An amazing lineup of CEOs Founders and experts. This is marketing for the now how are you good? The office is rocking today! We are starting to get back at Vaynerxland. We've been pretty remote all year with a little bit of optional, but next year we're coming back stronger with what I think is going to be a really fun schedule for everyone you know. Not five mandatory days but two uh with a mix and I think we're gonna test it and I'm excited.

that's right. But I'm also excited about to say hello to Alex Ray and Palmer A and Janine Kelly on uh LinkedIn Jamie Lee Hiscox in South Wales UK on Facebook uh Hugh who works at Vayner and here on YouTube you know TV 3.0 genius Karina B on Facebook uh just great to see everybody Vicki J uh who's saying happy birthday Nick Dio I mean Vicki J is on top So anyway, glad to be here! Yeah, I know we're super fired up to have everybody joining us the last episode of this year. I Can't believe it. The sun is shining outside but it is cold and icy but we're gonna heat it up.

We're gonna talk a little bit about, um, the look back on 2022 as we're gearing up for 2023. Uh, and we decided to bring a bunch of our friends and family, our clients and some partners and things like that to talk about what they've learned so they can throw down some insights. So super excited to have to bring up Tim Armstrong first! So he is from Disney to Google to AOL to Verizon and now he's the CEO and founder of Floco and he's going to tell you all about what he's up to. So nice to have you! Tim Good to see you both! I Saw you a lot this year.

so awesome to spend time and Gary it's great to see you brother. Good day! How are you doing Well, how are you doing? Give me give me your uh one through ten on how you're feeling by the end of the year. 10 10 being awesome how you feeling? Um I would say a seven and only reason it's not eight, nine and ten is because the Jets have lost to the Vikings and the bills and back-to-back weeks and I'm really sad about football right now. but otherwise actually a 10 10 for 10 for real life Negative: three for a current state of football feeling though at 10 overall because it's finally a good season.

All right, let's not take up too much time. You're one of the true iconic businessmen of the last 20 years. in my opinion, being at the helm of a lot of digital leaders, ship roles, and some of the biggest companies I'm actually smiling when you were getting introde because your backdrop looks like you're still onto campus at Google or somewhere right now. I Don't know where you are, but it's making me smile really beautiful.

Stanford Connecticut I'm at the flow code off site at the end. Well thank you for doing this. I'm going to let you you know we've started a little late and you've got the off-site so we're not going to hold you. You know given that you've sat at the helm of AOL we're a super top executive at Google You've been through this journey of Web one, Web Two, and now going into Web three, you know I really have always felt that you have been a unique guy that I've always admired.

Uh, not only because you've been at the Forefront and been very capable, but also I think you're very light, well liked by the people that actually interact with you and so you live the kind Warrior you know honey Empire stuff that I care about so I want to give you those roses and I want everybody to know that truth. So I think your perspectives are going to be powerful So I'm going to let you rant here. What you know when you think back on looking back at 2022 from a business lens, but feel free to add to that What? What's your take? you know Gary Three things One is I think we moved from the pandemic to the team demick. One of the things we say: a flow code is the product is the team and the team is the product.

So right now we're a company. We we're basically have no rules on whether we're hybrid or in the office, but because we focus so much on trying to build a great team to build a great product. I I've noticed like people are, our team is probably 50 to 70 percent back in the office um now. and I think just that simple focus on moving to a team democ where we focus in on team has been been huge.

That's the second thing I think is um, you know you and I have lived through these Cycles before and we've been in the business for about the same amount of time is I think 2022 will go down as one of the best years to actually invest in things even though it looked like the world blew up. I think this reminds me a lot of the.com bubble in the financial crisis, which is everybody who ran away this year will be outstripped by the people who decide to stick with it and stay involved and I think like I'm super excited about web 3 I think like the decentralization of data and dollars is going to be like this year will probably end up looking back. Looks like there's a lot of issues right now, but it's probably the biggest year for the kickoff. it's to your point because you're really in it and I was I was in Jersey but I was in it because I had a.com in that era so I was paying attention.

You know I mean look, it's the stuff that I was putting out all year. 97 of this stuff was gold rush and that's why it's getting beat up. But no question whether it's Nfts or other blockchain technology like the two three percent is going to be the Amazon AOL paypals of that era because they didn't die and they were talented and they were good. It just hard you know for a lot of people who are watching right now that are none of T land and see their Nfts down.

80 90 they weren't there into they didn't own Pets.com stock that they paid 113 for that was three cents totally. So they it's all new for a lot of people because back then to buy stock in the late 90s early 2000s you had to like kind of be of a certain wealth. you had to kind of like know it here. Everybody learned and was able to do it decentralized which speaks to the capacity of the opportunity totally.

and Gary I think the other thing is like at the World level right now that there's trillions of dollars and trillions of pieces of data that are stuck on you know, six or seven Platforms in the world and I think that the what you just talked about with Nfts is you can say you know whatever happened this year with Nfts and crypto and blockchain and those things but the reality is that force is too powerful to stop. and I think there's a Renaissance period that the internet felt like the Renaissance I think the real Renaissance is actually starting you know now and I And the one thing I think you've been really good at Gary over the years is one of the books. I Read this I Read about 30 books this year, but the one that stands out probably the most is a book by Three McKinsey Consultants that studied you know how to success I studied 2600 companies and um, out of the 2600 there were basically 200 that hit all their goals and 2400 that didn't. And the main characteristic difference between the 2400 and the 200 where how fast people adapted resources and strategies and how much they did.

the 2400 companies only moved about one percent of their resources into new areas when they came up in the new. The strategy of where the world's going and the 200 companies that were really successful moved between like 10 and and 40 percent of their resources. So the last thing for this year is like are you bold enough as a leader to actually move to this? A lot of stuff that you've been doing and you've done at Vaynermedia and Vayner X you've been doing it for years and gotten ahead of the market. but I think one of the things I'm doing at Flow Code is you know we have a very differentiated offline strategy that helps people get their first party data and first party Commerce done is even in our company.

