The Ad world is in for rude awakening the same way the car industry was when it had an innovation called Tesla I Think it's the same way Hollywood Network companies were when they had Netflix You know I often think that Vaynermedia is the preview to all the agencies of 20 years from now. Not because I'm so smart or we're so smart or we're so special. There's a secret word that the ad industry has to adopt fast and it's a word that the industry does not know how to handle and that word is humility. We of course we want to hear all about the future.

You are about the future. We talk about a lot about found content and and making more content and making more things out of other things and how how fun it is and how easy it is. But I want to hear what you are looking at? Uh, just a general sense of what you're looking at in 2023, what is, uh, sparking your brain and what will you be uh, thinking about in the months ahead? Um AI copywriting is probably at the top of my list of futuristic stuff. You know it was funny when you said you're all about the future My brain went the present.

I Think the world thinks a lot of things that I'm excited about like I don't guess I don't want to do something that nobody's doing yet so you know I've been looking at AI stuff machine learning stuff for years as an investor as a as hey, when will this happen and then you know, uh earlier this fall you know, Chad Gbt you look at that you're like wait a minute. this is real. like I can write an entire blog post in two minutes and what I'm excited about is you know I've seen some counterpoints in Social where people are like this is bad. this is going to take away jobs and like yeah and I'm like yeah.

but you know if you know your history, that's what people said about tractors. Yeah, you know tractors were bad. We shouldn't make right, we shouldn't make farming. You know, uh, you know, uh, things like I'm trying to remember what Machinery we should make farming Machinery that will take away jobs.

What happens is when jobs are taken away, new jobs are created. Yeah and what? I see in in copywriting AI is the commodity is being disrupted. But you know you have to come up with the ideas like I have to say hey, write a blog post about the friends and compare it to wine and say it in the voice of Chris Farley and then enter and then I've got to edit it. So ideas and creativity go to the top, the commodity of the execution goes to the bottom, and Tom obviously we've had the luxury of jamming together.

You know that I I in a lot of ways and very traditional to advertising. I Think the creative is the variable of success I think ideas are incredibly the beginning point of that. Um, but obviously you know given your career like I have a very different point of view of the process of that less politics of one human being, subjective opinion based on seniority, more making at scale and looking at consumer insights to make better. Uh, that is not test and learn.

that's marketing with the sake of making better marketing. So you know I think AI copywriting is at the tippy top. um and then the continuation more of the same in 2023. I Think we'll see more people understand that you have to make different commercials for for CTV like a Hulu commercial an Amazon Prime commercial.

A You know a future Netflix commercial. If you make what we all know as commercials for that space, it's going to be bad and so like. let's make think videos that people actually want to watch. um more more.

Uh Tick Tock The organic reach is subsiding because more people are making for it, more ads are being run. So now you have to be better to break through, right? Yeah, uh, other platforms do I mean Instagram Put out a feature this week where you know all of a sudden the DM ecosystem looks differently. There's some WhatsApp Behavior I just put in. You know, a post in there, what are they officially calling it notes This notes feature like I just put in like what's your favorite wine Boom getting a ton of Engagement like oh attention UI ux So the platforms you know Facebook reels crushing for me right? Uh, creative strategy doing green screens over headlines as your creative versus just ranting to the video.

So the creative strategy of these platforms that are mature like YouTube you know thought you know we hear all the you know when I hear Mr Beast Talk about spending six figures on a thumbnail. Just imagine you know, uh uh we we've uh there's a daily B which is my daily blog that got a million views after three title changes and four thumbnail changes versus 40 000 views. Like you know, there's like really incredible you know, creative strategy that is going to continue to build I think in 2023 more people are going to buy into it. I'm seeing the term clip agencies pop up which is like agencies.

Yeah, there's a term I saw in my Tick Tock three different tick tocks. I've seen the last three weeks of like clip agencies or new or the new website agencies. The guy was comparing it that he had a website agency in the 90s because everybody needed one Now Clip agencies which is the essence of what I've been doing for 10 years which is like micro creative like what I do every day we put out 15 Clips today on YouTube and they're calling them clip agencies I thought it was clever I'm like oh it's just so funny to see like that you know is becoming the science that people are trying to understand. While still as I'm looking outside in New York City I'm looking at two outdoor uh Billboards one's for apple and I'm looking at the creative and I'm like look that's a very busy street 10th Avenue in New York City like when you buy Billboards properly, not overpay, but maybe by Remnant inventory you get the billboard for two months at like 80 percent of the cost.

