Somebody following you were signing up for your newsletter doesn't mean they're a natural fan right right by the way I'm literally I don't I don't literally sign up for the Jets newsletter I will kill people for the Jets. How should a sports team be looking at calculating fandom? How should brands be looking at? Selling stuff, you know showing up for selling impact.
I don't know why this industry is addicted to proxies to the punchline You know, let's let's map measure the punchline. This is the Gary Vee audio experience Gary good to see you. This is our damn it. It's our eighth year in a row.
We're doing this, you know time flies when you're having fun We haven't changed a bit. No, what's exactly the same? So listen, I'm I did not get there I'm in Cincinnati. It's kind of sort of cold and snowy here You were out there all weekend Santa Clara, San Francisco, and you've been at a bunch of Super Bowls.
Let's start with what was what about this one was different? Well, I was bitter because I'm a big Jets fan and you know seeing the Patriots back in the Super Bowl You know that was a little different like this thing Well, it was actually not different, but it was it was more of the same. Yeah, you know, I would say that I'm Being on the ground especially Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday, you know San Francisco, I think was a good host city, you know, a lot of activity a lot of experiential You know, I think here's something different Jim for sure brains are getting smarter and smarter in my opinion of understanding how to get more value out of experiential You know more thoughtful about bringing influences there getting them to great content. They themselves are doing content more Thoughtful programming at the experiential events something we've been hot at a bainer for a long time of like these events are good as production They's for creative and social and you know this because you grew up in the game There were people always kind of inherently new experiential mattered, but it was expensive I would say it used to be a little bit even more B2B.
It's now B2B to see in some ways, so I would say experiential Thoughtfulness I was here ten years ago, and I would say that brands spent five to ten times more I got five to ten times less out of their experiential just ten years ago That would be the biggest observation pregame, you know, Wednesday through Yeah, of all the activations and experiential things you saw what's stuck out what stood out which brands you think were really nailing it I think raising canes and fanatics have really figured it out They've made really cool parties that are content production days I think those two brands definitely stand out I can tell you that for the ABC list, you know Individuals in town that was the big stuff, but it brought in into the amount of content that then hits gen pop Yeah, so that that really stood out to me So you had a lot of activities. What was your favorite moment of the weekend when the Seahawks destroyed the Patriots in the game? Well, that was kind of obvious early What was my favorite game what they had four first sounds going into the third quarter? I mean, it's just I was thrilled.
It wasn't weird to me I thought the Patriots were incredibly I think you know, you get to Super Bowl You have to do a lot of things right, but I think the ball definitely bounced their way this year And I thought what you know, my prediction all week was 44 nothing Seattle. Yeah, I thought it would be blowout actually I would say that the individual meetings, you know, you know Just having you know one of my favorite things about Super Bowl and this is a very B2B answer for everyone is watching I like Super Bowl. I like possible. I like can I like CES because of the efficiency You know, everybody can play it the way they want to play their Super Bowl weekend for me the one-on-one meetings the one-on-one Five meetings definitely the highlight for me was Wednesday night when we have 15 Vayner X Employees together in a private room and just doing family business, you know, and many of them have been at the company for more than 10 years So, you know, you're doing some team building right and then Thursday There's just a lot of one-on-one meetings with clients and then some group stuff And then you know there's a Vayner X brunch the next day and we went up and Nick Tran did a great job with Sarac Napa Valley pickleball was a very big theme this weekend, you know, that was pickleball owner in the league I was very happy to see how often that was being activated and used and so Yeah, I think I think for a lot of you they're listening If you know a lot of you that are real operators you poo poo these events You think it's people coming to get drunk or not do anything and things that nature Which is very true for you know at these conferences in many different ways But the real ones really make it incredibly efficient and effective and so that's what's set out for me Jim We'll bring in our guests in a minute, but you did a Super Bowl out again Over the years years got a lot of positive reviews and I think it scored pretty high in the ad meter I think that's just breaking so tell us about the spot you did and why you're proud of it if you are I assume you are I am proud of it, but my king knows and you know, I'm funny Jim like I always I'm very proud this year I am petrified by the way.
It was real shat right? Yes. Yes reason, right? I I'm scared to use celebrities.
I think a lot of people wake up this morning and they're like Oh, did you see the Scarlett Johansson ad or did you see that you know, you know, it's just I get scared about that The rock the grunk ad you know and talk to some of the people that use and it'll be interesting see their insights on it There's a way to use it. There's a way not I thought there's somebody sent a tweet out That said a lot of brands are gonna be upset this Monday morning on their brand recall You know cuz they play second they pay a lot of money to individuals to play second or third fiddle But I'm very proud of the team They felt a lot of pressure for me if I'm just gonna be very vulnerable and transparent I think the team knew that when I heard the idea that I wasn't completely thrilled which is fun to say because they had his You're right. It's universally, you know, it's very well by our industry standards But what I was pumped about was two things one the brand really was really well represented throughout the ad and did not play third fiddle Two, I think we messed really played what we believe in which is surround sound Super Bowl surround sound I mean we kind of won going into the Super Bowl It was definitely one of the no question forget about subjective opinions, you know Objective data it was just incredibly talked about for the 10 days leading up including the fact that we seeded photos to the press anonymously of William eating cereal while it was driving which was from the shoot but was interpreted by the general population as A real photo of him eating cereal while I was driving which created a lot of buzz and then that allowed You know one of our advantages is we have a mouthpiece in me I was everywhere press wise talking about the spot These are all just continued reinforcements plus we have very simple value prop around fiber You know the poop fiber like it was just very easy for America to digest. I myself can speak to this.
