- On this episode we talk about Tidal,
Instagram's evolution.
We also talk about QR codes,
and Star Wars versus Star Trek.
- [Voiceover] Gary Vee!
(audience cheering)
- You ask questions and I answer them.
(electronic music)
This is The #AskGaryVee Show.
(electronic music)
Do you want to get a camera and get some content?
Meaning either angle-video content,
or just pictures for stock stuff?
Let's go into it while we got 'em out of there,
so then he has to walk in for the show.
And don't edit any of this.
Right from the beginning where I told him
to get some content.
Ready, VaynerNation?
Hey everybody, this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk,
and this is episode 92 of the #AskGaryVee Show!
Episode 92; I love the number 92
because one of my favorite all-time Jets,
Shaun Ellis, wore the number 92.
And when I think of Shaun Ellis,
I think about the great 2000 draft where we got
Laveranues Coles, and Chad Pennington,
and John Abraham, and Shaun Ellis.
Which became the foundation of The Jets'
solid run in the early 2000s.
What makes that happy and exciting for me
is that, obviously, The Jets just had their draft.
As a matter of fact, maybe we should edit
some of the content in.
I'm over here, I know it was funny that he came.
DRock, there's some footage.
(fingers snapping) (party music)
We are gonna greet him.
The first appearance of our man.
There he is!
(cheering)
And I think The Jets just had the best draft
they've had since I've been a fan.
I'm ecstatic with The New York Jets' draft this year.
And I wanna welcome all the youngsters to The Jets team.
What else, I had a great weekend;
it was my mom's 60th birthday.
Big shout-out to Tamara Vaynerchuk.
That was super fun!
Spent a lot of time with the kids.
The big fight, it was just really nice.
The weather on the east coast,
today's weather is insanity!
Played some basketball this morning;
it was a lot of fun!
India, weird, India, let's get into the show.
- [Voiceover] Dan asks, "Will QR codes ever really take off?
- This question because of a couple of reasons.
One, the answer's no; not in America.
Two, I took the question because I want
to give the VaynerNation the answer to why.
The early use of QR codes in America,
the first time we all saw them, with smart-phones.
Have you ever done a QR code, India?
- I've never really used one 'cause they're all in subways,
and I don't see what's goin' on underground.
- And, so, you've never done it, you've never done it?
Staphon, have you ever done it?
For what?
- We had, back in the business-card's days,
we had, like, one of them. - [Gary] Got it.
So, what's interesting to me is
it took off in South Korea, and other places,
where the early execution, the first 10,000 executions
of QR codes in that market, brought value.
It was like you could buy stuff from the subways.
You could get really interesting exclusive content.
It was utilitarian, it was entertainment.
In America marketers ruin everything.
The very early QR codes where you would take a shot
of the QR code from a branding standpoint,
the big-mass early stuff that we saw a half-decade ago.
And it would show people a YouTube video
of the company's television commercial.
So, the reason QR codes won't take off
is they've been branded, ingrained in our collective heads,
as something that doesn't bring us any value.
And, so, when something establishes itself as not valuable,
we don't go back to the well.
If email started off as just being spam and marketing,
we wouldn't be there; and it would have never evolved.
At first it was a communication social media.
It's on, and on, and on.
So, QR codes, unfortunate for the QR code gods,
did not have the right execution in the US market.
And the hill is too big to climb, in my opinion,
for it to really take off.
Now, look, could a QR execution come along
in the next 24 months that's so incredible
and resets the value-prop around it,
a la Snapchat, which they just did it.
Let's throw up my Snapchat QR code
so you can follow me, real quick.
(camera snapping)
You know, but even that I think was really significant.
The hottest app doing it, a lot of us are doin' it.
Maybe right now it's bubbling up, and that will happen.
So, it's not far-fetched that it has a prayer
based on something like that.
But, in general, my prediction is no.
And if somebody does something great,
we'll replay this answer, and I'll eat crow.
