Trading Secrets - 89: $24M performance from Beyonce for 1,400 people! BTS of the social media marketing driven trip to Dubai, the $$$ behind it, and insights from Blake Horstmann & Steven Tartick

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

This week, Jason rips down the fourth wall on social media marketing driven trips as he is joined by Blake Horstmann and his brother, Steven Tartick to talk about his recent trip to Dubai!     Blake gives insight on how he and Giannina were also invited on the Dubai trip, why it didn’t work out, why his previous international castmates have hyped up Dubai, and the offer he received to visit later in the year. Jason is then joined by David Arduin, the Curious Canadian to dive into the details of Jason’s trip to Dubai.    Jason reveals the email he received with the VIP invite to attend Atlantis the Royal Grand Opening Weekend in Dubai, the full itinerary for the event including the celebrities attached, the numbers behind Beyonce’s performance, and the amount he paid for the trip. Jason also gives insight to the trades that can be made for social media marketing driven trips, and who benefits when two major social media marketing driven events are happening at the same time in the same place. Plus, the Money Mafia gets the chance to ask their questions live. In the recap, Jason’s brother Steven joins him to dive into Beyonce’s performance and what goes into her showmanship, provides his insight on traveling to Dubai as a gay man, his synopsis of the performance in how it was pulled off for the event and the strategy used, and the impact of impressions from social media. How close to the event did Jason know it was actually going to happen? How much would the trip cost out of pocket? What were the exceptions for phone use during the event? What would Jason bring back with him from Dubai? What is Steven’s take on TikTok and its longevity?    All of this revealed all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!    Be sure to follow the Trading Secrets Podcast on Instagram & join the Facebook   Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.   Sponsors: Visit squarespace.com/secrets for a free trial, then get 10% off a website or domain with code secrets   Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Oh my God, this episode is jam-packed. Last week, you might have seen that I was on this Dubai trip, and there was an iconic Beyonce performance. Now, a lot of people are curious about just influencer trips, this trip in particular. There was a lot of conversation of this Tart Cosmetic trip last week that a lot of influencers were on. So whether it's this trip, whether it's any event, or it's this specific Dubai scenario,

what we're going to do in this episode is we are going to rip down the fourth wall. We are going to rip the curtains open and we are going to talk all things behind the scenes, the numbers, the dollars, the cents, the 101 questions at the Curious Canadian asks. We also have Blake Horsman that is going to come on. He's going to talk a little bit about how he was connected to this trip. And with Blake Horsman, stay tuned because in a couple of weeks, we're going to have a full recap with him and Heather McDonald all on one episode. That one's jammed. But David Ardwin, the Curious Canadian, asked me all the questions that he had as I was there. If you listen to anything in this podcast, anything, I need you to make sure you listen to

the end of this podcast where I have my brother come on. He gives his perspective on Dubai. He gives his perspective as a gay man who's extremely active in gay rights and his take on traveling to Dubai where they have cultural rights completely holding humanity back. He talks about the ROI. Marketing perspective from a marketing executive I never thought. And he'll give you trading secrets that you can take away today as you're building yourself and your brand. So this, is an episode that I would strongly suggest, listen to the whole thing. But even if you do find yourself getting a little bored or your workout's going to end early or you only have a certain amount of time, definitely skip to the recap. This is an episode you can't afford to miss.

You're going to also hear from some people from the Money Mafia. Our listeners, you guys, are the Money Mafia. There is a Money Mafia, Trading Secrets All Access Group. If you're interested, shoot me an email, Trading Secrets at jason Tarduk.com. They were all there live while we did the podcast, and they allowed us to either read their questions off or some of them even come on to ask the questions. So this is a jam, jam-packed episode. We're going to ring in the opening bell quickly with Blake Horsman's story and how his experience ties to the Dubai trip. And then we are going to get into the curious Canadians questions. And then we're going to have a recap like no other with my brother, Stephen Tardik. That you cannot miss. Let's bring in the opening bell to the Dubai trip

recap with the one and only, Blake Horsman, and of course, the Curious Canadian. Dubai. So Blake calls me out of nowhere. He's like, hey man, do you want to go to this event that is a paid opportunity for me in Beaver Creek? If you want to share the brand, Blake, I'll let you share that brand. I don't want to, you know, put that out there. That's your business. And I was like, actually, man, I'm going to be in Dubai that week. I think, I think I'm going to go.

There's a lot of question marks about this trip. Is this Fire Fest 2.0 or if it's real, I don't know. But if it's legit, I'm going to go to Dubai. And Blake was like, oh, shit. I forgot about this. Gee, got an email about Dubai. And we didn't even respond. So me talking to, like, hit that, like, light in your head.

Your switch went off. and you actually went through the process of talking to them and were offered the opportunity to come on Dubai. So tell me a little bit about what that process was and what happened. Yeah, exactly like Jason said, we were on the phone and he mentioned, I was like, oh, yeah, I think you got an email about that. And we looked and it was, I want to say it was like mid-December, maybe. I don't really remember exactly when,

but we honestly, to God, thought it was a scam. We were like, this is too good to be true. We get a lot of weird emails all the time. I was like, this has got to be a scam. And then when Jason said he was going, I was like, oh, it's not a scam. Like if other people are also, and then you mentioned a couple other people that have been invited. I was like, oh, this isn't a scam. I was like, gee, like email them now.

Like, this is amazing. This would be so cool. And so, yeah, we emailed them. We went back and forth just kind of being like, is this real, like what is happening? So I was like, you know, it's like this is a lot. So we went through the process and I want to say, I can't remember exactly. It was like maybe like a week, seven, eight days before, maybe even 10. They were like, okay, awesome.