I am I Sometimes, you know over complicate things obviously I think my careers worked because I'm good at making complicated things simple wine marketing So I appreciated the simplicity I appreciate that reason brain was in it not like an afterthought and I really appreciated all the social creative and all the PR Strategies we put in place to do super surround sound. I'm really proud of the team I'm happy to publicly say you know I think a lot of times an owner will come and take credit, you know for everything I Where I started to where we ended up kudos to the team on executing on you know our two biggest thesis Which is don't let the star over shadow the brand and if you do not use social media surround sound for Super Bowl You're not realizing it's 2026 anymore. Yeah, that's good. All right Gary That's a good segue for our guests and we have five of them today And I think they're going to join us out of the green room here.
They come I Gail so young Medi Steven Louise girl smiling Rest it ready to go So listen, thanks for joining us We have two first-timers for the Super Bowl and three returning veterans So but what I'd like to do Gary and I would like to do is have you go around the room here Unless it's a basic stuff name brand that you advertise in the Super Bowls our audience can visualize all this if they're not watching and What stood out for you this weekend something that you did might have been at your home on the screen an experiential So one thing that popped out from the weekend for you. So let's start with our two veteran Steve Why don't you start Steven and Ritz? Yes, and I'm Gary great. See you again.
So Steven. I oversee our savory grants I practice sports really I'm on the lease and we had Ritz in the Super Bowl So from you a special I had my full team here in San Francisco full rich all the rich people who worked on the act That was very cool. Honestly. I think all around this virtual table We all know it's a it's a long intense process meant to be able to experience the culmination of that journey with people who actually made it happen That was super rewarding for me You know a little bit what you were saying Gary like between all the events of the big weekend like for me It's the family moments Yeah, let's stand out and you like finally just get five minutes to sit down have a drink and just let off some steam with the crew And I would tell you brother just to jump in on that like this is real business You know I know a lot of you really well and some of you not as much But like I think one of the things that I continue to pound at the CEO and CFO level about stuff like this is like that stuff matters too I'm like look how much money you're spending on HR and training and recruiting and retention to your point You sitting down with a team member for five minutes and talking about their family might be the reason that person wants to stay at Mondo is for another three more years, which has a credible economic impact And so I think the world is becoming incredibly data oriented.
I'm sure we'll touch on AI at some point But it's incredible how much the value of old school 1950s humanity right and I do find that at events like this it comes up And I appreciate you bringing that up from your lens as well because I think they're very right and it really matters Hey, everybody. I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast and make my mom super happy So Steve and one question before we move on on a scale of one to ten to ten being really nailed it How did this year meet your goals?
Huh? Okay, we'll come back and talk about that in a moment. Okay, so young good to see you again Hi, thanks for having us yourself. Yeah, and something special this weekend.
So my name's so y'all. I'm president at EOS and Something special this weekend, you know, it was just really great to like Steven experience this as a point of pride Both with the team but was also with my family And I think it's absolutely right that these things really do matter for our teams And so investing in something like a big campaign moment big tentful moment for your brand It's really incredible how motivating that is to the broader organization Just as much as many other intangible things that we invest in business people all the time So really really proud of the work that the team put into it I want to scale one to 10 10 really nailed your goals What would you say, you know, I'm gonna give myself an 8 to and only because you always have to leave a little room to reach for next year Okay, sounds like a returner again next year. Okay. Gail.
We'll bring you into this. Hi. Hey guys Yeah, let me borrow so tell us about your weekend. I mean you're the second you're coming back I think last year was amazing this year in my opinion.
You really crushed it But tell me tell us what stood out for me what stood out was a Super Bowl fan experience and building a little bit about what you and Gary We're saying at the beginning the experiential aspect and how the general public was experiencing the Super Bowl is really exciting to me families Thousands of people going through the Super Bowl experience We had a on-site activation and experiential activation and we believe very strongly in building platforms that can be stretchy and go into experiences So we had something called the relax zone, but I just loved experiencing, you know, I thought Uber Eats did a brilliant job They had David Stark an event designer who you would normally see, you know Doing things like the Met Gal or something like that But did the Uber Eats activation so the care and the craft of these experiential activations that like not that long ago were sort of like Card tables with people handing out premiums so people are really going deep into it We did and you're really engaging the general public so that was that was for me a highlight seeing all of these experiential activations is Gary And you were talking about Super how did were there any tight ends in your relax zone? They we did have some folks come by but yeah, it was a really fun campaign So scale one to ten for you gale You know for us It was a 10 I mean because we wanted to show up as an integrated platform and really capture both kind of the attention of the general public and get People to make behavior change so we did a lot of also other on-site activations We did something with the 49ers with Claire kiddell George kiddell's wife did a coffee and and so we really surrounded the campaign The Super Bowl activations. I'm gonna give I'm gonna give our team a 10. I if I may Gail, I just I thought it was so well done like I I this is exactly what Super Bowls were I personally as a human now Understand and know that there's a shot.
I think that's bananas I think it is I actually think it's one of the things brands missed too much of like action oriented This goes back to the coinbase bouncing QR code. I continue every cpg. That's listening free advice Don't need to work with us though. None of my clients take me up on it So I'm not sure if this is gonna land but I think trial and sampling should be happening at Super Bowl at scale through the spot itself to a destination Everyone cries about the cost of fulfillment yet.
