How the Lakers made a $7.9 million marketing investment with Bronny James, A unique way fortune 100 brands are using AI for marketing, Intuit cuts 2,000 employees to invest further in AI, and more

0:00So the Lakers made a 7.9 million marketing investment with Bronnie James. If you haven't seen his contract or... Well, first of all, who's Bronny James? Bronny James, a good point. LeBron James is a NBA all-star player who is one of the best basketball players in the world. Yeah, and he plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bronny James is his son. LeBron has talked about for many years, his dream is to play in the NBA with his son on the same team, not against him, but on the same team. Now, if you watch basketball, all you know the summer league has been going on uh brawny has not been doing well during the summer league he played one game shot two for nine and then he got hurt that was it yeah and uh when you look at brawny people are disappointed in his performance but it's not that he isn't an nba player or can't be in the future he needed to stay in college for a few more years to build up his skills before potentially going to nba but everyone's like he shouldn't have been recruited this early in round one he was picked 50 something no he was round two uh 55 i thought he was round one 55 either way round two was still early round one you can only go 32 teams okay round two he was still too early at 55 very early and he has a guaranteed four-year contract of 7.9 million dollars so roughly two million a year guaranteed over those four years which is extremely rare for round two pick 50 something i'm curious lakers rookie salaries i'm curious what the first guy got because the first guy's a really good shooter he's excuse me he's a little um older but um i kind of want to know his name's nekt last name's next keep going i'm gonna look for it and when you look at this, the amount of news and press that the Lakers have generated from Bronny James, I bet you they'll generate more than the$8 million in revenue from recruiting Bronny just from all the press and people want to see, can he actually play?

2:02How is he playing with his dad and all this kind of stuff? You're right. So what Neil means here is like, who knows how, like, by the way, Bronny, I will say to his credit, I've watched some of his videos. He looks pretty good, but it is a marketing play. It's like the first father and son duo. There's so much, there's t-shirts you can make there's so much content you can make around it it's going to get so much more views the eight million should be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of attention they're going to get and lakers are like they are always the premier like uh team when it comes to attention like they're one of the premier teams like boston like they're in one of the major cities by the way the first rookie that the first guy that got picked he made 18.4 so yeah the the salaries are much higher because of the tv deals yeah the tv they're just going to keep getting bigger but brawny won't make the majority of his money at least in the next four years uh being a lakers nba player he'll make it from endorsements for sure and his dad's good like by the way people are gonna give him crap oh my god you know daddy's money or whatever it's like daddy like you know he gets credit too because he's actually pretty good so you know it's funny you and i both started as entrepreneurs and we mainly did it on our own we had good parents we grew up in middle class neighborhoods.

3:10And, you know, a lot of people look at like, oh, wow, you came from rags to riches struggle. I'm not saying you and I, but people look at that and they respect that. At the end of the day, you know, people have said to me many times, aren't you glad you just weren't given all this? I'm like, no, I rather have had my parents being filthy rich than normal to poor to normal. Like life would have been easier if they're filthy rich, if I could go back and change it and have my parents be filthy rich. I prefer them to have hundreds of millions of dollars versus very little money. I see. So I see it the other way, right?

3:44Because there's a lot of people I've grown up with where the parents had everything and they gave the kids everything. And a lot of them turn out to be not that useful and helpful. So I'm kind of glad I got to struggle to learn all because maybe I wouldn't have been motivated to do all these other things, right? Maybe I would have just been a bum. Like I was, I always wanted to find ways to be a bum when I I was younger. Right. And I was always jealous of the rich kids, but now I'm kind of grateful for the experiences that we got to go through. Okay. Let me rephrase this. You, Eric, would you rather have your mom give you$250 million and grow up rich?

