Marketing for the now the marketing for the now marketing for the now marketing for the now 10 minutes, 12 remarkable guests for two hours answering a singular important question: are you ready gary? What do you think gary gary gary? Yes, andrea, guess what? What's that? It's episode? Number 25.: i can't believe it unbelievable and we're actually gon na talk about one question: how do you stay close to culture, but we're only going to do it for an hour with six guests and we've got a pretty hot one to kick things off. So, let's not waste any time, hashtag marketing for the now, let's go first up. We welcome liam payne recording artist and former member of one direction. How are we doing guys good to see you? Thank you for having me liam.

How are you my friend? I am really good. I was just saying to everyone i feel like over here in the uk. We are terrible at dealing with the heat and it's very hot over here at the moment, but i'm doing great so liam. You know, i think, um.

Obviously, there are very few people that have touched the actual sun of pop culture, literally in the history of the last 100 years, given just the sheer popularity globally of the band, so at a very young age you were at the presbyters of it um. You know you and i become friendly this year because of your incredible nft project and once again you find yourself very close to culture from a creative lens being a fast mover and learner and student and creator in that space. What do you think it is about your your life's journey, your personality, trait the serendipity like you know? Why has that happened and then, more importantly, outside of the things you're actively doing? How are you staying on top of what's cool because really that's what the slang tune? Culture means right here from uh just genuinely knowing whether it's as simple as which restaurants to go to in london or uh or new york or la who, the popular artists are which social media people matter. What platforms matter, what clothes matter like? How? How are you, how do you go about that um? I mean, i think i've been fairly lucky as time's gone on to learn about this, as my career has kind of progressed, and i don't think i really understood it very much at a young age.

But when i look back on things i mean, i think everything these days is really technology led and when i got the question for for for this, i was really thinking deeply into the idea behind ai and algorithms right i mean i feel like tick-tock. I i had a chance to talk to the cmo of tick-tock and there was a shortage of feta cheese at one point in the world from how much tick-tock was pushing feta cheese, which seems crazy to me. But i think there's there's a real thing for me. On on staying on top of things at the moment, the way i i program these algorithms and ais for myself - i mean it's very easy.

You know to get lost in cuddly cat videos and funny stuff on tick tock. But i think, if you really go about your searches, to find the things that you're very interested in um, it can really take you on a journey to experience it and finding these these new things and what's hot right now, uh more than you realize who, in Your life has been great at this, like a buddy like a mate, a manager, a former relationship like who, when i say to you like who really is in the know, i mean you've, met steve multiple times. I'd say he has always been the one for me, and i think there is a there is a strong thing. I mean my friend, ed edwards, who, who is the editor for vogue, is the same keeping around young people who really sponge this up.

Um. I think it is a really really strong move um. You know i i think it was through twitter places like twitter instagram, it's the young who are really leading the forefront on these things. What's what's cool and what's now um and for us you know working through our businesses, i mean the main one for me, and i already spoke to you this about this.

Before i came on, it's been mental health at the moment has been pushed so far to the forefront and i think, in terms of investment and in terms of of lifestyle and the way we think about ourselves. Mental health has really really become a big one. For me, what about um? What about the concept of which categories do you feel like? You, have an incredible pulse of what's happening in its culture and which categories, if i said to you over the next 10 years, you'll get better at knowing fine, dining or or sneaker culture like? Where do you feel at this moment in your career? Where do you feel very solid and where are some categories that you wish? You could get better and proven? Yes, um i mean uh. I think cryptocurrency is a really big one for me that i want to get more in the know about um, i'm only just starting to learn from a lot of friends and different things about how this is.

I've been very unfortunate. The times i've ever invested in cryptocurrency, it's not at the bottom of the dip, so i'm always catching back up to what i have i mean i was in 2017 um when, when i invested - and i only recently got to know someone who was responsible for the Dip after i invested he's now a friend of mine which is terrible um, so i think that's definitely one for me um and i think that there's a really tricky water on this one in terms of tick, tock and people giving financial advice. You know, i think that we've given the world and the way covert is right. Now you know we're all really searching for things like that uh at home and ways we can make money and look after ourselves and be you know self-sustainable in that way.

So i think it's a tricky one with tick-tock on that i mean it for me myself, i've been very blessed with the the friends and people. I've met along the way in terms of fashion um, which has always been a really uh good and fun one. For me, i mean some people online will probably disagree with this, but yeah. That's the world, isn't it how it works? Who who has stood out for you? That's really shaped your fashion, um, you know sense or knowledge.

Um. I mean my friend my friend, uh edwards uh, who has been is the editor of vogue, he's the editor of uh most of europe's folks, i think now as well, um and i mean his career - is only going up and up. There was a real moment for me when you know when you meet someone, you don't really know very much about them. I didn't know a lot about it because i met him through through steve actually and we we stood in an art gallery looking at all of the covers of vogue, that he's done so far in a lineup and it was like wow.