We waste money on everything in our industry So but I you know, I've known you a very long time. I have a lot of love for you This is very fun to give you flowers. I think I think it was the best It's really fun though and listen by the way some of us are selling cereal or crackers It also is they were in the and this is something for all businesses to think about board members pay attention closely here CFO's pay attention. They had the best ingredients to do something.
They're aware that none of us knew this This is something they have awareness is exactly what Super Bowls for a lot of times and So they also were in a position, you know Just on the I'm sure they have better data than I have but I'm good at this game Almost no one knows that now shot and we can loosen up our rear ends and now everyone knows shot That's as good as it gets and I would say B2B companies B2G companies B2A company like B2C excuse me company like this This misunderstanding or not aware of is the first people that should be doing Super Bowl Especially if there's something you used to know and now there's something you need to know Wow, that's just like incredible And it had a great opening. I mean, how can you not watch you know the first three seconds were incredible and as an exp and G Or I was happy to see side-by-side's return, right? We had Coke Pepsi we didn't throw up against that everyone else We'll bring you into this a week your first time or a rookie so introduce yourself and what was special this weekend Yeah, Luis Garcia CMO and the Terrain international we're seeing brands one of the runs a street hunt So I'm very excited first of all courtesy of Jim Gary. This panel is just fantastic My favorite moment actually wasn't on Sunday, which is interesting.
It started with it started on Monday Well, it's like really looking at our community and our employees react posted on social media We didn't have celebrities recorders and for them They are celebrities right in their own ways and they started to really feel that pride that I mean a super I'm going to be in a super bowl ad and that was continuing on Friday with our employees And I think even as you were mentioning just that moment with your people kind of company for Friday We all wearing our tree-hut shared super bowls and and the energy in the room 120 people wearing the same shares like the smiles It was just moving to see that pride that excitement the messages then that started and then I'm sorry They all the message and I started like slack everything everybody like tears jumping video So moments like this is what really reinforced that your people and your community are your most important assets And I think when they feel that proud that the brand is building it just creates a momentum that you can't really I love that Maddy let's bring you in introduce yourself. You had a lot of first this weekend and we'll talk about it later When we come back to you, but introduce yourself the brand and what was special for you, and maybe it was a round time square I don't you have to tell me yeah, no definitely guys much would be here. Thank you for having me It's an honor to be here to just being with you all but first I'm an equal friends call me Maddy here from Cadillac Formula 1 team And it was very special weekend I think the first thing for us and you guys talked a little bit about it before is making sure that there's a strong plan Going into the weekend and coming out of the weekend for us It was more about making a statement of how Formula 1 does livery reveals and our hope was to innovate and change the way liver reveals are done forever And so what we did is we ran the Super Bowl spot and then we ran a 30 second spot while we produced a 60 The 30 was really just focused on the livery itself in Formula 1 world This is really where the season kicks off where you get to see the first expression of identity of a team and it's taken very seriously There's a lot of there's a lot of pageantry to it And I think we took it to the next level and we married it to not just the spot but doing a physical activation And we did that a little differently as well instead of doing an invite only event in a warehouse somewhere We actually focus on putting in the most accessible place possible in a city that doesn't have a race But a city that's a global crossroad, right? It's a global sport that we're trying to ramp up awareness and excitement in America So times where home of all countdowns we brought a countdown to the livery reveal there So we matched our Super Bowl commercial to a physical reveal in times where it's so good We'll talk about that more later, but beautiful beautiful car by the way in credit.
Thank you. Thank you. Now we're excited about it So listen, what we're gonna do is we actually went out on LinkedIn and asked our community for questions And we got a fantastic response We're gonna integrate some of those questions into our conversation as Gary and I have done for eight years And we're gonna sort of go to each person for a few minutes to talk about what you did Welcome all of you to come into that conversation and then toward the end if you have a burning question for each other We'd love to open it up to that so Luis you might want to ask so young something, you know So so we'll come to that and Gary you feel free to jump in anytime you want and it's always good. It's always good So interruptions are welcome and we're gonna start with the veterans and then go to the rookie So and Stephen I think we're gonna come back to you So you return to the Super Bowl this year and to our round table You were in a round table this time last year and since we've been together you've been promoted to president so congratulations Thank you so much.
It must have worked last year. It must have been working for you. It's at the round table Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so listen I listened to our show last year at this time and this was your first time advertising for Ritz Yes, and you said you had three goals You want the consumers to re-appraise the brand you want to make Ritz a more modern exciting brand and you want to introduce the salty club as a campaign platform?
So let's start there any different goals this year any evolution of those goals are the same goals First thing I would say excellent recap of the goals This year the overarching goal did not change we're only journey to modernize the brand and that's a commitment over the long term So for sure, we're also really sticking to salty as a platform to work and really well for the brand But it's something that consumers love about the products You know salty buttery flavor It gives us a bit of an edge between we're really liking as a brand You also match an aspiration because we want to put this brand on the map not just as number one cracker But as a major salty clear so that works really well I think what's changed for us is we wanted to dial up the energy of the creative expand that salty world Be a little bit louder if you will to really break through in all the noise of the Super Bowl And I think the other thing in terms of surround we have more runway in store that's a really big focus for us Obviously, it's a full 360 but in stores we do our magic happens So we had a really big focus there and this was all based on the learnings from last year So last year was successful, you know, we reached our brand goals house open iteration It's about but also our business goals, which is really the first thing we look at specifically specifically market share But then we also saw that we have more runway and we can lean in a little bit more and this is working for us But you know don't play it's safe and just go all in Stephen, you know, I brought up earlier my concern of one celebrity You guys you guys I have a funny feeling they were not a couple of dollars each Mm-hmm, you know and there was many of them. Yeah, you know, but your personal thoughts I mean easier for me. I know there's no board and my bosses So these are for me to be a hundred percent transparent But I'm just genuinely curious is that a concern at times both from a cost standpoint and again? How do you not make it to Scarlett Johansson ad right?
