The New Marketing Playbook - Why Many Brands Are Losing Market Share

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The New Marketing Playbook – Why Many Brands Are Losing Market Share

Podcast: The GaryVee Audio Experience
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Date: January 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Gary Vaynerchuk breaks down why many brands are losing market share and introduces what he calls the "new marketing playbook." He argues that the landscape of advertising and consumer attention is changing rapidly, and only those who adapt with relentless focus on where attention currently lives—especially on social media and new digital platforms—will win. The discussion, much of which is in a Q&A format with a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) executive, is a masterclass in practical, no-nonsense business and marketing advice aimed squarely at operators, franchisees, and legacy marketers struggling to keep up with rapidly shifting technology and consumer habits.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Collectibles & Day Trading Attention Mindset

• Gary opens with a sharp insight: collectibles are rising as a lifestyle category on par with sports, music, and fashion.
• Businesses can leverage collectibles to drive transactional excitement (e.g., attach a tradable item to purchases).
• The core message: constantly adapt your approach based on where attention is flowing. Don’t romanticize a particular platform or tactic—chase the actual attention.

Quote:

"My greatest skill of the last 30 years is not being romantic about anything other than where is the actual attention and how do I do it?" – Gary Vaynerchuk, [02:02]

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2. The Truth About Social Media: Not Just for Kids

• Social media isn’t a teenage trend—older generations (including “your grandma”) now inhabit platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
• Emotional or ideological resistance to social media is business suicide; consumers don’t care about your feelings—they go where attention is.

Quote:

"Your consumer that eats your stuff does not give a crap about your ideology on social media. Understand?" – Gary Vaynerchuk, [02:36]

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3. Evolution of Marketing Channels: Don’t Get Stuck

• Gary illustrates his own shift from newspapers, to email, to Google AdWords, to YouTube—always following consumer attention rather than clinging to familiar mediums.
• Marketers should not overcommit to legacy platforms like TV if they’ve lost cost-effectiveness.

Notable Moment:

Gary compares TV’s decline in value to “grossly overpriced” garbage, making clear that some are clinging to outdated marketing tactics out of comfort, not results. [07:39]

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4. TV vs. Social: Actual vs. Potential Reach

• TV is often sold on potential reach (e.g., GRPs), but actual consumer attention is elsewhere.
• Social media outperforms on actual reach and allows rapid creative testing—post organically, see what works, then put spend behind successful content.

Quote:

“My big push to the industry is there's potential reach and there's actual reach. I believe television is selling us potential reach ... Wouldn't it be nicer if your business grew dramatically more for that same 4 million?” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [09:34]

• He provides contemporary examples: a single TikTok can dramatically impact a national restaurant chain’s business.
• Relevance, segmentation, and creative “micro-campaigns” for different audiences are key, not just one-size-fits-all branding.

Quote:

“I would argue that the campaign is a vulnerability in 2026. It's a bunch of micro campaigns.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [17:29]

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5. Rise of Interest Media, Decline of Search & Traditional Social

• Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are evolving from follower-focused feeds to “interest media,” driven by advanced AI recommendations.
• Organic posts can go viral regardless of follower count if they’re aligned with people’s interests.
• Even Google AdWords is declining as more users search via AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.).

Live Poll Notable Moment:
Gary asks the audience to stand if they now use AI platforms for search instead of Google, and over 70% stand, visually underscoring the speed of change. [14:18]

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6. Fear of Going Rogue on Social Media & Crisis Management

• The “Bud Light” example is the rare case where a post led to tangible financial fallout.
• Most fear about franchisees or employees going off-script is misplaced: audiences forget fast, and most mistakes can be moved past with transparency and “moving on.”
• The majority of content about your business comes from customers, not the brand itself.

Quote:

“You can't be canceled unless you accept it ... America's mindset only lets them focus on stuff for 24 hours.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [21:27]

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7. Mindset: Taking Responsibility and Eliminating Excuses

• Gary’s trademark no-BS mindset: blame-shifting (to “corporate” or “the government” or “your parents”) is toxic.
• Operators need to focus on what they can control; self-ownership and accountability are non-negotiable for business success.

Quote:

“100% of everything that is wrong in my life is 100% my fault.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [27:38]

• He urges both franchise owners and executives to end mutual blaming and focus on execution.

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8. Day Trading Attention: The Only Playbook That Matters

• Stay “platform-agnostic”—watch where culture and consumer attention is heading in real time.
• Substack and collectibles are cited as emergent trends; adaptability is everything.
• The “day trading attention” philosophy means staying hyper-aware and flexible, testing new things constantly as technologies and culture change.

Quote:

“If you don't jump on board this tidal wave, it will roll you over. ... Business and technology and innovation doesn't care about your financial status or your feelings. It will just do.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [38:52]

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9. Technology & AI: Don’t Be Left Behind

• If you’re philosophically resisting new tech (e.g., “AI is bad for humanity”), you’re becoming the out-of-touch elder you once mocked.
• Historically, resisting new technology leads to irrelevance.

Quote:

“If you're not using AI every day, you are Nanny Nan man.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [39:34]

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10. Macro Patience, Micro Speed

• Move fast daily (micro actions: experiment, test, implement) but play the long, patient game for building real, sustainable businesses.
• Don’t overextend chasing rapid expansion—be prepared for failures and maintain healthy fundamentals.

Quote:

"Macro patience, micro speed in the day to day." – Gary Vaynerchuk, [44:08]

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11. People: Employees First, Customers Second, Self Third

• Culture starts at the top: care for and invest in your employees above yourself or even the customer, and business success will follow.
• Hiring is guessing, firing is knowing, and promoting is truly knowing.
• When you find a star employee, promote or reward them immediately; don’t let C-level staff hold back your A-players.