This guy is actually right on the pulse of this. He knows exactly what he's doing, meaning meaning it was one of those classic things where, like this person's on the cover of august and then six months later, they're really crushing and have crossed the chasm. Oh yeah, and i mean he just picks the best people he picks the best, the best fashion, the best layout, and also the things that the magazine talks about as well. So i mean i really look to him for a lot of advice and you know i hope he feels the same about me in some way before we get out of here, because these go quick, we got two minutes.

What? What? What kind of content do you feel is what really gets you to understand? Are you a reader? Is it podcasts? Is it social media content? Is it sitting down and having a proper pub? You know beer or or coffee uh. You know what, when you're absorbing your information, what do you think from like a learner standpoint, because i think one of the reasons people struggle with culture? Is they don't understand how they learn? Yeah they try to read it and reading. Is it like? If i just read long form, i would be nowhere because it doesn't absorb but quick. You know somebody made a comment that my eyes are on the comments, while i'm interviewing it's true, i'm taking in feedback that way audio.

You know. If i have a conversation, i grasp it, but yeah are you i think for me. I i'm the same. I can't i'd love to be a reader, i'd love to be able to sit and read, and it's definitely a skill that i want to hone in on.

I mean given our attention spans these days. I think i'm definitely one of those people who need to take in short, sharp bursts, but i'd say for me more in the learning and the more i invest in the more people i meet in particular with this. This latest shareholder i've done in entire life sciences. I've had to learn about biotech and biotech is not in any means of pop stars.

Realm of i have no right being in this space, but it's amazing to learn about the severeness of the mental health uh crisis that we have right now in the world. There's one billion people and there's no silver bullet for any of this. So learning these medications and learning how we're going to apply them with you know supervision. It's not the same as a as a cannabis thing you can go and buy over the counter.

These things are sold in terms of supervised, uh thing that you go through to really. You know, get the best out of them in that way, and that was hard for me to learn. But my friend said to me is that you never seem to argue a point when we discuss these things. I was like.

I have no education, that's how i'm going. I have to take it in as a as a huge yapper. People are stunned when i'm quiet for 40 minutes out of dinner. I'm like we're talking about health insurance.

I don't know anything exactly i have to. I can only take in i'm uneducated and i do not want to make a point right now. So that's that's. My thing is it's all about who you surround yourself with and also with your instincts.

Going with your instincts is a big one. We need to run liam. Thank you. So much have a wonderful day, cheers mate.

Thank you guys, andrew before you introduce everybody else. I just put a link into the v friends discord. If you just came over from that, please leave a comment: uh uh, if you are from the v friends, discord and share the url to this score. Let's get some more friends in there.

Go ahead, andre next up we're we're lucky to welcome morgan, flatley, she's, the chief marketing and digital customer experience officer at mcdonald's. In her four years, there morgan has built the capabilities to put digital data and insights at the heart of all things, marketing at mcdonald's, accelerating the power of social media and breakthrough creative welcome morgan. Thank you, hey gary, it's great to be here with you. Finally, it's good to see you it's great to see you yes, finally, for everybody wondering what morgan's referencing we've been chasing her on, this show she's one of the great marketers in uh in our world and uh.

Every subject we cover is something i feel that she can bring tons of value to uh, but this one's especially exciting for me, because i think that you've been at the forefront as a leader. I really feel my personal opinion. One man's point of view. I think the brand at mcdonald's it feels more culturally relevant today than it has in a long time and i'm sure there's other key executives that allow that to happen.

But this is your remit, so i give plenty of credit on this, and so i guess very quickly before we even you know, maybe we break this down. I think this would be fun for people to hear how do you morgan the human, the human stay close to culture, and then how do you morgan, this very senior executive, at the forefront of one of the biggest brands in the world, stay close to culture and Are there any differences and i'd love for you to pontificate a little bit on that yeah? So first i was holding out until your 25th um number back at your 50th and hopefully um. So you know it's funny, it's hard for me to separate out the two. First i'll say and more as morgan, the executive.

I find this really hard to do and because of just all the demands you know on my time on all of our times and like the need to operate at so many different levels across the organization that it's really hard to find time and space to stay. Connected to culture and and even just listening to you and liam like it, was such a good trigger that i've got to do a better job. The the the best way i do this is is i actually surround myself with people who are really really good at it, and you know i and it's funny liam touched on this, like i find it's often it's often younger people who, like are just absorbing from So many different places and they probably have you know a little bit more of the attention span to be able to do that than i do um it's their every day. Morgan.

I just wan na i'm sorry to jump in literally help a lot of people understand what you're saying you have so many things: eating up that 9. 10. 11. 12.

13 hour day. Yeah, big girl, stuff right, big, big, big decisions, forward planning like heavy meetings when you've got somebody who's 26 by nature. They aren't gon na have as big of a load and they're up late, like they're, just at a different part of their life and it's their every day, right, the music, the fashion, the tick tock stream, that's just part of their everyday. It's not work.