How do you make it about salt? It's an excellent question again. It's definitely something we they very seriously the reason why we went that direction is for us We go back to the objective, right? They really do bring cultural relevance They also just fantastic comedians and actors that just nailed the comedic timing and that specific salty humor that we're aiming for like So that's massive, but actually humor was the framework that you were the ones you were all thinking through Exactly and then this yes So we had to read and the fact that they have the chemistry between them, you know, amplifies the delivery of the humor as well But then you mentioned brand recall and so that's really how we're thinking of offsetting the risk of this being the Scarlett Johansson ad for sure So we we are very intentional about starting with the product and the brand That's I go back to saltiness as a platform that likes work so well and the payoff also has to really resonate In terms of what the brand stands for which is to bring people together whether they're salty or not, right?
And then we are very deliberate about having all right brand accused all throughout the spots So, you know, making sure that people actually attribute what we do to rich and so far from what we're seeing, you know So so far so good. That's really important to us So you said you'd give yourself an 8 out of 10 when we opened it up. What would you do to get it to a 10 out of 10? I think it's year-of-a-year I don't think it was like you haven't created it before and then you haven't this round, right?
We're trying to ample the creative and dialogue that energy, etc We have a little ways to go there also, but specifically in terms of the surrounds There's more for us to do their humans and experiential. I think that's that's still wide space for us to be perfectly honest And for you, right? I'm starting to interrupt. Sure.
Just for everyone. I mean to me, it's like if you're gonna do the Super Bowl like that, like I don't know, give away a trillion Ritz crackers, like literally like no human in Los Angeles, not consume it during that 3-4 day window Because I really do, you know, as a marketer, I say this, this might be a little wild But I think a lot more money should be put into trial and sampling and not at the grocery or retail level Because I'm gonna tax you to death more just like experiential I think Super Bowl is one of those places like if I go to LA next year and just like Ritz crackers are being handed out by 40,000 people They hired for the weekend. I'm gonna be very happy because I think it's right I think it's it's a way to reinforce and trial is incredibly underrated by us consumer packaged good people like just like once, you know, a lot of people haven't had a Ritz in seven years I'm like, wait a minute, is this salty? 100% and you know next year Super Bowl 61, so maybe you do 61,000,000 crackers each year So for the record, I'd love to rip up the house, Stephen.
I have lots of Ritz because I have brand orders now and it's a perfect cracker for a baby Yeah, you know, it's delicious buttery, it crumbles. So anyway, we got lots more around here And by the way, Melissa Neemeyer at Deloitte had thrown in a question for you and it was about how did you build off last year's learning to reach your success And I think you I think you've talked that you've nailed that So I want to bring in so young to this you're also a podcast alum You got promoted to president last year as Stephen did and by the way, here's trivia YouTube got promoted the same month It sounds like more people need to get on your podcast. It sounds like a podcast to get promoted It's definitely an accelerator. Thank you, Gary So listen, you also came back to consecutive years like Ritz and I want to channel, you know, Melissa's question from Deloitte Last year you went out.
What did you learn? How did you apply that? And I think what's interesting for you is you have a very different creative execution this year whereas Stevens I think was in the same platform. So let's start with that Let's look back what did you learn last year and how did you apply this to this year?
So yeah, I think I think what we learned last year was first of all that the Super Bowl is a very unique period in time When you have this sort of collective attention of so many people that if you have the right creative and the right strategy And you can make that moment incredibly impactful It is and it's an unbelievable ROI that you can get and we do know that through all of like the measurement that we did And we saw actual in-store sales lift in our product for weeks after airing that spot last year And so we were looking to kind of recreate that magic But we really felt like you know sort of similar to the comments It's even made that we could create more surround sound opportunities around that singular moment So that you can make that investment last a bit longer So this year we you know, we did this partnership with with Mikey day and with the cake franchise the whole whole insight within it was that EOS products make you smell like a cupcake And so we took that a bit further and said well, what if people couldn't actually tell the difference between you and a cupcake And place that within the context of the is a cake franchise And so even leading up to the Super Bowl, we had the surround sound elements like we had EOS cakes that actually look like products That we were selling through a partnership nationally and created that like buzz and an excitement around EOS Like you really can't tell the difference between EOS and cake So that drove a lot of social engagement So we saw this lift and social engagement across all of our platforms and gave us the best possible launching card for entering into the Into the big game. I think that the while the creative man shifted I think that insight is something that we're always looking for in any of the work that we do where We look for something that we learn directly from our fan base and then we know it's true It's not coming from us. It's something that we're hearing from the outside in And then we can create a strategy around that and anchor our creative around that We feel really good that it's anchoring in a human truth in this case in this case that EOS makes you smell like a cake Gary, do you want to smell like a cake? I do smell like a cake, Tim I smell like a cake 24 seven so I've been on this cake for a while You know, I tend to be on trend early So which I smell like different cakes at different parts, Tim But I don't know do I want to I've been on this cake for about seven to eight years Your friend better Gary And could you talk a bit more you reference that a bit more about how you've activated this outside You know the confines of the weekend Well, we're a slightly different category because I actually believe and I agree really strongly Gary with you that sampling and trial is incredibly important And for us though our product actually is to some extent sample a bull in store in a way that for example We can't open up a package of rich crackers But we often see that consumer behavior and store for our product is they open up a bottle They take a sniff and if they like it they'll purchase it And so for us that drive to store and that stickiness to actually get into stores and try the product is incredibly important And the one thing that we need to be able to deliver As a marketing team is that confidence among our retail and retail partners So that they know that we are going to have that kind of pull to be able to push consumers to get into the stores to try the product So for us, it's really about getting that football across into our customers So Gail, we're going to move up to you.