We got you, send us all your info, your freaking flyer number, all of that stuff. So we did, and we didn't hear an email back for like two days. We were like, hmm, that's strange. And then all of a sudden we get an email was like, hey, I'm sorry, guess list is full. And I was like, no way. You know, I was like, I think so I guess the point is, I don't know if they were telling the truth that we really did wait a little too long to email them to get back to them. Or it was just one of those things where they were like, I don't, I don't know if

they're right for this, you know, I don't know if they have the right. audience. I don't have the right demo, any of that. I don't know if they looked and they were like, yeah, it's just, let's bump them for like, Kendall Jenner or, you know, somebody else who's like, you know, whatever it is. So I don't know, and this happens, Jay, you can, you can talk to this to this. Happens a lot. There are a lot of things that fall through business opportunities, trips, whatever it is, they'll often pull out. So I don't know if I'll ever know the answer, but of course they were like, listen, we can have you back in March. Like, we'd love to have you back in March, but we'll see. You know, now I'm like, you guys. It's very, very peculiar

how these things work. And there's a question in the group here, like, who is we? It was a PR firm that sent it. They're in charge of a big marketing title splash to create here. And that's interesting. And I did when I was there. I heard that had happened a little bit. And the tough part about it is exactly what you said. You're always wondering just like why. What exactly was it? Was it too late or not? And this happens in our world with brand deals all the time. Like a company will bring you right to the finish line. And then all of a sudden, it's gone. And you're just like, what happened? Like, where did it go?

And then you'll, you know, you'll go on your Instagram. And all of a sudden, it's like your buddy's doing the deal. And you're like, oh, shit. Like, it's a crazy world like that. So you were, you were fourth and inches. You were going to go. And then I think one of the tough parts is you actually, that opportunity you originally called me for fell through because of it, right?

Yeah. So they were lucky enough. They did reschedule us. But yeah. So I actually, we were angry because I was like, oh, it's during the week of the Beaver Creek. Like, I canceled that. G. Winton bought red carpet outfits. Like, it was like a full-blown, like, go, you know,

and we kind of sent a little bit of a, you know, not a nasty email. We said an email that was like, come on now. Like, I've already canceled another, you know, trip. We've spent money on carpets, you know, red carpet outfits. And they were still like, I'm sorry, it's full. So, but I was able to reschedule it. I'm going the weekend later to Beaver Creek. So at least I'm happy. Good. So the deal got rebooked. And you have that opportunity to go to Dubai in March. Definitely follow up with them and definitely go. We're going to talk all about. Yeah, it looks pretty incredible. I'm going to talk about that email that came in.

I'm going to talk about the details of that. So everyone stay tuned. All those questions will be answered. David, before we let Blake go, do you have any questions for Blake as it relates to Dubai and the whole process he underwent? Is it still like a bucketless place? You still want to go? Yeah, for sure.

I mean, so it's funny. Like you mentioned, I've been on a couple different shows. And one of the shows I was on was like with a bunch of international people from all over the world. And it's crazy how like Dubai to them is like Mexico for us, if that makes it. Like they'll just like hop, skip a plane over to Dubai because most things are paid for and it's free and everything. You know what I mean for influencers, if you will. So it was kind of insane to see all these talk to all these people and all of them are like Dubai is amazing. You got to go to Dubai. But for us in America, that's not like something that we really think like, oh, let's just hop on a plane and go to

Dubai. You know what I mean? So yeah, I definitely want to go out there. But we'll see. Blake was tied to this trip. Blake was planning on going to this trip. And then last minute, it didn't work out. So it's a great transition to the trip. And we're going to talk all things to buy. And we're going to talk all things to buy because of the Curious Canadian. He wrote me when I got back and said, dude, of all the random shit you've done and things you've been a part of, other than the show, I've never had more family and friends

randomly text me asking questions about this trip that you're on. We have to cover it in the show. Because behind everything, there is a business case and we got to hear it from you, Jason. So I have the Curious Canadian with me. I'm also live here with 50 people from Trading Secrets All Access. They may be jumping on and asking questions about Dubai. Because if we don't keep the Money Mafia at the forefront, we may lose direction of where the curiosity exists. So, David, unlike most episodes, we already rang in the bell with Blake.

I was thinking of kicking this Dubai section off by actually reading the email invite I got. Do you think we should take it a different direction or do you think that's where we should start? No, because my first question was, how did you get invited to this? And then I got seven million questions from there. So let's start the beginning. So let's start at the beginning. Okay, so if I look at email inboxes, right? I run a talent agency. So we have a lot of people's email boxes of people we manage. I don't participate in those day to day, but our team does. But personally, I have like six different email addresses. I have Jason at rewired talent. I have two personal. I have media at Jason Tardick. I have a bunch of email addresses, okay? This came to an email address. I guess I'm going to share it because it was a personal email address. I'm going to put it out there. It was J-M-Tartic, J-M-T-A-R-T-C-K at gmail.com. This email address, David, I don't use for anything.

You know when you go to like a gym and you want like a seven-day free pass, they're like, put in your name and email. That's the email address. I never go in there. Right now, if I go look at my app, I have 19,970,000,000, unread emails in that account. That shows you how little I use it. So randomly, I'm just scrolling that, for some reason, I'm scrolling that email, which

I never look at. And I see the subject line, VIP Invite, Atlantis, the Royal Grand Opening Weekend in Dubai with Beyonce performance, January 20th to 22nd, 2023. I'm like, what? What is this? So I open it up. Hi, Jason. I'm getting in touch as we would like to invite you plus one to join an array of special.

special of guests, including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Chef Nobu, Kendall Jenner, and Swedish House Mafia to the Grand Reveal Weekend of the world's most ultra-luxury resort, Atlantis, the Royal, and Dubai. The very special and exclusive weekend taking place before the resort opens to guests will include a curated itinerary of events and experiences, including a Saturday night's spectacular featuring front row seats to 60 minutes with Beyonce, her first live show since 2018. And this will be followed by fireworks and after-party headline by DJ Supergroup Swedish House Mafia. So then it goes on to talk about additional experiences. There will be a brunch hosted with Whispering Angel and world-class dining experiences

from the kitchens of celebrity chefs, including Jose Andres and Nobu Matsu Isha. Like these, the actual Jose Andres was there, met him. Nobu, the guy was there. And then they talk about a little bit about the hotel, and they give a full itinerary. I mean, I'm going to show it to you, but a full day-by-day itinerary. It seems like it can't be real. You're just like, you're seeing these names. And this is year six of all this stuff I've done, right?

