Marketing Will Never Be The Same (with Gary Vaynerchuck)

0:00 I'm the active CEO of a 2500 person global agency. I am the copywriter. With all due respect to every CMO in the world, I have four active massive companies. I'm busier. And if I can do it, you can do it. I am the human being, me, me, me, who has built the largest, most significant independent global agency from scratch in the last 15 years. That's me. >> So, I'm super excited that in this week's YouTube, we are sitting down with the one and only Gary Veaynerchuk. And this isn't your average Gary Vee interview you may have seen all over the internet. We don't talk as much about Gary Vee, the personal brander. We talk about Gary Veaynerchuk, the businessman, the agency owner who works with Vayner Media, when one of the largest agencies in the world on social strategy, on brand strategy. And so Clayton and I, who runs my hyper newsletter with me, we got to sit down with him at night at Khan, the advertising film festival. We are literally fountain side with people going by saying hi to him. But to basically chop it up and have a moment to talk about the advertising world, executives making content, brands understanding content, AI's role in the future of content, how he stays current, his team, and the changing nature of everything in this industry. So without further ado, we're going to get right into it. I think you guys are going to like this conversation. Let's lock in.

1:14 [Music] So we are here at KN with one of the most inspiring people for content and creative. I know inspired a lot of what I do myself, Mr. Gary Vee. >> Thank you brother. >> But we want to talk a bit about what we do inside Hyper about the brand strategy side of this. What people are thinking, how creators work in the creator economy. We're just going to get into a bunch of questions and just see if we can get some interesting answers, spark some conversation.

1:39 >> I'm looking forward to it. So the first one I want to talk about, one of the one of the things we were talking about going into this week was this idea that also a big beauty retailer, they've started putting a bounty on creator content from their employees. They started to say, "Hey, we want to actually engage this Gen Z that is doing so much creation." I'm curious like you run a big company, you work for all these big companies. How can they start to mobilize this creator generation?

1:58 >> Full disclosure, I don't know if you guys know this. Spayer Media works very closely with Alta. You know, I mean, look, I think content coming from anywhere, whether it's an AI prompt engineering, whether it's a kid in their basement in Amsterdam that's a 16-year-old girl that just has it, whether it's agencies, whether it's your employees, whether it's your interns. I'm agnostic and I think that every brand in the world should be looking to drive down its cost of creative and really understand how to make creative at scale that is relevant to as many different consumer segmentation as possible. I think we will see a huge movement of more organizations empowering and enlisting their employees especially retail where a lot of those employees on the floor actually know their [ __ ] QSRs like just the employees at restaurants. So I think it's a very good idea and I think you will see more and more of it.

2:50 >> We obviously have jinzy and younger people who have grown up in the social first era and live and breathe that very much not the case from many executives or CMOs who are in more corporate positions, right? They didn't grow up making content in a native way. >> No. >> What are the things that you're telling them in rooms and meetings every day that helps them create a mindset shift for this new wave? One of the things that has built Veayner, I think if you surveyed this industry, like why did Vayner get so big? I think people would overly give Gary Vee credit and underly give Gary Vaynerchuk credit if that makes sense. Right? What do I do as Gary Vaynerchuk? I sit in business meetings for hours and break down actual black and white details of how, you know, when a single Tik Tok gets 40 million views, you sell the living [ __ ] out of a product. And you know, there's not a single commercial on earth that can make that claim. So, I think we have business meetings. I also think that most CMOs don't know how it works. Like, they're not practitioners. The thing that makes my company dangerous is I'm the active CEO of a 2500 person global agency and I I me and I'm going to show you this. You guys will find this interesting. I me I me writing the copy >> 32 minutes ago >> of my post. Me, I am the copywriter. And more CMOs need to be like at that level.

4:10 Even if it's just to make that first video that can get to 5,000 views is a challenge. Like understand the hook. >> With all due respect to every CMO in the world, I have four active massive companies. I'm busier and if I can do it, you can do it. They just don't think it's important. So, you know, I think I explain to them the black and white. I show them the truth. And it comes from a business lens, not a let's win a can lion, not a it got a million impressions. Well, what does that mean?

4:35 A million impressions when you spend media ads on Facebook could mean nothing. You spent enough money to get a million views on Facebook on a piece of [ __ ] piece of creative on Facebook, beloved social media, and it won't do anything. >> It's understanding why organic social matters as a creative validator. It's understanding what to do with that piece of creative when it works. How do you convert it into Substack or an email or how do you spend $5 million in media to amplify it if you're a Fortune50 company? like I'm really in it and I show them how it could actually drive their business and that works.

