← The Speed of Culture Podcast
The Speed of Culture Podcast
Messy but worth it: Why Amazon’s full-funnel ad strategy is a game-changer with Carly Zipp
00:35:23
Loading summary
Transcript74 lines
- [00:00]
Capital One Bank Guy
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply See capitalone.com bank Capital One.
- [00:24]
Bluehost Representative
NA member FDIC I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website. Now thankfully Bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized and monetized everything exactly how I wanted with AI. In minutes my site was up. I couldn't believe it. The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost with their 30 day money back guarantee. What have you got to lose? Head to bluehost.com to start now.
- [00:59]
Tracksuit Representative
We know brand growth equals business growth, but do your stakeholders Tracksuit is an affordable, always on brand tracking dashboard that helps marketers and agencies prove the impact of their work on brand metrics over time. Benchmarked against competitors. Built from best in class methodology, the Tracksuit dashboard is accessible and easy to understand for everyone from CSOs and CMOs to CFOs and founders. Research shows that brand investment in good economic times and bad is essential to driving sustainable growth. The bottom line? Turning off the brand tap will cost you in the long run. Tracksuit gives marketers and agencies a common language to measure and communicate brands impact without the $100,000 price tag. Their in house research experts will have your survey live and your full marketing funnel and brand perceptions visible in just 30 days. Check tracksuit out@gotracksuit.com.
- [01:59]
Carly Zip
At the end of the day we are in the business of being customer obsessed. It's my favorite leadership principle that guides me at Amazon and to truly do that it is something that needs to create an additive experience for consumers and ultimately for brands and agencies who are looking to reach them.
- [02:20]
Matt Britton
To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture Up. Today on the Speed of Culture podcast we are thrilled to be welcomed by Carly Zip, the Global Director of Brand Marketing and Amazon Ads. Carly is helping to shape the future of Advertising with Amazon's expansive ecosystem, from Prime Video to Twitch, all while creating deeper, more meaningful connections between brands and consumers through innovative ad tech and live sports partnerships. Carly, so great to see you today.
- [03:02]
Carly Zip
Thanks for having me.
- [03:04]
Matt Britton
Absolutely. For people in the audience who obviously everyone knows Amazon, right, But not everyone knows what Amazon ads are, even though they are probably subjected to it many times a day, would you mind just explaining what Amazon ads is?
- [03:17]
Carly Zip
Sure. So what's really interesting, when I tell people that I work at Amazon, the very first and just prevalent comment I get is, oh, you should thank me. I just ordered like 10 packages from Amazon. And I always like to tell people, well, thank you for your service. We appreciate that. But secondly, the really interesting part about Amazon is while that is such a big part of our business and we call that stores, it's really actually not the biggest part of our business. So if you think about the vast Amazon canvas and everything that falls under it, there's really kind of like three buckets. One is the stores, so the homepage that we all know and love that you get your toilet paper and your jeans on there is our physical stores, like grocery stores, like Whole Foods and Fresh and anything kind of that falls along with that digitally. Then the second bucket is really media. And so if you think about streaming, that's everything from Prime Video and mgm. And the acquisition of MGM kind of unleashed this massive, historic catalog with so much gravitas that we haven't even scratched the surface of yet. There's Twitch for all your live stream and you kind of the way that we can engage with a younger audience through ugc. There's Wondery Podcast, there's Audible for books, there's Fire TV that allows you to plug into all these channels. There's the devices so Ring so Alexa. And then there's a third part of kind of the business, which is all under this canvas I mentioned, which is our demand sign platform. So basically taking all the trillions of signals that we get from shopping and streaming and buying behavior, and we can kind of help brands and agencies tap into that audience. So under the Amazon Ads canvas, it's really anything that can be monetized through advertising across all of our consumer properties.
- [05:16]
Matt Britton
So when you look at the funnel, obviously Amazon is known for being the bottom of the funnel right where you purchase. But as I understand and you've kind of alluded to this, Amazon can help advertisers not just at the point of sale, but in the awareness and consideration phase as well. Talk to me about how Amazon helps advertisers throughout the user journey and like how some of those touch points come to life.