You've been at Novartis four and a half years The CMO and Chief Experience Officer last year you leaned into breast cancer screening with a spunky direct excellent execution I think you did it again this year on prostate cancer prevention the blood test just excellent work So you've thread a tough needle two years in a row with tough topics in in the creative showcase of the year Right the Super Bowl. So could you talk a bit about what kind of culture process you have at Novartis that yields this kind of Amazing creative work that I suspect you'll tell us has quite an impact It does have an impact and thanks and you know behavior changes scale There's nothing harder and particularly with health health behaviors really really tough But what we've done is we've built a really strong foundation at Novartis I had the good fortune to join and was given a remit to Build a strong central marketing function. We had been a decentralized marketing function So strong marketers, but no central core approach and I don't believe work like this is possible without some of those foundations So we built our own sort of system. We caught the elements of marketing We were all trained and we've been really doubling down on creativity I myself come from more of the creative side of the business.
I started in media and worked at brands like, you know, Martha Stewart and in style So an unlikely road for me to be here at a pharma company But bringing all that I learned and all the best practices around consumer engagement and really building off an insight So like like the colleagues on this podcast, we really start with the insight What is it what and then what is the behavior behavioral barrier? What are we trying to change? Last year, you know, the the insight was really simple breasts are adored but ignored So women spend a lot of time a lot of people spend a lot of time thinking about women's breasts But not necessarily when it matters when they need to make a proactive health decision You know one and two women skip their annual mammograms in the US and that's for a variety of reasons But in this case women know they should get you know They should get spring but they get that life gets in the way access gets in the way and other things so we put together Something that we felt met the moment, you know, you talk about the super bowl 50 female audience or 47 female audience the whole Taylor Swift effect So we thought it was the right place to have that conversation at a broad scale But you're right. It's a it's a really fine line and threading a needle in order to be humorous get get into culture But not, you know, strike straight, you know, not be too provocative But really have the focus beyond the message and what I was excited to see and what we were really encouraged by is that through our own tracking And reports from our advocacy partners like Susan G.
Komen for example, women were taking that step They were, you know, expressing intensity screen millions came to the website to get reminders to be screened And to nudge their friends so we had great confidence that this was a platform that could work But what was interesting is last year we had not announced our NFL partnership So we were not NFL partners So we kind of worked with the cheerleading community to bring that message to the super bowl In the subsequent months we announced an NFL partnership and as we thought about leaning into proactive health choices for men this year and prostate cancer screening And really, you know, digging into why why men aren't getting screened We really wanted to lean into our NFL partnership and the football community So that's sort of the two pieces led to This, you know, we did a lot of behavioral and insights research and got to the insight around Men are avoiding the getting screen because of either fear or a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about the dre the digital rectal exam So this idea that you can just start with a blood test and it is it is a starting point You may you may need a dre if something is uncovered at the point in a minute It's an important tool once you get screened But the point is you can get screened and get peace of mind as an initial first step So we kept the message really simple I think the other thing that's important is to have authentic storytellers So when you talk about celebrity gary and we did use ronk It was about that relationship with coach areas and that player coach And the authenticity of that I'm sorry to interrupt. You know, just you just got me so excited It was such a deep cut, but you also had an audience of 30 million men But you know, they got way more men But I'm gonna say 30 million maybe 40 million men that knew that that was his coach, you know And probably another 25 to 30 million that recognized some of the secondary and churchury celebrity tight ends But but in a lot of ways, this is real. This was super interesting what went in my mind I appreciated that you used and by the way, I'm big on this lower cost You know, sometimes it's awareness. You did both things right gale You guys did full awareness, you know, which is obviously super bowl important But I will say that one of the hardest things in television commercials And why I struggle with them outside of this platform is you tend to go vanilla And you're trying to be everything to everyone and you end up being nothing to know one So relevance is incredibly hard in a 30 second video, right?
