brands who want to have a
place in music and
comedy. We’ve had a lot
of success there and I
believe we can do that for
a lot more brands in the
future.”
D
Before the team came
together, Zucatti was working for another company
doing college radio promotion and Landman was a
music director at Ithaca College. In fact, Zucatti would
promote records to Landman and after working together
in that aspect, she hired him to work inside the college
radio department of her current company.
“I remember the bathroom didn’t have a light, we had to
take a flashlight with us to the bathroom,” said team
member and partner, Jon Landman. “It was these kind
of do it yourself experiences that gave us a hands-on
approach to the business.”
“We clicked from the get go. We had a great working
relationship, a great dynamic between us and we gained
the respect of a lot of our other clients at this other
company,” Zucatti said. “As that company started to
downsize a little, we were doing well and decided to try
it on our own. A lot of our clients said wherever you
guys are, we will go with you and many of them did.
We were very lucky in that respect that a handful of our
clients came with us.”
uring the first two weeks of their company,
The Syndicate made its home in an open
warehouse. With five computers, five
phones and no heat, it was Syndicate’s
passion for the music and comedy industry
that kept them in the game.
Since the days of their flashlight-guided bathroom trips,
The Syndicate team has grown to become an awardwinning marketing agency for music and comedy artists
including well-known names such as Taco Bell,
Comedy Central, Adult Swim and Simon & Schuster.
They have also helped to promote albums for bands
such as Maroon 5, Daft Punk, The Killers, Kings of
Leon and Pearl Jam and sparked comedy careers
including those of Dane Cook, Amy Schumer, Lewis
Black, Jim Gaffigan and the TV show Workaholics.
With so much success in their 17 years of existence,
these achievements didn’t come right away for Chris
Elles, Jon Landman, and Tracey Zucatti, partners at The
Syndicate.
Everything started with music.
“Music is still as important and as impactful on people
even though the music industry has changed over the
last decade but comedy is in a renaissance right now,”
Elles said. “Between these two forms of entertainment,
we’ve had our finger on the pulse of each division for
so long. I think the future for us is working with more
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Summer Issue
Following the introduction of Zucatti and Landman,
Elles became a valued member of the team working
with the street level promotions and comedy aspects of
their group.
“Chris was a client of ours and he would hire us to work
with records and he had started the street marketing
teams,” Zucatti said. “About two years into this, in
2001, our clients were asking about this street
marketing and we wanted him to come over and help us
develop a department. That was the next round of
evolution. From