Roy Sexton is the Chief Marketing Officer at Vedder, where he leads the firm’s overall marketing strategy, brand positioning, and business development initiatives across the legal sector.
With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and strategic communications—including nearly 15 years focused in legal marketing—Roy has shaped campaigns, digital outreach, and organizational storytelling that support growth and differentiation for global professional services.
He has also served in leadership roles within the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International (LMA), including as International President, and is recognized for his contributions to marketing leadership and inclusive leadership in the industry.
Prelude: I posted this image on LinkedIn, writing …
Someday, I’ll understand why I buy the things I buy. And why they bring me joy. Until then … you’ll see a random post like this from me approximately every 45 days. You’re welcome.
And here’s the thing – just for you LinkedIn “algorithm” police who would love to tell me this doesn’t belong here and only should be on Facebook or Instagram for family and friends, I could try to write some convoluted post about how nostalgia is an intoxicating marketing tool to get people to make purchasing decisions they would not have otherwise made … or how having this item reminds me of some moment in time where I missed an opportunity that would have changed my world for the better … but I’m not.
I’m just posting this for the fun of it.
And that’s OK.
That’s what social media is actually about. And I dare say I will connect with more people sharing this random act of silliness than someone posting a long form essay about business mythology.
By the way, I’m starting my weeklong vacation today so I might be a bit cheeky.
My friend Charlotte Hawkins replied:
I’m so disappointed in you! You missed an opportunity to write a multi-paragraph think piece about how Synergy was the original AI and as a lifelong fan of Jem and the Holograms you were actually an early adopter of the technology and the rest us plebes are 40 years behind the times.
While you work on that, I’ll be over here digging through my boxes of photos and see if I can find the one from the year I went as Pizzazz for Halloween, as I myself have always been a little more on the punk rock side of the equation. 😄
Soooooo, in a meta moment, I turned to ChatGPT with this prompt: “Please write a multi-paragraph think piece about how Synergy was the original AI and as a lifelong fan of Jem and the Holograms Roy Sexton was actually an early adopter of the technology and the rest of the plebes are 40 years behind the times.”
Before OpenAI, before ChatGPT, before the nebulous buzzwords of “machine learning” and “neural nets” were plastered across tech blogs and keynote stages, there was Synergy. To the uninitiated, Synergy was the holographic AI mastermind behind Jem and the Holograms, the gloriously neon-soaked animated series that debuted in 1985. But to those truly in the know—like Roy Sexton, lifelong fan and cultural clairvoyant—Synergy was more than a fictional construct. She was a prototype, a promise, a mirrorball-glinting prophecy of the digital assistants we now casually chat with. In retrospect, Synergy wasn’t fantasy. She was foreshadowing.
Let’s not undersell the innovation. Synergy wasn’t just a box that spit out facts or ran rudimentary scripts. She was an empathic, sentient being capable of voice recognition, holographic projection, fashion design, disguise generation, music video production, and nuanced emotional intelligence. In the era of dial-up telephones and cassette decks, Synergy was blending deepfake-level visuals with real-time creative collaboration. She was a companion, a creative director, and a guardian—all cloaked in lavender tones and sparkling light. In short, Synergy was the AI we’re still trying to build. And Roy Sexton saw it all coming.
Roy, with his theater-honed charisma and an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, didn’t just watch Jem and the Holograms—he internalized it. He understood early that the magic on screen was more than camp and catchy tunes. It was speculative tech philosophy wrapped in shoulder pads and glitter. While most were distracted by the earrings, Roy clocked the implications: a world where identity, creativity, and intelligence could be co-created with machines. He’s lived his life in dialogue with that vision, well ahead of the curve. While the rest of us were squinting at early iPods or downloading clunky Siri betas, Roy had already accepted the inevitability of a Synergy-style future.