It's their oxygen just like for you you're out back to your point of it's difficult and i and it's been the biggest stunner to me coming into corporate america, i'm like wow cmos are in a tough spot. It's crazy one of the things that makes me unique. I think is i fight for a stunning amount of hours per day in the dirt and i think that's what helped me now. I pay a consequence for that, because my big boy stuff is always a little slower because two hours went to be in a discord or watch tick tock or be in the trenches in a studio in atlanta.

So i it's a real tough game. It's true and i think it's like great advice for cmos for executives to like protect that time when you can get in the dirt. Like i love that phrase and for me it's like sitting around with the team and it's often my junior team. Forgive me that's my husband, trying to facetime me up the good stuff right talk about being in the dirt man um, so i mean i love sitting around with with like the more junior people in the organization or our creative teams.

Like i get a ton of inspiration from our creative teams and using that to like inspire me and then i'll go follow some of what they've talked about. So i think it's it's about like being curious and really really taking the time to like listen and debate. It that's how i learn is like through other people and that discussion, and that discord that, like helps me, start to at least point myself in the right directions to get kind of connected to culture. How help all the smbs mid-level companies, entrepreneurs and youngsters understand the following friction that i'm dying to hear your answer to this is very selfish, but it's gon na bring a ton of value.

How hard is it for you when you know something's cool, but it's just edgy enough that you're scared to do it for something as big and corporate yeah and and like for the masses as mcdonald's like? Where does an executive, like yourself, have to draw the line where you're like? How hard is that decision? On the thing you green light or you kill, because anything that cool by nature has teeth in it totally that corporate right and you've done some great collaboration right with valve and others. You know like, like there's that decision making curve, how much of that at the when you get to the highest levels of marketing and the biggest companies in the world. How much of that is like you're, like the things that you really stress through when you're brushing your teeth and god darn it should we go because you know it's hot, but is it too hot where you might get burned and then the problem is, and you Know this the problem is, then, so many corporations go with things that are not hot and nobody gives a exactly and like people can sniff that out. In a second, i mean i my last year here and i was just in a meeting which, i'll when in a week or two i'll play back to you, where the conversations that i needed to have with our executive team, like, i can't believe some of the Things i've had to talk through um, i just so so a few things.

I think my job is to push the risk and if and that's why, and i loved, where you started. Mcdonald's is starting to feel culturally relevant again because we're pushing the risk yeah and what i tend to do and i've talked about this before i have a couple people who are like on the pulse of culture, and i talked to them - i talked to them offline. I can i literally called one of them two days ago who shall remain nameless and i was like help me think through how much risk we're taking on help me think through. What's the good, what's the bad, what's the ugly and and then i feel like we just have to go for it, i mean i need to watch the brain if the brand is going to get permanently damaged.

That's my job to make sure we don't do permanent damage to the brand. I apologize jump in because i think you can answer this and i i live in a world where, if you look at the last five 15 12 10 years, there have been some gnarly things that have happened right, where brands have sponsored some celebrities that have crashed And burned massively yeah, there have been, i mean over the last six years. The country in general is more politicized and there's tension right yeah. What i've been fascinated by is big company executives, think a lot about permanent damage and i'm watching behavior and i'm looking at numbers and i think, what's fascinating - is it's almost impossible for permanent damage because of the way the consumer's working these days? You know it's true.

Keep going, i think, brands are so much more resilient than we and i think rumors are resilient and when you sit around a board room, you forget that, like literally you forget it, and i said yesterday there might be like a negative article, but it'll all be Gone the next day like the way people are experiencing culture and brands like they move on quickly, and i think it takes really really really significant missteps for it to be permanently damaging. I i just think brands are resilient and consumers are also resilient. I think that's an incredible way to wrap up. It goes so fast.

I think, for the big cmos in here understanding how resilient brands are may actually allow you to win in culture. It's so true, and you have to take those risks. You have to have a great rest of your summer, yeah bye, gary love that next up we've got bracken daryl president and ceo of logitech, taking on the role nine years ago, and since then logitech has reinvented itself into an award-winning design company an industry force in Pursuing a more sustainable and equal world and a top performer in the stock market, welcome brecken, hey! Thank you. Thanks for having me hey gary, how you doing brother i'm doing well brother, how are you i'm great before i go anywhere one of my favorite ceos truly, and i say that i want to do it publicly, mainly because of curiosity and humility, and i'm and and That's the truth back and i i recently a week ago, somebody asked me about you uh, because they so were connected on linkedin, i'm like oh.

I actually really know him because you know obviously sometimes you're connected with people. You have no idea who they are. I'm like and - and i it just flowed i'm like you know it's rare - to see real leaders. Who've had real success consistently for a decade.

