Liquid Death’s Benoit Vatere on Creative Risk, Retail Collaboration, and Cutting Through the Noise

Summary

BRAVE COMMERCE: Liquid Death’s Benoit Vatere on Creative Risk, Retail Collaboration, and Cutting Through the Noise

Podcast: BRAVE COMMERCE
Host: Adweek (Featuring Sarah Hofstetter and guest co-host Andrea Steele)
Guest: Benoit Vatere, Chief Media Officer, Liquid Death
Date: October 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Sarah Hofstetter and guest co-host Andrea Steele sit down at Groceryshop with Benoit Vatere, Chief Media Officer of Liquid Death, to unpack how the beverage disruptor cuts through industry noise. The conversation explores Liquid Death’s penchant for creative risk, its approach to retailer collaboration—especially with giants like Amazon—and offers candid insights on internal and external partnership dynamics in contemporary commerce. Vatere's outsider perspective from the tech and entrepreneurial world brings fresh energy, candor, and tactical wisdom to both marketers and commerce leaders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Changing Culture at Groceryshop & Retailer-Manufacturer Relationships

• Groceryshop’s evolving vibe: Andrea Steele highlights how the mood at Groceryshop has shifted from pure selling and learning toward a focus on building together.
  • “This year I think it’s a building year. We’re all coming to the table to figure out where do we go from here, how do we drive growth together?” (Andrea Steele, 04:35)
• Alignment and co-creation: The industry is moving past education—now both retailers and manufacturers seek to co-create and drive mutual growth, focusing on foundational process excellence as a prerequisite for innovation.

2. Inside the Amazon x Liquid Death “Smarter Water” Campaign

• Campaign origin: Amazon approached Liquid Death for its “off to college” campaign, seeking impactful, creative collaboration. Vatere describes the fast-moving partnership from ideation to launch (08:42).
  • “Amazon reached out saying that they wanted to do something for what they call off to college... realizing that we’re probably a brand that they could do something very impactful with.” (Benoit Vatere, 08:42)
• Creative concept: Leveraging the quirky theory that “water has memory,” the teams created a campaign featuring thousands of Alexa devices "teaching" water, marrying humor and tech for viral effect.

3. Blending Media, Creative, & Conversion for Measurable Retail Impact

• The media-retail convergence: Vatere emphasizes that modern retailers like Amazon are also massive media companies, allowing creative campaigns to directly tie to transaction data.
  • “You cannot get awareness and conversion in a single campaign... You need to have several touch points... At least what you can do here is you have them in the ecosystem.” (Benoit Vatere, 11:20)
• North star metric: Liquid Death makes “new to brand” customer acquisition the prime goal, focusing on both audience reach and retargeting.

4. Managing Internal Drama & Interdepartmental “Turf Wars” in Retail Media

• Vatere’s transparent, drama-free philosophy: He’s candid about ignoring CPG-internal politics around retail media and focuses on outsize business impact.
  • “There’s way too much drama around this... They are partners. Like, if they win, we win. If we win, they win. Let’s work that way.” (Benoit Vatere, 12:46)
• Advice for brands: Move past legacy anxieties and politics—focus on objectives, impact, and mutual benefit with retail partners.

5. Bringing Entrepreneurial Grit to CPG

• No legacy baggage: Vatere’s outsider view from entrepreneurship means he brings more creativity and less convention to his CPG role.
  • “I’m not gonna kiss the ring. I’m just gonna go in that room and ask for what I need and explain why... I think that’s probably what I got from my background is I like to build and retailers... are ready to build with you.” (Benoit Vatere, 17:25)
• Value transparency: In both internal and external M&A, transparency and clear articulation of value are essential for lasting impact.

