Speaker 1: I'm off my game today. No, you're not. People are
Speaker 1: going to have to start making other content. I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about this for a long time.
Speaker 1: When you program for everyone, you program for no one.
Speaker 1: I think it's that we're purpose driven platform, Like we're
Speaker 1: trying to get to substance. How was that? Are you
Speaker 1: happy with that? This is marketing therapy right now? It
Speaker 1: really is. What's up? I'm Laura Currency and I'm Alexa Kristen.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to episode nine. So episode nine is all
Speaker 1: about missed opportunities, miss connections. You know, like when you
Speaker 1: go on Craigslist and that creep that you saw on
Speaker 1: the six train was like, hey to the girl in
Speaker 1: the black sweater, that's like a welcome missed connection. So like,
Speaker 1: these are misconnections that advertisers and brands haven't seen exactly,
Speaker 1: the ones that you go, oh, why don't we think
Speaker 1: about that? And speaking of misconnections, later on the show,
Speaker 1: we're going to have Panically podcast host Andrea Slendzi from
Speaker 1: y Oy Dating is awkward. No one's ever themselves. The
Speaker 1: whole setup feels artificial. Well, I mean, I'm dated, you know,
Speaker 1: as we've met before. Yes, but I was also meeting
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that night. Fair enough. She has
Speaker 1: a podcast all about dating. What's it like dating right now?
Speaker 1: With all this crazy technology? How do you make these connections?
Speaker 1: And she talks a lot about how dating is actually
Speaker 1: become something that used to be done in public and
Speaker 1: now it's done in private. So it's really interesting. And
Speaker 1: we talked to her about a lot of miss connections,
Speaker 1: like where opportunities that brands could like actually punch out
Speaker 1: and do something really different and create community within the
Speaker 1: dating scene. Right. So before we get into that, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk a little bit about some missed opportunities
Speaker 1: we think that brands aren't seeing, so that all of
Speaker 1: you in Atlantia can take them back to the boardroom
Speaker 1: and call your clients and say we heard this on
Speaker 1: this week's show. Um. I think the biggest thing that
Speaker 1: you and I try to do right is to stop
Speaker 1: looking at what a brand or a company does and
Speaker 1: write like what they do versus why they do it,
Speaker 1: and then find connections from there, right. And I think
Speaker 1: that that's like the kind of has driven our thinking
Speaker 1: in some of the partnerships and the things that we've
Speaker 1: put together, right, and we've talked to a number of
Speaker 1: our guests be at Carlos Watson and talking about azzy Fest,
Speaker 1: in particularly the episode with David Platts talking about how
Speaker 1: affline experiences and the idea that when the interface goes
Speaker 1: away presents big opportunity. And so let's jam a little
Speaker 1: bit on some of the brands that we think are
Speaker 1: missing the mark. I mean we talked to or just
Speaker 1: have an opportunity, right, like just like think differently about
Speaker 1: you know what you could be right, So we've talked
Speaker 1: about Airbnb for example. I mean, Airbnb knows their opportunities.
Speaker 1: It's not like we're like pointing some of this stuff out,
Speaker 1: but they've been really driving into this kind of community idea, right,
Speaker 1: how do you create community? And we were talking to
Speaker 1: Andrea and we talked to one of our legs too,
Speaker 1: who had just broken up with a girl, and we said,
Speaker 1: you know, it would be kind of cool. It's like,
Speaker 1: you just broke up with someone, you're kind of restless
Speaker 1: in the city. You want a different experience. What if
Speaker 1: Airbnb had some form of a social side, dating side
Speaker 1: where you could go and select and experience and go
Speaker 1: hang out with a person now for a day, for
Speaker 1: a night whatever. I think some of these clubs, and
Speaker 1: particularly because we're based here in Manhattan, we get to
Speaker 1: see it a little bit more front and center. But
Speaker 1: some of the social clubs that you have popping up
Speaker 1: obviously have the uber exclusives, like the Wing, a women's
Speaker 1: social club that's emerged here in Manhattan and where you've
Speaker 1: not just got the dating side, but also the socialization
Speaker 1: new to Manhattan, trying to make waves within your profession
Speaker 1: and kind of galvanizing these communities where brands can provide value.
Speaker 1: And I think you're starting to see that. I know
Speaker 1: that the Wing has been looking to partner with strategic
Speaker 1: brands to kind of come in and provide value. So
Speaker 1: whether those are speakers and thought leaders and experts or
Speaker 1: products product right like smart product integration. I think you
Speaker 1: know what's interesting is uh And I think we talked
Speaker 1: to Andrea about this a little bit. We've talked to
Speaker 1: a couple of people, like we're being like little social
Speaker 1: anthropologists right now, but like the opportunity where networking right
Speaker 1: on one side, whether it's networking in your personal life
Speaker 1: or networking in your business life, is now melding into
Speaker 1: like if it's work over on the left, it's personal
Speaker 1: over on the right, and those things are kind of
Speaker 1: melding into one experience. And I think that there's so
Speaker 1: much to be said in terms of opportunities for brands
Speaker 1: to either make that connection or be inserted into that connection.