We've been a little bit ahead of the curve, but can we Jam 35 percent of our resources and time into the new areas of the world? And that's that's what I'm spending this off-site at with our team right now is is we have to be bold enough to keep making bold decisions because the market I think is going to change dramatically in 2023. I Love it brother! listen I wish we had more time I Adore you really quick I'm going to sneak one more second the AI chat the chat GPT hesitate your radar yet the you know open AI Like the this chatbot is, it feels for a lot of people the first time they're really seeing AI instead of the bubble gum and tape of the hype. any thoughts or have you not had the time because you're so busy? I said there's a work there The biggest change I've seen since the start of the internet or the iPhone is I think this is like the internet is a horse and chat. Uh, Gbt is like going to um a Tesla I mean I think it's the largest single change that's gonna.

it's the first thing that I've seen that I'm like oh, Google needs to pay attention to this 100 first thing on a d platforming. Yep, Love you brother. We'll talk soon. Thanks Tim All right next up we're going to bring Olga Osman Kina Jones who's from Wreck it and Olga has a pretty exciting job.

She's leading the reinvention of the future of intimate Health Sexual pleasure and rights all Guided by consumer desires and needs, We're super excited to have you. Olga Yeah, consumer small audiences. so how about just people? Yes, very real Olga you know I've had the great Fortune of getting to know you I consider your friend and I do really think that you have one of the things that con you know? Listen I've met thousands of people in marketing in the last 13 years. One of the reasons I continue to lean in to our relationship is I feel like you have really good consumer instincts which you know very honestly the world that I live in where Tim lives.

that's more common because other startups that really in corporate world. it's a little more rare because it becomes a little more Corporation But I I think you know the work that you've done at PepsiCo and now record like It's just very obvious to me that you get it. So from a consumer standpoint from a human standpoint to your point, um, what were the big changes in 2022 that really caught your attention? What was an aha? What was an affirmation? What stands out when you think back at Uh 2022? Oh, first of all, Gary thank you for for recognizing what I really cherish as I Think it is my superpower to stay close to people. Uh, in the end we serve them.

That's why we are here, right? Um, look I think there was a lot of Aha moments. um I think reconciling technology and just the role of human factor technology kept us together but put us at a distance in covet. and I think um, you know Tim talked about it as well. but that notion of human touch whether it is staying close to people with Servo just bringing people we work with together remember how wonderful it was for us to get back into it? Yeah, just brainstorm, have fun with it and open up.

Um, the creativity. The creative flow impossible to do I Think over over tap love Tech does a lot for us, but that human factor being together was a real Aha moment. You know there is a time and place for everything. Look in terms of how we connect with people.

another big Aha moment and that's something we lived through together with you and the whole Vaynerx team. And Durex and particular brand team is. how do we stop just following platforms and kind of jumping on the wagon of whatever it is happening in the world and start shaping? uh how people connect with Brands and instead of just you know, responding to whatever is going on in the world, actually shaping the behavior through very relevant message, not trying to market the product but really shaping the lifestyle and providing tools for people to open up a conversation. What we've been doing with you on Tick Tock for me is a big um showcase of that I think we've learned a lot what is not working but we equally celebrated a ton of what is.

Well I think you know what's so fun about what's not working is uh for everybody who's an entrepreneur or startup in Big Brand land and Olga's been a superstar in that world for the last 60 years A lot of it is you make decisions of smart people and research in boardrooms and then you spend a lot of money you know by our small business and entrepreneur Realms on putting it into the world and so there's a lot of subconscious to the cost of a mistake. what Olga's referring to is for a lot of people are listening both marketers at the unfortune 500 but the startups is the model of trying to win on relevance and marketing every day as if the way they used to. By the way, I've been doing earlier like this: I've been looking on a case study that we're building a banner of how Betty Crocker was built and a lot of it was how we see the world. They did tons of print in different markets, tons of radio in different Market with creative that was contextual to the market, then looked at the feedback loops and I made decisions.

they didn't have the internet so slower and different, but what's not working is a positive. I put out a piece of content social the other day of how much I like when my content falls on its face even though I thought it was going to do well. it's science. the learning.

Big brands are not accustomed to that because even subconsciously it's like the creative is expensive. But in the model, the creative is not expensive by comparison. and there's a lot of learn that what doesn't work helps you to find what does work and that's a powerful framework that hasn't been happening as much in Fortune 500 land. Listen: I Couldn't agree more and frankly, I think the trick is to get out of that space of its ass versus them.

It's us. and then there are some consumers as if they're aliens. How about we just put ourselves in the shoes of people we're trying to serve and stop talking about masses. Stop talking about groups that we don't get, but try to actually get them that the skin of John or Gary or Olga out there.

And frankly, often it's that creating that Groundswell right as you were saying, contextual, relevant in the moment. Often that approach touches enough of Mass to create the Snowball Effect And you know, in my humble opinion, often this concept of connecting that mass is misunderstood. It's not about trying to be everything to everyone, it's just really getting under the skin of people who you need to love what Auditors you're doing in the world and do it right for them. I Love that.