- [Voiceover] Matt asks, "What's your take
"on what Jay Z is trying to do with Tidal?
"Do you think it will work?"
- Matt, what Jay Z's doing with Tidal
is what every good entrepreneur that has brand-equity
in the consumer marketplace should be doing,
which is leveraging their brand-equity
to bring enormous exposure to something
that they disproportionately make more money on
than if they were using somebody else's thing.
This is something that should always be going on
with the pseudo, triple A-list celebrities.
They should always own.
They shouldn't be the face of a cognac or a champagne;
they should own it.
They shouldn't be a face, or beyond a platform for music;
they should own it.
Whether it's gonna work or not; I have no idea.
Because the truth is for me to give a really good answer,
I need to see the team that's actually
executing the business.
Just because you're a big-time star,
and you bring your big-time star friends along,
doesn't mean the business is gonna succeed.
What's gonna happen is, if the operators,
and I don't know what Hove is doing with his time;
but I have a feeling he won't be the CEO of the platform.
So, you know, he's an executor.
The management team that's in place
is going to determine its success.
I have personal brand-equity as a social media voice,
at a very small level.
Trust me, I'm not tryin' to compare myself.
But I was a triple, Z-list celebrity.
But within a little world, that social media world,
I had a little equity.
And if my management team, if I,
if we didn't execute properly, we would have lost.
There's a lot of people that use their fame as the match.
(flesh smacking)
The match, to make something happen.
It all comes down to the steak.
The sizzle's there, there's exposure.
We all know what it is.
There's a million music-services
without a frontman like Jay Z and the other people
that we'd never know, so, it's got a chance.
A lot of people check it out.
A lot of times it's not as strong
as what's in the marketplace.
Spotify, and Rdio, and all these other things
have big legs up.
ITunes, they all have much longer time.
So, they're further ahead.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
I'm sure everybody's gonna write it off;
people are already writing it off as dead.
We'll see what happens over the next 36 to 48 months.
A tremendous lesson for everybody
watching and listening to the show is,
it doesn't matter how you start;
it matters how you finish.
And, so, what I'm most curious about
is that there's cynicism around its success
because a lot of famous people
try to put their name on things.
I look at Jay Z as a uniquely strong businessman.
If he's got infrastructure underneath him,
or the right players are in place for Tidal,
in the next 24 to 48 months,
it has a chance of doing something.
I just don't know what's under the hood.
Nice, I feel deep today.
- [India] Yeah, it's very nice.
- Good, India, glad you're excited.
- [India] I'm real excited.
- [Voiceover] Sally asks, "Hey, Gary, did you decide
"you wanted to sell your services
"to the big Fortune 500 companies
"versus consumers first, and then come up with VaynerMedia?
"In other words, did you choose who you wanted
"to sell to first to maximize your profits,
"and then come up with the business model?"
- Sally, this is an interesting question.
I'm a very big fan of counter-punching;
and a lot of people don't do that.
A lot of people lay out business-plans,
they know what they wanna do, they go and do it.
And they go raise money, or they go and execute it;
and that's how they roll.
In lieu of the tremendous fight this weekend,
which it was boring to the masses;
but it was a tremendous fight for me.
Because 13 seconds in, I looked at AJ
and said, "This fight's over." 'cause I couldn't believe
how much faster Floyd was than Pacquiao.
Watching them separately, I thought it'd be closer.
I knew a second that he was that much faster,
that the fight was over because I know
what kind of defensive fighter Floyd is.
And I'm sure everybody gets bored and falls asleep
rounds seven through 12,
but I'm just completely, like, infatuated with boxing.
And understood the chess-moves that he was playing out
in the ring, and enjoyed that.
Even though I know it's not commercially
raw-raw, high-energy.
I view myself very similar as a businessman.
I react, it's funny I feel like I'm on full-offense.
I feel like I'm 48-and-oh because I play great defense
based on reacting.
I can react to the market and adjust.