Speaker 1: As Barb says, you are the company you keep. Well,
Speaker 1: it's true, like if you're talking to people who are
Speaker 1: outdoor enthusiasts, who you know are risk takers, they're probably
Speaker 1: risk takers in their jobs as well, right, they probably
Speaker 1: are early adopters in technology, all of those things. And
Speaker 1: I think the opportunity for brands to come in and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna this is what makes sense, whether it's a
Speaker 1: it's like a brand about food and cooking. Like we
Speaker 1: were just talking about this, We're like, oh, would be
Speaker 1: really interesting Hollo Fresh or Blue Apron Blue Apron. Why
Speaker 1: couldn't they do something with, you know, a dating night.
Speaker 1: We were talking about Netflix doing like a full package
Speaker 1: of like a social slash dating experience. And it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that those brands all of a sudden become dating
Speaker 1: apps or solely about dating. It's that they're pushing into
Speaker 1: kind of key areas shared connections and experiences and like
Speaker 1: the offline and the online. And I think that we're
Speaker 1: just going to keep seeing this as being like a
Speaker 1: really really pervasive trend across how people network and how
Speaker 1: people communicate and how they're finding community. So Andrea even
Speaker 1: talked about how Bumble has you find your bff so
Speaker 1: you can go, if you like, move to a new city,
Speaker 1: which is really hard to do. We've all done this, right,
Speaker 1: You moved to a new city. Maybe you know one
Speaker 1: or two people, but they may not be the people
Speaker 1: that like yoga like you do. They may not be
Speaker 1: the sole cycle enthusiasts like you are, because I'm not
Speaker 1: like if you moved to a city where I was
Speaker 1: and you said I need a sole cycle friend, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be that friend. No, you would be my drinking friend. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: But there's an area. So one of the areas that
Speaker 1: we talked about where there's some wide open freeway to
Speaker 1: do this is in the wellness space, and particularly with
Speaker 1: millennials and this kind of idea of shared experiences and connections.
Speaker 1: You know, this isn't necessarily about spirituality or fitness. It's
Speaker 1: just holistic wellness, and very few brands have cracked that open.
Speaker 1: I mean, with the exception of Ariana, Huffington's and Thrive
Speaker 1: and Are a Good Friend are over there? Who's really
Speaker 1: taking it mainstream? And talking about Ariana is not just
Speaker 1: about sleep. Sleep happens to be one of a broader well.
Speaker 1: It's all about wellness. It's about living your best life,
Speaker 1: being your best self and living your best life. And
Speaker 1: we see these waves happen, right because Oprah with Super
Speaker 1: Soul Sundays essentially started talking about the platform. And then
Speaker 1: you've got Ariana kind of capturing thought leaders in it.
Speaker 1: But where are the brands kind of intersecting now to
Speaker 1: pay off on it and kind of create these shared
Speaker 1: experiences where you know, maybe it is yoga in the park,
Speaker 1: which some do, but it's not good enough in my opinion,
Speaker 1: to just have it one Sunday of the year. Right now,
Speaker 1: I totally agree. It's like well being could be a
Speaker 1: whole offshoot for Chase, right, finances are part of your
Speaker 1: total well being? And why isn't that important? Like LST
Speaker 1: is it LS that is all about female empowerment through
Speaker 1: smart financial investment, right, because for millennials, financials are one
Speaker 1: of the if not I mean, when you look at
Speaker 1: the student debt number. I was reading an article about
Speaker 1: this morning. It's the average debt is somewhere between thirty
Speaker 1: thirty five thousand dollars and student debt. And you know,
Speaker 1: millennials aren't buying homes. It's why millennials are choosing to
Speaker 1: move to certain cities where they can just simply afford
Speaker 1: to be. But yeah, I mean those are areas where
Speaker 1: brand should be coming in. These are like I always say,
Speaker 1: like why did I learn geometry and not how to
Speaker 1: do my taxes? And I think it's just normal human nature.
Speaker 1: Right when you think about oh, GP Morgan Chase is
Speaker 1: a bank, right, it's a bank. They do X, Y
Speaker 1: and Z. I think you keep bringing them up is
Speaker 1: because they've laid the groundwork in terms of kind of
Speaker 1: becoming the m X of our generation. Right when you
Speaker 1: think about what the Platinum Card has done and what
Speaker 1: set Fire Reserve has done is really kind of reinvent
Speaker 1: and reimagine what's important to our generation and the one
Speaker 1: after us, and so as you've got gen Z coming
Speaker 1: up and kind of what are important to them. These
Speaker 1: bigger firms and institutions that are one dimensional in product
Speaker 1: and service offering, right, they have their specific category now
Speaker 1: have the ability to kind of take what they're good at, educate,
Speaker 1: provide experiences based on all of these sorts of things
Speaker 1: where it's no longer just about have you done your
Speaker 1: banking with us today? But it's how have you thought
Speaker 1: about financial wellness? What does this mean in your social circle?
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting. I think like LinkedIn is another example,
Speaker 1: Like I've been dying for LinkedIn to do something different
Speaker 1: for such a long time. Like okay, wait, so do
Speaker 1: I Okay, let's talk about it. So like LinkedIn has
Speaker 1: all been about your social network finding your next job, right,
Speaker 1: why isn't it about just being successful in life? That
Speaker 1: opens up when when you change that meaning, that purpose
Speaker 1: of LinkedIn, it opens up totally new areas that they
Speaker 1: can be playing in social network for success? Your social
Speaker 1: network for success? What does it look like when we're
Speaker 1: going into this world of gig economy right where people
Speaker 1: aren't going to have full time jobs the same way
Speaker 1: we've had full time jobs. There are no twenty six
Speaker 1: year jobs probably around right their side hustles that become
Speaker 1: real hustles, and those could last from six months to
Speaker 1: two years and then you move on to something else.
