[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
ALISHA MARIE: Perfect.
We are recording.
GAIL TIFFORD: OK.
ALISHA MARIE: Hey, my name is Alisha Marie.
I am a professional YouTuber, influencer, content creator.
GAIL TIFFORD: Hi, everybody.
I'm Gail Tifford, the chief brand officer at WW, formerly
Weight Watchers.
And I'm so excited to be here.
ALISHA MARIE: I'm so honored that I'm
able to be here with Gail.
GAIL TIFFORD: She said it great.
Should I just go in?
[LAUGHING]
ALISHA MARIE: Thank you so much for being here.
I'm curious what you think about the term health and wellness.
It sounds so broad, and it means something completely
different to everyone.
What does it necessarily mean to you?
GAIL TIFFORD: For me, what wellness means
is really my mind, body, soul kind of all working together.
We've banned the words before and after
because we feel like it's a journey,
so we talk about it as now and then.
ALISHA MARIE: For a fitness and health
brand to say, hey, you're beautiful no matter what size
you are, no one's doing that.
I love this wave of body positivity of people
showing that and showing stretch marks and showing real before
and afters where you have your leggings
and you're posed like a fitness pose,
but then you put them down and show that.
And I think that's what people are missing in the health
and fitness industry.
And I love that you guys are really
tapping into that when not a lot of other people are.
To see a brand doing it because they actually believe
that I think speaks volumes.
GAIL TIFFORD: We're really focused on, as we
talk to new audiences, really coming right out to bust
those myths head-on.
When I look at your community, they're rallying around you,
but they're also rallying around your point of view
around health and wellness.
ALISHA MARIE: I think honestly trust is the biggest thing.
I think getting, like you said, a more diverse audience, people
who are super into fitness as well as people who have never
worked out in their life, to show them
how it is for everyone.
Again, there's just so much noise and so much
articles and different things being thrown at everyone all
the time, so people are just looking for honesty.
GAIL TIFFORD: You talked about trust,
and that is at the core of what our brand is.
And I think it's really important
that in this day and age, brands are transparent.
I think the thing about YouTube and the video format
of storytelling, you can't Photoshop videos.
That is what is so compelling about the platform is
that authenticity and just people really
being able to see you versus a perfectly
Photoshopped, edited photo.
ALISHA MARIE: Thinking back to the '90s,
for instance, that would have been a brand's worst nightmare
is getting video footage of what it's really like.
However, now it's the complete opposite, and using that
to your advantage to show, hey, this is real results.
Watch this video.
It's not Photoshop.
GAIL TIFFORD: We're learning a lot from our members,
but we're also learning a lot from your generation.
With your subscribers growing, how do you
use them as a feedback tool?
Are you constantly hearing what they have to say
and then using them to generate ideas around content?
ALISHA MARIE: I've learned so much from my viewers
over the years.
And I think one of the number one things is that they love
being included whether it's using the same hashtag,
whether it's even you just being active
and liking, or even just asking them, hey, guys,
I'm really torn.
Which song do you like better?
What do you like?
And they love that.
They love that so much.
GAIL TIFFORD: When we were moving from Weight Watchers
to WW, we actually did the same thing.
We started--
ALISHA MARIE: Oh my god.
GAIL TIFFORD: We started with our community.
ALISHA MARIE: They're the ones who are
telling their friends about me.
They're the ones who are giving me video ideas and telling me,
hey, you should do this.
GAIL TIFFORD: Overwhelmingly, our members
were like, we think this just so much more than just weight.
This is about our overall wellness,
and it's about what you put into your body,
but how you move your body and how your mind supports that.
What we see happening is that health and wellness
has become a necessity.
It's not a luxury anymore.
And people need to take care of themselves
so that they can take care of the people around them.
ALISHA MARIE: I actually would love
to hear your perspective on having an app
and what you envision, obviously, that
app and tool with your brand.
GAIL TIFFORD: The brand started out
like in real-life community.
And then when we launched the app
because that community's really in the DNA of the brand,
it was really critical that we create some sort of community
within the app's virtual community.
I can imagine it's pretty similar to the community you
have with your followers.
ALISHA MARIE: The number one thing
I love so much is finding out that fans have become
best friends because of me.
They met online because of my videos,
and now they're best friends.
And I can only imagine it being the exact same way for WW,
and I think that's such an awesome tool.
GAIL TIFFORD: It keeps them going.
And you feed off the energy and the support
of people who are in the exact same journey with you.
[CHUCKLING]
ALISHA MARIE: I learned so much today.
I think Gail is such a boss lady,
and I love how transparent she was and seeing
how she's been able to come and completely turn a brand around
for the better and is just so open and honest
with everything.
And I'm really excited just to see where WW goes.
GAIL TIFFORD: I loved speaking to Alisha today.
I love how she continues to reinvent herself
with her audience and how they are so
welcoming and appreciating.
I can understand why millions of people follow her every day.
And I think that I am probably going to be her number
one biggest fan from now on.
Well, this is the reason why you heard all of the noise
in the background.
So you can thank--
ALISHA MARIE: Oh, baby.
GAIL TIFFORD: [INAUDIBLE] for that.