6. The Liquid Death Collaboration Ethos

• No briefs, no boundaries: The best partnerships are unexpected, humorous, and internal—Liquid Death eschews agencies, leveraging its in-house creative “Death Machine” team.
  • “If you expect us to do it, then we should not do it. So if it’s expected, that should not be part of what we do. Everything we’re gonna do has to be unexpected and has to lead with humor. Like, that’s our lane.” (Benoit Vatere, 20:54)
• Not for every brand: Some brands “can’t take it”—true collaboration requires risk-tolerance and a willingness to embrace Liquid Death’s offbeat, bold style.
  • “They all come in like, yeah, we are so ready. And I was like, ah, I’m not sure I can do that.” (Benoit Vatere, 21:44)

7. The Collaboration Bat-Signal: What Excites (and Annoys) Benoit Vatere

• What pitches he wants:
  • Moving audiences between platforms
  • Decoupled retailer data
  • Genuine, independent incrementality measurement for retail (not just D2C)
  • Newcomers with a fresh stance solving real industry problems
  • “If you are one of those entrepreneurs, I want to hear from you.” (Benoit Vatere, 25:11)
• What to avoid:
  • Overplayed “AI” solutions without genuine substance
  • D2C-centric incrementality platforms repackaged for retail
  • “No, you won’t. It’s very different... The dataset that you have to work with in order to measure incrementality when you’re only in retail and not in D2C is very different.” (Benoit Vatere, 23:37)

8. On Bravery—From Family to Career

• Personal acts of bravery: Vatere shares his hardest moments, recently dropping his son off at college, as well as moving from France to the US to chase the “American dream.”
  • “Leaving everything behind, moving to a different country was a bold move and required... some bravery there for sure.” (Benoit Vatere, 26:54)
  • “I’m the first one to agree, like the American dream still exists... this is a very good country where a lot of good things can happen. And I’m the example of that over the last 20 years.” (Benoit Vatere, 27:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On retailer partnerships:
  "If they win, we win. If we win, they win. Let’s work that way." (Benoit Vatere, 12:46)
• On creative ethos:
  "If you expect us to do it, then we should not do it. So if it’s expected, that should not be part of what we do. Everything we’re gonna do has to be unexpected and has to lead with humor. Like, that’s our lane." (Benoit Vatere, 20:54)
• On attracting collaborators:
  "You’ll need to use the word ‘death’ in your email subject also. That doesn’t help me to open the email... You don’t have to be funny for me to talk to you... we can just talk about business." (Benoit Vatere, 24:14)
• On the US as a land of opportunity:
  "The American dream still exists... this is a very good country where a lot of good things can happen. And I’m the example of that over the last 20 years in this country..." (Benoit Vatere, 27:30)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:35] – Andrea Steele on the evolving Groceryshop vibe & spirit of building
• [08:42] – Benoit Vatere details the Amazon x Liquid Death “Smarter Water” campaign
• [11:20] – Media, creative, and conversion: how CPG is catching up in digital commerce
• [12:46] – Vatere’s candor on “drama” and internal politics in retail media
• [17:25] – Bringing an entrepreneurial, outsider’s mindset to CPG marketing
• [20:54] – The Liquid Death collaboration mentality: unexpected and humor-focused
• [22:55] – The best/worst vendor pitches (audiences, data, AI fatigue)
• [26:27] – Benoit’s bravest moments: personal and professional

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Conclusion

This episode is a candid, actionable primer in modern commerce and creative risk. Benoit Vatere champions transparency, boldness, and a healthy disregard for “how things have always been done.” Liquid Death’s brand-building, partnership approach, and tongue-in-cheek philosophy are a lesson for marketers ready to break old patterns—with bravery, fun, and results.

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Transcript

[Benoit Vateri]

We will answer your call as soon as we can.

[Adweek Announcer]

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[Sarah Hofstadter]

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[Benoit Vateri]

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[Adweek Announcer]

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[Benoit Vateri]

There is way too much drama around this in my opinion. Like this is just not what we should think about. Like when it comes to retail media there's always all the people's like well they grade their own work. They don't do tree incrementality it's not very incremental. It's at all like all that nonsense being talked around and more after that is like where the dollar should come from or are you supposed to spend that much because you're making that much money with them? And also you need to make sure you don't piss them off because they're the retailer. And then if you don't do the right thing, they are going to be very upset. Like, what are we talking about? They are partners. Like, if they win, we win. If we win, they win.

[Andrea Steele]

Welcome to today's episode of Brave Commerce. I'm Rachel Tippograph, the founder and CEO of Micmac.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

And I'm Sarah Hofstadter, chairwoman of Profiterra Plus. And this is a show that talks about what's relevant in commerce for the world's biggest brands. So we're here live at Grocery Shop and I am joined by a guest co host, Andrea Steele.