4:16Cause you're the only child. Cause Eric is the only child, your mom and dad, or would you rather have them give you nothing and built it and try to figure it out on your own? Let's be honest. The first one. Exactly. Okay. We're talking about inheritance here. Okay. That's, that's a little different. Yeah. Yes. But that's what I mean by being rich, having a leg up, parents giving you money for whatever you need. Okay. We're both in YPO, right? And a lot of cases where the, there's like the rich parents, like they, they brought up the kids and the kids end up joining YPO. Some of the kids are really good.

4:45Like they're amazing. They work really hard. They work even harder than the parents now. Cause they have something to prove, right? Some of them though are complete screw-ups, right? But it goes both ways. Majority of the people who I know are entrepreneurs for the first time and their parents had no money are usually complete screw-ups and they do a terrible job and they don't make money. Hence, most entrepreneurs fail. Okay. Yeah. We're talking about successful ones though. Yeah. Yeah. But there's always exceptions. Yes. And it's funny. So in the building I live in, there's this guy who works for one of the largest wealth management, private equity companies in the world.

5:19Like they're massive. They do later stage deals. And he was telling me an interesting stat. You know, when people talk about entrepreneurs succeeding, the ones that came from nothing, Did you know the majority of the ones that have done well actually came from affluent backgrounds? Really? I didn't know that. What percent? I don't know the percent you say it is the majority. You know what? I will say like the ones that I've done well, their parents are really good. The family is really locked in and they try to make sure that they don't spoil their kids. Right. And actually, to your point, though, I wouldn't say it's half half.

5:50I would say probably 70 to 80 percent of the kids that grew up in like YPO families, they're like they're pretty good. They're not screw ups. Yeah. And when you say spoil the kids, it's not about having your kids fly first class or spending too much money on clothes or cars. I don't think those things actually impact their success that much in the future. What really impacts it is the values more than anything else. Yeah. And it's hard to instill good values, especially someone like Neil who likes to spoil his kids. Yeah. But I try to teach my kids, hey, all these clothes that you get, you see this stuff, it costs money.

6:24You want this stuff, you need to make it. How are they making it right now? They're not making it right now. They just nag and cry. Yep. And that's how they make it. They take it. Neil's like, don't cry. Stop crying. Don't cry. I got to take a minute to tell you about the Agency Owners Association. This is a peer group for agency owners. Think YPO or EO, but for agency owners. And I just wanted to read you a couple of testimonials. So this first one comes from Carrie. And we asked her, what do you like most about the group? She said, having a group of people to discuss and bounce ideas. The leads are great too.

6:56Yes, we share leads in this group as well. This one from Alian, he says, the ability to really post whatever I want and need and the group responds. Great experienced members, getting a lot of insights from conversations with other members, getting a lot of value from sessions from Eric, getting advice from others as well. And so if you wanna grow your agency faster and you wanna peer group to do so, just go to marketingschool.io slash agency. This is a group that both Neil and I created. And our hope here is to create a vibrant community of agency owners and do a lot more with it in the future.

7:24So again, marketingschool.io slash agency, and we'll see you inside. All right. What's this one over here about a unique way Fortune 100 brands are using AI for marketing? Dude, so it's funny. So I was in Spain and when I was in Spain, we did a round table with a lot of Fortune 100 companies and they were actually global 100 companies. And I was talking to this lady and I've seen this before, but I was shocked on how many people around the table are doing this. that were in a global 100 type of company because it was a small round table, call it like five businesses. And literally every single one of them was a global 100 company.

8:05No joke, one of the ladies comes in and we're talking and we're talking about AI and we're talking about experiments. She's like, yeah, our company, and this is a company that's massive, not like a hundred billion dollar market cap, but much larger. And they're like, what we do is we load up a lot of our experiments in the past, the stuff that's worked, the stuff that's failed. And we put in why into AI, and we try to end up educating the system. So then that way, when we're doing future marketing experiments, we actually have the system analyze the experiment and give us feedback on, will this work?

