WEBVTT - Terence Reilly 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the bob lef Sets podcast. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.639 My guest today is Terrence Riley, the marketer extraordinary, the 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:22.120 man behind the Stanley Quencher, the revival of Crocs and 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:23.840 now Hey Dude shoots. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:26.880 Terrence, how do you reach the public today? 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.639 I'll throw so many ways. The best way to reach 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.640 them is fast. That's really the trick. And through social media, 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:42.920 the opportunities to reach people fast are so incredible and extraordinary, 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:47.320 so social and fast. That's been some of the unlocks 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:49.400 in the last ten years for certainly my career. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:51.600 You say fast, what do you mean there? 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:57.320 Fast today tomorrow? You know, the attention span of most 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.640 folks is now, and so to get folks attention, you 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.600 got to react quickly to what's happening on trends. A 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:07.679 lot of the things that you write about, it's on TikTok, 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.440 it's on social media, and brands in particular can see that. 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:16.160 And the quicker you respond, react or create something, the 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.520 better off your connection to that consumer or culture is 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:21.080 what a gift it is too. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.319 Okay, let's go with your present gig. Hey dude, you know, 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:30.680 Hey Dude's numbers were great. Crocs purchased it recently, they 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.160 haven't been that good. You're obviously given the job to 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:35.920 bring it back. How are you going to do that? 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.200 Yeah, so, hey dude, boy, we're a eight hundred plus 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.560 million dollar footwear brand. You know, we're a top ten 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.399 global footwear brand. So it's an amazing success story. But 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.840 you're right, there's been a bit of a lull, which 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.840 is one of the reasons why I accepted the offer 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.280 to come as the Hay Dude president. And let's connect 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.240 with consumers, customers and culture and so a couple things 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.480 that I laid out really on my first day. You know, 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.400 you join the team and you listen to some of 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.720 the things that are working or isn't, and then you 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:11.440 lay out a vision for the brand, and it's to 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.800 really build the core and add more is where it starts. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.359 Like we had the Wendy and the Wally, these two 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:22.160 famous silhouettes, which most people know is hey dude. So 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.800 we've got to strengthen those things and you know forever, 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.600 you know, since the Beatles at least are Elvis. You know, 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.640 youth culture drives culture, but more than ever, youth female 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:38.840 culture drives culture. And so to ignite a young female 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.000 consumer is really an important aspect of what we're up 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:44.639 to here at Hey dude in the nine months since 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.480 I've been president, and do it through a few lenses, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.360 you know, where people are wearing shoes, travel and music 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.040 and pre and post sport, especially young women who are 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.760 wearing footwear in that kind of environment, to do all 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.240 those things to ignore this brand, and we're already up 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.560 to it. And it's been an incredible nine months for 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.440 me in the way we're already connecting. So it's been 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:07.080 a lot of fun. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:12.680 Okay, prior to getting an email from you, I didn't 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.960 know what hay Dude was. I didn't know they were shoes. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.919 Am I an anomaly? Is there an issue of knowledge? 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.520 Or is there an issue of I'm not the target 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.760 audience and therefore that's not where you're focusing. 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:29.440 Yes, I think it's a little bit of all of that. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.239 I think we're a relatively new brand and so that's 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.600 part of it. But you know, eight hundred plus million 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.000 dollar mystery is a pretty exciting opportunity for somebody like 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.800 myself to you know, get the keys thrown at me 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.240 to drive this car. So it's a pretty extraordinary thing, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.120 you know, but we're a footwear brand for all ages. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.720 There's you know, dad's in Iowa that love us, and 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.200 young women in Miami who love us, and everywhere in between. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.600 And so the more we can get younger and more female, 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.080 as I said earlier, the more well known Hey Dude 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.320 will be. But you know, we're in some of America's 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.320 premier retailers and we are a real success story that 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.760 hit a bump in the road and now we're driving 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.120 it like we stole it bub. 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.120 Okay, not everybody is familiar with Hey Dude. Can you 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.160 tell us what the Hay Dude shoe is? 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.960 Yeah? So it's a really comfortable, casual shoe. It's like 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.680 six ounces. It's the lightest thing. When you put your 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.240 feet in, then you're like, oh dude, Like these are 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.720 the lightest, most comfortable shoes out there, and they're meant 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.479 for anything. Really, they're not performance shoes, of course, they're 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.719 really casual and they're led by the Wendy and Wally 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.040 silhouette that is really our icon. But Hey Dude is 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.680 it's unlike anything, Bob. It's a real success story that 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.359 I said is a huge top ten footwear brand that 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.920 still is a bit of an unknown and that's an 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:55.880 incredible thing. 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.680 Okay, let's start really at the basics. Sure, what is 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:01.080 the dude shoe made on? 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.440 I was made out of different things? Certainly canvas is 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.760 the thing that makes us famous, and it was so 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:11.040 light and is a credible thing to pack in a suitcase, 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.400 to add that extra pair in your bag so you 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.719 don't hit the dreaded you know, weight limit in your 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.520 your travel bag. So stylish, comfortable, and a variety of 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.560 things that we make different styles, And there's boots, there's 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.000 our classic Wendy's in our wallis, there's slippers that are 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:30.800 made out of fuzz and all those good things. So 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.400 a variety of different styles to suit alls of different needs. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:39.520 Okay, So the quantity of product. In the late nineties, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.200 when Steve Jobs came back to Apple, he quite famously 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.920 streamlined the product line to make it more comprehensible. How 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.680 many different off rings does hey dudes have? And how 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.000 do you decide whether to add something not add something? 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.960 Yeah, great question. I think, as I mentioned earlier, it's 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.000 to build the core and add more. And so the 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.800 core is the Wendy and the Wally, the classic silhouette 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.240 that people who do know, Hey dude, know it for 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.560 and so we need to strengthen that icon, but build 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.280 around it things like the slipper that I mentioned. A 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.400 success that is beginning to percolate for us is an 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.880 Austin Lift, which is a women's style that's a slip 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.880 in elevated platform shoot different than the Wendy in the Wallly. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.800 So you want to strengthen the core, which is hey dude, 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.320 but you want to add the more and connect with 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:38.320 different consumers. So a similar strategy and underperforming skews we 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:39.200 stop making. 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:44.880 Okay distribution, people think content is king. If you can't 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:49.280 buy it, it doesn't matter what it is. So you know, 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.240 Nike famously pulled back and their sales went down. They 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.280 wanted to go to a more direct sales model in 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:02.000 this particular case, how many retailers can Hey dude, and 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.160 do you want more? Do you want less? What is 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.479 your relationship with the retail cham great question. 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.239 Yeah, we're in some of America's and the world's leading 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:16.160 footwear destinations, you know, Dick's Sporting Goods here in the States, 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.760 or famous Footwear Academy, and so we want to be 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.800 on shelf. You know, footwear is often a TecTile thing. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:25.000 You want to pick it up and you want to 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:29.640 try it on. But also, heydo dot Com, Amazon, or 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.559 places where folks are shopping, And we were the number 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.960 three TikTok shop brand in December of twenty twenty four, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.240 and so we want to be where the consumer is shopping, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.240 and that's what we're up to. So we're one of 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.440 the top five footwear brands and so many of the 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.760 key footwear destinations in the US and get an after it. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:53.880 Okay, let's drill down on some of the things you 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:59.239 said physical retail. Yeah, how hard is it to get 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.840 in a store? How many models will they take? How 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.760 do you make sure that they're promoting your shoe appropriately? 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.600 Yeah, Well, you're only as good as what the consumer 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:14.360 is reacting to, right, So the partners at any footwear 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.160 destination or any retailer are reacting to what their consumers 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.559 are after. So certainly, as I mentioned earlier that Wendy 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.840 and the Wally silhouette is eighty percent of Hey Dude, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.520 So introducing new styles and new colors, materials and finish 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.400 for those to have somebody buy that extra pair or 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.200 the one or two that they buy every season is 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.160 part of the dance that you do with retailers, and 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.640 so they tell you what's working and they buy or 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.719 don't buy, depending on the success or the EBB and 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:49.280 flow of what you're doing is the brand to market 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.959 those different styles and so a variety of products in 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.959 a variety of different settings around the world. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:57.680 And how do you determine pricing? 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.760 Well, certainly the consumer helps us do that, but we're 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.240 really an affordable you know, under seventy five dollars, largely 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.760 a pair of comfortable shoes that you know, just last 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.120 you for a long time and serve a variety of 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.760 needs in so many different places. As I mentioned earlier, 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.959 travel or pre and post sport, after the beach or 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.360 at the barbecue. We're just walking around. I mean, hey, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.839 dudes are so popular as I mentioned earlier, by our 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.520 success and now we're just hooking the brand up to 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.360 the rejuvenation machine. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:34.480 Okay, what percentage of sales or physical retail as opposed 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.240 to online. 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:39.200 Yeah, that's something we keep to ourselves, Bob, It's something 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:41.440 that we don't typically share those kinds of things. But 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.320 our online business is growing, as I mentioned earlier, TikTok 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.360 shop and other things are new ways that we are 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:50.640 showcasing hey Dude to consumers. 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.720 Okay, so let's just assume I wanted to buy online. Yeah, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.720 I can buy direct from heydude dot com or something 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.400 I can buy TikTok, I can buy Amazon. Can I 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:01.240 buy the issues? 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.000 All the above? You can all the above haydud dot com, 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.600 TikTok shop, or Amazon, or you walk into some of 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.000 your favorite retailers wherever you are and they'll likely have 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.240 Heydude depending on where you are and what store you 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:15.760 walk into. 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.480 Okay, what is the deal? Tell us more about the 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.280 TikTok shop and how that works. Yeah, so lots of 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.600 different content creators are talking about your brand on TikTok 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.319 shop and they get a certain percentage of the business. 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.080 It comes and goes depending on the content creator and 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.200 the size of their audience. And it's a way to 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:42.400 get your brand, your footwear right in front of folks 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.680 on their for you page or wherever they're scrolling. And 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.080 it's been a remarkable success for the brand. 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.440 I joined as the Haydude president in May, and I've 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:59.120 seen my success in other places on TikTok and social media, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.320 and that's one of the things I suggested to the 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.480 team strongly that we really get active on TikTok and 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.840 in TikTok shop, and we got after it thanks to 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.640 a great team, and we've seen really strong success. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:16.440 Okay, let's say I'm a user. Yeah, theoretically, can I 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.360 say I'm going to peruse the TikTok shop or pretty 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.199 much am I buying because I see the video of it? 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.640 Influencer both you can go to the TikTok shop or 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.520 it will come through your algorithm as the algorithm works, 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.920 and so you'll be interrupted by TikTok shop for whatever 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.319 brand in our case, hey dude, or you can go 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.920 to the hey Dude TikTok shop as you are on TikTok. 