Quote:

“When you are lucky enough in your business to hire someone in a store that you know is good, you must suffocate them with positivity, good and value in return.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [48:57]

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12. Leading by Example: Humility and Getting Your Hands Dirty

• The best leaders regularly engage at the ground level—do the “unseen” work, like mopping the floor or pouring water—as a signal of humility and culture to the team.
• Real-life success stories (Ari from Zingerman's) highlight why being present and hands-on leads to strong company culture and results.

Quote:

“You cannot comprehend what Ari doing that means to why he's been so successful ... Your ability to deploy humility, to get a little dirt under your fingernails as often as you can, will literally change the outcome of how much money is in your pocket.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, [54:03]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments Summary

• "Your consumer that eats your stuff does not give a crap about your ideology on social media. Understand?" – [02:36]
• "Television is overpriced in 2026. The end." – [07:39]
• "There's potential reach and there's actual reach ... television is selling us potential reach." – [09:34]
• "This is how we've always done it is the preview to going out of business." – [15:24]
• "We're now in interest media, which means the AI algorithms ... are showing people stuff they're interested in, not necessarily if you even follow them." – [16:29]
• "I want seven different stories for this brand, not one ... the campaign is a vulnerability in 2026." – [17:29]
• "You can't be canceled unless you accept it ... America's mindset only lets them focus on stuff for 24 hours." – [21:27]
• "100% of everything that is wrong in my life is 100% my fault." – [27:38]
• "If you're not using AI every day, you are Nanny Nan man." – [39:34]
• "Macro patience, micro speed in the day to day." – [44:08]
• "When you are lucky enough in your business to hire someone ... you must suffocate them with positivity, good and value in return." – [48:57]
• "Your ability to deploy humility, to get a little dirt under your fingernails as often as you can, will literally change the outcome of how much money is in your pocket." – [54:03]

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:00 – Collectibles & “day trading attention” as a core marketing mindset
• 02:00 – 07:00 – Gary’s journey through changing platforms and why attention is the only thing that matters
• 09:30 – 13:00 – Debating TV vs. social, why television’s value is mostly mythic at this point
• 14:18 – Audience stands to show who’s replaced Google with AI for information, underscoring seismic change
• 16:29 – 18:00 – Explanation of “interest media” and AI-fueled feed evolution
• 21:27 – Explaining why fear of going off-script on social is overblown
• 27:38 – 30:30 – Accountability, anti-victimhood mindset for operators and leaders
• 36:23 – 43:49 – The “day trading attention” model, watching new platforms, example of collectibles
• 44:08 – 48:57 – Macro patience, micro speed; team-building, hiring/firing philosophy
• 51:12 – 54:03 – Culture: why employees come first; stories of humility and day-to-day leadership

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Chase real, not theoretical, consumer attention: Social platforms outpace TV and other legacy media by a wide margin for most brands.
• Constantly update your playbook: Platforms, tools, and styles change—so must your tactics.
• Micro-campaigns and relevance trump mass campaigns: Speak to multiple segments, not just “one big idea.”
• Don’t wait for permission: Franchisees and operators can drive their own local organic social efforts.
• People matter most: Invest deeply in your team, compensate winners immediately, and lead humbly by example.
• Embrace, don’t fear, technology: AI, new platforms, and consumer shifts aren’t threats—they’re signals of where the game is going.
• Own your outcomes: Success starts and ends with your actions, not with external circumstances or scapegoats.

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Summary Prepared by: [Podcast Summarizer AI]
Tone: Direct, energetic, pragmatic – true to GaryVee’s style.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Actually, it's a big piece of advice for you. Collectibles as a lifestyle genre is about to join sports, music, fashion and food. I don't know if you're paying attention to trading cards. I don't know if you're paying attention to Labubus, those little things both men and women are collecting and have always collected. Your great granddaddy collected stamps. Your funny aunt picks up magnets anywhere she goes. Humans collect. But now it's become very, very cool and at scale. I think one of the ways to drive this business is if you have a featured product that you want everybody to buy. If they get a collectible that they can sell on ebay for a couple of bucks along with purchase, I think your business would explode. Day trading attention. This is the GaryVee audio experience. My entire POV on business was shaped in a one single store in Springfield, New Jersey. It was a wine and liquor. It was a liquor store that I made a wine store. And I really associate with the people in the audience and I associate with you because the second chapter of my career was in sustained scaled marketing. So, you know, for me, the social conversation is very important for all of you because at the end of the day, brother, and when I think about this room, no one here gives a crap about anything other than their business being healthy and growing it. And I have a funny feeling that no one here is overly emotional. Whether it's cable television or direct mail, Facebook or TikTok radio or Billboard or coupons. Like just, let's grow the business, right? And there's a lot of things that go into that. There's the product, there's the operations. But on the marketing front, let there be no confusion. This is one of the most exciting times in marketing history. Except for the people that don't know what's going on. Then it's the worst. I'm going to make this very simple. I have a funny feeling that most of you know that social media is not just for teenage girls. Like your grandmas are sending you TikTok. I believe there's a massive naivete in the business world that this is some sort of like kid phenomenon when every 40 to 50 to 60 year old spends more time inside of Facebook and Instagram and TikTok than than every other platform including Netflix combined. I do not understand. Listen, you can have emotional opinions about social media. You could think China's trying to ruin your mind. You can think this is ruining children. You can decide anything you want. But we're here to talk about business. And when it comes to business, social media platforms have the attention of the consumer at the highest scale we've seen since television network television at its heyday. And whether you think it's cool or it's bad, whether you understand it or not, your consumer that eats your stuff does not give a crap about your ideology on social media. Understand? And let me and let me. And I want now that, now that we're friends, let me be very clear. I, Gary Vaynerchuk, could care less about social media. I can't wait to fact to when the consumer's attention goes somewhere else. Because my greatest skill of the last 30 years is not being romantic about anything other than where is the actual attention and how do I do it? Well, I just told you backstage, I'm not the social media guy. In 1994. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, when I was building my daddy's business, I was the newspaper guy. I was the coupon direct mail guy. And then the email came out and I'm like, this is crazy. It's free. I can send emails for free. Then I became the email guy. Then there was this new search engine that I thought was stupid because it was so plain. It was called Google. Good thing I wasn't making prediction videos back then. And then there was Google AdWords and I became the Google AdWords guy. And then a site called YouTube came out and I became the Wine Gary guy that some of you might have first saw me on. And I became the YouTube guy. This is not about ideology, my friends. I want to sell pizza. I don't care how. Amen. And so I could make this very simple for you. You're all big boys and girls. I assume you've already heard about what happened to Chili's when One video on TikTok completely changed the course of their business. I don't know what to tell you. I can sit here for 48 minutes and 33 more seconds and rah rah the crap out of this. I can give you unbelievable amounts of details and data, but I already know that you all know that this is where the attention is. And if you do not storytell to consumers, they will buy something else. And if you don't storytell there someone else, one of your incumbent competitors is gonna figure it out or some startup is gonna figure it out and they're gonna take your business. And so I think you're under investing in organic social corporately and locally. I'm, you know, Hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast that's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy. Now, I really appreciate the applause. Let me say this nice and slow for all the social media enthusiasts. The ability to waste $100 million on social media is very easy. It might be the best weapon, right? Like when the sword was invented, whoever had rocks was in deep shit. But if I had a sword and I didn't know what to do with it, I could lose to a rock. So social is the weapon, but if you don't know how to use it, you will lose too. So it's not only the investment, it's the strategic framework and understanding what's happening. I have to put it into context for everyone. I have 144 full time employees in my marketing company that their entire job in their life, they are right now sitting and doing this. Their whole day, is to understand the minute details of a thumbnail on an Instagram post and the first three seconds that will give it 100,000 views versus 3,000. Their full life is about the first three seconds of the video and the thumbnail and the copy on Instagram. That's their life. So the commitment, the obsession. Back to sports. You know who wins? People who watch film. The head coaches that we all admire, they're in the stadium at 2 in the morning watching film and they notice their opponent. Like for this Sunday, there's a coach Last night at 2 in the morning on the Lions who saw that their opponent's cornerback lines up a little too far off on every play and they're gonna expose that. That is called obsession. I am obsessed with communication and marketing. That is why I am dominant. I think your company needs to be that too. Yeah, We're on a journey.