[Andrea Steele]

Hi, thanks for having me.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Thanks so much for joining to step in for Rachel. It is very hard to fill Rachel's shoes.

[Andrea Steele]

Oh, I know. Big shoes to fill.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

And yet she was so excited to hear that you were stepping in today for this episode. So thanks so much for doing it.

[Andrea Steele]

Of course. No, I'm glad that she is having her special time with her little one and her family. So I'm happy to be here and fill in.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Absolutely. This is not your first grocery shop. This is not your mind.

[Andrea Steele]

Not my first rodeo.

[Benoit Vateri]

Not at all.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Not at all. And I think we first met in person at one of these.

[Andrea Steele]

I just don't remember a shop talk. A grocery shop.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

One of those.

[Andrea Steele]

Yeah.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

So how have you seen grocery shop change over the years and what might be different this year?

[Andrea Steele]

So what's different this year? There's this great vibe here this year of retailers and on the media side, on the retail side, all coming to the table because they want to build together with the manufacturers. And that's what I'm seeing. And I think that that's a little different than the past. I think might have been, you know, some years and it's cyclical. There's some years when it might have been more selling, more listening, more learning. But this year I think it's a building year. We're all coming to the table to figure out where do we go from here, how do we drive growth together?

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Do you think that that is coming because we're past the education and immersion phase? Like, have we matured as an omnichannel industry to the point that we can now Talk about co creation. Is it investments by the retailers and partners that has allowed that to now manifest, or is it this understanding that we're actually on the same side of the table? Is it something else?

[Andrea Steele]

Yeah, I think it really depends on the retailer. It depend on the partner. There's a lot of different customers that are at different stages. And so everyone needs a little bit something different. And so that answer changes a little bit depending on who we're talking to. But I think the key thing that I think has changed is it's not an easy time to get that next incremental dollar. The consumer's changing rapidly every single day. Understanding what those changes are, where the consumer's going, how they like to buy, where they like to buy, all of that takes a lot more manpower than I think any individual company has. And so I do think it's this idea of we have to go far.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Together when it comes to having these conversations about product development or partnership. So what's the new vibe like? What's the new goal of what people are looking for?

[Andrea Steele]

I think the place that we continue to go back to and start is the foundations. What's old is new again. In order to do the really cool fancy stuff, the agentic commerce, the social commerce, we gotta get the basics right first. We have to start those foundational pieces in order to get to that future state. And so we're doing a lot of internally, our own cleanup and our own processes and our own partnerships to address that. But then a lot of that has to be in conjunction with the retailer. And so that's what we're talking about, is how can we make sure that is all smooth, our processes are clean. We are clicking day in and day out on what's needed to get every point of transactability, to get every point of content scores up, to get all those foundations in place so that then we can layer on all the cool stuff, all of the media to drive the demand, all the basket building bells and whistles that we can do together, that's where we can really push the boundary together.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Well, in terms of pushing boundaries, our guest today is most certainly a boundary pusher, both as an individual and the company that he represents. So without further ado, let's bring on Benoit to the show. Today we are happy to have Benoit Vateri.

[Benoit Vateri]

That's right.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Did I get it right?

[Benoit Vateri]

You got it right. It's not an easy one.

[Andrea Steele]

So that was good.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Benoit was fine.

[Benoit Vateri]

But let's just stick with Benoit then.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Okay. Chief Media Officer at Liquid Death and oh my gosh, have you guys been in the media?

[Benoit Vateri]

We do our best. Yeah.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

The talk value and the breakthrough marketing that you guys have been doing has just been nothing short of extraordinary. I think what you guys have been able to do to really leverage your brand and make it break out is absolutely fabulous.

[Benoit Vateri]

Well, thank you.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

So to that end, you know, we're here live at Grocery Shop. There's a lot going on, but last week you guys launched a hilarious new campaign about the Smarter Water college campaign and how drinking water not only makes you smarter, but to the point that there are college kids that might not even be studying ever again as a result of this. So a for our listeners that haven't seen the campaign yet, it take us behind the scenes and the insight. But to go further, as this is a podcast about bravery and commerce, help us understand how that led to your retailer partnerships around the Smarter Water.

