0:09

What's up on Laura Currency and I'm Alexa

0:11

Kristen. The next few episodes,

0:14

we're gonna be bringing founders and CEOs

0:16

of independent agencies. Why because

0:18

it's so important, especially since this last

0:21

year, that founders and CEOs

0:23

of independent agencies are

0:26

found are found by the Atlantea

0:28

community. These people have

0:31

in some cases bootstrapped their businesses

0:34

for years, have gone

0:36

through amazing kind

0:38

of links to do things

0:41

like become a b corp, to create

0:44

completely new experiences for

0:46

emerging technologies that we all

0:48

are experiencing, and to

0:50

represent a whole new wave

0:52

of celebrity. So

0:54

the next few episodes, we're really going

0:56

to be celebrating independent agency

0:59

founders and our first person

1:01

up Julie Hunt, CEO

1:04

and founder of Hunt and Gather. But before

1:06

we get into our interview with Jolie, we've

1:08

been thinking about a lot of things and we

1:10

just want to talk. You and I have been

1:12

having a number of conversations

1:15

about what are the bets that

1:19

we'd make if we were sitting

1:21

in the conference room together, regardless

1:24

of the brief, but really exploring the formats

1:27

and new opportunities that we're seeing

1:29

in the market. And one of the things

1:31

that has me really thinking, and I

1:33

don't think anybody is prepared for what I'm about to say.

1:36

Um, but that's direct mail. You

1:39

know, this idea that we can use

1:41

technology on analog

1:43

formats to break

1:46

open a conversation.

1:49

We've got smart speaker adoption, uh

1:51

increasing, you know, things streaming

1:54

in the background, all of these mediums

1:57

for a piece of content to light

2:00

off of. And I am just waiting for

2:02

somebody to take a catalog, take a postcard,

2:05

and turn it into something more. It is

2:07

so smart this idea

2:09

and also rebooting

2:12

this idea of attribution

2:15

data personalization specificity.

2:18

You want to blow the doors off brands,

2:22

blow the doors off there. I think there's been brands

2:24

that have done tremendous jobs of taking

2:26

data and localizing the

2:28

data to tell stories. But

2:31

if you get it down to the ZIP plus four

2:33

to my address, right, if I'm a customer who's

2:36

raising my hand and actively ordering things, and I'm ordering

2:38

things more than ever before, you know which, which

2:40

kind of leads me to to my next thought is in

2:42

home the new out of home. When you think about

2:45

all of the things that are coming be

2:47

at Amazon, packaging or otherwise, isn't

2:49

it interesting to think about how

2:52

to deconstruct the box,

2:54

to reverse engineer commerce, to tell me a

2:56

story, to pull me back in yes, or

2:58

to talk to other people bull. I

3:00

think the boxes that are showing up on our doorstep

3:03

as as a result of having to do more

3:05

from home, the new billboard

3:08

your whole point about like in home is the new

3:10

at at home. I think in home is probably

3:12

the better at a home because you're literally

3:14

physically holding something you either purchased

3:18

you may be interested in in your hand.

3:21

It's interesting to think about when

3:23

a package arrives at my door, it

3:26

is not the end of the journey.

3:29

It is the beginning of the next step. That's exactly

3:31

right. That's exactly right. Okay,

3:33

what's next on your list? Well? In speaking

3:36

of in home is the new out

3:38

of home? In home has

3:40

also led to many hours spent recently

3:42

in the social audio space. So I know, um,

3:45

you and I have been talking quite a bit about

3:47

clubhouse. I was recently listening

3:49

to Whitney Wolf heard when when she

3:52

I p o drop in and talk about

3:54

what that experience was like in what

3:56

would normally have required me to pack a

3:58

bag by a ticket,

4:01

plane ticket, conference ticket and no

4:03

opportunity to actually join the conversation.

4:06

That's exactly right. And I think, you

4:08

know, we talked about this early in the pandemic.

4:10

People are accessible right now in

4:12

general, by the way, they

4:14

are quite literally mostly at

4:17

home. And so I think that the thing is

4:19

now, this technology is allowing people

4:21

to have this actually tangibly

4:23

have a sense of that access to anyone.

4:26

That's not going to go away when we get past

4:29

COVID and being at home all

4:31

the time. What I think though, is

4:33

the one of the driving forces

4:37

behind this is

4:39

actually the creator economy.

4:42

I mean, look at sub stack. Well,

4:44

I was just gonna say, these platforms are becoming

4:47

the new discovery engine. It's the new discovery

4:49

engines for expertise, for i P for

4:52

talent, thought leadership, thought leadership, etcetera.

