Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where are they now? | Bari Tippett of Auntie Anne's and Jamba

Starting point is 00:00:00 Barry, how are you? We're so excited to have you back on the show and check in with everything that you've been up to. Super stoked to have you here. Welcome back. Thank you. I'm so excited to be back with my Marketing Happy Hour ladies. I cannot believe it's been almost one full year since we chatted. I literally cannot believe that. So I'm excited to get into it and talk about what's been going on over here. Oh my gosh. Likewise. Well, we have to first ask you, has your happy hour slash favorite beverage you've been sipping on changed at all in the last year? You still riding with the, the original answer there. I think we're riding with the original answer. I mean, I'm, I think, I think I said coffee. I can't remember because I was at the office, but we're still drinking coffee.

Starting point is 00:00:49 And I'm, um, consciously trying to cut back on caffeine because it's been really busy. So this is my second cup and my final cup, which is sad, but we're still riding. No, I guess my new thing is frothing oat milk. That's like my new little thing that I've been obsessed with. So I think it's coffee with a little added frost oat milk. Oh my gosh, that's exciting. And we love our coffee over here too. So we're there with you. But we know personally a little bit about what's been going on with you in the past year. But could you just share with our listeners what you've been up to since we last spoke? I know that's kind of a huge question. You got married and there's some really exciting things happening at Auntie Anne's in Jamba. So let us know what's going on. Yeah, I mean, it has been an insane year. If you would have told if I could have told myself what this year in like included, I would have rolled my eyes and been like, how do you have time for all of that? But it has been an extremely busy year for Anteanz and Jamba from introducing a new content

Starting point is 00:01:52 strategy for both brands, hosting some amazing partnerships and collabs, and just doing some really fun activations that came from organic moments. It has been quite the year and I'm just so proud of all of the work that we have done to continue and sustain all the momentum for both these brands. Oh, so fun. And I've loved seeing all of your LinkedIn posts of the little highlights of different things going viral, the projects you've been working on. Talking of that too, is there any favorite projects that you did get to work on in the last year or anything exciting that your team has jumped into? Yeah. So, um, there's been so much. Um, and so this question is a really hard question.

Starting point is 00:02:37 Um, like I said, you know, before we are doing an activation tonight, but I'm not going to talk about it. So this tonight might be my favorite thing. But I think for National Auntie Day this year, it's our second year really owning this campaign. Those who don't know for National Auntie Day, we called all aunties in the United States and we were trying to find the coolest auntie to give them the title of our first ever ambassador. So we made all these really fun videos on TikTok and on Instagram to get people to submit videos on why they deserve this title and an all expense paid trip to Mall of America and $10,000 for spending. And so we did all of that. We found our first ever ambassador and I went to Mall of America with her and her niece and it was just a magical day. They were so thankful. The sentiment was so positive. It

Starting point is 00:03:34 was so sweet. It was just such a really fun activation that was relatable. And it was my first time at Mall of America, which was absolutely electric for the shopper in me. But it was just a really fun and impactful campaign. That is fantastic. I remember going to the Mall of America. I think I was in middle school and it's the only time I've ever been, but I was just like enamored by everything there. I was just so in love. I was like, this is fantastic. So that sounds so fun. Yeah. I walked 17,000 steps the first day. I was like, what is a marathon? Like I was lost. I was sweating. It was absolutely, but it was all worth it at the end of the day. Oh my gosh. That's so cool. And Ant Basseter, what a cute name, like to go along with that campaign. I love that so much.

Starting point is 00:04:17 It was really interesting. Yeah. It sounds that way. How are you kind of continuing to develop your skillset in your career area? That's something that we love to ask when we're checking in with a guest. How have they kind of kept up with, you know, trends and things that are going on and how have they continued to learn throughout the time that has passed? I think just continuing to be a user and really understanding each platform at its core. You know, I know there's a lot of talk around Twitter, but I still find so much inspiration on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:04:51 I don't necessarily read or follow any like social media industry trends. I read LinkedIn bio and just a couple few newsletters, but it's less of how to do your job and more so here's some inspiration. Here's what other brands are doing that you can find inspiration from. And it's the same thing with TikTok and Instagram. I'm constantly saving things and I'm constantly just looking and finding inspiration in all parts of the internet. So I'm continuing to do that. And I also really am focusing on staying motivated and not feeling any type of burnout.

Starting point is 00:05:27 I don't believe in burnout because I love what I do, but inspiring my team, inspiring the people around me to continue to push the boundaries and do really cool things because the sky's the limit on social. We can come up with some random, crazy, weird ideas that will stick. And so continuing to test things and continuing to kind of learn from it. Oh, that's so good. And kind of piggybacking off of that would love to know something important you've been learning recently, both professionally and personally. Is there anything career wise or anything that you'd say that you've just taken

Starting point is 00:06:01 away in 2023 as a whole? Yeah, this year has been a crazy year for me personally. I lost some really beloved family members and I also got married and just have seen a lot of amazing highs and have experienced some insane lows. And I think for me, it's really just you only live once and it's really celebrating the small wins, celebrating the good things and sitting with yourself and understanding, you know, that bad things happen to good people. And I started going to therapy to talk through all of the things that come to you that manifest and really just being a cheerleader for all of your friends and family and telling everyone you love them and just being appreciative of all of the little things that accumulate to make your life great and your career great.