What else? What else stood out? Well, we got a couple minutes. anything else actually real quick. Let me just say hello. Real quick tat Keith L Bennis Good to see you Vape Warrior don't Vape it's not good for you Vicki J 12 Matt C LinkedIn How you read all the names, people know where we're here with them Ginger Yeah, what else is a hot take of something that caught your attention? Yeah I think it will be very much, uh, in your alley.

um I am watching what's gonna happen with Web 3 Nfts this whole Space because I think right now it's very easy to chicken out, then step back and act as if this has never happened. And the reality is you know anything new always has ups and downs. and it's a question of how we weather the storm and continue to experiment but not experiment for the sake of. Technology Again, understand the value, the utility that we can create for the people we serve and use it.

Use the tools. whether it's Nft, Web 3, whatever it is, use the new tools to just enhance uh, people's experience. I think that's right. I mean I Remember the internet search engines the Internet stock prices even people forget.

But iPhone apps. There was tons of articles. uh there's always fun. They're like oh, the apps are not doing as well.

The Blackberry was more than fine. like it's just always. This was so spectacular because there was fraud there was there was way too much hysteria. You know people heard what they wanted to every day.

I was putting out 99 is going to zero. 97 has gone to zero. People heard what they wanted to it right? Yeah, it happens. But nonetheless, thank you! Happy Holidays Adore you! We'll talk soon.

I'll see you soon. Talk soon. Ciao! Thanks Silka All right. Next up we've got Jessica Williams from Coinbase Jessica leads brand and marketing Partnerships and experiential she's calling in live from La Um, she's focuses on all things web 3 at Coinbase and before she joined Coinbase two years ago, she held a whole slew of different roles at Visa Thanks for joining us! Jess Hey Gary it's great to see you Jess How are things yeah uh, things are great I'm actually in San Diego not La Um, but you know, same for so much Yeah for us East Coasters it's it's nice and it's cold out here too.

But yes, you know you know. Look, this set up nicely. Both Tim and Olga touched on this: I think um, you know you're sitting front row. One of the biggest companies in the space.

You know? Um, what's the you know? Boy oh boy what you know. 2022 is going to be a year that you speak to your great, great grandkids about in heaven about. Like you know that was a wild professional year like UPS the Downs the lefts then right so would love to get a sense of where where you take this. Yes, absolutely.

Also, hard to concentrate while the um the hearing is going on with SDF but um, is that happening right now? Yeah, is going to be the year? Uh, that we, um, learned how to do smaller planning. Cycles Uh, so no longer do year-long plans work? Uh, you gotta plan in quarterly Cycles monthly cycles and um, as Tim said, be really flexible with your resources and your budgets to shift where it's most needed. Um I think we saw that we had full plans baked out in 2022 and each month each quarter like those got blown up and we had to start again. And I think it builds a real muscle with your teams internally to be able to sort of reset and refocus, shift your resources, not worry about what you got hired to do or what you were best at last year.

but then to really go where the business is going um and go where the business is needed I Love that. Um I think on that same note. uh, we did not plan for the worst. Uh, in 2022 and at Visa one of my bosses used to always make us do pre-retros so what's the worst thing that could happen? Uh, within this campaign? launch product launch? Um, you name it and let's plan for that.

and um, I'm gonna make my teams do a bit more of that in 2023. Just what's the worst thing that could happen here? And let's make sure we have a plan for that as well. I'm not sure we could have predicted this, but uh, at least maybe we would have been a little more. um, a little more ready.

Yep, what? Um, what? You You know a lot of people. let's really help people today. A lot of people here are destined to be at the helm of a senior leader or someone negatively affected by, you know, a hard correction, right? You know, 2029 we could go into a very aggressive, fast recession 2037 we may have a world event that creates it taking a more optimistic view. What What nice things come out of a reset that is very painful.

You know? Uh, what? What? What do you think you've learned? I Don't know if you and your career have had a reset of this size. You and I have been in the workforce a little bit longer than some of these 20 year olds. so I don't know where you were in your professional career I mean 2008's a little while ago now it is I actually was working on Lehman uh when they fell so no I go wear the chaos. No, just you worked at Lehman when 2008 hit I was working as a financial analyst on a company that was doing work for Lumen Yes I see so you're affected by wow.

not at Lehman but uh, very similar. like very involved in the insurance. um I think for me and what? I see is that? Um, there's gonna be a real opportunity for smaller, leaner teams, less hierarchy, clearer alignment, more tests, and learns less you know? Sort of polished everything. and I think this gives both young and more Senior People time to really grow and really, um, dig in, do more things.

Uh, be responsible for, um, more impact. I Think within every business, layoffs are never easy and I would never wish that upon any company or any person. But I do think it provides an opportunity for people to really stretch both out and up and and it gives more people more opportunity to launch and grow and lean into places that they may not have in the past. And I think that's a real opportunity for everyone across all Industries Um, not just big Tech what? Um, what else on the consumer lens? Oh all right, what else on the consumer lens are you seeing? um I think the big one that I have been loving is? well.

Andrea First of all, Andrea get her back on you even even if it looks a little good. and Dustin's good. that was so good you'd be in there that fast. I'm really impressed.

Like you really got my back. Thank you! Hey I love Jess I Love you. So we're all hearing this. I Also like clicking and doing nine things at once up.

