On a Sunday morning in October 2023, Rob Longert’s cell phone rang; a client was calling. As many ambitious and focused executives might do, Longert answered. What might make Longert unlike many others is that he took that call while running mile seven of the Chicago Marathon.
“I asked myself… ‘Am I not going to pick up right now?’” Longert, class of 2006, tells a packed classroom of graduate students in UAlbany’s Massry School of Business. (He told the client he would call them back after he crossed the finish line.) “I feel like the ‘never pencils down’ mentality in the world of communications is really important.”
Longert would know. He’s the co-founder and managing partner of the creative communications firm, Day One Agency (D1A), whose clients include world-renowned brands like American Express, Chipotle, Converse, Lyft, Amazon and e.l.f. Cosmetics.
Built for today’s hyper-paced world of digital, public relations and social media, D1A has not only amassed an enviable client roster over its decade-long existence, it has also earned a reputation (and awards) for quickly creating and deploying innovative and authentic “storytelling” that captures the cultural zeitgeist and resonates with its clients and their communities.
Case in point: In 2022, a video of a precocious 6-year-old boy named Tarik, who adorably proclaims his love for corn, went mega viral. D1A learned that the “Corn Kid,” was also a huge fan of their client, Chipotle. Within hours, D1A devised a social media video that showed Tariq in a Chipotle line politely declining every ingredient until he gets to the brand’s signature chili corn salsa. Tarik then delivers the charming and unforgettable line from his own viral video: “It’s corn!”
The clever collaboration produced Chipotle’s most successful Tik Tok and Instagram videos in its history and, as reported by trade magazine Ad Age, garnered more than 4 million social media impressions and 4.5 billion media impressions.
“We made that asset and got it together in 17 hours,” recounts Longert, a Brooklyn native. “But it took seven years to build that relationship and to build the trust with the client to actually do that.”
The agency’s creative work and client focus has landed it at the top of industry rankings. In 2024, Ad Age placed Day One Agency at #4 on its Agency A-List. In 2023, PRWeek named Longert to its “40 Under 40” list.
As the UAlbany students lean into Longert’s presentation, he reminds them that relationship building and a strong work ethic are the keys to success, particularly when starting out in the business.
The work, he says, isn’t always glamorous: An early internship had him scrambling across Manhattan to find chef’s clogs for Jeff Bezos to wear at a BBQ event; on another assignment, Longert crisscrossed the country on a grueling multi-state promotional tour with the iconic Maytag Repairman spokesperson; for the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2009, Longert wrote a blog in the voice of Michelangelo — one of the main characters. For Longert, every assignment is an opportunity to learn, problem solve and build relationships with clients.
“We want to be the best part of our clients’ days,” he says.
At Day One, Longert says they leverage their work ethic to establish trust and solidify relationships. He cites that 85-90% of their client roster is built through relationships as opposed to new business pitching. For more than a decade, Longert has been a lead on the interagency team spearheading American Express’s digital and social efforts around its most high-profile campaigns, such as its Small Business Saturday initiative, which celebrates its 15th year in 2024.
“Small Business Saturday ... is something I feel really great about working on,” Longert says of the multi-year project to uplift under-resourced businesses. “It’s amazing when the power of a brand and marketing come together to truly help people.”
The long ties with Amex are indicative of Day One Agency’s philosophy that successful relationships are central to business. In fact, it’s written on page 27 of the agency’s culture book: “We put emphasis and value on relationships. We build bridges, we do not burn them.”
“My parents taught me at a young age, don’t leave until the job is done,” says Longert, who started working in his father’s New York City-based theater business at age 13. He brought that work ethic to UAlbany, applying it to his role as manager of the men’s basketball team. During the historic 2006 season in which the Great Danes made their first NCAA tournament appearance, Longert, an avid Knicks fan, learned firsthand what it took to support a competitive D1 sports team.
“I wasn’t even practicing and I was tired all the time,” laughs Longert. “But I was the first [there] and last to leave ... making sure that the players and coaches had everything that they needed.” In addition to his basketball duties, Longert worked as a coordinator for a local after-school program. As he puts it, he was “just busy doing things.”
Yet, the psychology major managed to find time for a social life which led him to his best on-campus discovery: his future wife.
“He used to leave me notes on my car,” says Alissa Longert, a Long Island native who also majored in psychology. In an early preview of his creative marketing skills, Longert created fake parking tickets with romantic fines, like kisses, to woo his future bride. They sealed their relationship with a love note passed between two study desks in the Science Library.
Twenty years later, almost to the day, the Longerts returned to campus with their 8-year-old son, Max. As Longert shares his career milestones with the business students, he says he was moved by the full-circle moment.
“There’s just like a lot of ... emotion swirling in that moment and pride. Pride for graduating from here,” he says. “Pride for the agency, pride for showing my son where we met — just all of those things combined, I think, hit me as I was sitting up there.”
During the Q&A session after Longert’s lecture, students ask how they could jump start their careers in the fast-paced and always-on world of communications and social media.
Longert returns to the themes that have served him well: “If this is the field that you want to get into, you just have to get reps ... So, there’s not a secret sauce. It’s hard work. It’s finding your spots.”
And if you’re Rob Longert, it’s going the extra mile — and taking the call while doing it.