Starting point is 00:07:00 And so I've just been really living that YOLO life. Not anything crazy. I'm not getting any tattoos anytime soon, but, you know, saying how I feel and speaking, manifesting things and just really taking all of the lows and highs and putting them together to kind of not reroute my life, but reroute my mindset and just be really appreciative of things. Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point. And I think it even plays into as we're getting older as people, as millennials and Gen Z,

Starting point is 00:07:31 we're just continuing to realize, oh my gosh, you know, I, the YOLO thing is so like 2012, but I'm like, literally it's so true. You do only live once. So there's only one time that you get to like do all of the things that you want to do and say all the things that you want to say. And you never are promised tomorrow. Like that's obviously another cliche, but it's so true. It's true. Everything happens for a reason and people are given obstacles because they are meant to, you know, power through.

Starting point is 00:08:03 And I'm not trying to get all spiritual on this, on this, uh, interview, but, um, I believe in it and I think it's true. And, um, the only thing you can do is power through and be positive and find all the positive sides of everything. A hundred percent. Okay. Shifting from that wonderful positivity, I guess we can remain positive, but still let's revisit the first episode of the year. This morning I went through and I looked at the transcript and I took out some of the things that you had predicted for 2023. I want to see how you feel about them now. So the first one is Twitter. That was a big question mark as Elon was taking the reins.

Starting point is 00:08:44 What has changed for you on this platform? If anything, are you still on there or what's going on? Yeah, we're still living and breathing on Twitter. We've had some great Twitter success, I think this year. But from a personal perspective, I'm seeing weird ads, lower ish reach, but still really good vibes. So we're not leaving. I'm not leaving Twitter anytime soon. Awesome. And then another thing was be real. So are we still using that? I don't know anybody on my side, even personally, that's still using it. So I'm so curious, like if that's still going on? No, personally, no. And from a brand perspective, we never even touched it yeah I don't know if that's a lost opportunity or not probably not I don't I would be very curious I don't have time

Starting point is 00:09:33 for a be real moment oh no no no if you guys think I'm always working for be real to work I'm not and I'm not always in an auntie ann's a Jamba. Let me put that right here. I do sleep. Okay. Another thing that you touched on was the creator economy. So how have you seen the influencer industry evolve in 2023? I think the notion of de-influencing is interesting. And I think that was a shift in perspective and also how brands are starting to let creators create. Like we're not giving these stiff briefs anymore. We're leaving it up to the creator to kind of challenge us and let us know what's what works best for their feed. So I, I love that. I love that creativity freedom for creators because we're investing in them to talk about our brands in an authentic

Starting point is 00:10:27 way. So I'm all for it. And I'm still going to get influenced even though they're trying to de-influence me. I'm still going to be influenced. That's just how it works. Yeah. I totally agree with you. Okay. Lastly on referencing the first episode of this year. Is there anything surprising that has happened in social that you actually didn't expect? This was an interesting question. I had to kind of think hard, but I think now that brands are getting flagged for using trending audio on TikTok,

Starting point is 00:10:56 there was a moment this year where TikTok was impossible for brands. We were not getting reach like we used to. I could post something and get 10K views in literally a millisecond. TikTok was impossible for brands. We were not getting reach like we used to, you know, I could post something and get 10K views in literally a millisecond. Now it's about posting quality content, not every single day, but really thinking about what's going to make our TikTok audience think. So it has really made me rethink that platform from a brand perspective and to really, you know, work hard and harder to create content that we know will stick. A lot more flopping in 2023 than in the previous years, but I think every brand is going through it and flopping is not failure.

Starting point is 00:11:38 So we just have to learn and pivot and, you know, keep going. But I think that probably was my biggest surprising thing that happened this year is TikTok. Oh yeah, for sure. No, couldn't agree more. Well, and on that too, you kind of answered this for TikTok, but any predictions for 2024 things you see happening just across the social and influencer space across the board? Yeah, I think brands are going to continue to push the boundaries with partnerships and collabs. I personally want everyone to get weird next year. I want weird partnerships.

Starting point is 00:12:13 I'm pushing my brands to partner with different types of influencers that aren't the normal lifestyle. Like, you know, I think for Annie Ann's and Jamba, we have the ability to kind of poke our heads in different niches when it comes to creators and partnerships and collabs. So I want us to show up in unexpected places. And I definitely feel like brands are going to keep pushing that boundary and keep doing that. Love that. Well, thank you so much for checking in with us. We're excited for another 365 day check-in down the road. It better not be that long lady. We won't, we won't, we'll do like a six month or five month check-in. I'm like, doesn't happy hour happen like every week? I can change my journey from a coffee to a margarita. I'm down. Let's go. We'll make it

Starting point is 00:13:03 happen. Done, done. We'll, uh, we'll make that happen off record for sure. Well, thank you again for joining us today. It's always such a pleasure to have you here. And, uh, we'd love to know before we, uh, let you go, where can we follow along with you and just everything over in the Auntie Anne's and Jamba world? Yeah. I mean, obviously follow Auntie Anne's and Jamba on all things social. But I'm basically Barry on Instagram and Twitter and Barry Rosenstein Tippett, my new married name on LinkedIn. So I'm always posting. I'm not always posting about social. I do have a life outside of social. So I like to mix it up and not be so corporate. You know what I mean? So follow me, message me. I'm here for you guys. There you go. If you want some beautiful wedding photo inspo, go to our Instagram. If you want some fun social inspo, go to LinkedIn. So awesome. Well, thank you so much, Barry. Again, we, we loved having you as always. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Thank you guys and happy holidays. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast.

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Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where are they now? | Bari Tippett of Auntie Anne's and Jamba

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