Speaker 1: But you get deep like expertise in a certain area,
Speaker 1: and then it moves you into a whole another place
Speaker 1: and you start reap frogging around in the industry, I
Speaker 1: think like we're on the cusp of entre arepreneurship on
Speaker 1: a whole another level. It's like entrepreneurship on steroids. Can
Speaker 1: I add a liar to that? Because one of the
Speaker 1: things we've talked about media companies in particular missing the
Speaker 1: boat on and perhaps it then falls on the weight
Speaker 1: of brands is and this might be an idea for LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: How do we start identifying the next wave of talent?
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean like the kid that's graduated from X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z university that has this degree, that has
Speaker 1: internship experiences, you know. It is that idea of helping
Speaker 1: people come back into the workforce thinking about who is
Speaker 1: And I say this so I'm blue in the face,
Speaker 1: and nobody has just been able to answer me, who
Speaker 1: is the next Barbara Walters of our generation? Who is
Speaker 1: the future you know, politician from whomever, um you know, city, municipality, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And nobody is stepping up to really make that a
Speaker 1: business plan, make it a platform. Yeah, no, I totally
Speaker 1: agree maybe LinkedIn is poised to do that, But I
Speaker 1: think the way we're talking about like LinkedIn chiefs those
Speaker 1: opportunities is very similar to like how we can think
Speaker 1: about just socializing and networking in our lives, right, not
Speaker 1: being linear about what I am, what this brand does,
Speaker 1: but really thinking outside of why do they exist, asking
Speaker 1: that question and then figuring out the purpose from that.
Speaker 1: And I think that we see, like when we talk
Speaker 1: to Andrea, there are a lot of examples of brands
Speaker 1: that she could work with that could add a whole
Speaker 1: another dimension to the dating experience off the app, you know,
Speaker 1: around the date versus right during the date. We're finding
Speaker 1: that person creating an ecosystem. And this is how I
Speaker 1: think you and I have done some of our best
Speaker 1: work is really putting the idea at the center and
Speaker 1: thinking about, to your point, what is the context. And
Speaker 1: then it no longer becomes okay, this should be promoted
Speaker 1: in TV, digital and print because that's the way it's
Speaker 1: been done for four years, wrong answer in our opinion,
Speaker 1: but instead thinking, here's a concrete idea that taps into
Speaker 1: this psychographic, this cultural trend, this um you know, physical manifestation,
Speaker 1: this technological whatever, and it gives so much value and
Speaker 1: there's a surprise element, there's a delight element, there's something
Speaker 1: smart about when you interface with this. It's not just
Speaker 1: a utility, right, So when currency becomes value exchange and
Speaker 1: how you show up in the world and how that
Speaker 1: product got our service, what it means, what the context
Speaker 1: of it is, and what expertise you bring to the table,
Speaker 1: change of the relationship with your consumers fundamentally mic drop.
Speaker 1: So that said, we're going into our episode with Andrea
Speaker 1: um great interview. Hope you enjoy it and be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe and follow her at y O Y through
Speaker 1: the Panoply Network. We're excited to have her. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Atlantia with Andrea Slendzi, the host of Panoplees podcast.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me to the show, Andrew, So, even
Speaker 1: though neither of us are in the dating scene, we
Speaker 1: love listening to y oy. It actually kind of terrifies me.
Speaker 1: We were saying this off Mike, like I could not
Speaker 1: make it out there today, Like I could not survive
Speaker 1: vicariously living through you and some stuff on some stuff
Speaker 1: on some stuff and the other stuff that we've heard
Speaker 1: on the show. We're like whoa. People talk about this,
Speaker 1: it's kind of amazing. We want to hear from you. Like,
Speaker 1: what was the impetus for the show? Well, I started
Speaker 1: the show as a volunteer to community radio station, maybe
Speaker 1: like three or four years ago, and just did it
Speaker 1: as a passion project on the side. And it was
Speaker 1: because I was so painfully lonely and very single and
Speaker 1: was all I could talk about with my friends. And
Speaker 1: then I met a guy, and I got this amazing
Speaker 1: job at Slate producing the Gist with Mike Pesca. Things
Speaker 1: got better, retired the show, and then I got this
Speaker 1: amazing opportunity from Panoply to start it up again. They
Speaker 1: basically said, if you've done five hundred episodes with the
Speaker 1: wonderful Mike Pesco, everyone gets a podcast for that. It's
Speaker 1: like it's the five year award graduation show. So I
Speaker 1: started up the podcast happily living with my boyfriend, everything
Speaker 1: going great. I was like, oh, I'm just like an
Speaker 1: anthropologists diving into the world of online dating from the
Speaker 1: outside and this happy relationship and then we broke up.
Speaker 1: So in a lot of ways, the show, starting at
Speaker 1: episode eight, has been me kind of reeling from a
Speaker 1: change in plans and trying to imagine what my future
Speaker 1: is going to look like. So the show's part personal journal,
Speaker 1: but it's also looking at what's going on with dating today,
Speaker 1: what's going on with the technology and the industry. So
Speaker 1: what is going on? And because we were dating seeing
Speaker 1: pre we were just talking about dinosaurs. Match was the No,
Speaker 1: there was match, there was harm my space. I met
Speaker 1: a lot of space and a chat rooms. Is that
Speaker 1: weird people need on Instagram and Twitter today? I don't
Speaker 1: think it's very different. If it wasn't for aol um
Speaker 1: instant messenger, my significant other I have eight or nine years.