- [05:39]
Carly Zip
Sure. So I don't think we could really make a full funnel claim until last year when we launched ads in prime video and so really launch it within streaming TV and really being able to think about a whole new subset and going up against linear that really unleashed like this very top funnel in awareness and consideration opportunity for us and then allowed us to connect it to the bottom of the funnel, those performance marketing opportunities that we have. And so what's really interesting for me to be able to tell this story is the phrase full funnel is nothing that's new to any of us. I mean, I remember coming up in this industry being like, God, full funnel sounds kind of antiquated. So the fact that we're still using it today to me is really fascinating. But I think it's safe to say that the funnel is definitely like broken open. There's no one linear way to consume. I'm sure even if I'm fortunate that someone is watching or listening to this podcast, I do not have any qualms about the fact that they're probably scrolling on their phone or maybe there's a TV on in the background and they're doing three other things. So it's really about how to capture attention, how to earn attention and what to do with that hard earned attention.
- [06:53]
Matt Britton
That being said, I mean a lot of people go to Amazon and they search for Nike sneakers and you have a lot of merchants that sell Nike sneakers that are size 11, that are white, that are air max. And obviously while you do have multiple touch points, that is a very kind of linear, very powerful offering where if you are a seller on Amazon, you can have a sponsored result there that makes it far more likely that they're going to choose you and you're going to sell more product.
- [07:21]
Carly Zip
Absolutely. Well, thank you. It sounds like you're very familiar with the Nike offering on Amazon, so I appreciate that. But yes, I think to that point the interesting thing about the Amazon offering is at its core it started in retail media. And I don't think anyone does retail media better than Amazon. And the difference between retail media and expanding to a whole media and advertising network versus an entertainment company, then trying to go retail media is our roots are in shopping. And so you are actually primed to shop, no pun intended. And therefore when we expand it, it's a very natural fit versus trying to shove an ad in and trying to disrupt an experience. We know that our consumers are coming to us because they want and need something. And so if we can find a non disruptive and additive way to put it into their daily lives from touch point A to touch point B, then we've done our job and we've made a consumer' life easier.
- [08:19]
Matt Britton
Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you brought up retail media. I was at the possible conference last week in Miami and had multiple conversations with both brands and providers in the retail media space because as I'm sure you're well aware of CPG companies, food and beverage, they are clamoring towards the offering from retail media companies, not just with Amazon but with the more brick and mortar type companies, whether it be Target or Walmart or Albertsons, they're all rolling out retail media and they're incredibly successful because the fact is that these brands lifeblood is having shelf space at big box retailers along with having presence on Amazon. And I think what Amazon and other retailers really excel at is being able to leverage and unlock the power of first party data. And if you're Coca Cola, you sell through channels, you don't sell direct, so you don't have first party data. And in this world first party data is so incredibly powerful at being able to target. And one of the discussions actually we were talking about the Amazon differentiation and I think when the Amazon differentiation is not only do you have retail media but you have content and I think that is what's drawing attention because sure you can have data to reach people throughout the web and in the case of Walmart and Target and Albertson in store as well, but ultimately it's not just about being able to reach them, it's about being able to engage them. And I think that's where like the MGM and your prime network and everything really comes in in a powerful way is not only can you identify for Coke who they need to reach, but you actually can gravitate their eyeballs towards you because you have content that they're going to want to seek out.
- [09:58]
Carly Zip
Absolutely. I think it's that perfect marriage that allows us to kind of not only capture attention but then sustain it. I think so many people, we're in new fronts right now. We're walking into upfronts next week. We very purposely have a presence across both along with possible, along with brand masters and place and all the rest of them because there's a different story to tell and it's all connected and at the end of the day we're in the business of being customer obsessed. It's my favorite leadership principle that guides me at Amazon and To truly do that, it is something that needs to create an additive experience for consumers and ultimately for brands and agencies who are looking to reach them. So not only kind of reaching them where they're at, when they're shopping, when they're thinking about it, but proactively reaching them. And that's why, why I'm personally so excited about our intense and our amazing expanded live sports portfolio we're going to talk about next.
