experience provides. I worked to capture these memories made in real time, to bring authentic life into the brand, and to help fuel the mission of creating a new way to fly.
Being able to manifest this strategy into a reality was a team effort, but it was a strong vision led by my ambition and desire to craft a tasteful brand. Now, for the first time this year, Aero is participating in direct flights to the Coachella festival, and I am excited to see how this brings a new layer of life into the memory-making aspect of a stellar brand such as Aero.
What's your approach to ensuring your taste continues to evolve and stays sharp?
I choose to be a student of life. I choose to make decisions that take me out of my comfort zone. Exposure to new cultures, new foods, new books, new friends, and new ways of thinking can be a powerfully productive path toward self-growth. Experience helps to refine your palate.
If you want to maintain your taste you have to continue pushing the envelope and exploring your creativity. I am still young-ish in my career at my role, and I encounter plenty of more mature creatives who have become stagnant in their design aesthetic. The technology of the day has outgrown them or they are unable to face change.
I fear becoming like that as the world gets faster. So my approach is to always be a student of life, learn from those who are younger than me, and not let my ego get in my own way. By doing this, my taste is constantly evolving.
What’s one thing you’ve seen recently that you’re drawn to but don’t exactly know why?
Chef culture. I'm going through the rediscovery of Anthony Bourdain, making focaccia by Nancy Silverton, and obsessing over Massimo Bottura. I'm not sure why but I think it's because as a creative who primarily works digitally, I am fascinated by the creatives who work with their hands.
I am very into observing the masters as they refine their craft. It's admirable to dedicate an entire lifetime of craftsmanship to perfecting pasta. From what I hear, chef life can be one of the most anxiety-ridden vocations, all the more reason to admire their growth.
Also - how quantum field theory relates to consciousness, but that's another topic.