4:54

But it's exciting about social audio is that somebody's

4:58

are sitting shoulder and shoulder

5:00

with nobody's well. And the thing I think is

5:02

interesting too write if you you start to

5:04

look at time spent just

5:07

because we have attention and just because consumers

5:09

are spending time with

5:12

our message, with our story,

5:14

with our product, is

5:16

a time well spent. That's right.

5:19

Thing I think that's interesting a by the social audio environment

5:21

is will there be indicators that

5:24

tell us that it is time well spent

5:27

and and starting to kind of pull apart

5:30

these new insights that are like,

5:32

this is what people really want to talk about. And

5:35

I think we've talked about the idea of like being an anthropologist,

5:37

right, Like you can go into these platforms

5:40

and pull out insights in real time

5:43

that can be informing what you do and how

5:45

you show up as a brandom. I'm

5:48

seeing in the Twitter feed is collaboration

5:50

over competition, right A same we've

5:53

we've been talking about for years.

5:55

By the way, happy for your anniversary at

5:57

Landia. Happy, I thought that was to me

6:00

and to Atlantia to you to

6:02

my cost, Yeah, thank you, Happy anniversary

6:05

anyway. So I think what's really interesting

6:08

is the thread that I'm seeing

6:10

under social audio. There is a

6:12

ton of money out there to be made

6:15

tons at the same time, tons

6:17

of people are out of job. At the same

6:19

time, tons of people are starting

6:21

to find what they love

6:23

and are good at and how to monetize it.

6:25

So there's really interesting kind

6:28

of tension and all of this access

6:31

is going to be a grand accelerator. That's

6:33

exciting, you know, and talking about access.

6:35

With access, there's influence and

6:38

our guest today has been a

6:41

curator and convener of influence

6:44

um for quite some time in our industry, and

6:46

it is probably one of the best

6:48

at it. The thing that I think that is so interesting

6:51

about Jolie and Jolie's business is

6:53

that Jolie is not someone who is

6:55

dealing with a bunch of reps for influencers.

6:58

She actually has the relationship ship

7:00

with these people. So whether it's from

7:02

DC to publishing, to the government,

7:05

to celebrity, to chefs,

7:07

to this to that, it's because she's

7:10

actually created her own universe,

7:12

her own universe of relationships,

7:15

and she's connecting those people to interesting

7:18

other relationships, whether that's with brands

7:21

or what that other celebrities or other

7:23

people. More brands, more marketers

7:25

need to think about the relationship not only

7:28

with the consumer like this, but how

7:30

what can you do to

7:32

connect your buyer, your consumer,

7:35

your customer with

7:37

other relationships that are meaningful. The

7:40

industry is talking about n f t s non

7:43

fungible tokens all over the place.

7:46

The industry is talking about new i P accelerated

7:49

by technology. We should

7:51

be talking about new I P created

7:54

by relationships and

7:57

how important it is at this

7:59

point and to Laura's point around

8:01

direct mail, we the industry

8:03

has an opportunity now to take a very

8:06

broad channel and make it a personal

8:08

experience, and that includes access

8:11

and relationships. Before

8:15

we go into our conversation with Jolie, we are going

8:17

to check in with our partners at yield MO for

8:19

the fourth of our four part discussion

8:22

around making attention actionable.

8:24

We are here with Lisa Bradner, GM of

8:26

Analytics and Teddy jot D, head

8:28

of Product. So, Lisa, we as an

8:30

industry have the opportunity

8:33

to think about not just having people's attention,

8:35

but really thinking about retention and comprehension

8:38

and understanding the incremental

8:41

long term impact of the work

8:43

that we do. Any thoughts on that,

8:46

I would go back to why I say you can't throw

8:48

out reach and frequency. Frequency

8:50

still matters. The problem is as we've

8:52

built everything in our industry on averages.

8:55

I mean I was in an agency we say, oh, yeah, the average

8:58

we could say a seven. I mean that was just like kind of pulled

9:00

out a thin air, and then we apply it to absolutely

9:02

every brand, every campaign, every everything.

9:05

Even though that's a sixty second spot. That's

9:07

a thirty second spot that was an ad on social

9:09

media. I mean, you know, we've

9:12

we've kind of, in my opinion, been

9:14

lazy and applied

9:17

averages as opposed to individuating.

9:20

And again, this is where if you can process

9:23

the data in real time, I

9:25

can start to see that. You know what Laura's

9:28

frequency for mac

9:31

and cheese is three. She

9:33

stops paying attention after that, right,

9:35

So don't serve her four or five, six

9:38

and seven because she's not paying

9:40

any attention anymore. Um. Teddy,

9:42

he's more like five because he's distracted

9:44

and he's doing a lot of other things. So we'll cut

9:46

Teddy off at five. Right. Um?

9:49

These are you know, are are they perfect?