[QSR Executive]

I talked about eight years ago and we were still just a coupon company against marketing, except by our franchisees. We've come a long way from there. We're still traversing through the linear tv, the downward trend of cable, and all the way down into the screen and trying to figure out how do we keep with our current old audience. That's traditional. As we move into the organic side.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If I may, because I get excited, your old audience is on Facebook. Facebook is cheaper than garbage television. Thank you very much. I believe that. You know, by the way, you know this about me, I come in cold. Meaning I have no idea where anyone sits on any of these issues. I don't care. I'm desperate for truth. Television is overpriced in 2026. The end. I don't care if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy or when you see your ad, it is grossly overpriced and people that are over committed to it are losing market share.

[QSR Executive]

Typerious here. I'm going to stay on this a second. Talk to me about reach, then talk to me as a brand that is at 75% awareness against the top four, we're still trying to get there. We're traversing what we've seen that when we're on tv it has been effective. We're going through a difficult period of time in the QSR business.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're well aware of it, of the.

[QSR Executive]

Fact that buying a home, third parties come in. There's so many areas, so much that are. They're changing the landscape. So we have to be working it on many different areas.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I agree.

[QSR Executive]

Talk to me about the reach side.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I agree in the marketing principles. I'm actually a marketing og, meaning I love reach and frequency. I like awareness and most of all I'm obsessed with relevance because that leads to consideration. I actually believe in very classic things. I just like living in the year that we're actually in and I hate reports. So the thing, the thing that I'm excited about you and I agree on reach. My big push to the industry is there's potential reach and there's actual reach. I believe television is selling us potential reach that the GRPs. I'm sure you felt it. When you go on TV, you're spending money. I have this conversation with all my friends, like, Gary, you're wrong. We spent $4 million on TV this quarter and we felt the effects. I'm like, no shit, you spent $4 million. But it's like that Facebook movie, right? You know that scene with Justin Timberlake where he's like, you know, what's better than a million dollars? A billion dollars. Wouldn't it be nicer if your business grew dramatically more for that same 4 million? The companies that have spent. I mean, look, my agency works with Wingstop. Wingstop's doing quite well. We have changed the way they do it. They're on tv, but not to the same investment. More importantly, when you're on social, let's go to organic because this is going to help everyone. When you post organically on social, it does creative testing for you. I'm not saying boost your organic post. You post and if it does well organically, then you know, you have a piece of creative that the audience likes, then you put media on it. So it's not just the media weight. TV versus outdoor versus print versus social versus Digital, but it's also the creative is the variable of success. You just put up a video that I personally liked, right? I grew up with Miami Vice. I mess with Phil Collins. I like him that I liked. Some people did not like that video as much. That's life, right? That's the way it's supposed to be. So I'm very focused on relevance. But I would say that the journey you're on that I would recommend double clicking on is when you buy television and network. Listen, I have a TV production company I own, right, called VaynerWatt. We sell shows to these platforms. The data is uncomfortably real. Streaming has completely eaten up the oxygen of the conversation in television. You all know that sports is great, but people watch sports when the commercial comes on. The number one influx of comments on Twitter this Sunday is when the football game goes to the commercial and everybody has something to say. You're not paying attention to the ad. You've got to talk about why your quarterback sucks. And so we have to understand that attention's real. And just because the ad ran it doesn't mean that someone saw it. And what social has an advantage over television is they don't know when the social ads coming because the ad is integrated into the feed. You don't know, but you always know when the commercial's coming. And so I just think common sense has been taken out of modern marketing. And I think the data is very clear and the investors in heavy social, because if you spent that same dollar amount on social that you spent that you feel the lift on television, if the creative's right, even if it's the same creative, social will outperform. I know this because we spend $6 billion in media as a company. And by the way, I'm going to say this nice and slow because I'm on my rant right now. I wish television performed better than social today because all the best marketers are going to social. I'd love if television gave me the opportunity to zig while everyone's zagging. I genuinely have no emotion. Billboards, right? For QSRs. I love outdoor, but I like outdoor when I buy it on remnant inventory for $800 for two months versus 10,000amonth for a year. It's all just arbitrage. It's just unemotional arbitrage. And the social opportunity is scary big. And there's emerging ones. You know, there's live, live streaming, right? You know, the, you know, if You've got kids, you know the Ishowspeed Kaisanet, you know that whole world. So twitch and kick. Amazing opportunity for product placement in that environment for this organization. Literally your pizza in one Kaisanet video will get so much more awareness than you could ever imagine. So the game is changing rapidly. But on the television versus social, it's really not as close as people even think.