Speaker 1: We can't figure that out, would not be together. Well,
Speaker 1: he says the eight, you say nine, So there you go.
Speaker 1: There's my relationship. But yeah, talked to us Andrew a
Speaker 1: little bit about what you're seeing and you know, kind
Speaker 1: of in this exploration back into the scene, how much
Speaker 1: technology is influencing and impacting the data. Well, when I
Speaker 1: talked to my I'm incredibly close with my grandma and
Speaker 1: I talked to her a lot about what dating was
Speaker 1: like for her in nine Brooklyn. You know, she grew
Speaker 1: up in East New York. She went to college at Syracuse.
Speaker 1: Like she's from this area, and when she was dating,
Speaker 1: the rules were incredibly clear. Guy asked you out to
Speaker 1: your face, You went out for a date, dinner and dancing,
Speaker 1: and you did it out in public. Everyone knew you
Speaker 1: were dating this person. Eventually you go steady, eventually get engaged,
Speaker 1: and you get married, and you know that that's what
Speaker 1: this is all kind of leading to. And there have
Speaker 1: been a lot of advances in technology since then, birth
Speaker 1: control my ability to have like a very rich career,
Speaker 1: and instead of getting married at the age of twenty two,
Speaker 1: I'm now very single at the age of thirty two.
Speaker 1: So we can feel that the rules have changed. Everything shifted,
Speaker 1: and now the rules of dating are very much being
Speaker 1: determined by our technology. You know, I think we're past
Speaker 1: the point where dating on an app is weird and
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary, and it's becoming more standard. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, we're figuring out the ethics of
Speaker 1: this new digital space. So do you think that's an
Speaker 1: opportunity for some of these um they're really technology companies, right,
Speaker 1: like dating apps, to start really creating a sense of community,
Speaker 1: to get people in a place where maybe they feel
Speaker 1: a sense of I don't want to say safety, like
Speaker 1: not physical safety, but like more emotional safety. I mean,
Speaker 1: do you think that's an opportunity. I think it's a
Speaker 1: moral obligation for the app to make you know, Okay, Cupid,
Speaker 1: my profile. This is so embarrassing to admit. Um is
Speaker 1: that we're looking for love on this show today, So
Speaker 1: just go all in. I think you're like, I am
Speaker 1: surprise that you're embarrassed because the stuff that you talk
Speaker 1: about is so personal, so like you're beyond that. Okay,
Speaker 1: But this is this is me making a joke that
Speaker 1: I thought was funny five years ago and then kind
Speaker 1: of sticking with it. So my profile isn't my actual bio.
Speaker 1: It's a bio of Kim Jong ill. And I thought
Speaker 1: this was so creative. So I say, I was born
Speaker 1: on this mountain and foretold by a swallow, and I
Speaker 1: have a perfect golf score, and I invented the hamburger,
Speaker 1: and guys think alec Yeah, And it's kind of a
Speaker 1: test of your ability to understand irony and understand a
Speaker 1: joke or even google what does a person of the world. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I put out this bio Korean dictator. It's a joke.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing if you get my joke, um, and a
Speaker 1: guy said, oh, hey, how's it going, Like, what are
Speaker 1: you doing? Checked out his profile wasn't interested. You don't
Speaker 1: really have to respond in that situation because I'm getting
Speaker 1: four or five messages a day would just be too much.
Speaker 1: So a day later he says, Oh, I guess you're
Speaker 1: not a dictator. You're just a dick. Now I have
Speaker 1: to respond. So what did you respond? No? I blocked him.
Speaker 1: But you know what happens when you block someone Okay Cupid?
Speaker 1: Some gray lines go over their message, but you can
Speaker 1: still see it and still right there in your inbox.
Speaker 1: You can't you can't really get rid of it, right,
Speaker 1: I mean you can delete it. So being on Okay
Speaker 1: keep It as a woman feels like standing on a
Speaker 1: train platform naked and all these guys are shouting at
Speaker 1: you and they can say anything they want and you
Speaker 1: can block, block, block light, gray lines. I'm hello, Okay Cupid.
Speaker 1: Huge product improvement there, And if you actually want to
Speaker 1: compete with like a bumble who is all about the
Speaker 1: female empowerment side, right or so they say, that's talk
Speaker 1: about that, So I don't know. It was early days, right,
Speaker 1: So like you've got match, you've got Okay Cupid, Bumble,
Speaker 1: Now you've got this um the harmony, You've got these
Speaker 1: that we were just talking about Ryan. Yeah, So like
Speaker 1: there's obviously been a couple of newer guys on the scene,
Speaker 1: whether it's Ryan, whether it's Bumble that are absent obviously
Speaker 1: Bumble sorry, that have been born out of presumably best
Speaker 1: practices or things that they've learned that have gone sideways
Speaker 1: with bigger networks for dating. Um. But like, talk to
Speaker 1: us a little bit, how what you've seen where tech
Speaker 1: has gotten it right, and where people have learned from
Speaker 1: the mistakes that like an Okay Cupid has made, and
Speaker 1: why that's caused you to potentially shift your behaviors and
Speaker 1: where you're engaging or fishing or whatever it's called fishing fishing,
Speaker 1: there's a fish one. Yeah, it seems really right. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I don't work in the tech world.
