WEBVTT - EWG Virtual Revolutionizing Talent Thru the Metaverse

0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600
<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:08.280
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. So our

0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:10.640
<v Speaker 1>next guest Julia Heart. She is co owner and CEO

0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.160
<v Speaker 1>of the talent representation company Elite World Group. They repped

0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:19.279
<v Speaker 1>some fifty talent globally. The clients include Tiffany Chanelle, Product Burbery,

0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.680
<v Speaker 1>a lot more of names that you would know. She,

0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.600
<v Speaker 1>by the way, is also the subject of a Netflix

0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.640
<v Speaker 1>series is called My Unorthodox Life, which premiered this past summer.

0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:29.640
<v Speaker 1>We are delighted to have her on the phone in

0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.840
<v Speaker 1>New York City. Julia, great to have you here with

0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:33.839
<v Speaker 1>Tim and myself. How are you. It's great to have

0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.040
<v Speaker 1>you here with us. Tell us a little bit about

0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.080
<v Speaker 1>for those who might not be familiar with your company.

0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>That was fun kind of reading in for you because

0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.800
<v Speaker 1>I remember Elite Models very well known in the model

0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.640
<v Speaker 1>modeling industry, but you are a bunch of companies. Tell

0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.200
<v Speaker 1>us about your company, the transformation that you've been going through.

0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.360
<v Speaker 1>So when the only reason I took over the company

0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.320
<v Speaker 1>is because I realized, with the advent of social media,

0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:00.760
<v Speaker 1>we are at the forefront of changing the way that

0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.680
<v Speaker 1>people communicate and how people advertise, because if you think

0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.760
<v Speaker 1>about its social media advertising by definition has to be

0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.200
<v Speaker 1>more honest. Right, Julia Hart, who's by the tall and

0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.600
<v Speaker 1>can barely lift her handbag, is not going to be

0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:18.640
<v Speaker 1>doing an ad for a workout session with weights. You

0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.119
<v Speaker 1>might in the metaverse though, but we can talk about

0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:26.440
<v Speaker 1>that later. So what I understood is that if I

0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.280
<v Speaker 1>utilize that, if you think of the talent instead of

0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:35.080
<v Speaker 1>thinking of them as athletes or actors or models, to me,

0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.240
<v Speaker 1>those are all platforms. Whether it's a runway, a tennis court,

0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:44.000
<v Speaker 1>a football stadium, a movie, a movie side, it doesn't matter.

0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:49.360
<v Speaker 1>Reutilize that and put the power in their hands. It's

0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.280
<v Speaker 1>this massive shift in the power dynamic and this vast

0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.960
<v Speaker 1>and opporutization of fashion because for the first time, it's

0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.440
<v Speaker 1>not the talent having to run and the hope that

0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.280
<v Speaker 1>someone should chooses them, that a creative director likes that,

0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.280
<v Speaker 1>that a photographer videographer takes them under their wings, that

0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.320
<v Speaker 1>some editor of a fancy magazine wants to have a

0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.600
<v Speaker 1>photogo of them, their careers in their hands. And so

0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.480
<v Speaker 1>what we're doing is we're helping them create themselves into

0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.960
<v Speaker 1>brands and businesses. We utilize the time that they're in

0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.160
<v Speaker 1>the public eye to build them into brands, so that

0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.359
<v Speaker 1>far past the time they're on whatever platform they started through,

0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.000
<v Speaker 1>whether it's a tennis court or a runway or a

0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.200
<v Speaker 1>football stadium, their audience has become so accustomed to coming

0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.840
<v Speaker 1>to that they will continue. They are the media, they have,

0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:46.079
<v Speaker 1>the audience are aggregated. Viewership has now reached two points

0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:50.799
<v Speaker 1>to filion. Hey, hey, Julia, help help us understand the

0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.519
<v Speaker 1>connection to technology here, because you use terms like platform

0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.720
<v Speaker 1>and audience and I think you know influencer, right, I

0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.160
<v Speaker 1>think Instagram, I think YouTube? Um, how does how is

0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:04.839
<v Speaker 1>that married into this? Well? Again, social media the way

0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.640
<v Speaker 1>that I looked at it when I took over, because

0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.040
<v Speaker 1>to me, the modeling industry was not interesting at all.

