I really do think that AI influencers on 2034 as a major industry and AI generated human being that sells shit and isn't an actual human being. I believe what influencers have done to famous people in the last decade, over the next decade, virtual influencers are gonna do influencers. I think one of the biggest businesses to build in the world is an AI influencer agency where you own the humans because they're AI, they're Mickey Mouse, they're Betty Boop, they're Kermit the Frog, they're IP, but it fully looks like a human being. I believe the technology will get so advanced in the next five years with this that nobody here with their eye will be able to discern if it's a human or AI.
I know a lot of you have seen some of them already in your Instagram, but right now you can kind of still tell, it's a little too rounded out that it's not a human human. I think with the next five years, you will have no clue. Attention is the number one asset. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Kerri V!
What's good everybody? That was my lucky back. So we only have a few minutes, but we can talk for a lifetime. We try to, right?
We try to, we try to, I want to talk about that because I said earlier with Rachel Rogers, I don't want, you can Google, you can look on YouTube. I want this to be kind of a conversation we have honestly. And so what do you see in our relationship that works? Why does this work?
Well, I like you. Correct answer, correct answer. You know, I think, I can speak for myself. I got very fortunate.
I, by default, really feel warm towards people. You know, and I think, one of the things I think a lot about is all of the communication and systems and infrastructures that are around the world, and I mean at the highest levels, religion and countries, and I struggle with people finding ways to not love each other. Even the thing that I'm most worried about right now, which is as if we haven't found enough things to be different with, now we're making generations, not like each other. We're teaching Gen Z to be mad at boomers.
Like, you know, and so to answer your question for me, I'm always in the business of yes and or maybe, in a world where I think a lot of people are in the business of no. And so when I was at an event and we get to meet for the first time, and I'm intuitive and I feel this amazing energy and hunger, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm ambitious, I'm competitive. Well, to say, say hungry, not thirsty. Yeah, like, look, I don't think anyone here is confused by your ambitious, your drive, and I'm very attracted to that.
And I think because I was parent did well in the circumstances of how I live life, when we met, I was very like excited about the maybe, like this. I kind of look at anyone that I admire their energy as a possible new friend, I focus on that. And then you delivered on that intuition for me, meaning I like the way you move, meaning I like that you are very focused, you try to deliver on the things you say, you like any human being in this audience and the two of us appear when you're met with the inability to deliver on something or a struggle or a left turn. I think you focus on accountability and just moving forward.
And so, you know, I think what works is I admire you. Take us both ways. There's, I mean, there's so much I could say in return to that. And I want to make sure you know that as much as your, that goes both ways.
I think we know right now that I don't hang out with people and I don't want to, I don't praise people and I don't want to. We know that, right? We know that. But one thing I'm interested in, again, it's about this behind the scenes of the behind the scenes because you're so transparent.
But listen, from the moment you got in here, a few minute, you know, hour ago, whatever, we have known for weeks that you have a very tight schedule. We've also known that, you know, every minute is calculated. But you've also been on four different phone calls. You've also looked at everybody in the eye and who had a photo out with Gary?
Right, we've given everybody that attention. But then you also have like all of this happening. And I know a little bit about that, but describe a little bit about what happens inside your head on a date of a baby. A lot.
It's fucking crazy in here. I think gratitude is the first thing that comes. I think the reason I'm able to deal with a lot of chaos is I think I have my chaos in perspective. So the reason, and that was very sweet of you, but like the reason it's important to me to say what's up or give a hug or talk for a quick second and meet and read or say hello to everybody is, I think humility is incredibly underused by people who've been fortunate.
I am aware of what I've accomplished professionally. I also don't believe that that makes me better than. I'm proud of it. I'm glad I'm a good entrepreneur.
I'm glad that I'm a good communicator. I'm glad that I put out positivity in the world at scale in a world where very few people have the courage to do that because it comes along with a lot of baggage. I'm proud of all those things. But none of that makes me think that my time is more important than someone else's.
And I'm also in a place now where I'm like, my gosh, I am so blessed that people actually want to have a minute with me. I think it's cool to say what's up. Want a picture to send to the friend that thinks I'm cool. I'm humbled by it.