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:44.199 And if you're not on TikTok, you go to other 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.240 places to discover hey dude, whether we're on Instagram or 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.680 other places like Facebook or just generally searching through Amazon, 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:52.880 Google or hated. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.319 Okay, so let's start with TikTok to reach the customer. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.200 How do you do that? Is it mostly about deals 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:06.880 with influencers, Is it about posting your own content? Is 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.640 it about buying ads? How do you do it? Yeah? 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.800 All the above all the above, we have our own 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:18.720 Hey Dude created content by our wonderful social media team. 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.880 We work with content creators to create content. We work 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.559 with celebrities or artists to create content, and of course 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:32.080 TikTok shop content creators as well. So it is a 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:37.360 real multi pronged delivery system just through TikTok alone that 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.000 you want to keep fresh and get multiple messages out 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.040 to the consumer. The messages that you want the consumer 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.520 to know are important to Heydo, therefore they should know it. Okay, 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:52.360 leaving celebrities aside, what works? I mean there are different theories. 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.560 Let's talk print, which is dying. Some people say if 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.080 you give a lot of information, the active buyer will 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.400 actually be interested in that revent. Other people want less 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:06.640 content or is it more about flashy video what sparks 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:11.200 people on TikTok to be activated to purchase or check 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.880 out Hey Do. I think humor can work oftentimes, but 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.839 I think it's genuine content. Like genuine genuineness is what 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.920 people are after and what connects the most. And as 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.000 I said earlier, doing something and reacting to something fast 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.960 can be that. And then of course, when brands participate 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.960 in trends, you know, as you know, there's a different 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.520 TikTok trend every week or so, and when the brand 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.120 participates in it and does it well. Not all brands 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.480 do it all the time, well including hey dude, but 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:49.000 when you do it gets engagement gets shared, and that's 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:50.840 part of the trick as well. So it's really an 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:55.360 asset allocation of different things, not just on TikTok, but generally. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.760 Can you give me some specific example where there's a 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.280 trend on TikTok and hey dude, leverage that. 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.960 Yeah, just uh, last week we did something that had 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.280 four million views, which you know evades me of why, 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.240 but it was two of our young social media associates 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.959 just have their finger on that pulse and they engaged 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.080 in it and away we went with, you know, four 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:26.040 million views of something like that. That would seem innocuous 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.800 and it's not something that you can script or would 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.840 put in your marketing calendar, but it is something that 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.160 is in real time and it was done well, and 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.640 the consumer and the TikTok viewer if you will, or 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.760 user reacted to it. You know, brands are doing that 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.200 right now, including hey, do the you know the du 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:49.760 lingo logo that their sunsetting. You know, brands are participating 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.480 in that, including hey do just today. So there's different 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.160 ways that you can engage. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.480 Well, way be very specific how you were participating in that. 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.320 We just uh we posted about the the quote unquote 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.400 death of the Duolingo logo, and so lots of brands 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:06.400 are doing it and we've got nice little traction on 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.160 it and different ways. Just to be part of the 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.880 conversation is you know, I think others have said it's 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.200 the marketplace, it's the town square. And so when you 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.640 engage and you do it well, and not all brands 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.680 get it right every time, but when you do do 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.840 it well, it connects. And the more you're throwing different 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:29.160 lines into the water to appeal to different audiences and 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.600 put your brand out there as a current, fast moving 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.000 finger on the pulse of culture brand, the more you 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.160 connect and the more people say, I might give those 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:38.800 shoes a try. 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:51.200 Okay, when it comes to influencers, how many influencers might 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.480 you have relationships within pay at a time? 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.800 Dozens and dozens, and they ebb and flow depending on 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.640 the season, depending on the shoe, depending on the message 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.400 that we want to tell. So there are dozens and 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:09.359 dozens of them, and some are with us throughout seasons. 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.760 But it's a very cyclical of the moment type of 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:19.720 environment where brands like us are fast moving and folks 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.760 come and go. They're always in our stable, so to speak. 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.440 But it depends on the message, time of year, gender perhaps, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.720 or the story that we're looking to tell. But we 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.880 continue to want to build relationships with more influencers so 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.040 that they're all part of a larger Hay Dude community. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.080 And how do you establish that relationship through an intermediary? 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.480 How do you find these influencers. 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:48.720 All the above, intermediaries, agencies, personal connections, prior experience, genuine 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.160 fans of the brand, which is again back to authenticity. 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.320 There's a lot of Hay Dude fans out there. There's 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.720 a lot of fans who want to work with Haydude 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.120 and get paid to share their love for Hey Dude. 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.240 And so that's part of it for any brand. So 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:08.400 it's a real mosaic of different content creators or influencers. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.159 Some work better than others, and some are of the 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.040 moment and some are more evergreen. 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.480 Okay, so let's assume you have this relationship, you're going 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.159 to pay the influencer. How much direction? How much in 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.280 terms of requirements does hey dude have? 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.719 Yeah, it varies. Also, there's a brief, and you know, 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.679 we want to give content creators the latitude to create. 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:35.520 Otherwise it's just dictation and that shows. So the content 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:37.879 creator doesn't want to be dictated to. But there'll be 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.520 brand standards of course, and things that we would not 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.119 want people to say. But we review it and if 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.760 there's something that was just off the mark, we'll ask, 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.119 you know, the content creator to redo it. And that 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.679 happens occasionally, but not too often because the briefs are 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.760 usually tight and we have relationships with people that we 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:59.560 trust and have vetted and have followers in various numbers, 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.640 some huge uge and some micro and you know we 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.000 ebb and flow with that as well. 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.600 Okay, you talked about humor. What might a brief be? 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.280 Give me an example of a brief in something somebody 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:13.159 actually created. 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.520 Oh yeah, there's so many things that are just different. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:17.879 You know. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.800 Humor is you know, a different taste for everybody, So 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:23.760 not every what you think is funny, I don't think 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:28.560 is funny, and vice versa. So none, no humorous bits 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.679 come to mind directly, but it's all with a you know, 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.760 we're not too serious as a brand. So the things 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.679 that we're doing, like we were just at the waste 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:41.800 management open in Phoenix this weekend, and lots of content 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:47.480 that we created on that funny, silly, unexpected content that 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.400 was just unlike anything that maybe is humorous or maybe 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.800 it's just different, but got lots of attention online, including 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.080 articles written about like what was haydu doing at the 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.199 waste management open this weekend? So there's different ways to 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:06.280 connect with all these guys wearing women wearing green suits, 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:11.199 body suits that started making what is all that? And 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.439 people commenting like what is all that noise in the 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.119 back of the waste management open with haydude? Or what 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.000 is that even? And so we got a chance to 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:24.680 inject ourselves somewhere to introduce a upcoming golf Hey dude, 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:29.840 shoe so with pins and aces, so cool stuff unexpected 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.280 as a way to cut through and introduce a new style. 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.360 Okay, all these golfers have endorsement deals. If you look 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.640 at Beats first, it was let's just get the headphones 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:43.520 on people's heads. Do you go to the PJA golfers 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.080 to just give peers to everybody, or do you make 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.280 deals with specific people? What's the approach? 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.160 Yeah, well, just we did something that's unlike anything. We 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:56.520 did not work with golfers specifically and getting shoes on 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:02.840 multiple professionals. We were really for the fans and getting 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.800 fans at the Waste Management open to experience, Hey dude, 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:10.600 with an interactive exhibit and doing things that just got attention. 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:15.320 And everybody's got a camera, bob, so everybody's posting on 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.840 their own socials to evangelize the brand and the way 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.520 that we activated at the Waste Management, but specifically to 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.680 introduce a new pair of golf shoes that are coming 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:27.679 out later this month. 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:33.399 Okay, golf shoes, you know, are traditionally firm, so hey dude, 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:35.960 is making a golf shoe. You're talking about how soft 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.280 they are. They absolutely are soft. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.080 So one of the ways that you can really maybe 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.479 you know, cut into a couple of strokes off your 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.960 game is being comfortable and lighter. So they certainly grip, 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.199 of course, which is an important part of golf. But 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.919 I don't think we're advocating that we're for the professional 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.280 golfer to win the Masters. We're for that weekend golfer 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.880 who's out with his or her buddies and friends doing 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:05.360 a couple of birdie juice before or after a birdie, 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.359 and certainly on the nineteenth hole. We're really more a 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:12.280 fun spirit than a high performance golf shoe. But it's 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.919 something you can wear and probably get a couple of 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:17.720 more bogies than birdies. 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.440 Okay, what was the projected retail price? 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.359 I can't remember the price of those, but they'll be 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.040 in the similar vein of what hey dudes are, you know, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.639 in the seventy dollars range and with pins and aces 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.359 as a great partner. So just a fun way to 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:38.040 further explore the brand. 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.280 Okay, is that something you started or was that started 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:43.720 before you came to this brand. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.919 Yeah, it's all part of a more edited assortment of 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.520 who we want to work with and how we come 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.840 to life with different partners, whether they're celebrities or whether 0:21:53.920 --> 0:22:01.240 they're brands or licenses, from SpongeBob SquarePants to Hot Wheels 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:05.679 to Beetlejuice and on and on and on. Fun ways 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.959 to connect fans of those properties to Hay Dude. And 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.120 so that's something that we've been doing, you know, since 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.560 I was at Crocs the first time around, we were 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:17.960 doing that and now we want to bring some of 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:19.919 that to Hey Dude. And the Pins and Asis partners 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:20.600 have just been great. 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.520 Okay, you come back to Hey Dude. I mean you 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:25.800 had the Kentucky Fried Chicken, Croc, you had all that 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:30.120 other stuff. Since you came back to Kroc, what initiatives 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:32.240 have you started? 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:36.480 Yeah, so I joined in May May first, and you know, 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.440 you lay out the strategy that I suggested earlier. And 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:42.479 so one of the first things we did is, you know, 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:44.359 one of the things I like to do is think 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:49.320 opposites and a brand named Hey Dude, who is looking 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:55.359 to appeal to a younger female audience while still you know, energizing. 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:59.240 Our core is to bring Sidney Sweeney on board is 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:05.199 our brand and beast hugely popular, is loved by lots 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:10.719 of people as an international, internationally known young woman, and 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.879 it's just cool. She's smart, talented, but also just cool. 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:16.760 And so that was one of the first moves that 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:17.920 we made since I returned. 