Meet the Writer: David Deal

David Deal is a Hacker Noon writer, notorious for his love of pop culture and the digital. Outside of his writing life, David is also an accomplished marketer. In this Slogging Interview, we got to meet the creator behind various amazing titles and took a look at his inspirations.

This Slogging thread by David Deal and Mónica Freitas occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability.

Hi @channel! It is with great pleasure that I announce our next Slogging AMA guest, David Deal. David is a Hacker Noon writer, notorious for his love of pop culture and the digital. Outside of his writing life, David is also an accomplished marketer. Please, join us in this Slogging Interview, between 1 pm and 3 pm CST, where we'll meet the creator behind various amazing titles. Feel free to ask any burning questions you may have below.

Mónica Freitas thank you for having me here!

Thank you for accepting our invitation. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself? For example, name, profession, and personal interests.

Sure thing; I am a marketing consultant and have been running my own business since 2013. I came from the book publishing industry; I was an editor. Lo and behold, the growth of employee blogging put me in that position all over again but in a different way. Personally, I love writing, music, movies, and books.

Interesting! More than a marketer, you're a storyteller. What made you want to write in the first place? Was it your experience in the publishing industry?

Great question about what made me want to write. I always loved writing, but I really started to develop a passion for writing after I visited Paris in 1981 and visited Jim Morrison’s grave on the 10th anniversary of his death. Seeing how one person could have so much impact on people through his words changed my life.

That's a great origin story! You tend to focus on digital and pop culture themes. What draws you to those topics?

Popular culture intersects with so many passions of mine, such as music. I’m fascinated by the interplay between the two and how they influence each other — a good example being Travis Scott and his role as a pop culture figure in addition to being an artist.

As for digital: I was working at Accenture literally at the dawn of the digital age. I saw the incredible disruptive power of digital first-hand. I mean, I lived it!

I remember sitting in on meetings between Accenture thought leaders and journalists in the late 1990s. The skeptical questions, such as, “Why on earth would I take the risk of using my credit card to buy anything online?”

I bet you have a gold mine of stories from those topics alone.

It must be strange having lived through all that change. Has that affected who you are as a writer?

Yes, digital has taught me how to be more concise. Twitter is a perfect headline-writing coach. I believe that digital has also helped me become a better reporter because it’s so much easier to find supporting points online.

The most exciting change to live through was the rise of employee blogging. Being head of marketing at Razorfish, I saw how blogging could empower employees in ways not possible before. When I think of being at Razorfish, I am proud of the fact that I encouraged more of it rather than try to control it.

Oh I absolutely agree with you.
On the other hand, what is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?

Could you tell us about an iconic moment you've lived through because of employee blogging?

I think the biggest challenge is giving up some depth of analysis in order to write and publish a point of view faster. There’s so much pressure to react to breaking news with a “what it means” especially because we know news aggregators are looking for content that seems relevant and timely.

Sitting down with two Razorfish executives at Andrew McAfee’s office and sharing what it was like to embrace blogging as a business. I remember it so well, being with Ray Velez and Amy Vickers, and all of us just gushing with pride and excitement. The concept was so fresh and new!

You were at the forefront! That's incredible!

Your Hacker Noon description is: David Deal is a marketing executive, digital junkie, and pop culture lover. What would your own self-description be like?

My honest self-description would read, “David Deal isn’t even the best writer in his family. He’s married to the published short-story writer Janice Deal, whose debut novel, ‘The Sound of Rabbits,’ comes out in 2023. He is father to Apollo Marion Deal, who recently won a 2021 Academy of Americans Poets Prize for the University of Rochester for his poem ‘Tryst.’ David’s singular talent is listening to every note of every song ever recorded by the Doors and Led Zeppelin and pondering their existential meaning.”

Writing does run in the family! You stole all the talent in the neighbourhood. 😁 I'd say listening to great bands is also an amazing achievement.