Speaker 1: I know very little about startup founding, but from my perspective,
Speaker 1: it feels like Okay Cupid was how all my friends
Speaker 1: met someone five years ago. So I'm told by everyone,
Speaker 1: get on Okay Cupid. Come on, it worked for me
Speaker 1: five years ago, But it actually feels like a sad
Speaker 1: graveyard of nice guys right now because the women are vanished.
Speaker 1: You know, if we feel so threatened and unsafe there,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to put our time and energy. Tools
Speaker 1: like uh. Tinder started with this reputation of being a
Speaker 1: hook up at and it still has that reputation, but
Speaker 1: it has become kind of like the standard in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. I feel safer there because the only
Speaker 1: guys get to talk to me. Your guys have indicated
Speaker 1: interest in I can unmatch, I can block, I can report.
Speaker 1: You know, we have the tools now to check for
Speaker 1: inappropriate messages and screen for inappropriate language, and I think
Speaker 1: I see apps like Tinder making those changes. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: apps that are trying to dethrone Tinder are making changes
Speaker 1: constantly and coming up with really crazy good new ideas
Speaker 1: to try to dethrone it. What hinge hinge changes? It's
Speaker 1: look for me, every time I open it, there's some
Speaker 1: new feature, some new way that it moves. What is
Speaker 1: this hinge? It feels like Instagram. So every profile has
Speaker 1: up to nine square images in a row, and then
Speaker 1: they give you question prompts that appear between the images.
Speaker 1: So the last movie I saw my personality type um
Speaker 1: you know to to describe me. You can switch what
Speaker 1: prompts you want to use, and you can use as
Speaker 1: many prompts as you want, as many photos as you want.
Speaker 1: You could use just one photo one prompt, you could
Speaker 1: use nine photos, nine prompts. It's it's creative. Tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about the safe space. And because Alexa
Speaker 1: and I have been going back and forth all day
Speaker 1: about Bumble by the way, can we just say I
Speaker 1: loved your episodes on Bumble two part two part. It
Speaker 1: was so intelligent in terms of kind of questioning, putting
Speaker 1: the woman first and also what kinds of people that
Speaker 1: they're targeting but also putting into the stream. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the question that I have constantly though, is how do
Speaker 1: these companies think about their role in terms of marketing
Speaker 1: and audience growth versus actual matchmaking? Yes, and it's impossible
Speaker 1: to make right. You're like, I don't know this stuff?
Speaker 1: Is like, yeah, you get this stuff. Are they incentivized
Speaker 1: to help me find my match? Right? Because then you
Speaker 1: lose all my swiping? And especially in the case of Tinder,
Speaker 1: they're serving the ads within the platform, um, both for
Speaker 1: their own products like their DTR podcast or for like
Speaker 1: the New Kalen Show. It's a good creative show. Wait,
Speaker 1: so can we just answer that they're not incentivized to
Speaker 1: match you. They're not because they need you coming back,
Speaker 1: They need you and they need to hook you. So
Speaker 1: it sounds to me like hinges all about the hook
Speaker 1: because it feels like something. I'm not saying they're not.
Speaker 1: It's not, but it does feel the way you're describing it,
Speaker 1: like there's always something new and so that's like a
Speaker 1: great way of like sticking you too. It's like fomo, right,
Speaker 1: it's like total fear of missing out on who could
Speaker 1: be there. But like these companies actually are not incentivized
Speaker 1: to match you because then you go away. So recently
Speaker 1: interviewed the CEO of the league and she was telling
Speaker 1: me how, you know, some of these apps think of
Speaker 1: it as a game and they just want you to
Speaker 1: play the game forever. She wants you to find your
Speaker 1: match because she knows then you're gonna tell your friends
Speaker 1: to sign up for the league. And we wouldn't have
Speaker 1: met if it wasn't for the league. So that could
Speaker 1: be part of it too. Is that word of mouth
Speaker 1: is going to really matter? Amanda Bradford, She's amazing. I
Speaker 1: was really impressed by her. Wait, so I was going
Speaker 1: to ask you that like, which I think is really important,
Speaker 1: Like how much does word of mouth play into what
Speaker 1: apps and like resources you're actually using in your dating life? Well,
Speaker 1: this is the problem, right, is that so much of
Speaker 1: our dating happens in private. My grandma was going to
Speaker 1: the soda shop, she was going to the dance hall.
Speaker 1: I am trying to meet as far away from my
Speaker 1: office as possible so I don't see anyone from work.
Speaker 1: You know, if I were swiping in an elevator, I
Speaker 1: would be embarrassed. I woudn't want anyone to see my screen.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of my friends are saving their
Speaker 1: apps and a folder that has the toilet emoji. You know,
Speaker 1: you're not thinking about this as a thing out in
Speaker 1: public anymore. So if you're there's this tinge of shame
Speaker 1: associated with it that I hope we can shake. Is
Speaker 1: there an opportunity? Interesting? We were talking to a friend
Speaker 1: of ours last night who is recently UM single, single UM.
Speaker 1: But he was telling us how um he was very upset,
Speaker 1: and I was like, holy sh it, Like clinic should
Speaker 1: be bringing you moments of breakup and what to do
Speaker 1: and how to advise that. But in the same token,
Speaker 1: he was telling us how he's back in the game,
Speaker 1: which so I think he's past the actual exactly game.
Speaker 1: But he's talking us about this new platform called RYA.