- [10:54]
Matt Britton
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because one of the interviews we had here on the podcast in the last couple of weeks was with Tim Ellis, who's the chief marketing officer of the NFL. And if you think about the NFL or the NBA, who has the playoffs going on right now, or NASCAR or obviously F1, which is massive in terms of its engagement, live sports is really the last bastion of live content consumption that exists. Everything else is time shifted. Sports is such a big part of culture. And I know that Amazon has leaned in, to your point, very heavily into live sports over the last several years with the NFL included. Tell me about the live sports investments you guys are making and how you're seeing it pay off relative to the Amazon ad strategy.
- [11:37]
Carly Zip
So it started with Thursday Night Football. We're going into our fourth year. And it started with the idea that you have this community and to your point, really live TV viewing. If you remember when you and I were coming up, you would sit around, you'd wait for Friday night Must See.
- [11:55]
Matt Britton
TV Thursday night, right.
- [11:56]
Carly Zip
Tgit, tgif, step by step, family matters. And you would talk about it with your friends. And now because of the fragmentation and.
- [12:05]
Matt Britton
We'Re a part of that and screaming and time shifting.
- [12:08]
Carly Zip
Exactly. Things are not the same anymore. So live sports viewing is really kind of one of the last bastions of that. And it's the idea of community and building that community and being able to speak to people when they're together with relevant information. And so what they did with Thursday Night Football, and I can say this with confidence because I wasn't the genius that came up with it, and I can very much point to the people that did, was they created something called Audience Based Creative, which is if you, Max, are watching the same game that I am, if you're watching the packers versus the Lions and there may be an ad that comes on that's sponsored by P and G, you may see something different than I'm going to see because my behavior has signaled that I may be really interested in something that you're not interested in.
- [12:57]
Matt Britton
Right. Maybe your car lease is expiring.
- [12:59]
Carly Zip
Exactly. And that's a way for us also talking about car leases to get people who are non endemic to Amazon, who do not sell within our store to be a part of our universe and to tap in to that possibility. So the idea of audience based creative, the idea of contextual advertising, of not disrupting but adding to the experience has been really powerful. And they tested it and they succeeded at Thursday Night Football and now it's incredible to see how it's expanded. So I'm super excited about not just the NBA but the wnba. We have so much going on there. NWSL NASCAR is launching this month. We have the next five races. I went to school in the south, so I'm fast like NASCAR kind of girl. And then the international sports portfolio all across the world we have tons of offerings, whether it's Roland Garros or leaning into the Toronto Maple Leaves, like local sports teams, national. And it's really fascinating to see and it's a great opportunity to connect that idea and build on community because I think that's what brands are really trying to tap into is the authenticity and the community and the conversation and being a part of it. And I think that we provide that through being able to reach across a lot of our offerings.
- [14:18]
Matt Britton
Yeah, I mean another thing you touched upon there, which I think is very powerful is just a notion of not only attribution but hyper personalization and talking about must see TV on Thursday nights. Back then if you were an advertiser, you'd market to an 18 to 49 demographic. It was very broad, monolithic, cookie cutter demographics. And then over time there was the Food Channel and there was the Golf Channel and you could start to market the people based upon their interests. And now especially with a company like Amazon that has so much powerful first party data, you can serve specific ads to a specific person and also see if it converted because you know that person after seeing it, went on Amazon and bought something. And I think that is what marketers are not only going to expect, but I think demand in years ahead. My question for you is how are brands kind of taking advantage of this opportunity? Like are you seeing brands leverage AI right now to have hyper personalized creative and ads to take advantage of the capabilities that you guys are offering? And what are some of the best use cases for brands to be able to take advantage of all these capabilities?