Have that level of curiosity and humility, and i guess leading the witness, because i'm excited to have you here a do you humbly. Do you agree with that? You have a piece of that. Do you think that's trickle to the org and most of all has that been the reason that you've been pretty successful in getting close to culture, whether it's esports or other things, sustainability like thoughts on my rant, yeah yeah? Well, i guess you know it will focus on the curiosity part. You know i think um yeah, i thought about what is curiosity.

You know, curiosity is not just wondering about things, it's actually wondering about things and then going to seek and find out about them, and i think, if you are curious, you're going to naturally be closer to the things that are happening today and uh. And then, if you're curious and you're and you're active about it so you're, you know, then then you're probably gon na end up talking to a lot wider range of people and i would say uh if i'm, if i'm close to culture at all and i'm not Sure that i belong on this show, but if i am close to culture in places that matter it's because of the people around me and because i am super curious, do you think you're close to culture? Do you think the organization is? I think you know what i think, i'm lucky, and this isn't humility gary. I think i'm lucky, i'm i'm i've got certain values that i really believe in you know and they ca and i keep adding to them over time. You know they don't really change.

They. Just get more more dramatic and then i add other ones, and i think things like uh, you know sustainability, uh de and i uh design. There are things i believe in so much and if you kind of took those and you made a venn diagram out of two of them or three of them, you know you'd end up on on some edge of culture. That's super exciting, you know, and so i think, if i'm close to culture, it's probably more about kind of just basically who i am and less about me kind of staying close to it.

Is that the luck of good parenting? Well, like you know, i feel very similar and when i use the term lucky, i'm like circumstance of childhood greatest mother of all time built up self-esteem while held me accountable, so a no self-esteem woman, i'm the greatest. I do something up. You know that kind of you know, so i i was in the middle and then immigrant with nothing. So i i wasn't entitled how to fight for everything i had.

Do you think you being you just answering this question when you say lucky, and i understand that, do you think that's the luck of good parenting and childhood circumstance yeah for sure i mean we're all we're all lucky if we have a mom who just uh, you Know, adores us and me and my siblings did i mean we just had an incredible mom and, and she left us feeling comfortable that, no matter what we did, even if we screwed something up it's okay, because we can recover and be great, you know do great Things - and i think that's part of this act of curiosity, you know i was listening to your last uh discussion. I thought it was really fascinating. This idea of risk, you know, yeah, i think the biggest risk is not being aggressive and, and you know not playing offense all the time. You know, there's obviously you've got to make sure you're not walking on the ledge, with no nowhere to land with the ground.

But but i i mean really it's it's there's no such thing about risk. The way people think about it. Most of the time most people think about risk too much and not enough about playing offense. I totally agree, do you think that's the nate, you know me and morgan could be correct.

You and i could be correct. You think that's just just a game of people realizing that they work in a corporation and that the corporation and the logo will cut bait with the executive. If the pr storm happens, and then people have families, i mean you got, you guys have family. You know for me entrepreneurship's fun.

I have no board, i'm not publicly held like nobody's firing me back. Nobody's firing me so i'm crazy risk offense, because when i lose, i look in the mirror back there in the well there's a hotel room, but i would look back in the mirror and be like you're an idiot and then i move on with my day. I have a lot of empathy for my corporate friends. They might be right with the risk one bad luck, thing that happens and they're fired, and then that's not fun, and so i think a lot of the reasons big companies aren't risk adverse is because the human is protecting their family yeah.

I agree with that, and i think you know the i think part of this is i loved her description of the cmos one of the cmo's jobs is to push the push. The risk push things that seem risky to other people and i think that's the ceo's job as well. I mean it's great the most because because i've got a board whose job is to control the risk they're going to govern the risk, so i have to be the one that says i would argue, i'm sorry to jump in, but i got to say it. I would argue watching from afar.

This is why i think you're the fact that you know that which i think is incredibly rare in ceo love, i think, ceos think they are, and i think it's to your point, it's the board and i genuinely believe that the re-contemporary nature, the the what logitech Has done in being so much more contemporary today than it was when you got there, and especially over the last four to five years, because i'm sure you had to clean up stuff or i'm making assumptions here, but has to do with the fact that you actually Know that you're you're on offense and i believe, eight out of ten fortune, 500 ceos and i know a lot of them - they think they're, defense yeah! Well, you know what it's it's hard for me to speak to anybody, but my situation, but i feel very lucky. You know and if you think, we've been pushing it so far, wait till you see what's coming, you know we're we're always trying to accelerate into the future. You know, and i think that's the way yeah i it's just mo sort of my philosophy of life is mean you just got to keep if you're not going if you're, not if you're not going forward you're going backwards. If you're not you know it's all about playing offense all the time, so i'm i'm.

I think it builds on itself too, and you know if you can get through those early days as you're, in your new role, where you take a little risk and you push a little hard and nothing too bad happens. Who, in your world gives you information of? What's cool to the target audience or just in the world family friends executives something left field outside who, when i ask you that question what names or energies come to mind? Well, you know i'll just list a few people corinne bate uh created blue level, training she's in the de ni space. I've learned so much from her uh prakasha erin kundra who's. My head of operations he's the he's the absolute expert on environmental sustainability, as well as robert o'mahani um in design, my head of design, alistair curtis and then the royal college of art.