Um, let me finish this off because Andrew's gonna take over here in a second. What? uh, what else do you see on the consumer lens that really caught your attention? Um, by the way, it could be outside of web 3. It might be something your favorite brand in cereal or handbags. or like what? What was what else was interesting in 2022? I Honestly, just think this hundred this thousand true fans um, mentality has grown so significantly even for large.

Brands Um I Love the idea that um, you know Nike is in I mean they're still interested in the mass media, but that they are really speaking to. there are a thousand true fans through dotswitch launch. Um, same thing with Starbucks Like they are obviously looking for everyone, but really focused on their true fans who are going to launch with them on. Odyssey Um I Think we're gonna see more and more of that where.

um, you don't necessarily need every single person you really need. those people who are most vocal, most interested. um, and who are gonna do the thing that you want them to do. um I Also, feel like decentralized? Everything is exciting to me.

Um, not the same sort of powers in the hands of you know, 10 or 20 big companies, but that we're seeing everyone proliferate across so many different mediums and Brands and access points that we're going to see smaller businesses really rise to the top because they're going to be able to find these niches. Um, where decentralization comes first? I Love it. I Love it. Well listen.

one last one last question for me personally, we've we've had a there's a lot of people here who go to business events, do event marketing. you and I have had the luxury of like intersecting a little bit on that um and uh I'd love to get your observations on that space. the there's a lot of B2B people that listen to this and watch this. What is the value of when you look back in 2022 of in-person events in the looming next decade of Metaverse? Like what do you think happens there? What's the good? What? What can be better? What are your thoughts? I Think that um, we will continue to thrive on in-person events I Don't think there's anything that um comes over in real life relationships that are built at events.

Um I Do think we need to make them more accessible to everyone so that it doesn't only lay in the hands of the few. However, what I've come to realize is that you don't need the massive party or the the biggest experiential. What you need to do is provide a good experience with the right people in the room and that is all that truly matters. And so I feel like a real focus on the quality, um, of the people and the experience.

and that doesn't have to be a full experiential, but it could just be a really engaging brunch with a fun you know like um at Red Bull did at Art Basel where you know they brought a bunch of creators together and doodled on a car. It was fun, It was engaging and it brought the right people people in the room to have a really meaningful conversation that I think can never be replaced. and I encourage folks to create those experiences where folks come and they feel when they left that a large impact on their future could be made. I Love that! Thank you Happy Holidays! Great spending time with you this year.

Looking forward to more! Thanks very so much for having me! Thanks Jess and thank you Gary the end of a year I Can't believe it I'm gonna go to my Discord right now Garyvee.com Discord Come and hang there as you guys continue it. Andrew A great year of this show! You've got some killers on here so keep it going. That's right, That's right, We're going to bring Avery Acanini up the President of our web3 business vayner3 how's it going Avery doing really well. Thank you so much for squeezing uh me.

On to the last episode of Marketing for the Now for 2022. I'm excited to be here. Well I'm missing you I Loved spending some time in Art Basil Jess was just talking a little bit about it. It was quite quite the year.

quite the quite the event that uh that you led there. but let's uh, we're gonna bring up Devin Negay who uh is is the Director of Tech and Emerging Platforms at Diageo where he's known for leading their North American Digital Innovation and Disruption I'm gonna kick it over to the two of you. Awesome! Thanks so much and thank you for joining us! Devin Um, when we were deciding who would be the perfect sort of cap off for 2022. you were at the top of the list.

Um, you've been such an amazing partner this year and I feel like we've done a lot in 2022? Diageo And all the brands that you sort of support and help oversee um have done a lot in the world of Web3, so we're hoping to share a little bit with our listeners on what you've learned this year. yeah for sure. and just to kind of explain my role at the company really quick. just uh for those who don't know.

Diageo We are a global leader in the spirits business so we are a portfolio of consumer Brands you might have heard of Smirnoff Crown Royal Johnny Walker Bullet Cost Amigos The list goes on. Um, these brands have been around for for a long time. So when it comes to digital Innovation I focus on helping Our Brands obviously stay relevant in culture? Uh, using technology to find new ways to reach our consumers and to make sure that we're keeping Our Brands relevant right? And so Web3 is a huge uh, piece of culture. right now, it's really important.

Uh, so we've We've spent a lot of time this year getting Our Brands into this space with the help of our friends at Banner3 and Avery and her team. So uh, we've done a lot. I'm happy to speak to a couple examples if you'd like. Um, my.

My favorite example is a project we recently worked on called Web3. Crown Royal.com Um, uh. this was a really fun project where we we took an existing purpose-driven marketing initiative and we brought it into Web Three. Uh, So what the brand has done in the past is we've uh, packed the iconic Crown Royal purple bag that you see here with characters from with Care items for service members serving overseas.

And so with Web3. Crown Royal.com we we created a digital collectible uh of a piece of beautiful Crown Royal artwork minted uh created by a Web3 artist. And for every Crown minted, we packed a purple bag. We actually had this call to action on screen on the bills.

Uh Lions NFL Game on Thanksgiving days. It was a big moment for us. uh and we're really excited to have the brand step into Web 3 in this way. And now we have this engaged community of Crown Nft holders that we we're going to nurture and deliver exciting things to over the course of the next couple months.

so we're really excited about that. But generally obviously 2022 has been an incredible year for us getting into Web 3 in authentic ways and we're excited to do more! I Love that. and that program was really interesting because I think a lot of the listeners here might be. You know, reading certain things in mainstream media that talk about speculative investing.