- [15:25]
Carly Zip
Yeah, I mean I think for us we see that AI driven hyper personalization is driving a lot more deeper and relevant advertising experiences for consumers. I mean hard stop what's so interesting right now is you see across the canvas not only just Amazon, but really everyone in this space. Like there's so many choices and I've always strongly believed that the pendulum swings. And so right now you're seeing so much that people are craving personalized content that's relevant to them and if it's not, then it's a distraction and you want to get it out of your way. So I think for us what's particularly exciting is the investment in our Amazon DSP and our 3P supply, really being able to optimize ad spend through performances of the DSP and really seeing how AI can help drive that. I also want to mention that there are a bunch of tools that the team is working on and creating where we can see brands taking advantage. Brands I think that take advantage right now are those that may not have the same creative budgets as some of the larger brands that are going to tap in. But what's really cool about something like NASCAR or the massive amount of coverage we're going to have with the NBA is it democratizes the entire landscape. So smaller brands, mid sized brands, they can tap in and they can use some of these AI driven creative tools to really tap into those audiences in a way that NFL Buy wouldn't allow that for.
- [16:55]
Matt Britton
We'll be right back with the Speed of Culture after a few words from our sponsors.
- [17:00]
Tracksuit Representative
We know brand growth equals business growth, but do your stakeholders Tracksuit is an affordable, always on brand tracking dashboard that helps marketers and agencies prove the impact of their work on brand metrics over time. Benchmarked against competitors. Built from best in class methodology, the Tracksuit dashboard is accessible and easy to understand for everyone from CSOs and CMOs to CFOs and founders. Research shows that brand investment in good economic times and bad is essential to driving sustainable growth. The bottom line? Turning off the brand tap will cost you in the long run. Tracksuit gives marketers and agencies a common language to measure and communicate brands impact without the hundred thousand dollar price tag. Their in house research experts will have your survey live and your full marketing funnel and brand perceptions visible in just 30 days. Check tracksuit out@gotracksuit.com.
- [18:02]
Capital One Bank Guy
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah really? Thanks. Capital One bank guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply. See capitalone.com bank capital1, NA member FDIC.
- [18:29]
Bluehost Representative
I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website. Now, thankfully, bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized and monetized everything exactly how I wanted with AI. In minutes, my site was up. I couldn't believe it. The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost. With their 30 day money back guarantee, what have you got to lose? Head to bluehost.com to start now.
- [19:00]
Matt Britton
I think Amazon's always kind of been ahead of the curve on just hyper personalization. Whether it's been this recommendation engine either on prime or on Amazon or the emails you send out, you're not talking to everyone the same way. And I think that is where it's all headed. Like, I think we're headed to a place where if I watch a TV show and you do, it won't be the same script and it could be the same actors and we could think they're really saying those things, but those actors are actually really cloned and they're saying different things. Like, I honestly think that the way that we view entertainment, even if we like the same exact properties, in a lot of instances will be presented to us differently based upon our DNA makeup and our past behaviors, which is fascinating to think about. Another big shift, obviously. And we've talked about Amazon's ability to create entertainment properties, whether it's through MGM or Prime, et cetera. But the reality is when you look at Gen Z, which is known as the iPhone generation, they're spending most of their time not watching traditional linear entertainment. They're spending time on their phones. And when they're on their phones, they're consuming content not from big media, but from other people. And that's where kind of creators come in. And in that regard, I know in December of last year, 24Amazon partnered with Mr. Beast, Jimmy Donaldson to launch Feast Games, which was a kind of a reality competition series. And Mr. Beast obviously is one of the most prominent creators and has one of the largest individual creator audiences that exists on platforms like YouTube. Why does creators make sense for Amazon and how does that, I guess, overlay with some of your efforts on the Amazon ads front?
- [20:31]
Carly Zip
It's a great question. First of all, I love that we're talking about Mr. Beast. I will tell you, that show surprised me greatly. I don't know if you got to watch. But I was really entertained. And not just me.
- [20:43]
Matt Britton
He got big for a reason, right? I mean, he didn't build an audience by not being good at capturing people's attention.