9:51

No? I still go back to brand lifts studies

9:54

and brand affinity studies. We can

9:56

do those in our marketplace in real

9:58

time. You don't have to wait six months and

10:00

spend a hundred thousand dollars to get that study.

10:02

Um. And I'd love to see people

10:05

embrace more of that real time learning,

10:08

right. I think more brands actually have to

10:10

create hypotheses and

10:13

then execute on those hypotheses,

10:16

and they have to be well formed. You know, that's

10:18

where data and gut

10:21

come together, put it in a hypothesis and

10:23

run these tests and then

10:25

start to actually get back some

10:28

response. Well, this is what I think big brands

10:30

can start to learn from the direct to consumer companies,

10:32

right, which is you know, very often three

10:35

people in a basement and a shoestring budget doing exactly

10:38

that. You've got a product, we've got an idea,

10:40

we've got a hypothesis about who it's for. Let's

10:43

put it out and see what that does and see

10:45

what it moves. Um, if

10:47

taking more of those

10:50

small risks, right we

10:52

used to talk about right sellars

10:55

are tried and true. Are

10:57

you know some tests that you want to scale and ten

10:59

per cent is? I don't know? Um,

11:02

I would argue post COVID, it's

11:04

probably you need to take that ten to

11:06

twenty five because the old

11:09

ways of working aren't gonna work.

11:11

So take your budget

11:14

and put it behind those hypotheses.

11:16

You still got seventy left this

11:19

idea that the the

11:21

ecosystem of advertising, right,

11:23

the pipes that you were talking about have

11:26

been so fragmented. How

11:28

do we bring it together? And

11:30

I and I think when you talk about the other sevent

11:34

what we do is we even frag

11:37

meant this budget. Laura actually has a

11:39

great quote that I love. Someone

11:41

asked um, how much of my budget

11:43

should go to innovation? She was like, all

11:46

of it, because if you're not

11:48

innovating and everything you do, I don't

11:50

know why you're spending money instead of putting in a

11:52

bucket called TV. Say what am I going to

11:54

do differently in TV than

11:56

I did last year? That's exactly right,

11:58

absolutely, because that's when your reach

12:00

and frequency, right, are

12:02

actually turning into impact,

12:05

right. And so how do advertisers start to think

12:07

about actually smoothing smoothing

12:10

these kind of fragmented and disparate

12:13

you know, activity and bubbles. How are

12:15

you guys helping to kind of create

12:17

these smoother ecosystems. Some

12:19

of the best advertisers I've seen out

12:22

there, some of the best marketers I've seen, they approach

12:24

advertising, you know, in a way that is about

12:26

experimentation and tests. It's not just

12:28

about trying to get incremental

12:31

sales. They're they're really trying to learn

12:33

more about their customers, and they're trying are

12:35

always experimenting with these strategies

12:38

and and and in doing

12:40

this they get a better return, They generate

12:42

more sales. But that's like, if

12:45

you look at advertising as a way to innovate

12:47

and invest and then learn more about your customers,

12:49

you tend to be a better marketer

12:51

and you tend to get more out of your advertising.

12:54

I completely agree with that, and I

12:56

think that we need to both of

12:58

your points, Lisa and Teddy. I think that as

13:01

marketers we have an opportunity

13:03

to not think about advertising

13:07

as a finite process.

13:09

Lisa Bradner, Teddy Jwadi from

13:12

yield Mo, thank you for being our partners.

13:15

Thank you for coming on at Landia. Thank

13:18

you for having us. Welcome

13:24

back at Landia. Our guest this

13:26

show. Laura and I quite literally

13:28

met on top of a mountain in during

13:31

CES or in a canyon. It was a canyon,

13:33

Okay, to be clear, you're right, Okay, sorry,

13:35

girls with details in

13:38

a canyon on a plateau,

13:40

private dinner with guitarist

13:43

Lunch. Okay, sorry, okay, let's launch

13:46

on a plateau grand canyon during

13:48

CES. I'll get the year right. Julie

13:51

Hunt, Welcome to the show. Jolie

13:53

is the founder and CEO of Hunt and Gather.

13:56

Jolie, Ladies,

13:59

we've been about getting you on this show since

14:01

I think we like first fell

14:03

in love on that plateau. I think

14:06

it's true, um although I

14:08

think you just stopped calling it a plateau. As a PR

14:10

person and as brand people, it's

14:13

the actual Grand Canyon. We just I'm

14:16

not trying to brand it. I'm not trying to brand

14:18

it. I just want people to understand

14:20

like we were in helicopters

14:24

and we didn't like go to the ridge. We

14:26

were in the so

14:29

we met in Hunt

14:31

Gather is a marketing communications

14:34

agency. But I think what's

14:36

so special about hung

14:38

Gather is you are the influencer

14:41

to the influencers that influence.