8:40Will it not? Why? And we do similar things. It's our version is a little bit different. I want to say our version is a little bit different. With performance marketing, a lot more of it's black and white, we input not just our current data, all our past data. And then we run scenarios and see and ask questions to see what has worked and what hasn't worked. So then when we're coming up with new ideas, we're coming up with ideas that are most likely to work based off of past history. Right. And if something's failed miserably, it doesn't mean that we won't try it again or a variation of it, but we're using the AI to analyze our data to figure out, are these new things that we're doing have a high likelihood of working.

9:23But what this, and literally majority of the companies, if not all of them around the table, we're doing it to some variation. And I wouldn't say that they're all doing it perfectly. And they all admitted that they weren't actually doing it perfectly because they're global and some offices and regions don't really do it. But the ones that are advanced are doing in which they're analyzing their marketing experiments or campaigns before they even invest a dollar into them to see what the likelihood of them succeeding are. So then that way, they don't waste money. And this is for things that are experimentation.

9:55You're not asking the system, hey, if I run Google Labs, which I've been running for the last 10 years, will it still work, right? You're not doing stuff like that. You're more so asking for new type of experiments based on past data. And how accurate were their tests? Uh, so the AI isn't always accurate at predicting what is going to work or what's not, but directionally it should get better and better over time. If you keep training it and putting what's working and what's not, you know, I did this over the weekend, but I uploaded a couple of storytelling frameworks, um, to Claude 3.5 sonnet.

10:29And, um, I said, okay, based on these storytelling frameworks and then the South park, um, you know, but, and therefore storytelling frameworks, um, rate my storytelling for this video over here and I take the transcript and then it rates it and it's like, here's all the things you can fix. Right. So this is similar to it. And I was like, whoa, this is actually really good because I want to improve my storytelling. Right. And then I ended up telling the storytelling, the storytelling behind the two acquisitions that I did in 2021. I was like, okay, what's missing from this? And then first it rated it like a seven out of 10.

10:55I was like, okay, what could be better? And then I changed it up a little bit. Okay. This is now a nine out of 10. I was like, what would make it a 10 out of 10? It's like, well, if you added more specific emotion here and more stories over here, blah, blah, blah. And then I changed it. I was like, and then I read it afterwards. So I was like, damn, this is pretty good. And so then the cool thing about Claude is like, you can make these projects like this one's to help you with storytelling. Yours can help you with improving your Google ads, for example. Right. We're going to see a lot more of this.

11:17And this is just the beginning. Cause like we're doing it so manually right now. I'm uploading PDFs and stuff. What these guys are saying. I think in a year, it's going to be really different. Dude, I'm with you. And by the way, with your story that you made the modifications, did you end up publishing it online? No. Cause then I realized it's not favorable for me to publish online yet. So why? I'll tell you after. Oh, I know why. Once all that stuff is done, then you'll publish it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how many more months? Well, no, no. That stuff's all done. But I'll explain afterwards. All right.

11:46Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a good reason for it. I was like, it's a really good story. But I'm like, oh, yeah, probably not a good idea. Because I'll tell you after. You're like, because I'm like, why didn't you just tell me right now? I know why you can't tell me. But yes, I kind of have an idea of why. Yeah. By the way, we're speaking about AI. Did you know Intuit just cut 2 ,000 employees? So that's 10 % of their staff. And one of the reasons is to invest further into AI. Yeah, but when they cut, they cut like a good chunk of the bottom performers. Yeah, I mean, that's what they said, right?

12:17It's like, we're cutting low performers. I'm like, oh. More than low performers, but the largest chunk were low performers and then they're investing in AI. Did you see how their stock, last time I checked, it was down a few percentage points from the news. Yeah, it was 2.57. So they announced the news and then their stock drops more. Yeah, I don't know why, but sometimes these stocks go up or down, just like Tesla's like, we still delivered less vehicles than we did the previous quarter of last year. But we delivered more than you thought. And their stock just went on a bull run. Yeah, it's a lot of it's emotional.

