Marketing Happy Hour - Strategies for Marketing Success in 2025 (AI, Underpriced Attention + MORE) | Avery Akkineni of VaynerX

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

In this episode, I sit down with Avery Akkineni, Chief Marketing Officer of VaynerX, to explore the cutting edge of digital marketing and innovation. From building VaynerMedia’s APAC presence to founding Vayner3, Avery has been a trailblazer in leveraging emerging technologies like AI and Web3. She shares actionable insights on crafting resonant brand strategies, identifying underpriced attention, and preparing for the future of marketing. Plus, Avery offers advice for aspiring leaders in the industry, with lessons from her remarkable journey.  Key Takeaways: // Underpriced Attention: Learn what this term means in today’s marketing landscape and how to leverage it for impactful growth. // Storytelling Strategies: Discover how storytelling can elevate your brand and ensure your content resonates with your audience. // Emerging Trends: Insights on AI and what excites Avery most about the future of marketing. // Platform Prioritization: Tips on choosing the right social media platforms and allocating resources wisely. // Career Advice for Marketers: Avery’s guidance on staying ahead of industry trends and accelerating your career in marketing. // Personal Insights: Behind-the-scenes of Avery’s career journey, lessons learned, and how she balances milestones with ongoing innovation. Connect with Avery: LinkedIn ____ Say hi! DM me on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - I can't wait to hear from you! Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠ Join our FREE Open Jobs group on LinkedIn: ⁠Join now⁠ Get the latest from MHH, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Social is actually at the center of marketing plans for 2025. If you think about yourself as a consumer, you probably get a lot of your information on social media. What's happening in culture, like you're influenced by social media, most people are. And brands still think about social as a segment versus thinking about social as the center. At Vayner, we believe that social can be the creative testing pre-vehicle, best amplification platform of all time, and also a really like continuous feedback loop to understand what's working and what's not. Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. I'm Cassie, consultant, podcaster, and your host. Every Thursday, you'll hear episodes packed with insights from brand leaders on an array of topics from crafting effective marketing strategies and hitting career

goals to building leadership skills and launching your own business. Inspired by those unfiltered happy hour convos with peers, this show is all about practical, empowering chats to support your professional journey. So grab your favorite drink and let's get to the episode. Avery, welcome, first of all, to the show. Thanks for being here. I absolutely love what you guys do, your team, just for the last several years have been watching from afar, and it's been amazing to just learn from you guys and what you're doing. So super honored to have you here, but got to ask what's in your glass now or what have

you been sipping on lately? I am sipping on a cherry bubbly. Bubbly is the most delicious sparkling water. It's part of the PepsiCo family of brands and actually a brand that we're lucky enough to work on. Um, so I'm a sparkling water girly through and through. I am always not far away from a sparkling water. Love that. I know. Same. It's the perfect refreshing beverage just to open up throughout the day. And bubbly is great. I'm a huge fan of bubbly. So that's typically when we go to the store, what we'll grab. So cute. Yeah. Little can tabs. This one says, I know, it just kind of brings a smile to your face. I know. I know. I love the whole brand experience,

which, you know, we'll kind of talk a little bit about your involvement there with it. But first tell us, like, how did you get involved in digital marketing in general and what led you to your current role? So I started my career actually at Target Corporate. When I graduated college, it was one of the companies who had these sort of management training programs that I signed up for, like my first week of senior year of college. So I did that for a year and they sort of had different rotations where they taught you basically how to be an executive at Target, like big handbook, you know, start a class with 30 different people, almost like college in a way where, you know, you had

different exercises and different people to learn from. And across the different rotations we did, it was like supply chain and asset prevent, like loss prevention and, um, marketing and, uh, HR and all these different things that were really interesting. But the thing that like stood out to me immediately was, um, marketing as being like really interesting and really fun. Um, those who've worked in retail just know the importance of product placement, um, of things like end caps. And it was just cool to see like at that in those days it was like whatever we had in the flyer would like sell out because people saw it they would come into the store to buy it so that was you know something that

kind of caught my eye and at that point Google and Amazon were still relatively new and Target was like oh yeah there's this Amazon thing and you know people are buying a lot of stuff online now. How are we going to compete? It was the more senior folks were like, well, that's a very small percentage of sales. But I was like, but it seems like a really convenient way to buy a lot of day-to-day necessities, whether that's Kleenex or candles or whatever. So I was interested in what was sort of happening on the internet. And when I had the opportunity to join Google, I had a friend who worked there

and she was like, oh, you should come join Google as well. It's amazing. There's free snacks. There's a whole, whole nine yards. I went up to San Francisco for an interview with them, was like, oh my gosh, this must be the place. And I joined Google and joined their sort of management training program, you know, within like a year or so after graduation. So I did that. I was there for seven years. And when I was at Google, I had the chance to learn about many different parts of the

Google business from Google ads to the Google Media Lab to the YouTube business to the DoubleClick business and see many of the different ways that brands were leveraging Google's ad solutions and also how Google was building their own brand. And through my time at Google, I got to know Gary Vaynerchuk and the team at VaynerMedia and was really interested in what they were doing. And in 2018, I joined Vayner to help grow our media practice. I started as a VP on the media side. Within a year, I moved to Singapore to launch our business in Asia. And then that grew from just me to 200 people in two years.