14:43

That is the truth, right. Alexa

14:45

and I were talking a little bit getting ready for

14:47

this interview, saying like, when you get an

14:49

invite from Julie,

14:53

you're more focused on the fact that you got an

14:55

invite from Julie than what the

14:57

invite is too. And I think that

14:59

just really speaks to the level

15:02

of taste maker that you are

15:04

in our industry, putting together and

15:06

convening um thought leaders,

15:08

influencers, experts to create

15:10

these unforgettable not just

15:12

experiences, but conversations and connections.

15:15

Where did you start. Let's talk about that,

15:17

Like before we get into the how like, where

15:19

did you start? Start at the beginning,

15:21

Start at the beginning. Well, look, I mean, I

15:24

think the simplest answer is that both

15:27

of my parents could talk to anyone, and

15:29

they were both in sales jobs, and

15:32

there was always a vibe, there was always energy.

15:34

It was like, let's go do the thing, whether

15:36

the thing was, you know, motorcycle

15:38

riding or catching crayfish or my

15:40

mom taking me to you know, haggle

15:42

for a very very tiny gemstone

15:45

on street in the city. And so

15:48

I don't know. I think I think the simple answer

15:50

is other people give me energy.

15:53

Right. I want to be around

15:56

people and it doesn't even really

15:58

matter what kind of ball

16:00

as long as they are kind,

16:03

engaging and kind of

16:06

down for whatever. Right. I think

16:08

we're living through a moment. I'm sure we'll come to it. But

16:11

there's so much conjecture

16:14

about who you are in this

16:16

digital sphere. And I've always been

16:18

a little bit more analog in my taste,

16:21

and and I like people

16:23

in real life, right. And my my little

16:26

adage is, you know, know if you're an energy

16:28

giver or an energy taker. And

16:30

if you're not sure of the answer, I'll tell

16:32

you. How do you know, how do you know? You

16:35

know? Right? You know if you if you walk into

16:37

a room or you call someone and you're like, you know, your

16:39

posture is a little bit taller, like

16:42

you smile, you're not like

16:44

like I don't want to talk to this person.

16:46

And so I do think that, um,

16:50

you got to pay attention to that. And so my, um,

16:53

the accolades you've kindly bestowed

16:56

upon me, I don't I don't know that there that

16:59

they were as purpose full as you may think. It

17:01

was like I just I liked who I liked, right,

17:03

And it could be a chef, it could be a model,

17:05

it could be a marketer. It really

17:07

didn't matter to me. Um

17:10

what people did. It was like, well why

17:12

do you do that? Right? And so

17:14

I think sometimes you know, some of my closest

17:16

friends are people that

17:19

I invited to something because I just

17:21

thought they would be amazing. Um.

17:23

And so I don't know, it's it's

17:25

been a gas. How did that translate

17:28

into a business,

17:30

well but professional before we get to hunt and gather?

17:33

How did it translate into your

17:35

life as a I mean you were a chief

17:38

marketing officer and communications

17:41

How did that all translate? Look, my big

17:43

break was when I started running

17:45

communications for the ft right.

17:47

So if I look at people in my

17:50

life that are now I'm like, how

17:52

did they let me do that? And you

17:54

know, I traveled all over the world with

17:56

the editor Lionel Barber, who remains a

17:59

dear friend to this a I'm actually helping

18:01

him launch his book, so you know, people come

18:03

back. And I just had this amazing

18:06

uh front row seat to um

18:09

Global news and politics and so.

18:12

And I really had a champion. I think that's

18:14

the big secret here. And as somebody at

18:16

a very tender age who said you do what

18:18

you do, I would go in and you

18:20

know, to the head of the Asia Society and

18:22

they were, you know, fifty years older than I

18:25

was, and I just did not want to see me, and

18:28

uh, you know, and I was always very polite, and I

18:30

said, um, you can dismiss me as much as you

18:32

want. I'm the one who's going to get

18:34

the thing done that we're trying to do. And

18:36

I guarantee you you're gonna want to hug me by

18:38

the end of this meeting. When I think, growing up

18:40

in a newsroom, you just get a nose

18:43

for hey, that that is the kernel

18:45

in that whole story that is interesting,

18:47

and I feel like that has has

18:49

had some transference in my life for events

18:53

or people or brands or partnerships were like who woa

18:55

woa waa, Like hold on that

18:57

that thing in line six that you

19:00

has rolled over, that's actually the

19:02

money shot, right and so um

19:05

from the FT, I went to Reuters and so

19:07

Reuter's and Thomson Reuters became

19:10

really the grown up version of the f T job

19:13

that I had, Right, I ran Global PR and then I took

19:15

on Brand. I moved to London for a couple of years,

19:17

and and that was the job.

