♪ Even if my girlfriend has a baby ♪
♪ Even if my job don't really pay me ♪
♪ Even if my dad don't ever see me ♪
♪ I won't ever waste my time complaining ♪
♪ It's all alright ♪
♪ I'll be fine ♪
♪ It's all alright ♪
♪ No need to whine ♪
- What's up, Vayner?
- [Group] What's up?
- How's the trip going?
- [Woman] Oh, so good.
- That's awesome.
- [Man] Yeah, so where are you?
- I'm in Los Angeles.
Hustling, taking care of a couple fires.
I'm so sorry I can't be with everybody.
Why are you guys there?
Because one of you may taste a candy you've never had before
and become infatuated with it, bring me back one,
I taste it and seven years later we buy the company.
Right? Like, shit like that.
And obviously, number three,
one of the things I want to continue
to build on is EQ and team building.
Like, you can't imagine what's running through
my head right now on this short little trip
on how you guys are gonna build some--
I mean, a lot of you guys don't know each other.
And you're gonna go from not knowing each other
or even saying hello in the hall,
to having inside jokes, to having a friendship
and maybe even a really great friendship.
And I do think that's something
that I aspire to for our organization.
It's just a fun trip, I mean there's a fun trip aspect.
I also think your thinking is extremely valuable
and you're gonna be able to give some of that
to the people you cross paths with
over the next 72 hours as well.
So just a lot of good that adds up to an exciting trip.
I'm obviously disappointed that
I had to deal with a fire that didn't allow me to come.
(bright pop music)
- [Andy] Ready?
- [Camera Person] Yeah.
- My name is Andy Krainak, I'm Brand Director
for Gary Vee at Vayner Media.
- Hi, my name is Lexi Finger, I am a Media Manager
on the Paid Media team at Vayner Media.
- Hey, I'm Lisa Abinakad,
I'm a Senior Media Planner on Chase.
- Hi, I'm Vinny.
I'm an ACD, Associate Creative Director
at Vayner Media on the Entertainment Team.
- Hi, my name is Jodi Schwartz,
I am Director of Experience Strategy & Design
at Vayner Media.
- My name is Marta and I'm a Senior Art Director
in the LA office.
- My name is Christina Blankenship,
I am a Media Supervisor on the Paid Team.
- I'm Polina, I'm an Art Director.
- My name is James Davey, I am an Account Executive
working out of Vayner Media London.
- I think I got nominated to go on this trip
because I got the best squad and they just wanted
to give me love and send me to Helsinki.
- I think I got nominated for this trip
because I love winter and the snow.
And I made that very clear to all my co-workers.
- My director actually wasn't able to come to this trip,
so I subbed in and was asked to come
three days before we flew.
- I think I'm known a little bit to be
a bit of a straight shooter and kinda get
to the root of why things are the way they are.
- I'm happy to be here in Helsinki
because I was able to be a representative
of Vayner Media for some potential clients.
- I think I got nominated
because I have wonderful co-workers that love me.
- I kind of abuse the vacation policy of unlimited vacation.
In turn, I am just always online
whenever I actually do go on vacation.
So I think my team just wanted me to unplug for a while.
- I think I got nominated to come to Helsinki
because I can speak to a lot of aspects of production.
- Maybe I'm just good at cracking on, getting the job done
and trying to exhibit the key Vayner values
that pretty much I see being exhibited every day around me.
(pop music)
- Makia was started early 2001
but we actually took some careful thinking
and some banging head on the wall
and then finally 2007 it kind of saw the day of light.
Beginning, it was kinda really small,
we had like a tiny cellar, like all of the patterns
were hand drawn on paper and made all the samples.
Everything was like hand made.
(pop music)
(light music)
- It's 12 p.m., Helsinki, Wednesday.
The whole group has finally arrived.
Right now we're going to some top culinary chef
to prepare some meals and have a culinary lesson.
(light pop music)
- It's cold.
Had a great meal cooked by us
and a head culinary chef from Finland.
Now we're going to ArcticStartup.
(light music)
- So, welcome to old Maria Hospital.
This used to be a hospital for more than 100 years.
Two years ago, the city of Helsinki
decided to convert into a startup hall.
And today it's home to about 80 startups,
15 investment companies and then a couple service providers.
