The Shake has exclusively obtained an internal message sent by Jake Sasseville to his staff members on the eve of Late Night Republic’s promotional and music events that begin this month and continue through the fall. In the email, sent very late on Friday night, Jake lays out his vision and expectations for driving an extremely aggressive schedule of during the tour. The tour’s travel dates were finalized earlier in the day on Friday. (See the first dates here.)

The unedited email is reproduced below.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE

From: Jake [Redacted]
To: [Redacted]
Date: Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 1:05 AM
Subject: This is now in your hands

(pls read this email slowly and read it three times. Whenever stuck in next 3 months, refer back to this email)

RULES FOR ENGAGEMENT

PR + Strategy Team + Digital Team

We win because of You.

My schedule, who I meet and what I do around Kevins events, is locked and loaded by You.

I’m looking to You to make me a household name and to launch Late Night Republic as a brand people love, want to watch grow and want to be a part of.

Out on the field, I’ll work tirelessly. I need everyone to dig deep in these markets, find out who’s who, who influences what both on campuses and with press, and I need my days packed, strategically.

Undersell me and the show. Have the excitement in your voice. The conviction matched with the underselling will create a stir. Trust me.

If you can’t get a reporter to interview me, get their assistant to have lunch with me. If an affiliate won’t run our commercial, call the local campus TV station and make them do it. I’m not kidding. I’ve never been more serious and passionate in my life.

If it weren’t 1am on a Friday, I’d hold a video conference session to show you how excited I am.

Now more than ever, we run lean and mean, aggressive and no-holds barred machine.

Make no mistake: we win by being the smartest, the most flexible and being the most fun. Period.

I don’t care what your job titles are. I don’t care if you’re a junior member who used to live in South America Or a senior vet that launched 90210. I want a unified effort and a “screw it let’s do it attitude.”

Dont ever say No without a solution to each other or to me. Ever. Ever. Ever.

I want to have lunch with key reporters.
I want to hang out with campus media people at a coffee shop (on me, my treats all the time)
I want to have take overs of morning shows and be guests and throw to clips of LNR.
I want to meet heads of student activities boards.
I want to be a guest on radio shows on campus with smelly studios and passionate wide eyed students.
I want to speak in universities to any class size, any amount, any radio station — anybody who will listen to me.
I want to teach a college class.
I want to March in parades.
I want to have breakfast with influential bloggers.

Whatever it takes, I want a reason for everything we do. Strategy and a connect-the-dots thought out plan. Defend every decision you make. I will be calling you out on it.

I want no “free time” or “waiting around time.”

If my schedule is not packed, pack it. Holes in my schedule means people aren’t doing their jobs.

If people aren’t doing their jobs, there’s no reason to continue paying them.

Bennett, if Vicki and Caitlin are tied up and need help, even If you have no clue what to do, do it. Do it and say sorry later.

Vi, same thing. Help PR, do any outreach needed, get in and support. Help Whit and Kevin, start conversations online in these cities. Loop me in. Create fans and have me attend their birthday party.

Nothing is off limits.

PR, work closely with Kevin to schedule and coordinate.

All, Don’t ask permission. If you ask permission, you will be fired on the spot. Travis supports this mandate as well.

Keep Mara involved up to the minute. Her, Travis and myself will be changing our strategy to the minute based on digital data, on the ground reports and press.

I am so, so excited for this. Stay flexible.

Imagine yourselves as water whenever things get real tough.

On a lake, water is calm and transparent. So flexible you can run your hands through it. Yet, it can literally destroy anything in it’s path when channeled (hurricaines)

Be water. Believe that this is bigger than any one of us and that you will be a part of a world-changing movement.

State your intentions to each other, keep small talk to a minimum, be clear and positive.

Absoltuely zero negativity. If you feel badly before a call or for any reason, jump up and down 20 times and smile. Your state will change. Trust me and do it.

Motion equals emotion. You can’t stay in a bad space if you move around. It is physiologically impossible.

Each of you must educate yourselves on these cities. Fully. Bennett and Vi especially, but Whit and Caitlin too. You must know everything about where we are going. History, people, colleges.

Have a winning attitude, become outrageously proud and outspoken about your work, and smile when you talk to each other.

This is now in your hands. My dream, and Travis’ business, is in your hands.

With love and admiration,

Jake

Want more reporting from The Shake? Check out our story on Mission Control Houston.