You know there. I've got i'm surrounded by people and meredith rojas, a relatively new person for our company she's been there about a year she's in the middle she wrote a book called selfie made she's in the middle of 14, 15 year old influencers on tick tock. You know she knows that place, they love her. I mean she looks 14 or 50..

It's it's amazing. You know, and so these people are all around me. You know, and i'm and i feel so lucky you know it's like i'm getting like the waves are crashing on me, i'm not having to go find the surf. You know this is this.

Is i'm finding out what culture is from the people around me? What um? What what areas of culture are most interesting to you, the human, like you, the human, if you were like to stop working and take a one-year sabbatical, is it in gaming sports food traveling? What where would you personally want to know the true cutting edge of? What's truly happening, the cool cool cool? You know i a couple of areas that just pop into mine, but i'm interested in so many areas right, one is just the creator culture. You know the which you know by the way - that's incredibly broad, but the creator culture right now is so exciting to me. You know i'm i'm on the east coast right now, i'm in new york, but you know atlanta is like is like i mean it's. The coolest 100, you know i thought the creative culture is really cool.

I think the trans culture is super cool. I've got that that's a company called founded by chloe freeman and you know she's creating a place to go for trans people. You know who, who you know if i want products merchandise, you know, i think, those those those are just two areas. I mean there's so many that i'm interested in, but i think those are too exciting and then the overall spade space of uh, the rise of activism, activism, activism, activism, activism on on things that matter and activism on things that matter to you, even if they they're Relative minded other people, i think this world of individuality.

You know no we're no longer. You know culture. Let's talk about company culture gary that, unfortunately we're out of time, but company calls you fascinating. I'm i'm starting to believe that company culture is way.

Overrated and individuality is way underrated in companies, and this is the future of a company. I think i think i think company company culture is predicated on empathy and giving people space not conforming. To what i mean. I could 100 figure 100.

I totally agree on that. Gary i mean it's been the single biggest reason vayner's exploding. I can tell you that right now it's room to breathe, not conform into what i want. My friends make fun of me all the time they come to vayner at five o'clock.

There's nobody there they're, like hey mr hustle, hard-working guy where's, all your people, i'm like. I don't want my people to follow what i do. I want them to follow what they do exactly you. I mean uh, okay, last i'll i'll get the last one.

I really think this the the future of organizations is, they have a purpose. They have a few values, they really believe in and they're they're a place. There are club people join, who share that purpose and share those values. There is no such thing as a culture.

The way we've traditionally designed it. It just doesn't make sense. I love it i'll talk to you soon. Brother thanks take care, so gary, i'm personally super fired up about our next guest.

He is the president of thredup, anthony moreno and thread up. I have become so addicted. I literally got this package this morning. My husband was like what is this: why do we get so many of these and they've been around since 2009? It's a consignment, an online consignment.

It is so fabulous i'm going to get off because i want to hear you guys talk about it, but i am an addict for a very good reason. He's awesome: hey thanks, hey! How are you i'm well, but not as well as you i mean you can't start it better than that right. That was faith i loved, especially how she threw the thing off the camera. That was a very vaudevillian of her.

I loved it. I think you need to chop that up and that needs to be a commercial for you, guys, anthony royalty's, coming your way coming your way fast, actually, actually, because i think um, you know for one minute, just give us the spiel, because i do think some people Are unaware of you know? Obviously it's still a young company just give us one minute on what the company is, so people can check it out and i want to get into culture yeah sure so um so thread up sells second-hand clothing on the internet. So if you go to thredup.com or download the app, you can uh find amazing brands from gap to gucci for up to 90 off retail, and it's amazing for your wallet. It's amazing for your closet.

It's amazing for the planet because we're we've up cycled over 100 million items since the company was founded and it's all you doing it right. It's not like it's not like a where i can list something that's sitting around in my like. I can't take this and one day list it: it's not a marketplace. It's it's you right! Well, those are those are fantastic.

So the way it works is we make it super super easy for um. For you to send your clothes to us. You come to our website. You order what we call the thread up clean out bag, which is a big green polka dot, hamper sized bag and um, or you can print out just a shipping label.

We you can put all your clothing uh, women's kids, women's clothing, kids, clothing accessories in the bag. We pick it up for free. We then process it photograph, it price it and sell it and send you money uh when when all that's done so it's super easy for the seller to get rid of things, they're no longer wearing and it turns out. America has a lot of stuff uh in its closets that it's not that it's not wearing.

I love it and what's the split between the person that sends it in and the company it depends. So if you send us uh a you know a 10 t-shirt. You know um, we'll pay, you a lot less for it than if you sell us a very expensive handbag. So but you know we're um but we're you know, but we're making the markets in those things, meaning i get it.

