Robbins Former Resident Percy Scott Changes The Face Of The Concert Industry During COVID-19
BY TIA CAROL JONES
Percy Scott is a product of Robbins Illinois. He was raised by his mother and his community. His mother encouraged him to trust his community to help him to achieve the things he wanted.
Scott has played football for the Arena Football League and has a degree in Industrial Technology. From there, he went on to work for State Farm. While there, he got into entertainment and started RSVP Enterprises.
Scott had an idea to have a community event in Bloomington, Ill., and
invested his entire life savings in hosting it. It rained the entire day. He had to move back in with his mother, who lived in Harvey, Ill., and start all over again.
Scott worked for a marketing company, started training people, and opened a franchise in Davenport, Iowa. He ended up coming back to Chicago to work at a major radio station. Scott leveraged the relationships he made while at the radio station booking artists. In 2012, he opened Global 360 Marketing. The firm helps small mom-and-pop companies who are just starting and medium sized companies with marketing. He went out and found expert entrepreneurs and convinced them to work with him, instead of working for him – such as PR specialists and graphic designers who do websites.
“Our major focus is to be that marketing arm for businesses that really want to focus on their business,” he said. Scott, along with his co-founder Rita Lee, created PR Pop-Ups, which stands for Percy and Rita Popping Up. The company hosts concerts and events. PR Pop ups began in the early part of the pandemic when CDC Stay-
At-Home orders prevented people from going to large venues for entertainment.
Scott and Lee wanted to do something for the community, so they hosted an event at the drive-in movie theater in Harvey, Ill., that supported residents, as well as first responders. PR Pop- Ups hosted movies in Harvey for three months and there were no incidents.
Scott met with the Mayor of Hazel Crest, who wanted to bring PR Pop-Ups to a 14-acre space there. With more space, it was able to host movies and concerts. The first concert was a three-day concert, with House, Hip Hop, Gospel and R&B.
“It’s been a true blessing throughout the year to not only help us but help a lot of other organizations as well. they were able to call us and fundraise by doing drivie-in movies and drive-in concerts utilizing us as a vehicle to help with that,” he said.
The first concert that wasn’t a drive-in featured the Isley Brothers, Kindred the Family Soul, Chantay Savage and Carl Thomas.
Scott wants to make a dent in the concert industry. The aim is to host concerts with widely known Black artists, as an alternative to larger concert promoters and venue operators. During the pandemic, Black artists weren’t being booked for concerts.
“We were the ones who were hiring them and allowing them to continue performing utilizing the drive-ins so now, they’re willing to support us. We want to do bigger concerts,” he said. Scott advises young entrepreneurs not to quit, not to get frustrated with the process.
“If you have a craft, study it, as if you were in school. Fall in love with it, dream about it. That’s how you become successful because people can see your passion,” he said. “A lot of times people don’t buy your services, they’re buying you. If you’re a good person, if you’re on time, they’re going to hire you.”
For more information on Global 360 Marketing, visit www.global360marketing. com. For more information on PR Pop-Ups, visit www.prpopups.com. You also can contact Scott at pscott@global- 360marketing.com.