- [20:49]
Carly Zip
Yes. And also just like the sociological experimentation of it all, like, what he did was so fascinating. And listen, it was a risk. It was a first of its kind for Amazon to invest in. It's funny because I actually had a meeting on it this morning, like, particularly for brands and agencies to invest in something like that. When you invest in a creator, no matter how powerful they are, you are still taking a risk because you're letting their brand, their ip speak itself. And that can go many ways. But I think what we found with the secret sauce is, listen, Amazon is not a creator company. We're not a UGC company. I came to Amazon from TikTok and so I myself have seen the power of creators and seen the influence of creators and it's incredible. And my own consumption habits, my algorithm is like a lot of mom bloggers and hotels for one day when I have a life. But it's really important for us to understand at Amazon, like who we are and who we're not. And I love one of the things that we think about, which is like build versus buy and where do you tap into things and where do you invest in things? And I will say Amazon, there's part of Amazon is Amazon Live and Amazon Influencers. And that's when we do leverage influencers and creators on behalf of Amazon. But it's hard to have one influencer or one creator represent all of Amazon. I mean, looked at everything that you and I have talked about today, so I think when, where possible, when it comes to leveraging the 275 million we have on prime video, like that massive streaming reach number across all of our platforms, if we can put that up against the largest creator with the largest following, that's something that I think the team was really interested in and seeing how that played out. Because when you put his name with the Amazon name, it was just something that we were able to bring to audiences and that we were able to bring as an opportunity to brands to tap into. And I thought it was fascinating.
- [22:50]
Matt Britton
Yeah, I mean, and listen, content to commerce is sort of where it's at. And if you think about the notion that these, like look at Casamigos and George Clooney or you look at skims and Kim Kardashian, these are celebrities that are able to put their brand next to products. And in a world where there's not much difference. Differentiation in apparel or tequila. The differentiation becomes a celebrity. And Mr. Beast, as you probably know, rolled out a hamburger place that had 10,000 people show up at the American Dream Mall. I think that's where obviously it's going to continue to go. Because as it becomes easier to create an adequate version of any product, really what differentiates is the brand. And the biggest brands right now are people. And I know that you guys do also do a lot with affiliates. And if you're an influencer creator, a big way where you can earn income besides advertising is by selling and moving products. And not everyone creates their own product. A lot of people have affiliate relationships with companies like Amazon, where they can essentially push people to the things they like best. And people who follow creators, they trust them more than anything. Certainly more than a review that they'd read in in Vogue. So because of that, I just think it's a great marriage moving forward in terms of creators and commerce.
- [24:05]
Carly Zip
Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you, I can. Last year I was fortunate enough to interview Alex Earle and Mariana Hewitt. And so you have this, like, influencer who's the founder of Summer Fridays, this massive Gen Z influencer. And I mean, truly, we walked off the stage and there was a crowd of like 600 people. Maybe one of them was there for me, maybe, like, maybe my husband was somewhere. But they were all there for the two of them, and really, namely Alex Earle, because anything she says, it moves. And that's why Amazon has enlisted her as an influencer, because to your point, she moves product. If he is out there talking about the fact that she has bad skin, and this is her true fact, like, she was out there, bad skin, talked about a pimple cream, sold out. Next thing you know, for her, it's beneficial. She got a partnership and she was able to develop something. So I think you also have to be careful, like, who you're working with. Like, do they value brands? So that's something that I think is really interesting about Twitch. Like, Twitch in and of itself is not. Not necessarily. You wouldn't think of those creators as being brand friendly all the time, the same way that you see some of the other transactions across other platforms. But it's been really fascinating to see some of the brand partnerships come out of Twitch. It's a much more creative and much more custom content of a partnership. But it's really cool to see, like, Kai Sanat. I mean, look at all of the brand partnerships that he has now. And it's truly fascinating. So I've really been along for the ride of it. It's very cool.
- [25:39]
Matt Britton
So, shifting gears a little bit towards just the topic of AI, my book Generation AI just came out yesterday. We'll have to send you a copy. But I spent the last year just diving into AI's impact on business and culture and society. And I actually wrote in my book at length about AI's impact on commerce. And ChatGPT announced a commerce engine and Perplexity has one. And there's a lot of people who believe that the future of shopping is going to be different than just searching for something. Just like there's a lot of people that believe the future of searching on the web is going to be different than the Google Blue links. Like the world is changing and AI is going to change consumer behavior. Just personally, and I'm not asking you to talk about Amazon's AI plans, which I'm sure are vast in this area. How do you think AI is going to impact the way that people buy things? And where do you think the role of, like, AI shopping agents are going to play in terms of just the curation of products and services in everyday life?