We opened five different offices and it was really fun and exciting. And moved to Miami, launched Vayner 3, which is our innovation consultancy. And last December, it was announced that I'd be the chief marketing officer for Vayner. So I'm sitting here in my office in Miami as chief marketing officer at VaynerX. Oh my gosh. Incredible. Yeah. It's so wild to see how the company has just grown over the years. I remember way back when, when it was just, I think VaynerMedia really at the very beginning and now all these different segments have evolved from it. It's been really incredible to see that. We were talking offline about VaynerSports, for example,

as a segment. What specifically does VaynerX do? Just to kind of clarify exactly what your focus is as a leader and your team and everything. Yeah. So VaynerX is? Just to kind of clarify exactly what your focus is as a leader and your team and everything. Yeah. So VaynerX is a family of companies building brands for the now. Gary likes to call it his operating system because there are so many different pieces of the VaynerX universe and partners of the VaynerX universe of which VaynerSports is one. But within VaynerX, we have several different companies from a speaking bureau, VaynerSpeakers, to a commerce agency, VaynerCommerce, to Sasha Group, which is our sort of growth business agency, to VaynerMedia, which is about, you know, between 80 and 90%

of our business at VaynerX is really with VaynerMedia. And VaynerMedia is also the only international company within the VaynerX universe. So, you know, VaynerX is basically the home for all of these companies. And my job is to make Vayner the most loved brand that every brand wants to work with. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. That's, that's so awesome. And I'm just curious, you know, obviously social being a segment of kind of your focus and what you guys do. I'm just, you know, obviously social being a segment of kind of your focus and what you guys do. I'm just, you know, kind of starting with a heavy hitter question here. What are some common misconceptions you feel brands have around social media marketing and how can they kind of shift

their mindset to see real business impact from it? Love it. Let's start strong. So you just said social is a segment of the marketing mix and you're right that that's actually how most brands think about it. The way that we think about it at Vayner is social is actually at the center of marketing plans for 2025. And if you think about yourself as a consumer, you probably get a lot of your information on social media. Like who should I interview for this podcast? What are good ads? You know, what's happening in my neighborhood? What's happening in culture? Like you're influenced by social media. Most people are all across the world. That's the number one source of news for most people and of connection and of messaging. And brands still think about social as a segment versus

thinking about social as the center. And at Vayner, we believe that social can be both an insights engine and the world's best focus group, a creative testing pre-vehicle, the best amplification platform of all time, and also a really like continuous feedback loop to understand what's working and what's not. And across the seven different social platforms that we think really matter today, we try to help our brands not necessarily just own hearts and minds and win those over, but continuously learn and build their companies and ultimately build their business

with thinking about social at the core. So I think the misconception is that social is a segment and the reality of social is the center and more traditional brands are still kind of coming around to that. But on the flip side, we see emerging sort of growth brands who are leaning way into this and gaining outsized market share. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Well, I love that kind of rethinking and perspective. I think that's so huge, especially with brands being so heavily social first nowadays. It makes so much sense to kind of have that at the core of what you're doing and then kind of everything extending from there. You mentioned too, it's a great place to kind of

listen and collect data and what is the consumer thinking about and talking about. How are you guys kind of using social too as more of the social listening, just kind of collecting information from the consumer, hearing how they're talking about a brand or a topic and using that to kind of help build a plan or strategy in place for you guys. Yeah. So I'll speak about it on behalf of clients, brands, and then our brand at Vayner. For clients, brands, like just let's say that we're thinking about how to market sparkling water, right, like we're gonna look at what's going on on water talk, which for those who are not initiated, there's actually a whole community of water enthusiasts.

There are water sommeliers, there are people who are talking about what's in their emotional support water bottle. There like is so much information that you can learn on social about the way that people are thinking about water. What's their favorite sparkling water? What's more carbonated? Do they feel happy when they hold the bubbly can versus a different can?

