Building Iconic Brands | Emotional Connection, Attention, and Innovation

0:00Disney's successful because people love Mickey Mouse. Star Wars is successful because people love Luke Skywalker. We are on a journey to make people fall in love with our characters. And if you can't do that in cartoon or book or movie form, you're in trouble. And so we have a huge focus on that. But also I think the most interesting thing that's happening in VFriends now is that the physical collectibles are leading to a new era of digital collectors. We have dozens of examples internally that we're watching from people that have discovered VFriends from watching us opening up trading cards on Fanatics Live, never knowing about VFriends or me, and three months later buying their first ever NFT.

0:38Attention is the number one asset. Thank you so much for coming. Really appreciate it on this beautiful day in LA. VCon, this is year three. First year we did it in Minnesota, last year in Indianapolis. When I launched VFriends three years ago, it was important that the digital collectible also had a utility, and the thing that most of the market was asking for that I felt in my community at the time was a business conference and we wanted to have a take on that and it had been in my mind for a long time. So VCon was so central to the VFriends journey. When I thought that through, the other thing that was important to me was to learn in the three-year window to set us up for any future decisions we wanted to make around events or conferences.

1:26And so this has always been a really exciting part of that three-year journey because we knew that we would save the big city for the third one. And we're here and obviously in such an iconic venue like LA Live, we're excited about it. The outdoor portion of the events in the first two years, which would be on day one, were such big hits. And so I'm excited that it kind of spans all three days. And I think our lineup of speakers and events kind of speaks for itself. And so we're excited about it. I'm looking forward to that. and it means a lot to me that all of you are here. Andy? I'm just super excited and honored to be hosting VCon 3 in LA.

2:06I think the event has evolved every year and I think we are about to put on our best VCon yet. I think another thing to kind of add is if you look at the actual content itself, I think there's an incredible focus on macro and micro, which ironically is a VFriend character. and so I think you'll see a lot of people talking about mindset and perspective and strategy but I also think there's a lot of panels and individual talks that are going to go into very hardcore tactical detail whether that's people management in an organization or social media marketing and everything in between and so another thing and a theme to look out for.

2:48We can open up for questions if anybody has anything specific. Yes.

2:55Hello guys, thank you all for doing this. I wanted to ask... What's your name, my man? My name is Nick Hamilton. Nick. Pleasure. I wanted to ask you both, you talked about just Los Angeles and having a third annual. What was it about Los Angeles that has developed in your eyes to save this for a time and place when you can have become the third year here in Los Angeles, downtown LA, LA Live? I would actually argue the reverse. I think LA is way ahead of VCon and so I think for us it's we feel like we were ready after a couple of reps to go to a much bigger city a place where there's a lot of noise I mean this worked out perfectly literally Disney is throwing its most significant conference this weekend for its fan base and so there's a lot going on I think venue wise also you know downtown LA for me personally has been fun to watch over the last 20 years you know being here 20 years ago for different business reasons to seeing what it is now has been an incredible evolution and so I think this is more about us growing into LA than LA doing anything that made us consider it.

4:04What I appreciate about the friends and the con is your ability to move like how did you have a crystal ball about culture so you move because the few oceans this pain party this year, other things. What, how do you have that seventh sense of feeling where cultures going and then sharing that to help companies, artists, and individuals? It's very kind. I actually don't think it's some sort of incredible crystal ball or seeing around corners or seventh sense. I think it actually speaks about two things that I think are not obvious to how I navigate business, but I think for my inner circle, Andy, or my family, it's very clear.

4:48The answer to your question is by listening constantly and by having the humility and the strength to change my mind. On the flight out here I told my dad who you just mentioned that changing your mind is an incredible form of intelligence. And we were looking at it and talking about it. I think what you're referring to which is a great call out within a literally three year short window so much of Econ One was educating the audience, the masses about the evolution of the blockchain, digital art, NFTs, crypto. You know, here we are only three years later and even though there's incredible nuances to that theme, there's gonna be plenty on social live shopping and virtual influencers and anything else that's of the moment.

5:33I think for me, I wouldn't even know how to do something consumer-centric that was being held on a romantic philosophy versus the reality of what's happening with the consumer. Right? And so I can give the same credit to your incredible publication. Because I was early internet in the mid 90s, there were so many magazines that were incredibly like the internet's a fad, screw the internet, we sell magazines. Rolling Stones amongst its competitive set was one of the organizations that moved early. And I think one of the reasons it continues to be around is because of that. And I think that is the cost of entry in business.

6:13Back to mentioning my father, what we sell at Wine Library today looks very different than what sold 15 years ago because people's flavors change. Aperol Spritz was not hot, right? You know, Rosé wine was not hot. Ready to drink vodka Seltzers were not hot. And many things that were hot no longer sell at all. And so I think being trained in retail consumer and just kind of being in my DNA, Plus I grew up in the hobby, trading cards, comic books. When I was in my early youth, I think I've always been prepared to adjust to reality. And I think one of the great ways to lose in business is being romantic about how you make your money.

6:53I think you have to be consumer centric and then it will be there. And I think for me, when we program this event, why on earth would I not be giving people content that's of the moment? And I think that that's important. We have time for two more questions. What is happening right now at WeFriends what we don't see? Last year you said it's the focus on YouTube Kids. Is it still the same focus or where is it focus? As a matter of fact, there's a preview. You'll see tomorrow in my opening keynote we kind of put the bow to what I told you a year ago and we will put a real flag in the YouTube Kids execution.

7:27I think for us, what has very much been built in the last year is you look at Andy's, you know, scrap around his neck, collectible pins, trading cards. I mean, I know you're always paying attention. Like, what's going on on eBay right now with our physical product? But also, I think the most interesting thing that's happening in vFriends now is that the physical collectibles are leading to a new era of digital collectors. I mean, we have, as you can see how Andy doesn't react that often, as you just saw him react. The reason he's reacting is we have dozens of examples internally that we're watching from people that have discovered VFriends from watching us opening up trading cards on Fanatics Live, never knowing about VFriends or me, stumbling on that show, and three months later, buying their first ever NFT.

8:17So for us, the blending of digital collectibles to physical collectibles and physical collectibles to digital collectibles is important. But I'll say this crystal clear. The kids book that just came out that's doing very successfully commercially, these cartoons that I'm referring to that we'll put a preview up tomorrow on. If we can't get people to fall in love with these characters, you lose. Disney's successful because people love Mickey Mouse. Star Wars is successful because people love Luke Skywalker. You know, we are on a journey to make people fall in love with our characters. And if you can't do that in cartoon or book or movie form, you're in trouble.

9:00and so we have a huge focus on that and then obviously the utility of the NFTs for things like this and so we have a very head down decade of kind of like, it's not so much so many new things, it's we have to execute the crap out of our core six things and I think we have a good vision for that. Excellent. Last question. Is there one last one? Where do I get to speed? I still need to say that. Dad, you can go to ebay.com and bid on your favorite PID. Thank you, honestly, it means a lot to me for all of you to come out. I hope you enjoy this weekend. Thank you.