[QSR Executive]

Evolution, Evolution. We have to be in that transition period here while we're protecting our bases, growing and moving.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I want to click on that. The base is on Facebook. The base is on Facebook. Your parents are on Facebook. Yes. Watch this. This is interesting. I'm getting excited. If I'm ever real quick. This is actually very important. I'm gonna do something right now that will explain how fast the world moves. Listen carefully and please follow along. It would mean a lot to me if you are now a person in this audience who now goes to ChatGPT or Perplexity or Gemini to look up stuff that you used to go to Google search just two years ago on. Please just stand up for visual representation. Stand up. I'm gonna. Wait a second. Just everyone stay and don't be lazy if you're sitting and I appreciate that some people are sitting and don't sit down. I need everyone to look around. Brother, look at this, look at this percentage. And I think you and I can agree this is not like 17 year old teenagers. When you look around this room, how can Google AdWords be as good as they were a year ago when more than 70% of this room now goes to ChatGPT, which means they're not going to Google, which means the ad can't even be seen to them. I appreciate it. You can see it. We're sitting here in 2016. Thank you. We're sitting here in 2016 having a social media conversation. When that ship sailed six years ago, it's more than a half a decade now that social has outperformed. If you make the investment now. I'm empathetic and boy, am I empathetic to you because I sit on a board of a QSR getting the franchisees on board. Right? And by the way, franchisees, I have so much empathy for you about the corporate thing. It's real life stuff. And I know there's people that want like, this is how we, you know, I know that some people in the room's favorite line is like, but this is how we've always done it. But that quote, this is how we've always done it is the preview to going out of business. So again, here's what's so staggering about these platforms. Actually, I'm gonna say something that might really get some of you thinking. I would argue that we are no longer in social media. I amassed my 50 million followers which was remarkable over the last 15 plus years, 20 years. And it acted more like email. Right. I got a lot of followers. I'd post every day and a percentage of those people would see it. Over the last three years we've gone into a new era called interest media. You may know this because some of you have posted like a little picture of like or video of like a bee on a rose in your backyard and it got a million views and you're like, what the hell's going on? I have nine followers. We're now in interest media, which means the AI algorithms that run the feed are showing people stuff they're interested in. Not necessarily if you even follow them. Understood. This is very important to understand. It means that meta Facebook and Instagram and TikTok are the best for this crew because those algorithms are the most advanced. YouTube shorts. This doesn't work quite like that yet tomorrow. This is why this game's so tough. Tomorrow there might be an update, right? I will say that Facebook blew. Not even Instagram. Facebook blue. Back to how much I'm obsessed with the base, you know, I try to market to 40 to 70, you know and everyone's become so addicted with youth culture, right? Look at this crowd. Everyone looks so good. No, I mean this. Do you know what your parents look like at this exact age that you are right now? Like the golden girls were 50. Now you have like 82 year old Martha Stewart putting up thotty little like thirst trap videos. 84 respect. The world's different. And I will tell you one thing to watch out. Even though it's a place that I spend a lot of time on youth culture, I actually think we over index in thinking about Gen Z and things of that nature. It's about business. We're here to sell stuff. Now your product sells to that crew. And that's why I actually think a lot of the relevant stuff matters. But Facebook is just so unbelievable with its ad product. In fact, when I don't. Unless you're Coca Cola. And the answer is 100% not 74. When I hear 74 I get excited because I'm like we're not going to waste a penny on media. I want to run all organic for this company and then run 3 mile radius media against it individually and that's going to drive sales to your point. I was listening very careful. It's brand because if it's not brand, Uber Eats and Seamless are going to eat your lunch. If you become a private label, you're dead. So I'm with you on that. I want to build brand, but I want to build it with relevance. I want. Here's a controversial thing that I've am starting to win the debate on in Madison Avenue. I want seven different stories for this brand, not one that old. How brands grow. One campaign. I would argue that the campaign is a vulnerability in 2026. It's a bunch of micro campaigns. It's for the high school football team piece of content. It's for the mom that's ordering. That's working two jobs. You got to be more relevant to more people. That's what social allows. So I would say Facebook and Instagram and TikTok are clearly ahead and that needs to be a focus. But there's meaningful potential on YouTube shorts, believe it or not, on LinkedIn working parents getting them on LinkedIn, running creative at like 3 o', clock, 4 o' clock in the afternoon from this brand saying, are you busy at work? How about us to help you? Today would crush. And then for the youth culture, Snapchat has a version of TikTok and Instagram inside of it. Most of you with kids, no, Snapchat's more of them messaging each other. But they do have something called Spotlight because most people don't know about it. It's very underpriced attention for youth culture. So I would market youth pizza content in there and that's how I see the framework.

[QSR Executive]

You know, one of the things that we've been frightened by is that sometimes messaging, political nature of this or someone's doing some things they shouldn't be doing. And so some of it is from our own world. How do we control it?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Our world?

[QSR Executive]

Because you can't control the outcome.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[QSR Executive]

From an organic side. Do you have any boundary?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You have 100.