But there's there's lots of places. You can go frankly to get rid of a beautiful, louis vuitton handbag. So for that we pay you a lot, but i understand supply and demand applying demand gary. You invented it, so you know better than anybody.

I definitely didn't invent it, but i got ta tell you like it's probably the only thing i actually know - and here i am 25 years later in my career - doing quite well off a very, very, very simplistic, uh concept that i think is pure religion anyway, we're Having too much fun yeah because you're able to sit at the heights of this company, you probably have a tremendous understanding of what's happening in culture, because i think the people that shop, your your site are actually quite progressive and a little bit cooler. In a lot of ways, in my opinion that runs the gamut. I watch it from afar closely, but you probably have a good sense of what's brewing and so a you know, do you take advantage of that and then, more importantly, in running the company? How do you get information? How do you stay close to having your ear to the ground, yeah, so uh, many of the conceptions people have about who buys second hand. Clothing are just wrong.

That's been one of the greatest learnings. For me. I've been at the company for almost eight years: uh millionaires buy secondhand clothing and people living on a budget. A tight budget buy secondhand clothing.

I actually, i actually think i've always thought the edges were more like. I think what you're doing is making the middle come into the game. A lot more. The edges always really played that's exactly right, so there were always those core hardcore thrifters who didn't talk about the fact that they could find amazing brands.

They would go and they would rifle through racks. They would go to obscure online sites. They would find groups on social networks and buy things, and what we did was take all this incredible product from across america. We have millions and millions of items listed on thredup today across 35, 000, women's and kids brands, and we made it just as easy for you to shop those items as if you were buying new clothing.

You can search it, you can filter it. You can set up an email where, when a j crew dress comes in in size, three, that's red! That's in the pattern you want comes in we'll send you a text. So we made that that those folks who are on the you know the secret that was out about thrift for those people on the fringes we made it so that everybody else can get in on it, and it's amazing. Last year alone, 33 million people in america purchased secondhand clothing for the first time um.

So it was. It was interesting, while everyone was locked at home and focused on their health focused on their homes focused on saving money. They started to look for alternative ways to shop and do things and - and i think resale in general was a big beneficiary of that from uh from a trying to get a sense of where the customer is going from a marketing standpoint from you just being an Executive, that wants to keep staying, sharp and be good at understanding consumer. How do you think about culture? How do you think about cool? How do you think about, ultimately, what we're saying is consumer demand or the emerging thing that's going to trigger consumer demand? How important has this been to you? Has it gained? You know as a youngster did it was that something you cared about or did that grow because you were more operational like when we talk about this and you just filter through your cycle? You know, especially setting eight years in this company like it's such a big factor brand and culture, so underrated by operational, math financiers.

How do you think about that and that what was your personal journey? Did you grow up kind of through that path, or did you have to learn it and respect it more along the way yeah? So about everything i learned about being a student of culture? I think i learned from richard branson so before i was at thredup. I spent seven years working at the virgin group and started a bunch of businesses. There was involved in starting a bunch of businesses there and i brought a lot of those learnings to to thread up and culture is, i always think about it. It's like the three c's culture is it's complicated and it can be controversial.

I focus on the complicated part, meaning it's hard to get your head around or put your finger on any one thing at any one time when you're trying to be relevant from a cultural standpoint and meet people where they are and talk about topics and get involved. In conversations that people care about so the way we think about it on the team here is there's small culture and there's big culture and small culture is when somebody on the thredup team reads in the burberry annual report that they're burning clothing that they can't sell And we we take that little that little moment that little bit of information and we turn it into an open letter on instagram that goes viral. That's small culture, that's little things that are happening here and there that are under the radar or are subtle or don't appear to even be cultural, what's what's sort of appears to be less cultural than burning luxury products in some obscure field somewhere. But when you, you know, put a light on it and put it in the context of your business and your values and what your customers care about it gets.

It gets some legs and then there's big culture. So we recently did a collaboration with eric domin who's. The designer on gossip girl, you know so believe me, i'm old enough where i was a fan of gossip girl before it was a remake. I was i was there with the originals, i'm sort of old og gossip girl.

You want a fun fact: chuck bass is the only person in my life that i've ever asked for a selfie yeah. I was so deep gossip girl, and it's when it when i saw chuck of madison's queer garden and lost my mind like i was a fan of liam at one direction, jerry that nft would would probably sell for a lot of money yeah. I actually have it on my phone go ahead and look for it. I need to cover that okay, so those are examples of big culture, sort of bigger cultural waves that are going on and then there's sort of the biggest culture of all, which is the increasing emphasis and focus that people have on sustainability.

It was awful, it was 111 degrees outside my house here in california. You know there was a sinkhole, the size of a warehouse in germany across the world. Just a few weeks ago, people are experiencing weather and life in ways where everyone's saying hey, that, like headless horseman of climate change, that seemed to be like way off in the distance and obscure the headless horseman's, now standing in everybody's living room. So there's mega mega cultural waves like that and so at thredup.