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, well, actually it got started with the retailer. Amazon came to us and we're, we're actually pretty lucky at this point with the brand that we have that a lot of people are coming to us for those collabs. And yeah, Amazon reached out saying that they wanted to do something for what they call off to college and realizing that we're probably a brand that they could do something very impactful with. And so it was probably the first time we talked about it was about six months ago. And then it came into like, what would we do for that in terms of a creative standpoint, but also for me, most importantly is that I can leverage that for media, meaning how big of an audience can I get in front of and how big of a new audience? Meaning for me, my North Star being new to brand, how many new to brand folks can I get in front of? And then I can retarget them. So it was really first, like, what is the platform that we're going to use? Which was obviously the retail platform, but on page takeover and then push notification and then all the different things that you can use with a retailer like Amazon. And then the creative team went to work with their own creative team. So it was a creative team with the liquidate side and on the Amazon side came up with what would be a good idea. And the creative team on the liquidate side at this idea about there's this very interesting community out there that believe that water has memory. So if water has memory and obviously for an off to college campaign, what a great idea. Maybe we can teach water. And what is the best way to teach water? Well, if we can have Device to tell the water what to retain. And you know, Amazon has a lot of those devices, which we did with Alexa and it turned out into this campaign where you have thousands of Alexas in the warehouses just talking at speed 2x about all the different things that you should remember. And yeah, it was amazing things to put together in a short period of time, but always great for a brand to be able to partner with a retailer. It's great to do media, but it's great if you can convert.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Right, the transactability component. I think one of the things that Andrea and I talk a lot about is this whole idea of, about the criticality of the linkage between creative media and conversion. And in any other vertical, it's so freaking obvious. And in cpg, there's always been that nasty thing called in store that gets in the way of it. But the fact that you tied this concept directly into the transactability of it, I think is both highly creative, but also will be ridiculously measurable.

[Benoit Vateri]

Exactly. And I think that's where those retailers or media companies, because now they are both, especially Amazon, is one of the largest, if not the largest retailer and one of the largest media companies, if not the largest. Now, when you compare those two together and us as a brand, come and play with those two things, it, it is very impactful. Now, I always challenge, you cannot get awareness and conversion in a single campaign. It's something that, you know, a lot of people have tried to believe it's possible and the social platform are trying to convince you that it's possible. And I don't think it is. You need to have several touch points in order to convert. But at least what you can do here is you have them in the ecosystem. So if you run an ad or a campaign that gets you into the Amazon ecosystem with awareness, now I can do the rest of the work with all the different platforms and tactics that are available. So it's just getting them into the retailer. Now you run a campaign with within the retailer, like this is where it gets really interesting and really powerful.

[Andrea Steele]

And I'm sure that's not easy because internally it also takes a lot of teams and a village and a lot of wiring. And so that gets to kind of the how do you make it happen and how can you make it work within the organization? And last week, the ANA came out with an industry guidebook for internal management of retailer media, citing kind of turf wars around this. And so what's your take on how you've navigated this within the halls of Liquid Death, given just how many stakeholders and the impact beyond just the media itself?

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, that's a very good question. I think there's way too much drama around this, in my opinion. Like, this is just not what we should think about. Like, when it comes to retail media, there's always all the people's like, well, they grade their own work. They don't do trade incrementality. It's not very incremental. It's at all like all that nonsense being talked around and more after that is like where the dollar should come from or are you supposed to spend that much because you're making that much money with them? And also you need to make sure you don't piss them off because they're the retailer. And then if you don't do the right thing, they are going to be very upset. Like, what are we talking about? They are partners. Like, if they win, we win. If we win, they win. Let's work that way. Let's work that partner. And actually for me, within Liquid Death, I think I always been very blunt and direct with them and it worked always really well because they are willing to work with you. They want to hear what you need, even the biggest one out there. I mean, Amazon working with us, just coming off a meeting with Walmart, they're listening and they are like, yeah, let's do this. Like, so back to your question. I don't have any red tape around this. I do whatever the heck I want as long as it's impactful. We.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Are you hiring right now?