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:20.879 Let's stop with Sydney Sweeney. You're sitting in the office, 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:24.000 you're brainstorming, and you say, Sydney Sweeney will be a 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:27.520 good idea, you go through the channels, you know, what 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.560 kind of reaction do you get? You know, the odds 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.240 of her actually wearing Hay Dudes are not high. What's 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.120 the incentive for her? There's always a monetary incentive. How 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.360 do you convince her this is good for her? Well? 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:45.159 I think she recognized certainly where Sydney is from. I 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.800 think herself and lots of her friends and family are 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.080 Hey Dude fans. She's from up a certain neck of 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:57.040 the woods, Idaho, Washington that way, where Hey Dudes are 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.480 enormously popular. So she had an affinity for our brand. 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:04.679 And because we're unlike anything, she could showcase a different 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.760 side of herself, which really appealed to us as a brand. 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:11.480 It doesn't take herself too seriously. You know, she's known 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:15.320 for being an elegant, beautiful woman and you know, oscar 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:18.119 parties and all that kind of Hollywood showbiz. But she 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:21.400 has a different side of her and this allowed her 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:24.280 to showcase that in a really casual way. And I 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.440 think that's what attracted her to Hey Dude, and. 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:29.800 Certainly what attracted Hey Dude to us to her. Okay, 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:34.200 so she's in what did you do with her? Oh? 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.280 So she's in. So we started by just an introductory 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.080 video of this is Sidney Sweeney on a rope swing 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:43.119 jumping into a lake. You know, just talk about how 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:47.040 casual and unaffected she was by this, and then we 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:50.280 put her in a new style, a fuzz lined slipper 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:55.800 from Hey Dude Gone, couldn't keep him in stock And 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:58.920 in just a couple of weeks, she's a huge part 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:02.760 of our Spring twenty twenty five work that will be 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:05.639 unveiling shortly and has a you know, helped craft it 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:11.080 and it was a hugely important but involved partner to 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:13.440 create what we're going to unveil in just a few 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.880 short weeks to again make people think differently about Hey 0:25:17.960 --> 0:25:20.760 Dude as a shoe that's not just for him, but 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:24.439 is for her and is for multiple wearing occasions. And 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:28.600 Sidney just does it in a really cool and Sidney 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:31.440 like way that she has this magical ability to pull 0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:34.959 off this elegance that she has, but also this just 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:39.120 girl next door kind of give somebody the business kind 0:25:39.160 --> 0:25:39.440 of way. 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:44.680 And so how many videos do you make with Sydney? Yeah, 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:45.920 you know, a lot. 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:49.680 We do a lot of things to cut through not 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:52.200 just a sense of humor and unlike anything, but also 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.000 our own sense of fashion and style for the brand 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:59.240 that you know, she's wearing it in that way as well. 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:01.720 So lots of different things, because as I said earlier, 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:05.440 the attention span of people is so short. We only 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:10.040 need a few seconds of video of Sydney and lots 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:12.919 of different few seconds of Sydney to have people see it. 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:16.439 And people are moving. You know that your thumb is 0:26:16.480 --> 0:26:19.360 always moving on your screen, scrolling up, left, right, wherever, 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:21.720 and so once you see it, you stop and you 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:23.879 got the message and you keep scrolling. But we got you, 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:28.160 and Sydney makes you stop on your screen because of 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:31.040 who she is. So we're just thrilled by that and 0:26:31.760 --> 0:26:33.480 we're excited to roll it out in just a couple 0:26:33.480 --> 0:26:34.159 of short weeks. 0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:41.040 Okay, so we're talking about social media platforms. You have 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:45.760 this deal with Sydney Sweeney. She's engaged. You do anything traditional, 0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:49.280 whint TV, anything or those. 0:26:49.160 --> 0:26:53.160 Just off the table. Nothing is off the table. We're 0:26:53.200 --> 0:26:56.120 not doing those with Sidney Sweeney. We have done Connected 0:26:56.160 --> 0:26:59.760 TV with Hey Dude since I've been at Hey Dude, 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:02.280 which is really when you're you know, when you're logging 0:27:02.320 --> 0:27:05.240 onto Amazon Prime there's a spot there, a hey dude 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:08.879 spot there, and so we've been doing those things. It's television, 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:11.480 but it's not television. Like perhaps we grew up knowing 0:27:12.600 --> 0:27:16.040 we're not doing any print today. But we do have 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:19.800 conversations about a little bit more analog. That really came 0:27:19.880 --> 0:27:23.320 up with the you know, the TikTok shutdown that was 0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:27.240 rumored and happened for a hot second, and maybe the 0:27:27.320 --> 0:27:31.320 move to analog is a you know, thinking opposites again, Bob, like, 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:33.919 is there some things that we should be doing to 0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:36.240 connect with consumers who are not going to have this 0:27:36.320 --> 0:27:39.560 major platform. So all things are on the table. Of course, 0:27:39.600 --> 0:27:43.560 our website, SMS where we text message consumers about things 0:27:43.560 --> 0:27:48.399 that they opt into. No radio, but the variety of 0:27:48.440 --> 0:27:51.919 social media that we do, and then experiential you know, 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:54.879 part of this trick for any footwear companies to get 0:27:54.960 --> 0:27:58.440 shoes on feet. So whether it's the Houston Rodeo coming 0:27:58.480 --> 0:28:01.439 up in a couple of weeks or Stagecoach where we'll be, 0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:07.359 or the waste management open places like that, we have 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:11.440 huge activations to get our fans who always come by 0:28:11.720 --> 0:28:14.240 I love Hey dude, I've got five pairs or new 0:28:14.280 --> 0:28:16.879 folks to the party and say I've heard about it 0:28:17.000 --> 0:28:19.200 or I've never tried them on, and then we watched 0:28:19.240 --> 0:28:23.280 their face when they try them on, and away we go. 0:28:23.480 --> 0:28:26.720 I did a little event in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Hey Dude 0:28:26.760 --> 0:28:30.200 is based outside of Boston, and there's this cool little 0:28:30.200 --> 0:28:35.000 event called Flannel Jam every fall. It's at the Marshfield Fairgrounds, 0:28:35.480 --> 0:28:37.280 And so I went on a Saturday with the team, 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:40.800 and you know, we sold like five thousand dollars worth 0:28:40.800 --> 0:28:43.240 of hay Dudes in just a couple of hours out 0:28:43.280 --> 0:28:47.080 of a makeshift van, and you know, spending that Saturday 0:28:47.680 --> 0:28:50.200 listen to all these jam bands doing some great stuff. 0:28:51.760 --> 0:28:53.720 The amount of people that were coming up to me 0:28:53.960 --> 0:28:57.080 that I love hay Dude, and the amount of people 0:28:57.080 --> 0:29:00.000 I saw wearing hay Dude that walked into the fairgrounds 0:29:00.080 --> 0:29:03.280 with them. So it's just a real exciting experience for 0:29:03.400 --> 0:29:05.480 me and showed the connection that we've got the folks 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:07.719 that we've just got to continue to build this Hey 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:09.160 Dude community and that's what we're after. 0:29:09.880 --> 0:29:15.600 So when it comes to online, there's TikTok, there's x 0:29:15.640 --> 0:29:19.880 slash Twitter, there's Instagram reels, there's regular Instagram with photos 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:25.520 there's Facebook, what works and where are you? 0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:28.400 They all can work. TikTok is certainly our leader in 0:29:28.440 --> 0:29:32.160 the clubhouse because it's the fastest and it allows us 0:29:32.200 --> 0:29:36.000 to reach the most people. Our fan base has tripled 0:29:36.040 --> 0:29:39.120 since I've been at the brand on TikTok. But of 0:29:39.120 --> 0:29:42.280 course Facebook and Instagram and Instagram reels are a huge 0:29:42.360 --> 0:29:46.680 part of what we're up to. Twitter, where we have 0:29:46.720 --> 0:29:49.400 an account or x, we are not active on it. 0:29:50.280 --> 0:29:52.600 We just don't find that to be a productive use 0:29:52.640 --> 0:29:56.320 of our time. It's a different platform for a brand 0:29:56.360 --> 0:29:58.600 like ours. Others do it well, but we're just not 0:29:58.760 --> 0:30:03.560 unlocking that. We want people to explore us through those sites. 0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:13.800 Okay, how let me put your marketing hat on. We're 0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:18.560 in a political era where the Democrats are beaten to 0:30:18.640 --> 0:30:23.360 the ground. The Republicans are dominating both in social discourse 0:30:23.600 --> 0:30:27.560 and power. One of the things about the last election was, oh, 0:30:27.640 --> 0:30:32.080 the Republicans were on podcasts, they were here that in 0:30:32.200 --> 0:30:36.200 terms of it's mostly baby boomer some gen xers. What 0:30:36.240 --> 0:30:39.239 do they not know and should know about how you 0:30:39.280 --> 0:30:42.400 reach customers today? Because we speak about the Democratic Party, 0:30:42.480 --> 0:30:46.120 they didn't And you live in this territory twenty four 0:30:46.120 --> 0:30:49.400 to seven. So if you were advising them, it doesn't 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:51.560 necessarily have to be the Democrats. How do you get 0:30:51.600 --> 0:30:52.680 your message out? 0:30:53.720 --> 0:30:56.800 Yeah, I think seems like the Democrats have a more 0:30:56.840 --> 0:30:59.520 popular message, but the way they say it or share 0:30:59.560 --> 0:31:02.760 it just does not come across as authentic as the 0:31:02.760 --> 0:31:05.720 guy that won. Say what you want about the President 0:31:05.760 --> 0:31:07.920 of the United States, and certainly there's been plenty written 0:31:07.960 --> 0:31:11.120 about him, but he just says seemingly what it's on 0:31:11.200 --> 0:31:15.240 his mind, without a filter, and that seems to connect. 0:31:16.200 --> 0:31:18.000 If you measure by the fact that he won the election, 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:22.000 that would say he connected. And I don't get the 0:31:22.040 --> 0:31:26.640 sense that the left does that to the same degree. 0:31:26.640 --> 0:31:30.880 It just feels more calculated, and Trump just comes across 0:31:31.000 --> 0:31:34.560 as real, which is how we started this discussion. Brands 0:31:34.800 --> 0:31:37.760 or politicians or anyone who just comes across as real, 0:31:39.440 --> 0:31:41.720 I think just has a better shot at success. 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:46.120 Well that's half of it, and that's really important. But 0:31:46.280 --> 0:31:49.960 in terms of you know, the ratings for cable television, 0:31:50.000 --> 0:31:52.320 you know they don't have even a million people watching. 0:31:53.400 --> 0:31:57.440 So has there been a complete shift of the customer 0:31:57.800 --> 0:32:04.160 to social media too, alternative outlets? And many people don't 0:32:04.200 --> 0:32:07.560 realize this. In the so called establishment or is it 0:32:07.680 --> 0:32:10.480 more well, something works here and something works there. 0:32:11.240 --> 0:32:14.040 No, it's the it's the former. Like there, listen, I'm 0:32:14.080 --> 0:32:21.560 a gen xer. I'm astounded by my own adoption of 0:32:21.720 --> 0:32:24.080 social media. I'll give you an example. You know, I 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:26.400 travel a lot in my role, and you know, one 0:32:26.440 --> 0:32:29.000 of the joys of travel in a weird way used 0:32:29.040 --> 0:32:32.200 to be you throw it. You check into your hotel room, 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:34.080 you throw your bag on the ground right, and you 0:32:34.160 --> 0:32:38.480 turn the television on. I can't remember the last time 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:42.360 I turned the television on in a hotel room. I 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:46.200 have an iPad and for the brief time I have 0:32:46.280 --> 0:32:48.240 I sit in the chair in the corner of the 0:32:48.320 --> 0:32:50.720 hotel room or on the bed, and I scroll social 0:32:50.760 --> 0:32:55.320 media a variety of things. Twitter to get my news, TikTok, 0:32:55.360 --> 0:33:00.600 to be informed or entertained, or to laugh, to get 0:33:01.240 --> 0:33:03.120 dining tips in the city that I might be in. 0:33:03.560 --> 0:33:05.560 This looks like a cool spot. I don't turn the 0:33:05.600 --> 0:33:08.880 television on unless there's a sporting event, and even that 0:33:09.000 --> 0:33:11.120 I can do on YouTube TV on my iPad. It's 0:33:11.120 --> 0:33:14.360 not as big as screen. But so I'm astounded of 0:33:14.400 --> 0:33:18.200 my own personal adoption as a gen xer. So you know, 0:33:18.320 --> 0:33:22.920 my daughters are digitally native, so if that kind of 0:33:22.960 --> 0:33:26.760 switch happens to me, I mean just folks and kids 0:33:26.800 --> 0:33:29.480 that are born into this which is now a whole generation. 0:33:30.840 --> 0:33:34.040 They don't consume anything the way we did, which is 0:33:34.040 --> 0:33:37.040 why brands like Hey Dude and Stanley before that are 0:33:37.080 --> 0:33:41.960 looking to connect where they are and that's where they are. 0:33:42.720 --> 0:33:46.720 Okay, you're a gen x er when you were out socially, 0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:50.200 when you're not working and you start talking about this, 0:33:50.720 --> 0:33:54.040 do you find the other people of your generation or 0:33:54.120 --> 0:33:57.680 the people that you interact with are saying, yeah, yeah, 0:33:57.680 --> 0:34:00.640 I saw that too, Or are they saying, oh, that's crap, 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:04.720 I'm not Are you one an outlier or are you 0:34:04.840 --> 0:34:07.080 finding that many people are doing what you're doing. 0:34:08.080 --> 0:34:10.960 I don't know that I'm an outlier, but I'm in 0:34:11.000 --> 0:34:14.000 the minority for sure. For a gen xer, you know, 0:34:14.080 --> 0:34:18.600 there's always the there's the misperception that TikTok is just 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:22.480 a bunch of young girls dancing, and I know those 0:34:23.000 --> 0:34:25.239 folks come across my for you page every once in 0:34:25.239 --> 0:34:29.919 a while, But I'm looking for like where's the best 0:34:29.920 --> 0:34:33.839 pub in London? And there's lots of answers. I live 0:34:33.880 --> 0:34:37.560 in Boston, and so somehow I'm my for you page, 0:34:37.600 --> 0:34:40.520 the algorithm or my geography. Some guy in a blue 0:34:40.560 --> 0:34:43.600 hat at Emmett's Pub in Boston never been there before. 0:34:43.600 --> 0:34:46.280 It turns out it's around the corner, and this guy's 0:34:46.280 --> 0:34:48.560 alleging it has the best poor of guinness in all 0:34:48.600 --> 0:34:51.800 of Boston. If it wasn't for TikTok, I wouldn't have known. 0:34:52.000 --> 0:34:55.960 It is a five minute walk from my apartment, and 0:34:56.640 --> 0:35:00.080 that is I mean, that's elixir of life. To know 0:35:00.200 --> 0:35:03.200 that there's people out there and these places exist. I 0:35:03.400 --> 0:35:08.919 never would have seen that on television, And Wow, how 0:35:08.920 --> 0:35:12.480 exciting is this? And so I think I'm the outlier 0:35:12.480 --> 0:35:14.200 because people just think it's a waste of time. And 0:35:14.239 --> 0:35:16.840 I know, as so do millions of people, that it's where. 0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:20.080 It's the town square, and that's where you can learn 0:35:20.280 --> 0:35:25.480 so many cool things, fun things, interesting things. It's just 0:35:25.520 --> 0:35:28.680 an incredible thing. I've watched more videos about airplane turbulence 0:35:28.760 --> 0:35:31.680 because I'm so scared of turbulence when I'm flying that 0:35:31.760 --> 0:35:34.200 I feel better now because I hear all these pilots 0:35:34.200 --> 0:35:36.160 telling me not to worry. And now I'm not going 0:35:36.200 --> 0:35:38.920 to see that on CNN or MTV or ESPN or 0:35:38.960 --> 0:35:44.000 just so man, it's so cool to be alive right now, 0:35:44.440 --> 0:35:46.399 to have all this at your fingertips. Which is why 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:48.319 I don't turn a television on an hotel because I'm 0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:50.400 not gonna feel better about turbulence. 0:35:51.320 --> 0:35:55.919 Okay, did you say this is my job? I need 0:35:55.960 --> 0:35:59.080 to know more about social media? This is a project? 0:35:59.200 --> 0:36:00.520 Or how did you get started? 0:36:01.400 --> 0:36:06.960 Oh, I'm insatiably curious. Yeah, I want to know. I 0:36:07.000 --> 0:36:10.400 want to know what's around the corner. Personally, professionally. That 0:36:10.840 --> 0:36:14.279 is my life. I have an insatiable curiosity and an 0:36:14.360 --> 0:36:20.920 unmistakable sense of what's possible personally, professionally. So listen to 0:36:20.920 --> 0:36:24.120 when I was a kid, Bob. I'll never forget this. 0:36:24.120 --> 0:36:27.439 This is a real analogue, and viewers of a certain 0:36:27.520 --> 0:36:30.960 listeners of a certain age will get this. When I 0:36:31.040 --> 0:36:34.320 was thirteen years old, I was fortunate enough my parents 0:36:34.360 --> 0:36:38.719 took my brother and I to Bermuda, which you know Bermuda, 0:36:39.000 --> 0:36:43.560 you know this is unheard of, and we stayed at 0:36:43.560 --> 0:36:45.960 the Southampton Princess. I don't know if it's still there, 0:36:45.960 --> 0:36:51.440 It doesn't matter. I was more interested in the Reuter's 0:36:51.960 --> 0:36:55.719 ticker behind the front desk of the hotel than I 0:36:55.840 --> 0:37:00.000 was about going to the pool. I couldn't believe something 0:37:00.160 --> 0:37:03.360 like this existed, that I was getting all sorts of 0:37:03.440 --> 0:37:07.759 information in real time. Yeah, I'll never forget it. I 0:37:07.800 --> 0:37:10.399 can still see it through my mind's eye. I grew 0:37:10.440 --> 0:37:12.759 up in northern New Jersey, so I used to fall 0:37:12.800 --> 0:37:17.440 asleep to news radio eighty eight just also to get 0:37:17.480 --> 0:37:20.160 you know, there's always sports on the eights. So before 0:37:20.160 --> 0:37:23.000 the Internet, you couldn't get you know, it was Warner 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:26.400 Wolf CBS at six thirty, and that's how you got 0:37:26.440 --> 0:37:30.600 your sports or you called sports phone, you know, get 0:37:30.640 --> 0:37:33.359 all the sports news instantly, dial nine seven six one 0:37:33.480 --> 0:37:37.840 three one three. So like, these things are just this 0:37:37.920 --> 0:37:40.040 is just an extension of how I've been all of 0:37:40.080 --> 0:37:44.160 my life, and the fact that this all exists astounds me. 0:37:45.200 --> 0:37:52.640 So what is coming around the corner? AI? AI for 0:37:52.719 --> 0:37:53.680 good and for bad? 0:37:54.000 --> 0:37:57.200 Yeah, it's okay, I'm interested in this. That's certainly the 0:37:57.280 --> 0:38:01.319 popular topic. Tell me what's coming around the corner and 0:38:01.360 --> 0:38:03.400 how it's going to affect both your business and the 0:38:03.440 --> 0:38:04.280 average citizen. 