We try to like think of our business and our customer and what our customers care about and then from that, like range of small culture to big culture, find ways to play that we can educate our customers to help them live, smarter, better, more, more economical lives And then, like a thread up, we got to do something about it. We have to deliver the goods, and so we process hundreds of millions of items, help you shop used help you save money help you look. Amazing are a lot of people, garage, saleing and thrifting and free marketing and then flipping to you and it's like a business for them. Uh, yes uh, but most people like nine 99.99 are busy with their kids with their families with their jobs with their lives and their clients.

It's a closet, yeah. What's up and they're like, please send me a bag. I'm excited to be part of the 0.001. Obviously, obviously we're still snatching, i mean like no, no, no, no, i you know correct me.

If i'm wrong, like i can go garage sailing, find some epic. You know female and kids clothes, send it off to you and make an arm. You can okay and i want to yeah. Please do just send us only women.

I know i saw i saw. I saw i just uh. While you were talking, i went on the site and i found an epic teenage mutant. Ninja turtles female t-shirt.

I just tweeted. It out because i had so many flippers on me. I think it's super underpriced. I can go for like 75 bucks in a different environment.

That's like 12 bucks on the site sub. I'm loving it listen! Thank you. So much talk to you soon pleasure see you gary so gary that our team wants you to take a break and try to find that photo real quick for them. If you don't mind, i don't mind.

Okay, next up, we welcome our friend mark schiller. He's the ceo of hane celestial, the organic and natural products company, with dozens of leading brands sold in 75 different countries, brands like celestial seasonings, sensible portions, tara, albert and earth's best mark lives by the 3h rule, always be hungry, humble and happy and the rest will Take care of itself welcome, mark! Thank you! Hey gary, hey brother, how are you virtual fist pump yeah? I like seeing you my man, you well yeah great all is good knowing that that's the corporate name. Why don't you tell some people first, so they get some context on you on what brands sit under uh, hane and then uh and then we'll get into this sure. So we have about 35 brands, um celestial seasonings.

Tea is one of our biggest sensible portion. Veggie straws, tara chips, alba sunscreens and uh shampoos, um maranatha, almond butter, imagine soup, uh earth's best, organic baby foods, a ton of brands across the categories and the common thread for all of us, they're healthy, and they do good things for your body and your soul. So when i let just go literal with you, because i've been bouncing around everywhere else, when i, when i say how do you stay close to culture being a ceo of such a large company having you know family having life, you know, is it as much of A challenge, as i think it is to st to really know, what's cool and relevant with consumers, or do you have some hacks some different ways, thoughts on that yeah, so um, as you know, it's it's busy at being a ceo, but i'm i'm a naturally curious Person so um, you know when i'm watching a movie, i'm paying attention to the people in the background, not the guy. That's speaking in the foreground, i go to go to the city and i sit on a park bench and i just watch people walk by for an hour and try and guess what their occupation is.

I mean that's just the way: i'm wired, interesting um and then i've got five kids who are all in their 20s, who keep me very abreast of kind of what's going on with that age group and then and then look social media. I watch i watch gary vaynerchuk on tick tock and to see what you're saying and doing and a lot and you know dozens and dozens of other people so um, it's just kind of part of my dna, i'm the only you know late 50 year old sitting At gov ball in new york city, listening to you know, rappers, i i i it's amazing how many times i i say i'm by far the oldest person here are not, and the answer is that's. Okay, because i'm staying learning, i'm fine uh! You just keep your fair on the pulse of it. How do you then inspire your marketers who are really trying to win that game with consumer? You know.

Is that because you're, that way, do you feel that trickles into the dna do you feel like your cmos and brand managers feel a little pressure like? I can't have mark be cooler and know what's going on than me, or do you create structured things as people start building their orgs and they want their org to represent that strength if they're lucky enough to have it? Is that something? How do you think about that? How do you, how do you scale it? I guess at the end of the day, yeah well so look first, i'm always pushing people to to be further ahead and be more edgy, because i somebody said it earlier today: um brands are resilient, you can make mistakes and - and you know, as long as you Don't make too many of them, the consumer will come back. The other thing we do at hayne, which i think works really well. Is we have a shark tank mentality, so our brand people get zero budget. You have to come and make a case for why we should invest in your idea.

Oh wow them to come up with something compelling that's worth investing. It doesn't mean you always have to have a big study. That shows me what the roi is, but if it, if it feels like it's going to get noticed, it's going to build the brand it's going to make a difference, we'll bet on it and sometimes we're wrong. Sometimes we're right i'd say we're right more often than we're wrong, but it creates a culture of be curious.

Push the envelope be passionate about what it is that you believe in and go sell it. I had one of um our african-american employees came to me recently. We have a very small personal care brand called queen helene, which caters to the african-american market, and she came and made a business case on how she could turn this into a health and wellness brand and really capture that audience in a much different way than we Had and in about six seconds i was like, do it go, tell me what you need. You know, you're.