Speaker 1: We were talking to r A y A and the
Speaker 1: thing that he told us was interesting is there's a
Speaker 1: dating personal side and then there's a professional networking side,
Speaker 1: and it's global. So are you starting to see that transition,
Speaker 1: because I think that's what Alex is getting to is like,
Speaker 1: how do you create networks and communities at the same
Speaker 1: time also create a dating pool and it actually changes
Speaker 1: that thing that you're talking about where your grandmother and
Speaker 1: your grandfather were doing this out in public. So like,
Speaker 1: is that the new public dating scene is like you know,
Speaker 1: curated community bring togethers. I have so many things on
Speaker 1: it um So the first I think community bring togethers
Speaker 1: are so wise. I think like Bumble just opened up
Speaker 1: a hive. It's you walk in, You're gonna get free
Speaker 1: drinks and appetizers. You're in a space that's actively branded
Speaker 1: for the thing. It gives you a funny thing to
Speaker 1: invite a date to go do. I haven't done it yet.
Speaker 1: I really want to do it. They're doing events tonight
Speaker 1: in tomorrow, like tons of events. Why not open up
Speaker 1: a pop up shop and including people a chance to actually? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I would go to so many events and I think, like,
Speaker 1: I think we're looking for excuses to get off our phones. Um.
Speaker 1: In terms of the extending dating into networking, Bumble did
Speaker 1: introduce a feature called Bumble BFF, so you can find
Speaker 1: your best female friend in your city, and I think
Speaker 1: that's amazing. You could move to a new town, turn
Speaker 1: on the BFF feature and then actually swipe through women.
Speaker 1: Of course, we don't know the etiquette yet. It's a
Speaker 1: little uncomfortable and I don't know. I tried it and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, are they looking for a third
Speaker 1: in the bedroom or do they want to be my
Speaker 1: best friend? I can figure that out. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to talk about. The other spectrum of that is
Speaker 1: either your dating app turns into a networking app, or
Speaker 1: the other way this could go is that your dating
Speaker 1: app protects you from kind of that public networking. So
Speaker 1: on the League you can indicate that you don't want
Speaker 1: to see your LinkedIn connections, you don't want to see
Speaker 1: your Facebook friends. The league trust that we are smart
Speaker 1: enough to go up to our Facebook friend and asked
Speaker 1: them out on dates and we don't need to awkwardly
Speaker 1: see them on their dating apps. That's really smart. So
Speaker 1: it could go one or two directions. Either data kapps
Speaker 1: become just for dating apps and they offer more privacy features,
Speaker 1: or dating apps are gonna become the way we do
Speaker 1: all of our networking. Yeah. Well, what I think we're
Speaker 1: getting to, and this is persistent with a lot of
Speaker 1: the guests that we've had on our shows, is really
Speaker 1: trying to figure out as an ad community and as
Speaker 1: people that are marketers. Is how I think you just
Speaker 1: said it and you're like, how do we get off
Speaker 1: the phone and come back into the real world. And
Speaker 1: we had David Plots on the show, um who talked
Speaker 1: a lot about Alice Obscura and kind of curating these events.
Speaker 1: And I think what we're getting to is are we
Speaker 1: getting to a place and I would love your opinion
Speaker 1: on this where people are recognizing the vain nature of
Speaker 1: choosing people on looks and understanding that maybe for a
Speaker 1: certain amount of nights or one night whatever, that that
Speaker 1: might be a thing, but presumably to create a deeper
Speaker 1: lasting connection. Are these dating apps actually providing the forum
Speaker 1: where those experiences can happen and you can figure out
Speaker 1: in the right context and the right can action exactly,
Speaker 1: like in a different way, is it? Yeah, what's so
Speaker 1: crazy about online dating that, like you could look at
Speaker 1: his profile, every single photo, you could read his bio
Speaker 1: hundred times, but none of that matters. It's like when
Speaker 1: you're in the room with that person, you know in
Speaker 1: five seconds. So I'm looking for more real world events.
Speaker 1: So it's interesting you briefly caught you talk about how
Speaker 1: when you're swiping in tender you're getting ads for a
Speaker 1: variety of things, one of which I caught you say
Speaker 1: was Mindy Kaling's new show. Can you talk about in
Speaker 1: this world? Are people receptive to those brand messages? Do
Speaker 1: they seem awkward and clunky if they're not trojan? Like?
Speaker 1: What makes brand offensive when you need to try to me?
Speaker 1: I guess it's a good reminder, but like, what does
Speaker 1: brand authenticity look like in the dating space? And like
Speaker 1: when is it? Like? Okay, like you're going on tour
Speaker 1: with Binobo's, for example, can you talk to us about
Speaker 1: how that synergy makes sense for the conversation that you're
Speaker 1: having in your audience. Huh. I don't think I've ever
Speaker 1: put the word branded authenticity together. I have just zero
Speaker 1: training on this, but I instantly know what it means.
Speaker 1: So I'm doing a series of live events with Bonobo's
Speaker 1: throughout the month of June. The first one was in
Speaker 1: New York and now we're still planning up our Chicago
Speaker 1: and l A shows. And basically the idea is getting
Speaker 1: YoY listeners inside of the Banobo's Guide shops in these
Speaker 1: cities to watch a live podcast taping. And the moment
Speaker 1: we started to brainstorm what this would look like, I
Speaker 1: instantly had ideas that involved their clothing, and there was
Speaker 1: zero pressure for me to have those ideas. They just
Speaker 1: come naturally. For your inside of med school, the store
Speaker 1: would be fun to use the clothes, So I'm dressing
Speaker 1: all of the guests we book in Banobo's suits. Then
Speaker 1: this idea came kind of naturally. Why not help guys
Speaker 1: in the audience improve their Tinder profiles by dressing them
Speaker 1: in the store, posing them together with a drink in
Speaker 1: their hand match And so I hope that there's a
Speaker 1: Wildy station every Binobo's Guide store in the country, right,
Speaker 1: But that should pictures of guys like you hold you
Speaker 1: take a picture of them when they hold up a fish.
