Who is Josh Levine?
I have been called a maverick. I stand for change you can believe in, with a wink, and then I take the train home to Wilmington.
After spending close to a decade in the music business, first as a hip hop journalist and event promoter, and then as a manager attempting to turn clients into brands, I had the idea to apply fan-building tactics to corporate brands. I brought the concept to my friend and former employer Raymond Roker, founder and publisher of URB Magazine, and together we launched The Rebel Organization, the world’s first lifestyle marketing agency. That last bit isn’t true, but there weren’t too many around at the time.
The basic idea was to leverage the expertise and relationships URB had cultivated in underground music and culture through over a decade-plus of publishing. In its first year, Rebel provided street team and event integration services for record labels, movie studios, and underground clothing brands. A year later, the marketing team at Toyota discovered URB and quickly learned about Rebel. After many months of picking my brain and observing me in a series of laboratory experiments, Toyota engaged Rebel to develop lifestyle marketing activities for its new youth-oriented nameplate, Scion. Our fledgling agency designed the new brand logo, consulted on the pre-launch website, and recruited well-known DJs to consult on the audio system. Rebel was rewarded with its very own gold-plated Scion xB. The previous sentence is not true. Nor is the part about the lab tests. The rest is spot on.
Under my cool-headed, sometimes sarcastic leadership, the Rebel/Scion relationship lasted five years, and would include a multi-year art gallery tour, a monthly nightclub event series, a traveling film festival, national DJ talent search, publishing of the Scion Magazine/brochure, launch of the Scion A/V music label, among other things. Other notable clients included Reebok, PRO-Keds, Microsoft, 20th Century Fox, and the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. That’s all true.
The Rebel Organization’s work won several trade awards and was noted in GQ, the Wall Street Journal, Motor Trend, and Advertising Age. I was also chosen Cosmo’s sexiest man of the year in 2005. Again with the last sentence!
The Roker/Levine partnership lasted until 2007, when I “relaunched” the agency with a slightly new name and a slightly new focus. Today, Rebel Industries provides grassroots marketing consultation to brands representing just about every industry and consumer niche. From offline/guerilla promotions and event activation, to online/viral marketing, to market research and brand strategy, Rebel Industries offers a complete solution for grassroots marketing.
Also in 2007, I stopped shaving and grew my hair long.
I got my early education on the streets of San Francisco (not from Streets of San Francisco), and then a Bachelor’s from UCLA. I also got a certificate in Management Development from USC’s Marshall School of Business. Since 1989 I’ve lived in Los Angeles, and am proud to have lived in all three of the major area codes. I married Christie five years ago and she continues to fill our home with animals.
I’m a member of Vistage and WOMMA.