It's just hard And I thought the way you did it gale and obviously, you know, I know, there's an audience watching So you go to Gronk where everyone knew, you know, and knows here, but like burn in like you used very nerdy You know, and again, that's the right spot You've got a lot of die-hard football fans And I personally as a human appreciated some of the other characters that were the other tight ends that were in it And I think some of those were very good costs are a why if you negotiated well enough that I think you should have based on where their personal brands are right now I thought that was really well done Yeah, thanks And we it was really important to us to have a mix of current players and of legends and so with kiddle and Colby We have team deals with the Rams and the 49ers So there were a lot of layers to this because really what we're trying to do is is build awareness to the point But then activate where people are taking action So we're doing screening events throughout the year We've worked in effect in connection with the Super Bowl We did an amazing event with the 49ers where people are actually getting screened or have the opportunity to get screened and they are So it's not just the platform, but it's how are we enabling simplicity so people can take in action And that the work with the NFL is so important We share that proactive health, you know that that same value of getting people to make proactive health decisions And then leveraging the team and the current players as well as the legends So there were a lot of layers in it, but I go back to we built on a marketing philosophy And no artists and a set of tools that help us get to these deep insights But then activate its scale with creative at the core I really believe so strongly in real people real storytelling real world experiences And that's our we have a create platform and it's central to that It was beautiful storytelling by the way bad bunny's halftime show was beautiful storytelling So there was it was a great night of storytelling and many fronts and speaking of storytelling Maddy we're gonna bring you into this now. This was a first right this first Super Bowl spot for Cadillac's F1 brand First time as you said a Formula 1 team has advertised in Super Bowl and revealed a car at the same delivery at the same time And I think you were only hired in October. Do I have that right? Yeah end of October, yeah And I think you did not walk into an idea that was fully baked you walked into hey We're gonna be in the Super Bowl get to work.
Yeah, absolutely right So you did it congrats to you and your team, but let's start out with are you happy with how everything went? Yeah, honestly I've had the good fortune in my past career to sit you know on the side and watch a Super Bowl campaign at Audi that I talked to Gary about in the past Get created. Um, so I know the process a little bit, right? But that's a four to five month process if you're lucky and you can plan against it and you're usually building off of a brand narrative That's already been placed.
So here. Yeah, we come in you have 90 days to figure it out. I don't have a marketing team Don't have an agency on board. I don't have an idea Just know that we want to innovate delivery reveal so while learning F1 and then getting a team together and getting agency on board It was like everything else this amazing team is doing.
It's a race against time Right the same way the car is being built the same way the team is being built the Super Bowl campaign is being built So it was a lot it was a lot of work into your point I think we're really really really happy with the outcome this far We actually have more to come. We're not done yet. We actually for the next couple days You're going to see some more stuff that connects because um really biker Winston is we got really lucky We had the Super Bowl spot and the liver reveal connected that was very much so planned and arm control But the very first time delivery will be on track in pre-season testing is actually starting today in Bahrain And so we were like we couldn't miss this opportunity to do Let's call it a curtain call and do something interesting to say hey As a user as a consumer or a fan you see the car You know first you see it in a tv spot Then if you're in New York and you know you see it in person and then you see it in an out-of-home program Now you see you're running doing sprints in Bahrain on the track and so from a fan perspective It's like well you get all this amazing content in you know three to four days And so we wanted to make sure we connected all those dots So thanks for your question I couldn't even do a one to ten yet because we we got to get to one day afternoon And I'll be able to give you a proper answer But there's there's a lot that had to be done in a very short amount of time But you know as I'm learning the world of a point everything happens under a lot of pressure at the last minute So tell us about this idea. How did it happen?
I mean I gotta go to the Super Bowl like you know I got but then you said okay, we're gonna do a parallel reveal So what was the birth of that idea? Tell us about that? Yeah, so I mean first then and Cassidy Tyra has had the idea back and obviously they wanted to change the way livery reveals We're done. This is the first one of the team so we needed to make it big We needed to make it important so the Super Bowl spot idea was there Then you know moving a little bit down the line.
It's like okay. Well, is that enough, right? Are people gonna get it? Are people gonna watch you know 130 million people that watch super livery?
Are they gonna see a spot of a formula one car and understand why they should be paying attention Why they should care and I think that started the conversation of okay Well, we should probably invest more from a content perspective and like Gary said You know like Raising Keynes does they create these environments and where it's really fun to be there in person But really the goal isn't to make it the most fun in person The goal is to make it the most fun digitally and that's to create a lot of great content to create that moment So that was a conversation we had internally is this too much to do a second event Do we have the bandwidth or does this feed into the same goal what we're trying to do and at the end of the day It was let's come up with an idea that innovates the way this is done But also changes the sport's accessibility right and F1 is a very you know, it's a luxury sport It's an elevated sport so pinnacle of racing There's only 24 races and they're they're in cities all across the globe But so many of the fans across the world don't get a chance to go to a racer experience it So we wanted to think about accessible ways to whilst the remaining elevated accessible ways for people to experience the team And to me that comes through physical experience outside of off the track But also great visual experience and a level of transparency that we can bring people in And I think that's what we were endeavoring to achieve with the experience in Times Square And what you'll see coming on the cat's kind of out of the bag We were in the headline that we are partnering with Apple on a shot on iPhone campaign around the Bahrain execution Which yeah, which will be which will be running So the goal really is to find all different mediums to bring the sport and the team to new fans While paying homage to the core fan I would hope the core F1 fans see this and they're like that's cool They're changing the way liveries are done While at the same time new fans that may have just seen the F1 movie Navy watch driver survive maybe are just getting into it because they have a favorite driver Are like oh, that's really cool They're bringing it to me in a platform I like They bring it to me in a place I'm comfortable and they're starting to pull me into their world And that's really the thought behind it Cool Gary, you must love it Yeah, yeah, and I think the thing that I would say is The thing that most caught my attention in that beautiful rant was I hope brands are starting to realize like everything's a production day And I think once we understand that like I just It wouldn't be a session with me if I didn't rail on the old way of doing things I mean this idea of paying companies to come up with ideas Just feels very antiquated and then to pay and then the second part is antiquated is We spent an enormous amount of money to do a production in a fake environment It just feels like there's a better way and I think we're starting to get there And it doesn't even require the Super Bowl It just becomes a day-to-day way of life And I think whether it's sampling, whether it's experiential, whether it's business meetings internally I know weird stuff that I would you know As you know, Jim, people made jokes of me about Or even when I called you out of the blue and said you should do a CMO podcast To me, the podcast is a production day for the social media clips Right, so yeah, I hope brands start getting more bang for their buck Well, Luis, let's turn to you. I think you know how to get bang for your buck, right? Yes, so this is the this is your first year Let's start with that. What compelled you to make that decision?