Speaker 1: You take a picture of them, when they sit in
Speaker 1: the Game of Thrones chair at Madison Square Garden. Take
Speaker 1: a picture of them if they're holding a baby. That's
Speaker 1: actually like people are like, oh my god, you're holding
Speaker 1: a baby. You know how to do. And that's why
Speaker 1: there's so many niece photos. It's like, oh, it's you
Speaker 1: and your little niece. But you never see them just
Speaker 1: hanging out with their friends having fun because I think
Speaker 1: there's less of a take my picture. Let's all do
Speaker 1: a picture together culture. So tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about what brands do you like to work with, Like
Speaker 1: what are the sorts of marketing products or brands or
Speaker 1: things that you think could add value to the dating
Speaker 1: world in your life. Should we talk about Airbnb? We
Speaker 1: can talk about a baby, but we can talk about Okay.
Speaker 1: For me, I always found myself like, and you do this,
Speaker 1: we all do this. We like go to work, right,
Speaker 1: you run home, you like shave your armpits and then
Speaker 1: you're like blowing out your hair really fast and you're
Speaker 1: running out the door. It's like, it would be so
Speaker 1: great if Tinder hooked you up with the glamor app
Speaker 1: like or dry bar, and you had like it was
Speaker 1: like boom boom boom boom boom, got it on your
Speaker 1: way home, You're going to change your shoes whatever. It's
Speaker 1: like the tender Thursday night out. It's present yourself the
Speaker 1: best way. But Nobo should do something like that. So
Speaker 1: when I started Why Why, one of my exercises was
Speaker 1: creating a creative brief, which wasn't standard here panopally at
Speaker 1: the time, and I think it should be. Um, you
Speaker 1: kind of go through a night. One of the sections
Speaker 1: is your non indirect competitors is part of a creative brief,
Speaker 1: and those came to me so naturally, Like an indirect
Speaker 1: competitor to hy Y is Rose right, Broad City indirect competitor. No,
Speaker 1: you're not going to pick one or talk about that.
Speaker 1: That's a show where girls are kind of running wild
Speaker 1: and being completely themselves in New York City. It's fun,
Speaker 1: it's punchy, it's drunk, it's not girly. It's about girls.
Speaker 1: So just writing that list was really empowering. And then
Speaker 1: also you know, coming up with the profile of my
Speaker 1: standard listener. Um, my listener is Jenny, she's been experimenting
Speaker 1: with natural deodorant. Isn't totally working for her yet. You know,
Speaker 1: Jenny is getting really into Spicial still shaves their and
Speaker 1: pits though before a day. Yeah, but that profile came
Speaker 1: so naturally, and then I turned that actually into a
Speaker 1: list of the brands that I could imagine advertising on
Speaker 1: the show and then offer that up to our our
Speaker 1: team here. But from the amount of data that these
Speaker 1: apps have and like people's preferences, taste, where they're going,
Speaker 1: how many times are engaging with people, Like for as marketers,
Speaker 1: you can't get that data and that level of activity point.
Speaker 1: I mean the fact that they have that level of
Speaker 1: intimate data. Right now, there's a privacy issue, there's all
Speaker 1: that other stuff. But if it actually became additive to
Speaker 1: the experience, people would want to give their information away.
Speaker 1: I believe. I think it's a really ripe area for
Speaker 1: for engagement. We're talking about offline experiences. How certain brands
Speaker 1: could come in and add that sort of value, Like totally,
Speaker 1: it's a no brainer that Tinder, Slash, Atlas, Obscure, slash,
Speaker 1: Airbnb need to get in a threesome like that needs
Speaker 1: to happen. I love it well. The thing I'm really
Speaker 1: itching to do is to do more live events in
Speaker 1: different cities. I think people want spaces to come together,
Speaker 1: like we're talking about, especially single people. And if you
Speaker 1: could look around a room full of other podcast fans,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's the ultimate test is is there
Speaker 1: another y O Y fan in my area, someone who
Speaker 1: cares as much about dating someone who's also a feminist,
Speaker 1: someone who loves podcasting, Like your chance to meet that person.
Speaker 1: And there's so many brands that would it would make
Speaker 1: sense that they would want to help me bring people together.
Speaker 1: I think Squarespace, Casper, dry Bar, any makeup company, Glossier.
Speaker 1: I've always imagined there could a future extension of the
Speaker 1: y Y brand could be an app that helps you
Speaker 1: match with someone who's listened to a podcast the same
Speaker 1: podcast as you lately UM, and then it gives you
Speaker 1: an instant thing to talk about. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: And I also could imagine UM an instant tool for
Speaker 1: your wingman or wing woman when you go to events
Speaker 1: in your community, so some kind of way that it
Speaker 1: matches you up with someone who will be be your helper.