And I struggle to not deliver for another human being on that variable, even though I have all these other things going on. And so for me, it's, I think it's very attractive and very important that if you have love and kindness in your body to execute on that at every turn, and I focus on that. Right, right, right, right. That's up.
Right, right, right, right. It doesn't happen all the time because we have your human. But my take on it is I've been in a position where I ran up to somebody and they made me feel stupid for doing that. And I never want to make somebody feel stupid or wrong for saying hi to me.
So I try to get everything. That moment, everything is theirs. The people around me that are closest to me are even frustrated with me at times because they feel for me, because they know what's actually happening in this nanosecond. I just still have not been able to figure out how not to disappoint in that scenario.
And so, look, I think for all of us, no matter what you're doing, parent, principal, you know, project manager, entrepreneur, my big thing is like if you just try to actually do good, there's just a lot of value in that. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, it's important and I try to do the best I can on it. I guess I'm gonna talk about, I mean, because I know from all the information we've had in the past couple of days, this is the perfect time to talk about branding. Okay.
You're so wonderful at that. You're the goal of that, right? So, just as a level set for someone who may not know your career, how has social media, I know this is a big question, but how has social media YouTube linked in, changed your life and changed the way that you're able to operate as a business member? I think for everybody in this room, depending on, you get to the place where, you know, you look at Ireland, she builds her personal brand, but then she also has many businesses.
So for everybody in the audience, whether it's you as a human or the business that you're running, at the end of the day, branding is the only thing. How has social media changed my life? The same way television changed, Johnny Carson and Oprah and Jimmy Fallon's life. Attention is the asset.
I just have like, I don't think that's how your show starts. Yeah, it's, it's attention. It's like, for everyone here, like, you can't sell anything. And when I say sell anything, I mean, even yourself, or something noble, like raising money for a nonprofit, or something entrepreneurial, like selling your necklace, or your sneakers, you can't sell anything unless you have the attention.
If you're talking to yourself, nothing's gonna happen. So attention has always been the asset. Do you know why the world is a very religious world? Because the religious institutions in the world were the ones that moved first when we had the printing press, and they dominated all the books around the world, and that we still feel the impacts of that today.
Whether it's television, whether it's radio, whether it's print, and now it is the internet, and social media on top of the internet, that's where a stunning percentage of attention sits today. And so it's changed my life completely. I was 34 years old before I made one video about business. I think we're all up thinking I was gonna be known back to the earlier question.
Probably one of the biggest reasons I try to over-deliver every time when somebody rolls up on me is, this is insanity to me. I wanted to just be a businessman. The idea of people wanting photos and autographs, you know, when you grow up wanting to be a singer or an athlete, in the back of your mind, you know that might be part of your life. You're gonna be an actress or comedian.
When you're rolling up in the 80s, like I was, and you want to be a businessman, we didn't even, entrepreneurs weren't cool. This is what everybody thinks. Honestly, I just wanted my teachers to stop telling me that I was gonna be a loser because I was getting such bad grades, because I knew that once I got into business, I'd be okay. And so how's it changed my life completely?
But it's changed all of our lives in here, because no matter what, the biggest thing that social media on the internet did was decentralize the tension. So back in the day, I would have had have been chosen by somebody to be on TV. I would have had have been chosen by somebody to be on the radio or to write for a newspaper. The fact that none of us in this room have to be chosen by anybody.
And today, in the TikTok application of all social media, and what I mean by that is, if you've never posted anything on social media, you have no followers. And your first post on TikTok or on Instagram, or on any platform now, because they're all going this way, is quote unquote good, meaning consumers liked it. You can get a million views on your first video. For the first 15 years of social media, the one I grew up in, you had to build an audience, get followers and then post and a percentage of them would see it.
It was more like email marketing. Now, creative finds its audience. That's insane. It's a very nerdy branding term, but I'm gonna use it and you can dissect it for yourselves or we can keep talking about it.
But for the first time in the history of marketing, the creative, the picture of the video, the creative creates the reach. The way media has worked for 100 years was, you made a picture of video, and then you paid the newspaper or the television or the yellow pages or the billboard company money to get it seen. Now, you make content on social media and for free, it can be seen. And everyone likes to shit on social media and when they don't get enough likes for like on Shadow Band and they're talking all this shit, it's fucking free.