You know that's a deal of awareness. that's New York City A lot of people will see it actually, even with people looking at their phones I still think the drivers I know you lost the passenger because of the phone but even the driver though with Tesla people in but nonetheless, for now as long as we're trying I look at that I'm like oh that might be a deal but then I'm like but is that the right creative and I know and you know Tom 99.9 Likely that somebody just came up with that and they and somebody else said that's good and they went to me not testing images on Twitter and Instagram and other Pinterest to get to. Here are my 37 hypotheses: Yeah and and I just use the word I don't want to use I don't want to use test Market pictures on those platforms have actual humans respond to it and then have affirmation of this image is most likely to make someone stop or pay attention. I'm gonna.

it's just crazy. We we continue to do marketing as if the internet doesn't exist right? How how do you to follow up on that? How are how are our clients going to have to change? Well, you know this. uh in the future you know? Yeah, it's a new generation of marketer. You know this again.

this is the beauty of like. This is so fun This you know I wanted to do this for you too because I want to support you because once Vayner always Vayner And so you know that you know this brother you came from the industry you spent time at Vayner You know it's hard. it's hard for us. we we are trying to teach people a new game.

It's like hey I know you've been playing you know, hockey for the last 40 years. We'd like you to play Pickleball and they're like what but it's a sport but it's not the same and so you know this like even you I don't know if this Serendipity of the accounts you worked on Tom and I think with Pepsi I'm trying to think might have not hated Budweiser might have not hit your radar as much. but no, no, it wasn't this. it's just a Serendipity of the accounts you were on, we have accounts that I can think of that you weren't on that.

literally. The results. Like literally the business is up for the first time in a long time. Yeah, but because but because it's not what they want which is like let's just all sit around for seven months, come up with an idea and throw it on TV They're like they're like not fully happy.

They're like no, but we should do like they're always fighting for it to go back to the old way. Yeah, and so the modern marketer is gonna have to be like the modern parent right? Like the modern parents got to realize that eighth place trophies for the last 20 years have really kids up. I Know the intent was good. we didn't want kids to be upset.

That's beautiful. I Don't think parents 25 years ago when this started being a trend, were trying to upset kids in their 20s and 30s with anxiety and fear of losing. They were trying to address the issue at hand. which was you know if this kid gets a trophy and my son's coming home or daughter and they're crying, that's bad.

So the logic there was there. Yeah, but it ended up here. We are now 2023 and we do have an incredible issue in society. which is that we've demonized losing so much that kids fear so much now they don't want to do.

They're like scared to do anything to the point where like it's even like hot to be like I don't want to work right? That's not sustainable, that's just not how the you know and so you know I think the same thing with marketers I Don't think the marketers or the creatives I bring in or strategies I bring in are ill intent I Think they just don't see the consequences of not adjusting to the truth and what's adjusting look like what? What are what are the realizing that brand is built in Social Let's start there right now you've been taught I love that phrase I mean it's built in Social I mean it means that the brands that are winning are quite effective in social media marketing or on their product and they don't have to be effective in TV commercials and above the line branding and the brands that are losing market share are betting the farm on above the line branding and TB executions. and it's just black and white and the only enigmas are the ones that have the product is so much better. I've always said that I felt that Apple for the last decade has not been as effective of marketers people think, but it's been hidden because they're the best product. Hmm, and you see it because you see way too many people consider Android and youth culture when that shouldn't be the case when Apple's a much better product.

Yeah, it's that they're not winning on relevance as much as people think they might be. And so you know I think there's this big bad game of relevance and consideration that is very classic marketing jogger that that television and above the line vanilla sentences for brand positioning are unable to achieve because they box everyone into matching luggage and digital most of its traditional digital it goes programmatic banner and Impressions instead of social first creative against consumer segmentations to win on relevance and then extract consumer insights and go up on what you want to bet on. So it's going to take everyone to flip the whole model which is incredibly challenging. You have an entire industry of marketers and creatives and strategists who were built on fake research or limited.

it's not fake, that's not fair, but very limited research you go to. Reddit You go to the internet, you do a little research, you survey 20 to 50 people and you come in and you pitch an idea that came out of brilliant creative minds. but like the reality is is like it's just not working and so I think a lot more creative. the cost of creative has to come down.

We can't think good creative is just based on how much it cost, right? Like I Want to remind people You guys? Yeah, exactly Yeah. I Want to remind people Many people. Every person here who's listening. you have had a 600 dinner, not every person because not everyone's fortunate enough to have this kind of dinner for the people that have.