19:19

I got that job at thirty, and that was the job

19:22

that really gave me a platform to bring people

19:24

along, right, And and

19:26

I just never had an issue playing nice with others.

19:28

It was like, hey, there's there's enough, but I just want

19:31

to do the work. And I

19:33

feel like it was like the golden era of

19:35

work being about

19:37

the results you can produce in about

19:40

the politics. And I was recruited

19:43

to a O L. You know, it was the first

19:45

time I was a CMO at a publicly traded company,

19:47

and from like week three,

19:49

it was really not a fit. And

19:52

look, it took me. It took me the

19:54

better part of a year to get over that experience,

19:57

and like, had I not had

19:59

such a support of husband and

20:01

like home life to kind

20:03

of weather that moment um,

20:05

and like a beautiful thing happened. I know, you just had Malcolm

20:08

on um a few months ago, but I

20:10

got I got a call from Jacob Weisberg,

20:13

who was running Slate, and I got a call from

20:15

Tina Brown, who was running

20:18

The Daily Beast, and and they

20:20

said a version of the same thing. Tina said, I love

20:22

your fabulous I don't know what the funk is going

20:24

on over there, but but I need you to come with me

20:26

to Davos and plan a dinner for Melinda

20:29

Gates. Pack your bags. And I

20:31

was like, all right, um, great,

20:33

I'm free. And Jacob

20:36

said, hey, we're doing this thing with Ge

20:38

and we're doing this road show around

20:40

Middle America and we need someone to

20:43

like wrangle the mayor's and

20:45

some press and like a whole bunch

20:47

of town halls. I was like, oh, you know, you need a

20:49

cruise director, like perfect I can be

20:51

your cruise director. And so this this beautiful

20:54

thing started happening where friends,

20:56

mostly friends from media, started calling

20:59

and saying, hey, I've always

21:01

wanted to work with you. I

21:03

could never really afford you as a you

21:06

know, full time all singing,

21:08

all dancing, So could

21:10

we do this project? So, by the way, full

21:12

circle moment, I worked on the

21:14

road show for Growth. It's

21:16

heard here that's

21:19

amazing. So that just

21:22

as I was listening to you talk about it, I'm

21:24

like, how has it taken until

21:26

this point to realize we were always

21:28

destined to be on the road

21:30

show to something together? Jolie. But

21:32

I want to go back to something you said, right You

21:34

said you just know how to get in an execute.

21:37

And Alex and I talk a lot about the

21:39

conceptual side of the business, and

21:41

there are so many great ideas that exist in

21:43

the world. But being able to

21:46

to land the plane, that's magic.

21:49

And we've just seen you consistently

21:51

do that in all sorts of capacities

21:54

and clearly some of the the names

21:56

and company you were just talking about. I have to imagine

21:58

the pressure that comes of putting on some

22:01

of those events, but yet

22:03

it seems like it just comes so natural. So

22:05

how do you know how to execute? What's

22:07

the thing? Can? Is there a secret

22:10

formula that maybe is not so

22:12

secret? I mean, I

22:14

am a bull um. I

22:16

mean, I just do not

22:19

take no for an answer like ever.

22:22

And I don't mean that is am uh, I

22:25

have rough elbows. I

22:27

actually feel like I

22:30

am quite um kind

22:32

in the process, you know, Like I feel like

22:34

I'm I'm not I'm not

22:36

a win at all costs type of person, but

22:38

I am a get it done at all costs type

22:41

of person. And I think it's

22:43

also and again it sounds cheesy, it's

22:45

just like the output

22:47

is so important to me. It always

22:49

has been so like people

22:51

that can write decks all day and think

22:53

big thoughts and strategize that

22:57

like with literally like it's like

22:59

watching pain drive for me, I started

23:01

a business so I would never have to write a deck again. Ps

23:03

I failed, Um, But I

23:05

think that, I mean, I will, I

23:08

will taunt you like a house until

23:10

I can get it done right. So I'm

23:13

trying to hire right now. And I

23:16

have asked no less

23:18

than fifty people for recommendations,

23:20

and I follow up with their recommendations. I

23:22

find them on LinkedIn, I find their emails,

23:25

I write to them. So I mean, I think it's a

23:27

I think it's like a pride thing. But I also

23:30

I'm like that in my real life anyway

23:33

too. It's like I sometimes

23:35

don't even realize it, but I'm just I

23:38

always feel like if I'm not moving forward,

23:40

I'm moving backward. I love the fruits

23:42

of people's labor standing

23:44

for something and um and

23:47

look, I don't get it twisted. I mean I've never I've

23:50

never really thought there's like this epic nobility

23:52

to this work, right, Like it should be fun,

23:54

it should be light, it should be an experience.