So 18, 19, 2021, 22, 23. And this is the craziest email I've ever seen with all the details, like Emirates flights, da-da-da-da-da-da. You can't believe it. So I get it, and I'm like, this can't be real. Well, Evan jumps on the call, and Evan's like, this is very real. This is so real that they're paying Beyonce $24 million and that this is like an absolute luxury event that will be an international splash. You will be in the center of just something like you've never experienced before.

So then he jumps on the call with them. So that's how it comes in about. And it came from a very, very, very, very reputable PR company in New York City. I just have so many questions. I don't know where to start with it. I think how far in advance did you get this email? This was within, okay, I think that's a great question. So it was like three weeks, you know, three, four weeks from going, get the email.

You don't know if it's a real thing until like two weeks before. And then the other interesting thing is there are so many moving parts, especially with just the event and the time change, that my flights did not get booked until about two days before. So up until this point, we don't even know if it's going to happen. And when I was talking to other people that I heard have been like, you know, asked to go or invited to go, they were having similar situation. Like, yeah, like, is this real?

Like, is this happening? Like, big question marks. So three weeks before, with the names, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Swedish House Mafia, Nobu, when do you think they got locked in? And how much do you think they spent just on the headlining names that were included in that email? Well, with Beyonce doing her first performance since 2000, she doesn't do any there's no gray area it is all in or all out and based on the performance i saw they my brother and i projected a minimum of five million dollars minimum was spent on the

production value of this concert so for her to do this i mean she had just on stage she had a full out orchestra and it was all female based orchestra like i mean hundreds of people on stage So this had to be at least a minimum of a year of planning. There's no way, based on that performance, they hadn't been planning this for at least a year. Okay. How much do you think someone like Kendall Jenner gets? Because you had the, I saw the video that you had of her.

She was for the opening of Nobu, right? She was there for the opening of Nobu, and then she also had her 818 big reveal party. So her tequila is now served all in Dubai and at this hotel. So she was there. So I'm sure it was a multi-milli, million dollar deal plus it was a lot of promotion for 818 that is now being served at that Dubai hotel. I want to touch on the Kendall Jenner thing because I just can't get over it. Like

the swarms of people, like when she was going somewhere and she was, you know, arm's length at times, the swarms of people that follow her, it's hard to comprehend. Like when she walks by David, everyone is going to her. I'm talking like 100 plus people following her, like a scene out of entourage. And you start to think you're like, what, what is it? Like, of course, you know, beautiful. But like what? It's like, I don't know, my brother said he's like, listen, every country needs or every community needs their royal family. They're the royal family. They're the royal family of America. And I just don't, I mean, it was crazy. It was crazy. I'd be in that swarm too, but I probably I hate the fact that you can say that

because it's disgustingly probably true in a way that they're kind of like glorified but interesting take about that because I was shocked when you sent the videos and she was there and was like how again my curiosity was like what is this and then you guys see the whole tart thing

and the Alex Earls of the world and they're all there and like everyone's social media is just like am I in Dubai right now? Am I what's happening? That's one thing I think about I think because so this whole trip was for Atlantis Royal Dubai, this whole, anything you saw related to the Beyonce show, it was a marketing strategy

to make a massive statement for Atlantis Royal Dubai, the hotel, this grand luxury hotel opening and looked up how much it cost to stay there a night. And it ranges in like, on an off-season night, it's like in the 5 to 10K a night range. No. Yes. It's crazy. my next question overall in the whole scope of going off the email that you got in the itinerary how much was comped what do you have a retail value of your experience and what was comped did you pay anything out of pocket give me give me the feels on that yeah so i think my brother and i tried to do the retail pricing like if we wanted to pay for this trip starts to finish what would it cost we estimated it would be about 100 to 150k retail value we paid nothing

So no one there paid anything to be there. Everything was paid for. Your flight, so people are like, you talk about personal finance and this and that, why would you spend that kind on a flight? You didn't pay for the flight, you didn't pay for the transportation flight, you didn't pay for in-room dining,

didn't play for the restaurants, didn't pay for the drinks, which I didn't have, didn't pay for anything, everything. So how it works, the breakdown of this is, if you think about what some of these people's cost, and we were on like the very, very, very, low end of the echelon of people there, right? Like Z list, here. A list, we're there and people in between. But if you think about the average price these people are paying or being paid by

companies to post, it's significant, it's material. And there wasn't from my understanding, at least I could speak for me, but what I heard is not many people were actually paid a fee to go. It was a trade of, we will give you this. In return, you have to do this. For me, it was supposed to be two posts and 10 story slides. Two posts and 10 story sides. If I'm working with a brand retail value, I don't know. I'm going to want in the 30, I don't know. I'm just like 80, 800K, ideally. Sometimes it would be less. Sometimes it would be more, right? That's not always perfect. But yeah, and as a result, they just do trade. Now, for me, I negotiated down to one post, 10 story slides. But because I was having the best time in my life, I was posting left and right. I probably did,

I don't know. Three TikToks, three in feeds, 20 slides, right? So I went so above and beyond because it was such an organic feel and I had so much fun doing it. Big TikTok guy. So how did your brother, did you get a plus one? Was it supposed to be KB? Was it just like, they're going to open this email and throw this ridiculous offer to you all comp. Oh, and then you get to bring any human being of your choice? Yeah. So it was a plus one. I always ask when I do any type of deal. I always ask, are there other reality people or bachelor people that are doing the deal or part of this? At the time, they're none and accepted.

I didn't know that until the day before, I didn't know those other bachelor people were going to be there. It ended up being Cassie Randolph and she got a plus one. Matt James and he got a plus one. He brought Rachel. And then Tasha and she got a plus one.

She brought her mother. So it was, I got it said, we'd love to invite you plus one. So of course I would have gone with KB if KB wanted to come, but KB is at her retreat. So when I saw Beyonce, and I showed this to my brother, he's like, no way. There's just, like, he's the biggest Beyonce fan.