We've become so entitled that we complain about free shit. And to really get real with you, if your content's not working, it means that you're not interested. Yes, yes, yes, that's right, yes. And again, it's all real, right?
A lot of people talk about a meritocracy. I don't know what that means in venture. I don't know what it means in most places. I think social is actually a meritocracy or potentially a meritocracy.
In a way that we've never seen. And for everyone who's like, nah, Facebook this or TikTok this, good news. You've heard about crypto, which means you might have heard and know what the blockchain is. In all of our lifetimes, there will be a very big social network that sits on the blockchain.
What that would mean is that nobody owns it. Not Facebook, not TikTok, not China, not America. So within the next 15 years, the Facebook or TikTok of the day will be on the blockchain and then it's gonna take away all your excuses. It will be the ultimate meritocracy.
And I love that because the reason I love sports is the reason I love business. Sports is the ultimate meritocracy. It's the ultimate. You could talk all you want about how good you are on tennis.
If you lose six zero, if you talk all about how good you are on basketball, you lose 11 to zero one-on-one. There's no hiding. Even entrepreneurship, there's hiding because people say, I exited my business. Yeah, underwater, you know.
Most of the world is not meritocracy, right? When someone gets fired from a job and they come home and they tell all their friends and family, my boss was a jerk. That's why I got fired. We all believe them.
We don't know that they sucked. They're our friends and family. We're like, yeah, fuck that guy, right? So that's hidden.
School's bullshit. That's not meritocracy. We just all know that. We've all lived now.
We understand that straight age doesn't mean it's going to be a win, right? Governments are not meritocracies. Company, like, you've got sports and you've got business. It's one of the biggest reasons I get mad at OG entrepreneurs when they become 70, 80, 90 and they start taking their big money and trying to change laws to make it good for them.
I'm like, you talk big game about capitalism. Now you're trying to change the game. I want to be more like Obi-Wan Kenobi and just let Darth Vader kill me, right? Meaning like, when I'm not good enough to compete and be better at selling stuff and building stuff, then I deserve to lose.
Like the jungle, right? The young lion wins. At some point, unfortunately, this is just the way it is. You're not, and that's why I love sports.
Muhammad Ali lost his last fight to an average boxer. Kobe, may you rest in peace, he played like, he had to retire at some point. It's just the way it is. And that's why I love capitalism when it's pure.
It's merit. And social media, especially right now, is very, very merit based in the scheme of things. People will be the headlines like trying to make us think this or Zucks is pulling the levers there. But when you really know it and you're really in it, you know that that's a lot of hyperbole and a lot of mainstream media jargon.
And what's great about it back to yet is you might not be popping off right now because maybe you should be talking about something else. You might be wanting to talk about accounting, but you love skiing. This is what I really love. I don't think the people in this audience in the world realize making content around the number one thing you love the most in the world is an absolute viable path to a business.
You might wanna talk about real estate because you think there's money there, but where all your money is, is in your depth of knowledge of the Wu-Tang clan. I mean it. It's how I came up. I came up first about around wine.
My first seven years in public were only about wine content because it's what I knew most that I liked it. And that built me. And then I started talking about the other thing I loved was just the building of the business of wine. And that expanded me.
And so that's the world we live in now. But brand is everything. You know what? It means when you're good at selling, it means you're bad at branding.
Because when you're good at branding, it comes to you. Mm. Gary, yeah. When you, one of the ways that you kicked off besides Wine Library, kind of your superstar name was your Daily V blog.
Yes. I recently, I think it was at Thanksgiving, watched, I don't know, 50 episodes of it or something. Because I talk about being obsessed with what you want and make it happen. So I studied, I watched it before, but one of the kind of storylines I followed was that you just would tell everybody, but listen, Snapchat was the way.
Back in the day, right? Snapchat is gonna change everything, got it out of that. And people are kind of like, all right, Gary. And then at one point, it was everything.
Can you take talk? No, this is Snapchat for the first year of the season. And you told them. And then there was this period where Snapchat was everywhere.
And this happens with you a lot. Now, of course, you would predict things that some things are not in the comments. Of course, of course. But what is something right now that you know is true, that people are not understanding that this room can walk away with and say, I'm ahead of the trend.