First, you start off by really understanding what's happening in your own brand, in your category, with your competitive set, and with your target consumers. Because they'll be posting about it. If I'm thinking about this, I may be like, wow, okay, Tanks has made this whole emotional support water bottle a thing. How do we think about tapping into that? So you can understand all of that and use that to create content, whether that's create content for a new flavor launch, create content for sort of day-to-day type of stuff, create content in the form of comments where you're engaging as the brand. But those are sort of the four axes I would think about like sort of listening and then reacting, um, first in small ways, like a comment or jumping into a conversation. And then in bigger ways, like actually creating content or in even bigger ways, like even making a flavor, I'm making this up. This isn't a real thing, but, um, let's just say we see everybody talking about whatever, coconut, pineapple, sparkling water.

I wish we had this flavor. Maybe we would propose make that flavor. Hey, we noticed that coconut pineapple is like really popping off and like thousands of people are commenting that they want this or, you know, that they tried it in this like one specific market. Can we do it here? I think that's the other thing that's starting to happen is people are actually using social conversation and chatter to influence their product roadmaps. We see this happening in the world of fashion, but also in the world of CPG, which is really cool to see. We actually recently did something like this for a client who's actually in the QSR space. And we were noticing that people absolutely are obsessed with Jimmy John's pickles. And the team, you know, the comment that came up very often was that they're elite.

And there was also this deli in New Jersey who was making this like pickle sandwich thing where instead of bread, they were using these giant pickles. And the team actually worked with Jimmy John's to put together a real sandwich, which was on the menu called the pickle witch. That all was this idea was kind of like born on social. It went viral, incredibly successful LTO. So that's an example of how we use social to ultimately inform our understanding of consumers, of category, of competitive set, and of brand sort of products themselves. The way we use it at Vayner, for us, because we're targeting marketing folks, we really look to understand what

the marketing industry is talking about. There's always like the news that, you know, we see breaking on LinkedIn. We also see accounts like agency probs that are, you know, making fun of the day-to-day like slog of being an agency. So we follow the conversations across those platforms. Then sometimes we'll jump in. We'll say what we think is funny. We'll also follow the way that, you know, other industry bodies are showing up to see sort of conversations that might spark something for us. Like in the last week or so, there's been a lot of communication around principal media buying.

And at Vayner, we actually have a pretty different take on that. We don't do any principal buying at Vayner. We're very transparent as it relates to our investment of media. So what that sparks for us is like, hey, this whole industry is like talking about this. There's threads and there's, you know, thought leadership around it. We actually have a really different take being an independent agency who is 100% transparent with media. So we actually have a campaign that we're going to be launching in early next year. That's kind of like the anti-principle buying and why, and why transparency is actually like the way to go from our perspective. And we'll be interviewing different

X media buyers from the big agencies with a sort of like, you know, dark, like voice changer thing to be like, how do you use it? How do we do it now? Because, you know, so we get ideas from social on that that then spark our own creation. That's awesome. And I love this idea, too, that you mentioned of allowing it to result in new products and stuff for your business. I think that's kind of a note to business owners and leaders that allowing kind of marketing to drive the change there and drive just innovation overall. Because I think as marketers, we really do have, besides customer service representatives, one of the

closest touch points with the audience and hearing what the audience is saying and doing. And so allowing that gateway to open up and to be open to new opportunities that come from that. And I think too, I'm curious to your viewpoint on this, but consumers love to feel heard and seen and for consumers to see, Hey, we created this product because you specifically asked for it. I think gets the consumer excited and, uh, makes them continue to want to follow you and love you and, and develop that love over time. I think that's exactly right. And I think brands, I think consumers have shifted to communities in certain cases. If you're a brand that's really done a good job of creating that

feeling, like creating, I'm going to shout out Croc Nation. They are a small partner of Vayner's, but, and we certainly can't take credit for their social work, which is done by their in-house team and is amazing. But people who love Crocs and wear Crocs, they're like Croc nation. That's me. They don't feel like they're consumers. They feel like they're part of this community of Croc lovers. And I think that's the type of, um, brand love that every brand aspires to, right? Like you're a part of this community. You're proposing ideas that the brand then brings to life. Um, and you see this as well. Like you, you asked for it, we did it. And those posts always crush because brands do need to listen to their consumers

and their communities. And if you do it right, those communities feel empowered to share their ideas and they celebrate the brands who bring them to life. Exactly. Yeah, could not agree more. And I just wanna, you know, there's this idea, especially going into 2025,

as people are, or brands are planning their strategies in the new year and just thinking about focuses, where should we be putting our time and attention online on social specifically, there's a number of different platforms and just opportunities available online to us now. And I know this is kind of a loaded question, but when it comes to choosing what makes the most sense for a brand, how do you typically advise those kind of decisions? And what's kind of the thought process that brands listening can go through in order to decide, hey, maybe we need to invest more in TikTok this year or Instagram or whatever, multiple channels?