0:38:05.239 --> 0:38:07.720 Yeah. Well, it's certainly going to allow us to tell 0:38:08.120 --> 0:38:13.320 incredible messages to people fast and in ways that inspire 0:38:13.560 --> 0:38:18.719 and interrupt. It's happening right now and it's still in 0:38:18.760 --> 0:38:23.640 its infancy. The ways that we can communicate, the ways 0:38:23.640 --> 0:38:26.920 we can interview and hire as an employer. It's all 0:38:27.360 --> 0:38:31.640 just a few short years away from major shifts. But 0:38:31.680 --> 0:38:34.799 from a marketing perspective and a brand building perspective, the 0:38:34.880 --> 0:38:40.800 opportunity and the danger you have is quite a responsibility 0:38:40.840 --> 0:38:43.920 to do it right. You know, I was an astounded, 0:38:44.040 --> 0:38:46.200 you know last week that the Beatles want a Grammy 0:38:47.000 --> 0:38:52.600 in twenty twenty five using AI and what does that mean? 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:55.239 You know, the Beatles is kind of a benchmark of 0:38:55.320 --> 0:38:58.440 so many things for so many people. Well, did that 0:38:58.520 --> 0:39:01.880 open the floodgates for it? Was almost a stamp of 0:39:01.920 --> 0:39:06.680 approval or was it something different or more? Really perplexed 0:39:06.719 --> 0:39:10.399 by that question and the outcome of that, but also 0:39:10.440 --> 0:39:13.840 thrilling in a way that that kind of thing can occur. 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:19.080 So it's a really amazing thing that you know, we're 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:21.160 doing at hey dude, and doing it in small birds, 0:39:21.200 --> 0:39:25.160 mostly on the creative side. But we're going to see 0:39:25.160 --> 0:39:28.040 how that continues to evolve. But that's certainly a major 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:28.920 thing of what's next. 0:39:29.360 --> 0:39:31.600 So how are you using it on the creative side? 0:39:33.440 --> 0:39:39.040 Just to certainly fine tune photo shoots. And we recently 0:39:39.080 --> 0:39:43.560 did a partnership, one of our collaborations with the brand Ferbie, 0:39:43.719 --> 0:39:46.840 you know, those acute little characters a fuzz line Ferbie 0:39:46.880 --> 0:39:49.919 shoe and our entire ad, if you call it ad, 0:39:49.920 --> 0:39:52.359 the experience and the way we communicated that was all 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:56.319 through AI. And there's you know, pundits that we're calling 0:39:56.400 --> 0:39:58.480 it the ad of the week just two or three 0:39:58.480 --> 0:40:02.600 weeks ago because it breaks through and it's a really 0:40:02.600 --> 0:40:04.880 interesting and how we did it was really innovative, and 0:40:04.880 --> 0:40:08.520 it makes you stop your thumb scrolling, and that's part 0:40:08.520 --> 0:40:11.600 of the game. And so there's other things dangerously going around, 0:40:11.640 --> 0:40:16.359 just you know, when we're recording this of celebrities being 0:40:16.400 --> 0:40:19.440 misinterpreted with AI about Kanye West, and I'm sure you've 0:40:19.480 --> 0:40:24.560 seen today that's really really scary and terrible. And how 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:28.320 we put you know, guardrails around that I don't pretend 0:40:28.360 --> 0:40:30.000 to know, but we're going to have to figure that out. 0:40:31.200 --> 0:40:33.120 Okay, anything else you could say that it's around the 0:40:33.160 --> 0:40:34.480 corner besides AI. 0:40:35.520 --> 0:40:37.360 Yeah, it's the thing that comes to mind, you know, 0:40:37.600 --> 0:40:42.000 most importantly, I think faster Ways to get you product 0:40:42.719 --> 0:40:45.240 is also around the corner. Of course, you know Amazon, 0:40:46.200 --> 0:40:48.799 you know you see these drone deliveries, which sounds you know, 0:40:48.880 --> 0:40:53.920 out of science fiction, but that's you know, that's coming. 0:40:54.480 --> 0:40:56.759 So it's just a matter of how interruptive it is 0:40:56.880 --> 0:40:59.600 or how distracting or annoying it is, and a level 0:40:59.640 --> 0:41:04.239 of that that society is going to accept. But that's 0:41:04.280 --> 0:41:08.160 certainly people want things faster, they want it now, and 0:41:08.239 --> 0:41:10.480 if a drone or something can fly it to you, 0:41:10.960 --> 0:41:13.880 people are going to want that. And it's just a 0:41:13.880 --> 0:41:18.160 matter of how is it that also relegated regulated, and 0:41:18.960 --> 0:41:23.000 how's the experience not you know, an effrontery to people 0:41:23.000 --> 0:41:24.800 who are not ordering things. That's the trick. 0:41:25.360 --> 0:41:31.239 Okay, you talked originally about fast and young females. Are 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:34.759 you saying you want to activate young females because you 0:41:34.880 --> 0:41:38.000 have a fashion product or can you say across the 0:41:38.080 --> 0:41:40.879 board they are the most active and reactive. 0:41:41.600 --> 0:41:45.960 Yeah, great, great point all the above. So, as I 0:41:46.000 --> 0:41:48.799 think I said earlier, you know, youth culture drives culture, right, 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:53.560 but more than ever before, youth female culture drives culture. 0:41:54.840 --> 0:41:57.879 Women more than ever before, you know, are traveling and 0:41:58.520 --> 0:42:04.239 going out in packs. Women typically are bigger fans of 0:42:04.239 --> 0:42:09.600 footwear than guys, they have a bigger community. In addition 0:42:09.640 --> 0:42:12.480 to the type group that they have, they also have 0:42:12.640 --> 0:42:16.160 larger communities and they like to share what they love 0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:20.440 and that influences their friends or their peer groups, and 0:42:20.480 --> 0:42:24.359 so all of those things lead us to that's where 0:42:24.480 --> 0:42:27.359 culture is. And if more women can fall in love 0:42:27.400 --> 0:42:30.919 with a funny little brand with a funny little name, 0:42:32.800 --> 0:42:35.319 there's a there's a great opportunity there to reach more 0:42:35.360 --> 0:42:38.920 people because, as I learned from you know, my last place, 0:42:40.200 --> 0:42:44.600 people want what's cool, and they want what's cool in America. 0:42:45.320 --> 0:42:48.840 Around the world, people want what's cool in America, and women, 0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:52.520 young women are letting the world know what's cool in America. 0:42:54.760 --> 0:43:00.120 Okay, Hey Dude has a male connotation. Is that a 0:43:00.440 --> 0:43:03.000 point of friction or you think about changing the name 0:43:03.040 --> 0:43:03.640 at some point? 0:43:04.239 --> 0:43:07.360 No, not at all. It's not a neither. That is 0:43:07.400 --> 0:43:10.120 our name. It's a funny little name. But you know, 0:43:10.280 --> 0:43:15.680 forty percent of our businesses female consumers already, so there's 0:43:15.760 --> 0:43:21.319 no no worries there. We just need to showcase more 0:43:21.600 --> 0:43:28.200 female focused styles, certainly showcase more ways to wear Hey 0:43:28.280 --> 0:43:31.480 Dude for young women, and that's part of the what 0:43:31.480 --> 0:43:33.480 we're up to as well. Part of the Sydney Sweeney 0:43:33.520 --> 0:43:37.200 work and all those other things, but not not an 0:43:37.239 --> 0:43:40.439 impediment at all. In fact, you know, women call each 0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:43.919 other bro dude. You know one of the top two 0:43:44.080 --> 0:43:48.719 three podcasts is Alex Cooper's Call Me Daddy. Right, So 0:43:50.200 --> 0:43:53.280 there's a power and ownership of these kind of things 0:43:53.280 --> 0:43:58.320 that women have taken. And as exciting time, let's assume 0:43:58.480 --> 0:44:02.160 you will have a product that you want to sell 0:44:02.200 --> 0:44:05.680 to males. Are you telling us that the best way 0:44:05.719 --> 0:44:08.239 to reach males is to reach the women and then 0:44:08.280 --> 0:44:14.080 they'll tell the males. That's certainly true. That is certainly true. 0:44:15.160 --> 0:44:18.160 Certainly from a gift giving perspective. You know, a lot 0:44:18.200 --> 0:44:21.040 of guys are just hey, throw another new size eleven 0:44:21.080 --> 0:44:24.520 in the cart. You know, guys are like that, right, 0:44:24.719 --> 0:44:28.000 But guys also want what's cool, they want what's comfortable. 0:44:28.800 --> 0:44:34.719 Guys also want what's dependable, and so from a fashion standpoint, 0:44:34.719 --> 0:44:38.440 most guys are fast fashion or they're just comfortable. And 0:44:38.560 --> 0:44:40.359 we want to make sure the guys that love us, 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:42.920 and there's lots of them, stay in love with Hey, dude, 0:44:43.160 --> 0:44:44.840 but we certainly want to bring a lot more people 0:44:44.840 --> 0:44:45.399 into the tent. 0:44:46.160 --> 0:44:50.640 Okay, you have all this focus on women, yet the 0:44:50.719 --> 0:44:54.839 conversation at large is the opposite. Why do people not 0:44:55.160 --> 0:45:00.400 know this extreme power of women question? 0:45:01.360 --> 0:45:03.120 It's a great question. I don't know the answer to that. 0:45:03.280 --> 0:45:03.680 I do. 0:45:04.440 --> 0:45:09.800 So that's what I'm focused on with the Heydude team 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:12.400 is making sure that we're bringing more people into the 0:45:12.440 --> 0:45:18.120 tent and recognizing the purchasing power, the cultural power, the 0:45:18.200 --> 0:45:21.080 community power of women in twenty twenty five. 0:45:29.040 --> 0:45:31.400 Okay, you said you're from New Jersey. What did your 0:45:31.440 --> 0:45:32.400 parents do for a living? 0:45:34.200 --> 0:45:38.800 My father was My parents grew up in the Bronx, 0:45:38.840 --> 0:45:41.520 New York. I was born in New York City. My 0:45:42.080 --> 0:45:45.200 father was in the United States Navy on the USS 0:45:45.400 --> 0:45:50.680 Wasp post World War Two, and he left the Navy 0:45:50.680 --> 0:45:53.960 and started fixing typewriters in New York City for IBM 0:45:55.000 --> 0:45:58.480 in the suit in the uh you know, the shoes 0:45:59.440 --> 0:46:04.920 carrying the case fix and typewriters, and he, like so 0:46:05.040 --> 0:46:08.560 many folks of his generation, worked his way to become 0:46:08.600 --> 0:46:13.560 an executive with IBM. We moved a lot as a 0:46:13.600 --> 0:46:15.319 young guy. As a young kid, we moved a few 0:46:15.360 --> 0:46:19.160 times before I was ten years old, and my dad 0:46:19.239 --> 0:46:23.000 raised you know, me and my brother and did well 0:46:23.080 --> 0:46:25.560 enough that my mom could raise us. You know, my 0:46:25.640 --> 0:46:28.280 mom didn't work outside of the home, but she certainly 0:46:28.320 --> 0:46:31.120 worked because she had myself and my brother. We made 0:46:31.120 --> 0:46:34.000 her work hard. So we were fortunate to grow up 0:46:34.040 --> 0:46:36.400 in northern New Jersey for you know, since I was 0:46:36.400 --> 0:46:41.160 ten years old and my dad carved it out and is, 0:46:41.600 --> 0:46:46.040 you know, an incredible guy. We're nothing alike, but he 0:46:46.120 --> 0:46:49.279 is an incredible guy. Still with us. Both my parents are, 0:46:49.320 --> 0:46:54.560 thank goodness, and that's what they did. They lived the 0:46:54.600 --> 0:46:55.360 American dream. 0:46:55.920 --> 0:46:58.880 Okay that moving around as a young child, having to 0:46:58.920 --> 0:47:02.560 fit in, did that effect your personality for sure? 0:47:02.800 --> 0:47:07.440 Yeah, it affects me to this day. So move to 0:47:08.560 --> 0:47:12.480 U born in New York City, lived upstate New York 0:47:12.560 --> 0:47:17.000 or Westchester, and then moved to Virginia and Illinois, all 0:47:17.040 --> 0:47:21.480 before I was ten. And so the fear of walking 0:47:21.480 --> 0:47:27.560 into a new cafeteria is still with me today. I 0:47:27.560 --> 0:47:34.080 don't like walking into office cafeteria. I don't like looking 0:47:34.080 --> 0:47:37.560 for somebody to sit with. That is was then and 0:47:37.600 --> 0:47:40.920 it still carries with me all these years later. I'm 0:47:40.960 --> 0:47:43.160 certainly more comfortable than I ever was, and I certainly 0:47:43.200 --> 0:47:46.440 do that because that's part of the job when you're 0:47:46.480 --> 0:47:52.160 leading a company, but it's certainly part of my psychology 0:47:52.440 --> 0:47:54.759 and how I enter any room. 0:47:56.320 --> 0:48:00.600 Okay, you have this anxiety, but concommonly, is there a 0:48:00.680 --> 0:48:02.000 positive element of this? 0:48:05.600 --> 0:48:10.400 It's a good question. Probably not a positive quality to that. 0:48:10.400 --> 0:48:12.840 That's a I mean a positive quality of moving around 0:48:12.840 --> 0:48:15.160 having to interact with me. Oh sure, oh, I said, 0:48:15.200 --> 0:48:17.440 of course, yeah, of course, yes. You know, I had 0:48:17.440 --> 0:48:21.640 an appreciation for other things before I was ten years old. 0:48:21.880 --> 0:48:26.080 You know, I knew you know, I knew where things were. 0:48:26.160 --> 0:48:28.640 I knew what Chicago looked like. When I was nine, 0:48:29.239 --> 0:48:31.600 you know, I knew what you know, the nation's capital 0:48:31.600 --> 0:48:34.560 we lived in Northern Virginia looked like. I knew what 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:37.719 what I knew, the kids like the Bears. You know, 0:48:37.760 --> 0:48:40.200 you don't know these things, especially in the seventies, or 0:48:40.719 --> 0:48:43.279 you don't, but I did, And so it gave me 0:48:43.320 --> 0:48:46.560 an appreciation for maybe that always what's around the corner 0:48:46.680 --> 0:48:50.279 kind of a mentality that I had because I didn't 0:48:50.320 --> 0:48:51.800 know if we were ever going to be staying wherever 0:48:51.840 --> 0:48:56.160 we were because of my father's job, which was you know, thrilling, exciting, 0:48:56.200 --> 0:48:58.239 but also daunting when you get that we're going to move. 0:48:58.680 --> 0:49:01.399 So so yeah, of course, I think there's a lot 0:49:01.400 --> 0:49:04.439 of good, but the anxiety of that cafeteria table, which 0:49:04.480 --> 0:49:07.319 I took to my daughter's Unfortunately, you know, we moved 0:49:07.320 --> 0:49:10.560 a few times, I sadly, you know, cursed my daughters 0:49:10.560 --> 0:49:12.440 with the same thing my father cursed me, and I 0:49:12.480 --> 0:49:15.640 put curse and quotes, of course, but one of my 0:49:15.680 --> 0:49:17.960 first questions through my girls when we moved is you 0:49:17.960 --> 0:49:21.680 know who did you eat lunch with? It wasn't what 0:49:21.760 --> 0:49:25.719 did you learn, It wasn't how school, It was who 0:49:25.760 --> 0:49:27.759 did you have lunch with? And I would ask that 0:49:27.880 --> 0:49:31.600 question with my eyes kind of winced and my teeth gritted, 0:49:31.960 --> 0:49:33.920 because I know what that's like. And so I was 0:49:33.960 --> 0:49:38.080 transferring some of my whatever that is psychosis or anxiety 0:49:38.080 --> 0:49:41.080 on them unfairly, But it meant something to me because 0:49:41.120 --> 0:49:43.759 I know what it's like, and it hurt then, and 0:49:43.840 --> 0:49:45.919 I didn't want my daughters to feel the same thing. 0:49:46.960 --> 0:49:50.160 So what's your personality? Are you more of a lone 0:49:50.239 --> 0:49:52.960 or outsider? Are you the type of person who has 0:49:53.000 --> 0:49:55.600 a million friends and is contacting people all day? 0:49:56.560 --> 0:49:59.279 I have the same friends since I moved to New 0:49:59.360 --> 0:50:04.880 Jersey and fifth grade. We're all on a text thread 0:50:05.360 --> 0:50:09.880 every day. So I've got a tight circle of friends 0:50:09.920 --> 0:50:14.399 since I was eleven years old ten years old, which 0:50:14.440 --> 0:50:16.960 is an amazing thing to say, in an amazing gift. 0:50:18.840 --> 0:50:20.440 But then I make new friends along the way, and 0:50:20.480 --> 0:50:22.960 the friends that I make I'm really really close with 0:50:23.040 --> 0:50:26.200 and have influenced my life, you know, even my career. 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:29.359 Some of the most important people in my life are 0:50:29.880 --> 0:50:32.400 people that influence my career who I've ended up being 0:50:32.960 --> 0:50:36.400 the best of friends with. So it's tight. I'm not 0:50:36.560 --> 0:50:41.480 the life of the party ever, but I'm comfortable being alone. 0:50:42.800 --> 0:50:46.000 But the friends that I have are deep and meaningful 0:50:46.200 --> 0:50:46.880 and long. 0:50:47.920 --> 0:50:50.000 So let's say I say, Hey, we're going to go 0:50:50.000 --> 0:50:52.759 to a party. You don't know anybody, none of them 0:50:52.840 --> 0:50:55.120 work in your business, so you're gonna say, hey, let's go. 0:50:55.239 --> 0:50:56.919 You say, well, you're gonna see Well, you know, maybe 0:50:56.960 --> 0:50:58.000 I'd rather stay home. 0:50:59.640 --> 0:51:04.520 I would prefer not to go, but when I go, 0:51:04.920 --> 0:51:09.080 I'm you know, I'm an irishman, right, So I do 0:51:09.200 --> 0:51:13.080 have that certain gift of gab when I choose to gab, 0:51:13.760 --> 0:51:15.680 and I've got a lot of really cool stories to 0:51:15.719 --> 0:51:19.799 tell and a really good life experience that people like 0:51:19.880 --> 0:51:21.960 to hear. When I end up sharing some of it, 0:51:22.080 --> 0:51:28.040 so I don't wear the lampshade, but I can get after. 0:51:27.840 --> 0:51:30.760 It, Okay, good student, bad student. 0:51:32.920 --> 0:51:39.560 I was average at everything, average at everything, good not 0:51:39.600 --> 0:51:45.640 I don't know why, but average at everything, and you know, 0:51:45.840 --> 0:51:48.200 medium part of my class, if you know what I mean. 0:51:49.360 --> 0:51:51.520 But I was a late bloomer, you know. And I 0:51:51.560 --> 0:51:53.719 also just because of that moving around, I think I 0:51:53.800 --> 0:51:56.799 lacked a lot of confidence that I didn't know I 0:51:56.840 --> 0:51:58.759 was actually good at quite a few things when I 0:51:58.800 --> 0:52:02.040 was in middle school and high school. That it turns out, 0:52:02.320 --> 0:52:05.320 you know, later in life, you start to realize, you 0:52:05.360 --> 0:52:07.560 know what, maybe I was better if I had some confidence, 0:52:07.760 --> 0:52:11.839 or had a different kind of coach or somebody, things 0:52:11.880 --> 0:52:13.759 could have been different then. But I'm not hung up 0:52:13.760 --> 0:52:17.160 on any of that. I just, you know, it was 0:52:17.160 --> 0:52:20.680 a late bloomer. I remember you couldn't you back in 0:52:20.680 --> 0:52:22.200 those days, and maybe they still do it. You had 0:52:22.239 --> 0:52:24.400 to do like the eight mile run, you know, you 0:52:24.480 --> 0:52:26.920 had to run for eight eight minute eight minute run 0:52:27.000 --> 0:52:29.879 or something like that, whatever it was, eight minute mile, 0:52:29.920 --> 0:52:31.600 there you go, man, and something you know in middle 0:52:31.600 --> 0:52:33.640 school and I hated it, like I was out of breath, 0:52:33.719 --> 0:52:35.359 like I couldn't do it, you know, it was kind 0:52:35.360 --> 0:52:38.759 of a little chubby, little pudgy little guy. And my 0:52:38.880 --> 0:52:41.520 favorite baseball player at that age was Carlton Fists because 0:52:41.560 --> 0:52:44.120 his nickname was Pudge. You know, it was like looking 0:52:44.160 --> 0:52:48.160 for connection and I couldn't do it like I just was. 0:52:48.560 --> 0:52:50.840 But you know, years later, I've run three marathons in 0:52:50.920 --> 0:52:54.160 under four hours. You know, So these things happen. Life 0:52:54.239 --> 0:52:56.000 is long, and if you're going to be hung up 0:52:56.000 --> 0:52:58.439 on who you were, well that's a waste of your life. 0:52:58.719 --> 0:53:01.040 And so the the things that have happened in my 0:53:01.080 --> 0:53:03.160 life and even just the last fifteen years have been 0:53:03.200 --> 0:53:09.120 extraordinary career wise, personally, so many amazing things. 0:53:09.760 --> 0:53:12.160 So you graduate from high school, then what. 0:53:13.200 --> 0:53:15.239 I go to college in New Jersey. Well, actually I 0:53:15.239 --> 0:53:18.640 started college at Northeastern up in Boston, and I hate 0:53:18.680 --> 0:53:21.359 to say it, I think I chose Northeastern because I 0:53:21.440 --> 0:53:23.719 was a giant and still I am a big fan of 0:53:24.320 --> 0:53:27.680 the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Patriots, and the Celtics. 0:53:27.880 --> 0:53:30.640 And a word to your listeners, that's not the reason 0:53:30.719 --> 0:53:34.799 to choose a college or university. But I was a 0:53:34.920 --> 0:53:39.280 huge fan of those teams and that's why I chose Northeastern. 