Now, as we're on the subject, what is your guilty pleasure of choice? Outside of studying the Doors' lyrics.

That’s a great question about guilty pleasures. I used to think Hall & Oates were a guilty pleasure (and I love them), but it seems they have become cool again. I love the Eagles and have come to realize many people consider them to be a guilty pleasure. I am definitely a sucker for one-hit wonders from the 1970s, especially the “light rock” stuff such as “Shannon,” by Henry Gross. Very sappy but I love it.

For the longest time, I did not write very much about music and my personal journey, but I have been doing so more on Medium. It’s really fun — and very difficult. Writing about the music industry is one thing; writing about how music sounds and how it affects you is quite another challenge, and I feel like I always come short in that way, but I keep trying.

Now, us kids, call them classics to try to be as cool as you and have that kind of good taste in music.

I got one more fun question for you because you're a pop culture fan. What would you say is your all-time favorite movie?

Thank you for saying that about music! BTW Father John Misty is someone who has that visceral impact on me like the Doors have for years. And the Mountain Goats.

My all-time favorite movie is Lawrence of Arabia. It is breathtaking on many levels. I watch it probably once a year and get something different from it each time. I am especially fascinated by how T.E. Lawrence embraced his otherness and then struggled with power.

Elon Musk has that kind of rock star impact on the people who love him and follow him. Tim Cook is like Don Henley or Glenn Frey of the Eagles back in the day: clear leaders of the group, but not charismatic rock stars at the Jim Morrison level.

I'll have to admit I'm not familiar with all those musicians, but I'll be googling their music later! If I may put in my two cents, I'd love to read about your journey. If even your origin story as a writer is movie-worthy, I can't imagine the rest. As for music, I think the general public is waiting for someone to put into words the effect music has on all of us. I'm sure you will be the one bringing us that in the future.

I may be a bit "basic" here, but Slash was always one of my all-time favourite rock stars.

What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?

Slash is a great one! Amazing how his public persona changed from dangerous to nearly beloved thanks to Guitar Hero.

I expect to write more about the intersection between the metaverse and entertainment and marketing. I will keep covering New Hollywood streaming companies as well. Thank you for asking!

And thank you for asking about my journey and origin story. I wrote this a few years ago about being at Jim Morrison’s grave in 1981: http://bit.ly/2QkWZxs

Absolutely! Even the way we perceive the old "rock star way of life" has changed. We've covered a few of your passions, struggles as a writer, and many more. However, we haven't talked about your wins. What was your latest Hacker Noon Top story about?

I'll make sure to read it! Thank you for sharing that!

Thank you for asking. My latest story took a snapshot of the New Hollywood streaming companies in light of the Emmy Awards. Right before that, I did a post on the Netflix merchandising shop. By the time I got going on the Netflix story, I thought everyone had already covered it from an e-commerce standpoint, and I wondered if I’d find anything fresh to say. After I took a closer look, I saw that Netflix was taking an inclusive approach working with designers for the shop, and I realized this was an angle not getting a lot of attention.

The streaming companies fascinate me because they are so compelling. Netflix has confounded and surprised industry watchers (and sometimes its own customers) for years. Then you have venerable Disney, reinventing itself through streaming and applying decades of entertainment savvy and experience to show the cool kids a thing or two. It’s so interesting to follow all the streaming companies, even more so in the age of the pandemic.

Streaming Companies have grown during the pandemic in a way that surprised me, especially in terms of the content they offer.

That's to show that there's always another angle to look at things. As a marketer wannabe and Netflix consumer, I found your article very interesting. I'll be keeping my eye out for more New Hollywood content from you.

As we approach the end of this interview, I'd like to thank you for your time and for letting us get to know you a bit better. I hope you've enjoyed this bit. Do you have any closing words?

Thank you so much! My only closing words are: look outside technology to write more effectively about technology.

I could not have ended it better! Thank you so much, David!