12:51Right. But I think this is interesting. I think it's like it just one that just goes to show that the economy is still not in a good spot right now. I think we're going to find out inflation print Thursday or Friday this week. and yeah, I mean, the whole invest in further in AI, who knows, like they said - Thursday is inflation print. Yeah, we're cutting people on low performance, but also they wanna invest in more in AI, like who knows. So the number one challenge for businesses is hiring. And more specifically, the number one thing I get asked for all the time is Eric, where can I go find an amazing marketer?

13:22And the reality is right now, when you think about the world, we have inflation. That also means wage inflation right now. And it means that when it comes to hiring talent, You can't spend as much as you would have in the last couple of years because it's just become too cost prohibitive. And so we've partnered with one of the best offshore recruiting firms when it comes to marketing. They've been a great asset for us, and I believe that they will be a great asset for you. All you have to do is go to marketing school dot IO slash hire. Again, it's marketing school dot IO slash hire to learn more.

13:51You can fill out the form there and we're going to place you with the best marketing hires that we can help you find. Did you see what the Fed ended up saying about rates? I didn't see that. Yeah, yeah. What did Dr. Powell say? So Fed Chair Powell says holding rates high for too long could jeopardize economic growth. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell on Tuesday expressed concerns that holding interest rates too high for too long could jeopardize economic growth. reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment pal said in remarks for appearances this week on capital so you know i'm just reading what they pretty much said on cnbc i'm not an economist i'm not that smart i have no clue what they're gonna do or not i just hope they reduce rates so that sounds that sounds kind of like he's moving towards reducing rates you know what's interesting we say these are high rates but it's all relative because back in the, I don't know, I think it was like 70s, 80s or so, interest rates were like 5%.

14:54In some cases, 70s, 80s, I think they had to raise it all the way like 20 % or so, but then it kind of settled around 5 % or so. So you know the guy from Oaktree, Howard Marks? He thinks rates are going to be high for the next like 5, 10 years or so. And he thinks they're going to stay settled around 5 % or so. So we'll see what happens. Well, it benefits him if they stay high. Oh yeah. It's good. I mean, he's like, he's a distressed investor to start distressed debt. I think. Right. Yeah. The black Friday cyber Monday weekend is where systems get stress tested traffic surges, inventory moves fast.

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16:00This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash marketing school. That's Shopify.com slash marketing school. Go to Shopify.com slash marketing school and make this Black Friday one to remember. Did you see that China launched 24-7 robot factory with zero live workers? Yes, I saw that. Continuing on the whole AI trend. So China has unveiled a 24-7 robot operated factory to produce Xiaomi phones, dubbed a dark factory, quote unquote, by the brand's head. This facility will operate without live workers, revolutionizing phone manufacturing, not just phone manufacturing, in my opinion, all manufacturing.

16:44So what are businesses inside of eyes to do? Keep costs down. What is this going to do? Keep costs. It's going to bring costs down, right? So we can keep saying, oh, you know, this stuff is bad, whatever. It's like, doesn't matter. The business is going to do what the business is going to do. Dude, for sure. You got to keep costs down. Everything is so expensive. Speaking of things that are so expensive in factories and producing stuff, did you hit up the what is it called the italy mall how do you call it well i'm going so next what's the name of it it's called the mall it's called the mall it's an italian mall online i've been texting some of the people you can get clothing from all the major brands for what's the discount well it's like 60 to 80 remember i told you i saw this jacket for six thousand dollars And then I checked the store.

17:31It was$1 ,500. Wow. It's called F-I-R-E-N-Z-E dot T-H-E-M-A-L-L dot I-T. The mall. The mall Firenze or something like that. It's in Florence. There's another one in Milan. And so, again, my friend told me about this. He's like, yeah, this billionaire goes there to shop all the time. So even, by the way, billionaires like to keep costs down. Just because they're rich doesn't mean they like to spend full price. But do you get the latest stuff? I will find out. I'll FaceTime you from there. I've been messaging them on WhatsApp with some of these guys. Dude, they're probably busy as hell right now.