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, we always hire. We're always looking for great talent. But I think that's the shift that has to happen. Stop being worried about should you spend more, should you spend less, spend towards your goal. And based on your goal, what is going to get you there for us? I need to increase my household penetration. How do I do that? Well, retailers have a great amount of data. Lean on this data now. The data is good insights, but also the data is an audience. Well, get in front of that audience. I mean, there's so much you can do. It's just like, let's stop worrying, let's just get to work. Omnisend automates all the busy work for you. It can capture customers who abandon their shopping carts, recommend other products based on their purchases, Wish them a happy birthday with a personalized offer or instantly notify them as soon as your best sellers are back in stock. Start free with Omnisend today and keep growing effortlessly. Sale after sale. This episode is brought to you by Philo Ads. Want to get your brand in front of the right audience? Philo Ads is the way to go. With 98% of viewing on connected TVs and over 900 million monthly ad impressions, Philo gives advertisers unmatched accessibility, flexibility and results. Power your next campaign with Philo Ads. Today head to ads Philo TV to get get started.

[Andrea Steele]

A PSA from Instacart. It's Sunday, 5pm you had a non stop weekend. You're running on empty and so is your fridge. You're in the trenches of the Sunday scaries.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

You don't have it in you to.

[Andrea Steele]

Go to the store, but this is your reminder you don't have to. You can get everything you need delivered through Instacart so that you can get what you really need. More time to do whatever you want. Instacart for one less Sunday. Scary. We're here. A Mochi moment from Mark who writes, I just want to thank you for making GLP1s affordable. What would have been over $1,000 a month is just $99 a month with mochi. Money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight. Three months in and I have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

You're the best.

[Andrea Steele]

Thanks Mark. I'm Mayra Amit, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Mark is a Mochi member compensated for his story? I think one of the reasons why you have such a candid and frankly sober and I guess I didn't mean that as a pun, but it kind of works I guess is because this is your first CPG job. You are a natural born entrepreneur. You have been involved in the buying and selling of companies. I think being new in a CPG role gives you none of the absolute crap that the rest of the industry has had. And have you ever had any blind spots pop up? Or is it really the ability to say if I was dropped onto this planet from Mars today, how would I go about marketing and just do it? Or are there things that you're like, oh shit, I really wish I would have known about that.

[Benoit Vateri]

No, I think for me, I always stick with fundamentals of marketing and I don't think I've had any blind spots. I think because I stick to the fundamentals and I need to build my full funnel and I need to have the right audience and also I'm gonna always gonna be direct. I'm not gonna kiss the ring. I'm just gonna go in that room and ask for what I need and explain why not just I need this. Like this is why I need this. I didn't have any blind spot and it's always been very, very strong in terms of building together. Like I think that's probably what I got from my background is I like to build and retailers in the retail media world, not all, but vast majority of them are ready to build with you and I think they have also a lot of shifts happening on their end. Their teams are different now and they are, they have product teams that are listening build with them now. I'm not sure that every media person out there is also a product person. I happen to be one and I love to build products. So when I talk to them I probably ask the question that resonates with them. But I think the future is bright in my opinion and there is so much we can do and we can only grow from there.

[Andrea Steele]

So after the building in your last two companies you got to the selling part and so congrats on that. So what do you think makes for good acquirers and acquirees to make a lasting impact after that acquisition?

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, that's the multimillion dollar question there is what you think it will be and what it really is. I think at the end of the day the acquirer is needs to get value out of the acquisition and the value is sometimes what happens post acquisition is not exactly what you are thinking about. But as long as there is transparency from day one, which comes back to previous points being always transparent and straight to the point and explaining what you want to get out of it, you can get there. And I think for an acquirer most of the time is strategic, it's revenue driven, it's getting more value in. So looking when you're looking for an acquisition, at least from the space that I'm coming from, which always been tech, ad tech, it's what are you bringing to the table? And it could be a team, it could be a set of clients, it could be innovation, but it's something that can turn into revenue in a pretty short period of time, at least at the scale that I was at. Like if something is going to take five years before he turns into something, it's most likely not going to happen. But if it's something that a synergy that can turn into growth, those acquirer will come in and want to transact.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I want to go back to the beginning of the conversation where we talked about the collaboration you did with Amazon and how Liquid death is such a great collaborator. I totally got a kick out of your campaign with Kimberly Clark, for example. That was a lot of fun. And for those of you who haven't seen it, just Google it. It's pretty awesome. If you could send a brief out here on BraveCommerce to potential brand collaborators, what would that brief look like? What needs to be true to do a collab with Liquid Death?