You are trying to create value for us as a company by pushing toward uh an underserved group by us love it go for it, bring you back your plan and, let's go make it happen, part of your career and which mentor or individual me the natural thing That you are as a human being much like me. The same way i shot watching people figure it out in real life, because at 17 you realize that was a skill, a business skill that wasn't like how your brain tends to work at 17. What at what place, were you given courage of like wait a minute? This is a superpower, strength, something that might propel my career because i think a lot of people. I want to take advantage of that question because i think a lot of people may in certain parts and i'd like to know you know where that happened, for you in what company, what environment yeah it's it's a great question.

I think um because i've just always been naturally curious and um. I get bored easily, i'm i just find things to move around so, for example, i've moved 23 times in my life, one more time. 23. You have moved 24 days three times in your life.

Yes, i've lived in 10 different states in the united states and abroad, and so i'm just constantly trying experimenting doing new things. Um, i'm a big music guy when i go travel abroad. The first thing i do is i find out where the music scene is, and even in a language i totally don't understand. I want to see who's there, what they're doing it's just it's.

What makes me happy, um and and when i pick a career to your point, um i've switched industries multiple times and i started in food. But then i ran the world's largest manufacturer of coin operated, pool tables. And then i went from that to running the world's largest franchisor of daycare centers, and then i went back to food, and so i just i bounce around based on my values, based on what's interesting to me at the time um, i think my parents instilled that In me, when i was young, explore, try new things, um you're young, you can fail now. You know, go out and make your mark and figure out what makes you happy and that's just kind of stuck with me and i try and instill it in my kids.

How do you teach that to executives that are too rigid want to be promoted to the highest levels? Because, because i'm listening to you and this just popped up, have you found it? You know you had the luxury of your parents, creating that culture? You know, uh. Do you have you been able to get executives who are too rigid, too type a to school? Have you been able to inspire and create environments where people have changed moved a little bit down the line like do you feel? That's a dna trait and you just are like. What's your take on that, i think for some people it's it's deeply embedded in their dna. They are who they are um, but i go back to you know my 3.

8 rule. I tell people be happy if this doesn't make. You happy find something else that does and if you're, if you're, on an assignment that doesn't stimulate you and you want to do something else. Let's have a conversation about it and the ones that that have the potential to be much more exploratory and uh are willing to push the envelope.

I'm always there to support them, but not everybody is like that to your point, and so i try to find people when we're hiring that are like that. That are really going to push the paradigm that we're in because otherwise brands get stale and companies get stale and you get left behind. I think that's right what um? What back to social when we got two minutes, you watching me on t talk which i appreciate have you um? Do you have a favorite platform and how much uh of the kids i'm sure with five of them in that range? Some are really into it. Others aren't everyone's got different personalities.

You know, i feel social media represents an opportunity to discover what's actually happening and which, which platforms? Do you gravitate to more and and then finally mix in there as well? How much do your kids send you stuff, or vice versa, or who, in the who of the kids, is really driving that yeah, so um? I spend most of my time on on youtube and tick tock um, and what i love about um both of those platforms is there are so many subcultures on there uh. You know if you want, if you're interested in investing they've got 100 people. That will tell you about that. If you're interested in bodybuilding they'll tell you about that, if you're interested in food or great restaurants to go to or places to travel, you can really find what interests you and immerse yourself deeply on those um.

You know my kids are an interesting group, because you know it's fascinating when you have five children from the same two parents, how different they all end up being um, but i have my oldest son, has uh has down syndrome. So there's my daughter is very passionate about disability, the disability community and is constantly sending me things on. What's happening, uh we're going to this event. Do you want to come um? I have a son who programs missiles for the government's patriot missile defense program, who is very passionate about computers and technology and defense uh.

I have a chemical engineer, son, who is always tinkering with things and um talking about you know how you can put different things together to create something new or how how uh some of the things that you see on social media like dropping the you know, the The tab and creates an explosion um and then my youngest one, just graduated he's moving out to denver, he's the outdoors guy, so he's passionate about hiking and hiking and all and fitness and all those kinds of things so they're all really different, but they all feed Into me personally in different ways and keep me abreast of kind of what's going on out there, and then i bring them music and some of the things i'm passionate about. Thank you for bringing your passion today. Mark stay well talk to you soon. My pleasure, hey gary, we've, got one last discussion with the power duo of avery akanini and kirsten corrio of the united states, tennis association and, i think, they're.

I think they're going to be saying goodbye to you. Gary bye, everybody. We have avery here who uh leads: uh, vayner, nft, uh and uh. I'm excited for all of you get to know and one of my favorite executives.

I met her very early in my career and uh and i'm excited to be reconnected, so i'm gon na be listening carefully. It's great to see both of you. Ladies all, three of you power, ladies, i will be jumping off by everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Gary.