[QSR Executive]

How many people working in.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We have 3,000 employees in the marketing company.

[QSR Executive]

And are some of them monitoring the good, the bad, the ugly and bad?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course. Of course.

[QSR Executive]

So help me with that look.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You put in guardrails in this scenario. If franchisees are making content, you put in guardrails corporate. Obviously everything gets reviewed. Here's the reality. In the history of social media marketing, truly, you really have the Bud Light example as a distinct black and white. This post caused financial ramifications. Good news, brother. I Don't know if you guys heard. You can't be canceled unless you accept it. I have more good news for you. America's mindset only lets them focus on stuff for 24 hours. It's just real. Like we're real talk up here. If God forbid something egregious happened. The reality is if a franchisee does it and corporate does not like what they've done, corporate has the ability to put out a piece of content, say, look, we respect all our franchisees. In this specific case, we do not align with that. And let's move on, my friends, in real life, not in ideology life, you know, this is a non event unless the corporation decides to completely lose their mind. I mean it. I mean it. I really. The number one sad thing going on in the world by a country mile is everyone left and right. America, other countries, the human race 8.2 billion people fear is winning right now. This is not something to fear. You have unlimited growth on these platforms. And the idea that someone goes rogue when you can say you're sorry and move on should not. Look at, look at what was a cracker barrel, right? Right, like cracker barrel. Put out a thing. I mean, we're so screwed up right now, we've decided to politicize, you know, everything. We politicize it and they're like, just kidding. And now no one gives a crap. Heck, I'm trying to put out content to get me canceled just for fun for 48 hours. It's not scary, especially if you don't have bad intent. And if something left field happens, you address it by the way your customer. I looked. Your customer's putting out way more content about you than you ever will. So you don't have control anyway.

[QSR Executive]

Gary, Gary G.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So listen.

[QSR Executive]

One of the things I always switch gears here is you obviously have incredible power of positivity. And I even read a quote by you that said, you know, I'm glad I lost or I lose.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm obsessed with losing. Obsessed with how many, I'm sorry, how many people here have a kid? 3? 2? 9? Raise your hand, please let these little fuckers lose. Here's my favorite part. All of us Gen Xers and boomers mad at Gen Z. Well, you raised them. Maybe they would work if you didn't give them an 8th place trophies when they sucked at soccer. My son is a beast at basketball. The other day he's like, dad, I'm going to the NBA. I'm like, bro, do you see this? You're not going to the NBA. Like I just think like over like this delusional, you know, we basically spent an entire 30 years raising zoo animals, right? Like they're in these cages that we've created and, and then we send them in the wild. I don't know if you know about this. Back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, they sometimes released zoo animals into the wild. Those zebras died in 13 seconds. I literally had a. This is real. Last month somebody who was in a second round interview emailed cc'd their mom and asked if their mom could come to the second interview. That is where we're at. So yes, I think losing is very healthy. I prefer it well.

[QSR Executive]

The areas that are critical. You have a mindset and you profess this and I'm sure when you're in the organization, many people you have, you know, you have to bring that temperature every day. And with our operators, they're 12, 50 stores and some are doing very well even in this time they're. Their OSAT scores are strong.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Many things they invested heavier on a good location. It's really fun to save money on a C location until you open the doors, right. Two, anyone who's sitting in that audience that blames corporate is a loser. And notice how that got quiet. Not that I actually think you're a loser, but if you're sitting there and blaming corporate, I remind you, you've decided not to be a full bred entrepreneur. You've got training wheels on. You're more than welcome to start Stanley's Pizza Shop. You could have. This is real talk. When people focus on what they control, they win. I sit with nothing but corporate and QSR who blame y' all and I make fun of them even worse because they're just in fucking suits. Let's go. Come on man. Let's take a button off too. Let's get a button. There we go. Now we're doing it. My friends, this is real. Like we're going to real talk right now. Do you understand the amount of energy on both sides of this equation that is spent worrying about the other side of the equation? If we just worry about what we can control, we win. If I joined a QSR right now, I would break every rule that corporate had. I'd be doing flyers on. I do whatever it took to build my business. I'm definitely not waiting for them. I'm going to contribute my 2, 3, 4% depending on the franchise, make pretend that they're blowing it because I don't even want to dwell on it and I focus on my shit. Not as loud of a clap. I mean, I'm sorry, I want to stay on this. That should have been the loudest clap. My friends, you're in control. You do understand that, right? They don't own your personal social media account. You believe so much in social. Make content under your name where it says you own the store. No one's stopping you. And the second you realize that, you start winning. But sitting around and calling your other buddy that owns two stores in the same franchise circle and being like these guys, huh? The hell are you dwelling about? We loved when we were making fun of Gen Z for crying. We don't like it as much when we talk about us crying. Let me take it even further. 100% of everything that is wrong in my life is 100% my fault. We really. This, this parenting politician framework of the last 40 years has everyone confused, brother. Ask me if I made money when Bill Clinton was president. Ask me. Yes. And then Bush. Yes. And then Obama. Yep. And then Trump won. Yep. And. And then Biden. Yep. And Trump 2. Yep. If you think the president has an impact on you making money, you suck. Gary vee, 2028. That's the mindset. There is no other mindset. Please.