We looked at Tree Talk, right? And we clearly realized that the brand is behaving like a big brand I mean, we're a challenge at brands, right? We're a smaller social-first brand but culturally Which is very very important. We're behaving sometimes even better than some of these bigger brands, right?
And that's a moment that we realize, okay We don't have a big mass media moment But we need to amplify what we currently have We have this moment with our community, with our creators Building that product love, right? At some point, it was really more than the belief that we had internally And said like we need to share this with the masses And scaling the belief is what we aim to do So I have a question from one of our community, Melanie Seaboard, actually at the Research Company Humanology She asked what gave you the confidence of the uncontained yourself creative idea And the integration of your creators was strong enough, would work Be compelling in that environment of the Super Bowl So talk a bit about that When did you get and how did you get the confidence to do it? I think the confidence came from knowing that we were not going to change the brand Right? We're going to continue to remain authentic to who we are Remain through the really knowledge of our creators, our OGs That we call it, right?
We started in social media, so we need just to amplify that platform, right? Knowing that we will continue to do what we do best But now we're going to add it to the biggest state in the world That's what gave us the confidence that there's nothing that could be, could we go wrong, right? Some people actually didn't understand the ad Not very few, there was an article out there, it's like they didn't get it And that's exactly what we wanted to say I want you to not understand what's happening, because you don't know this brand People that know these brands love the brand so much That it amplifies and grows and they take the social to speak for us So it's at home momentum, so knowing that really drove the confidence for us Was there fear in that? You know, meaning in that you're confusing the audience It might just be confusing and it's expensive to do Super Bowl Like I give you a lot of credit to take that risk Yeah, it was a risky move, so to answer Jim's question This was at 11 for us, which everything we wanted to do, right?
From a social perspective, again, because we looked at this Super Bowl as a tactic on a full campaign rebrand Which is not many people look at that People prepare everything to culminate at the Super Bowl moment We basically started on Christmas Day And Super Bowl, although a very expensive tactic We were timing it just to have to, it's part of that amplification That was it, but our game was in social The content creation has been grown substantially And getting our content creators on the big screen That's where the magic started to happen So we just remained really confident that what we wanted to do Alright, now I want to open it up to this beautiful panel You all have great stories You all feel very confident and happy about your effort, proud of your team Celebrating it internally So did anything happen in this conversation That compels one of you to ask one of you a burning question I have a question, do you mind? For you, many So I think it's very cool what you did And the car does look amazing So clearly, you wanted to disrupt the way the cars revealed Is that going to be your identity going forward in F1? Are you going to continue to disrupt this world? Yeah, I mean, it's funny, the first thing I wanted to do Because I don't have a full F1 background Is let me bring all the experience I have And innovate at every nook and cranny that I can And I think what I quickly realized is While that would be fun and exciting There is a high level of importance To keeping some foundational excellence And give the discipline of Formula One The respect that there's some things that need to stay Just foundationally excellent And you do the foundations correctly But innovating with intention So where are the moments that we can change things?
Literally reveal Is that something we can change? When it comes to off-track entertainment And hosting, is that something we can change? Collaboration is the way that happens, right? So absolutely And the purpose of the North Star will always be there So it's not innovation for the sake of change itself But how can we make something more modern?
How can we make something better As a consumer experience and a fan experience? And how can we make things more accessible? For more things Because the bigger the fandom grows for the sport Better for every team And I think that's really going to be Something for me personally Focus with our team Nice Anyone else have a burning question? Yeah, many Yeah, I have a question for the group Especially in the world of social You know, one of the things we talk about Is building fandom at the team, right?
That's our North Star How do we build more fans? And in a world where in social We've moved away from the social graph Into a content graph world And people are less likely to follow brands But more likely to stay tuned into their algorithm And views are now elevating And in importance and engagements elevating importance How are you guys talking about that shift Internally, right? Are you guys still thinking about? That's better I mean, they're a natural fan, right?
By the way, I'm literally I don't literally sign up for the Jets newsletter Nor do I actually think I follow the Jets On every social platform I will kill people for the Jets That's a great question for you then, right? It's like, how should a sports team Be looking at calculating fandom? How should brands be looking at calculating fandom? To get selling stuff You know, showing up for selling impact, right?