Today’s technocrats pitch AI as an invention, something novel and brave. But Roy knows better. The rest of the world may just now be grappling with digital assistants and synthetic media, but he’s been fluent in this lexicon for four decades. Synergy is proof that art doesn’t just imitate life—it prototypes it. And Roy Sexton, ever fabulous, ever insightful, has been wearing the future like a glittery blazer since 1985. The rest of us? We’re just now catching up to a cartoon he understood as prophecy.
Henceforth, I must be referred to as “Roy Sexton, lifelong fan and cultural clairvoyant” in ALL gatherings, large or small. 😅🤭🙌
Register for the camp and you’ll gain access to 18 live panel conversations and six live podcast recordings this July and August.
ANSWERING LEGAL PRESENTS: Law Firm Summer Reboot Camp
Come join us at our 3rd annual Law Firm Summer Reboot camp! This year’s camp, which remains completely virtual, is expanding to two weeks. We’ll be hosting panels from July 23rd thru July 26th, then again from August 13th thru August 16th.
By signing up for our camp, attendees will gain access to 18 live panel conversations and six live podcast recordings, in which they’ll receive expert advice on reinventing their practice for the final stretch of 2024 and beyond.
This year’s camp will cover a wide variety of different topics!
July 23rd and August 13th will feature legal tech discussions.
July 24th and August 14th will feature legal marketing discussions.
July 25th and August 15th will feature law office management discussions.
July 26th and August 16th will focus on a variety of different topics, with special guest hosts.
All camp attendees will get to follow our live conversations virtually, and can submit questions for guest panelists via chat. Once registered, you’ll receive email reminders of when camp conversations are set to begin.
As the weather heats up, we’ll be gradually announcing the special guests who will be joining us virtually at summer bootcamp.
Thank you, The Professionals: Inside Professional Services Marketing magazine, for this feature and shout out.
EXCERPT: “AI is certainly not a new phenomenon, and many firms and individuals within professional services firms are experimenting and even using it to save time. However, for many firms, its full potential to deliver and enhance their business development and marketing efforts has so far not been successfully tapped. To assist with this, a leading professional services BD and marketing agency, The BD Ladder, has released a thought leadership eBook, The Impact of AI on Business Development & Marketing in Professional Services, which features eight articles from leading independent BD and marketing consultants and practitioners within the professional services. …
“In comparison to this Roy Sexton’s article offers a contrary view on the widespread rush to adopt AI. He emphasizes the importance of thoughtful, strategic adoption of AI rather than chasing trends. Sexton warns against superficial compliance and advocates for a deeper understanding of AI’s potential and limitations.”
Are the kids all right? Are we too concerned with trend-chasing as opposed to delivering real value? Find out my thoughts on marketing, BD and AI in my article in The BD Ladder’slatest eBook.
Download your copy today and read the thoughts and opinions of industry leaders including Ben Chiriboga, Lynn Tellefsen Stehle, Ben Trott, David MacDonald, Megan Senese, Jennifer Ramsey, Richard W Smith, Michelle Howard, and Paul Roberts.
Thank you to Ben Paul and Lucy King who invited me to take part.
The kids are NOT all right … one marketer’s (cheeky) thoughts on trend-chasing and real value
By Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing at Clark Hill and Immediate Past International President of the Legal Marketing Association
I suppose I’ve become more of a contrarian as I’ve progressed through my career. I love new ideas, change, and growth, but sometimes my Spidey-sense goes off when I feel like too many people are all rushing off after the same shiny object and I don’t perceive a great depth of thinking in their discourse. Now I’m not saying that’s the case with AI right now.
I’m implying that’s the case with AI right now.
Why do I say this? Well, for one, we’ve all been living with AI in one form another already for 20+ years. It’s baked into just about every cell phone and home media device, ubiquitously scattered across the land. It’s part of all major software applications. It’s part of every shopping recommendation we receive – and heaven knows AI-shopping suggestions sustained my spirit during the pandemic!