But you know I've stumbled on it one way or another. We're only for the upper echelon this podcast. No, but but Top Notch But but really, like you know, people go with a boss and they get to like. Like there have been people who've had their first.

Actually, here's a better way for the people that have been lucky enough to have a fancy meal, a white tablecloth meal. Yeah, many of us listening right now can know that they've had meals that cost 500 bucks with the wine and the high-end food and the caviar. this and the sweet breads. that and the Foie grab this or whatever.

it may be high-end Sushi And then we've also had like a Bojangles chicken sandwich for a dollar or whatever the hell it is. Five bucks. And like, the five dollar one was more satisfying and more effective than the 600 one Wine, bourbon, sodas, and take any consumable uh, clothes. There's people that have a 47 pair of jeans that they love 10 times more than a 300.

And so somehow we realize subconsciously if not consciously, that in the world, there's a lot of things we like more that don't cost as much. we like it more. Yeah, yet in the creative ad world, quality is completely completely tied into subconsciously to how much it cost. A Tick tock that gets 80 trillion views can't be as good as a commercial that runs on NBC prime time because that one cost eight hundred dollars or three thousand dollars and the other one cost a million.

Yeah, with production and agency fee and talent, a director and right when in reality, every day on? Tick Tock There's 45 pieces of marketing creative that will be seen by 10 trillion times more people than any commercial on network television and be more effective for the business that is not accepted in our industry yet, but it is an inevitable outcome of tomorrow. A lot more stuff. Yeah, yeah. go ahead.

and when you talk about driving the Cost of Creative Down I sort of feel like that brings us back to station right? because that's where we can drive the cost of this stuff down. If it all comes down to the prompt, the idea, the thing that you're putting into the engine as being the premium thing that is uniquely human, then the the degeneration of that content can become commoditized. Um, it can drive the cost of that creative down And shouldn't the way I Look at automation is not so much a threat to jobs. I Think about it as a a response to volume, our ability to then do more.

It's it's it's it's even the people. Yeah, it. but it. but it is.

replacing certain people like the architect is different than the Mason Um, I Think what it does is so that's an interesting question. Gary I'm curious. understand when we think about so you when we think about the future and and the tools of the present that are moving us into the future. What are those job shifts? What are the new jobs going to be in the next couple of years? As a result of all this, I've got jobs at your agency that I had never seen before which is post-creative strategist which I was so obsessed with because I'm like, what is that? That is the key because that's the difference for me.

that's the thing I see that's different Yeah and I wanted to dig into that so hard. You know the PCS somebody who reads qualitative feedback and can make an observation from it to then dictate better creative the next time. That's right. So if we play out Ai and say hey, everyone, bad news seven years from now instead of actually writing out the copy just an idea, person could do what I just did earlier and it's all written out so that's clearly a job, right? Uh, bad news everybody.

If you make you know pictures uh to post on the internet in Adobe like in 17 years that's been replaced by somebody just saying make a cow with Sunshine On It Go And there it is, right? Yeah! What I say though is good news everybody. All the people that have these brilliant ideas that are doing other things do you know many people actually have the best ideas who are cashiers at Starbucks that if they knew that this technology existed, they would be creative directors. How about that? You know we don't think about the things that technology. Do you know when people are making a hundred thousand dollars a year in YouTube ads that otherwise would have been making forty thousand dollars a year doing something they don't want to do? So everyone goes right away into like demonizing technology.

Oh, here this comes. it's going to eliminate Junior Copywriters Okay, but Junior copywriters eliminated something too like when advertising came out. What happened to the salesman? if we had no advertising, wouldn't everybody be a Salesman The answer is yes, just real quick. If there was no branding in advertising, would people be knocking on people's door and saying would you like to buy this cup of coffee Let me save everyone time.

The answer is yes And so there's always things that happen. I'm happy that Cree I think it's a game of creativity getting even more oomph, right? It becomes more about the idea than the slog of the execution. We all know that ever please. There's a great there's a word for that which is democratization, right? It's becoming democratized.

I Love this idea that ideas come from the Barista at Starbucks That's right, but that's what. that's what the iPhone has done right. 100 of this camera inside of that phone is going to surpass the Slrs by next year. It's crazy and Tom you know this.

Which means we have five billion people with professional devices in their pockets. Yep, that has implications. It's already played out. Look who the most famous people are to a 17 year old around the world? Let's go talk to every 15 year old in the world and say write down the five most famous people I Promise you that a lot of them do not live on television that was on that's in I'm 47 years old.