23:56

You should you should leave happier

23:59

than when you came, right, And so

24:02

I think for me, it's always been

24:04

around like, how can how can this

24:06

work that I do be a bright spot in someone's

24:09

day? Right? And can they make a new

24:11

friend? Can that friend ten years from

24:13

now remind them of this

24:17

this moment of generosity they shared

24:19

or a stupid little joke. And so I

24:21

have a lot of help, is the answer. Right.

24:23

I have people around me who pride

24:26

themselves on like getting

24:29

that boulder up the hill, and they do it

24:31

because they care about the same thing.

24:34

I think, if you can have people on your

24:36

side, they want to work hard for

24:38

you. And that's always been my mentality.

24:41

It's like the old you know, more

24:43

bees with honey and and I've never

24:46

understood why people don't

24:48

just put a dollar of of

24:51

something good in it. For others, You're

24:53

thoughtful in how you think about getting

24:56

those connections made um

24:58

and where they're made. So how do you

25:00

think about that? Like is there any method

25:03

to your madness? Right or is it just

25:05

a kind of natural inclination because you're

25:07

not. I just want the audience to know this put

25:10

and gather works for huge

25:13

fashion houses to industrial

25:15

companies like GE and IBM

25:17

two, massive publishers, vice

25:20

media companies, etcetera. It's

25:22

not just brand and fluffy thought

25:24

leadership. This is launching, this is

25:26

launching products technologies.

25:29

The thing that the differentiates people

25:32

is like some people are just like that would be fun, and

25:34

I'm like, I'm gonna make six calls right

25:36

now and see if I could pull this off, and

25:38

like we're just gonna do it. So talk about

25:41

that that curation element of like do

25:43

you go into planning these um

25:46

experiences looking for a particular

25:48

outcome or is there a general sense of

25:51

feeling you try to create or conversation

25:54

you're trying to, you know, make

25:56

happen. I'd say fifty of

25:58

the time I have a I have a

26:00

rough sense of the palette, right, So

26:03

I never have like this is

26:05

what needs to happen. Um, I feel

26:07

like there's it's a lot more art and

26:09

science in that respect. I think I

26:11

have, you know, eight thousand people in my

26:14

my phone contacts, and um,

26:17

I just have a weird brain for

26:19

details and memories. Um I

26:22

remember what someone was wearing, I remember the

26:24

detail about their daughter, or

26:27

you know what gave them heartburn when they were pregnant.

26:30

And it's it's not put on

26:32

rights, it's just sort of human nature

26:34

for me now, I think I had to learn that early

26:37

on a sidebars that I sold

26:39

cars when I was in high school. It's like the

26:41

hardest job I was. I

26:43

was fifteen, I couldn't drive, I did not have

26:46

a license, and I worked for a car dealership

26:48

in a state, New York. And I swear this

26:50

is what gave me this skill. And you

26:52

would need these people on the lot that were coming

26:55

to you know by a by a

26:57

ner used Dodge car

26:59

truck, right, And so they

27:01

would come and they'd say their name and then

27:04

three minutes later you would forget their

27:06

name and I would think, like, how

27:08

am I going to sell this person a

27:11

car? If I just literally am

27:13

not addressing them by name, and so

27:15

I would I would ask for their license,

27:18

and I didn't even need their license, by the way,

27:20

and I would go and I

27:22

would make a copy of the license, and I would

27:24

literally just sit there and be liked

27:27

red Red, Red, Red Fred, like I would

27:29

sing the names. And I think as a result,

27:32

I just got so good at remembering

27:34

people's names and faces and what they said.

27:36

By the way, how many cars yourself? How many cars

27:38

as youself? Guys? I sold three cars

27:41

the first day I sold cars. Ye, I

27:43

knew it. I believe it. I got really good

27:45

at like learning people's

27:47

Like people will tell you anything you need to know about

27:49

them, you just have to listen, right and

27:53

um and my right. But people

27:55

that want to network, right,

27:57

which is I find such a weird kind

27:59

of crass word you're going in to learn?

28:02

Right, And it's like you could

28:04

be in a room of a hundred and there could be one

28:06

interesting person and like that to me

28:09

is successful, Like that's a great night if

28:11

you walk out of a place with

28:13

one resonant relationship that didn't

28:15

exist before you went there, Like, how

28:18

great is that? I want to know how

28:21

all of this it's a mindset.

28:23

It's a mindset. It's a mindset and his behavior.

28:25

How does it relate to your business? Do

28:28

you think about taking on or not taking

28:30

on clients? Yes, right,

28:33

with the same kind of criteria. I mean,

28:35

we have a really great range of

28:38

clients and friends from birch

28:40

Box to dal Jones to A T

28:42

and T to Athleta to Universal

28:45

Standard to Barry's boot Camp, UM

28:47

to Amazon, and there's some really cool

28:49

emergent tech brands UM.