[QSR Executive]

Talking about in, in those people. I mean, how, how do you get some of the winding out? How do you get some of these things out? Where, where, where's the world going when, when, when you're talking about.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Look, I think for how many people here know my content? Know me a little bit? Raise your hands. Just curious. Thank you. So the people that raised their hand. Look, I'm obsessed with empathy and compassion and sympathy and like being understanding. I just think there's a line like I don't come here to insult. I hope you understand. I Woke up at 4am to be here. I'm desperate that one of you that is complaining hears me today and changes your mindset. Cause it will work. You're not my sister. I don't really care what you do. You know, I think you have real conversations. Right. Like, I have a funny feeling that court corporate. I think they want it to go well. I have a funny feeling you care and want it to go well. I just don't know how to complain about stuff that you don't control. If you don't want to kick 2 to 3% into marketing to corporate, start your own company. Like, I just don't understand. Right. Like we're fully in control. You don't like what America's doing, move to Sweden. Right. You don't like your wife get a divorce. I mean, this shit like, like it's, it's very real to me. Like you're in control. You should definitely not be complaining about 2 to 3% in marketing because you have full control. And on the flip side, corporate. So just to give you a preview of what I do with QSRs on the corporate side, inspire brands, everybody, they need to stop overthinking what you guys are gonna think. That's the biggest mistake that execs at your level are making. I love it. Cause you're being empathetic and you know how it is. There's two to three people in here who have the most stores and they're on the marketing committee and they have the most say. My point of view on that person is like, shut the fuck up again. Because if they're so epic and we love capitalism in America, go start your own shit. You signed up for this. I'll tell you why it's healthy. Cause it's real. And I know you can do it with your other 97%. You do not need them. This is not raz on you. This is, you don't need anyone but you. That's the mindset, brother. It's not positive, it's practical. It's how it actually works. You're in control. And the second you decide you're not in control, which by the way, parenting and politicians have done a great job for the last 40 years tricking all of you to think you're not in control, you start to cry. But when you think you're in control, you win. You know what the sickest thing is? So I have so many followers and so many of them are 15 to 25. I literally get, literally get this message over a thousand times a month, some version of what I'm about to tell you. Hey, Gary, you're right about these parents that are paying for their kids lives after they're 22. I'm one of them. I'm 26. My parents pay for my apartment, my Uber, my equinox. I'm so pissed at them. This is real shit, brother. So sometimes I'm just crazy. Like today I'll do it because I'm flying for this morning I flew here. Now I got to fly back to Newark. And then I'm going right to Portugal. I'm going to Lisbon after this. So I'll catch up on my work and I'll start to answer some of these just to get in the trenches, get a feel for the consumer. And I'm like, And I'm a sicko because I'm trying to bait them into even deeper waters. I'll reply and be like, yeah, man, I get it. I'm like, how you think about fixing this? They're like, I don't know. I'm like, I got an idea. Stop taking the money, loser. If you're a parent in this room and your child is either 18 to 22, given the circumstances, and they're older than that, and you're giving them money, what she and he is feeling, even though they'll take it because they need it, they think they need it. What they believe is that you don't think they're capable. You're destroying their self esteem. And parents love when I talk about the 26 year old that's on the payroll. And they hit me up and they're like, gary, you're so right. My son's a loser. This and that. I'm like. And I reply, I'm like, you're the loser because you're the one who's writing the check. If you're so upset about your kid not doing anything at 26 years old, but you're sending them money, you're the problem. It's real, brother. By the way, I was a DNF student, but I got A's and B's in history. And I never understood why. And now I do. Because I use history as pattern recognition for consumer behavior, for business. We are a mature empire. Let there be no confusion. We, the greatest country in the world that I immigrated to, by the way, is the greatest country in the world. But we are mature. We are soft. People cry about dumb shit in our country. I'm on the board of Pencils of Promise. And I'm on the board of Charity Water. Charity Water. I don't know if you guys know this. There's 8.2 billion people on Earth. There's over 850 million people that did not have access to clean water within eight hours, cannot get to clean water more than 10% of the world, right? Our charity builds wells to get fresh water in these parts of the world, third world countries. We're out here complaining that the barista put in the wrong milk in our coffee. And there are 10% of Earth that can't get to water. I'm pissed about that. And we need to change it. So it's mindset. So basically how all my little ranting for the last 10 minutes comes down to a very simple thing. I am so impressed that you're even in this room. I mean this, the fact that you're even in this room, owning your own business, working that hard, you know how hard people work, you know, to get there. I get it. I lived in a studio apartment with seven family members. My dad got to his small liquor store by working 15 hours a day for eight years, making two bucks an hour stocking shelves. And then he made my ass do it for five years. I'm so damn impressed. I just want to. All I'm doing For the last 10 minutes is looking for the final piece. Once you eliminate any excuse, you become fundamentally unstoppable.

[QSR Executive]

Very good, Very good. By the way, you gotta run some of these books. I've got many, many, many of them. One that I don't have here is. It's called Day Trading Attention.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, sir.

[QSR Executive]