You know, what's kind of the idea or thinking behind that? Well, I will say there's no one size fits all for brands. If you are a B2B CRM platform, it's going to be different than if you're a footwear company. So this book that I'm holding in my hands right now is called Day Trading Attention. This is Gary's latest bestseller, and it's all about how to actually build brands and sales in the new social media world. And it's going to be a little bit different depending on the type of business that you are. If you're a local business in Tampa, that's different than if you're Coca-Cola. But understanding the seven platforms that matter most, maybe just start with one, like the one that's most relevant to your business.

For us, the platform that's most relevant for VaynerMedia and VaynerX is LinkedIn. Because where do CMOs spend their time getting information? It's LinkedIn. They might not want to see Vayner in their TikTok. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. But if I'm prioritizing for our business, it's LinkedIn because that's where people are in a business mindset.

They're looking to get insights and information. So there's no one size fits all, but understanding the platforms and identifying the few that make sense to your brand and then really studying what is going on on these platforms to make sure that people actually see it. They actually care. It actually changes their opinion.

Requires a good amount of like really day trading attention because things shift over time. You know, just on today's December 13th, 2024, and there's a lot of chatter around, is TikTok going to be banned? And it might, it might not, I'm not sure. But the idea of day training attention is that you're constantly able to optimize your media plans and your marketing initiatives based on where consumer attention is shifting through a combination of planned and reactive content

to where sort of the world is going and what's happening. And as of today, we believe that social media is the best place to lean in to day trade attention. Yeah. Okay. So two, there's this other concept of underpriced attention. So how do you define that and really just how businesses can capitalize and, you know, jump on these opportunities? What does that kind of mean for brands right now? So underpriced attention is something that we talk a lot about in our media practice for like a paid media optimization. Um, and the way that it works for buying more traditional formats of media, whether that's TV or a billboard is there's kind

of a flat price. Like the price is the price of the billboard, whether you have amazing creative or your creative is terrible. It's just a fixed thing. The way that social works is actually different because the price of, you know, showing Cassie a video is going to be different based on if the creative is good or if the creative is not good, which is kind of a huge deal. This idea of like auction dynamics that are influenced by how effective your creative is, is still a relatively new thing that leads to this concept of underpriced attention.

You might be able to reach people for much less money with great creative on social media than on traditional channels. You could also end up wasting more money if your creative is not good on those channels. So underpriced attention is kind of our catch-all for understanding where you can kind of skate to where the puck is going before the world catches up. Day trading attention is a bit different because it's actually really focused mostly on organic. So it doesn't cost a penny to post something. You can post something

today that gets a million views and certainly there's your time and your producer, but you're not paying Instagram to post something that might get a million views. And certainly there's your time and your producer, but you're not paying Instagram to post something that might get a million views. And that's a pretty profound opportunity for any individual person. And the way that it has historically worked with social media is you had to amass a certain number of followers and then your posts would be seen by those followers. It was almost like an email list, like our subscriber base. Now, due to how TikTok's algorithm works in this interest graph, I could post something today and I have 30,000 followers on LinkedIn and my video can get 300,000 impressions. Meaning people who don't follow me now are seeing the video.

That is something that's also new. Like LinkedIn a year ago didn't have that. Like the maximum number of people who would see something was like 30,000. Now you can get 300,000. So day trading attention is't have that. Like the maximum number of people who would see something was like 30,000. Now you can get 300,000. So, um, day trading attention is leaning into that idea of kind of organic first, which I think is super relevant and salient for especially more emerging brands who might not have big media budgets to, to be an underpriced land. They're still in free land, which is why I love day trading attention even more. Yeah. Okay. Oh my gosh. I have so many questions like popping up in my mind right now. Okay. One of them, I want to go back to TikTok for a second. So there's obviously a lot of fear and question around what's going to happen here, especially for these brands or creators, for example, who have built these

platforms in these communities on TikTok. Any advice for brands just kind of thinking about as we shift into 2025, we still question what's going to happen. How should we be continuing to foster that community while also thinking about, okay, if something does happen, I can start building over here and making sure I'm also fostering a community over on this side in order to be set up and ready for that. Any, any kind of advice that you're sharing with brands right now, just to be prepared and kind of proactive for that? We always like to be ready for anything. Um, and yes, there's fear and anxiety, but this has also been going on for at this point, like years, like, is this going to be banned? Is it not? So I don't think it's like new news to anyone.

It's like, this has been in the conversation in the national news for, for years. Um, and I think brands should be prepared for it to, and creators should be prepared for it to go away or for it to stay. I think either of those is absolutely viable options. And we like to be prepared for anything. Fostering and building a community on these platforms, like, yes, is amazing. But at the end of the day, how much are you paying to do that? Yep. So I know there's a lot of people who are like, well, they owe me this. And like, I, you know, am reset out of this. Yeah.