He's like the guy that's in, like, Reddit blogs about Beyonce. He knows everything. Oh, yeah, I know about Dubai. The fans are pushing back. They can't believe this is the first concert. She is getting absolutely ridiculed for this. But there's no way this is like an invite to that. I'm like, yes, it is.

So it was a no-brainer to bring him. And we've never traveled together ever. So that was the thought process. Where was I on the depth chart of the invite list? I would say in the depth chart, there are things to bring. David to. This is not one strictly because like I know some people like my brother who will almost pass out watching Beyonce. David's not one of them. I would say like who else was up there pretty high. I also know Lo is a met like that is her queen. That is my brother's queen. Low was up there.

So it's all about the experience. I think you would have obviously had the time of your life, but there are things that I know you would you would like a little bit more. Baby steps. When the bills finally win a playoff game, we can know the Super Bowl together. I love it. Okay. I'm going to read off. We have some trading secrets, all access members here. The Money Mafia, they have some questions. So I'm going to read off just a few of these. I saw other batch nation, other shows, and influencers attend. Do you know what criteria they use to choose the influencers that they're invited to buy?

I have no idea. I've tried to back into this. You know, the fact that, and this came from Lisa Rye, Rize. I hope I spelled that right. Or I said that right. Lisa, rise. If I didn't, Lisa, phonetics help me out. So, you know, obviously, Blake was invited and they rescinded the offer.

I don't know what it is. I don't know if it was connection to the event, if they had an aesthetic. I know Ali Shapiro got invited. Ali Shapiro has been on the podcast. She is Jill Zarin from Real Housewife's daughter. She told me she thought she was invited because someone from the PR firm was actually a fan of hers when she was on the show. So I have no idea. It's a great question.

Julie Quinn asked, follow up to Tart TikTok. influencer. Do you think Ritz Carlton caught wind and wanted to take some PR? I think they tried to keep this a little bit down low. And I think ideally in a perfect scenario, those do not happen at the same time. If you're Tart, you don't want this happening because Beyonce overshadows anyone and everything. And if you're Tart, you spent a lot of money. So Tart versus Atlantis, Atlanta's wins. Tart and Atlantis, I don't think they want those two events happening at the same time. You know who does want that happening the same time? Dubai.

Dubai. I'll do one more read-off and then we'll get to some of these. I saw disclaimers that phones weren't allowed, but there were so many videos. What were the exceptions? What was security like there? This is a great question. So before Beyonce performed actually and I was on the resort, I took a video of this stage. Okay, this is during the day, no one's there. It's just the stage. took a video of stage, and I had a security guard run after me and say, you have to delete that. I was like, oh, my God, I had no idea. Like, at this point, we weren't told about this thing.

So I deleted it. And he made me go into my recently deleted folder and then watch me delete it. So they were leading up to the event, they were extremely particular. At the event, they gave us these zip cases. You had to zip your phone in the case, and they asked that you didn't take them out. And they had security all over. But everyone was taking them out. Like literally, everyone was taking them out and no security was coming.

So I think people, it became this like, well, if they could do it, I could do it. And then everyone started taking them out. We were told, though, the technical rule was you can't have your phone out. You can't take videos until the last performance. The last performance was when the fireworks went nuts. That's when technically you could take your phone out. Okay, those were some questions from Money Mafia. We will continue to get to more questions from Money Mafia.

David, with the whole trip, what else you think? thinking. What else you got? I just need some very basic. We can do this rapid fire. You don't have to go into detail. I just need to like hit on some of these things. What we're accustomed to, and it kind goes with what just said, with what we're accustomed to the United States compared to Dubai, I need to ask you just like some quick hitters. Is you ready? Alcohol. Just like, is it easily accessible? Is it not? Is it expensive? Like I've read that you can't drink in Dubai. Tell me about it. Okay. So there's a lot of peculiar things that are illegal in Dubai. T-HC is illegal. CBD is illegal. going on any website that has porn is illegal.

I was told to even be careful, if you have anything negative to say about Dubai, just be careful what you put on social media. They're checking things out. And alcohol in general in the city is not very prevalent. They're actually like, it's apparently not very prevalent at all. And even at like most restaurants, there wasn't a ton of alcohol consumption.

The only time I saw a lot of alcohol consumption was the Beyonce show and that's it. what about nicotine like cigarettes didn't see any i didn't see any cigarettes i didn't see any cigars i did see vape pens what about uh uber rent like mass transportation was it easy to get around like what's the deal so that's a crazy thing about emmrits i didn't know if you book business class or first class which obviously they did we didn't they provide transportation to the airport and back from the airport so that was interesting but they have uber and they also have an app called Kareem. Kareem and Uber. There are two ways of getting around. And you asked about

like money that came out of pocket. We went to the Burj Khalifa. It's the tallest building in the world, 154 floors. We did a via a technical VIP tour. All that means you got to like cut a line and go to a different observation deck. And to put in perspective, my brother bought it. It was like 350 bucks. So it wasn't like cheap. Like, you know, it wasn't cheap. Everything in Dubai is extremely expensive. And so, like, if I think about that, in tipping in Ubers, that was the only thing that came out of pocket. So you do tip. You do tip. I looked it up. They said 10 to 15 percent is the norm in Dubai. What's the currency there? The currency is AD. It's about one third of ours. So everything is priced three times. So 33 bucks. U.S. would be 100 AD. Okay. So like a cost of

regular goods were accustomed to like a bottle of water. How much is a bottle of water? Oh, man, at this resort, a bottle of water, I'm going to guess, $15, $20. Everything's at a crazy premium. It's like, everything is expensive in Dubai, and everything is like wild luxury. It's like if you take Miami, Vegas, New York City, the cleanliness of Toronto and L.A., and put them in one city on the Arabian Sea, like, that's where it is. And here's the other thing. This is crazy.