Walk me through a little bit of what you mean by what that means and what that could do to help us.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Noticed everyone. How I said, but tomorrow YouTube shorts can do something and it changes what I would say to you. That's day trading Attention. I have no principles on marketing other than reach, but it has to be actualized. Frequency has to be actualized and then relevance. Right. I cannot tell you how much this business should be marketing around high school football video game culture. Right. It just has to. There's so much ammo for you. I also study your competitors in a space it's wide open opportunities at scale. But you have to know where the attention is. So I spend. How many people here are familiar with substack? Raise your hands. Right. Notice how the hands are. I would say one more time just high. So check this out. You'll find this interesting. I think we're about 6% of this audience raised their hand on substack. Substack is basically long form written content that you pay for. In a lot of instances, like written content is back in long form. Everyone's like, attention spans are destroyed. No, they're not. We have options. People in here have watched one hour videos. Most videos aren't worth more than three seconds of their time. So I have to pay attention to substack because if I come back here in two years, 80% of this audience is going to raise their hand. Got it. So day Trading Attention. I wrote a book. Really captures my marketing model, which is I pay attention to every platform I pay attention to. Why is the booboo working? Oh, here's a good one. Actually. It's a big piece of advice for you. Collectibles as a lifestyle genre is about to join sports, music, fashion and food I don't know if you're paying attention to trading cards. I don't know if you're paying attention to the boo boos, those little things, Right? Both men and women are collecting and have always collected. Your great granddaddy collected stamps. Your funny aunt picks up magnets anywhere she goes. Humans collect. But now it's become very, very cool and at scale. I think one of the ways to drive this business is if you have a featured product that you want everybody to buy. If they get a collectible that they can sell on ebay for a couple of bucks along with purchase, I think your business would explode. Day trading attention. So what's happening with attention? Where's the attention? Who's got the attention? I'm a human anthropologist 24 hours a day. It's my biggest obsession. I want to know what all 900 different subcultures within America are thinking. Why are they thinking it? And where are they consuming their information? I was early to podcast and YouTube and social. And when VR, you know, I'm never. I don't like being early. When VR came, everybody was hot in it. Three years ago, I'm like, too early. But it will have its day. Like this, this right here, my friends, when in 20 years, you're going to look at this and it's going to look like the beeper you all had. So it's all coming. I mean, there are. Do you know that there are people in this room whose grandchildren are going to marry AI robots? I'm saying this for one reason, because I expect you to reach out to me in 26 years and say, God damn it, you were right. I believe within 30 years, 40 years, multiple people in this room's grandchildren will marry a non human. It will be an AI robot that looks basically like a human. I believe that to be true. So if you think this social media is scary now, wait. I don't know how good it is. You know, it's intense stuff. But again, friends, this is a fascinating thing about human beings. We act like technology stops while we're alive. If we went all right now to our great, great grandparents grave and dug them up, because there's some new technology that can bring them back to life, we'd bring them back to life. We'd be like, great, great, great, great grandpappy. We would hug, they'd look around, be like, fuck it, I'm going back in. Like, stuff moves, stuff changes. Like, this is the beginning. What we're in now is child's play. You're worried about your kid being on TikTok, child's play. And by the way, a lot of people here who are like, no on AI. I've got a very important statement about this because looking at the crowd, a lot of you grew up when the Internet was coming. Remember when you weren't aol, Instant messenger and all that. You made fun of your grandma for not knowing how to use it. You made fun of your grandma for not knowing how to use an iPhone. I've got bad news. You've become your grandma. If you're not using AI every day, you are Nanny Nan man. And what's the reason to not use it? Oh, you know what they love to do when they don't want to do the work? To learn something new? They go super philosophical. Gary, I'm not using AI because it's, you know, it's bad for the human race, my friends. Do you know when electricity was invented, most people didn't put it into their home because the word on the street was there was demons in it. It was demonized, literally. People were slow to bring electricity. They're like, nah, I'm gonna use these candles. Don't become granny. Because here's the problem. This is why I'm being so passionate about this. If you don't jump on board this tidal wave, it will roll you over. And here's the problem. We all chose entrepreneurship and business, right? Like, you all chose this. Me too. Business and technology and innovation doesn't care about your financial status or your feelings. It will just do. Is it lost on anyone here that every one of their employees will be a robotic in the next 20 years? It can't be lost on anyone here, right? How many people here plan on owning the business they have now? Or maybe you'll expand into other franchisees? I'm just. This is for you. Now. How many of you plan on being in the restaurant business 20 years from today? Just raise your hand. How many you plan for? The ones that raise their hand, like, you've got to stay heavy on top of this. How many people plan on retiring within the five years? Not. You're going to crush it. You're just old and finished. I just want to say it real quick. Five years. You look good, bro. You're really done. So I got two or three for the rest of you. Five years. A lot's going to happen and I worry because here's. I'm very passionate about this. You've worked again. I grew up in a family, one store. This is the. You were the most real to me. You don't need. I don't know if you can zoom in and see these goosebumps on my arm. You're me and I'm you. I really care about what I'm about to say. I need you to stay on top of all of this. Here's why. You've worked so hard to even be in this room. You're going to work so hard for the next seven to ten years as well. You're going to come to a moment where you're going to want to transact and get the fruits of your labor. If you don't understand what's going on with all this stuff, you may be vulnerable and not get the dollars you deserve. Make sense? That's it.

[QSR Executive]

This is a bit of a asking this question, please. We're all giddy up world here. We got. We got to move to the future fast, all these things. Yet you also are big in patience.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Help.

[QSR Executive]