But it was free. Yeah. Like, it's not like you're, you know, this was a paid way for you to communicate. I think smart creators have realized that they can use the social platforms to ultimately build their own thing where they do have those direct relationships, not through a social platform follow, but really like the person's email, the person's credit card information. So many creators have done that really well, um, in the last couple of years, because they kind of got, got smart to that. Like, shoot, if Instagram changes their algorithm, like that could be bad for me. I'm going to start driving my community

to my own website, to my own community. And I'll speak a bit about the way that Gary has done that, both through his own website, his speaking engagements and through VFriends, which is Gary's community. VFriends is kind of bigger than any one single platform. Of course, they have handles everywhere, but they're on whatnot. They're on TikTok, they're on YouTube, and they have this sort of decentralized community where you can sign into their website using NFTs. They have like registration for all those folks. So I think smart creators have kind of gotten wise to that over the years. And I think the conversation around, oh no, the platforms took this away from me is shifting a little bit as people realize that ultimately this was a free platform that sometimes the algorithms do change. And that might help you or it might not.

And being smart about the way that you're building your brand beyond the platform is really like the game. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, we talk a lot about just these own channels and social media is not owned. You know, something could happen with that and your community and platform can be taken away at any time really. But, um, having those places that you can also divert your community to, whether it's email, a private community on your website, you know, kind of custom built there. And so there's ways to kind of shift, shift people. So just in case, um, but starting that

as early as possible. So if something does happen, you know, you feel a little bit rest assured that, uh, you have another space for your community to, to be that they've already been prior. So thank you for that reminder. Yeah. So I want to talk to you about storytelling. Uh, storytelling is a huge, huge, huge approach that we talk about all the time on the show here but just something I love personally to use with my clients and just thinking about not only the brand story but how does the consumer fit into that story and tell their own story using the brand for example so what do you feel storytelling like that role that it plays in building a strong and resonant brand

today? And how do you feel companies can infuse that into their general strategy, but also the content pieces individually that they're developing? That's a great question. And I think storytelling, the format might change, but the idea is the same. Whether you're launching a soap opera or a social series, this idea of creating intrigue to bring people in to help educate on the emotional connection to the brand beyond the specific product, I think is more important and more resonant than ever. And storytelling, I'll give an example of a campaign that we just launched this week, actually, with Kate Spade. VaynerMedia worked with Kate Spade on this holiday sort of gifting campaign. And

instead of being like, I'm going to give you a purse, Cassie, was really talking about the gift of friendship. Madison Bear was a celebrity who was featured in the campaign. And instead of just her, the idea was she could bring along her best friend. And we identified two other social influencers who really shared about the joy that friendship brings and, you know, wanting to celebrate those female friendships through gifting and through the power of the holidays to amplify one's joy. And I just thought it was such a nice way to tell a story that, you know, really gets to who Kate Spade is trying to appeal to, right. Which is, um, young professional women who have a best friend, they want to celebrate them, that that person

might bring them so much joy and stability and trust in their lives that it's more than just a purse. It's like that special sort of gift and bond. And the whole shoot was really well done. I think they're performing, Madison is performing tonight at Jingle Ball in New York, and there's going to be a really cool experience at the store. But this idea of like bringing people into the brand through a story that feels relatable, that feels aspirational is so important in any type of like marketing initiative. In our own marketing at Vayner, we're actually in the middle of a pretty fun campaign. Vayner just turned 15, so we can almost drive. We've just come so far. You sort of alluded to this, Cassie, but in the last five years, we've more than doubled our business. We went from three offices to 15. We've onboarded so many of the world's best brands and really exploded our capabilities,

always with social at the center. And what's really different about the way that we've grown versus our competitive set, which is a lot of acquisitions and mergers and whatnot, is we've really grown this through homegrown talent. And that's such a rare thing in our industry. And I think of myself, case in point, having been a part of this company and journey and hired hundreds of people and won a bunch of accounts and built a bunch of different practices, there's been so many like, oh my God, I can't believe we've done that moments, but we're really just getting started. And as we look back on 15 years, we wanted to do a couple of different things that helped bring that story to life outside of the facts and the figures of like, we went from a conference room to 15 offices in 15 years. So we did a couple of different things that I helped, I think helped

tell those stories. First, we did a series of that's so Vayner. And every year we had a different person kind of tell a story that happened that year from 2009 to 2024 that showcase the voices who've helped shape the agency. We also did 15 events in the 15 different cities, everything from, you know, Australia, they're doing a boat cruise to on Tuesday, we had one in New York and Ice Spice came. Each office able to kind of put their unique flavor onto the event. We did a big press piece and business insider that really showed the business story and the evolution there. And the most fun part was we actually did a contest internally based on who could post, who could make a post that got the most impressions on LinkedIn.

