Gear Patrol—a daily print and digital men’s lifestyle publication focusing on immersive stories and great products recently welcomed Jacob Sotak as the Gear Patrol Store's new Content Director and Luke Wahl as their new Head of Video. The announcements come on the tail of the launch of Gear Patrol Studios (GPS) website—the publisher’s in-house ad agency that creates branded marketing content.
“With Jacob and Luke onboard, we just grew 100% in size today,” said Eric Yang, CEO. “Both are experienced professionals with an array of talent and will bring Gear Patrol to the next level in 2019 and beyond.”
Jacob will build out strategy for the store, leading the tactics and logistics which will bring the vision for the GP store to life. “I'm thrilled about all the unique goods that will come through our store,” he said. “Gear Patrol is already doing a great job with Product Journalism 2.0—not focusing solely on the gear, but building a story with a deeper meaning behind products.”
Before joining the ranks of GP, Jacob was the COO at Analog/Shift, the vintage watch purveyor, where he led Operations and Content, growing it from a two-person company that sold its first watches out of a shoebox, to a leading vintage watch retailer. As Editor In Chief of the content arm at Analog/Shift, Jacob also launched their digital magazine SHIFTed.
Luke's arrival brings Gear Patrol’s video strategy to life as they go into 2019 with a vision for video Product Journalism content. “People, stories, places— that is what I'm most excited about,” said Luke.” Helping bring the brand to life and showcase a new side of the products we all love.”
Prior to Gear Patrol, Luke helped launch Sports Illustrated’s OTT service, and was Executive Producer for Katie Couric’s show at Yahoo News. He also brings his extensive talent network from his time at William Morris Endeavor to Gear Patrol.
Yang added, “We see video as an enduring storytelling format, and we'll take it on with craftsmanship and business principles as a new format for Product Journalism and Gear Patrol Studios content.