28:51

So I for me, it's never about

28:54

the company. It's about the people. And

28:56

if I also then happen to love the

28:58

company, then I will consider

29:00

it UM. And sometimes I

29:03

make myself like the company because

29:05

I'm just so obsessed with the person um.

29:08

But you know, like

29:11

like I'm going to do something with the fertility

29:13

business. I literally know the

29:15

like go to zero and then just keep going down

29:17

about fertility Like I don't know anything

29:20

about it, but I'm obsessed with the people behind

29:22

it. And I'm like, you know what, it's

29:24

it's right for revolution, and it's so

29:26

important to women in our you know, age

29:29

group and peer groups. So okay,

29:32

I can learn that. And I think that the

29:34

coolest thing about having your own company, which I

29:36

can't believe I learned in my like mid

29:38

late thirties, is like choice,

29:41

right, I can work on like a juice

29:43

brand, a fashion company, a big

29:45

telco, like work with

29:47

Kanye West. Like there's there's no

29:49

two plans that you're like, oh, just dust

29:52

off the plan for so and so and give it to like

29:54

it's all custom and

29:57

and it's really hard to recruit. And I'm recruiting.

30:00

If anybody listening, what are you hiring for?

30:02

Yeah, I'm hiring for

30:04

people for ACE. People

30:06

who are grounded in communications, who

30:09

can instill confidence in clients

30:11

and their teammates, and who either are pillar

30:14

project managers or have amazing

30:16

relationships in the world, just like ACE.

30:19

Humans who are hot shit of the work, right,

30:21

and that can be ten years experience, that can

30:23

be twenty years experience, that can be two years experience.

30:26

Right. I just hired three people last

30:28

month, and so I'm really hiring sort of

30:30

account director, senior account director

30:32

VP levels. I want to

30:34

talk about some of the things that you've said that really

30:37

resonated with me, and I want to turn

30:39

them into for brands how brand should think.

30:41

So you were talking about selling

30:44

amazing but I mean such a simple lesson,

30:47

but selling and knowing something about them,

30:49

caring and listening. How do brand

30:52

start connecting at a time where connection has

30:54

been completely right,

30:57

bifurcated, demolished,

31:00

It's confusing and now it

31:02

also feels in some In some cases,

31:04

I think a lot of brands feel like if they're trying

31:07

to connect with their audiences or trying to connect

31:09

with their buyer, did they can

31:11

overstep but it can feel inauthentic

31:13

and finding that that that

31:16

kind of not only unique place

31:19

where they can fill a role, but also real

31:21

place I'm not gonna say authentic, but real place

31:23

they can fill a role. How do you How do you think about that?

31:26

How should brands think about that? I

31:28

think I think we're in the in a

31:30

moment where people want to feel spoken

31:33

to and seen right. So I

31:35

look at a project we just had the great

31:38

pleasure of working on with Athletic, which is

31:40

part of Gapping and an amazing

31:43

b corps. You know, nineties percent women

31:45

UM employed and female run

31:48

and it's a business that really stands for something

31:50

and they just expanded into

31:53

truly inclusive sizing and

31:56

UM they're certainly not the first and

31:59

thinking about how they show up in that way.

32:01

It was it was so simple

32:03

yet so powerful, and that they

32:06

decided to be truly inclusive

32:08

and equal, so that the mannequins

32:10

are inclusive. Right, that you're not going

32:12

to Iraq in the back of the store on the

32:15

you know, the back right if you're a size

32:17

to X right, that is mixed

32:19

in with the size xcess and um,

32:23

all employees are getting training

32:25

on how to make sure people feel welcome

32:28

and seen and that it's a place

32:30

for them. And so I think, look,

32:32

I'm no expert at this, but I I

32:35

think if you can just really

32:38

think about and be in the shoes

32:40

of the people that you are marketing

32:42

to, selling to, understanding

32:44

like how does this fit into their life? Is this a necessity?

32:47

Is this a luxury? Like could

32:49

you not buy clothes before unless you bought

32:51

them online? Like that's a that's a

32:54

major major breakthrough, right.

32:56

It seems to also be the moment of collaborations

32:59

and also just where where

33:02

um, you know, two plus two equals

33:04

five. I think about everything in terms

33:06

of customization and how

33:08

can you It's like, what's happening in

33:11

the zeitgeist? What's the gut? What's like what

33:13

are people talking about and how do

33:15

you immediately catch that flame?

33:18

And and how do you think about

33:20

that? Right? Well, we have a lot of collaborations

33:23

coming out of this. But before

33:25

you go, we're gonna go to our

33:27

game, Jolie. What would you kill?