18:09They're busy. Yeah. Dude, even one of them. And I just sent them something random. I'm not looking to spend$3 ,600 on something, but I was just curious to see. I messaged a guy and he was a... If you guys can see us, Neil's wearing like a Henley. I'm wearing like an Aloe shirt. So it's not like we like expensive things. So I messaged this guy who, you know, works at one of these fashion brands, a$3 ,600 jacket. And I was like, I'm just looking for a jacket like that. He's like, size. I'm like, whatever size, small, extra, small, medium, it doesn't matter. And he's like, I'll find out. And I'm not interested in this jacket.

18:46It's like green in color. I don't wear green. I was just like, how did the prices compare to the store? And I just want to know if something's like 50, 60%. So I just go to the website, click a random item. I'm like, how much would you sell this exact product for? You know, part of him is probably thinking, is this guy a tire kicker or not? So you should end all your messages with, I'm rich. So then they'll respond to you. See, it's all about messaging at the end of the day. But I'm not rich. No, I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying you say that so he becomes more interested in you. You know what I mean?

19:13If it was 60 % off, 80 % off, I would find stuff to buy. And then I would go on eBay and I would see. You'd sell it. If I could resell it. You don't have the time for that. No, I would still do it. you know what you should do that with your kids to show them what you're doing and then they would become entrepreneurs off ebay dude i would no joke i really would buy a ton of stuff hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of stuff and resell what's the first thing you sold before cds on ebay no just like in general like yeah cds how okay how much were you making how much you make the first year doing that i don't know okay so i made i think i made twelve thousand dollars when I was like 12 years old.

19:54I was selling in-game helmets and I was selling - What the heck is an in-game helmet? No. So like, okay, let's say we go kill a dragon, you know, like World of Warcraft, you go kill a dragon and it's like a rare dragon, right? It's like, you need a really good team to kill these dragons, right? So I was part of the best team. And then I take the product and I go sell it to somebody else. I sold a helmet, not even the character, like a hat that you wear on your character, right? Does that even make a difference to kill a dragon? It's, that hat is like pretty good, right? Like good stats and boost your character's strength, whatever, right?

20:25I sold it for$3 ,000 to this guy in Europe, right? And then I sold like other stuff too. Stupid humming somebody three grand to kill a fictional character? Yeah, well, but like it's, you can't kill it unless you're like top. And like you have to, when you get recruited to like a top team, like, you know, it's high standards. And it's, to get that item is very hard. Let's just put it that way. And so they're paying for the time. Well, if you can make money from it, who cares? My point is like your kids can learn from like playing games and selling stuff off games too. Dude, eBay, I'm telling you, I would go buy hundreds and thousands of dollars of clothes per month, resell them on eBay, go find the most - Hundreds of thousands?

21:04Of dollars, yes. Wow. If I can make 30, 40 % of the money, it's not about the money. So that should be the rule for them. Hey, you get this allocation, you can't keep the money, but you have to make a profit above this. And then whatever you make above this, you get to keep. It's teaching them the concept of making money. And you take 70%. of the profits. No, I would have them pay taxes and fill out the paperwork. My kids are too young. But you still take 70 % of the profits. Oh, the government took 50 % taxes. Yeah. Well, no, but you should also take 70 % because I'm dad, right? Because J. Paul Getty's dad did that to him.

21:36It's like, hey, I'm going to fund your oil rig or whatever it is, right? Your first oil company. He's like, but I'm not just, it's a loan first and foremost, I think. And then I'm going to take 70 % of all profits because his dad wanted to teach him that there's no free lunch. well i do that with their ice cream so when they eat ice cream i take a big bite and i'm like taxes and they do not like it but they're learning that you lose some stuff that you love and you like because you don't have a choice if not less and you get diabetes too yeah well i think that's it make sure you guys all go to markingschool.io slash agency to join the agency owners association you got it and leave a rating review and subscribe too because we we were we haven't gotten one for a while so give us one all right goodbye guys