It's all man-made. It was all a desert before. This was a tourism play to get people to start traveling to the Middle East. So everything is made for your eye to be like what. So they have two palm trees. They're manmade islands that look from the top. They look like a palm tree. And it's all manmade. So if you're overlooking the whole island, it's a big palm tree. It's crazy. A couple other questions I know that I wanted to make sure we talked about is like people were asking how much, what's the value of the flight to Emirates? So I did look it up. and the value from, and so did Cassie, actually.

Cassie said when she looked it up, it was $10,500 one way from L.A. When I looked it up from New York City, it was $8,000. So that'd be $16,000 for one flight to New York City to Dubai, Emirates Business Class and from L.A. 21,000. So it was just crazy. You're just like looking around. I'm like, I wish I could interview every person here in business class. Like, what is your story? How did you make it? And then on the way home, I told you, I showed the story on TikTok,

but Fat Joe was like dancing down the aisle. and right, literally right behind me, he's like, I'm going to see you at the back of the bar. And he's like, I'll be there, I'll be there. And I look behind me and it's job rule, literally right behind me. I'm like, see, Kim, make this shit up. Just like as crazy as this week gets, you just can't make it up. Was there any part of it where, if you've flown to like a resort in Mexico

or a resort at a Caribbean island where you get off the, out of the airport, and you're driving through what looks like to be a third real country for a majority of the trip before you get to your resort. When you landed in Dubai, were you like in Dubai, like everything from the second you landed to the, every, the whole trip was like pristine or were there areas where, whether it be suburban areas or like where, you know, on the outskirts where you saw a little like less luxury or was it all just ridiculous. Good question. Like the airport, ridiculous. The, the actual drive into the city, ridiculous. You're looking at the architecture. Like, how is everything perfect? Now, remember, this, this is only a 50 year old country. It's very new. everything's new. But there is an area called Old Dubai, and it's preserved from like what Dubai was before. And there they have like a lot of markets and stuff. There is a material difference. Like not even comparable Old Dubai versus New Dubai. And I'd recommend anyone that goes,

goes and check out Old Dubai. So great question, David. How far are you from like the desert, like camels, like just going out there and seeing like sand forever? So we wanted to go to Abu Dhabi. that's where like the big mosque is. That would have been an hour and a half trip. So it would have been an hour and a half trip. My understanding is like waiting in lines a couple hours and then hour and a half back. And I think they do have some like different types of things you could do in the desert like all different, you know, they have like riding camels. They have like four wheeling expeditions like all these things. My understanding is like a half hour ish outside. I do want to

get into like just the ROI of this. Right. So like people are probably trying to grasp. Like how does this work? So 1,400 people, only 1,400 people. And she's putting on this concert. And I'm literally looking parallel. And Jay-Z's right there with Blue Ivy and the kids, like bopping to Beyonce. And you're just like, where am I? Like Rebel Wilson is like, you know, three seats over. And for anyone that knows, like Milos restaurant in New York City, extremely well known, like me, the owner of Milos is like right there. And like these people, you're just like, what the hell? This is just crazy. It's tough to comprehend. No one there paid to be there. It was all, every single aspect of this from the red carpet to the media interviews to the exchange of trade of being there

to promoting it was all based on making a massive massive marketing play and if my brother comes on later in the episode stay tuned we're looking to have him on he's a marketing executive he'll talk about it he said that over easily over a billion impressions were made from this marketing play and he thought the creativity behind the marketing play was genius he said never in my life for one hour of the entire living planet, have I been at the center, the epicenter of the most relevant, the most pertinent pop culture event and arts in the world? That one hour was the most relevant, the most important, the most eye-viewed event that was being talked about and happening in the entire planet. And when that is happening, whatever the marketing scheme behind it, it's effective. And so

it's just a crazy thing. And people are like, well, how do they get their return? Guys, just think about this. We talk about this a lot. We all think like business to consumer and how do you get a return. Think about what people pay for a Super Bowl commercial, right? 30 seconds this year, $6.5 million. All of marketing forever is just about eyeballs, impressions, making some type of cognizant reaction. Doritos sells bags for $2. Okay? How is Doritos in every Super Bowl at? They're making impressions. Do you think that day in 24 hours, they're going to sell you know, 3.25 million bags for every 30 seconds that they have of Super Bowl ads? No, it's part of the greater marketing plan. There's analytics to drive sustainability and impact and people buying

and brand recognition. And this is what companies pay tons and tons of money to do. It's just changing now that instead of like business to business, instead of Doritos going to the network of, you know, whoever's running the Super Bowl, NBC. It's now like Doritos are going to these individuals because these individuals now have spaces and communities that have greater impact than magazines, then newspapers, then, you know, billboards. So that's the massive change we're seeing here. I think it's important to know, too, like, we as consumers just like thinking, oh, like, how could they be doing this? Like, we look up the flights, we look up the rooms, we hear the rooms are 5, 10K night. The marketing plans to go into this, they're not just throwing shit against a wall

hoping it sticks. Like, they have this thing down to a science. I even saw that Tart Cosmetics did the same campaign in Dubai in 2018 or 19. So they obviously understand and know the success of it and just find the right time to capitalize on it. But I think like the dollars and cents of it all is just it's jaw-dropping. I mean, it really is. That's how crazy marketing power is,

is that all the money they're spending, I can guarantee you every one of their goals was accomplished. Every one of their goals was accomplished. As someone who's been through it, would you do it again if you had to pay for it? it. So if you're a consumer now, you're on our side, you see this. Oh my God, I got to go. It's the Royal Atlantis, Dubai. It looks like a piece of Lego staffed on top of each other with some gaps in between. I've seen the videos. I know Beyonce won't be playing if I go there, but Dubai is

Dubai, I got to stay there. Would you go? So we made it, my brother and I talked about this in deep detail. And the thing is, is like, that's not even a question for me to ask because I'm not their target market. They are targeting the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% across the world. Is there anything that you would, from your experience there that you wish, that you wish you could bring back to the United States, whether it be a piece of food, whether it be culturally, whether it be a set of standards, whether it be the architect or the cleanliness or something. Here's what I would bring back. When you go by everyone, like their sign of respect, you know what we do like maybe we'll do a head nod

or it'll be like peace or it'll be like what's up their sign of like kind of respect is like this so when you walk by it's like this I was like I love that like you walk by it be like you see someone be like and then just keep walking it was amazing so every time you'd walk by someone of service

or whatever it would be right hand two over your heart palm over your heart and like a little head bow bow down I loved it I'm like we need to bring that back to the states that was one of my favorites Was it summer there? What was the weather like?