[Benoit Vateri]

That's a very good question. And what is interesting is also, we never have a brief.

[Andrea Steele]

Best way to do it.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Andrea, how do you feel about that?

[Benoit Vateri]

But. But for us. And. And by the way, I'm on the media side. I'm not the creative person, so I don't want to take credit for all this amazing work that has been done out there by all that amazing team.

[Andrea Steele]

I don't.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

But I don't believe that the two can realistically be divorced.

[Benoit Vateri]

And I know that you know that together for sure. But we have. Actually, the beauty of it is we don't have an agenc. We all do it internally. We have this group called Death Machine, which is the creative team. But for us, the big, big thing is if you expect us to do it, then we should not do it. So if it's expected, that should not be part of what we do. So everything that we're gonna do has to be unexpected and has to lead with humor. Like, that's our lane.

[Andrea Steele]

I think that's a brief. I'll take it as an insight and a brief.

[Benoit Vateri]

So that's the brief all the time. Now, what I can tell you from a collab standpoint is all the people that want to work with Liquid Death, there are a lot of them. There are not that many that can take it.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Say more. Say more. Why do you say that?

[Benoit Vateri]

Because we're pushing boundaries and sometimes, you know, they are excited to be part of the virality that Liquid Death can bring. But the verily comes with our own creative take on it. And sometimes it's beyond what they can accept as a brand. It's. Sometimes it's too risky or it's like, I'm not sure it's safe enough for us. Like. But they all come in like, yeah, we are so ready. And I was like, ah, I'm not sure I can do that. But the best one are the ones that are leaning in heavy with us. And usually it turns out into massive velocity. You see, I'm spend too much at grocery shop. Massive virality, which leads to massive velocity.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I was gonna say, I believe that if one causes the other, then.

[Benoit Vateri]

Correct, correct.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

So I guess one other bill to that. If you could Get a message. It does not have to be in the form of a brief, but if you could get a message out to other brands or to the retailers. You said some of them have been just phenomenal to work with. But there are plenty of tech partners and I called this place vendor central feels that way. So if you could have a megaphone out to vendor central, what do you want to take a call about and what don't you want to take a call about?

[Benoit Vateri]

Yes, I want to take a call about moving audience between platforms. I want that. I want to take a call about all those retailers that want to decouple their data. I want to talk all day about this. I want to talk about the folks that do incrementality, but incrementality with being independent, not grading your own work. And I'm sick and tired of all this incrementality work. Okay, that's actually a very good point. If you are doing incrementality for a D2C platform, I don't want to talk to you. Most of the incrementality platform right now are very well built for people that sell D2C, not for people that sell in retail. And I keep saying that. Oh yeah, well, we'll figure it out for retail. No, you won't. It's very different. Like the dataset that you have to work with in order to measure incrementality when you're only in retail and not in D2C is very different. And no, you're not going to figure it out with me. No. So those things are. Yeah. That.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Anything you want to build on that one?

[Andrea Steele]

No, it just sounds like you need brave collaborators and brave vendors to come to the table to partner with you is what I'm hearing. A little. They have to want to take the risk. They want to jump in with you. They want to build something new. So I feel like it fits with the theme.

[Benoit Vateri]

And you'll need to use the word death in your email subject also. That doesn't help me to open the email.

[Andrea Steele]

Just like a skeleton emoji.

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, you don't need to play on death. You don't have to be funny for me to talk to you like, this is good. Like we can just, you know, talk about business.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I like that. Listen, I think it's very important. I started out my career in public relations. Actually, for me, the subject line was the most important thing you could come up with, which basically is just around headline grabbing. I suppose. So maybe I was a creative in a former life. Then when blogs started coming out there was like the bad pitch blog and it was about the worst pitches that journalists would get from PR people. And I just read it as schadenfreude. It was just so much fun because it was just so, so absolutely atrocious. So for me, knowing what subject line really pisses off a brand is actually phenomenal.