And we picked the two winners and had them in a competition against two OGs to visit seven offices each and complete all these challenges. And, you know, the story we were trying to tell there is that we have go-getters, aka the winners. We have OGs, and they're able to go visit all these offices and see that shared DNA and that one Vayner, and then kind of bring along our audience on social to share a little bit more about the agency, the offices, the globalization, the growth, but in a way that feels so very Vayner. So to me, that's another storytelling example we're really proud of that brings our clients and our employees and our future clients and employees into under the hood

of like who we really are. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Well, congrats to you all for 15 years. That is so huge. I, I'm excited to chat in a few minutes too, just about like your leadership strategies and everything as you go into the next 15 years, kind of what your focuses are to foster that team and everything. Uh, but that's so huge. So congrats. And you guys have so much legacy behind you and amazing projects over the years that you all have worked on. And I can't wait to see, uh, the next several years, what you guys do. The next 15 are going to be even better. I believe it. Okay, so I want to talk to you about just emerging technology and AI as well for a second.

So AI is still, I try to tell other marketers not to be afraid of it. It's a very good thing. But there's still a lot of people out there who are very hesitant, right? So do you have any encouragement or just, um, words of advice for adopting AI and using it to your, uh, to your ability to just help enhance campaigns, enhance your company, enhance your team, uh, just overall? Absolutely. So the number one piece of advice is get hands-on and try a lot of these. I just talked about the seven different social platforms that matter today. I think there's seven different AI models that matter today. So getting hands-on

with notebook, Google's notebook, getting hands-on with chat GPT, with mid journey, with runway, with Lama, just to see how this stuff actually works. Because the more you know and the more you can be a practitioner, the better you're going to be at incorporating this to tell better stories, to be more efficient, to be more effective. So that's been the journey that we've been on, is really just getting hands-on with these tools and finding ways we can implement this. And we're lucky enough to work with some amazing partners who actually let us try different ai tools to see how we can create more assets create better assets create faster um leaning into technology of course but still maintaining that human touch that you know unique brand

identity and tonality that is the differentiator for all of them. So we've been headfirst into this for the last, I would say, two years or so, really since Midjourney first came out with so much excitement from a lot of our clients and so much work that's actually starting to go live. And my biggest piece of advice would just be try it and get hands-on. I literally teach my parents about how to use this. I use it all the time to make little images now. So it's not hard. Like anyone can, can play with a lot of these things and they're intentionally designed with this really user-friendly interface. And the more, you know, the more you can be smart about the ways that you're incorporating AI. Yeah. It's, I think the thing we have to remember and mid journey is incredible,

first of all. So you've not checked it out, please go check that out is everything is still human focused. It's it starts with the human and ends with a human. So it's not just us taking something and completely handing it off to technology. Humans are still a core point of that project, whatever you're working on. So just kind of remembering that and to your point, get in there and start using it and get acquainted because it's not as scary as you think it is once you're actually using it. So it's actually pretty awesome and super helpful. So kind of with that too, what excites you just overall about the future of marketing, like thinking about AI or other emerging technology, like what are you stoked about? I'm really stoked about a couple of things for one, I think 2025 is going to be the year of organic social when big brands really

wake up to it. And I think it's going to be super fun. Um, because it's something that Gary has been speaking about for 15 years now, 15 years and counting. And I think that just over the last few weeks, we've seen this tide turn where big brands are like, okay, tell me what it's going to take to be great at this. Um, so I think that's sort of theme one theme two is, I think this is going to be the year of live shopping. We are doing some experimentation and some piloting and some playing around with this already. Um, but brands are starting to get in there to, um, launching products that are available for sale, like QVC, but like the modern QVC. And the third thing that I'm really excited about is media

transparency. I know I mentioned this a bit before, but I really do think it's time. It's time for the media industry to wake up, um, to where dollars actually go. And all these three things are things that we're not speaking about in the theoretical, like we're speaking about them from a place of practitionership and a place of we've done this, we know we did our homework. And it makes me really excited for the future of the way that Vayner can service our clients, which at the end of the day, like that's what we're here to do is to help our brands grow. So those are the things that I'm stoked about entering 2025. Yeah. I think about AI as like an underpinning for all of us. Yes. Yes. We're going to use AI

tools on all three of these things. Yeah, exactly. I don't think like, maybe if this were two years ago, I'd be like, yes, it's going to like save us all this time on asset creation. And like, yeah, it does, but it doesn't replace the important work that our clients charge us with of like, how can I truly crack the next big thing for your brand? It's not AI. AI helps us get there, but it's the thinking and the knowing and the paying attention and the day trading attention that allows us to be in the right place at the right time to make magic happen. Yeah. And kind of with that too, how are you and your team specifically just paying attention to what's happening out there and staying on top of these trends? I know for me personally,