0:53:39.320 --> 0:53:42.200 But I was too immature to know what to do. 0:53:43.760 --> 0:53:46.560 My high school and grammar school friends were no longer 0:53:46.600 --> 0:53:50.440 with me, and I did not adapt well. And I 0:53:50.480 --> 0:53:53.480 also just didn't like the city environment. I wasn't ready 0:53:53.520 --> 0:53:56.560 for that then. So I transferred to a little known 0:53:56.680 --> 0:54:02.160 Rider University in New Jersey, and you know, graduated, I 0:54:02.200 --> 0:54:04.960 don't know two point eight, two point nine, you know, 0:54:05.000 --> 0:54:10.040 something like that. It was an unremarkable scholastic career. But 0:54:10.200 --> 0:54:13.160 I graduated, and I got a job right out of college. 0:54:13.360 --> 0:54:15.719 But just before this, when you're going to Rider, yeah, 0:54:15.760 --> 0:54:17.960 are you living at home? Are you living in an apartment? 0:54:18.120 --> 0:54:20.960 I'm living in the dorm. I was a resident advisor 0:54:21.080 --> 0:54:25.640 for two and a half years at Ryder, So you know, 0:54:25.640 --> 0:54:27.799 you got your own room. There's a little bit of 0:54:27.920 --> 0:54:32.040 evidence there right right right, And you got a phone, 0:54:32.440 --> 0:54:35.239 which mattered then, and you didn't you didn't have to 0:54:35.239 --> 0:54:38.240 pay for and I got a little bit of scratch, 0:54:38.400 --> 0:54:42.680 so I had some spending money. And you know, an 0:54:42.760 --> 0:54:48.560 unremarkable career at Ryder. That there's they wouldn't remember me, 0:54:49.040 --> 0:54:50.040 and they shouldn't remember me. 0:54:51.239 --> 0:54:54.400 So you graduated, and you did what I graduated. 0:54:54.400 --> 0:54:56.879 And this is the day, Bob, where you know one 0:54:56.960 --> 0:55:00.720 hundred envelopes, one hundred resumes, one hundred stamps, and you 0:55:00.800 --> 0:55:03.600 send them out. I can't even imagine this was a thing, 0:55:05.280 --> 0:55:09.640 just hoping it got there, hoping somebody opened it, hoping 0:55:09.680 --> 0:55:15.080 somebody would call you back. What And I got a 0:55:15.120 --> 0:55:17.359 call back? You know, my mom got a call back. 0:55:17.400 --> 0:55:18.719 You know, this is the day. You know, I was 0:55:18.760 --> 0:55:20.879 living at home and my mom would answer, Terrence, it's 0:55:20.920 --> 0:55:24.719 for you, you know, and it's your possible future employer. The 0:55:24.800 --> 0:55:27.839 thought of that is so staggering today. But I got 0:55:27.840 --> 0:55:31.880 a job with the MWW Group, a PR agency in 0:55:31.960 --> 0:55:34.520 northern New Jersey. At the time, I think I was 0:55:34.560 --> 0:55:38.640 one of the first ten employees of the MWW Group. 0:55:38.880 --> 0:55:43.720 And now if you drive by MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, 0:55:43.920 --> 0:55:47.200 you'll see the W building on the other side of 0:55:47.239 --> 0:55:51.520 MetLife Stadium. So Michael Kempner and the group that hired 0:55:51.560 --> 0:55:54.000 me then still run it and grow it into a 0:55:54.080 --> 0:55:58.719 huge agency. But this is really funny. So I get 0:55:58.760 --> 0:56:02.439 this job, right, and I'm an account coordinator at twenty two, 0:56:02.560 --> 0:56:05.279 twenty three years old, and you know, you're getting press 0:56:05.320 --> 0:56:07.000 clippings and you have to clip them out for the 0:56:07.000 --> 0:56:10.319 different clients of the agency from Burrell's or you know, 0:56:10.320 --> 0:56:12.759 and you're cutting and pasting them and using you know, 0:56:12.880 --> 0:56:15.759 glue tape to you know, this is what you did. 0:56:15.800 --> 0:56:17.759 And I filled in for the receptionist when she went 0:56:17.760 --> 0:56:20.320 to lunch, and I had to get the coffee supplies 0:56:20.400 --> 0:56:22.319 every Monday morning for the office for the week. And 0:56:22.360 --> 0:56:24.640 that's what you do when you're twenty two. And they 0:56:24.640 --> 0:56:27.800 gave me a little account. This is a PR agency 0:56:27.840 --> 0:56:31.440 and I'm an account coordinator, so cut your chops on this, Terrence. 0:56:32.600 --> 0:56:36.080 And they gave me a little indoor amusement park in Paramus, 0:56:36.160 --> 0:56:41.160 New Jersey called sports World. And at the time whatever 0:56:41.160 --> 0:56:45.359 this is, nineteen ninety one, right around there, this indoor 0:56:45.400 --> 0:56:47.480 amusement park was a pretty cool thing. It was a 0:56:47.560 --> 0:56:52.279 giant box at inside where bumper cars and cafeteria with 0:56:52.360 --> 0:56:54.680 you know, hot dogs and popcorn and rides and ball 0:56:54.719 --> 0:56:56.200 pits and all sorts of stuff, and it was a 0:56:56.200 --> 0:56:58.880 really popular place. What am I going to do with 0:56:58.920 --> 0:57:02.480 this as a PR account coordinator? You know, press release 0:57:02.680 --> 0:57:05.680 to say here, have your kid's birthday party here, or 0:57:06.600 --> 0:57:10.280 they got a new ride whatever. Not exactly exciting stuff. 0:57:11.719 --> 0:57:14.200 But one evening, just as I'm about to go home. 0:57:14.800 --> 0:57:18.320 The desk phone, big giant desk phone rings and I 0:57:18.400 --> 0:57:22.360 pick it up and it's the owner of Sports World. 0:57:23.440 --> 0:57:27.160 It says, Terrence, get down here, Like, what's wrong? Because 0:57:27.240 --> 0:57:31.000 Terrence get down here with somebody hurt? Is anything wrong? 0:57:31.120 --> 0:57:35.400 He's like, no, Michael Jackson has rented the place for 0:57:35.480 --> 0:57:41.840 the night. What so, Yeah, Michael Jackson is here and 0:57:41.880 --> 0:57:45.280 he's rented the place for the night. We're closed, so 0:57:45.920 --> 0:57:47.760 all right now, I gotta be honest with you, Bob. 0:57:47.800 --> 0:57:52.360 If the iPhone existed, then I probably would have gone 0:57:52.400 --> 0:57:55.280 down to Sports World to what to try and get 0:57:55.320 --> 0:57:59.840 a selfie with Michael Jackson. But it didn't exist. So 0:58:00.120 --> 0:58:02.800 instead of taking my iPhone, which didn't exist in nineteen 0:58:02.880 --> 0:58:06.959 ninety one, I got on the phone and I called 0:58:07.040 --> 0:58:12.360 every assignment desk that I had in my Bacon's Guide. 0:58:13.240 --> 0:58:15.520 I know where Michael Jackson is tonight. Called me back, 0:58:15.920 --> 0:58:20.840 I know where Michael Jackson is tonight. The phone rang 0:58:21.000 --> 0:58:25.040 like it was you know, so everybody called me back 0:58:25.440 --> 0:58:28.520 and lo and behold. The next day and the next week, 0:58:28.600 --> 0:58:30.240 I had the biggest score in the history of the 0:58:30.960 --> 0:58:38.440 Young MWW group and change my career there. I promoted 0:58:38.480 --> 0:58:41.480 to an account executive and now I'm working with Continental Airlines, 0:58:41.640 --> 0:58:43.640 you know. And that's what can happen in life if 0:58:43.640 --> 0:58:46.880 you're ready for your audition. And so that was a 0:58:46.920 --> 0:58:50.520 gift to me, and that changed my career at the 0:58:50.600 --> 0:58:52.800 MWW group as a twenty three year old. Next thing 0:58:52.800 --> 0:58:55.920 I know, I'm on the runway at Continental Airlines in Newark, 0:58:55.960 --> 0:59:01.120 New Jersey with Lloyd Benson, you know. So it's amazing 0:59:01.120 --> 0:59:03.240 what can happen in a young career if you're ready 0:59:03.280 --> 0:59:03.760 for the moment. 0:59:05.320 --> 0:59:10.760 Okay, you go to Continental, play it out from there. 0:59:12.320 --> 0:59:15.640 So I just didn't know if I liked doing what 0:59:15.720 --> 0:59:17.680 I was doing, and so I went to work for 0:59:17.720 --> 0:59:21.200 a nonprofit in northern New Jersey, a long term care 0:59:21.280 --> 0:59:28.040 facility and psychiatric hospital. Yeah, the real fun stuff, Bob, And. 0:59:28.280 --> 0:59:30.560 Wait, wait just to stay there. Yeah, you're working with 0:59:30.640 --> 0:59:34.560 an amusement park, you're working with Continental era Lines. What 0:59:34.680 --> 0:59:38.600 is the motivation? I don't money? To get escape where 0:59:38.600 --> 0:59:40.320 you were? Why'd you do it? 0:59:41.960 --> 0:59:45.440 I don't have an answer for that. Genius or stupidity 0:59:45.600 --> 0:59:47.600 or somewhere in between, because it wasn't the money. It 0:59:47.600 --> 0:59:53.720 was a nonprofit. But I just wanted to try something else. 0:59:55.080 --> 1:00:00.800 And so I'm working for this medical center. It's a nonprofit, 1:00:00.840 --> 1:00:03.640 as I mentioned, and so one of my responsibilities was 1:00:03.680 --> 1:00:06.200 to put together an annual fundraising dinner, you know, the 1:00:06.280 --> 1:00:10.040 rubber chicken round table, and a whole bunch of donors 1:00:10.080 --> 1:00:13.920 and supporters arrive and I'm giving an appeal, you know, 1:00:13.960 --> 1:00:16.520 from the dais the main stage there with the podium, 1:00:17.320 --> 1:00:19.600 and I have a photo of this, which is a 1:00:19.640 --> 1:00:21.880 surreptitious photo that I didn't know I even had or 1:00:21.920 --> 1:00:24.600 somebody took it. But in the front row, in the 1:00:24.640 --> 1:00:28.240 front table, with his back to me was a gentleman 1:00:28.720 --> 1:00:33.080 who the next morning called me and I thought, oh wow, 1:00:33.080 --> 1:00:35.120 I got one of these high rollers to write a 1:00:35.120 --> 1:00:39.200 big check to the medical center. Look at me, I've 1:00:39.240 --> 1:00:44.120 got a big score. And he says, let's go to 1:00:44.120 --> 1:00:47.000 breakfast tomorrow. We go to breakfast that I'm ready for 1:00:47.080 --> 1:00:48.760 him to write a big check, and he says, I 1:00:48.800 --> 1:00:53.640 want you to be my marketing manager for Amror Prize. 1:00:53.840 --> 1:00:56.600 I don't know this guy, never met him. 1:00:56.480 --> 1:00:56.959 In my life. 1:00:57.600 --> 1:01:00.680 And this was actually called American Express Financially Advisors at 1:01:00.680 --> 1:01:03.560 the time part of American Express, and now it's Amerorprize, 1:01:03.880 --> 1:01:06.840 which is one of the leading financial companies in the world, 1:01:08.160 --> 1:01:11.000 and so I go get my series seven, series sixty three, 1:01:11.160 --> 1:01:17.080 Series sixty five to sell a market financial products in 1:01:17.120 --> 1:01:22.600 northern New Jersey. And what luck, you know. And you know, 1:01:22.640 --> 1:01:25.120 I think he got my salary from like twenty six 1:01:25.160 --> 1:01:29.600 thousand to fifty eight thousand, which was ridiculous, you know. 1:01:30.560 --> 1:01:34.080 But I'm now in a new field, and I bounced 1:01:34.120 --> 1:01:38.680 around the financial services for a while, and I passed 1:01:38.720 --> 1:01:41.520 another audition as I had this really cool idea to 1:01:41.520 --> 1:01:45.240 invite people to the movies to correct new customers. You know, 1:01:45.240 --> 1:01:49.960 we were looking for mom and pop to come in 1:01:49.960 --> 1:01:53.040 and talk about their financial goals and do a financial plan. 1:01:53.560 --> 1:01:58.960 And so I invited them to the movies, your local cinema, 1:01:59.600 --> 1:02:01.880 and before for the movie, I would do a ten 1:02:01.920 --> 1:02:06.840 minute presentation on realizing life's streams through financial planning, and 1:02:06.840 --> 1:02:09.640 I would film movie theaters because everybody loves the movies. 1:02:10.400 --> 1:02:12.320 And out of that we would get a few appointments 1:02:12.880 --> 1:02:15.440 and people would come in to meet with financial planners 1:02:15.440 --> 1:02:18.400 and we did some good business that way. And one 1:02:18.480 --> 1:02:21.880 night an executive from Prudential. Again I'm from New Jersey. 1:02:21.920 --> 1:02:24.280 Prudential is one of the leading employers in New Jersey 1:02:24.280 --> 1:02:28.080 and a powerhouse is in the audience, and she calls 1:02:28.120 --> 1:02:30.880 me the next day says you should come work for 1:02:31.000 --> 1:02:35.880 me in Newark, the headquarters. So I did, and Lisa 1:02:35.960 --> 1:02:38.400 is still one of my best friends today. She was 1:02:38.640 --> 1:02:40.760 just with my daughter in London a couple of weeks ago. 1:02:42.040 --> 1:02:45.640 But Bob, I hated it. I hated financial services. It 1:02:45.720 --> 1:02:49.120 was not for me. I really fell. I was a 1:02:49.120 --> 1:02:53.960 young guy, still thirty and a daughter one on the way, 1:02:54.680 --> 1:02:55.240 and I'm a vice. 1:02:55.240 --> 1:02:57.200 Oh well, wait, just to take a side route here. 1:02:58.000 --> 1:03:02.560 Where do you meet your wife in when? Yeah, so 1:03:02.960 --> 1:03:03.840 I meet her. 1:03:04.320 --> 1:03:09.920 We both had a summer job in college, and we 1:03:10.120 --> 1:03:12.640 knew each other from the hallways of our summer job. 1:03:13.040 --> 1:03:19.040 And one Friday evening on Route seventeen in Paramus, New Jersey, 1:03:19.080 --> 1:03:22.680 there was a Compact disc World And you and many 1:03:22.720 --> 1:03:25.880 of your listeners recognize the power of compact discs and 1:03:25.920 --> 1:03:30.200 CDs in the late eighties early nineties, and how Friday 1:03:30.280 --> 1:03:34.120 was payday and you made a pilgrimager. I did CD 1:03:34.240 --> 1:03:37.480 World on Fridays to just get what I needed to get. 1:03:38.840 --> 1:03:44.080 And so as I'm browsing through the s's Springsteen Southside, 1:03:44.600 --> 1:03:48.560 little Steven Sinatra I am from New Jersey. She walks 1:03:48.600 --> 1:03:53.160 in and I recognize her from our summer job, and 1:03:53.280 --> 1:03:56.919 we talked for a few minutes. And then the next 1:03:57.000 --> 1:03:58.720 day we saw each other in the hall. What did 1:03:58.720 --> 1:04:04.080 you buy? Then we started trading CDs and now your 1:04:04.080 --> 1:04:09.040 two daughters later in all these years, so music again 1:04:09.280 --> 1:04:12.800 shows up in my life in an unexpected and surreptitious way. 1:04:20.880 --> 1:04:24.240 Okay, since you met her and she's your age contemporary, 1:04:25.440 --> 1:04:29.080 what was she doing career wise? And to what degree 1:04:29.800 --> 1:04:31.680 was she advising you on your career? 1:04:33.840 --> 1:04:41.480 So she spent thirty five years with a major accounting firm, 1:04:41.880 --> 1:04:43.960 one of the big I don't remember. I think it 1:04:44.040 --> 1:04:46.880 was Big eight when she started. He went to eight 1:04:47.000 --> 1:04:51.120 to five, you know, I don't know. She was with 1:04:51.160 --> 1:04:56.040 one of the last one standing just until recently. So 1:04:56.160 --> 1:05:01.040 thirty five years, and the gift that she gave us 1:05:01.720 --> 1:05:08.480 was stability. She was working from home before COVID, twenty 1:05:08.560 --> 1:05:11.360 years before COVID, and knew how to balance all that, 1:05:11.480 --> 1:05:14.520 do an incredible job and raise two remarkable young women, 1:05:14.960 --> 1:05:17.840 two daughters that I mentioned earlier, And so that was 1:05:17.880 --> 1:05:21.880 an incredible gift to us. And she was able through 1:05:22.040 --> 1:05:24.800 you know, the firm's generosity because she did great for them. 1:05:24.880 --> 1:05:28.120 They did great by her that we could move to 1:05:28.200 --> 1:05:30.600 the various places that I moved. Is this career arc 1:05:30.720 --> 1:05:33.560 that I'm walking you through or boring you with and 1:05:33.720 --> 1:05:37.920 starts to unfold and so an incredible gift that you 1:05:37.960 --> 1:05:40.439 know she received and that you know we were both 1:05:40.480 --> 1:05:41.120 fortunate to have. 1:05:42.080 --> 1:05:44.120 So she's a CPA, she is not. 1:05:44.640 --> 1:05:49.120 She she did a lot of the training and the 1:05:49.120 --> 1:05:53.440 things that CPAs and the firm needs to keep licensed 1:05:53.480 --> 1:05:57.000 and keep you know, keep them honest. 1:05:57.600 --> 1:06:01.880 Okay, so you're in financial services, you hate it? Yeah, 1:06:01.920 --> 1:06:05.000 so what's the next step. So I'm in the headquarters. 1:06:05.040 --> 1:06:06.200 I'm a vice president of. 1:06:06.080 --> 1:06:09.680 Marketing for Prudential. This should be the dream of every 1:06:09.720 --> 1:06:12.560 kid from New Jersey, right, you know the Devil's play 1:06:12.560 --> 1:06:15.800 in the Prudential Center, And it was, you know, I 1:06:15.880 --> 1:06:19.480 was bored of being bored because boredom is boredom. And 1:06:20.680 --> 1:06:22.960 a friend of mine calls me and says, hey, there's 1:06:22.960 --> 1:06:26.280 a company out of Dallas, Texas called foot Action that 1:06:26.440 --> 1:06:30.280 is relocating to Mahwan, New Jersey, and nobody wants to go. 1:06:31.960 --> 1:06:36.080 Nobody wants to relocate from Dallas to Mahwan, New Jersey. 1:06:37.200 --> 1:06:41.680 So you should talk to this guy that I know great. 1:06:42.280 --> 1:06:44.160 So I talked to this guy and it happens to 1:06:44.200 --> 1:06:49.480 be Willie Smith. Will Smith, not the Fresh Prince, but 1:06:49.640 --> 1:06:53.560 Will Smith, and he's the vice president of marketing for 1:06:53.840 --> 1:06:58.840 foot Action in mahwan, New Jersey. And will takes a 1:06:58.920 --> 1:07:02.680 chance on this financial services guy and I go backwards 1:07:02.760 --> 1:07:06.000 in life from a VP at thirty two years old 1:07:06.320 --> 1:07:10.160 to a director of marketing for foot Action. Foot Action 1:07:10.320 --> 1:07:14.800 still exists, but at the time it was the leading footwear, 1:07:14.960 --> 1:07:22.560 casual sneaker brand for young kids. And Bob within three months, 1:07:22.680 --> 1:07:25.600 I'm going from selling mutual funds, annuities, and long term 1:07:25.640 --> 1:07:32.360 care insurance to being on stage with Beyonce in Houston, Texas. 1:07:32.840 --> 1:07:35.680 I have a photo to prove it. A couple of 1:07:35.720 --> 1:07:38.479 weeks later, I'm on stage at the Apollo Theater because 1:07:38.560 --> 1:07:40.360 we worked with Nike, because we sell a lot of 1:07:40.440 --> 1:07:43.280 Jordan's and air Force ones, and we opened a new 1:07:43.280 --> 1:07:45.520 store on one hundred and twenty fifth Street, and the 1:07:45.560 --> 1:07:47.760 only way to get tickets to the Nike wake up 1:07:47.800 --> 1:07:50.280 call at the Apollo is to buy a pair of 1:07:50.360 --> 1:07:52.880 Nikes at our new foot Action store on one hundred 1:07:52.880 --> 1:07:56.560 and twenty fifth Street. I am living the dream as 1:07:56.600 --> 1:08:00.840 a music fan, as a footwear sneaker kid. You gotta 1:08:00.880 --> 1:08:02.760 be kidding me, like this is the greatest thing ever. 1:08:04.440 --> 1:08:06.880 And that didn't last too long because it was I 1:08:06.880 --> 1:08:10.320 guess eighteen months. Two years later, there was a giant, 1:08:10.400 --> 1:08:15.800 you know, town hall in the big Assembly area and 1:08:15.800 --> 1:08:21.559 we were told something's up. And if we were your 1:08:21.560 --> 1:08:23.599 brothers and sisters, we would tell you to get your 1:08:23.640 --> 1:08:28.559 resume together. And so I got my resume together, and 1:08:28.600 --> 1:08:32.280 so did Willie Smith. And Willie Smith ended up going 1:08:32.280 --> 1:08:39.080 out to Saint Louis, Missouri. He was a Rochelle New Rochelle, 1:08:39.160 --> 1:08:42.479 New Rock City kid and Long Island kid, and he 1:08:42.520 --> 1:08:44.400 moved out to Saint Louis to become the VP of 1:08:44.439 --> 1:08:47.719 Marketing for Famous Footwear, one of the leading family footwear 1:08:48.040 --> 1:08:50.720 brands in the United States. And he calls me up. 1:08:50.760 --> 1:08:53.440 It says, Ryles, you got to come out to Saint Louis. 1:08:52.920 --> 1:08:56.240 I'm not moving to Saint Louis. I'm from New Jersey? 1:08:56.280 --> 1:09:01.120 Are you kidding me? And let's put this. Willie is real, 1:09:01.680 --> 1:09:07.479 real persuasive, and so moved to Saint Louis, Missouri, and 1:09:08.400 --> 1:09:13.479 five years of incredible experience growth, learning a lot of 1:09:13.520 --> 1:09:17.840 things at Famous Footwear in Saint Louis, seeing incredible leaders too, 1:09:17.960 --> 1:09:21.280 like Diane Sullivan and others who are just showed me 1:09:21.520 --> 1:09:22.920 how to do things that I didn't know that I 1:09:22.960 --> 1:09:26.360 was going to have to do someday, because right now 1:09:26.360 --> 1:09:29.080 I'm already in all my life, I've outkicked my coverage. 1:09:30.360 --> 1:09:35.320 And now I'm in Saint Louis and incredible experience there, 1:09:35.360 --> 1:09:40.400 incredible life moments there. And then I go pay a 1:09:40.479 --> 1:09:45.639 visit to Crocs. Famous Footwear sells Crocs at the time, 1:09:45.680 --> 1:09:49.759 still does, And I fly out to Colorado, where Crocs 1:09:49.840 --> 1:09:54.800 is based just outside a boulder, and I go into 1:09:54.840 --> 1:09:58.320 the Crocs boardroom to do my you know, spiel of 1:09:58.720 --> 1:10:00.960 why you should be spending more money Famous Footwear to 1:10:00.960 --> 1:10:05.479 sell more Crocs. And I do my thing in the boardroom, leave, 1:10:06.280 --> 1:10:08.400 and two or three weeks later, I get a call 1:10:08.960 --> 1:10:13.080 from somebody at Crocs. We'd like you to be the 1:10:13.120 --> 1:10:16.600 guy that runs the America's marketing for Crocs, which you 1:10:16.680 --> 1:10:22.679 moved to Colorado. I'm not from Saint Louis. Colorado seems 1:10:22.680 --> 1:10:24.599 like a really cool place to live. My brother lives 1:10:24.600 --> 1:10:26.680 out here, as do my parents. They moved from New 1:10:26.760 --> 1:10:30.280 Jersey and the East Coast many years earlier, so let's 1:10:30.280 --> 1:10:32.599 give it a whirl. And we moved to Colorado and 1:10:32.920 --> 1:10:37.120 I'm the director of Marketing for Crocs and then the 1:10:37.240 --> 1:10:40.240 CMO for Crocs, and thanks to an incredible team, we 1:10:40.280 --> 1:10:41.160 turned that thing around. 1:10:41.960 --> 1:10:48.240 Okay, Ros had a real negative reputation. Okay, people were 1:10:48.240 --> 1:10:52.760 making jokes about them, plastic shoes, etc. Ay, why did 1:10:52.800 --> 1:10:57.719 you take the job? B was everybody on the same page. 1:10:57.880 --> 1:11:00.559 Something's got to change in what we were steps. 