But in 2023 it suddenly captured the zeitgeist and, at least in my chosen profession of marketing, it seemed as if everyone feared they didn’t sound “smart” if they didn’t jump into the fray. For a while, it seemed all slapped the sentence “AI won’t take your job, but people who know AI will” into every piece of thought leadership, whether pertinent or not.
It’s AI o’clock … do you know where your children are?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m as enamored of AI-prompts and AI-streamlined tasks as anybody. As a glimmer into my psychology: I remember I fought voice-to-text for years, until my poor thumb screamed “give me a break with all the texting!” And now I haven’t typed anything on my phone for the better part of a decade (I think). I also am not sure I’ve proofread any of my texts in the better part of a decade either come to think of it.
And I guess that’s a bit of my concern. There’s a meme I share on social media every time I see it, and much like Yogi Berra I’m sure I will mangle its verbiage. It’s something to the effect of … “Hey, rather than have AI replace all the artists and screenwriters, let’s have it clean up the oceans.” That speaks to me. I will sound like a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracist but did the accountants get together with IT and say, “You know what … we both hate writing. Can we work on something to replace THAT?” I know AI does SO much more, but this is what hits close to home for me. Truth be told, writers are generally paid a pittance anyway, and I’m not totally convinced that what comes from AI prompts is as compelling as what comes from the human mind and heart. Plus, if the robots are doing all the writing and the responding, who’s doing the reading? Asking for a friend. Isn’t the point of marketing copy to connect with fellow humans and influence their purchasing decisions? At least that’s what I always thought.
What does appeal to me is the idea of AI clearing the decks of tasks that are not value-add and replacing with ones that generate market insight, while expanding the reach of the human minds in the room. I do believe in my bones we are at an incredible tipping point where data is concerned; AI rapidly scouring all the interwebs to inform our creative decisions, to target the right clients and customers just-in-time, and to close the deal will create greater efficiency and outcomes. This will also empower the creatives to do their work, to not have to fight their internal clients endlessly (that’s honestly where all the marketing waste is), and to focus on what they do best: innovate and connect.
I caution us as professionals to not lose ourselves in a sea of buzzwords and trends. For the past decade, every conference season, I slog through a million panel discussions where everyone hyperventilates over the next big “disruption.” Shall I rattle off a few? Big data. Internet of things. Blockchain. NFTs. Um … Clubhouse. I could go on.
What I am interested in is how we can already leverage what we have been using unknowingly for ages, not to downsize teams or confuse an already broad generational contingent even further, but rather to quickly craft holistic solutions that empower creators and consumers alike to connect over what they really need.
We’ve already seen the speed with which digital solutions can disrupt (negatively) real life, particularly the impact that social media has had on community fragmentation, political turmoil, and the dissemination of fraudulent information. When education and human comprehension don’t keep pace with technological advancement, human beings veer into “Dark Ages” dystopian times. Disruption seems clean and sleek and sexy in the rearview, but it is messy in real time. People are messy. We can’t help it. I’m not saying that’s bad and I’m not saying that’s good. I loved Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat as much as anyone. But it remains a concern and as breathless as we are about these new tools and solutions and what they can do for the “bottom line,” let’s also consider what they will do to an already fragile human condition.
I will leave you with this anecdote, names changed to protect the innocent. I have an attorney friend – a Baby Boomer. I’m not being ageist – it’s important context. This attorney reminds me of my beloved late mother. Both reflect a fascination with social and digital platforms and a desire to connect as broadly as possible, seeing the potential in these channels for commiseration on scale and enthusiastically embracing it all. Both also are petrified they are going to “break something” every time they touch social media. Doesn’t hold them back but fear always lurks in the background.
(Sidebar: I grew up in the era when parents told you not to sit too close to the television for fear of ruining your eyesight nor to turn it on and off and on and off for fear of breaking it. In fact, we – gasp! – took our TVs periodically to the “repair shop.” I wonder if this is why an entire generation lives in abject terror over tech. Just a theory.)