There's a dumb question. So it was beautiful. It was like 70 degrees. In the summer it gets a little hotter. Right, you're out in the desert, right? So it was like even the Miami vibe, but looking outside in the Arabian Sea and like all these like yachts and stuff. It's like, where am I? It was just mind blowing.

Mind blowing. David, any more questions before we kind of go to the Money Mafia and see what people have? Let's kick it to the Money Mafia. I like this one from Jess. What's one thing that you didn't get to do? while you were there and you would love to experience if you ever went back. Gone to the mosque. Definitely.

I think Abu Dhabi would have been fun. This one is from Amanda Fitzgerald in Chicago. How much do you think the PR company spent in total to fly and accommodate everyone fraud by? So the question actually wouldn't be how much the PR company spent. The question would be how much did the hotel Dubai tourism spend? Hotel Dubai tourism will hire a marketing firm. One marketing firm and they're out of London ran point on every. that marketing firm then connects with this PR firm and they give them a task. That PR firm

is paid a fee and retainer services to organize and execute all this. The PR firm is who reached out to us. From Karen, what other hotels are similar there? Are they all that expensive and are other hotels going up like the Atlantis? That's a good question. Can we visit? Could I ever visit? Yeah, there's a million different hotel options. There's a Radisson hotel I saw. There's Sheridan. There's a Marriott. There's a really nice Conrad. I mean, I would say, you know, this is the newest, the biggest, the best hotel in Dubai. I mean, I think that, I mean, it wasn't five star. It was six star. I'm looking here. Rachel, do you want to come on? I see Rachel Z. You have a question. Hey, I'm Rachel. And I was wondering, since Queen, Beyonce and JZ were at the

Dubai event, if you could have them on the podcast, what would be the first question you'd ask them? Oh, that's such a good question. I mean, I'd want to know a little bit about the affair and how they overcame it. But if I went into professional territory, my question would be, what dollar amount did they first come to you with? How did you negotiate it? And what dollar amount in your head was a number that no matter how bad the pushback was from your audience, you're so loyal to, you were going to take? Because she received a lot of negative, you know, she just released an album six months ago that went off the charts. She hasn't done an interview.

She hasn't done appearance. She hasn't done anything. So it's the first time since releasing an absolutely epic album that was number one and everything that you're showing your face. So that was like the big question mark. I think the answer, if they're speaking honestly, would be there's probably not a human in the entire planet, regardless of what your wealth is, that for one hour of work would turn down $24 million.

Like if you think about that, if her net worth is around like $500 million or $750 million, right? I know Jay-Z's billionaire. I don't believe she is. If it's around that, $24 million of one hour of work, say it's $500 million or net worth, that's 5% of your net worth you're earning in one hour. So I would want to know kind of analytics behind the number. It's a great question, Rachel. I appreciate you coming on.

Yeah, that's good question to ask them. This was great. I love having everybody here, everybody getting involved, asking their questions. Money Mafia, love it. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing in the bell with not. the Curious Canadian. We have a huge change of pace here. We have my brother, Stephen Tardick in the house for the first ever recap, not done by The Curious Canadian, because Stephen was there

with me, as you guys saw on Instagram, on the Dubai trip, and that's what this whole episode is about. So Stephen Tartick, welcome to the recap of Trading Secrets. Hey, it is a pleasure to be here. I hope to fill the Curious Canadians shoes as best I can. I'm sure you'll nail it. Are you, Are you fully over jet lag at this point? How are we feeling being back in the zone from Dubai? Oh, feeling great. And to have the glow of Beyonce emanating from me this week has really canceled out all of the normal travel groginess.

In my 34 years of living, I think when I would look back at you watching you watch Beyonce, other than your wedding day, that was the happiest I've ever seen you. Is that a fair statement? or like when you're going to live shows, is that usually like your state of euphoria and bliss? Oh, no, that was top five lifetime, jaw on the floor, pure euphoria. Absolutely. Okay.

And if you had to summarize, if someone can't resonate with that, maybe they're not a Beyonce fan, or maybe they just haven't experienced it at a show, how would you explain, like, why is it? What was it that drove you into that top five moment being there? What was it? It's not often in your life. I don't watch sports, but maybe this is something sports fans can resonate with.

To be in the presence of the person who is the best at doing the thing that they do in the entire world, like watching Serena Williams or insert football player who plays football well, to watch the person who is the single greatest at the thing that they, do in the entire world. Do that thing at their, like at the top of their game, leaves you with nothing but awe and admiration and just pure, you know, pure ecstasy in the possibility of human kind. That's how I felt watching Beyonce. I love that. It is such a great answer. For someone that's listening to this that has not seen Beyonce or that might challenge you to say, wait a second, you're trying to tell me Beyonce is the best live performer living

today. I don't believe it. What would your response be? When Beyonce shows up, she shows up on every single quadrant to attend. So when you see a performer, there is their actual performance, how they sound, there is their stage charisma, there is the physical production that they've built. There's the lighting. There's the choreography. There's the band. There's the set list. There's the banter. Like every little piece of that. Beyonce cranks all of those to attend, perfectly synchronizes them, and presents them without a single flaw. So the reason my jaw was on the floor was that for 75 minutes, you saw a perfectly constructed piece of art. That's the only way to describe it. Down to the mural on the background, the mural that she performed in front of was like

hand-painted homage to the culture of the Middle East that the whole set represented. And it's, and not all of that effort, you know, the 50-piece orchestra, the dancers brought in from Lebanon to perform behind her, the custom mural, the really strange set list for her work. Like all of that was done for a single performance for 1,500 people. And then it's gone, never to happen again. So, like, that level of effort, dedication, and artistry is, it's truly a sight to behold. There you go. Extremely well said.