1:11:00.720 --> 1:11:04.640 Yeah, I took the job because it was a brand 1:11:06.800 --> 1:11:16.960 and people hated it. That smells like money. To me, Well, whoa, whoa, whoa. 1:11:17.520 --> 1:11:21.479 People hated it. That smells like money. Explain that. 1:11:22.280 --> 1:11:24.559 Yeah, So when I was the CMO of Crocs. When 1:11:24.560 --> 1:11:29.360 I started, there was a meme that had a photo 1:11:29.400 --> 1:11:33.920 of pair of Crocs and it said those holes are 1:11:34.000 --> 1:11:35.559 where your dignity leaks out. 1:11:39.560 --> 1:11:40.120 That's good. 1:11:40.960 --> 1:11:43.880 That hung on my wall. I looked at it every 1:11:43.960 --> 1:11:50.360 day as motivation. And again, nobody hated Crocs. It was 1:11:50.479 --> 1:11:52.360 just a brand that was made fun of and there 1:11:52.400 --> 1:11:55.400 was tension to that. And when there's that kind of tension, 1:11:55.800 --> 1:11:58.520 you know, as Reggie Jackson said, back in the seventies, 1:11:58.800 --> 1:12:04.599 they don't boo, nobody d and so aha, like there's 1:12:04.640 --> 1:12:08.760 something here and we just need to make ourselves more relevant. 1:12:08.960 --> 1:12:13.360 Crocs did not have an awareness problem. Everybody knew Crocs. 1:12:12.400 --> 1:12:16.280 But if we can make it more relevant, that was 1:12:16.439 --> 1:12:20.120 the opportunity. And thanks to my colleagues, we made it 1:12:20.160 --> 1:12:23.599 more relevant and then some and helped turn Crocs into 1:12:24.240 --> 1:12:28.839 this extraordinary story in footwear and in brands and in culture. 1:12:30.000 --> 1:12:33.400 And again, how lucky am I? You know, it's almost 1:12:33.479 --> 1:12:36.040 like Forrest Gump. I just bump into these things or 1:12:36.080 --> 1:12:40.479 they find me and you change Crocs and change my 1:12:40.520 --> 1:12:42.400 life in the biggest way. 1:12:43.120 --> 1:12:47.280 Okay, that's the general. Be more specific. Everyone knows Crocs. 1:12:47.560 --> 1:12:51.519 There's a negative take. What were the first steps and 1:12:51.640 --> 1:12:54.000 when did you realize you were onto something? And then 1:12:54.000 --> 1:12:56.200 where'd you go from there? Yeah? 1:12:56.240 --> 1:13:01.000 The first steps was actually to We brought Drew Barrymore 1:13:01.200 --> 1:13:07.000 on board and it was the first opportunity we had 1:13:07.080 --> 1:13:09.160 to work with celebrity. 1:13:08.880 --> 1:13:10.639 Whose idea was that. 1:13:11.360 --> 1:13:14.400 It was a mutual decision. Certainly, the CEO of Crocs 1:13:15.520 --> 1:13:19.200 and I spoke about one of the quickest ways to 1:13:19.320 --> 1:13:24.880 cut through is celebrity partnerships. That's just the fact they 1:13:24.920 --> 1:13:28.600 don't all work, but is the fastest way. And Drew Barrymore, 1:13:28.680 --> 1:13:32.840 God love her brought us an instant credibility with people. 1:13:33.120 --> 1:13:35.160 It just changed the perception of the brain. Oh that's 1:13:35.240 --> 1:13:37.440 Drew Barrymore. Wait are crocs? 1:13:37.720 --> 1:13:37.920 Wait? 1:13:37.960 --> 1:13:40.839 What's this CrOx? Maybe there's something that I've been missing. 1:13:41.800 --> 1:13:45.320 And she's just an absolutely lovely soul. And she was 1:13:45.360 --> 1:13:47.240 the first thing to help us put a flag in 1:13:47.280 --> 1:13:50.600 the ground. Where the other thing that happens, Bob is 1:13:51.720 --> 1:13:57.080 you know, the the Hollywood agencies, they smell blood in 1:13:57.080 --> 1:14:01.320 the water. CROs has some money. I wonder who else 1:14:01.360 --> 1:14:05.920 they'd consider hiring. And that she opened the doors for 1:14:06.000 --> 1:14:10.000 other celebrities to begin working with crocs, to also widen 1:14:10.040 --> 1:14:12.040 our aperture of who to work with to get a 1:14:12.080 --> 1:14:15.960 more global presence. People like John Cena we could started 1:14:15.960 --> 1:14:19.559 wearing crocs for us. Prianka Chopra also one of the 1:14:19.600 --> 1:14:23.760 loveliest women I've ever met in my entire life and kindest. 1:14:24.040 --> 1:14:26.960 She bought the whole crew when we wrapped, she bought 1:14:27.000 --> 1:14:29.280 them all champagne and toasted the crew. I mean just 1:14:30.760 --> 1:14:32.840 and so now people around the world are starting to see, 1:14:32.840 --> 1:14:35.800 wait that weird American brand that shoot with the holes 1:14:35.800 --> 1:14:39.719 in it. Drew Barrymore and John Cena and Priyanka Chopra 1:14:40.200 --> 1:14:43.720 and then some Asian superstars in Korea and China. But 1:14:43.840 --> 1:14:47.559 Drew Barrymore helped open that aperture and widen it where 1:14:47.560 --> 1:14:49.960 now the brand was in a little different spot and 1:14:50.040 --> 1:14:54.280 you could start to see those green shoots and then 1:14:54.760 --> 1:14:55.759 really the. 1:14:55.520 --> 1:15:01.280 The the the turning point, like this is the moment 1:15:01.320 --> 1:15:05.920 where the plot changes, you know, bang on the piano keys. 1:15:05.960 --> 1:15:11.000 Here a young woman named Toria Roth, twenty three years old. 1:15:11.960 --> 1:15:14.320 She walks into my office on the CMO of Crocs. 1:15:14.360 --> 1:15:17.439 She just finished her internship with us and we hired 1:15:17.479 --> 1:15:20.760 her on full time. She walks in my office, sheepishly 1:15:21.040 --> 1:15:24.280 knocks on my door, you know, the CMO's door, and says, hey, 1:15:24.400 --> 1:15:27.720 t did you see this? And she shows me a 1:15:27.760 --> 1:15:33.360 photo of post Malone wearing Crocs and I didn't see it. 1:15:33.600 --> 1:15:36.680 She saw it, and it didn't take more than two 1:15:36.760 --> 1:15:42.280 seconds to know what was up. And so Kerry Macker 1:15:42.520 --> 1:15:46.719 from Universal Music Group that represented post Malone, she gets 1:15:46.720 --> 1:15:51.920 in touch with us and we create the first celebrity 1:15:52.120 --> 1:15:56.680 collaboration with Crocs, the post Malones and it crashed our website. 1:15:57.080 --> 1:15:58.680 This is one of those moments, Bob, that I can 1:15:58.760 --> 1:16:01.640 see unfold and slow emotion. It's a big deal to 1:16:01.680 --> 1:16:04.519 the company. We've never done something like this before. We're 1:16:04.560 --> 1:16:07.040 about to go live at nine am in Colorado or 1:16:07.080 --> 1:16:10.479 ten am in Colorado. We get the entire company into 1:16:10.520 --> 1:16:13.439 the giant cafeteria assembly area. We have the big screens 1:16:13.520 --> 1:16:17.320 up with our data points to see this first sale, 1:16:17.360 --> 1:16:22.479 and and we go live and the system crashes. There 1:16:22.479 --> 1:16:25.880 were so many people. We were not prepared for it. 1:16:26.840 --> 1:16:29.960 And I'm the guy like, I'm the ringleader, the pt 1:16:30.120 --> 1:16:34.080 barnum of it all. And it was a mortifyingly excitingly 1:16:34.120 --> 1:16:39.280 incredible experience. I knew we just crashed crocs dot com. 1:16:39.320 --> 1:16:42.760 Everything changes from here on out, and it did. 1:16:43.920 --> 1:16:47.439 Okay, Just to go back a step, celebrities are not cheap. 1:16:48.439 --> 1:16:52.439 There are some companies with huge marketing budgets. Others don't 1:16:52.439 --> 1:16:55.680 believe in it. You know, how do you decide what 1:16:55.840 --> 1:16:59.240 percentage of you know, revenue to dedicate to these people 1:16:59.760 --> 1:17:02.680 in terms of return? Is there some math involved? It 1:17:02.840 --> 1:17:04.040 purely a hunch. 1:17:05.560 --> 1:17:07.920 For me, It's all the above. I do have an 1:17:07.960 --> 1:17:11.960 eye and thanks to Toria Roth. She saw this, and 1:17:12.040 --> 1:17:14.559 so post Malone at that moment was on the come up. 1:17:15.760 --> 1:17:24.280 So there were ways to afford Post Malone then. And 1:17:24.439 --> 1:17:27.920 the next up was Luke Combs. He hadn't hit yet, 1:17:28.520 --> 1:17:31.479 but I saw this guy through social media and just 1:17:32.000 --> 1:17:36.640 you know, just constant reading and you know that curiosity, 1:17:36.800 --> 1:17:39.439 and he started to appear in different places that I'm 1:17:39.439 --> 1:17:42.679 looking for new music, like okay, who's this Luke Combs guy? 1:17:42.680 --> 1:17:44.840 And then you see a photo of him, like this 1:17:44.920 --> 1:17:47.160 is a Crocs guy. So he was on the come 1:17:47.240 --> 1:17:50.080 up also, and so but then you do some math. 1:17:50.160 --> 1:17:53.000 You do how many Instagram followers they have, and if 1:17:53.560 --> 1:17:56.280 ten percent of those, you know, go to our website 1:17:56.360 --> 1:17:59.200 and five percent convert, what kind of dollars and cents 1:17:59.240 --> 1:18:02.320 could there be here? You do those kind of rough calculations, 1:18:02.320 --> 1:18:04.880 but it's also hunch. It's also kind of who their 1:18:04.920 --> 1:18:10.719 audience is and their trajectory. And that's happened a lot 1:18:10.880 --> 1:18:14.280 in my life of betting on folks and also being 1:18:14.479 --> 1:18:17.960 a leader who listens to you know, Torrio who's twenty three, 1:18:18.280 --> 1:18:21.519 or Pejor Rodriguez who came into my office. He grew 1:18:21.560 --> 1:18:24.479 up in Puerto Rico and he said, at do you 1:18:24.520 --> 1:18:27.800 know who bad Bunny is? And I didn't, but he did, 1:18:28.479 --> 1:18:30.559 and he knew the impact that bad Bunny would have 1:18:30.600 --> 1:18:34.160 for Crocs and he was right. And so to be 1:18:34.200 --> 1:18:36.880 a listener and a leader who's open to good ideas 1:18:36.960 --> 1:18:41.040 can come from anywhere has transformed brands. And if you're 1:18:41.080 --> 1:18:42.640 just close minded, and if you think you have all 1:18:42.680 --> 1:18:45.320 the answers, then you're probably not going to win. But 1:18:45.360 --> 1:18:46.719 you do have to have some of the answers. 1:18:48.240 --> 1:18:53.160 Okay, But there was the traditional Croc shoe back not 1:18:53.280 --> 1:18:55.960 long after the Croc started, they started to put fur 1:18:56.000 --> 1:18:59.040 on them and stuff like that. Forget that. You now 1:18:59.120 --> 1:19:03.839 have all the celebrities involved, you start changing the product. 1:19:04.400 --> 1:19:05.400 Show me about that. 1:19:05.760 --> 1:19:07.960 Sure, well, with a great product team, you know. So 1:19:08.040 --> 1:19:10.800 I was the CMO, not the chief product officer. But 1:19:10.880 --> 1:19:13.920 now it's a similar strategy. You build the core. And 1:19:14.360 --> 1:19:18.519 we returned under my marketing leadership, we returned to the 1:19:18.560 --> 1:19:21.559 classic Croc. Kroc was doing lots of different stuff when 1:19:21.560 --> 1:19:23.840 I got the gig, and we just brought it back 1:19:23.880 --> 1:19:27.200 to basics. And there you build the core and then 1:19:27.240 --> 1:19:31.479 you add more. And the fantastic product team started to, Yeah, 1:19:31.560 --> 1:19:34.600 put fuzz in crocs, which is a huge seller to 1:19:34.640 --> 1:19:38.559 this day. Add height do partnerships with Christopher Kaine or 1:19:38.560 --> 1:19:43.840 Balenciaga to get just that different kind of style. And 1:19:43.880 --> 1:19:47.919 then gibbets, those little things that you put in the holes, 1:19:48.479 --> 1:19:51.880 have been an incredible success story because it allows people 1:19:51.920 --> 1:19:54.800 to personalize their crocs, which is, you know, such a 1:19:54.880 --> 1:19:59.879 vital part of contemporary society. And so so the combination 1:20:00.080 --> 1:20:05.439 of new product introductions and celebrity partnerships and then it 1:20:05.479 --> 1:20:08.439 became like the Got Milk Mustache bob where everybody wanted 1:20:08.479 --> 1:20:13.320 to wear the milk mustache and almost any celebrity or 1:20:13.320 --> 1:20:17.000 brand that we called who wanted to create their own crocs. 1:20:17.280 --> 1:20:22.800 And that's something that is still an active success story today. 1:20:23.120 --> 1:20:25.720 Ye know, from my perspective, the gibbets started with the 1:20:25.760 --> 1:20:29.799 public and then you got involved. Is that an accurate description. 1:20:31.240 --> 1:20:36.400 No, We started to we were photographing our shoes naked, 1:20:37.400 --> 1:20:40.240 which makes no sense. We were selling gibbets, but we 1:20:40.240 --> 1:20:43.000 were not photographing them and not encouraging people to do that. 1:20:43.160 --> 1:20:45.799 So we got behind it and then our fans started 1:20:45.840 --> 1:20:47.439 to take over, and that's when you know a hit. 1:20:47.520 --> 1:20:51.240 You know, our fans started to label Crocs fully loaded, 1:20:51.600 --> 1:20:54.599 you know, when you fill all twenty six holes with gibbets, 1:20:54.600 --> 1:20:58.040 and it allows people to express themselves. And that's another 1:20:58.360 --> 1:21:01.720 key component of Crocs's success is the ability to just 1:21:01.800 --> 1:21:05.639 personalize something you wear and extend your own personality, whatever 1:21:05.680 --> 1:21:09.120 that may be to the brand. And our product team 1:21:09.240 --> 1:21:12.920 just continued to innovate and still does at Crocs. And 1:21:12.960 --> 1:21:17.200 it changed my life where people started writing articles about me, 1:21:17.520 --> 1:21:20.599 which again, how did this happen to this guy from 1:21:20.640 --> 1:21:25.040 New Jersey? But it did. And then I got a 1:21:25.080 --> 1:21:31.880 call about his bottle company called Stanley that nobody had 1:21:31.880 --> 1:21:36.639 heard of, including myself. But you know, it's not every 1:21:36.680 --> 1:21:39.519 day that they're calling a CMO for a president's job. 1:21:41.479 --> 1:21:45.960 And I should go for it. I should try and 1:21:46.000 --> 1:21:48.479 grab this breast ring this guy from you know, but 1:21:48.600 --> 1:21:50.760 for the grace of God. You know, my father was 1:21:50.800 --> 1:21:54.360 a typewriter repair man into an executive. But for the 1:21:54.400 --> 1:21:56.920 grace of God, I'd be walking a beat somewhere. You know, 1:21:59.080 --> 1:22:02.280 President me, Let's give it. 1:22:02.320 --> 1:22:06.679 A whirl a little bit slower. You get an email 1:22:06.760 --> 1:22:09.400 or the phone ring as they say, what and how 1:22:09.400 --> 1:22:11.240 do you ultimately decide to take the job. 1:22:12.160 --> 1:22:14.800 Well, it was a similar experience to CROCS. So now 1:22:14.880 --> 1:22:17.160 I knew when I joined CROCS it did not have 1:22:17.200 --> 1:22:23.320 an awareness problem, had a relevance opportunity. Stanley had an 1:22:23.360 --> 1:22:28.200 awareness opportunity. It's a you know, one hundred year old brand, 1:22:28.520 --> 1:22:31.360 just known for quality, known for this green bottle that 1:22:31.400 --> 1:22:36.040 people love. It's been in you know, it's probably somewhere 1:22:36.080 --> 1:22:39.360 in you know, Connecticut or you know where you grew 1:22:39.400 --> 1:22:43.679 up in somebody's attic, somebody's garage, and most people didn't 1:22:43.680 --> 1:22:45.719 even know it. It was like, oh, yeah, that that''s 1:22:45.760 --> 1:22:48.080 that green bottle that my dad used to have. Well, 1:22:48.120 --> 1:22:50.280 my mom she took it to school every day where 1:22:50.280 --> 1:22:52.320 her soup. She was a teacher back in the sixties 1:22:52.439 --> 1:22:55.040 or so. All right, wait a minute, this is a 1:22:55.200 --> 1:22:58.639 there's a heritage here. How cool is that to get 1:22:58.680 --> 1:23:01.960 the keys to that kind of thing. So if we 1:23:01.960 --> 1:23:06.960 can make it relevant and increase the awareness, we might 1:23:06.960 --> 1:23:08.439 be able to do something. And this might be a 1:23:08.520 --> 1:23:11.880 really interesting president's job, which I shouldn't have no business having. 1:23:13.720 --> 1:23:14.680 How did they find you? 1:23:16.880 --> 1:23:18.920 I think as yeah, it was a search firm, you know, 1:23:19.000 --> 1:23:21.120 because I started to get a little attention for the 1:23:21.160 --> 1:23:24.320 Crux success. You know, undeserved attention. But you know, it's 1:23:24.400 --> 1:23:26.400 like a quarterback. You get the attention, you get the blame. 1:23:27.120 --> 1:23:29.920 And so people started to see what was happening at CROCS, 1:23:29.960 --> 1:23:33.680 and my name was, you know, somewhat attached to it. 1:23:34.040 --> 1:23:35.920 And so I was getting lots of calls for other 1:23:36.000 --> 1:23:40.160 CMO jobs and all things like that, President mat you know, 1:23:41.479 --> 1:23:44.200 so I thought I was going to be Governor Corleone, 1:23:44.520 --> 1:23:49.200 President Corloni. Yeah, so let's go for it, and that 1:23:49.800 --> 1:23:52.360 it turned out. I decided to do it in February 1:23:52.400 --> 1:23:53.160 of twenty twenty. 1:23:54.720 --> 1:24:07.519 Uh oh, okay, just to stay on this, ay, where 1:24:07.600 --> 1:24:09.320 is Stanley located? 1:24:10.000 --> 1:24:12.599 B how much revenue in a year? 1:24:13.560 --> 1:24:18.679 So Stanley's based in Seattle, Washington. And when I joined, 1:24:19.200 --> 1:24:23.559 Stanley was a seventy million dollar brand known for the 1:24:23.760 --> 1:24:27.960 Hammertone Green bottle. That's an American classic. You know, if 1:24:28.000 --> 1:24:31.080 you watch the Festivut episode of Seinfeld, Kramer's got it 1:24:31.120 --> 1:24:33.760 in his pocket. If you've watched Off the Space when 1:24:33.760 --> 1:24:37.599 they keep moving Milton and his Stapler, he's got his Stanley. 1:24:37.920 --> 1:24:41.080 The Hammertone Green is bedrock and helped build America. 1:24:42.000 --> 1:24:45.879 Okay, a couple other questions, FIRA, way, what other products 1:24:45.920 --> 1:24:46.760 does Stanley have. 1:24:47.160 --> 1:24:53.080 Yeah, lunchboxes, different drinkwear, specializing in drinkwear and lunchboxes, and 1:24:53.080 --> 1:24:56.720 then outdoor camping gear. You know how many you know, 1:24:57.640 --> 1:25:00.280 meals were made around the fire in the outdoor with 1:25:00.400 --> 1:25:03.519 Stanley over the last you know, seventy five hundred years. 1:25:04.040 --> 1:25:08.280 Is part again of American heritage and tradition. So so 1:25:08.600 --> 1:25:13.400 I know that that exists and quality. It's known for 1:25:13.640 --> 1:25:18.080 just quality and a real rabid core fan base is 1:25:18.120 --> 1:25:23.640 almost the wrong word, you know, just and advocates and 1:25:24.920 --> 1:25:27.559 just lovers of the brand. And it almost like a 1:25:27.600 --> 1:25:31.120 family heirloom and an inheritance. My dad was a Stanley man, 1:25:31.160 --> 1:25:33.599 my mom was a Stanley woman. That kind of thing. 1:25:34.080 --> 1:25:37.480 Okay, so you get the job. You're living in Colorado. 1:25:37.640 --> 1:25:41.479 The companies in Seattle, it's February of twenty twenty. Yeah, 1:25:41.520 --> 1:25:44.840 do they say you have to move? What happens on 1:25:44.880 --> 1:25:47.080 that level? And obviously it's the beginning of COVID. 1:25:47.280 --> 1:25:50.840 Yeah, so was planning on moving to Seattle, had a 1:25:50.840 --> 1:25:55.120 place downtown ready to roll. And then March or twenty 1:25:55.120 --> 1:26:00.719 twenty hits and this is I accepted in right before 1:26:00.760 --> 1:26:04.760 COVID and then COVID hits and I join first week 1:26:04.800 --> 1:26:09.320 in April. And my first reaction is what did I 1:26:09.400 --> 1:26:13.720 just do to my life? This high flying? I'm not 1:26:13.760 --> 1:26:16.160 high flying at all, Bob, I'm a CMO that's had 1:26:16.200 --> 1:26:18.920 some success at CROCS. What did I just do to 1:26:18.960 --> 1:26:22.120 my life? There is no office to go to, Seattle 1:26:22.200 --> 1:26:26.920 is closed. You got to remember, like in twenty twenty, 1:26:26.960 --> 1:26:31.240 none of us were on teams or we're just zoom 1:26:31.479 --> 1:26:35.240 like it was occasionally, And so what did I just 1:26:35.280 --> 1:26:40.280 do to my career? To my life? But you know, 1:26:40.360 --> 1:26:45.000 I made a decision. We're in it and back to listening. 1:26:45.800 --> 1:26:48.080 So one of the things that you do when you're 1:26:48.080 --> 1:26:51.080 a new leader I hope people do, is you listen 1:26:51.080 --> 1:26:53.719 to your team what should we stop? Start and continue? 1:26:55.360 --> 1:27:01.479 And on a Friday afternoon, I check in with Lauren Solomon, 1:27:01.680 --> 1:27:06.800 who is one of Stanley's brilliant saleswomen, and I asked 1:27:06.800 --> 1:27:08.560 that question, wh should we stop, start and continue? And 1:27:08.600 --> 1:27:13.080 I've listened to lots of people, and Lauren says, there 1:27:13.120 --> 1:27:17.160 are these three women in Utah that she has become 1:27:17.200 --> 1:27:22.519 aware of that have been actually buying this forty ounce 1:27:22.600 --> 1:27:26.120 adventure tumbler of ours and selling it on their own 1:27:27.720 --> 1:27:35.880 and they're seeing some success. So my CROCS instincts immediately crackle. Okay, 1:27:35.920 --> 1:27:38.280 wait what is this? Who are these? And she tells 1:27:38.280 --> 1:27:41.040 me about these three women who call themselves the buy 1:27:41.120 --> 1:27:44.559 Guide out in Utah and that they had taken a 1:27:44.600 --> 1:27:50.240 liking to this quencher, and so the team immediately starts to. 1:27:50.280 --> 1:27:52.519 Do it, just because we're going back there, firewing. How 1:27:52.520 --> 1:27:53.599 many were they buy. 1:27:54.240 --> 1:27:58.200 Hundreds on their own dime and they were taking the risk, 1:28:00.040 --> 1:28:04.160 and so they were seeing success. And so they had 1:28:04.160 --> 1:28:06.439 their own following of a few, you know, million or 1:28:06.439 --> 1:28:09.479 so followers on the by Guide, and we're telling their 1:28:09.600 --> 1:28:12.880 followers how much they loved this product. And so, again 1:28:12.920 --> 1:28:14.880 back to what I had just done at CROCS, I 1:28:14.960 --> 1:28:18.120 recognize this pattern thanks to Lauren pointing it out and 1:28:18.160 --> 1:28:20.320 the risks that the buy Guide were taking on their 1:28:20.360 --> 1:28:23.800 own before I showed up. But this is this is 1:28:23.840 --> 1:28:27.320 gold dust to me. And so we make an arrangement 1:28:27.360 --> 1:28:32.719 with the buy Guide to have them further evangelize this product, 1:28:33.720 --> 1:28:36.439 and then with them we started to create new colors. 