5:09 >> And so knowing that you're this deep, you know, uh, and we're thinking about this a lot as people who are growing personalities as you look at younger up and cominging agencies who are saying, "Hey, we're already ahead of the curve." Like what keeps you up at night? What are the things that you're really thinking about being like, "How do I orient my business to be in front of it?" The only thing I'm concerned about is what AI is going to do in the short term that mitigates or commoditizes things that we have advantages of. In the long term, I'm not worried about it because I'm a real businessman and I'm already way ahead on live social shopping production capabilities for the biggest brands in the world. Check. I'm already very ahead of fashion and collectibles as marketing. meaning like I I really see fashion LTO's and collaborations and I see collectible integration into products as a major marketing thing that's not being talked about here. I'm already very advanced on >> Thank you guys. I'm already very advanced on experiential events as production days for creative. So I'm already attacking virtual influencers.

6:10 I'm like very advanced. Uh AI, search engine optimiz like I'm playing for 2030 right now. But I have to be aware that some of the things that Boehner dominates the world on social creative at scale better than everybody else and what that all means has the potential to be commoditized. >> What are the things that you think with respect to AI on the brand side brand should be or good examples of AI applications that brands are using right now in the dayto-day. We're still in this moment where it feels like a lot of brands are hesitant to make any moves cuz everyone's always sort of waiting for someone else to be like who's going to like have this first good use case or this first case study. We saw the the the Glance AI stuff earlier today with with with you know live shopping and it's like what brands are putting those things to use right now? I think I think E.L.F. Cosmetics is doing a nice job.

7:01 And to be honest with you, after that, I'm not sure cuz I just One of the weird things with me is I don't really pay a lot of I don't know a much about what's going on here. I only care about the consumer. Like I don't need inspiration from Delta or Reebok or Coca-Cola. That to your point and I'm empathetic for everybody who's watching. I'm empathetic that brands need someone to do it for them to be like, "Oh shit." Okay. But the truth is like especially with characters like yourselves starting to emerge, there's this new crop of people that are covering the industry that are not adage, that are not adequat. And you [ __ ] are going to give them examples every day. Like I'm bored by the concept of like I have to show you an example of another old brand doing it right. When I talk to my clients, I'm like, can we please be the people that do it? Like you know, uh some of my creative team is very excited. We work on Pinesol. Pines's crushing Tik Tok right now. Have you seen it?

7:52 >> Yeah. So, like watching some of my traditional creatives who I'm bringing along like I don't know if you guys can see these goosebumps like two very meaningful meetings today with ECDs in my company who I brought over from Droga and Mischief and Wid and those kind of places and they're like [ __ ] man four people today in the randomness we're like Pine Soul. I'm like that's my work. I'm like [ __ ] you've been in this business for 30 years and no one's ever said anything about your work but this you know what I mean you guys know.

8:19 >> So it's all this stuff this jargon I'm spitting right now. But that's in general. This is uh this is our first time at Kent. >> We're coming out from that other perspective. Hey, we're talking about Tik Tok shop and scaled affiliate and we're talking about all these things all day, the creator economy and hearing what the topics are seems to be kind of a big shift even how the brands activate. And so I'd be curious if you were >> advising obviously there's agencies and there's actual brands looking for dollars. Anyone at Canon wants to do an amazing job with actually presenting their brand, doing doing an exhibit, doing an activation, doing a presence, like what should they focus on?

8:48 >> You're not wasting money on dumb [ __ ] that nobody gives a [ __ ] about. Like what the [ __ ] is that billboard? >> Show them, bro. Thank you. Like not that one. That one I'm okay with a little. That one right there. Like what is that? Like on a like on the top of like I don't know. Like I will bet my [ __ ] life that that QR code gets click like clicked less than 10 times this whole week, you know? Like like I don't know, man. Like honestly spend more time like actually being with people. Like look at what I'm doing. I would choose to do this with you guys over like an interview with the like I don't know a traditional media thing. It's just contemporary understanding. I think if you want to stand out here, I think you try to be very clever. You try not to waste money on dumb [ __ ] and you try to bring value. Even the Vayner prep, like these Vayner things, we're helping people get around because we know logistics are hard here. That's a good idea, >> right? Like like >> actual experience a consumer enjoy.

9:40 >> Yeah. like like the Vayner Express is literally helping people get around this town and like people are like thank you like that's good you know like and so we're thinking about those things. >> It is funny what you bring up around the traditional media I think about a lot cuz when you actually present numbers to people they're like how many views do you have a month how many subscribers you have and it's like larger than many legacy media in the space and people just don't understand what >> you guys also because of the nature of what you do have the potential to make one social media post that will get more awareness than anything a traditional play will do for a month.

10:09 >> Yeah. My last question to wrap things up maybe more on like the personal side. You you've been in Vayner business for how many years now? Like how long? >> Uh we launched in May of 2009. Okay. >> So 15 almost 16 16 years. >> Yeah. I mean you have firmly been preaching the gospel of social first content the way before so many brands are ahead of time. Like you've been a huge inspiration for me early in my own creator journey as well. But for you looking back, like if if you were to go back and tell yourself a string of things uh as advice to younger Gary, like what would those things be knowing what you know now?