33:30

What would you get rid of? What would you buy?

33:33

What would you do yourself? I would

33:35

kill reply all

33:37

and about a third to a

33:39

half of all technologies right now

33:42

that can reach me. I feel

33:44

like in any given day, I have

33:47

LinkedIn pings and people are texting

33:50

me, people are slacking me. I'm on the zoom calls,

33:52

I'm getting email like I just if

33:55

anyone please don't invite me to clubhouse, Like

33:58

just just don't. I'm never gonna

34:01

go there, like I didn't go to Second Life,

34:03

Like I just I feel

34:06

like it's just it's like too much, you

34:08

know, it's so so The thing that

34:10

I would kill is like people,

34:13

people repeatedly but in different mediums,

34:16

trying to reach you. It's like, hey, I just

34:18

slapped you on the text. It's like, okay,

34:20

well give me four minutes and maybe

34:22

I'll get back to It's so I don't know. For

34:24

me, it's like it's like too much.

34:27

I can't have a creative thought because I'm just like

34:30

like batting away all of these ridiculous

34:33

messages. I love the

34:36

delete reply all. I love that. Okay,

34:38

what would you what would you buy? I

34:40

buy a lot of stuff for my kids. Um

34:43

and my eBay habits

34:46

like I am less lemon, like I buy braws

34:48

on eBay um so, like

34:51

I genuinely do. Oh, I

34:53

love a good eBay purchase, like, by the way,

34:55

the thing to know about me? What was your like eBay

34:58

purchase? Um uh

35:00

ug slippers for my husband and a snowsuit

35:03

for my son. And I think I'm

35:05

Mandolin. What

35:08

would you do yourself that you're not already

35:11

doing? And I'm not already

35:13

doing. I hate doing things myself. Um

35:16

my, my, I

35:18

am a champion outsourcer um

35:21

so I don't want to

35:23

do anything that I'm not already doing. In

35:25

fact, I want to do fewer things. If

35:27

people want to get in touch with you to talk all things

35:29

hunt and gather uh and or

35:31

apply for these open positions

35:33

you have, or just to hear about your latest

35:36

purchases on eBay, how

35:38

can they get in touch with you? They can

35:41

email me July at Hunt Gather

35:44

dot com we'll see you soon. Thanks

35:46

jolly big,

35:53

Thanks Julie. I hope the next time we see you, we

35:55

don't have to wait to be in the middle

35:57

of the Grand Canyon during see

36:00

I go back to the conversation we had with

36:02

Bob Pittman, what's the need you're

36:04

filling? When you look at how

36:07

Jolie approaches putting

36:09

people together to inspire,

36:12

encourage, there's a deliberate

36:15

intent and how she approaches it, and

36:17

it's filling the need, that's right, not

36:19

just I think of what she's

36:21

hired to do, but also to ensure

36:23

that the people who are participating are also

36:26

walking away with an experience,

36:29

which, by the way, I would imagine creates

36:32

more business, you know. And so it's interesting

36:34

to think about not just the need

36:37

of what you are convening people

36:39

for, but the need of the people participating

36:42

on the other side of that engagement. Yeah, I

36:44

agree, And I think going back to

36:46

the very top of the conversation

36:49

with what we're talking about around the greater

36:51

economy, the passionate economy, this idea

36:54

of individualism

36:56

that is starting to become really

36:58

loud we lee loud.

37:02

I think it's so exciting and I think when

37:04

you put different voices together,

37:07

collaborating on influence

37:10

and point of view that has

37:12

completely diverse perspectives, it

37:15

starts to become really exciting. Around

37:18

how do you start to cater to

37:20

your audience and how do you start again?

37:23

Laura like use a simple format

37:25

like direct mail, right,

37:28

And I believe at one point at the top of

37:31

the show, there used to be a line that said, if

37:33

you program for everyone, you

37:35

program for no one. Laura.

37:38

You know, people think that the show has been only around

37:41

for four years, but I gotta tell them it's

37:43

been around eight we just weren't on air.

37:47

There are people, a few in particular that I

37:49

I am thinking about, who say I

37:51

don't need to listen to the podcast. I get it

37:53

every day,

37:57

But Alexa, there's nobody I'd rather be doing

37:59

this with. So thank you for

38:01

showing up and challenging me all day

38:04

in every way. Um, I love

38:06

doing this, I love talking with you and all of

38:08

our guests, and four years feels

38:10

like a graduation, but I have a feeling

38:13

we're just getting started. So thank

38:15

you at Landia. Big thank

38:17

you to Bob Donald, Carter, Andy,

38:20

Eric Gayle Val, Michael Jen. We

38:22

appreciate you thank you so much for this opportunity.

38:25

We'll see you in two weeks, Okay,