They talk about what's happening with FTX they talk about um, you know some of that, that hype cycle and what you're talking about with Crown Royal though is really a campaign that uses Um, like Web3 for good that both builds a community for an existing, well-established brand while actually going to serve up a sort of purpose in supporting the generous initiatives that Crown Royal is doing so. I Love Web3. Crown Royal.com and I encourage people who are listening to this to go check it out. and for every Uh crown that is claimed.

uh, the Diageo team is going to send one of these purple bags to active duty military which is just such a nice story. And it was cool because you all are actually the second brand to Um launched on Salesforce's Nft cloud which I think is also pretty. um Monumental like Salesforce being a huge Web 2 giant that really pioneered digital CRM Um and Diageo being one of the first Partners to kind of be in as part of that pilot. What was that experience like? Yeah, I mean that was a very eye-opening moment for for us and our marketers at Diageo I think one of the most encouraging things that that I see certainly in the Web 3 space is the amount of investment coming into the space from existing large-scale players in the cloud business.

Cloud Technology business like Salesforce So Avery's right. We did work with Salesforce Uh, using their Nft Cloud project to to get this project into uh, into the wild and into culture. We were excited to do that. and I think there's a lot of promise that we can look to there as marketers as we connect our existing kind of marketing, business processes and practices to connect web3 with all of those systems that are already in place.

So Salesforce does a lot for us. We also worked with a partner called Cross Mint on this specific Activision which really helped us mint at scale, right? So another encouraging sign for me is removing a lot of that confusion and free action associated with minting Nfts, storing Nfts and the value that they can deliver. So I think with Salesforce and Cross Mint combined, we were able to kind of get to that seamless consumer experience that we want to deliver. through digital.

uh at scale. Uh, certainly for for Brands like Crown Royal we have to be activating at scale and that's what we're going to look to do in the future. And you know this space is evolving so quickly every week there's there's a new development. Uh, positive development.

Um, you know to help consumers get on board into Web3 So I think we're We're excited about that as well. Awesome! And Johnny Walker was I believe the first Uh Diagio brand to take some steps into it and you know this is an analogy we use all the time because people often ask me oh, who are some of your web 2 Brands who are getting into web3 and I say you know, look at Johnny Walker which has actually existed for centuries and you know there's even like a famous memorabilia of old Johnny Walker ads that are in print right? Like this is a brand that's kept walking across centuries to connect with consumers at various like cultural moments of relevance. Can you talk a little bit about the Journey of Johnny Walker Maybe starting from something like gift code and up into uh, the event that Andre just mentioned uh at our Basel Yeah, sure. and and as you mentioned, Johnny Walker's one of our oldest, most storied Brands and I think that uh, in partnership with the brand team this year, we've done a good job of really getting them into culture through web 3.

Um, and we wanted to do it in an authentic way, right? because I think that unfortunately the list of Brands is pretty long that have gotten in for the wrong reasons. So web three or have gotten in and Fallen flat and I think that our approach really was test, learn and iterate as we've as we've launched these different activations. Our first step was to partner with the Top 10 Nft collection to launch a limited edition gift gift like bottle that we just gave to those token holders. so we're really excited about that.

And then we moved into on-chain activity where we partnered with Block Bar which for those of you that don't know you can Block Bar works with Brands like us to Mint Nfts to pair with your physical products. So we actually launched a limited release of Johnny Walker Blue Ghost and Rare which is a very special Johnny Walker liquid and we paired that limited release of bottles with Nfts that delivered a bundle of incremental value for consumers, right? So we were able to authenticate a hand signed bottle from our Master distiller Emma Walker We were able to deliver a storytelling experience for those token holders. Uh, bought the Nft to them with Emma and then gave them you know, first first shot at our next drop on Block Bar as well as an artwork Nft that was uh designed and developed by Ivonne Tao Who's this fantastic female artist in this space? So um, really testing learning, getting into Web 3 for the right reasons, authentically and um, we're actually really excited to to launch our latest iteration of this at Art Basel where we did another drop that was tied to a physical bottle where you if you bought the Nft, you actually got access to a VIP event at Art Basel where you can taste Johnny Walker Blue and actually interact with an artist who's going to create artwork. uh, they'll live on the bottle when the bottle comes out in the future.

So testing, learning, getting in, and uh, experimenting is has been our approach. and I think we're gonna. we're gonna do that into 2023 as well. Amazing! I Think this.

Echoes What just was just saying right? Like having a few sort of, um, agile plans that are built upon themselves so it doesn't have to be the biggest thing at once. it can be Um, continuing to connect with relevant communities and grow and grow. Um, it sounds like that was a big part of your strategy in this year. So what are we? What can we look forward to for next year with some of the Diageo Brands Um, you know, starting to, uh, continue building into this world of Web 3.

Yeah, look I think that, um, one of the encouraging signs for me is that there's they're starting to be some Nuance in the public debate about. you know, crypto, Nfts, and utility associated with those entities, right? So one of the most encouraging things I saw recently was Jamie Diamond Was on CNBC last week and obviously he has a very firm view on crypto, but he he did. He made a detailed call out that he was a believer in Web3. he was a believer in blockchain, and he was a believer in smart contracts.