I think that summarizes your state of euphoria perfectly and just the perfection of that show. It was fun to watch her. It was a moment I'll never forget. And it was even more fun to watch you a moment I too will never forget. I want to get into Dubai a little bit. We just talked to full episode of it and have had a lot of questions come in. And I think you would be the best person to answer this. but of course when traveling to Dubai, there's some controversy. We know that Beyonce dealt with

some controversy, even taking this opportunity. And you being a gay married man, an extremely active in gay rights, what is just your overall on take on traveling to a place like Dubai when they have, I guess, how I would summarize it is cultural rights that is certainly holding humanity back? the laws of Dubai are horrible they're like they are a you know humanitarian travesty what they actually put on the books I mean it's illegal to be gay there and as a you know as a guest there's two realities there's what the law is and like you know what what risk one is actually at and then there's the on the

around, like, how does it feel to be there? And, you know, the laws are abhorrent. And I totally respect anyone who would say, I'm never traveling to a place like that so long as that's their policy. That is a perfectly respectable position. It's not the position I take. And I, in truth, you know, there are states in our country that have abhorrent laws. And generally speaking,

I try not to send my business and money there. But it's a true consideration that gay people, trans folks, women have to consider more and more and more as they like plot their path. I'll say that on the ground, you enter Dubai and you are, you know, whisked away to your ultra luxury resort. And you don't really, I didn't think twice about being gay there. You know, when you're in those bubbles of the tourism pockets, they are very happy to have you as you are. And they want your money. And they're, you know, we saw women in bikinis. You know, there, there was drinking.

Like there, it did not seem, it did not feel restrictive in the very privileged bubble of the luxury tourism that we were participating in. Is there something? I think those are, that's all. extremely well said. Is there something to be said about the way that the progress in the Western world and Western Hemisphere just drives the entirety of the world, slowly does have impact on areas like the Middle East, when people like yourself, say, I'm going to go. I'm going to show who I am. I don't care that it's illegal there because I still feel comfortable and who I am. And some of that progress eventually then bleeds for change that we're already

seeing via protest in the Middle East, especially after World Cup and things like that. I mean, do you think that that's a fair stance that showing up to these places is almost part of that progress the Western Hemisphere has had on these places and what's happening or no? Well, I think certainly like a country like Dubai wanting our money has forced them to to be more accommodating than they may want to be. And I suppose you can call that a drop of progress. You know, the power of the green will move things forward. I mean, I'll say, like, just to say it again,

you and I were on a very, like, privileged trip there. And there were forces looking out to make sure that our experience was great. And I'm sure that there are people who may travel to Dubai it aren't as protected as we were and might find themselves in like very dire threats. So I don't want to downplay the severity of this at all. But hopefully, you know, like the fact that even Beyonce, you know, she performed like a very feminist set in a country that can be very anti-feminist.

And I think it's easy to kind of criticize her for going to Dubai and taking a paycheck. Like, sure, like point all the fingers you want. but also like there she was performing this really empowering set in front of like the royal family and for that country to see that this is like a beacon for them and it's drawing such attention to their country. I think that that's arguably a good sign for progress. That's how art can change the world. Perfectly, perfectly said. All right, you're a marketing executive. I want to transition to some of the dollars and cents just on this overall marketing splash. When you saw all the moving parts of this from A to Z,

I know that you were blown away with not only the performance, just how everything was orchestrated. As someone who works on campaigns on a day-to-day basis, and for anyone that's out there that doesn't know, my brother is in a marketing executive role for a Broadway agency that focuses solely on Broadway shows and day-to-day working to make a splash within these shows, premieres, reviews, et cetera.

What from your fine eye on marketing, What was your overall synopsis of the performance of what they pulled off? For a moment in time, this brand new ultra luxury resort in the middle of the desert was the focal point of the world. And that is not an easy thing to pull off, and that does not happen often. If you really think about it, the World Cup, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, maybe like a how often

does the entire focus of the world's culture look at one place and they made that out of nothing they didn't have a 200-year-old institution backing that up or they didn't have you know

the all the focus of every single fan of sport in one place so it's an amazing accomplishment and I think the most interesting part of it they could have taken that same amount of money and had, you know, Tom Cruise show up and Leonardo DiCaprio and they could have had a sea of, Amy Schumer, they could have had a sea of big celebrities across film and TV and sports and acting, but they didn't do that. There was like a notable absence of just run-of-the-mill celebrities. And I thought the most interesting part was their focus on people like you, like influencers, people who have active and engaged communities and who were talking about and sharing about their experience there, like day in and day out. And obviously, some of that was obligation, but a lot of that was people just like having an amazing time and wanting to share it with their friends and fans.

And I think that that shift of strategy, there's no way five years ago that the invite list would have been people who are active on social. It would have been people who are in movies. And so I think that that's a huge marketing shift. And it's really because I think it ultimately got a lot more eyeballs onto Atlantis the Royal. Okay. One thing, I know you're not the biggest numbers guy. Stephen, growing up, was always the massive creative.

But when you look at the numbers, now, especially in the marketing executive role, that's usually an admission. How, when someone says, like, the money they spent, how do they justify an ROI? Will they see an ROI? What's your take on that? Everyone wants numbers to tell them everything. And, you know, thankfully, I say this personally, not professionally. Like, thankfully, privacy technology on our phones and on our computers has gotten better, which means all these companies cannot track every last thing we do and see how much money

they're making off of us directly, which I think is a great thing. There as a marketer, it's not great, but it's good. It's good for the world. So if I was in a, if I was pitching this concept and a client said, what's my, what's going to be my ROI? Like, I would say that that's not a metric. that I can actually offer you because it's impossible to measure. What I could do is take a look at how many impressions

all of this content is generating. And you, if you were to go and look on your back end, you could probably see how many folks saw your Instagram posts about this trip. I put a report together because I was so happy with how Quinn PR handled this with me. I like want to continue to work with them. I put a full report together. We did well, just off my stuff, we did well over a million impressions. That's amazing.

