Kyle Olani Adams
Production/Advertising Manager
(August 2022-Present)
Phone:
908-565-4917
Email:
Roles
Media production
marketing/advertising
branding
project management
social media management
About
In 2015 when I was 14 years old, I started my own photography and video business. I started taking local jobs around my neighborhood doing anything people would pay me for. These would include photoshoots, Sweet 16's, corporate events and more. When I was 16, I discovered that I had a passion for covering sports. I spent 2 years with my hometown's basketball team documenting their season. They weren't very good but it was a good feeling to be able to have a place where I can hone my creative skills, build my brand and most importantly build a community. The summer of 2017, I was filming for one of my friends who had a workout at Roselle Catholic High School. I was new to the basketball media landscape so I didn't realize how big of a deal this was. In New Jersey, there are 3 main basketball attractions: Rutgers University, Seton Hall University and Roselle Catholic High School. After spending some time with the players at Roselle, I connected with them and they asked me to come document their upcoming 2017-2018 season.
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I had found a new home to hone creativity, build my brand and create lasting relationships. I was now a little fish in a big pond because Roselle Catholic is a high-level, nationally ranked team that garners a lot of media attention unlike my hometown. It took some getting used to but hard-work, consistency and nurturing relationships in the industry helped me find my way. Roselle Catholic became a place where I would test out my ideas, spend time with friends and more importantly build community. I have worked with Roselle Catholic since I was 16 but it was only with individual players and always independent from the actual school/organization. This all changed after last season.
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The 2021-2022 season was the first full season with spectators since the pandemic started. After going to college and stepping away from the program for the last 2 years, I had the urge to go back and work with the school again. This time, rather than just filming the guys I had become good friends with, the dynamic was different. Last season, I approached it with mentorship and storytelling as the main approach. I had grown to become more than just a photographer since my last season with Roselle Catholic in 2018-2019. I had grown my business to be a fully functioning production company focused on creating high quality content and helping to control athletes narratives.
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The 2021-2022 season was one of the best things I have ever been apart of. I felt the same rush of creativity and community that I felt when I first walked into Roselle Catholic. The players and staff valued me and what I have brought to the program and it felt like a homecoming. We went 24-2 last season and ended up winning the county, state, and the last ever tournament of champions title in NJ history. It was a historic season, and I was there to capture it all. The content I produced was filled with emotion, storytelling, passion and truly captured the essence of the program and the moment. Following this season, I reached out to the coach about officially working with the school rather than just shooting games. He was all for it and brought me in as an intern but quickly offered me a role as Head of Production and Advertising. Roselle Catholic has always been a place for my creativity, brand and community to grow. I am excited that this internship was parlayed into a post-grad position but most-importantly, I am excited to work in a place that prioritizes my growth and artistic ability. My expected salary is around $50,000 which includes a bi-weekly production check with a commission for the marketing and advertising sponsorships included.
Internship Timeline
August - September 2022
September - October 2022
When the semester began, Roselle Catholic High School was still enjoying summer vacation but the players were still in the gym every day getting ready for the upcoming season. There were rules against creating content during this time since school wasn't officially in session. As a result, I was tasked with figuring out ways to draw people in to the experience of Roselle Catholic through social media while adhering to these restrictions.
Pre-Season was in full effect at this point and Roselle Catholic was off to a rough start, winning only 2 out of 9 pre-season games. This was very different from the normal due to the fact that Roselle has always been an unstoppable force in the New Jersey Basketball landscape. We had to control the narrative and reinforce the winning attitude that the Lions have been known for for so long.
October - November 2022
Roselle Catholic was impressed with the public reception of the content I was making. They asked me to create marketing and advertising content for the school and for some of our top players' name, image and likeness deals. After presenting them with data analytics and some advertising packages to send to potential sponsors, Roselle Catholic decided to offer me a paid position post-grad as "Head of Production and Advertising" for the 2022-23 season.
Since Roselle Catholic was off to a rough start, we opted not to post highlight reel recaps for our games since we were losing so much. The logic behind this was that we cannot let our players and the public think that this is a culture we are trying to build. I proposed that we should start posting more candid content that emphasizes where our issues lie without putting out a negative image of the team. The coach and I agreed that the team simply wasn't playing for each other. There was a lot of selfish basketball being played. I captured this pre-game speech by one of our coaches that passionately expressed where our weaknesses were. I produced this video and posted it to our account and it was a hit with our viewers, players and staff..
I was tasked with the mission of promoting the winning culture of Roselle Catholic that they have been known for for so long. I used footage from their historic championship run from last year to make a cinematic reel that evokes emotion and reminds the players, staff and fans of the accomplishments, hard work and talent that Roselle Catholic possesses. This is one of the best videos I have produced for Roselle Catholic thus far.
This was a fun video designed to remind and motivate the players that when they play as a team, everyone gets to have fun. It was really cool to go back into last year's film and make a video where everyone on the team is involved. This video definitely captured the essence of winning basketball and gave the program the jolt of energy it needed to get back on track after a rough start to the pre-season.
After showing my production and marketing skills, Roselle Catholic asked me to start making advertising content for the players and the team to try and draw in some potential sponsors for the season and raise revenue. One of our top players has a deal with an insoles company called "Move". I was tasked with putting together a reel for him and this was the final product. All parties involved were extremely happy with the project.
When Roselle Catholic offered me an official post-grad position as Head of Production and Advertising, it was a full-circle moment. After being around the program for 5 years now, it has become like a family for me. I always said my dream job after college would be one with a lot of creative freedom and something that had to do with basketball. My dreams came true. I accepted the position for the 2022-23 season and came up with an idea to incorporate the content I've captured of the school for the past few years while also launching my own mentorship program for young creatives. I came up with an idea to have a subscription based platform like Netflix that would be the home of all Roselle Catholic content from the past and the future. This is the trailer for the platform that I have decided to call "The Jungle".