SQUARE ROOTS
SQUARE ROOTS: GETTING TO KNOW RICHARD BLOCH
Social Media, Spurs and Poker! Find out what our Director Richard Bloch, gets up to in his spare time...
POKER WITH
RAFA NADAL!
FIRST QUESTION
Who are you and what is your role?
Richard Bloch - Director. I’m responsible for the social media department and have been with the company two and a half years.
SECOND QUESTION
How is social media evolving and what impacts does it have on the world of marketing?
Social Media has evolved immeasurably since I first set up a reddit account nearly 20 years ago. Over the last two decades, social media has developed into the main source of information for a large proportion of the population. It’s often the first thing people look at in the morning and the last thing people do before they go to bed. As a marketeer it allows you to influence and create news on any topic every day. Over the years social platforms have evolved and added different functionality whilst some have faded or disappeared completely.Social Media is a constant learning opportunity and a battle between your creativity vs the algorithm of the platform. Win and your post gets seen by more people and goes “viral”, lose and it goes into the ether never to be seen again.
THIRD QUESTION
If you could work with one famous face on a campaign, who would you pick and why?
I’m lucky enough to have worked with some of the biggest names in sport such as Ronaldo (both R9 and CR7) Neymar and with my beloved football team Spurs but if I could choose any famous person to work with on a campaign it would be Bob Mortimer who is a national treasure and needs to be protected at all costs.
FOURTH QUESTION
You’re one of Square in the Air’s long-suffering Spurs fans, how do you see the season finishing and what would you be looking for in the summer transfer window?
I have a love/hate relationship with Spurs. This season has been particularly painful with (at the time of writing) Arsenal being top of the league. I hope we finish in the Top 4 but we probably don’t deserve it after the way we have been playing this season. This summer (as usual) is make or break for us. Either Kane commits and we can dream about what we can achieve next year or he leaves and we go back to mid-table obscurity.
FIFTH QUESTION
You’re a keen poker player and have once played with Rafa Nadal, tell us how that happened and how it went.
I started playing poker and card games with my grandparents from a young age. When the opportunity came to work for the world's largest poker company I jumped at the chance. As luck would have it thye sponsored some of the biggest names in sport and often had amazing staff competitions, one of which was to meet and play against Rafa Nadal. All you had to do was come up with interesting question to ask him over a hand of poker.
I came 8th in the competition with only six people eligible but thanks to one person being camera shy and the other off sick on the day I got to play. It was just a bit of fun and he had absolutely no idea how to play poker but that didn’t stop him knocking me out when I went all in with a pair of aces only for him to call with 10 8 off suit and win. My main takeaway from the day was a picture of him with me that my dad (who is a huge tennis fan) still has on his desk today and is a great LinkedIn profile picture.
SIXTH QUESTION
You mention your love for cooking in your website bio, if you were dropped into MasterChef tomorrow what would your signature dish be and why?
I only know how to cook about a dozen things so I’m not sure I have enough dishes to go that far in MasterChef but I do make a world class paella.
SEVENTH QUESTION
Who is your biggest inspiration on Social Media?
I try and follow all of the biggest creators and influencers on all the platforms to see what makes them so successful. By far and away the smartest of them all is Mr Beast. On the surface his videos just seem juvenille and superficial but he is obsessive about every detail of his content, from the thumbnails, to the copy in the description, to the length of his intros. Whatever he makes on his videos he pumps back into his next video, which means his 5-10 minute videos can sometimes cost upwards of $1m to produce.
FINAL QUESTION
Finally, if there was only room for one social media platform, which would you prefer to keep and why?
The best social platform by a mile is weibo. It’s like Twitter/Instagram/TikTok/Ebay/Tinder & Amazon all combined and on steroids. The only problem is no one really uses it outside of Asia.
FIRST QUESTION
Who are you and what is your role?
Richard Bloch - Director. I’m responsible for the Social Media department and have been with the company two and a half years.
THIRD QUESTION
If you could work with one famous face on a campaign, who would you pick and why?
I’m lucky enough to have worked with some of the biggest names in sport such as Ronaldo (both R9 and CR7) Neymar and with my beloved football team Spurs but if I could choose any famous person to work with on a campaign it would be Bob Mortimer who is a national treasure and needs to be protected at all costs.
FIFTH QUESTION
You’re a keen poker player and have once played with Rafa Nadal, tell us how that happened and how it went.
I started playing poker and card games with my grandparents from a young age. When the opportunity came to work for the world's largest poker company I jumped at the chance. As luck would have it thye sponsored some of the biggest names in sport and often had amazing staff competitions, one of which was to meet and play against Rafa Nadal. All you had to do was come up with interesting question to ask him over a hand of poker.
I came 8th in the competition with only six people eligible but thanks to one person being camera shy and the other off sick on the day I got to play. It was just a bit of fun and he had absolutely no idea how to play poker but that didn’t stop him knocking me out when I went all in with a pair of aces only for him to call with 10 8 off suit and win. My main takeaway from the day was a picture of him with me that my dad (who is a huge tennis fan) still has on his desk today and is a great LinkedIn profile picture.
SECOND QUESTION
How is social media evolving and what impacts does it have on the world of marketing?
Social media has evolved immeasurably since I first set up a reddit account nearly 20 years ago. Over the last two decades, social media has developed into the main source of information for a large proportion of the population. It’s often the first thing people look at in the morning and the last thing people do before they go to bed. As a marketeer it allows you to influence and create news on any topic every day. Over the years social platforms have evolved and added different functionality whilst some have faded or disappeared completely.Social media is a constant learning opportunity and a battle between your creativity vs the algorithm of the platform. Win and your post gets seen by more people and goes “viral”, lose and it goes into the ether never to be seen again.
FOURTH QUESTION
You’re one of Square in the Air’s long-suffering Spurs fans, how do you see the season finishing and what would you be looking for in the summer transfer window?
I have a love/hate relationship with Spurs. This season has been particularly painful with (at the time of writing) Arsenal being top of the league. I hope we finish in the Top 4 but we probably don’t deserve it after the way we have been playing this season. This summer (as usual) is make or break for us. Either Kane commits and we can dream about what we can achieve next year or he leaves and we go back to mid-table obscurity.
SIXTH QUESTION
You mention your love for cooking in your website bio, if you were dropped into MasterChef tomorrow what would your signature dish be and why?
I only know how to cook about a dozen things so I’m not sure I have enough dishes to go that far in MasterChef but I do make a world class paella.
SEVENTH QUESTION
Who is your biggest inspiration on social media?
I try and follow all of the biggest creators and influencers on all the platforms to see what makes them so successful. By far and away the smartest of them all is Mr Beast. On the surface his videos just seem juvenille and superficial but he is obsessive about every detail of his content, from the thumbnails, to the copy in the description, to the length of his intros. Whatever he makes on his videos he pumps back into his next video, which means his 5-10 minute videos can sometimes cost upwards of $1m to produce.
FINAL QUESTION
Finally, if there was only room for one social media platform, which would you prefer to keep and why?
The best social platform by a mile is weibo. It’s like Twitter/Instagram/TikTok/Ebay/Tinder & Amazon all combined and on steroids. The only problem is no one really uses it outside of Asia.