Totaling more than 600 people already operating here.
Today, we're going to hear some pitches
from our core business related media events
and then we're gonna hear some of these
other portfolio companies tell us what they're doing.
(upbeat music)
- Helsinki, we're in the lobby.
We're just jamming on the decks,
mini 4Ds presentation we're gonna be doing.
We're breaking up into two groups
and going through two different companies,
trying to deliver the things that they asked of us.
And then also giving them context on what Vayner Media does.
It's exciting, it's fun to jam with these people
and learn more about what they do day-to-day at Vayner.
I'm really impressed with just their skills and talents,
and the different expertise we have here.
So it's fun.
(light music)
- [Camera Person] Vinny, where are we going?
- Somewhere in Helsinki, through the snow.
Over the river and through the woods
to Jan's friend's place we go.
You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?
We're gonna go present the 4Ds
and what Vayner does to a bunch of these companies
that Jan has put together so we can give them
a little idea of what we do, how we do it,
and give them a little peek under the hood of Vayner Media.
So I think it should be great,
we put some great presentations together.
Hopefully they get a little something out of it.
(heavy pop music)
- Beautiful snow here in Helsinki.
Just took a trip, arrived at...
Fazer? That's how you say it?
- Fazer, yeah.
Candy, chocolate.
(light pop music)
- So we wrapped up with Fazer.
We had some candy, chocolate, a good lunch.
Now we're heading back to the Civic Center,
going to the Shortcut community.
They help refugees and immigrants to integrate
into the Finnish ecosystem with your business.
(techno music)
- We are at Langvik I've never actually been here before,
but it's like this very nice conference center.
♪ I've been lane changing too long ♪
♪ I've been way too in my zone ♪
♪ I'm just so caught up in money baby ♪
♪ I ain't even chasing them hoes ♪
- But what I want you to do now, you see these cards.
Beautiful different cards, it's from a game called Dixit.
So what we have planned right now,
is that you pick two cards.
One that represents you and your inner-self,
and two that represents what you are willing to give
to the group today.
Whether that's skills, whether that's who you are,
whatever, anything.
What do you want to give to the group?
(inspiring music)
- I love being vulnerable and not knowing what's going on,
but also just like winging it.
- You know, looking for good incentives today.
Looking for that, you know, blue sky thinking.
- I think I'm kind of shy and quiet at the start,
but some of you have learned that
I'm really kind of just crazy.
- A synonym for design is manipulation.
The artist manipulated the art
so they're a designer, and that's also me.
(light inspirational music)
- [Andy] My favorite part of this trip to Helsinki
has been connecting with the eight other people
that I was flown here with.
- Making 10 new best friends.
- All the friends that I've made here
even though we've been in the same building.
- How hard we've been going.
It's been outrageous how much we've been
working and playing and we've worked with so many
different companies and startups.
Jan has really, and everyone at ArcticStartup has really
redefined my mindset and my definition of hustling.
- When we get into a room and start working together
and putting together some thought-starters,
there's that one common thread that comes through.
Like, we're across departments, but we all have
that same approach to work, same tactics.
- The sauna, I think it's a great experience.
I liked the combination of cold and warm.
- Walking barefoot in the ice and snow,
because it gave me perspective about what real cold is.
I will never complain again.
- The hospitality of all the people here
that we've met in Finland.
All the people who've helped organize this.
Any kind of interaction we've had
with the people here has been phenomenal.
- When we were putting together
what we were gonna talk about through these presentations,
I noticed that myself and the other people on the team,
even though we worked in different departments
and different disciplines, we still had
a lot of the same core tenets
that we were gonna be speaking to.
And then personally, I would say,
I mean I'm sure everybody gives
the same answer, but the people.
We had a lot of great, just moments,
and I got to know a lot of really cool people on the team
that I haven't worked with closely before.
Or the couple of people I did know,
I got to know them better.
So between the dance parties that we had
and the time joking around on the bus
or the different vans we took,
and even ice skating that we did this afternoon.
I got to know a bunch of people in a different way
than you do in the office and I think
that core togetherness is what makes us so strong.
So thanks Claude, thanks Gary,
thanks to whoever nominated me for this.
Very much appreciated and hopefully
I can return that favor sometime.