I mean, think about that. Like a million times Atlantis the Royal was seen in your community of like connected, culturally invested, you know, millennials, Gen Z fans. They're going to see your stuff. They're going to be talking to their friends about this show that happened. They're going to wish that they were there. They're going to see all that great food we ate and those beautiful pools we sat by. I mean, you could go spend,

you could go spend $100,000 on a TV buy or a digital buy and get that same number of impressions. But people are going to be seeing ads where instead they actually got to like follow you along a person they respect and like on their journey. And that is like great. So I think that the value is so much greater. when real people are sharing real experiences.

And that is what's so smart about this. Now, the scale and cost of everything we saw, you know, $10 million in fireworks, it's crazy. Like, it's so, it's on a level so beyond anything you would normally experience. So that's also just Dubai in general. Everything is like bigger.

bigger and supersized in a way that defies logic. But overall, I think, you know, they must have a billion impressions off of this thing. And that's just, you can't buy that. There's the R-O-I perspective from a marketing executive. Steve and I have less than six minutes with you. So I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. And we're going to time. We're going to say answers in less than 90 seconds because I've got to get these questions out.

You had already alluded a little bit to the way that. social media has changed. You've already alluded to the fact five years ago, this wouldn't a better strategy. One of the big changes we've seen in social media is TikTok. Overall, not even just with Dubai, what is your take on TikTok? And do you think TikTok will be here for the long run? It is the most personalized and addicting form of moving images I've ever encountered. If I'm going to 5, 10 minutes to spend it, I can spend it on TikTok. I will be happier than I was at the end of it. I love the creativity. It provides. And it is very clearly a tool of the Chinese government. The access that they have to information about U.S.

citizens is terrifying. And that has to change. And whether that's a full-on ban, of the app or, you know, force regulation involving a divestment from China, which they say they won't put up with. Some things got to change. And I would not be surprised or even upset if there is just a full-on ban of the app in this country. Okay. There you go. That's your take on TikTok. Okay, this is a question from one of our listeners. There's a lot of marketing trends going on. A lot of individuals are trying to grow their brand. A lot of small businesses are trying to grow their brand, just everything you know about marketing. If you had one umbrella tip, like a generalized tip when it comes to marketing yourself for small business, what would it be? Be honest and

be interesting. And always remember that what you need to tell the world is not what the world necessarily wants to hear. And so you have to meet that in an honest way. So if you are selling toothpaste, like I have no interest in learning more about toothpaste, so you better your product, better have something really interesting going for it for me to want to pay attention to toothpaste, or you better entertain me so much or surprise me so much that I'm willing to like interrupt my day to pay attention to your toothpaste. And the way to do that is to be honest and to be entertaining. Okay, that's a good one.

Did you have any idea about this whole Tart influencer trip that was going on? Did you hear anything about that or no? And did you have a take? I heard some rumblings about it, but I don't know the details of it. That's a, is that a beauty brand or? Yep, big beauty brand. They were also in Dubai and there's a lot of question marks of, was some of these dollars supported by Dubai and just not the hotel in general and didn't know

if you had a take on that? Probably because it seems like much of the things in Dubai are, you know, the tourism board, the governments and the local resorts. I have no knowledge of that, but it would not surprise me that they're all linked together. I mean, we supported Dubai by going on this trip and promoting their latest ultra luxury resort. I think it's safe to assume from the outside it's all linked. And acknowledging that is useful. And then people can do with it what they will. Two rapid fire questions. I have three minutes left with you. The second last question will be you manage people. You work for a marketing firm. Obviously all different industries move at all different speeds. If someone is coming to Stephen Tartick asking for a raise during this period of

time, which is, you know, annual view time, January, February, March, what is one thing that they could do that would incentivize you to consider the raise at a greater rate than maybe you would someone else? Be really direct. And the mistake I encounter occasionally. are people being wishy-washy about what they want and how and when they want it. So I think it always benefits people to be clear and direct and to not, frankly, I don't think there's necessarily a need to, like, over-explain the case if a high, if a high-functioning employee needs something, they should ask for it. I like it. Be direct. All right. This came in from Onimod, and I have to ask it, since I have you, not connected to Dubai or marketing or ROIs or dollars and cents on trading secrets. This is just a personal trading secret. What was Jason like as a kid? How would you summarize that? Loaded question.

No, you were, you were charmed and friendly and very loud and always on the move. But you were a nice guy then. and you are a nice guy now and you are just as afraid of silence now as you were then. So nobody can fill a quiet room quite like you. There we go. You wanted honesty.

You got honesty. All things. Stephen Tardick, you have one minute to go catch your meeting. Thank you. Well, I have a question for you. You're not the world's biggest Beyonce fan. But after this concert, like, yay or nay.

I did not understand the Beyonce hype the way that, like, you were so in there, like, knowing everything about it. I thought her songs were great. If you said, would you go buy a Beyonce ticket to see her at a live performance before this? The answer would be no. I just wouldn't. Going into this, I was like getting more excited because I saw the excitement of others. After witnessing that performance, I will forever be a Beyonce fan. And at any moment, I can go to any form of a live show of hers, I will be there if I can because it was, it was bone-chilling, it was, it had goosebumps, it was lively, there were moments people were dancing and there were moments people like yourself and almost everyone there, regardless of where you're from, what country you come from, was just stunned. And that was, I've never seen that at a concert where I would look around and at moments people weren't dancing because they were just so fascinated with the piece of art that they were seeing. So I am all in on Beyonce, and if you ask or go look at my Spotify, all workouts this week, all it is is Beyonce.

Mission accomplished. What do they call the Beyonce fans? Like they're the Swifties, the, what are Beyonce fans? You're part of the Beehive. The Beehive? You're the Beehive. I am part of the Beehive. Oh, that's why people kept sending V's and stuff. That makes sense. Well, thank you for this Recap, Stephen, brilliant, amazing insight. And thank you for being on Trane Secrets. Great talking to you. And thank you for having me here. And thank you for having me on that trip. It was once in a lifetime. All right. See you later. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.