When Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported on efforts by the insurance industry to freshen its image and enhance the recruitment of college graduates, it focused on a four-minute music video produced by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. The video is an upbeat, highly stylized compendium of tips for acing a job interview, a content marketing masterpiece that builds the brand in a very non-traditional way.

And what film school did the producer of this highly praised video attend to learn his trade?

Guess again. Because the answer is Bentley — “the business university” — where Jonathan Spencer '07 majored in Corporate Finance and Accounting, a focus he credits with helping immeasurably to undergird his success in a creative field.

It goes back to what Spencer’s father Robert, who earned both undergraduate (’77) and graduate (’85) degrees from Bentley, told his son when he was trying to decide where to attend college. “A business education can never hurt you,” the elder Spencer advised. “If you get a business degree, you’re going to be fine. You can literally apply it to anything.”

That turned out to be great advice, especially after Spencer decided that a career change might be necessary in the wake of a corporate takeovers and the 2008 recession. It was, he decided, an opportune time to think about other options, especially those in the creative fields, which had long been an interest.

Indeed, Spencer had minored in what Bentley calls Information Design and Corporate Communication. And he had kept in touch with Liz LeDoux and Jeff Stern, both faculty members in the English and Media Studies Department. They and other Bentley faculty members nurtured Jonathan's passion for writing and producing video. They also introduced him to the word “producer,” and the idea that the breadth of responsibilities, from creative to financial, might make the career worth investigating.

While intrigued, Spencer discovered that the leap from one field to the other was not, of course, all that easy. Nevertheless, he knew that he did not want to return to finance and that he did want to learn how to use the tools of the video trade, from cameras to editing software. As he continued to consider his career options, he supported himself with jobs ranging from restaurant manager to clothing company founder, giving further credence to his father’s advice. Finally, LeDoux and Stern offered him a job as part-time manager of the then recently established Bentley Mac Lab, enabling him to spend “literally hundreds of hours” further honing his technical skills.

To buttress his credentials, Spencer obtained a master’s degree from Emerson College. That helped land a job at Regan Communications in Boston, where his fusion of business and creative skills really paid off. Starting with what was a fledgling ancillary function, he created a highly profitable revenue stream, building his personal brand with video work on clients such as the Boston Celtics, New Balance, and Vantage Travel.

It wasn’t long before Liberty Mutual took notice. Seeking to expand its in-house capability, the company was intrigued by the left brain/right brain package that Spencer offered.

“Honestly, I always thought that when it came to discussing the role of the producer, it wasn’t always wise to focus only on the creative side,” Spencer remembers. “In the business of video production, for me it’s always been as much about engaging with management or the client as about promoting the creative product,” he says. “Yes, I’m creative but being able to work with the budget of a project makes a big difference. So does being able to thrive in a corporate setting, something that my Bentley experience certainly prepared me for.”

Professor LeDoux points out that the fusion between business and the arts and sciences has only grown at Bentley since Jonathan's days as an undergraduate. Indeed, she notes that students with a traditional business major have the opportunity to double major in Liberal Studies with a creative concentration. Or they may pursue a major such as Creative Industries, English, or Media and Culture, and double major in business studies. 

“There’s so much involved in video,” Spencer says. “Licensing the music, hiring the actors, securing the rights, managing the production schedule, and staying on budget are just some of the responsibilities.” And for high-quality video, budget is key, as costs can easily soar.

Now that the video is posted on YouTube and promoted on the company’s talent recruitment site, the emphasis is on distribution. With a huge jump in “average time on page,” and now over 30,000 views on YouTube, securing as many eyeballs as possible will go a long way towards engaging today’s millennial generation.

As for what’s next, Spencer is already marshalling the creative and business skills he’ll need to produce a breadth of video productions for a major Liberty Mutual brand promotion that’s coming up next year: the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Vic Schlitzer is Director of Brand and Content Marketing at Bentley.