0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:10.840
<v Speaker 1>It felt like the flip side of the world that

0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.480
<v Speaker 1>I came from. The only reason I took it over

0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.720
<v Speaker 1>is because I realized that I have the possibility to

0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 1>make an army of financially independent women by utilizing their

0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:27.000
<v Speaker 1>social media channels as actual networks. But but, but how,

0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:29.560
<v Speaker 1>but what I'm wondering. What I'm wondering too, And I

0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.120
<v Speaker 1>look at how my daughter eighteen, you know, how she's

0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.800
<v Speaker 1>she shops, you know, what she looks at. It's all

0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.480
<v Speaker 1>through a lot of Instagram. It's all social media. It's

0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.800
<v Speaker 1>very different from how I shopped. But I do wonder

0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:41.760
<v Speaker 1>not everybody is going to be We did a story

0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:46.240
<v Speaker 1>earlier about Jessica Simpson, you know um and kind of

0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.040
<v Speaker 1>built an incredible brand, got away from her and she's

0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.040
<v Speaker 1>trying to She just got it back and she's trying

0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.200
<v Speaker 1>to rebuild it. But not everybody we'll have success. Are

0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.840
<v Speaker 1>you saying that everybody will have success on social media?

0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.440
<v Speaker 1>Great question. Of course everyone will not have success. So

0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.240
<v Speaker 1>what there's two what I would say to ingredients, what

0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.800
<v Speaker 1>we provide and what the talent provides. So when I

0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.520
<v Speaker 1>thought of talent as media, and I realized that if

0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.680
<v Speaker 1>I literally treat them as media, they have the power.

0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.719
<v Speaker 1>They're not waiting for the casting agents and the creative directors.

0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.039
<v Speaker 1>They are now being chased by the casting agents and

0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.479
<v Speaker 1>creative directors because they bring the audience right. So when

0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:34.120
<v Speaker 1>you can communicate, I always tell every talent, find your

0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.560
<v Speaker 1>angel product. And it doesn't actually mean it has to

0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.520
<v Speaker 1>be a physical thing. It means something that you are

0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.400
<v Speaker 1>truthfully passionate about the people know when they come on

0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.760
<v Speaker 1>your website, on your Instagram page or your TikTok or whatever,

0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.400
<v Speaker 1>they're going to learn more about X. If you love

0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.960
<v Speaker 1>the environment, talk about the environment, show all of the

0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:59.400
<v Speaker 1>different environmental you know, places that you belong with and

0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.000
<v Speaker 1>what you're doing. Let people understand who you are. And

0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.640
<v Speaker 1>that's the first time in history that tendis players and

0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.240
<v Speaker 1>models and you know, athletes can say who they are

0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.359
<v Speaker 1>and it's not just about what they do. Tell us

0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.400
<v Speaker 1>a little bit about though. We want to talk about

0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.440
<v Speaker 1>the metaverse. What do you see because I think Julia

0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.880
<v Speaker 1>is safe to say, you know, we've all been obsessed

0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.479
<v Speaker 1>with what Facebook are formerly known as Facebook. You know

0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.800
<v Speaker 1>it meta is up to uh and how this will

0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.200
<v Speaker 1>fit into our world more broadly, how do you see

0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 1>it in terms of talent and branding? Because Tim and

0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.559
<v Speaker 1>I recently caught up with our Pursuits team and Chris

0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.320
<v Speaker 1>Rouser and we talked about the high end fashion houses

0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.880
<v Speaker 1>that you work with that are selling fashion and f

0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.480
<v Speaker 1>t s for thousands of dollars. So our world is evolving.