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah. And by the way, something that I want to encourage though is people that are building new things. Like I want to hear from those folks. There are a lot of. Oh, another thing I don't want to hear about is another AI thing. Like, like, like please leave me alone. Like I'm really interested in AI. I want to figure it out, but it's not because again you have AI in your title that is going to make me want to do it. This is like this more important thing right now than just opening an email that says AI. But anyway, back to my point about people that are building. There are so many good things to be built again from people that are also new comer to the industry, that have a fresh stand on a very specific topic. I want to hear from those folks. There are so many good entrepreneurs out there that are building some really cool stuff. I was one of them. And it was very tough to get people's attention. Like I'm promise you guys, I'm. I'm building something that is fixing an issue that you all have listened to it, right? And, and so like if you are one of those interpreters, I want to hear from you.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

All right. We're not giving out your email address, guys. You have to work for this.

[Benoit Vateri]

That's right, exactly. You'll find it. I'm sure.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

You have to work for it. Andrea, I think you get to do the job.

[Andrea Steele]

Oh, oh my goodness, what a treat.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Okay.

[Andrea Steele]

Benoit.

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah.

[Andrea Steele]

What is the bravest thing that you have ever done?

[Benoit Vateri]

Yeah, well, I have two things. One thing was two days ago when I had to drop off my oldest son in college. That was really rough. So that was, that was a brave thing. That was tough to leave him behind.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Well, I think, I think it might have been even braver if you didn't. You'd be like, you know, I told you you were going to go to college. We worked for all of this time.

[Benoit Vateri]

So it take. It took a lot of bravery. The first one was actually I was born and raised in France and did my first startup out of college there and sold it. And after that I was like, what am I doing? And decided to move to the US and leaving everything behind, moving to a different country was a bold move and required to. Yeah, some bravery there for sure. So that was probably that one. And then two days ago.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

May I pull out your brave move? Not the college one. Yeah. Why? What made you ultimately decide I gotta do it in the States?

[Benoit Vateri]

Because you cannot be an entrepreneur in Europe. It was painful. Nobody believes in young folks that can build. Nobody like it was. You build wealth through that and 60% goes back through taxes. Like I'm not doing that again. And then when you ask around where the place where you can do that again and you know, I'm the first one to agree, like the American dream still exists. Like that was my thing. Like I, I know I can come to the U.S. i know I can build. I know people will. If I work hard, I can get where I need to get. And I did. Like I'm very happy about the career that I have and where I am today. And I did it right. Though it was not easy to go through all the different steps to get the right visas and then get into the green card. And like all it was difficult to make it right. I wanted to do it right. I did it right. But in the US yes, you can have an idea and you can build a company that then you can sell to a bigger company you have. People don't realize. I think it's important because I'm coming from a different country. We have it good here. Like this is really good. And there's a lot of things right now in this country that are not easy. But I think we can all agree that this is a very good country where a lot of good things can happen. And I'm the example of that over the last 20 years in this country to build a lot of things. A lot of failure too. But the failure didn't take me down. Where in another country equally would I was able to bounce and build again.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I love that and I love. On that optimistic note, thank you so much, Benoit, for joining us today here live at Grocery Shop. I know your schedule's been absolutely bananas, so thank you so much for taking out the time and sharing with our listeners.

[Benoit Vateri]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

If you like what you heard, perhaps you might want to listen to an episode from our co host Andrea Steele, just released very recently. If you enjoyed this episode or any other one, please forward it along. Tell a friend, leave us a note and we look forward to seeing you next week.

[Benoit Vateri]

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[Benoit Vateri]

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[Sarah Hofstadter]

If you're listening to this, you're ready. Ready to join the Industrial Intelligence generation. A generation defined not by age, but by a shared mindset to connect teams, accelerate efficiency and drive innovation. Using the power of Aviva software to reshape industries turning real time information insights into real world growth. Discover our [e-mail] join Generation I hi.

[Benoit Vateri]

I'm Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer at Edelman and the host of Touch.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Of Truth, a new podcast launching on the Adweek Podcast Network.

[Andrea Steele]

My dad gave me this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

As a result, I've met some of the most fam fascinating and inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth, we're coming center stage and sharing the mic to experience stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that will challenge your way of thinking.

[Andrea Steele]

Touch of Truth is available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.