So for brand marketers, it's important that you know we listen to the level of Education that continues to rise and then to build on top of that I think in 2023, the year ahead we're going to continue to focus on, you know, leveraging Web 3 for our events experiences. you know, amplifying our Partnerships and culture like sports in areas like sports. Um, because to me, the most important thing is the underlying technology that we can use and the utility that that can deliver to consumers. So as education as the education level about this space Rises amongst our consumer base further, we're going to continue to get in.

We're going to focus on those four those spaces that I mentioned. and the last one I would say is is certainly loyalty, right? Consumer loyalty? Look at looking how we uh, leverage Web 3 and the tech not underlying technology to build consumer loyalty for our brand portfolio and some of our our digital platforms. It is going to be a very exciting year for Diagio and all of the incredible brands that you all represent building this space. And I Think you know Diageo does so many cool experiential events I think during our Basel alone there was like at least a dozen tying um, those incredible experiential events with some like digital loyalty component I think is going to be really exciting to see.

so I know our time here so thank you so much for joining us Devin and sharing your insights. um and we'll hand it back to Andrea Thanks guys! thanks for having me thank you Devin and thanks every Avery Always a pleasure! All right we're next going to welcome up! Mark Evans Who's the executive director at the Sasha group? Mark How are you? what's going on? Andrea How are you? Oh I'm excited about this next one. I'm a big carry fan. We're going to bring up Kerry Warren Block She is an amazing human.

She is the founder and CEO of Earth Kind, a company that keeps pests out without killing or poisoning them. It's an incredible company with a big heart. She also is an author, an inventor and an Ey entrepreneurial winning woman. Welcome! Welcome Welcome! Carrie So happy to be here! What an incredible introduction! Carrie Carrie I Cannot believe we're halfway through.

December 23 is right around the corner! It's our first year of partnering together of Earthcon and Sasha I'm so stoked to be able to have this combo with you because we've just had a blast today. But you know to build on what Andrew is saying I'd Love for you to be able to give the viewers just some more context on on Earth Kind and kind of why you started it and and what you guys do so brilliantly Sure happy too. Well, it actually all started when a rodent ran out my bare leg. Kind of freaked me out.

Um, and then there was this continual problems of rodents getting into our farm equipment. There really wasn't a solution out there that was safe, effective, kind to the environment. safe for my my kids and my pets. So I reimagined and basically reinvented the way Pest Control could be done.

Um, invented a little. This is our first product Tara little sachet pouch that we've sold over 50 million of these to reliably keep rodents out of enclosed areas like nice push cars RVs what the like and our products are sold across major retailers all over the country. And yeah, it's hard to believe that it all started from just one little problem like that. Absolutely.

And I get I can testify my garage is rodent free so thank you! Um so I think we look back at this year, there's been a ton of growth for Earth kind and it's come really from both. kind of from people. the special people that touch your brand both internally and externally. Um, talk to me a bit about kind of like how you think about your teams.

How do you think about kind of finding the right mix? How do you create that Harmony to be able to push the brand forward? It's just a smart way. Yeah, absolutely starting starting the brand really from a shoestring and growing it into what it is today. I've really kept kept my focus very simple. You need a plan, You need alignment, You need Stellar execution.

and you need really good control. So that's the filter that I've used. Um, irregardless of the size. We really haven't had to change our our business model.

Um, but we have for instance, seven external teams that we work with and we really consider them as an extension of our own team. So in many ways we treat them like our own team. Um, and there's a lot of care and generosity that goes into that relationship, which I believe that gets the best from people, but there is no mistake for passion, you can't fake it. Um, to me.

as far as return on Investment Kindness does it as you know the name of our company. but looking for that in our people and the Sasha team, it's It's just been a wonderful, wonderful. Journey This year we took that bold step instead of doing 100 things, what are the two or three things we really need to do this year to nail it? And I think in the future we're going to continue to have to think like that. Got it? And so you feel like the focus was really an important thing this year? For the growth of Earthcon Earth kind in four Skus and Walmart stores is pretty important.

We do business with the biggest retailers out there and they still need people walking in their doors. Um, and and we need Um to have that really good connection with the end user like we always have from the beginning because we learn every single day. For instance, when when you look at what we did this year mark with Tick Tock we opened our first Tick Tock We did, um, the Instagram reels the YouTube shorts. We got a pretty quick assessment of what was really resonating with people and we were able to quickly take that in um to our Lowe's account for instance and see a lift by running ads from that in a very authentic way to our brand that was not salesy and um, yeah, we're so pumped about that.

Yeah, and I think that's and I think Well, first of all, I guess the love is always felt when we work with Earth kind teams. That's always fun for us. but I think when we think about the content that we've created together, you know it's been a mixture of being able to bring to life you and all the great stories and the passion that you bring and being able to capture that and be able to deliver that in content but also being able just I Think you know, humanize uh you know rodents or be able to just like bring to life little quick facts and tidbits that I think People really you know, appreciate and enjoy and they're kind of everyday. Like did you know you know life? Yeah you know when we started 98 of everything sold to control a pest was poison, it was kill.

It was inhumane and really we. we've since the very beginning we've been looking at people that want to join hands with us and go on this journey with us and really change the way. um Pest Control is done and perceived. um and really the only way to do that is to touch their heart and to give them something in their mind right? Here's the facts and here's why: Uh, this should matter to you and is important.

Um, so getting that mix right was was really important for us, especially on Social which is Sasha runs all her social. You get to check it out and see what we're doing. but um I'm really happy that we got the mix right? Absolutely absolutely. Um, One of my favorite quotes from Gary is you know a brand will outsell any salesman And I think about your brand.