The market started coming to me
because I was writing Crush It!,
putting out videos around business,
and amassing a large social media following.
And big-brands reached out to me and said,
"Hey, you've got all these people."
You know, "Hey, we're a Fortune 500 company.
"We have 50 followers on Twitter.
"You have 400,000 followers!
"We've never heard of you.
"Come and teach us, come explain."
Plus, moments in time.
AJ was graduating from BU.
It was time to do a business together.
We were thinkin' about fantasy sports,
we were thinkin' about other things.
And, so, between timing and being reactionary
to the demand cycle, like, we're responding
to the demand that was in place.
I was already playing in the space.
It wasn't like I just made something up,
or there was demand for me out of left-field
that made no sense.
My actions were setting up my counter-punch.
I think it's a very strong model for business.
- Hey, Gary, I'm Darius Nabors
and I'm doing a 59-week, 59 National Park road-trip
to celebrate the 100th anniversary
of the National Park Service.
I'm quitting my job, and I was wondering
how I can use social media to get sponsorships.
Thank you.
- Darius, you're using social media
to get sponsorship right now, right?
Your actions are leading you to what you want.
You hacked your way into the show,
and now you're on the show,
and now you've got a bunch of exposure,
all the people watching and listening.
I thought that was really clever.
I'm sure five to seven of the viewers
also agree that it's clever.
One of those five to seven may have a business proposition.
But I think the number-one way for you to sponsorship
is to search terms on Twitter around national parks,
and see which businesses are already engaging
by putting out content, or engaging with content around it.
And then replying to them, in a conversation,
not throw the right-hook right away, buy saying,
"Hey, here's a picture I put on Instagram."
I think content, Instagram, Meerkat.
You know, I think these things matter.
So, I think it's a heavy-level of content,
putting it out there and creating some level of serendipity.
I think it's hacking, and hustling, and biz-devving,
which you clearly know how to do 'cause you're now
on this show and getting that exposure.
I think you reach out to every other blog
that covers national parks.
The top-50 big ones, and just pound them into submission
there and find with right-hooks.
In an email form, or hitting them up on social.
And then in the cocktail party that is Twitter,
engaging with companies that have money
to spend on sponsorship that already talking
about counter-punching.
Already, that's Floyd's shoulder thing he does.
Counter-punching and engaging with content
in Twitter as it's going on now.
So, that's what I would do.
Solid advice.
- [Voiceover] Andrew asks, "How will Instagram
"evolve in the future?"
- You know, Andrew, I took this question
without really even knowing where the heck
I'm going with it, because the truth is I'm not quite sure.
I think one thing's for sure, is if Instagram
ever layers Facebook's targeting capabilities
on its platform to users,
it would become one of the great ad-products of our time
for, you know, 2016, 2017 to 2020.
There'd be a two to four year run there.
It would be incredible.
So, that's interesting to me.
Will they use its sister company's data
to plug in there to reach to people I wanna reach?
If I could reach all wine-fans right now
based on Facebook data in an Instagram photo,
(releasing air)
So, that's interesting, I also think that,
I also think that it'll be interesting to see
if Instagram goes into wearables,
or into more camera-culture.
There's something about smart-cameras
in a whole different way than we're even thinking about it.
Here's a good one, what about smart-contact lenses?
Like, if I wore contact lenses, and if I went,
it would take an Instagram photo.
That's interesting to me, so, like how does Instagram
layer into the emerging tech
that a lot of people don't talk about?
That's cool, and so, I'm not quite sure.
Here's what I do know, it has the attention
of the consumer at scale right now.
They're doing very subtle changes.
They had a product-change the other day, right,
the UI changed a little bit.
It was so subtle, right.
I noticed it, but I didn't hear a headline about it.
I noticed it, and it didn't stop me in any way.
I thought that was super interesting.
I see you guys are, right, it was subtle,
did you like it, do you not like it?
Did you even think about it?
- [India] It's just more aesthetically pleasing.
- Is it more aesthetically pleasing for you?