actually being in all of these platforms, literally 24 seven and using them and seeing exactly what's happening in real time, but anything else that you recommend to people to kind of be on the lookout for just as we are headed into this new era of tech, um, just overall. So it sounds like you're on the social platforms a lot too. That's honestly a place that I, for me, it's a combination of things. I still like to like read the news. I skim like headlines. I click into anything that I'm like, Oh, okay. Good to know. So that's part of my like morning routine is scanning kind of what's happening in the industry, what's happening in the world, making sure that we know that so we can be sensitive, um, you know, in all of our communications. Second is social,

keeping a pulse on what's happening. Um, I use an app called, uh, BTW break the web that highlights some of these things, just kind of like, okay, cool. Just so I'm aware and alert on these matters. Um, I follow different voices that I respect, um, today's Friday. So prof G always sends his weekly email. Like I'll read that. I'll listen to podcasts like yours, um, to get different perspective. And my, my advice would actually be to spend some time intentionally, not confirming your own biases. Cause like there's certain things that like I like, right. Like that I'm interested in, I'm interested in house renovation and I'm interested in advertising. So I actually specifically spend time looking outside of my own bubble, um, with the goal of knowing that

not everyone likes the same types of things as me and always like unconfirm my own biases. So especially with the way that social platforms work now, where like you see what you want to see, I spend time intentionally looking beyond what I want to see. Yeah, that's such a good advice. I was talking to Rachel Lewis, social media manager at Lonely Planet, literally about that last week. And that's so important because I feel like a lot of times we get stuck in our own heads and we create what we think we would like. Whereas there's this whole audience out there that may have different interests and needs and everything as you. So I think that's such an important reminder, just all the time to be thinking about. So thank you for that too. You know, there's a question just focusing in on

career a little bit, um, that we love to ask on the show and it's just kind of what, what do you know now that you wish you knew earlier on in your career? And it could be industry related, just specific to your, your journey and everything. But what would you say to that? Be that person who's a hand raiser. I love people. I just actually got off a call with a woman on my team who's like three skip levels away.

And she was like, hey, can we have a meeting? Because I want to talk to you about my goals. And I want to offer that I can help beyond my current capability and capacity. And those people, like you raise your hand people see it you come into the office people see it you know people oftentimes like oh I'm dying to meet Gary I'm like try going into the office on a Friday because trust me you'll get your chance to see him and not many other people are um so I love the hand raisers I love the people who just say like hey like give me a chance give

me a shot I'm willing to take on more and that's not for everyone right some people are like hey it's Friday I want to wind down I need to wrap things up and that's cool too but if you're that person who's like where how do I get my shot you just need to ask for it and you need to put yourself in a place where people are going to see you and give you those opportunities because at least that's how it's worked for me. I'm just saying like, hey, I'm down. I'll move to Singapore. I'll go to the meeting.

I'll work on the deck over the weekend. Things that are a little like out of the norm, you're always looking for a hand raiser to say like, I got this. And in a world where everyone's great at identifying problems, very few people are great at identifying proactive solutions. And the people who do become so valuable. Those are the client's favorite people. Those are the leadership team's favorite people.

People like, heard, I'm going to raise my hand and try to help. Yeah. And then too, there's a lot of aspiring leaders out there who are like, I want to be a marketing leader one day. I want to kind of lead a team and step into that position. Do you have any advice for those people to just kind of looking to get their feet wet and building those different skill sets and things that they need to get to that kind of position? People who are interested in being marketing leaders can be practitioners. So one thing that

stands out to me when I'm looking at, you know, folks who are applying to our roles is if you're applying to an agency that's focused on social media and you have an amazing social media presence yourself, maybe you have a podcast, you have a, you know, Instagram content series, you have like a LinkedIn group that you started. Those people stand out because you're really showing that you actually get it and you can actually do it. And it's hard, you know, it's not as easy as like you post it and they will come, you know, cause you run this podcast, you have your theme, you interview all these different leaders. So if you're interested in being a marketing leader, start today. It's Friday.

Why not? Start this weekend. Start this year. Just get started. And it doesn't have to be like a thousand episode podcast. You could have 20 episodes. You could have 10. You could have five.

But really just kind of start by starting and don't wait for permission. If you think about how so many of your favorite social content creators and marketing leaders get started and build their audience, they build it through putting themselves out there and, you know, having a perspective. So, um, that's what I would say is like, start by starting, start by sharing what you're seeing today. If that might mean, Hey, I'm the social media manager at lonely planet. And here's five things that stood out to me in the world of travel marketing this week, start that, do a blog, do a post on LinkedIn. And then maybe that's a, you know, Cassie's weekly series. Um, so I think just like start by starting and start by putting something out there and those things really, really get picked up in the world.