Your brand is so powerful and so near and dear to your heart as you continue to expand and get bigger. Like, how do you stay true to that kind of initial brand vision? Yeah, that's funny If you ask our partners and employees of people that know me. I've been, you know, really a stickler ever since the beginning that you absolutely have to care every time we walk into a merchant room or any relationship I Want people to leave saying this was worth our time. This was not a waste of time.

Whether that's the customer, um, whether that's anybody that works in our company. um, it's just so so very important. And those insights genuinely come from our people. When when their hearts are open and they're not scared to tell you what they think or what they see or what's going on.

and I always think it's better to have 10 000 people like Brand Advocates looking right and watching for you rather than having one person sitting at a desk making a decision. That's when things. That's when things really go sideways. So unfortunately we have that with with our teams.

I'm grateful and honored absolutely and I always think I I Love how you look at, you know the the digital Community is like really building a community and the importance of having people really embrace the brand, understand the brand, and really be able to connect with them. And I think so many times Brands don't look at that that way. it's like you're like no, let's build a community and I think I Just love that kind of mindset. It's oh my gosh, it's so valuable.

So so valuable. especially when you live from. North Dakota which is where I started the company. It's not like we could get out so we were in.

We've been in the cloud for a long long time and I heard Gary speak in 2007 or eight and I instantly went home and I saw the value in in this and started to put down. It was like we got all the accounts and started our journey of communicating with customers in a very authentic way and it's been the key to our growth. We really haven't even had an In internal sales leader because of that. Our customers have been driving it for us which is awesome.

Excellent. Excellent. I know we have a only a few seconds left, but anything that's exciting you about 23. Should we pretty much hit our goals this year, we're making our bigger goals.

I'd Love for people to sign up for our newsletter, follow us, follow our community, see what we're doing. Um, that's going to be something really exciting for us. We'll put the link um and in um my social channels here. Thanks for having me on today.

Absolutely absolutely thank you for taking the time. Carrie Thank you Carrie and thank you Mark Happy Holidays All right! Oh there she is our chief Heart Officer! Claude So good to have you here! Yeah great to be here! Oh my goodness and you're gonna bring us home! Excited about this! Uh, this last interview of 2022. we're gonna have Sarah Rodell who is the CEO and founder of Loop and Ty She's going to tell you all about the business but I'm personally just thrilled by our partnership. Uh, we just engaged on World Kindness Day um and giving some gifts with Heart a personalized gifting program.

We love the heartbeat in your organization because it matches ours. So very excited about the conversation and I'll hand it over to YouTube Thanks Andrea hi Sarah Great to see you again! So happy to be here! Great! I Was wondering if you could just tell us a little bit about you I know you came from finance and now you're in the world of giving and giving with heart. Who are you? what are you all about and what is Loop and Tie? Yes, yes, Um, you know. Lupine Thai is very much an expression of the things that I care about in the world, which is being able to, um, connect with and show gratitude to more people in a super personalized way.

So I built the company because I was really interested in how we could take the billions of dollars that are being spent by companies in their recognition and rewards programs and use that to support small businesses and causes an underrepresented Founders through what we call collection-based Commerce Um, so our idea is to kind of change the game in the way gifting is done. So instead of picking a single item, you send a collection of choices and people can choose what they want and with that choice comes the ability to surface just more Niche offerings and we can Surface stories and let people pick a gift that really connects with who they are. Amazing so can do you mind going back a little bit to how this even became a purpose for you? Sure! Um, so I really experienced uh, the problem firsthand of volunteering to send gifts to a lot of people and found that it was more of a formality than it was actually useful to them. And and that was interesting to me because I feel like that's a dropped ball right? Any opportunity can to connect can be really meaningful and can have a lot of positive.

Ripples and I felt like if we changed the way that companies can connect with their customers, we have this opportunity to support sort of a wider range of of people. I mean you remind me in In even in speaking to prior to this call reminds me so much of the Maya Angelou quote that we we say a lot which is people forget what you said, people forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel. It's a huge huge thing for me and it really sounds like the connection point for you in terms of just the human and the heart and the act of giving rather than you know, sending something out kind of cheap and cheerful because you kind of have to, right? right? and I think um, we're you know at the beginning of when I was building this company if I talked about, um, the role of gratitude in the corporate environment I was looked at like some crazy hippie. um that's changed, which is you know, a wonderful uh Evolution I would say of the broader market and um, and just the broader tone.

But one of the things that I think is really incredible when gifting does become a part of your business practice is this transition away from treating people in this transactional way into something that feels more inclusive and Invitational and so something that I think the gift can do when it's not a formality is really build a bridge of understanding who a person is, so you sort of move out of this often tiring Dynamic of just transacting with somebody else. We're not really designed for that kind of, um, feeling, uh, in perpetuity, it's It's sort of exhausting, but all of a sudden we're enlivened when and you get to know somebody who you might be. you know, wanting to sell something to you might be wanting to hire in a much more human way. and I think that you guys have always embodied that that's been a really, um, core part of the way that that you know vayner's been built and I remember uh watching the thank you economy talk that Gary did right when I was starting the company and that you know the the tenants sort of within that on how to build community um and and bring the humanness into the the commercial space um have always been just really powerful motivators for me.

