Jacob Tell featured on CanvasRebel

Meet Jacob Tell

LINK OUT TO ARTICLE DECEMBER 26, 2023

We recently connected with Jacob Tell and have shared our conversation below.

Jacob, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Each venture that I have been a part has rich storytelling of mission, purpose and vision. From Oniracom, my 22 year old creative marketing agency to LoDo Studios our production and event rental venue, and most recently District216 a membership driven psychedelic social club.

At Oniracom we create a culture of positive disruption. Starting in the music industry we have worked with Jack Johnson who has environmentalism at the core of everything he and his team do. We learned about cause driven marketing, and how to make emotional connections between artists and fans that are meaningful. As we moved into other industries from music, we had this purposeful approach to storytelling, marketing and technology solutions in our DNA. We started to challenge organizations we engaged to be triple bottom line focused – people, planet & profits. Perhaps they need to change their supply chain, or align with new partners, or bring team and culture related elements into their external communications. Decades into our history we now select clients based on values alignment rather than strictly by industry, and the industries that become more thematic in our engagements are positively disruptive in their own way (music, cannabis, wellness, psychedelics).

Out of the pandemic came a moment of adapt or die — namely our building that Oniracom formerly filled with many humans and agency related activities — we found empty. We realized we had to find new ways to monetize the building so we started by opening up our photo & video production facility to the creative community of Santa Barbara. From there we found a. niche in 501d3 organizations not being able to host their gala events physically in person, so they came to LoDo Studios to livestream the events and raise just as much in donations but with even lower overhead. As covid restrictions lifted a bit, we began to rent our space for events – anything from comedy and live music to mixers and private parties. We truly turned this building into an asset for the community.

And as Oniracom found new footing with LoDo Studios here to help generate revenue rather than being a burden of overhead, the newest concept brewed on. District216 had a home and a marketing company to support, but it needed a business model. Enter the membership model, a recurring revenue model, and one that focused on fostering meaningful relationships in hopes of keeping long lasting members engaged in this social club. The entire concept was built upon a Manifesto that outlines our core values, and acts as a beacon to attract like minded individuals and organizations into the fabric of District216. And of course, positively disrupting society’s take on taboo topics such as cannabis and psychedelics through education, discourse, advocacy and thought leadership. Active listening remains a key tenant of what allows this community to provide a sense of connection and healing to so many who have experienced our events.

Jacob, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Jacob Tell: Uniting Creativity & Culture for Two Decades

Jacob Tell, the driving force behind the branding and creative marketing agency, Oniracom (founded 2001), has spent more than two decades pioneering a culture of positive disruption. His journey is not merely a career but a tapestry of authentic relationships, a commitment to team building, and a steadfast dedication to shaping culture.

With an educational background in film and politics, Jacob seeks world-changing solutions for positive and creative people. He carries with him a deep appreciation for nature and a hopeful vision for the future of human ecology. Jacob actively supports forward-thinking environmental and political leaders and aims to further meld the realms of artistry and science.

Within the realm of Oniracom, Jacob has birthed innovation after innovation: a reality TV pilot, a film production company, a record label, a thought-provoking print zine, a trio of nonprofit compilation music albums, a vibrant music & arts festival in Santa Barbara, a cutting-edge digital signage technology platform, insightful cannabis symposium series, a neighborhood branding initiative, and a proprietary branding process. He has orchestrated dozens of community events, managed production rental operations, curated art installations, overseen major construction projects for creative office spaces, and most recently, he embarked on a journey to launch a pioneering psychedelic social club. Notably, he once traveled the world with rockstar Jack Johnson, expertly managing an international eco-friendly merchandise operation.

Oniracom was the agency of record for each of the major labels during the 2000s, solidifying its position as a trusted partner in the world of creative marketing.

Jacob is more than a producer; he’s a relentless creator of communities, championing values over profits, and ensuring that the moment’s purpose is never lost. And if you’d like to dive into the world of Phish, his experiences number over 150 shows – a conversation you’ll want to pull up a stool for.

Jacob Tell is a dynamic force connecting creativity and culture.

Website: JacobTell.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobtell/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacobtell
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobtell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JacobTell

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since launching Oniracom in 2001 we have been through many unpredictable moments from 9/11 to the financial crash of 2009, but of course the unprecedented global pandemic of 2020 brought many COVID pivots for millions of us globally. This moment of a marketing agency with many employees working within the confines of a 5,000 sq ft building moving to an empty building where my business partner had the whole upstairs and I took the entire downstairs made for head-scratching conversations based on variations of the “what now?” theme. The pandemic pivot gave birth to two new ventures, which also since have become new corporate entities; LoDo Studios and District216.

LoDo Studios began as the idea to fill some rooms with tenants, then open up the larger creative spaces that Oniracom sometimes had used to create photo & video content to a rentable production studio. Now the creative community of Santa Barbara could use our spaces to shoot content, and rent staffing and gear. The ad went something like, “Hey Santa Barbara – we’re open with covid safety protocols, so bring your video projects, photoshoots and livestream productions to LoDo.” As covid restrictions began to lift, we saw that events were coming back with a vengeance, especially smaller community driven events. The final component was revealed, that LoDo Studios was a rentable venue perfect for outdoor parking lot live music, comedy, nonprofit galas, and private parties. LoDo Studios website now directs traffic either to our Production Studio or Event Rentals, and to this day remains a fixture of the Santa Barbara community.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

After our pandemic pivot revealed LoDo Studios, I now sat managing a brand strategy driven creative marketing agency alongside a Production Studio & Event Rental venue. What I yearned for was to produce more events, cultivate community, continue pushing the boundaries of private cannabis industry gatherings, and positively disrupt the status quo. The next frontier, and one that has been near my heart my entire adult life – Psychedelics. Finally I begin seeing a clearing in Nixon’s War On Drugs, more research being done, FDA clinical trials, more people coming out of the closest, more culture, spiritual, and healing related uses for more compounds, and a direct path to legalizing some of them. This Psychedelics ecosystem would eventually become an industry – for better or for worse as we saw in Cannabis – and I wanted to have a hand in its formation.

With the support of Oniracom as a branding, marketing & communications hub, and LoDo Studios to host live events, the ingredients were right in front of my face to create something special – a gathering space to positive disrupt psychedelics – whatever that meant. Upon learning of a Denver based venue who ran late night live music and psilocybin events, I discovered they had memberships in the style of a social club. Ah ha, that was the light bulb I had waited for – a social club in Santa Barbara all around cannabis and psychedelics? How would I… figure it all out…

A test event May 2022 brought a new doctor performing ketamine assisted therapy in our community to the stage. The turn out was legit, and then it was off to a psychedelics conference in Vegas to see if my concept had legs. All signs pointed to yes, and some local press told the community what I had been cooking and was about to launch, so it was no turning back. Come January 2023 was the first Marquee Event, the first of 4 that year marking them quarterly. Now 10+ months later I’ve produced 49 events, including those 4 Marquees and many evenings at The District House – smaller gatherings with interviews, presentations, workshops, roundtable discussions and film screenings.

Now stands the real possibility of District216 becoming my main/full time business/career…

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