Yeah, for sure. And LinkedIn is a great place to start doing that. And it's, it's my favorite platform by far. I absolutely love it just personally. And so that's a good place to just start sharing your authority and expertise. And I think sometimes too, we get crippled as professionals thinking, Oh, I don't have enough experience to share, or I'm not far enough along in my career. Like I don't have a platform to stand on. And it's like, you do, you have something, you have any unique perspective, your unique experience and just start talking about it and see what happens. It's funny. Cause I was actually just chatting to my dad. My dad retired a couple of years ago and he was like, you know, the boss at work and totally has that like retired man syndrome where he doesn't know what to do.

And he's an amazing writer. And he used to write a lot for like, give a lot of talks and all of that stuff. And he's got thoughts galore. And I was like, dad, you should start sharing it. Like be a content creator. So he writes this sub stack and like, you know, it's totally a dad sub stack. He has this story where he used to use like a Brown ink pen that was kind of like a signature brand thing. So he writes a sub stack and now he's getting offers to come a signature brand thing. So he writes his sub stack and now he's getting offers to come speak at different college. And he's very knowledgeable at what he does. And, um, yeah, now people are, are like reaching out to him because of his sub stack, which is amazing. And he's talking about like K-12 educational reform, which is very niche.

Yeah. But I was like, dad posted, like, you know, share your thoughts. Like you don't have your employees to email anymore. So you couldn't make a sub stack. And I think the first few he did was like probably just us reading it, but he called me today because he got this speaking opportunity. And I was like, this is so amazing. And it's also so true about putting yourself out there. As you said, people are nervous to do it. They're like, oh, I don't know enough. No, one's going to read it. No, one's going, I don't know enough. No one's going to read it. No one's going to care. Maybe no one cares. Okay. Maybe one person cares. Maybe a hundred people care than a thousand people care than 10,000 people care. And if you care, then

you're putting that out into the world and sharing your knowledge, um, with the world. And I think that's an amazing thing. Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I just, this journey of podcasting and even just posting on social about what I'm learning in my space and everything, it's led to so many different opportunities. And so cannot agree more, just start doing it, see what happens, listen to this community that you're building, see what they're looking for, and just keep going. I think that's the biggest thing. Consistency is key too. So keep it up and down the road, who knows what will come from it. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned a couple milestones, the 15-year anniversary being one of them. Anything else that you're celebrating recently, especially just as

you go into 2025? 15 years has been really big and something that we're really proud of, just celebrating where we've been and where we're going. Other things that I'd say we're proud of this year, the Day Trading Attention book. I'm going to plug it one more time. If you are listening to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, please do yourself a favor and get a copy of this book. I truly think this is an incredible read for anyone who is interested in being a marketer, brand builder, performance marketer, whatever it is, please read it. And the way that we launched that was really fun. We actually did, we bring the NASDAQ bell as VaynerX and it was really special. We invited

many of our clients to that. We had Gary come, his fiance. It was really cool to celebrate the launch of day trading attention because get it, day trading, NASDAQ, it's a thing. So I was really proud of how that all came together and the coverage that sort of resulted from that. Really proud of the way that we are growing our company. We have a couple of big announcements coming out in January about our next wave and next era of growth, but I think it's rooted in where we came from, but with a very clear vision to where we're going and how we're doing it our way. And my last thing that I'm proud of and excited about is just our Miami office. I also run our Miami office. I'm sitting here right now.

And it's been really nice to see us catalyze this VaynerX Miami community, which is different than how we've opened several other offices that have been more client driven. This was more like, we have these people, let's bring them together. And it's been really fun to build and foster that community. Amazing. Well, I can't wait to see what you all have in store for 2025 and just you personally too. And speaking of that, we'd love to stay in touch with you as well as VaynerX online. So what are the best places to connect with you and the brand? Follow me everywhere, Avery Acanini, which I know is a mouthful. And then VaynerX and VaynerMedia are the two places to follow us. I

would say definitely follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube. We have a great podcast there that we do called Marketing for the Now. And on our socials, on Instagram, TikTok, pretty much everywhere. And Cassie, thank you so much for having me on Marketing Happy Hour. This has been an absolute blast. What a nice way to spend a Friday. Absolutely. Thank you, Avery, so much. I know these insights are going to be incredibly helpful to the listeners out there. So really appreciate you taking the time today. Take care. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, I would love your feedback. And if you're ready to take things

to the next level, sign up for my weekly newsletter in the show notes. You'll get weekly career and marketing insights straight to your inbox. And if you have an idea for a future marketing happy hour episode, shoot me an email. Hello at marketinghappyhr.com. Thank you again, and I'll see you next Thursday.