- [26:34]
Carly Zip
Well, first of all, congratulations.
- [26:36]
Matt Britton
Oh, thank you.
- [26:36]
Carly Zip
I look forward to seeing it. It's interesting. As you might imagine, Amazon has been leaning into AI and LLMs for a long time to inform what they've built and everything that we've done. And so it's really interesting for me, kind of on the other side of it, to be able to see how the team is thinking about those shopping recommendations or really thinking about the personalization and how to really scale that. I think the other thing that's really interesting kind of being on the. I think it's been a really interesting journey being a brand marketer at Amazon because Amazon doesn't lend itself like an AI future company, doesn't lend itself to like stop and take a beat and do storytelling and think about custom creative. But I think what's interesting is there's also a desire to not let the pendulum go so far. AI is going to rule everything. So I think it's really going to be influencing shopping decisions and kind of how we curate the personalization and how we curate the user experience. I'm really involved with Prime Video ads and even when you think about the UX of Prime Video right now and how the ads show up, there's definitely work to be done. We're only in year two of Prime Video ads and so we're leaning deep into what AI can do for that and how it can be so hyper.
- [27:55]
Matt Britton
Personalized and integrate it. Like people watch TV shows and they're like where's that couch from? And you should be able to just order it right there, there. I mean it's just shocking that that doesn't exist. And like people watch like Bravo and you see these reality TV characters wearing certain outfits and you should be able to buy right away.
- [28:13]
Carly Zip
Of course I love a good search after a Real Housewives, but what's so interesting is there's a lot of that that's being built now. So like the fact that we have IMDb in our wheelhouse, the fact that we have Amazon and at its core this retail capability, it's been interesting to see as we're building out prime video ads like, like interactive pause ads. So a great example is the Summer I Turn Pretty is like our biggest YA hit. And I think they've just wrapped the final season and you know, we're looking at it and we're looking at sponsorships and what worked last year. And like one of the coolest things that I saw was you pause it and all of a sudden you pause it while they're at Cousins beach, this fictitious beach and all of a sudden, oh, I love that beach. Well, isn't that funny because booking.com just gave me five recommendations of similar beaches. So I think those dots are being connected. And I think also to your point, you have to have the right show, the right creator and the right brand to all build it together to have that AI because another, I mean I will say probably my best example and I wish it was still one that was out there. But last year with Daisy Jones and the Six, when we put that out, it was that show, amazing book. And not only that, like, like the soundtrack rose to the top of the charts. But then we also had. So think about this. With Amazon music, you had their soundtrack, like the Sixes music that was up there, the book was on Audible. Then you had the show on prime video you could pause, you could shop Daisy Jones's wardrobe and Amazon. And so that's us is when it all works so beautifully together. And it was an amazing effort. It doesn't happen to us every day. It was powerful by some of our AI capabilities, but it was also because we had brands and creators willing to lean into it.
- [30:06]
Matt Britton
Yeah, we had the team from hello Sunshine who has helped create that and they're great partners of ours with Suzy and I know that they are super excited about their work and partnering with you guys and bringing that to life and it was fantastic.
- [30:18]
Carly Zip
Yeah, and last year at the upfronts we announced Elle and what was Elle woods like before she was Elle woods and now there's the search for Elle and now we have Elle and now we start the work of what does it look like to build out that show across not just prime video but the entire Amazon canvas. And I can promise you the overwhelming interest has been completely fascinating, I'm sure.
- [30:41]
Matt Britton
Because it's nostalgic yet contemporary in it. I mean obviously the ability to monetize something like that are endless. So wrapping up here, Carly, it's been as expected, a great discussion. Just in looking at like your career history now you spend time a lot of of large scale, more traditional media companies like Viacom and obviously at out front Media and more recently TikTok. Just want to know, like if you look back on your career in media and advertising and business development, like what are some of the things that you think you did right along the way to put yourself in a position where you are today, where you're a global director at one of the most influential companies in the world at Amazon, like you couldn't have gotten there if you didn't make some right decisions along the way. Look around the quarter. At certain points when you look back on your career, what do you think some of those pivotal decisions have been?