1:28:37.920 --> 1:28:40.679 What does that look like? Further evangelize the product? 1:28:40.960 --> 1:28:44.639 Oh, to get really behind and get paid for it 1:28:45.040 --> 1:28:49.320 instead of taking the risk getting compensated for the bet 1:28:49.320 --> 1:28:51.320 that they had already made on this little product on 1:28:51.360 --> 1:28:56.360 their own and help us start something. And that's how 1:28:56.400 --> 1:29:00.439 it works. That's social media in a nutshell. And so 1:29:00.479 --> 1:29:04.320 we started to sell a few thousand and then lots 1:29:04.360 --> 1:29:09.479 of thousands, all on Stanley nineteen thirteen dot com. And 1:29:09.560 --> 1:29:14.280 so certainly the margins are great. They're getting they're getting 1:29:14.280 --> 1:29:17.160 a taste, as we would say back in New Jersey, 1:29:17.840 --> 1:29:22.960 and we got ourselves a little hit. And then we 1:29:23.040 --> 1:29:26.719 started to introduce a new another new color or two. 1:29:26.840 --> 1:29:29.280 And then with this, armed with this data, we could 1:29:29.280 --> 1:29:31.240 go to some of our key accounts that were just 1:29:31.320 --> 1:29:37.080 carrying the traditional Stanley's. So we're seeing this unlocked with 1:29:37.160 --> 1:29:41.040 young women. You should give us two feet of shelf space, 1:29:42.640 --> 1:29:46.320 and they did, and that two feet became six feet, 1:29:46.479 --> 1:29:49.240 became eight feet, which became an entire corner of Dick 1:29:49.320 --> 1:29:55.120 sporting goods and the cultural phenomenon that became the Stanley Quencher. 1:29:55.720 --> 1:29:58.200 I was born exactly like I described it, more or less, 1:29:58.360 --> 1:30:02.800 and new colors, new surprises, new collaborations, and what the 1:30:02.880 --> 1:30:06.720 crux experience that I had. I know how to do 1:30:06.760 --> 1:30:08.599 some of this stuff. I know how this should work. 1:30:09.560 --> 1:30:13.759 And we got after collaborations that also changed the entire 1:30:15.120 --> 1:30:16.599 you know, complexion of the brand. 1:30:17.920 --> 1:30:22.759 Okay, a little bit more granular. You're having this reaction 1:30:23.160 --> 1:30:26.440 from the Women in Utah. You're selling on the website. 1:30:26.720 --> 1:30:29.639 You go to Dick's give us a chance than. 1:30:29.600 --> 1:30:32.880 What we gave, point to lots of places to say, 1:30:32.880 --> 1:30:35.400 give us a bigger chance. But we had the math, 1:30:36.320 --> 1:30:39.080 you know, thanks to our team, thanks to Matt and 1:30:39.520 --> 1:30:44.680 Helen and others. They were carefully managing these relationships to 1:30:44.800 --> 1:30:48.800 start to grow it out. But we had the data 1:30:49.240 --> 1:30:51.720 and so that was another part of the magic. It 1:30:51.760 --> 1:30:54.240 was all happening on heydude dot com and now we 1:30:54.240 --> 1:30:57.519 can share it. So it was a safer bet for 1:30:57.680 --> 1:31:00.479 these big retailers to start to take a chance on us, 1:31:01.120 --> 1:31:03.919 and for some of these brands, and for Stanley, for everybody. 1:31:04.200 --> 1:31:08.080 It's been one of the biggest success stories of this century. 1:31:08.320 --> 1:31:12.040 Uh oh, okay, you got the Women in Utah. Now 1:31:12.080 --> 1:31:15.920 you're selling on the website. You have these accounts Dix 1:31:15.960 --> 1:31:20.959 and other plane what is driving adoption? What is driving sales? 1:31:22.120 --> 1:31:25.800 Well, shelf space for one, and then the use of 1:31:25.800 --> 1:31:31.120 social media. The buy Guide in particular, starts to get 1:31:31.160 --> 1:31:34.880 us started in the influencer and affiliate game where we 1:31:34.920 --> 1:31:37.960 could work with other beyond the buy Guide, affiliates and 1:31:38.040 --> 1:31:42.080 influencers to start to evangelize this product. And it also 1:31:42.120 --> 1:31:44.840 starts the fact that it's an incredible product. I mean 1:31:44.880 --> 1:31:48.880 it starts there. It serves so many purposes, but then 1:31:49.040 --> 1:31:51.920 it just becomes a cultural phenomenon through our use of 1:31:52.120 --> 1:31:57.000 social media to evangelize it. There was no TV, there 1:31:57.080 --> 1:32:03.200 was no radio, There was hardly any traditional marketing behind 1:32:03.479 --> 1:32:07.960 the Stanley product. It was all through influencers and affiliates 1:32:07.960 --> 1:32:12.080 and women. And like I said earlier, women create community. 1:32:12.320 --> 1:32:19.040 They decide what is cool, and they chose authentically the 1:32:19.240 --> 1:32:23.200 Stanley Quencher, and off it went. And then we would 1:32:23.200 --> 1:32:31.560 certainly fan the flames with new colors, new accessories, new partnerships. 1:32:32.280 --> 1:32:36.040 I was on TikTok back to not turning the television 1:32:36.040 --> 1:32:41.120 on anymore. I was scrolling through TikTok one afternoon and 1:32:42.120 --> 1:32:45.080 video crossed my for you page of a young artist 1:32:45.200 --> 1:32:50.200 singing to a pretty sizable audience, and the video was 1:32:50.200 --> 1:32:54.439 taken from behind her, behind the stage. And let's just 1:32:54.439 --> 1:32:57.559 say the video made its rounds because of this artist's 1:32:57.640 --> 1:33:03.960 rather ample backside, And so I then saw a video 1:33:04.120 --> 1:33:09.400 of this artist commenting on that video and she referred 1:33:09.400 --> 1:33:14.000 to her backside as her dump truck. I was like, 1:33:14.120 --> 1:33:16.240 who is this woman? Like, she's so first of all, 1:33:16.240 --> 1:33:19.680 she's beautiful, second of all, she's just cool and is 1:33:19.840 --> 1:33:23.600 own this and take ownership of this kind of misogynistic 1:33:24.680 --> 1:33:29.320 leering video that was on TikTok And wow, who is 1:33:29.360 --> 1:33:33.880 this woman? So I saw her name and my next 1:33:33.880 --> 1:33:37.599 move is I go to Spotify and I find her. 1:33:37.640 --> 1:33:42.519 On Spotify, I find her latest release. I go down 1:33:42.560 --> 1:33:45.640 the track listing and I see one of the tracks 1:33:46.120 --> 1:33:53.720 is called Watermelon Moonshine. And with my eyeball, bob, Watermelon 1:33:53.800 --> 1:34:01.120 Moonshine is a Stanley Quencher color. So I write Ellen 1:34:01.600 --> 1:34:03.639 on our team, on our product team, I said, hey, 1:34:03.640 --> 1:34:07.920 can you please create a watermelon moonshine color Quencher. You 1:34:07.960 --> 1:34:12.120 can't be wrong, And within two days she fires me 1:34:12.240 --> 1:34:17.240 back a cad of a watermelon Moonshine Quencher. And I 1:34:17.280 --> 1:34:21.240 reach out to this artist's label on LinkedIn. I connect 1:34:21.280 --> 1:34:24.960 with Donna McQueen and I said, hey, would you be 1:34:25.040 --> 1:34:29.680 interested in a Stanley Laney Wilson collaboration because what do 1:34:29.720 --> 1:34:32.960 you have in mind, and I said, how about watermelon moonshine, 1:34:35.400 --> 1:34:38.920 and off we went, sold out twice in less than 1:34:38.920 --> 1:34:45.320 two minutes, and the unboxing videos of Laney Wilson watermelon 1:34:45.360 --> 1:34:51.840 Moonshine quenchers were everywhere in twenty twenty two. So it's 1:34:51.840 --> 1:34:54.040 these kind of things that just continued to ignite it. 1:34:54.479 --> 1:34:57.760 And then lots of other artists and brand collaborations from 1:34:58.200 --> 1:35:02.680 love Shack Fancy to Wicked, to Olivia Rodrigo to too 1:35:02.680 --> 1:35:06.639 many to count, all similar to Crocs wanted their own 1:35:06.680 --> 1:35:11.679 Stanley quencher. And then we were parodied on Saturday Night Live, 1:35:13.560 --> 1:35:17.080 and then there are riots and target over the latest release, 1:35:19.560 --> 1:35:22.479 and then it's all over the world. And then of 1:35:22.520 --> 1:35:27.320 course there's the fire response video that I made that 1:35:28.960 --> 1:35:33.000 people write about still every single day, which was back 1:35:33.040 --> 1:35:38.120 to TikTok, my adoption of TikTok personally and moving fast. 1:35:39.360 --> 1:35:41.720 Tell that story because not everybody's familiar with it. 1:35:43.000 --> 1:35:48.559 So one Wednesday afternoon, I forwarded by somebody on our 1:35:48.600 --> 1:35:52.479 team a TikTok video of a woman who's car caught 1:35:52.520 --> 1:35:58.400 on fire, and she shows the camera her car's caught 1:35:58.439 --> 1:36:01.880 on fire, and in the couple is her Stanley and 1:36:01.920 --> 1:36:04.360 she pulls it out of the cup holder and shakes 1:36:04.400 --> 1:36:08.160 it and it still has ice in it after a 1:36:08.200 --> 1:36:12.040 car fire. So somebody sent that video to me on 1:36:12.040 --> 1:36:16.680 a Wednesday, and Wednesday night I wrote the team and 1:36:16.680 --> 1:36:20.240 said I'm going to buy her a car. I we 1:36:22.240 --> 1:36:24.720 and the next morning, Thursday morning, I roll into the 1:36:24.760 --> 1:36:27.960 office in Seattle, and I asked Chloe, one of our 1:36:28.000 --> 1:36:31.200 young marketing associates, to get the phone that has our 1:36:31.240 --> 1:36:34.160 TikTok account on it. You know, we have a Stanley 1:36:34.160 --> 1:36:38.000 phone at the time. It's not my phone. Said bring 1:36:38.000 --> 1:36:41.799 it into the boardroom with me and merchandise some products 1:36:41.800 --> 1:36:44.240 behind me. And I said, hold the phone up like 1:36:44.280 --> 1:36:47.960 it's a selfie. And I said what I said live, 1:36:48.280 --> 1:36:52.240 no scripts, no briefings, no nonsense. It was just what 1:36:52.400 --> 1:36:54.760 I think anybody would have done if they happened to 1:36:54.800 --> 1:36:58.679 be the president of the brand. That this woman has 1:36:58.720 --> 1:37:02.960 featured our product in the most heroic way a car 1:37:03.000 --> 1:37:07.320 fire and there's still ice in the Stanley. And I respond, 1:37:07.360 --> 1:37:10.720 I don't remember exactly what I said anymore, but Danielle, 1:37:10.720 --> 1:37:14.599 I hope you're safe. Thanks for showing the product in 1:37:14.640 --> 1:37:18.519 such a wonderful manner. People keep writing that we should 1:37:18.520 --> 1:37:21.519 buy you some new Stanley's. Well, we're certainly going to 1:37:21.560 --> 1:37:24.479 buy you some new Stanleys, but we also want to 1:37:24.479 --> 1:37:30.040 replace your vehicle. And I had to Chloe press send. 1:37:31.240 --> 1:37:35.040 She said, are you sure? Said yes, and she pressed send, 1:37:35.200 --> 1:37:37.639 and then it was like a movie. I went back 1:37:37.680 --> 1:37:40.839 around my day. But then people started texting me Tea, 1:37:41.040 --> 1:37:43.960 you know, you're blowing up on TikTok. No, my daughter, Dad, 1:37:44.479 --> 1:37:47.800 you know, like you're blowing up on TikTok and Bob. 1:37:47.840 --> 1:37:51.840 One hundred million views later, people know that video. They've 1:37:51.840 --> 1:37:54.000 seen it too many times to count in too many languages, 1:37:54.080 --> 1:37:58.559 languages I don't even recognize. Well stopped in airports from people, 1:38:00.600 --> 1:38:04.880 and it solidified the quality of the product. That's what 1:38:04.920 --> 1:38:08.840 it was about, and taking care of a consumer who 1:38:08.920 --> 1:38:10.880 we care about. And she was a fan of ours, 1:38:10.880 --> 1:38:13.920 and I like to think anybody would have done that. 1:38:13.960 --> 1:38:16.400 I just did it the next day, and I just 1:38:16.479 --> 1:38:18.960 did it. I didn't script it. I just said it. 1:38:19.160 --> 1:38:21.000 And maybe that's why I connected, which is what I 1:38:21.000 --> 1:38:24.960 said earlier. It's authentic, genuine and fast and off it went, 1:38:25.040 --> 1:38:27.160 and it helped change the complexion of a brand that 1:38:27.200 --> 1:38:27.880 was already winning. 1:38:29.680 --> 1:38:33.360 Okay, how did you get her the money, how did 1:38:33.439 --> 1:38:35.559 she buy the car and what car did she get? 1:38:36.680 --> 1:38:38.559 So we got in touch with her obviously through TikTok, 1:38:38.560 --> 1:38:40.920 because she'd seen the response, of course and was blown 1:38:40.960 --> 1:38:43.920 away by the response. And we just got in touch 1:38:43.960 --> 1:38:46.679 with her and we asked her what car she wanted 1:38:47.120 --> 1:38:49.120 and she told us, I can't remember what. We got 1:38:49.160 --> 1:38:55.519 her a Mazda, a Mazda something, and we contacted the 1:38:55.560 --> 1:38:58.840 local dealer where she lived in the Washington, d C. 1:39:00.080 --> 1:39:03.880 Maryland area, and we told the dealership we want to 1:39:03.880 --> 1:39:06.080 buy it. Let's take care of it all and put 1:39:06.080 --> 1:39:08.599 the big red ribbon on it and bring it to her. 1:39:09.800 --> 1:39:13.400 And we did that within four to six weeks of 1:39:13.439 --> 1:39:18.559 that first video and delivered on our promise, my promise, 1:39:19.439 --> 1:39:22.840 and really, you know, solidify the quality of the brand 1:39:22.840 --> 1:39:25.360 where that video is still shown every single day. I 1:39:25.400 --> 1:39:28.200 had a funny story. One of my best friend Sons 1:39:28.280 --> 1:39:32.600 is a sophomore at Elon in North Carolina, and he 1:39:32.720 --> 1:39:36.519 texted me a photo of me on his classroom screen 1:39:36.880 --> 1:39:42.080 that were talking about marketing, you know moments, and like, 1:39:42.120 --> 1:39:44.280 you know, Terrence, they're talking about you in my class 1:39:44.400 --> 1:39:49.080 So that's cool. So it's just it's continually talked about 1:39:49.200 --> 1:39:52.320 is like a smart marketing move, and it was just 1:39:52.360 --> 1:39:55.080 a real thing. It wasn't of course, it was marketing. 1:39:55.120 --> 1:39:57.360 I'm not stupid. People aren't stupid. But it was just 1:39:57.400 --> 1:40:01.280 a real reaction to something. And you see opportunity for 1:40:01.400 --> 1:40:04.680 your brand when it's reinforcing your quality and taking care 1:40:04.720 --> 1:40:05.439 of a customer. 1:40:06.840 --> 1:40:11.840 Okay, so the change in sales dollar wise for the 1:40:11.840 --> 1:40:12.639 Stanley Cup. 1:40:14.080 --> 1:40:16.280 Yeah, So, as I said earlier, when I joined in 1:40:16.320 --> 1:40:21.320 twenty twenty, Stanley was a seventy million dollar business and 1:40:21.360 --> 1:40:23.840 as you know, we reported at the end of twenty 1:40:23.880 --> 1:40:27.519 twenty four we were seven hundred and fifty million, so 1:40:27.920 --> 1:40:30.519 you know, ten x in four years, and I'm sure 1:40:31.920 --> 1:40:35.960 those numbers continued in twenty twenty five, so seventy to 1:40:36.000 --> 1:40:40.200 seven hundred and fifty million in four years. But beyond 1:40:40.200 --> 1:40:43.680 the dollars, it's the you know what, people don't even 1:40:43.760 --> 1:40:46.559 know how many times throughout my tenure there and even 1:40:46.560 --> 1:40:50.120 to this day, people just refer to it as a Stanley, 1:40:51.600 --> 1:40:55.000 like do you know, like the how amazing that is 1:40:55.720 --> 1:40:58.160 that people refer to it as like Q tip or 1:40:58.240 --> 1:41:03.360 Kleenex or z it's the Stanley Like that is the 1:41:04.320 --> 1:41:06.720 that's the case study and all the things that we 1:41:06.760 --> 1:41:08.760 did as a team to do that. Why know me, 1:41:08.840 --> 1:41:11.280 It wasn't me, It was all of us at Stanley. 1:41:11.720 --> 1:41:14.200 I made some big decisions, hired some great people that 1:41:14.439 --> 1:41:18.960 ran with things and made it better. But the fact 1:41:19.000 --> 1:41:21.880 that it's just known around the world and it's known 1:41:21.960 --> 1:41:27.360 in silhouette as a Stanley that is an incredible thing 1:41:27.800 --> 1:41:30.280 to have been a part of. And what I shake 1:41:30.320 --> 1:41:33.400 my head in disbelief no matter where I go, Bob. 1:41:33.439 --> 1:41:36.880 Like I was at a college campus giving a little 1:41:36.880 --> 1:41:41.320 presentation a couple of months ago, and walking around the 1:41:41.320 --> 1:41:45.920 campus before my presentation, I saw nine Stanley's, six pair 1:41:45.960 --> 1:41:50.280 of crocs and four hey dudes, And I started my 1:41:50.320 --> 1:41:55.080 presentation saying, what's nine plus six plus four? And all 1:41:55.080 --> 1:41:58.240 these eager college students raised their hand to yell out 1:41:58.320 --> 1:42:05.200 nineteen like really really, like now that's my career history 1:42:05.240 --> 1:42:08.960 on your campus right this morning I saw nine Crocs, 1:42:09.000 --> 1:42:12.040 six stand or whatever, and and do you want to 1:42:12.040 --> 1:42:14.120 know how it happened? And that kind of story. 1:42:14.360 --> 1:42:17.639 So, so how about the other Stanley products? 1:42:18.760 --> 1:42:21.320 Yeah, well, the rising tide lifts all boats, right, so 1:42:22.000 --> 1:42:25.040 you know, Stanley became some of the fun stuff was 1:42:25.080 --> 1:42:30.639 seeing dads who have their green Stanley convincing their daughters 1:42:30.680 --> 1:42:33.120 on TikTok that these daughters like, Dad, I need to Stanley. 1:42:33.160 --> 1:42:36.560 This is new, this new company is new, and it's like, sweetie, 1:42:36.920 --> 1:42:39.960 like I've had this Stanley for forty years, or this 1:42:40.080 --> 1:42:43.200 was your grandfather's Wait no it wasn't, dad like those 1:42:43.280 --> 1:42:46.040 kind of fun things to enhance the brand, and then 1:42:46.080 --> 1:42:49.679 new product introductions back to build the core and add more. 1:42:49.920 --> 1:42:51.839 In this case, we did it a little bit differently. 1:42:51.880 --> 1:42:55.519 We started from the outer and worked in to increase 1:42:55.600 --> 1:43:00.920 all the different categories that Stanley had and it's incredible 1:43:00.960 --> 1:43:04.120 success story beyond just the Quencher, but the Quencher is 1:43:04.160 --> 1:43:09.400 a global phenomenon that is a real incredible thing that 1:43:09.400 --> 1:43:09.960 the team did. 1:43:10.880 --> 1:43:13.479 Okay, you're no longer there, although you're there for a while. 1:43:14.360 --> 1:43:17.479 How do you prevent it from being a fad? 1:43:19.680 --> 1:43:25.360 By introducing newness, by continuing to surprise and delight with 1:43:25.479 --> 1:43:32.280 new collaborations with new colors, materials, finishes, accessories, all of 1:43:32.320 --> 1:43:35.439 those ways, and then great merchandising too, you know, and 1:43:35.479 --> 1:43:40.320 with you know, great partners who are giving you shelf space. 1:43:40.439 --> 1:43:47.120 For two to really give authenticity and you know, so 1:43:47.160 --> 1:43:51.280 many brands, so many consumers look for their retailers to 1:43:51.360 --> 1:43:56.000 give them the to be the editor right of this 1:43:56.080 --> 1:43:58.360 is what's cool, this is what they should have. And 1:43:58.360 --> 1:44:01.200 when you've got that incredible shelf space, you want to 1:44:01.240 --> 1:44:06.320 continue to innovate around it and build scarcity. That was 1:44:06.360 --> 1:44:09.080 the other thing that we did really really well at 1:44:09.200 --> 1:44:11.880 Stanley and Crocs. What I learned at Crocs. You know, 1:44:11.920 --> 1:44:14.160 the reason why the post malone sold out in a 1:44:14.200 --> 1:44:16.920 second is because there weren't a lot of them. And 1:44:17.040 --> 1:44:21.439 people want what they cannot have. And so the more 1:44:21.479 --> 1:44:24.599 you do that, you don't want to frustrate that could 1:44:24.600 --> 1:44:28.840 happen to but you want to people want what they 1:44:28.880 --> 1:44:31.400 cannot have, and so when you balance that really well, 1:44:31.720 --> 1:44:35.200 it extends things. But also it has to be a 1:44:35.240 --> 1:44:40.200 great product. Crocs are a great product. Stanley is a 1:44:40.200 --> 1:44:45.400 great product. Hey dude, it's a great product. So fads 1:44:45.439 --> 1:44:48.719 come and go. Great products stand the test of time. 1:44:56.640 --> 1:44:59.920 Okay, So you have this great success with a quench 1:45:01.479 --> 1:45:05.400 and you are aware of scarcity works for you, how 1:45:05.439 --> 1:45:08.280 do you decide how many to make and where to 1:45:08.320 --> 1:45:10.320 put them? 1:45:10.400 --> 1:45:13.520 A little bit of feel, a little bit of Instagram followers, 1:45:14.000 --> 1:45:21.120 a little bit of sign ups for to be notified 1:45:21.160 --> 1:45:23.680 of the next launch of things. So all of that 1:45:23.720 --> 1:45:26.960 goes into the calculus of how many you want to create. 1:45:28.080 --> 1:45:29.880 And again, if we're working with artists, we do a 1:45:29.880 --> 1:45:34.200 little bit of Instagram follower math, but we we want 1:45:34.200 --> 1:45:37.439 to typically you know, sell out, you know, that's what 1:45:37.600 --> 1:45:42.160 keeps the fire going. We want to put a cap 1:45:42.200 --> 1:45:45.479 on it, and we always did, certainly while I was there. 1:45:46.960 --> 1:45:50.960 What's the best way to introduce splash make people aware 1:45:51.320 --> 1:45:55.000 that there's one of these new limited products social media. 