10:43 >> The same advice I just gave you guys like, "Hey, you remember when you wrote that $200,000 check into Facebook? Make it 600,000 and borrow money cuz you're going to make you're going to make $13 million for every 50,000 bucks." You know, I I think what I would do is cuz I've been so uncomfortably historically correct, I think that I would just ask myself to squeeze more of the orange. Like, I was right. Like, I'm comfortable saying that the world thought it was a cucumber and I thought the world was an orange. And I went to that orange and I squeezed it and I really [ __ ] squeezed it. But the truth is, you'll know this if you've ever squeezed an orange for fresh juice. There's more to squeeze. And even I could have made more content, could have been more loud, could have traveled. There was a lot of meetings I didn't go to. Like I saw Spotify early. Like all I had to do was DM Daniel Ek get to Sweden. Like like I left an enormous amount of opportunity on the table in 16 years out of sheer like not being 11 out of 10 in every turn and every moment because no human can. I've been pretty [ __ ] 11 out of 10 with content, which is why I am who I am. I might be the only human here, but but in in business development, in business opportunities, you know, I think this is like interesting to say here, I've never really said it like the way I'm about to say. I've said versions of it, but like I am the human being, me me who has built the largest, most significant independent global agency from scratch in the last 15 years.

12:09 That's me. And that's cool. Like that's a nice accomplishment. >> Well, it's amazing for the rest of us to see like here's all these institutions, here's all these people. How could you possibly be? It's like, hey, guess this guy did it. You just pulled it out of the universe by attrition, ideas, >> being right, operationalized, being an actual businessman and not just a blowhard. I'm not a provocator. I'm actually an executor of truth of today. For you guys, I'm the only one that makes sense. For a lot of these [ __ ] I'm the only one that doesn't make sense. For the two guys behind the camera now shaking their head, it's me.

12:39 >> That truth hurts. >> For for 60 year olds who like believe in a world of yesterday, it's not me. my big goal at 49 years old. I can still chop it up with y'all. In fact, I can chop it up probably deeper than y'all. Especially if I'm doing that with you guys, then I'm still in it. The question for me becomes is like when will I not be that guy? When will I sit with you too? Like will be will there be anything where I sit here and I feel like [ __ ] these kids know a lot more than me. I prefer to never >> live so maybe a while. Yeah. Yeah.

13:08 >> You know, but but I mean, you know what I mean? Like the next thing like like to me I'm still in that place where like I'm just going to be more curious and deeper and and I'm going to keep trying to build, you know? I'm going to keep trying to build and I want to still be that guy. I want to be that guy as long as I possibly can because I want to be the person that people like yourselves, other winners look up to. And I want to be that good cuz that means that I'm still in it. I'm still that guy. And I feel like I'm lucky I'm not in sports.

13:33 It's not like where your body breaks down and you can't. And I think for the Kobes and the LeBron and and the Jordans and the Bradies and the Federers, their body had to break down eventually. I'm in business and that won't happen and I want to see how far I can take it. >> Super inspiring to watch. Thank you for all that you do. >> Thanks for having me, man. >> Thank you guys. Continued success. Really, I really like what you guys are doing and like this space needs more characters like you. So, I'm like I really wanted to support and do this.

13:58 >> We really appreciate it. >> On the side, man, I just wanted to say too like I know you obviously here because of Tyler and Nick. Like Tyler and Nick are the [ __ ] It's like the people that you build and just I I see this too with other people at the company. Like >> it's really important for you guys to watch that. >> You know, that goes to another thing that people don't understand why I was able to do it. It's that and it's putting those it's putting him and Nick spending real time to know who they are and put them in a position that actually can [ __ ] impact like there are no Nicks and Tylers in other organizations.

14:30 People that care to [ __ ] put on like that doesn't exist. Yeah. So, I think I hope you guys see that and as you continue to build your empires, you think about little different moves that are different like that's made up what Nick and Tyler do. It's made up. Go in the world and bring value to the [ __ ] next crew. Like, >> oh, we are we're looking. It's funny. It's only the only blueprint we have.

14:51 It's amazing the final frontier. >> 100%. Especially with an AI world. >> Thank you. >> All right. Big thank you to Gary for coming on. If y'all don't know, Clayton and I who are in this video, we run a brand strategy newsletter called Hyper. It is free weekly and we cover cutting edge of strategy from affiliate, creative direction, ads, etc. for brands, both small and large. I'm going to link that down below cuz this is just an excerpt from the full Gary interview.

15:14 We're going to put the full transcript inside the newsletter this week. I know I haven't done frequently done guests, so if you like this, please let me know. And I can easily get other creative directors and art directors. I can get experts in things like meta ads, or I can get more high-profile people like Gary. If that's content that y'all want to check out, please let me know and we can tailor some future videos around it.

15:30 As always, appreciate y'all watching. I will be back in the next two weeks with videos on heritage maximalism and that aesthetic style of brands like 1803 Bully and Burberry and a video on dark marketing and some of the gray area tactics that a lot of people don't talk about, but you see happen all the time. As always, appreciate y'all watching and I'll be back next week. [Music]