- [31:29]
Carly Zip
I think three things I think. One, knowing when my timing was going to be right.
- [31:34]
Matt Britton
How did you know?
- [31:35]
Carly Zip
So it's interesting. I worked in weddings. I worked for the Knot and is the bum and it was a life stage media company. The Knot was the biggest thing in weddings. And then I got engaged and then my wedding became a massive publicity stunt for the Knot which was really cool in its own way.
- [31:52]
Matt Britton
Where was your wedding when?
- [31:53]
Carly Zip
My wedding was in Middleburg, Virginia at the Salamander Hotel and we was the first wedding takeover. They had just built it and they had approached me and said, do you want your wedding to be here? We'll roll out the red carpet. And it was amazing. And at the end my husband and I said we never want to talk about brides again. And so I made a hard pivot to billboards and I think it shocked most people that knew me. And even when I tell the story today, people say like, wow, you were in billboards. And I say yeah, because I was looking to do something that had never been done before. I was recruited by CBS Broadcasting, a TV company to spin off and rebrand and re ipo their out of home sector CBS Outdoor to out front media. And I wanted a new challenge and I wanted a challenge of making billboards cool again, so I spent a lot of time doing that. But I also knew during that time that I was going to be married and have kids and that I wasn't going to be able to travel all over the world because of what I wanted to do. And when I had my second child, a little known app called Musical Ly.
- [33:02]
Matt Britton
Came my way, which became TikTok.
- [33:04]
Carly Zip
Right, exactly. The early days prior to being TikTok, and it was right before the pandemic and they said, we're starting up in the us we could use a global leader. We don't want the same old people from the same old tech platforms. We think what you did is cool. And billboards, like, would you do it here? And I came over there and it was amazing. And it was a rocket ship. And I built a team from three people in Beijing to 1200 globally. It was fantastic. And I also knew that I put my heart and soul into it. And then I knew that when Amazon came calling, it was the right time for me. And so I think, one, it's about timing. Two, I think my mom always taught me that closed mouths don't get fed. And so if you don't advocate for yourself, no one's ever going to know. And so I've raised my hand for every opportunity.
- [33:52]
Matt Britton
You don't get what you don't ask for.
- [33:53]
Carly Zip
Exactly. And so whether it was being in front of the right person, stuffing gift bags, or raising my hand to do a project that was out of my remit, I've always done that because I've always felt like that is the only way that you're going to get noticed. And then lastly, I found the right partners. I've always really been able to find amazing partners at Amazon. Surprise to nobody. Finance is everything. And so I'm very lucky to have found an amazing finance partner, amazing team members, and I just could not be more grateful for my team. So I feel very lucky.
- [34:29]
Matt Britton
And speaking about your team, we have a lot of younger listeners who are earlier stages in their career here at Speedic Culture Podcast. What is one or two pieces of advice you would give to someone starting out, out in our world of media, marketing, entertainment to focus on or skill sets to build, to set themselves up for success in a future in a world that's changing faster than most of us even realize?
- [34:51]
Carly Zip
It's really funny that you ask because in so many meetings I have, the phrase executive presence comes up and there's always a debate, a very healthy debate that goes on like does someone in this role, in a marketing or PR or talent facing role, do they need to have executive presence? And I always say I would rather hire someone with incredible executive presence.
- [35:16]
Matt Britton
How do you find executive presence?
- [35:17]
Carly Zip
I would say the ability at no matter what age to talk to anyone, to do whatever is needed, to raise your hand, to also know when to listen and learn, but to not be afraid. It's about confidence and even if you don't have it, to like push yourself. It's not easy.
- [35:35]
Matt Britton
Have there been times as a woman in business, Carly, it's been harder to have executive presence?