I think we, you know I don't know why this industry is addicted To proxies, to the punchline You know, let's measure the punchline To your point And what's really interesting Rather is, now that we're in an interest graph Not a social graph framework It allows all of us To finally double down on what we've all been missing Which is more relevant With more different consumer segmentations To drive our actual businesses, right? Like, we like, Gail wants every type of guy You know, at a certain age group You can imagine that if you're, you know My father is a Russian immigrant That's not his first 25 years in the Soviet Union Group in the liquor business Group in Jersey That piece of creative To compel him to be aware You know, it's going to be very different Than a Cuban 50-year-old Who was born 3rd generation Miami family versus You know, guy in Iowa Who's, you know, I think I'm so excited for all of you That we're in this era Because I think we have overvalued proxies And I think, weirdly, the social media algorithms Are forcing us to a very fundamental place in marketing It's crazy that the new things Are reinforcing the most important thing Which is relevance leads to consideration Which leads to purchase We're just not a custom on this call We grew up in an era Where we were vanilla top-down Matching luggage Let's roll the dice Because we were forced to Like, it was a TV-centric world There was no technology to really measure Creative or relevance These algorithms Happen to just align with us as marketers They want to keep all of us on the platform For as long as possible Thus they play only on relevance If we now play on that same game We win, right? So, you know, I think fandom Is only executed in the end What the hell am I doing with this? Right?
This is measurable for them You're just not sure But it's not going to be based on Do I follow them on Snapchat? Like, I know for fact, actually But I'm not subscribed To the Jets on YouTube, right? So, I think we're heading in a really fun direction That I think is going to help And I think Super Bowl is the awareness supernova But I think for all of you How you post-game from now To win on relevance To different demos Ages, gender, races, income levels And interest graph It's almost like we're going to go into this world Where the big boulder comes But it's going to be all those pebbles That you do across here And I would argue Done best And not always the way we do in a bainer But done best It's pebbles at scale all year And the golden pebble becomes the brief And becomes the framework Of the Super Bowl at the end Not the reverse We continue to do our best And here with all our talents to Guess it Based on insights and things on nature But guess it on the creative I think we're all going to wake up Within the next half decade And do it the reverse It's going to be the pebbles at scale Of relevance all year That come September, October, November December If you're late Will become the brief And I will actually predict here now Cause you guys know me well enough to know I'm going to want to clip this In six years and be like Told ya Um, I am going to predict that Within the next five years There will be a Super Bowl spot That is the exact replica Of the social media post That got 100 million organic views by a brand Literally black bars and all Aired in its full natural sense I think between now and then There's not going to be for a lot of the brands here To use the insights of their Winning social media organic Like organic Cause when you start using paid To cover it up You're back in television land on social Which is double bad Um, so that's right, the expingable So young comment on that You've built a beautiful business On those principles Yeah, I mean, we also, um Our category has a luxury Of having pretty immediate data availability From a consumption perspective And so we see very, very highly correlated When we see social organic social engagement With organic search volume With actual consumption And pull through on demand It all tracks one to one It's like really an incredible thing to see And I guess to just build on What Gary just said for us What that means in terms of how we build relevance Is to build a highly attuned Always on reactive content creation engine Within the team that has its ears to the ground All the time And is constantly churning things out all the time Because the more at bats we have The more shots we have At getting the algorithm to do the work for us And deliver our content to as many people as possible And for us, that means Things that are like tiny in scale That you never would have placed your bets on Sometimes deliver outsized results It's really an incredible thing to do It's called advertising You know, when everybody hears shots on goal, right And the algorithm is just people's interest It's just relevance But this whole shots on goal That is demonized by our industry We've done print ads And direct mail And billboards and radio For 100 years We do day-to-day marketing For 100 years This concept That has been completely grounded In companies that can't deliver On creative day-to-day demonizing it And wanting to talk about fidelity And all this stuff that is not tangible We must stop demonizing volume in our industry We've been doing volume When I'm at Gail, she had unlimited FSI And couponing every week And it was in That wasn't bad, that was good And you know, this concept of 30, 40, 70, 150 Social media ads a week It's called advertising It's 20, 26 This is not bad I promise you that she and her team And I can speak for our company And we're at scale now None of it is spray and pray None of it is throw against the wall and see what sticks None of it's even test and learn It's we have consumers who are trying to reach This is our best belief That this will work Luckily we're spending so little On the production of that creative That we can make a lot of it And when the quant and qual Is clear data Then we can start the process Of what we want to do next Whether for some brands Send it to the lower funnel and do performance Or if some brands Send it all the way up to the Superbowl I think it's... Alright, we're running time Last work you were asked One piece of advice Very short piece of advice For someone considering Doing a Superbowl experience next year You've all done it Some of you have done it more than once What's your one or two Sentence of a device To someone considering for next year?
Yeah, I mean Jim I'll just say Build an experience I mean we all sort of set it in different ways But the Superbowl activation Or the tactic is just part of the experience And you really need to think about that long and hard And support it throughout the year It's not a one moment It's a debut Or a moment to get attention But then it's what you do with it afterwards I would say in two words Be bold Fortune favors the bold Beautiful I'd say be remembered Make sure it's your brand that's remembered after I would say radical clarity internally Make sure before you go into war on this thing You have radical clarity And use that as your true North Star Throughout the pressures of building this campaign And remains for your brand I don't try to change it Just because it's Superbowl Don't get out of there Just do what you do best Then you'll be successful These are all great pieces of advice I didn't know what we get there But it's beautiful Gary, let's work Last word on the advice For marketers that are watching Is what you said Please connect with all of these incredible marketers On LinkedIn And message them And extract the secrets Love it Love it Hey gang It was so good to see all the smiling faces Congratulations to everyone For the great work It's very inspiring Thanks for joining us Very helpful for our community Gary, thanks again Eight years ago Maybe we'll do nine We'll see We will nine to good number Take care everyone Okay good Alright, bye now Everybody if you enjoyed This podcast Please go back and look at the prior episodes They're loaded I appreciate your attention And thanks for being part of this journey See you later