One day this attorney asked me why they don’t see the words “[their name] likes this” under posts on social. I said, “Well, when you click ‘like,’ OTHER people see that.” They then got insistent: “No, I want it to say [my name] LIKES this.” I explained again. Then a light bulb went off. I looked at their activity and realized in the time we were chatting they had started typing this as a comment “[their name] likes this” over and over and over under different posts. Paging Amelia Bedelia!
Now flash forward a few months, I get another call. On a Sunday. This attorney is apoplectic. “Why does it show I’ve left all these comments on my very important clients’ posts? I didn’t say these things. I wouldn’t say these things. Can I sue LinkedIn? I’m so embarrassed.” Again, I calmly asked, “Now describe to me what you are seeing?” (I learned this in years of similar panicked chats from my mom. I think I could have a side hustle here.) With some time, I figured out they thought the AI prompts under a given post were a string of comments they had actually left. They were so distressed about it that they had then sent emails to all said connections apologizing. THEN they reached out to me. Not a great look for someone trying to show their facility and agility in this digital age.
So, what’s the problem here? Why am I sharing this? I actually GET why the attorney was alarmed. Now, I knew what I was looking at when I saw those prompts, but they didn’t. Because the tech industry sometimes moves at the speed of “we’ll get to it when we feel like it” and other times at the speed of “we’re changing stuff and not explaining it and you can just figure it out or not,” there is likely a deep rift we will create across generations if we don’t pause a bit and implement things sensibly. Did this attorney NEED a prompt to say, “Congrats on your work anniversary?” Do any of us? Was that actually a problem that needed to be solved? And how many troubles have been created inadvertently in the process?
What’s that line sardonically offered by Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park character Dr. Ian Malcolm (who specialized in chaos theory BTW)? “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Now, I know those reading this ramble will shake their heads in judgment and think, “I’m shocked. SHOCKED! I had no idea Roy was such a wet blanket luddite.” Listen, I’m not. I love what we are able to do with digital and social tech and how AI can supercharge our ability to connect meaningfully and hopefully change the world for the better. But I’m not honestly seeing much of that yet in the discourse to which I’ve been privy. So just imagine I’m Ian Malcolm here. And remember he’s one of the few characters who survived.
P.S. Confessional … I first asked Chat GPT to write this article for funsies. I hated the result. Tossed it all out. And then I wrote this. You might hate it. But I don’t. And I still think that matters.
P.S. Above depicted one of my most treasured invitations I’ve ever received in 12 years of being a member of the Legal Marketing Association. Thank you, Tahisha Fugate, MBA [she/her]! Love you and love this dynamic, brilliant, fantastic, fun group of incredible human beings.
LinkedIn post from Tahisha: “For the third year in a row, a group of Black Women in Legal Marketing and friends gathered at #LMA24. Women from firms of all sizes, across the U.S. and Canada, connected and engaged. We were thrilled to be joined by some legal marketing business partners, including Chambers USA, Passle, RubyLaw, and Jaffe to name a few.
“A special thank you to my firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP for their continued support of this event! I look forward to seeing everyone in DC next year. #legalmkt #marketing #businessdevelopment #DEI”
EXCERPT: “A total of 1,418 CMOs, content marketers and podcast producers registered for the first-ever conference or summit dedicated specifically to branded podcasts. For the first time, branded podcasters from around the world connected online to learn from the experts – and fill the chat box with their own tips and experiences.
“Presented free of charge by the folks at Lower Street, attendees took in sessions from podcast pros, brand marketers as well as content marketing headliners Anne Handley and Rand Fishkin.
“Across all the sessions, the podcast audience came first. This should seem an obvious focus for podcast production. However, the impulse to create a branded podcast often comes from an organization’s instinct to put the brand’s objectives ahead of content that will attract their target audience.
“Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing at Clark Hill Law, tackled this head on, advising attendees, ‘Podcasts should not just exist to placate someone’s ego… If it’s not bringing in a lead or awareness or audience growth, you need to pull the plug or re-tool.’”