Speaker 1: I want to go. So we've talked a lot to
Speaker 1: you kind of offline about creating ads. Um, we know
Speaker 1: that people who listen to podcasts are typically connected to
Speaker 1: the hosts of the podcasts and have some kind of
Speaker 1: really emotional connection, especially when you're talking about something personal, right,
Speaker 1: like what are the opportunities to do advertising in the
Speaker 1: audio space in a different way. Well, I'm never at
Speaker 1: a shortage of ideas, like I love what I do,
Speaker 1: and I listened to two podcasts, you know, a week,
Speaker 1: it feels like, and I've been bored by podcast ads,
Speaker 1: and I've also remember the podcast ads that have really
Speaker 1: spoke to me. So all I'm looking for and I
Speaker 1: listen to one is some kind of new story to
Speaker 1: cling to. And it's pretty rare that I look at
Speaker 1: podcast add copy and I can figure out my room
Speaker 1: to get in a story. But some offer more freedom
Speaker 1: than others. So I started talking with my friend Chris
Speaker 1: Berube about his new Squarespace page. He just created his
Speaker 1: own Crisprube dot com. I have andrews Lundsey dot com.
Speaker 1: I think everyone needs their own name dot com. And
Speaker 1: he was saying, I'm so glad I did because I
Speaker 1: got in before the other Cris Barrube, And instantly I
Speaker 1: had this idea like what if we could get the
Speaker 1: other Cris Barrube on the line and be like, you
Speaker 1: got trumped. Yeah, we beat you to this. Sorry, but
Speaker 1: that's that's you taking a brand's message and making your
Speaker 1: your own. Because presumably your audience we were just talking
Speaker 1: about this offline, is that they want to hear Andrea's
Speaker 1: version of how she's engaging with X product. In our
Speaker 1: last episode, we were very adamant that I shouldn't be
Speaker 1: giving the same interpretation of Casper Mattress that you certainly
Speaker 1: are giving about Casper Mattress. And I'm using that as
Speaker 1: an example. Um, we love them as an advertiser, but
Speaker 1: just to say that, hey, look, you said, we're creative
Speaker 1: talents where people that are passionate about our topic. Our
Speaker 1: audience is coming um to listen to perspective and get
Speaker 1: an understanding of how we think about something, what our
Speaker 1: guests have say about it. So why not allow that
Speaker 1: person to take that copy folded and have a conversation
Speaker 1: with them about what makes sense in the context of
Speaker 1: your show. Right, there's another show where they'd want to
Speaker 1: hear a lot about the Dragon Drop tools. But on
Speaker 1: why ohy, I think petty Internet rivalry with someone with
Speaker 1: your same name makes sense. So I think what we've learned,
Speaker 1: why O Y needs more offline? Well, it's not even
Speaker 1: why O Y right, Like the dating scene needs more.
Speaker 1: The offline interaction community is like king right, Like if
Speaker 1: you can create community, it seems like there's like total
Speaker 1: fertile ground there, and it sounds like Bumble's probably doing that.
Speaker 1: Maybe would you say the best Actually the league is
Speaker 1: to me right now. Yeah. So I got an email
Speaker 1: from them saying you are one of twenty five women
Speaker 1: in the New York City area who we've selected for
Speaker 1: an exclusive event at the Soho House. Click here to
Speaker 1: get your timart As hell, I felt so special. Tickets
Speaker 1: were a hundred dollars women, twenty five guys. I get
Speaker 1: to go to the Soho House. There's free food and drink.
Speaker 1: I really thought about it. Wait, you didn't go. I'm
Speaker 1: not optimistic about meeting people right now, Like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get you. Got to get out there. You got Andrea,
Speaker 1: go out. We're going out after this. You will be
Speaker 1: your two hundred dollars to meet twenty five guys. Is
Speaker 1: that what I'm willing to pay? Is interesting? How she
Speaker 1: broke that down call that costs per CD. But the
Speaker 1: league goes from city to city and each league has
Speaker 1: a concert erge each They're going one city at a time,
Speaker 1: so you can't get it in every city. They're just
Speaker 1: going to Atlanta right now, and then from that city
Speaker 1: they do these events. And they're actually doing a summer
Speaker 1: camp in Pennsylvania, adult summer camp for a weekend. That's
Speaker 1: like really popular right now, by the way, adult summer camps.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing Bumble
Speaker 1: doing more than the Hive. Andrew, this has been informative, formative.
Speaker 1: There's so many follow up questions we're going to have
Speaker 1: to take offline, and there's so many opportunities for brands
Speaker 1: to do. I'm really kind of obsessed. Like Tinder, everybody
Speaker 1: should get rid of the freaking ads and go through
Speaker 1: the process that people go through to get your customer journey,
Speaker 1: like Hello, every day is a new data consumer. You're here,
Speaker 1: it should be do you located? Click click click, Go
Speaker 1: get your blowout, Go get your wax, go get your Bonobos,
Speaker 1: whatever you need to get it out exactly. Andrew has
Speaker 1: been such a pleasure to have you with everybody check
Speaker 1: out Y I Panically podcast available everywhere you can download
Speaker 1: pod and where can people find you other than the podcast? Oh?
Speaker 1: Just my full name on Twitter. It's great for Instagram.
Speaker 1: Andrew's Lindsey. Thank you so much. Thanks Andrea. So did
Speaker 1: that conversation make you want to get back into the
Speaker 1: dating world? Hell no, thanks to Cameron Juice our producer
Speaker 1: Andy Bowers. Matt Turk will be back in two weeks
Speaker 1: with an other episode. M Full disclosure. Our opinions are
Speaker 1: our own.