Yeah and actually even jab jab jab right hook. If you think of the ethos around that which is give give give and then ask you know we get I get asked 24 7 like what is the ROI of kindness What is the ROI of bringing heart into the workplace and I usually say like what isn't the ROI really what isn't Yeah So I'm gonna ask you the question just because it gets asked to me yeah, what is the ROI of giving with heart? What does the ROI of Invitational giving which we're going to get into a sec? Um the way I approach that question it it um it makes me actually think of one of my favorite metaphors. um which has to do with with farming systems. So uh so here we are.

Um you know one of the the things that I uh take the most uh inspiration from is the way natural systems work. So if you look at an industrial Farm um it's all about increasing yield when you do that. After five or So years, you don't have the nutrition you need in the soil, so you've got to move somewhere else, right? If you look at more regenerative or biodynamic farming practices, it's about taking really good care of the soil. And when you do that, really good food happens to come.

And so to me, the ROI is thinking, you know, getting out of this myopic space where you're trying to say when I give one gift I Get five more customers That's not the kind of mentality I Think that's going to create long-term sustainability and that's more of this industrial mindset. But if we zoom out and say okay, if we're investing in this soil of our relationships, the way we connect who our brand is, how we show up in the world, really good food is going to happen to come, right? Our brand is going to be sustaining. We're going to attract the kind of employees and the kind of customers that stay with us for the Long Haul I Love that. By the way, you kind of give a nod to Carrie who is just on hard talk I Love when you're talking really, you're talking about just like being more human in this in the space that she's in.

It's such a dichotomy because we're in a world in which things are transactional social. So I Get a like, You like my content. You gotta like, you gotta get a like and so what. You're what you're doing is really helping us.

I Would say unlearn this idea and can we talk about? you know, unlearning a little bit or relearning how to give? How to be generous? Yes, yes, um, well you know. I Uh I Think that that is such a a deep question. Like there's so many things we need to unlearn. Um, one of the biggest things that I think um, we are open to unlearning at in sort of the macro environment right now is stress as a motivator.

I Think stress is a really powerful short-term motivator. Um, long-term motivators are things like creativity, safety, appreciation, And so when we think about the activities that engender that kind of environment, you know gifting is a part of it. But it's really broadly this recognition um, mindset that I think is super important and um, and you know one of the things that I love to just sort of punctuate that is our bodies. show us that if you're under continual stress, you get sick.

you cannot create if you are appreciated if you are given space um, where you feel like you can try new things. Um, you do grow and so I think any activity that supports that is something that we need to double down on. And there's a lot collectively that we need to unlearn around the stories with stress and pressure. and you know you've got to work hard and sort of break your back in order to achieve anything.

Um, it's sort of right-sizing our relationship with those things. Yeah I love what you say. It's really, you know we are in this pivotal moment right now where so many paradigms have the opportunity to change including this one. And can you talk us through? uh, you know you talk a lot about Invitational giving and one of the things you and I chatted about was okay, there's intention.

Yep, and then there's invitation. Can we just talk about the the uh, discrepancies there the differences because they're subtle. Yeah, it's super subtle. and I think to me, um, invitation is it's an action, right? It's something.

It's it's intention manifest out into the world. and I love talking about this concept of more Invitational Commerce more educational company building because what it really speaks to is creating something that you're proud of and you're saying hey here I am come hang out with me or not, you know your decision versus something that is more transactional or extractive which is positioning, manipulating, trying to get something out of you and it's sort of a Tit for Tat and that is to me, just not something that's sustainable. And so as I look forward um, into 2023, I do I Also feel like we're kind of, you know, exhausted. like we went from pandemic to recession.

Our nervous systems are like I just need a nap, you know and I think that that kind of uh Dynamic creates that's the rupture that you need for growth. And for Change and so um I love talking about um, you know how to instill more Invitational practices into the way you connect with your customers. the way you connect with your employees. because I think it gives us that opportunity to really be more heart centered, be more authentic, and kind of see what what comes in when you are just putting that out in the world.

So it sounds like you would say for 23 it's it's more Humanity for the win. Yeah. listening. becoming more mindful.

Not using stress as a motivator. Yes, you're as a motivator, but really taking intentional. but Invitational proactivity Exactly exactly you know. and I I'd say um, a big theme that we've been talking about is values oriented, uh, commercial activities.

like just to be as broad as possible being Center Stage um and and what that looks like to me is being able to kind of dial back and say okay, who are we again like? how do we get out of react mode you know and how do we communicate that because I I think that um, you know again a question that I've gotten a lot that I find really interesting is um, people are wanting to know. how do you connect. How do you give in this economic environment? They're not talking about their budgets, they're talking about the tone right? They're wanting to understand. How do I connect in this like space where there's a lot of triggers out there.

And and so I think um, that type of macro environment is inviting in the space of where you know the question we're asking Brands back when we get this is what are your values? What are your trying to communicate onto the world? Are you? Do you really care about sustainability? Do you really care about inclusivity? Like how can we put that front and center and consider the way that you communicate that on a broader scale? I Love it. I Love it. We could go on and on and on well. thank you so much and thank you for partnering with us for uh for Gary's birthday World Kindness Day and happy Holidays to you! Thank you so much for having me Happy Holidays! Thanks to you both for closing us out! That was fantastic! Lots of love, lots of heart going on.

All right. Well thank you everyone for joining our session today and we're looking forward to seeing you in the new year. We'll have our next episode of Marketing for the Now in January but not until January 30th Um, where we're going to talk about some pretty cool hot takes for 2023. We'll be back from CES and have all kinds of interesting things.

So uh, thanks to all of you for your support this past year and we're looking forward to seeing you very very soon! Happy Holidays Everybody and.