Yeah, I mean yeah, just super subtle.
- [India] Also, it's all in symbols now;
it doesn't say, like, on it.
- Right, it just knows.
We've just evolved, right, in our language.
Anyway, so, and there's hashtags, emojis.
From what I know about Kevin Systrom,
whom I respect a ton, and I know lightweight.
I know a little bit, but I really know more from afar.
He's a very thoughtful CEO.
I think he cares about the product
and the audience tremendously.
Obviously, my first answer right away
into commerce, business, you know, that's how I roll.
But I think he's really consumer-first,
he understands it needs to stay sticky.
Don't spam it out, don't ruin it.
I'm interested in the kind of contact lens thing
that I brought up, and some maybe far-fetched,
far-out, I like saying far-out.
You know, just some forward thinking around the hard,
something about the hardware in Instagram makes me excited.
I think it's gonna evolve past the phone;
and I think that has the potential
to be extremely intriguing.
I'll make a prediction, I don't predictions;
I only react to what's happening.
But I'll make one for fun.
I think Instagram will be a leader in the next-level
hardware version of photos.
Because I think it'll happen in the next
three or four years, and I think Instagram
can hold on to its leadership.
- [India] One bonus question?
- Yeah, let's do the bonus question.
- [Voiceover] Green Stripes Auto
asked a very important question of
"Star Wars or Star Trek?"
- Green Stripes Auto, I am way,
I mean, I don't like Star Trek at all,
and Star Wars is the only thing that I like in Sci-Fi.
I love the story; I grew up on it.
Empire Strikes back, 1981, 82.
What was I, five?
81, right, it was in 80.
Movie came out 81, the toys.
I think for my sixth birthday,
with Misha's sixth birthday coming up
at the end of the month, this is kind of an emotional
nice thing to think about.
Which is insane.
My parents bought me two Star Wars figures
for my sixth birthday;
I'm pretty firm that that's when it was.
And I remember completely being blown away
because we didn't spend money on toys.
We were fairly poor still, grinding, trying to make our way.
And I remember being stunned
that they were willing to buy me two action figures.
It was a big deal for me.
Star Wars was a big part of my six, seven,
eight year old culture.
They were my first, kind of, toys that we could afford.
I was a really, kind of, chaotic kid,
so I'd lose the lightsabers immediately.
I was in toothpick culture.
Immediately, I used to have to use
toothpicks as lightsabers.
I'm a big fan.
Return of the Jedi was something I was really amped up for
because, and we moved to Edison, I had friends.
84, super pumped, opening night, midnight
for when it came back.
I'm not even mad at Jar-Jar Binks.
Whatever, Binks, and then so,
I've been into it, I'm into the story.
I will definitely go Christmas day to see the new one.
And I don't like Star Trek at all.
I never watched any of the movies.
I've collected some of the toys and flipped 'em.
But that's just that Ebay-culture.
But I've never liked that stuff.
I don't like Star Trek at all.
I dislike you, Star Trek, I'm sorry.
And that's that, question of the day.
What's a good question?
I got one.
So, actually, we have to go back
and figure out who got the jerseys right.
I'm sure there's plenty, right?
Not that many, okay so, help me with that?
All right, and if you actually won, Tweet at Staphon.
Put up his link here.
And help that speed up that part.
And then number-two, question of the day,
both, I need the NBA and the NHL team.
Who will win the Stanley Cup?
Who will win the NBA Finals?
If somebody gets both right, we will recall that, as well.
I'm in prize-mode, I'm very Oprah'd-out these days.
I wanna give stuff away.
What's goin' on with the wristbands?
- [India] Wristbands are happening.
- You guys are doin' it today?
Oh, Andy K went on vacation at the right time.
And Zak, oh, that's why he was--
Oh, and Andrew, oh Jesus.
Anyway, wristbands on the way.
You keep asking questions, and I'll keep answering them.
All right.
All right, think, Star Trek, Star Wars.
On this episode.