Date: 2026-09-02 Time: 4:00 PM EDT Attendees: Michael Houck, Grig Richters (XWECAN), Tatem
Note: Emil Barr (the client) was NOT on this call. This is an internal team sync about his personal brand strategy.
Summary
Working session on Emil Barr’s personal brand strategy. Main agenda was reviewing the California billionaires tax billboard campaign concept, which was ultimately shelved after pushback on timing. Secondary discussion covered what is and isn’t working on the growth front and brainstormed direction for a replacement viral campaign.
Decisions
- Billboard campaign shelved. Emil wanted to launch post-vote (day after), but team consensus is that timing kills all PR value: 9 outlet pickups from one pitch last week, CNBC piece confirmed for mid-September, major outlets already have pro/con op-eds queued. Post-vote the story is old news regardless of outcome. See decision page: Emil Billboard Campaign Shelved (California Billionaires Tax)
- Team needs a replacement campaign ideated before Wednesday.
Action items
- Michael: confirm with Emil whether he joins next Wednesday’s call (talk Friday)
- Grig / Tatem / Michael: brainstorm replacement campaign before Wednesday (constraints: no Ohio-specific angle, nothing that creates political risk with Vivek Ramaswamy)
- Tatem: available Wednesday to brainstorm if needed; Grig back in Europe from Friday
What’s working
- Wealth tax / California billionaires angle: Sacramento, Seattle, SF, LA, Orange County business outlets all picking up; Bloomberg major piece in progress; CNBC piece confirmed mid-September
- Fortune running a work-life balance piece; also covering B612 separately
- B612 donor positioning: Emil alongside Jensen Huang as youngest major donor (~$25K/yr); strong ROI with wealthy/tech audiences
- Midterms shaping up as a strong PR pillar; press already reaching out for comment
- Civic chain / government transparency piece with Steve in progress targeting WSJ ahead of midterms
What’s not working
- Three WSJ placements yielded roughly 1,000 new followers total across all platforms
- Fox News segments haven’t driven meaningful follower growth
- Emil’s content doesn’t give the average person an emotional reason to rally behind him; harder to build grassroots following around a wealthy young centrist without Trump-level charisma
- Wealth tax / midterms content resonates with billionaires and high-net-worth audiences, not the general public
Growth observation
Grig’s framing: Emil’s best social format may be structured debate (Fox News, News Nation) rather than native social content. Possible pivot to podcast/debate formats over social-first content.
Viral campaign criteria (from Michael)
The replacement idea must be inherently viral on its own, with Emil’s brand baked in. Spend should amplify, not manufacture. The billboard idea worked because calling out billionaires by name in front of their employees had organic virality potential. Any replacement needs that same inherent pull, without the Vivek/Ohio constraints.
Notable transcript excerpts
“The startups that grow the fastest and the products that go the fastest and the ideas that grow the fastest are the ones that people inherently want to tell their friends about. That’s like the number one heuristic. We only want something that is naturally going to do well, and then we want to pour gasoline on it. We don’t want to try to force something into existence that wouldn’t go viral on its own.” - Michael
“If it’s voted then it’s like old news. So I understand why you want to do it that way, but it’s not really a PR play at that point unless you make it super viral on socials first.” - Grig
“The beauty of this exact idea was that we were putting it on billboards and we were calling out billionaires by name. The fact that we’re placing it in front of those people’s companies for all their employees to see - those two aspects are a big deal.” - Grig
Full transcript available in Granola (meeting id: f66ca483-f105-43fa-9d0e-7a50c985cb60).