Two things are on my mind on things that have the potential to be big, big. One is social shopping in live format. Live shopping is a humongous opportunity. QVC on social networks, not super complicated.
For anybody who's paying attention globally, this has been massive in China for a long time. You know, right now, it's predominantly the most fruitful place that's happening on TikTok. But if you're into collectibles, there's an app called Whatnot, there's an app called Fanatics Live, and there's real shopping, like people spending real money. So I think within the next half decade, live stream shopping, a lot of influencers or people that are building influencer companies or building their influence will start monetizing more, not just on brand deals, but on affiliate or creating things and selling them in the format of going live for hours upon a day on social.
So I'm very bullish on live shopping. And it hasn't popped off on the Western world the way a lot of people thought. But I think we're in the pre-dawn. I think we're getting close to live shopping is something people should be paying attention to.
Live, then you're just like the button, you're complaining. You can set up, if you Google it everybody, you can set up a TikTok shop or SKUs. For some people, you can just be a pure affiliate and you're just pumping things that are sold by others. For others, you make stuff and you sell it.
And a lot of apparel and beauty, I mean, there's a lot of opportunity in live shopping. The second one's completely more left field, but will happen and I will click this in 10 years and be like, I fucking told you. The rise of virtual influencers. So I believe what influencers have done to famous people in the last decade over the next decade, virtual influencers are gonna do the influencers.
Me, an AI generated human being that sells shit and is an actual human being. And so I think one of the biggest businesses to build in the world is an AI influencer agency where you only humans, because they're AI. They're Mickey Mouse, they're Betty Boop, they're Kermit the Frog, they're IP, but fully looks like a human being. I believe the technology will get so advanced the next five years with this that nobody here with their eye will be able to discern if it's a human or AI.
I know a lot of you have seen some of them already in your Instagram, but right now you can kind of still tell it's a little too rounded out that it's not a human human. I think with the next five years, you will have no clue. And I think that for a lot of people that own CPGs, when I think about Yacht Water, I love the name by the way, very bougie. So I just think that I think for a lot of people, you look at brain like this, it's very clear that micro influencers at scale would be a huge win.
But when you go to deal with an influencer, there's not a lot of control you have. You might be looking for, I'm looking for a woman that looks like this or acts like this, or is this age or this gender or this race or this style, you're going to create her. And- Yeah, I mean, look, I know, the AI implications are profound. It's one of the biggest technology conventions.
It's been around for a long time, but it's tipping point now. And so it's going to be a big deal for everyone, but I really do think that AI influencers, maybe in 2024, as a major industry, and every company has some on their roster, and some are agents and talent agents like CA and UTI, and you'll have two or three faces for the brand. And I think the people that really build up these influencers, imagine you owned Kim Kardashian, or Jamie Blackhouse. The series were a lot of people in the world.
Well, cars were scary to people. Like we should just have horses. And like, the internet was scary, and the iPhone is scary, and the gun. I promise you, as scary as you are about AI, when people found out there's a new thing called the gun, people are like, fuck man, I just figured out how to use a sword.
Technology doesn't give a shit about our fears. Technology is going to do technology, right? And so things move fast. Like I don't think people understand how most of the inventions that run our society are only 100 years old.
You go back 100 years from now, there's no television. Let me just say it's simple, 100. Every kid born today is going to live well past 100 years old, thank God, with modern technology. 100 years ago, there's no television.
Let alone a phone. I think that we're just starting, people demonize technology. The iPhone and social media is going to look like a beeper in 25 years. And so people need to get ready because it's going to be.
And so you can cry about it, or you could be about it. I want to make sure you make your flight. Yes, I want to ask you one more time. By the way, you know how much I love this one?
Let me say this. A few minutes ago, I was in New York. I promised myself, I promised myself, that post-covid, I would never fly to LA, do something, and then fly back home to New York. Because that's some crazy shit, and I'm getting older, my body doesn't need that.
And here are the fuck I am. So yes, I got to catch this plane. But let's think a few more minutes in. My last question is what kid?