- [35:39]
Carly Zip
I think for me I somewhere along, maybe in those out front days I made a concrete decision that I like my mom was going to be a working mom. My mom worked in finance for 30 years and started out in a time when women were not in finance. And so I think I always looked to her and there was never really a barrier that I felt until I had kids. And then I decided if I'm going to do this then I'm going to go all the way and I'm going to work really hard and listen. It's not easy. And I would tell younger viewers, particularly people starting out, it's funny when people say you can have it all. Well, you can, but you can also, like me, wake up at 4:30 in the morning to take a 6am flight to be in New York for new friends and do a team meeting and have a bunch of one on ones and then be in a quarterly business review and then get on a flight at 5pm today. And people always ask me what drives me and I say Diet Coke and mom guilt. So I would say not kidding yourselves that you can have it all. Something is going to be sacrifice but it is well worth it.
- [36:42]
Matt Britton
It all takes sacrifice. I mean the problem with social media is it looks so easy from the outside but you don't see all the things that people have to go through to get there. And to your point, all the sacrifice that it takes to get to where you want to get to. I'm glad you said that and I.
- [36:56]
Carly Zip
Think just making sure you put yourself out there. I interned my entire like end of high school I actually took a year off. Before I went to college I was a radio DJ in DC.
- [37:07]
Matt Britton
What type of music?
- [37:08]
Carly Zip
It was top 40. My name was DJ Zippy, it was Hot 9905 and I interned unpaid all throughout college. At the end of, before I went to college with the radio station I was able to do something really cool. But at the end of the day I networked, networked, networked. And I I kept a running list of everyone that I met and I would check in with them and I wouldn't just check in with them to say like, hi, I need something. I'd say, like, I remember you told me, how's your kid? Or like, can we meet up for coffee? Can I do this for you? And I just always would put myself out there, and I always will continue to put myself out there because that's how you make relationships and that's what this industry is about.
- [37:50]
Matt Britton
It's fantastic. So finally, we always ask our guest, Carly, if there's a saying or mantra, etc, that helps define your career journey to date, what comes to mind for you? First thing that comes to mind.
- [38:02]
Carly Zip
Messy, but worth it.
- [38:03]
Matt Britton
Okay. Which basically encapsulates everything you just said. It's all the stuff you have to put up with to get to where you're on the other side.
- [38:09]
Carly Zip
Yeah.
- [38:10]
Matt Britton
Perseverance, sacrifice, et cetera. Well, this has been a fantastic discussion. We've covered so much ground in a short period of time and I can't wait for our audience to hear. So thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to discuss.
- [38:20]
Carly Zip
Thank you so much, Max. It's been great.
- [38:22]
Matt Britton
Absolutely. On behalf of Suzy and the Iowa team, thanks again to Carlos Zip, formerly known as DJ Zippy, Global Director of Brand Marketing, Amazon Ads for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe rate review to Speed the Culture Podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time. See you soon, everyone. Take care. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Suzy as part of the Ad Week Podcast Network and AAST Creator Network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting Adweek.com podcast to find out more about Susie, head to Susie.com and make sure to search for the speed of Culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening. Foreign.
- [39:24]
Tracksuit Representative
We know brand growth equals business growth, but do your stakeholders Tracksuit is an affordable, always on brand tracking dashboard that helps marketers and agencies prove the impact of their work on brand metrics over time. Benchmarked against competitors built from best in class methodology, the Tracksuit Dashboard is accessible and easy to understand for everyone from CSOs and CMOs to CFOs and founders. Research shows that brand investment in good economic times and bad is essential to driving sustainable growth. The bottom line turning off the brand tap will cost you in the long run. Tracksuit gives marketers and agencies a common language to measure and communicate brands impact without the hundred thousand dollar price tag. Their in house research experts will have your survey live and your full marketing funnel and brand perceptions visible in just 30 days. Check tracksuit out@gotracksuit.com.
- [40:26]
Capital One Bank Guy
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy what's in your wallet? Term supply See capital1.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC hey there.
- [40:54]
EasyCater Representative
You hear that, right? You don't? That's what it's like to order food for your workplace with EasyCater. No hold music while you wait to place your order. No tap tapping as you type in special dietary instructions or long, complicated searches for options in your budget. No crinkling of paper receipts.
- [41:14]
Tracksuit Representative
Just dang, these are some tasty sandwiches.
- [41:18]
EasyCater Representative
Ezcator the better way to order food for work order now@ezcator.com.