0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:52.760
<v Speaker 1>Indeed it is, and honestly to me, the metaverse and

0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:58.760
<v Speaker 1>avatars way before you know Facebook called itself meta Right

0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.360
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and I started building my team of

0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:09.000
<v Speaker 1>avatar creators and metaverse experts. I started literally building the

0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.120
<v Speaker 1>whole concept of metaverse and avatars a month and a

0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.880
<v Speaker 1>half after I took over a CEO. Because to me,

0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.159
<v Speaker 1>it was an evolution of what's going on in the

0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.000
<v Speaker 1>digital space. And by that, I mean, think about what

0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.560
<v Speaker 1>is the most watched show on net NBC. Right, the

0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.479
<v Speaker 1>most watch show on NBC gets around three four million viewers.

0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.280
<v Speaker 1>My talent gets fifty million viewers. While they're moaning their law.

0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.880
<v Speaker 1>They have the audience. So the first thing was to

0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.720
<v Speaker 1>give them longevity. And by getting them longevity, I mean

0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.599
<v Speaker 1>turning them into brands. And we did that by bringing

0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:47.200
<v Speaker 1>in house what networks have, writers, producers, directors, filmographers to

0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.840
<v Speaker 1>help our talent craft their story. It's not casual. I mean,

0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:52.320
<v Speaker 1>that's the one thing that I think is interesting. Tim

0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:53.880
<v Speaker 1>and I talked about it. Even with our social media.

0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.719
<v Speaker 1>It's it can be casual and it can catch on,

0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.359
<v Speaker 1>but it's a lot of work. It's very it's a

0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.760
<v Speaker 1>lot of war, intentional, the real it has to be

0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.280
<v Speaker 1>true to you. And so that enabled me to give

0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.680
<v Speaker 1>my talent longevity. But The goal has been to give

0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:14.200
<v Speaker 1>them eternity and immortality, and that's what these avatars do.

0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.440
<v Speaker 1>So just you know, I mean, we've been working on

0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.080
<v Speaker 1>this for the past two years, two and a half years.

0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:25.680
<v Speaker 1>We have created the most hyper realistic avatars that exist today.

0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.560
<v Speaker 1>If you take a look at ours and you measure

0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:33.000
<v Speaker 1>them against anyone, Facebook, Google, all these companies that people

0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:37.640
<v Speaker 1>are talking about with such excitement, ours are incomparable. Where

0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.200
<v Speaker 1>where can we sealistic? Where can we see some of

0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:44.200
<v Speaker 1>the stuff that you guys are doing so we can

0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:50.440
<v Speaker 1>send you the we did a Jasmine video because we've

0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.040
<v Speaker 1>done two things so far. Right, We've got the Steve

0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.320
<v Speaker 1>Madden Uh campaign that we did, but that wasn't a

0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.560
<v Speaker 1>hyper realistic because they wanted to reinvent um their old

0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.520
<v Speaker 1>campaign with the bubble head, so that needed to do that,

0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.000
<v Speaker 1>you know. Plus and and the most incredible thing I

0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.680
<v Speaker 1>have to tell you, and it's never seen this you

0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.600
<v Speaker 1>guys probably know better than I do. Have you ever

0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:18.800
<v Speaker 1>heard of the earnings report that attributes their massive growth

0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:23.480
<v Speaker 1>in earnings to a sales campaign within their quarter earning reports?

0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.239
<v Speaker 1>Because that's what Steve Madden did in their third quarter

0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:30.000
<v Speaker 1>earning report openly. They attributed the connectivity with a younger

0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.800
<v Speaker 1>audience and an increase in sales and web traffic to

0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:37.840
<v Speaker 1>our campaign, twenty increamed on launch day and the highest

0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.480
<v Speaker 1>earnings the company has ever had in its entire history.