1:45:55.280 --> 1:45:57.679 Certainly, if it's an artist, they're going to tell their fans, 1:45:58.200 --> 1:46:01.679 you know, Landy Wilson, Hey, y'all, well, my new watermelon 1:46:01.720 --> 1:46:06.160 moonshine is dropping and her fans devour that, as do 1:46:06.280 --> 1:46:10.200 the artists and brand choices that the brands choose to 1:46:10.240 --> 1:46:16.760 work with. So it's certainly social Obviously, email notification and 1:46:17.080 --> 1:46:20.800 you know, sending an announcement or an invitation to our 1:46:22.680 --> 1:46:26.840 guest lists of who is following the brand. And then 1:46:26.920 --> 1:46:30.960 obviously in store, some of our target launches caused complete 1:46:30.960 --> 1:46:36.680 and total chaos and target stores where certainly towards the 1:46:36.760 --> 1:46:39.200 end of my tenure, maybe still today, I don't know, 1:46:39.560 --> 1:46:43.320 you know, there was a two limit, you know, two 1:46:43.400 --> 1:46:46.439 quencher limit that you could purchase, so that caused an 1:46:46.439 --> 1:46:50.639 additional frenzy and in some cases some really terrible behavior 1:46:50.680 --> 1:46:54.400 from customers. And with the iPhone, you know, those things 1:46:54.479 --> 1:46:57.040 get on video and those are all over the news, 1:46:58.640 --> 1:47:01.280 and that doesn't really hurt a brand. It shows the frenzy, 1:47:01.320 --> 1:47:02.960 but it's not something that you're after. You don't want 1:47:02.960 --> 1:47:04.920 anybody get hurt and you're not looking for that. It's 1:47:05.000 --> 1:47:07.160 just the Sometimes it brings out the worst in people. 1:47:08.280 --> 1:47:11.240 So you have all the success at Crocs in Stanley, 1:47:11.720 --> 1:47:16.080 to what degree did these companies do corporate publicity? 1:47:18.760 --> 1:47:23.479 Very little, very little? You know, Crocs then and now 1:47:23.600 --> 1:47:27.360 is a very humble brand, despite an incredible track record 1:47:27.400 --> 1:47:30.720 from you know, decades long track record of success and 1:47:30.800 --> 1:47:35.080 global success. Hey dude, we I'm sorry Stanley. 1:47:35.120 --> 1:47:36.640 We did one. 1:47:38.400 --> 1:47:41.840 CNBC piece where they came out to interview me and 1:47:41.880 --> 1:47:46.840 some colleagues in Seattle, and but not too much you 1:47:46.880 --> 1:47:49.000 know press, you know, a couple of articles from the 1:47:49.000 --> 1:47:52.360 President to talk about the brand, but it was by 1:47:52.439 --> 1:47:58.840 and large consumer consumer press, entertainment press, culture press that 1:47:59.000 --> 1:48:00.960 helped continue to fan the flames. 1:48:00.720 --> 1:48:02.680 Okay, did you have a PR person or was it 1:48:02.680 --> 1:48:03.400 all organic? 1:48:03.760 --> 1:48:07.320 All the above, all the above, terrific PR person who 1:48:07.360 --> 1:48:10.720 managed those things, and then some of the PR was 1:48:10.840 --> 1:48:14.559 just organic, you know. And the car fire spawned lots 1:48:14.560 --> 1:48:18.479 of articles, and the frenzy caused lots of articles, and 1:48:18.560 --> 1:48:21.599 not all of them were good. There was one article 1:48:21.600 --> 1:48:26.000 I remember reading that, you know, some of the frenzy 1:48:26.040 --> 1:48:28.639 that was occurring was you know, it's not the best 1:48:28.680 --> 1:48:33.080 of human behavior, and people were blaming me for it 1:48:33.200 --> 1:48:36.800 by name like, well, you're all fast something like I'm 1:48:36.840 --> 1:48:39.760 paraphrasing it. But while we're all quick to blame all 1:48:39.760 --> 1:48:43.960 the women who are beating each other up and pulling 1:48:44.000 --> 1:48:47.240 hair at Target, shouldn't we really be blaming Terrence Riley? 1:48:48.040 --> 1:48:51.360 Like you know, these kind of things start to, you know, 1:48:51.439 --> 1:48:55.400 creep into your life. 1:48:54.000 --> 1:48:57.560 Okay, just to stay there. Yeah, did you respond? 1:48:57.840 --> 1:48:59.160 Never? No? No, no, no, no. 1:49:00.800 --> 1:49:02.760 I mean I know that from my own life. You 1:49:02.880 --> 1:49:06.240 never respond. That's their goal. But did you know that 1:49:06.479 --> 1:49:09.920 because your knowledge of social media that you don't respond. 1:49:09.800 --> 1:49:16.280 No, just instinct or you know, you know, what's have 1:49:16.320 --> 1:49:20.080 you ever seen a movie Chef with Jon Favreau and uh, 1:49:20.200 --> 1:49:23.160 what's his name? The reporter at theater goes, I buy 1:49:23.240 --> 1:49:27.439 ink by the barrel, buddy, Like, you're not gonna you know, 1:49:27.680 --> 1:49:30.760 you're not gonna win that. In fact, the car fire video, 1:49:31.320 --> 1:49:34.760 you know that the PR folks and the PR agencies 1:49:34.800 --> 1:49:37.080 and all the PR pundits were saying, like, you got 1:49:37.080 --> 1:49:39.000 to make a big deal out of giving her the car. 1:49:40.320 --> 1:49:42.439 And you know, we were invited on the Today Show 1:49:42.560 --> 1:49:46.439 or Good Morning America one of those things, and listen like, 1:49:47.840 --> 1:49:51.760 I'm of the same ego as any of us, Like, hey, 1:49:51.800 --> 1:49:54.040 to go on the Today Show as a marketer or 1:49:54.080 --> 1:49:58.759 Good Morning or whatever. It was, yeah, like that's of course, 1:49:59.040 --> 1:50:02.800 that's it's not that you're suppose to do that, but it 1:50:02.920 --> 1:50:05.360 kind of would have ruined it. Like my response was 1:50:05.439 --> 1:50:08.120 just real, it was just me. I happened to be 1:50:08.160 --> 1:50:11.960 the president. But it wasn't some focus group, let's talk 1:50:12.000 --> 1:50:13.320 to a bunch of people and get a lot of 1:50:13.360 --> 1:50:15.559 points of view. It was just me. The next morning, 1:50:15.800 --> 1:50:19.200 most people didn't even know I did it. And so 1:50:19.720 --> 1:50:21.759 then hey, let's give her the car on the Today 1:50:21.840 --> 1:50:25.720 Show and do that whole thing. And I wanted to, 1:50:26.200 --> 1:50:29.000 but it was my mother. I told her, I said, hey, 1:50:29.040 --> 1:50:32.000 we're going on Today Show and my mom said, don't 1:50:32.000 --> 1:50:35.439 do that. I said, why your son? You know, I 1:50:35.439 --> 1:50:37.080 want to make you proud. Mom, your son's on the 1:50:37.080 --> 1:50:41.599 Today Show. She goes, don't do it, and she was right. 1:50:42.840 --> 1:50:44.720 Well, she said don't do it. Why did she say 1:50:44.760 --> 1:50:45.280 not to do it? 1:50:45.320 --> 1:50:49.799 Because she knew it would it would ruin it because 1:50:49.840 --> 1:50:52.720 it was real and it was real, and so if 1:50:52.720 --> 1:50:55.080 we started to put a shine on it and started 1:50:55.120 --> 1:50:58.880 to catch our own bouquets, it just wouldn't It wouldn't 1:50:58.880 --> 1:51:01.080 have been right, you know. And so she grew up 1:51:01.120 --> 1:51:04.160 in the Bronx. She's as real as it gets. She 1:51:04.400 --> 1:51:06.320 was right. So always listen to your mother. 1:51:07.840 --> 1:51:15.599 Okay, you had this incredible success. Were you compensated accordingly? Sure? 1:51:15.960 --> 1:51:16.360 Yeah? 1:51:16.520 --> 1:51:21.280 Yeah? Did all right? Okay, so then maybe you say, 1:51:21.320 --> 1:51:24.679 instead of getting a new job, I'm not gonna work again. 1:51:27.000 --> 1:51:31.120 My parents are from the Bronx. My father fixed typewriters 1:51:31.280 --> 1:51:37.240 in a suit in the sixties seventies. That's not what 1:51:37.280 --> 1:51:43.040 you do. So it's not about the money. I made 1:51:43.080 --> 1:51:45.080 more money than I'd ever thought i'd make in my life. 1:51:45.200 --> 1:51:48.479 Like I did, I did well, you know, I think 1:51:48.520 --> 1:51:51.040 my guidance counselor in high school told my parents I'd 1:51:51.040 --> 1:51:56.800 been underachiever. It's not about that. It's never been about that. 1:51:58.280 --> 1:52:00.320 I can't believe I'm in the spot, Bob. I can't 1:52:00.320 --> 1:52:02.080 believe I'm talking to you. I'm actually wondering what the 1:52:02.080 --> 1:52:03.680 hell makes me interesting that you'd have me on your 1:52:03.680 --> 1:52:08.160 podcast when I see your guest list. But I've somehow, 1:52:08.320 --> 1:52:11.040 with your great teams, connected with culture more than once. 1:52:11.280 --> 1:52:13.560 You know, you walk down the street, you're going to 1:52:13.600 --> 1:52:16.920 see people wearing crocs, carrying Stanley's and wearing hay Dudes. 1:52:17.360 --> 1:52:19.960 And I had a little something to do with all 1:52:20.000 --> 1:52:26.479 of that, and so that's a pretty cool thing. So now, hey, dude, 1:52:27.200 --> 1:52:30.080 is this eight hundred million dollar company that most people 1:52:30.120 --> 1:52:33.920 don't know about, Like, we could make hay Do the 1:52:33.960 --> 1:52:36.679 leading casual footwear brand in the world. Why not us? 1:52:37.600 --> 1:52:41.200 That's worth a shot, and I'm taking it. And I 1:52:41.200 --> 1:52:44.240 could have stayed selling a lot of Quenchers. Okay, you 1:52:44.439 --> 1:52:48.160 just expressed a level of confidence in yourself, and you 1:52:48.240 --> 1:52:52.600 talked about not having confidence in the high school. What 1:52:52.800 --> 1:52:56.400 triggered the confidence? No, I don't think I have any confidence. 1:52:56.479 --> 1:52:59.479 I'm just confident that with a great team we could 1:52:59.560 --> 1:53:01.839 turn hate dude into one of the leading casual footwear 1:53:01.840 --> 1:53:05.720 brands in the world because it's open space. Who is 1:53:05.760 --> 1:53:08.120 the leading casual footwear brand in the world. If I 1:53:08.160 --> 1:53:11.160 ask ten people, I get ten different answers, all great companies, 1:53:11.960 --> 1:53:16.040 and so why not, hay dude, because we're a great 1:53:16.080 --> 1:53:19.840 little product. And so that's the thrill of it. It's 1:53:19.880 --> 1:53:23.920 back to what's around the corner, that insatiable curiosity and 1:53:23.960 --> 1:53:28.040 the unmistakable sense of what's possible. This might be possible, 1:53:28.560 --> 1:53:31.000 and so I should try it. 1:53:31.200 --> 1:53:34.440 Okay, but let's let's go back. How did you decide 1:53:34.479 --> 1:53:39.839 to leave Stanley in addition not having the president's titlely 1:53:39.960 --> 1:53:40.599 your new role? 1:53:43.520 --> 1:53:46.639 Well, I am the president of Hey dude, Oh you are? 1:53:46.720 --> 1:53:49.639 I am? Yes, so ali of miss No, that's okay. 1:53:49.720 --> 1:53:53.280 So CROCS has a brilliant CEO for many many years. 1:53:54.280 --> 1:53:56.400 He was the one that gave me the CMO job 1:53:56.640 --> 1:54:00.000 at CrOx and he's still there. Anderye is an absolute 1:54:00.280 --> 1:54:06.360 brilliant man, highest of integrity. And Crocs. The president of 1:54:06.400 --> 1:54:09.640 CrOx is Ann Melman, who's equally talented. She used to 1:54:09.680 --> 1:54:13.280 be the CFO of CrOx and now hey dude, I'm 1:54:13.320 --> 1:54:15.559 the new president of Hey dude. So two presidents of 1:54:15.600 --> 1:54:21.040 two brands reporting into the CEO of Crocs, and it 1:54:21.120 --> 1:54:23.280 was just an exciting opportunity to again get the keys 1:54:23.280 --> 1:54:25.479 to an eight hundred plus million dollar footwear brand. Who 1:54:25.479 --> 1:54:28.479 gets that in life it shouldn't be me in my head, 1:54:28.720 --> 1:54:30.920 but somebody believes in me and is believed in me before. 1:54:31.400 --> 1:54:34.680 So driver like you Stole It, Bob. One of my 1:54:34.720 --> 1:54:38.640 favorite movies of the recent era is sing Street and 1:54:39.360 --> 1:54:40.960 driver It like You Stole It is one of the 1:54:41.000 --> 1:54:44.560 songs in singh Street. So somebody threw me the keys 1:54:44.960 --> 1:54:46.760 like they have before, and I'm going to drive it 1:54:46.880 --> 1:54:48.840 like I stole it and encourage our teams to do 1:54:48.880 --> 1:54:53.440 the same thing because it's possible. And I've just happened 1:54:53.440 --> 1:54:55.000 to be to live that more than once. 1:54:56.080 --> 1:55:00.160 Okay, you're at Stanley, you're having this great success. How 1:55:00.200 --> 1:55:05.200 does this opportunity come on your radar? And how hard 1:55:05.240 --> 1:55:06.760 of his decision is it to leave? 1:55:08.080 --> 1:55:11.520 Well, the CEO of Crocs were hired me once before 1:55:11.560 --> 1:55:15.200 as the CMO. So I got a call say, hey, 1:55:15.200 --> 1:55:18.760 would you be interested in coming back? And I was 1:55:20.480 --> 1:55:22.240 you know you're a skier, right Bob? 1:55:22.280 --> 1:55:24.120 And oh yeah, you know. 1:55:24.040 --> 1:55:25.640 What happens when you get to the top of the mountain. 1:55:26.720 --> 1:55:29.320 He turned back down and I got to the top 1:55:29.400 --> 1:55:33.840 of the mountain at Stanley, my mountain at least, and 1:55:33.920 --> 1:55:37.560 I believe there's certainly maybe a couple of a couple 1:55:37.600 --> 1:55:42.200 more feet first Stanley to climb, but then more at 1:55:42.240 --> 1:55:45.920 Stanley than anybody dreamed possible, certainly more than I dream possible, 1:55:45.960 --> 1:55:48.320 although I dream big. This is a whole other level 1:55:48.320 --> 1:55:52.680 of So give the keys to Matt Navarro, the guy 1:55:52.720 --> 1:55:56.280 who I had the good fortune to hire, helped me 1:55:56.400 --> 1:55:59.960 build Stanley, and now he's the new president of Stanley. 1:56:01.560 --> 1:56:03.880 It doesn't get better than that. When I was a 1:56:03.960 --> 1:56:09.440 CMO of CROCS, I hired Heidi Cooley, and when I 1:56:09.520 --> 1:56:12.640 left CROCS, she took over a CMO and what she's 1:56:12.680 --> 1:56:15.600 done with Crocs's more than I ever did with Crocs. 1:56:16.400 --> 1:56:18.880 So like this, these are gifts that I've been given, 1:56:19.040 --> 1:56:21.320 and I think I've passed it on a little bit. 1:56:21.440 --> 1:56:25.120 And both of these brands will flourish thanks to other 1:56:25.160 --> 1:56:28.680 great leaders that I happen to bring on board. And boy, 1:56:28.760 --> 1:56:32.200 that's a pretty cool little coaching tree to borrow football parlance. 1:56:32.880 --> 1:56:36.080 Okay, so you have this great success and it's a 1:56:36.120 --> 1:56:39.680 public success. Did other offers come down the pike? 1:56:40.840 --> 1:56:45.840 Yes, yeah, okay, Yeah, a lot of people called, but 1:56:46.040 --> 1:56:51.160 it just wasn't right. There's it wasn't right. You know. 1:56:51.200 --> 1:56:55.360 I think what you want to bring, like you want 1:56:55.360 --> 1:56:58.200 to win the Super Bowl with the Browns, you know, 1:56:58.480 --> 1:57:00.400 you want to win the Super Bowl with the Lions 1:57:01.120 --> 1:57:04.760 or the Bills or the Vikings. Right. A lot of 1:57:04.760 --> 1:57:07.600 the brands that were calling just they were already successful. 1:57:07.960 --> 1:57:11.280 They were already They didn't need that, and I wouldn't 1:57:11.280 --> 1:57:15.760 get no satisfaction out of that. Hey, dude's also really successful, 1:57:15.800 --> 1:57:18.520 but there's more to go get and there's a lot 1:57:18.560 --> 1:57:20.240 of people that don't know about it. And now that's 1:57:20.280 --> 1:57:23.440 my job with a great team to fix it. That's stuff. 1:57:24.040 --> 1:57:26.320 And if we can do that and we already are, 1:57:28.080 --> 1:57:30.800 that's like bringing the Browns or the Lions or you know, 1:57:30.840 --> 1:57:34.760 to the super Bowl, and that's what you want, right, Okay. 1:57:35.080 --> 1:57:41.600 When Jeffrey Katzenberg was number two at Disney, the expression was, 1:57:42.280 --> 1:57:45.000 if you don't come in on Saturday, don't even think 1:57:45.000 --> 1:57:49.200 about coming in on Sunday. So are you the type 1:57:49.200 --> 1:57:51.480 of person who's essentially working around the clock, And is 1:57:51.520 --> 1:57:52.640 that what it's required. 1:57:53.560 --> 1:57:55.960 I don't have an off button, but I do not 1:57:56.160 --> 1:58:02.640 expect that from anyone. I rarely emails on the weekends. Rarely, 1:58:02.720 --> 1:58:06.000 I mean once every two or three months, that kind 1:58:06.040 --> 1:58:11.160 of rare. I'm always on and I'm always looking for 1:58:11.200 --> 1:58:16.240 the connections that can ignite a brand. And see Landy Wilson, 1:58:16.280 --> 1:58:19.800 see Luke Combe, see all of the car fires, see 1:58:19.800 --> 1:58:24.160 all that. So my antenna is always up. But that's 1:58:24.200 --> 1:58:29.400 just a personal wiring. I'm highly competitive. I want to 1:58:29.400 --> 1:58:32.080 win at part cheesy if that still exists, and I 1:58:32.080 --> 1:58:34.320 also want to win on the peloton. I want to win. 1:58:35.680 --> 1:58:38.440 So I don't know where that competitive fire started to happen. 1:58:40.560 --> 1:58:42.000 And I'm not always going to win. And I don't 1:58:42.000 --> 1:58:46.360 win everything, not even close, you know. But I try 1:58:46.400 --> 1:58:50.840 and be the best that I can be as often 1:58:50.840 --> 1:58:54.680 as possible, and it's somehow kind of worked. 1:58:56.480 --> 1:58:59.520 Okay, so what is your favorite Springsteen album? 1:59:00.600 --> 1:59:04.280 Oh? You went albums? Uh favorite Springsteen album is The River? 1:59:06.160 --> 1:59:08.920 Okay, Well you said albums, so then you were well 1:59:09.040 --> 1:59:10.480 you thought I was gonna ask tracks. 1:59:10.800 --> 1:59:12.000 Oh I didn't know what you're gonna ask me. I 1:59:12.080 --> 1:59:14.440 just wanted to. I'm from New Jersey, so it's the law. 1:59:14.920 --> 1:59:22.520 So my favorite Bruce song would have to be Frankie, 1:59:22.600 --> 1:59:25.320 but nobody knows that one. And so the one I 1:59:25.320 --> 1:59:27.800 listened to the most to get fired up is Growing 1:59:27.880 --> 1:59:31.320 Up Live off of seventy five eighty five, the live version, 1:59:31.720 --> 1:59:32.320 because it's. 1:59:32.200 --> 1:59:34.880 Yeah, yeah, I know, certainly know the song. My favorite, 1:59:34.880 --> 1:59:37.440 my what I used to get fired up was Candy's 1:59:37.520 --> 1:59:41.000 Room of course off Darkness. So did you see the 1:59:41.120 --> 1:59:43.680 River tour a few years ago when he redid it? 1:59:43.760 --> 1:59:46.880 I did? I did. I've seen him on every tour since. 1:59:46.880 --> 1:59:50.160 Born in the USA. That's when you know again, as 1:59:50.160 --> 1:59:52.320 an eighteen year old in New Jersey in nineteen eighty 1:59:52.320 --> 1:59:55.560 four eighty five, you know, you talk about a local hero. 1:59:56.360 --> 1:59:59.240 And I've been chasing that ever since. I've seen Bruce 1:59:59.280 --> 2:00:02.440 more than seven times and five different countries, and I'm 2:00:02.480 --> 2:00:03.320 one of those guys. 2:00:05.240 --> 2:00:05.960 But it's. 2:00:07.320 --> 2:00:11.920 It's chasing something that hit me. It got into my veins. 2:00:11.960 --> 2:00:14.960 August nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, was the first concert I 2:00:14.960 --> 2:00:18.200 ever went to of anybody, and it was Bruce at 2:00:18.240 --> 2:00:22.480 Giant Stadium. And what I've been chasing Bob is, they say, 2:00:22.560 --> 2:00:26.160 certainly the music and his performance and the band in 2:00:26.200 --> 2:00:30.760 the street band, But the moment when the house lights 2:00:30.800 --> 2:00:38.400 go down is my favorite moment in life. And time 2:00:38.640 --> 2:00:43.720 stands still for those twenty thirty seconds when the lights 2:00:43.760 --> 2:00:46.640 go You've been waiting for it, right and the lights 2:00:46.680 --> 2:00:49.040 go down, and there's the roar of the crowd, and 2:00:49.080 --> 2:00:53.919 then the band comes out one by one and it's happening, 2:00:54.760 --> 2:00:58.040 but it hasn't happened yet, and time stands still in 2:00:58.080 --> 2:01:01.520 this space. And then he comes out out last, and 2:01:01.600 --> 2:01:04.920 he comes to the mic and he counts off, and 2:01:04.960 --> 2:01:10.280 the minute he starts counting off, it's over because it 2:01:10.280 --> 2:01:16.440 it's now, it's it's ending, it's and that time stands 2:01:16.440 --> 2:01:19.880 still in those precious twenty to thirty seconds whatever it 2:01:19.960 --> 2:01:22.600 is between the house lights and him coming up to 2:01:22.640 --> 2:01:24.920 the mic and usually counting off as we know he does. 2:01:25.720 --> 2:01:28.520 And that is why I've seen him seventy five times. 2:01:28.960 --> 2:01:32.360 Time stands still. And if you can make time stand still, 2:01:33.240 --> 2:01:35.520 that's a pretty cool magic act. 2:01:36.880 --> 2:01:42.640 So have you sent Bruce A Stanley the Dudes or pro? 2:01:42.880 --> 2:01:45.800 I have not. I have not. I came close once 2:01:45.880 --> 2:01:50.200 to sending little Stephen a Purple Stanley because he just 2:01:50.240 --> 2:01:52.400 has that, you know, aesthetic in his personal life but 2:01:52.640 --> 2:01:53.560 I just know. 2:01:55.080 --> 2:01:58.560 Well, I mean, it's one thing to send it and 2:01:58.680 --> 2:02:00.480 literally not ask for anything. 2:02:01.480 --> 2:02:05.560 Yeah, I just I don't know, I have not I've 2:02:05.560 --> 2:02:09.920 thought about it more than once. But it's uh, you know, 2:02:10.000 --> 2:02:12.440 sometimes you just want to keep your heroes and all 2:02:12.480 --> 2:02:15.160 that at Bay. It's kind of still Listen. I'm fifty 2:02:15.200 --> 2:02:18.280 eight years old. I first saw Bruce and you know 2:02:18.360 --> 2:02:21.400 when I was eighteen, I kind of want to keep 2:02:21.400 --> 2:02:25.040 all that at Bay because it's still that fantasy world 2:02:25.080 --> 2:02:29.120 and it uh yeah, it's so it's chasing and it 2:02:29.160 --> 2:02:30.000 never would have happened. 2:02:30.640 --> 2:02:33.880 Well, generally speaking, you don't want to meet your heroes. Yeah, 2:02:33.960 --> 2:02:37.200 very few, very few of them. Some of them do 2:02:37.280 --> 2:02:39.760 live up to the rep but the something that you 2:02:39.800 --> 2:02:43.360 believe in most absolutely do not, and it's really disillusion 2:02:43.480 --> 2:02:46.879 can't listen to their music for a while. In any event, Terrence, 2:02:47.320 --> 2:02:49.520 I want to thank you so much for telling us 2:02:49.600 --> 2:02:53.400 your story telling and informing my audience and what's going 2:02:53.480 --> 2:02:57.440 on in career wise with these products. Thanks again, Thank 2:02:57.480 --> 2:03:02.200 you Tears. Next step this is Bob Left stock 2:03:24.120 --> 2:03:24.200 Sh