That was inconceivable when I was 17. How ready Gary Are my our marketers today for this moment? How many are ready for this moment? A number that you don't work is there I'm I'm already misunderstood in our industry I'm petrified to answer you. The number is staggering and it's not their faults I Don't think the Ad industry and the CMOS and the marketers of Fortune 500 are less smart, less nice, less good. The game is broken.

The reporting, the incentives, the realities. I I Can think of 400 people I've met on Instagram DM that are creators that are more prepared than anybody I can think of in Adland Yeah, you can't be prepared If your job is to work on a project for nine months to come up with a slogan and make one commercial. You can't be prepared. Yeah, and they're still even even with the uh, the Creator economy that we talked I Was just reading this article that Annalisa had sent to me about the Creator economy and how it was a misnomer because it's like the Creator economy actually only pertains to the top one percent because what do we do? We always go back to our course.

It's like, well, who are the best influencers not give me influence? Well, it depends. but but I I didn't I didn't read that article but I will say this: um I will say that that in itself may be a misnomer as well. Let me explain to the point: I think Society has completely confused on what success looks like to that article's point. if I'm catching this right, Yes, there are far less people making four million dollars a year being Logan Paul and Mr Beast and Charlie Demilio.

However, I know personally as a human being, thousands of people that make 50 to 200 000 a year being a creator and that is again, back to the analogy earlier. I'll give you the perfect example: I Know somebody right now who's a fitness Creator is a friend of a friend. They got inspired by the books I got the email I read it and then it was like kind of hit me. I call the person I think she's gonna make 133 000.

This year she was making 280 as a lawyer, her life is 4 000 times better. We haven't even started that combo. You know we've always had it as oh, you make more now than the thing. What about if you make less but you're a happy person Yeah, well, that's but that goes back to the success metrics too.

That goes back to the the value structure that we have. Yes, it costs more and reports more valuable. Correct I Mean make more there for my life is better that it's crazy. It's crazy.

Oh my. God Such a good point. So I think look I think the ad world is in for rude awakening the same way the car industry was when it had an innovation called Tesla I Think it's the same way Hollywood Network companies were when they had Netflix You know I Often think that Vaynermedia is the preview to all the agencies of 20 years from now. Not because I'm so smart or we're so smart or we're so special.

There's a secret word that the ad industry has to adopt fast and it's a word that the industry does not know how to handle. and that word is humility. I Would argue that the word that the most senior creatives and most senior strategist at the Ad Agency in the world really have to factor into their day-to-day is humility because what comes along with democratization is humility, right? Tom You know again, you you've been under the hood, right? right? Like you know all of a sudden you think everybody thinks they're a hot shop because they're uh, you know, an Ecd at Droga. What an iconic Place David Drug is one of the nicest people I've met in this industry I'm so pumped for their success and by the way, many people I meet at why didn't Drug have lost a wonderful Super Creative I Love it I go to Can mainly because I'm so head down and I don't know much about the industry I mainly go to Can to stumble into people of the industry because it's lovely.

but yeah, but with all that said, the thought that a kid at a school even a good AD school like Miami AD school right? Most these CDs at big shops will not think that at first day. Miami AD school person has a better idea than them and I know it to be true. Ideas are Talent Kobe Bryant was good at 19. he didn't have to be 35.

and marketing is like Sports Marketing is like Sports Marketing is like sports. Hmm right? John Mcenroe was good at 17 in tennis he was worse actually at 35 and I think that's marketing I think a lot of people get worse in this industry because they've become too consumed client-centric instead of consumer-centric That's right. I I then the more relevant your idea I mean you have to be able to communicate. Oh I See it all the time.

And by the way, let me flip it on the other side. I'm watching 42 year olds coming into the business who understand the consumer better than a lot of the 22 year olds that work for me are going into Rude Awakening. They're like I know everything about social I'm 22. I'm like hooking up through DMs is different than marketing to sell.

Yeah, yeah and so they come like I've been enjoying it I Had a great meeting the other day where I kind of like played them into it like yeah, yeah yeah and I was like, what about everything that's actually been going on for the last four months They're like oh, and I'm like yeah, like cool like you're like cool that you care about it but are you good at it? like I'm 40 I'm 47. that's humility. Yeah. like where where do you need to get better and how are you doing that? What's your plan? Yeah.