0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:47.520
<v Speaker 1>We concepted task directed producers a campaign, and we've got

0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:53.040
<v Speaker 1>avatars who can show you product. But the avatars so so,

0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.160
<v Speaker 1>the avatars though they're not necessarily experienced. They're not they're

0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:01.080
<v Speaker 1>not experienced by consumers in what is own as the metaverse, right,

0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.800
<v Speaker 1>the Steve Madden verse. Right, these avatars are are still

0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.160
<v Speaker 1>are still viewed in a traditional way. You know, Carol

0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.280
<v Speaker 1>just sent me a YouTube videos, right, Platum. But but

0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.480
<v Speaker 1>but there isn't there aren't the people yet in those

0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.840
<v Speaker 1>platforms to actually make it worthwhile, right, No, we we

0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.240
<v Speaker 1>built them. In fact, I can't say the names of

0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.560
<v Speaker 1>the companies that we're currently doing projects for because of

0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.559
<v Speaker 1>course we were going to announce them when the project

0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.760
<v Speaker 1>is complete. But we've got a major fashion brand that

0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.679
<v Speaker 1>we're building an entire virtual shopping experience where you will

0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.640
<v Speaker 1>have an aftar who is a salesperson. Um. We've been

0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.720
<v Speaker 1>working with this incredible company that has a literal no brainer,

0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.040
<v Speaker 1>uh scanning technology, So all you have to do, it's

0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.160
<v Speaker 1>literally so simple. You scan your body. It puts you

0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:53.640
<v Speaker 1>into the metaverse and you can try on clothing, handbacks,

0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.200
<v Speaker 1>you can create your own you can choose things, and

0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.760
<v Speaker 1>it's all virtual. So the metaverse is here now. Our like,

0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.320
<v Speaker 1>for example, Jazz and Saunders, we put her in a

0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.720
<v Speaker 1>metaverse and the beauty of what we're doing as opposed

0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:13.160
<v Speaker 1>to traditional right, but think about video game they could

0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:17.439
<v Speaker 1>only exist within the framework of that video game. Our

0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.240
<v Speaker 1>avatars can exist in every imaginable way, whether it's a

0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.920
<v Speaker 1>shopping experience where we create an entire interactive e commerce

0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.000
<v Speaker 1>UM metaverse website where people can literally put themselves in

0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.160
<v Speaker 1>there and try things on and see what they look like.

0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:41.080
<v Speaker 1>Communication so they could sing karaoke with your um you

0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.400
<v Speaker 1>know singer. So eventually it's an endless amount of opportunity.

0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.840
<v Speaker 1>But what's happening right now, right, But so this is

0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.480
<v Speaker 1>how people can actually then buy product, right because I

0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.480
<v Speaker 1>know some of the stuff we do with pursuits and

0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.800
<v Speaker 1>the n F t idea was you know, you're not

0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.520
<v Speaker 1>necessarily going to own an actual physical object, but you

0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.840
<v Speaker 1>just are kind of playing in this virtual world. Um,

0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.240
<v Speaker 1>and you can have your own avatar and you can

0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.320
<v Speaker 1>put on the n f T or whatever that you buy.

0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.880
<v Speaker 1>Both both are great for me. I mean, I'll do

0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.360
<v Speaker 1>it all. You know, whether it's you want to keep

0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.920
<v Speaker 1>it in the realm of the metaverse, fantastic, You wanted

0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:20.240
<v Speaker 1>to help create a purchase, wonderful. You tell me what

0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.599
<v Speaker 1>your goal is as a company, Well, we'll ensure you

0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.679
<v Speaker 1>that we will get it down. So we've only got

0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:27.480
<v Speaker 1>about twenty five seconds left here, I know. With with

0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.959
<v Speaker 1>Steve Mann though, when you guys did this, you actually

0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.720
<v Speaker 1>they saw popping sales. Is that correct? Just quickly yes,

0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.720
<v Speaker 1>as I mentioned, and they mentioned us in their third

0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.080
<v Speaker 1>quarter earnings report and they attributed there it's the highest

0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.199
<v Speaker 1>earnings of the company has ever had in your history

0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.640
<v Speaker 1>with our campaign and increase on launch day, which was

0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:49.800
<v Speaker 1>really really exciting. And then of course we've got a

0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.320
<v Speaker 1>partnership with Tommy Hildberger. UM so to be doing this

0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:57.640
<v Speaker 1>incredible interactive virtual Got It fashion show, It's going to

0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.120
<v Speaker 1>be amazing. Julia, thank you so much. Julia heart is

0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.640
<v Speaker 1>co owner CEO of Elite World Group, joining us on

0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:03.520
<v Speaker 1>the phone in New York,