Help me with yes. And the group here, because we're all in a G. And help us is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Where you Macro, patience, micro speed in the day to day, my last 15 minutes. I want you to learn all this stuff fast, but in the macro. One of the things I worry about if we're talking real business is somebody here going to seven locations just because two went well. They're impatient. They want to get to the Lambos in the second house. They overextend themselves and they're kaputsky. Got it. I know you got it. You all know it too. You've seen it. You've almost done it. You maybe had a micro version of it when a store didn't work because you got a little high in your own supply. Right. You've got to get your fundamentals right, always. So it's macro, patience, building your empire with this IP, if you extend it to other IPs, because I know franchisees sometimes do more than one in different spaces. You've got to really have your ducks in line. And really, for this crew, the way I would think about it, the way I do think about it, is you have to assume the next door opening is gonna fail. And can you afford that? You know, people overextend, they over leverage. So that's macro. But in the micro, like if I'm in this crowd and I've sat through this presentation and I've completely disregarded social as a marketing engine to grow my business. I think you consider it. I think you consider it. Look, I'm in the restaurant business in New York City. Different business, you know, different kind of thing. But we test everything. I like, I'm going to say it again because I want to really, I. I don't want to be so reliant on social. I'm hoping some of the other platforms lower their price. I would do radio, television and print tomorrow if they priced it according to the truth of how much attention was on it. Right, brother. They still have their old pricing because they got to keep themselves up. Do you know that print's more expensive today than it was 25 years ago? You know how crazy that is, friends? Print is more expensive by circulation against cost today than 25 years ago. So anyway, macro is like for example, if I. If I had four hours and we were jamming. The number one thing I recommend for all of you is, is building out your team. There's nothing even close. You're going to be able to build your whole scale when you've got real people in the trenches. And how do you do that? Hourly wage, Employees, managers, regional managers. If you go into a bigger dichotomy, like you have to care about your employee more than they care about you. Right. How do you reverse engineer? What does your employee care about? Some of your employees want another dollar an hour. Others want either Friday or Saturday off, which is hard for you. Like just got to reverse engineer. But when you find that team that's right in this QSR space, you can start to really cook with gas because you, you all can do amazing work with your 97% marketing. You can do amazing work with the pool of the collective. We can throw everyone into the stores. But we at VaynerMedia decline certain clients because we tell them right to their face. We crush at marketing and we'll get you customers. Your product stinks. You shouldn't market. Right. So you all know this. This has been so hard for me for 20 years when we had hourly employees. Like all of you are sitting right now when I'm about to say this sentence and you'll be able to answer this. Where do you sit right now with how good your store or stores are staff wise. And I'm empathetic. I know it ebbs and flows, you know. And I think again, small businesses or operators of this size, sometimes we try to save just a little where we shouldn't, you know. And I get it cost a real good. Like it's unbelievable how much I feel what's on the floor here. But when you let me say this, and I hope this is remembered by some of you. Hiring. Hiring is guessing. My mother gave me so many Gifts. And then she raised me perfectly. She's the number one on earth. And she gave me intuition and she helped me mold my intuition over the first 18 years of my life. I will put my intuition on any compete with anyone on earth. That's why I'm so right about things that end up happening. And yet I have hired so many bozos in my life. You know, this hiring is guessing, firing is knowing. But promoting is really knowing. And I think a lot of us are hesitant to promote or give more money when we know we have a winner because we're balancing the entire payroll. I implore you to deeply hear me right now. When you are lucky enough in your business to hire someone in a store that you know is good, you must suffocate them with positivity, good and value in return. And do not make the mistakes that I did in my 20s and 30s until I kind of woke up in my 40s about a decade ago. Which is sometimes you're not giving someone, you know that deserves another dollar raise ahead of cycle because they're carrying the weight of someone who is garbage. You all do that. I do it too. I get it. But what I need you all to do is literally leave this conference potentially right this minute, go home and fire your weakest link and give your strongest link a raise. You will be flabbergasted. What it means and thank you, thank you so much for that response. It means a lot of, you know, and I'm telling you, I know you know it will massively matter. So the way you build a QSR like this incredible brands day to day operations that they have to worry about is hyper focusing on those employees and being much smarter and everybody. You know what's so funny? We all love capitalism. Like fuck socialism and communism, right? And meanwhile, day to day we're all doing that. We're literally not compensating our best person because they're carrying the weight of our worst person. And we're not firing that worst person. And it's because we're just like checking the box of the hours they fill. But a winner will work more hours. And by the way, the losing player is bringing down all your middle players. Way down now. We're getting into some good stuff, brother. We're getting into some good stuff. I want to come back next year and get into this.

[QSR Executive]

So I would rather go certainly because they're all there toy. There's so many things that you're talking about here. They're going to help our operators, helps them hire better Help them move the needle better, help them to be more positive. All these types of things. There's three areas we talk about. Commitment to service and desire to provide value. And a love of teachings. Embody them with I notes and talk to you a little bit bit here. But I want to echo this a little bit stronger.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think it's great. Honestly, I'm so glad that that was segue from what I just talked about. I'm telling you like the, you know, it's really simple. I have been able to build very large businesses in my life because in order I care about my employees first, my customers second, myself third. And I see so many entrepreneurs in this industry who are so quick to get themselves a Porsche as quickly as possible because they think the business is there for them and their order is them, the customer and their employees. When you have a passion to. What you said, customer service, teaching, just think about it. It all goes to the employee. Right. I think the other thing is I'm a big fan of getting your hands dirty. I think, I think. Yeah. And let me tell you what kind of work. Why I, why I. Why did I say yes to this talk? It wasn't because of, you know, you.

[QSR Executive]

Were, you were, you were very. You listened to what word needs are.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No. Let me. Yes, thank you. And this has been great. By the way, the button on your shirt, that was epic all time. I'm putting that on my Instagram. Let me tell you why. Not because of those two great gentlemen. Person who started it, person who's taking it on, which I admire and I know of. I swear on my two children's health, it's because of how much admiration I have for the people on the floor. Now, with that being said, I think sometimes along the way, the people on the floor get a little fancy. Why I admire so many people on the floor is a lot of them went from kitchen to ownership, which I admire. So heavy. I'm telling you, you have to set the tone in your organization. Even if it's optically, even if you just once a week roll into your store and grab a mop and start cleaning up, you will change the fundamental culture in your company.

[QSR Executive]

Ari owns own single days. You don't his own.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course. There he is.

[QSR Executive]

All right, I just want to say this, what he just told me two weeks ago, my wife and I were in his restaurant. Ari, as you're going to hear him in the workshop a little bit later. He's known nationally as an incredible entrepreneur.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

With Z and all these different legend and not just because he is an epic tan. Epic tan. Epic tan.

[QSR Executive]

So you know one of them. So listen, here's the thing. My wife and I are in zingazes on a Sunday night, 6:30 at night, sitting at the bar. Who comes and pours this water?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

100%, My friends. I don't know who's on what part of their journey on this. That was epic, what you just did. There it is. I really, really, really study businesses. You cannot comprehend what Ari doing that means to why he's been so successful. Like, you cannot comprehend how much. When you're in this room, your ability to deploy humility, to get a little dirt under your fingernails as often as you can, will literally change the outcome of how much money is in your pocket. You know what you're gonna find if you're. Let's say you're inspired by this. Let's say, here's how this actually works. Let's say six people of this room that weren't doing it are like, you know what? Yeah, let me give that a try. That was a good takeaway. You couldn't get here to this room today. If what's gonna happen next isn't gonna happen, which is maybe the first time you're like, this is weird. I haven't done this in, like, whatever. But by the third time, you're going to remember that you like it and that I admire, that I respect that brought me here today when I'm supposed to be on the way to Portugal, which is what I need to desperately do right now. And I could not thank you more for your attention, everybody. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention, and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.