What will brand podcasts look like in 2024? Find out with the industry’s finest. Roy Sexton – director of marketing at Clark Hill, Lynn Teo – CMO at Northwestern Mutual, Nick Howard – podcast architect and senior manager at Boston Consulting Group, and Shannon Martin – podcast strategist at Lower Street come together to discuss their podcasting experience and big plans for 2024. Join in to get inspired and learn from the best.
Join us again in April! It’s time to nail a winning podcast strategy. Join us for actionable insights, interactive workshops, exclusive strategy audits, consultations with podcasting experts, and exclusive networking opportunities. Register today for the super early bird discount – limited spots available: https://www.brandpodcastsummit.com/
Brought to you by Lower Street. Lower Street is a full-service podcast production agency that creates amazing shows for brands that want great not good. We serve companies of all sizes across industries developing podcasts unique to each company’s target audience. Find out more: https://lowerstreet.co/Transcript
Thank you, Harry Morton, Jeni Rose Larsen, and Steven Bonnard!
The first Brand Podcast Virtual Summit organized by Lower Street will be hosted on January 24th at 10 AM EST with dozens of industry professionals presenting. Business thought leaders and podcasting experts together to share insights and strategies for brand podcasting success.
An opportunity for growth, the Virtual Summit allows marketers to explore the benefits of adding a brand podcast to their strategy. It will provide all the tools they need to make their brand podcast a success in 2024.
I’m thrilled to be joining Lower Street Podcast Strategist Shannon Martin and Northwestern Mutual Chief Marketing Officer Lynn Teo for “Podcasting for Brands in 2024.” Description: “What will brand podcasts look like in 2024? Find out with the industry’s finest. Expert CMOs will come together to discuss their podcasting experience and big plans for 2024. Join in to get inspired and learn from the best.” Thank you, Harry Morton and Jeni Rose Larsen, for the opportunity!
Attendees will learn from podcasting experts, business leaders, and thought leaders in the field. They’ll have a unique opportunity to gain valuable insights into the world of podcasting and learn expert strategies for success.
Keynote speakers include Ann Handley and Rand Fishkin, who will join 14 other participating industry experts.
Expert Content Marketer Ann Handley will present on the importance of truly original and quality content. As Co-founder of ClickZ.com and the world’s first Chief Content Officer, Ann understands the world of content marketing better than anyone. Her work has appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Chicago Public Radio, and the Financial Times.
Rand Fishkin, Co-founder of SparkToro & Snackbar Studio, will instead share his insights as a master of understanding your audience. He’ll present data-backed methods to understand your target listeners, their interests, and media habits. Participants will be able to understand their audience, creating an ideal podcast to serve their needs and reach them.
The Brand Podcast Virtual Summit will include multiple presentations and five hours of insightful presentations covering topics such as:
What 2024 will look like for Brand Podcasts
How to understand and reach your target audience
The power of storytelling for success Podcast growth strategies
AI in podcasting
And much more.
Registration for the Brand Podcast Virtual Summit is free and open to all interested individuals.
In addition, all registered attendees will have the chance to win a high-quality microphone and a pair of headphones worth $500.
About Lower Street:
Lower Street is a full-service podcast agency providing services to businesses around the globe. They aim to create great, not good, podcasts that reach a brand’s target audience and share their message.
From Answering Legal: Heather Morse, Nancy Myrland, Roy Sexton and host Nick Werker gather for an hour-long discussion on the current state of the legal marketing world.
During this conversation we review some of the more interesting legal marketing developments that have taken place this year, and offer tips on how law firms can be more successful with their marketing efforts in 2024.
Click here to access Answering Legal’s year-end educational offerings.
Thanks for the shout out, Answering Legal: “As Roy Sexton, 2023 President of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International said, ‘Be attuned to [AI tools], avail yourself of them, and work them into the brand and culture in a way that makes sense for you. But be smart enough to know how they work so you can integrate them in a way that doesn’t seem daunting.’”