Everybody here is looking for, like, not looking for, they're earning their first money, they're going out for their first money. What's something that some of everyone can do here today that take away your like, I can do this when I get home, I can do this on the fly, I can do it. There's two things that I get it. There's two things that I would tell all of you to really get a lot of thought about.
And they're two very opposite things, meaning they may seem opposite, but they're the two leverage points. One is very like not technology, and it's very old school, and one's very technology in new schools. The first one is this whole thing's about human beings. Let me tell you the single biggest mistake every one of you will do at this conference.
Not say hello to enough people in this room. If I can leave you with anything from this, when I walk off right now, do not leave this conference, and I don't care how introverted you are and shy, I get it, but this is a community of like-minded people. If you don't feel safe saying hello, my name is Joanne here, where are you gonna do it? And I promise you, the biggest breakthroughs and the most happiness in your life and the most upside financially in your career is in a random hello in a conference like this.
So please do that. The biggest ROI of this conference is not the content on this stage. It is you with each other, and every time, you know, they say closed mouths don't get fed, every second from now that it's undermined, from now to the end of this, that you don't say hello to somebody you don't know, it's just a missed opportunity. The whole game is human.
As you grow your businesses, from zero to a million, a million to 10, 100% of the upside is who you surround yourself with, having the courage to fire someone when you know that it's not right. That's hard, you're a human. But like the people around you is the whole game, and the number two we just touched on, it's the tech part. Much like not saying hello to somebody is a missed opportunity, if you were not posting content on social networks, during this era, you will regret that you didn't do it when it won't be available anymore.
We will wake up and there will be a new paradigm shift. Today, this is the remote control of our society. Very soon, this is going to be. And when this changes, and we go into VR, whether it's seven or 12 or 19 years from now, all these ridiculous opportunities we have right now, on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram, YouTube Shorts, it will go away, it will go away.
And you will have taken for granted, the free branding that we just talked about. And I get it, like people don't want the negative comments, some people listen, self esteem and confidence is the whole framework of life. I'm aware that some people here don't feel good to be on video, I get it, I'm very empathetic to it. But I just want to leave you with this on this one.
Anyone that comes over to your page and makes fun of what you said or how you look, don't feel bad for you, feel bad for them. You know what kind of a sad life it is? Do you know how much compassion I have for people that go around the internet and spew hate? They're in such a bad place that they showed up to your home to say something nasty to you.
That is not a place for you to lean into your insecurities. That is a place for you to lean into your compassion. That is a person that is hurting and losing. There may not be a single move in society right now that is more of an indicator than a person is hurt and losing than wanting to go to somebody else's account and leave something nasty to tear them down.
So whatever perspective or mindset you need to get into to take advantage of the single biggest opportunity in the history of brand building, free. You need to get your ass on it. Thank you so much, ladies. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen.
I want to see you at VidCon in August. I want to see you at VidCon in August. Here, we'll be back here, we'll be back here August 9 to 11 for VidCon.co, check it out. I love all of you.
Have the best week, have a good weekend. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you.
I wanted to say that a musical is coming the follow up to Jack and Dad's right book. Originally called Jack and Dad's left book. But I finally captured what I've been doing for the last one years as an entrepreneur, as a creator and influencer, as an operator, a marketing company that works with Fortune 5,500 companies and really the punchline of what I'm seeing in society which is day trading attention, how to actually build brand and sales in a new social media world. I'm really proud of this book but I read it and some of you follow my social enough to see the clips.
When I read it in the studio, it goes so detailed. It goes macro and micro as I like to roll. And so if you've not picked up a copy yet, go to yareve.com slash DTA, which stands for day trading attention. I have a feeling with this book, much like Jab, Jab, Jab, I literally gotta know, okay, just read it.
It's 10 years ago. We've got a full-sided version of the marketing manual, your marketing tool, definitely be a social media person, that runs your stuff, you need to get a book for them, and definitely the marketers and Fortune 500 for your staff and the entrepreneurs and creators, influencers, who are trying to build a script for themselves. So, I'm proud of it. Hope you enjoy this much as I enjoyed playing it together.
The manual that we're gonna give everybody money during the video to read, and hopefully the manual tool in our marketing world, especially the social media first world. I think trading attention out this night, 2024 pre-wend your copy now.