I'll tell you why my team knows this. I Don't react to virality when we crush it when a Garyvee video I got three million on this green screen the other day. No reaction I get 40 000 views on something that completely like like one of the worst pieces of content I put out from performance and I'm like in there like isn't this great? What does it mean? Let's talk about it more. Let's on me more.

this was mine. I'm the worst. Like like that's just lacking like and for everybody who's listening. don't confuse conviction as an opposite to humility.

It's actually beautiful. Partners To dance, you can have conviction, but when proven otherwise, you better deploy humility. I have conviction in everything I do. but when the market the consumer says no, Gary then I deploy humility and I watch everybody in this industry use headlines at ad Age or Ad Week Awards and and seniority and where they work and some other cockamanian as the justification why they're right in the face of them being wrong.

Yeah, it's It's all about ease. For a lot of people, it's all about just like how do I make my job easy? Well, this is awesome. Well, and not only that, that's a good call out and I I have empathy for that because the world's stressful and people you know like shit's stressful. I Think this goes all the way to the tippy top of the global.

CEOs Of the five six holding companies, they have to realize that they're running their companies with fear. Yeah, and and fear is the quickest way to suck out creativity. if if Tom is. if I am.

If like, if we're in meetings and we hear that we lost the McDonald's account and our brain is actually thinking like will I be let go versus what idea should I come up with for chicken nuggets? That's so I Think my observation is that the holding the creative Agencies are now owned by Banks Banks run with very little emotional intelligence. It's really not about the people. it's about the P L and that has created a culture of fear in Adland I Now know this to be true because it takes us a long time to get people to feel safer and a lot of times you know it's a big new revelation for me. Even this year.

Like next year. like we're going to give people a lot more time before they even work on anything if they've been in the Ad world for a long time because it it's harder for us to get them to feel safe than we realized. If I if I gave you a million dollars, would you rather make one spot or a hundred a thousand exactly. And so I think the the when we when the price tag is so high the fear goes up right? because then oh my gosh, I better get the return of that investment.

What an investment! Well it's even worse that I know we're going over time I apologize at the end of the year I Gotta get a lot done but I'll leave it with this. It's even worse than that, right? Because all the reporting like the justification how do you measure brand? That's like asking somebody to measure God and love. But there's reports for it. There's a Miller Brown report for it.

There's a Nielsen's report for it. There's a client internal mmm for it, but it's fake my friends, it's Santa Claus measuring brand is Santa Claus right? So the even the incentives and you know this and at least like like we have clients that say Gary we want to do award-winning work I'm like why? well it's better for sales I'm like not really. Here's how the report came about. It was incentivized for Creative agencies to sell you that and more importantly, you're really doing it because you want self-interest for your career.

So when you're named that at Canned you can get another CMO job. So let's talk real talk friends. Yeah like why do people want to be associated with things that the industry talks about Because it gets them jobs Because agency owners like myself I don't do this but like I know this is what the industry does. You look at a thing, it's like oh, this thing's hot Oh who are the creative directors? oh go to LinkedIn Oh hey Sally you want a job I'll promote you from an ACD to a CD from a CD to a Gcd from a Gcd 2d.

Like can we call out the game? Can we call out the game Because it's definitely not working And what I'm most worried about is back to all the lovely people. This is my last point. I Promise I'm sorry team I Don't think people know how big the Day of Reckoning is. There's a reason so many people are getting left.

Go in Hollywood that work in networks. It's because they lost I Don't think people realize that if they don't adjust soon. the top 45 creative agencies over a decade will lose 50 market share meaning 80 percent of the staff will be let go and when they get let go for being in the old game, the new winners aren't going to be rushing to hire someone who like thinks that they should get a brief yeah, 100 at the point the point isn't so much, it's not so much if it's really when and and and are we are. Are our clients ready correct? How can we help them get more ready to be calling out the rules or what's broken? Yeah and look CMOS there's a reason CMOS are 18 months and that's going to trickle down to our agencies and it already has yeah like like honestly I have no Pride or excitement about our hyper growth because I know it because I know it's coming at the expense of people that like when we win I'm happy for my team.

It's what I'm supposed to do but my brain always goes like when we lose business I I just run on Lower margin and try to figure it out. When they lose business, they fire everyone that was on that account and so my brain goes. we just want a big big piece of business Literally after yay my brain went into like like those like I know what's gonna happen on the other side across the street you know? And so our industry needs to get healthier Kinder More empathetic we got to figure out I call for the agency owners to have create more margins so that when they lose business they don't have to fire everyone which will immediately make people feel safer which will immediately make people more creative. All right.

Gotta go Love you! Thanks Gary Cheers.