Ep. 13: Group Y CEO Mark Sperling on Creating and Sustaining Authentic Brands
In this episode, Darren Reinke chats with Mark Sperling, Co-Founder and CEO of Group Y. Mark discusses his passion for creating immersive guest experiences at major events, the importance of building and maintaining an authentic brand, the challenges COVID-19 imposed on the event industry, and how the switch to digital consumption of events may be here to stay.
Group Y is the original and leading collective of professionals focused on youth marketing, lifestyle, and other progressive and expressive cultures. Their mission is to intersect influencers across industries and ignite ideas that inspire the current and next-generation leaders and decision-makers. Group Y has organized over 225 nationwide events including ComplexCon, Coachella, and Something in the Water Festival.
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SHOW NOTES
How Mark’s High School Experience Led Him to Pursue Event Marketing [1:05]
Why Mark is Driven by Creating an “Aha” Moment at Each Event [1:45]
How Sitting in the Back Row allows Mark to Create Immersive Experiences for Guests [2:17]
Why Empathy is a Building Block in Forming Great Partnerships [3:30]
How Lesson’s from Match Making are Used to Build Strong Partnerships [4:47]
The Power of Authentic Brands [6:32]
How Transparency Leads to Authenticity [9:16]
How Companies Can Exude Greater Authenticity [10:22]
Why Mark Believes Vans Shoes is One of the Most Authentic Brands [11:30]
Mark’s Tips for Brands Hoping to Stay Both Relevant and Authentic [14:12]
Identifying the Most Authentic B2B Companies [18:53]
Practical Tips To Better Engage with B2B Customers [21:30]
How Companies Can Better Engage with Younger Generations [23:49]
The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When Connecting With Younger Generations [26:20]
Why Listening Internally is the Key to Deriving More Purposeful Organizations [29:03]
How Events Provide Opportunities for Companies to Connect with Consumers [30:42]
Why Creating Memorable Experiences Allows Leaders to Better Leverage Events [36:42]
SHOW LINKS
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Darren Reinke: Welcome to The Savage Leader Podcast, where I interview leaders from all walks of life so that you can walk away with tips to apply to your life and your career. But this isn't your traditional leadership podcast because I believe that leadership tips come from successful entrepreneurs and business executives, of course. Still, they also come from unexpected places, like Navy SEALs, successful professional athletes, sports coaches, musicians, entertainers, and more. So let's dive right into today's episode; my hope is you walk away with something tangible that you can apply immediately to your life in your career. Today's guest on the savage leader podcast is Mark Sperling. Mark is a CEO of group Y. Group Y is the original and leading collective of professionals focused on youth marketing, lifestyle, and other progressive and expressive cultures Group Y organizes hundreds of events including Coachella, agenda, and more. Mark, thanks for coming on today.
Mark Sperling: Thanks so much.
How Mark’s High School Experience Led Him to Pursue Event Marketing [1:05]
Darren Reinke: I really appreciate it. Yeah, so really excited to talk to you today, you have such a rich background, working for companies like Red Bull, and Live Nation and so forth. But how did you get into the event marketing space?
Mark Sperling: Um, it actually started when I was very young, both of my parents kind of are like, active in their communities. And they were always kind of planning events and such. And so from there, I kind of took on that trait. And back in high school, I was planning events for my student body, and then kind of led into college producing parties and concerts and events, and then it just kind of rolled into becoming this career for me.
Darren Reinke: Yes, so what excites you about events like what, what drove you to get into events to just stay in events, frankly,
Why Mark is Driven by Creating an “Aha” Moment at Each Event [1:45]
Mark Sperling: I love the live experience of it all. For me, it's seeing people's reactions. When they're there, I like creating that aha moment, something that they're gonna remember for their entire life, and something that they're gonna come and take away from it. So whether it's something that somebody said on the stage that resonates with them personally, or maybe it's like a concert, the music experience, the shared experience they had with others, there's just so much of it that kind of enriches people's lives.
How Sitting in the Back Row allows Mark to Create Immersive Experiences for Guests [2:17]
Darren Reinke: Yeah, I see events, a bunch of events, whether it was at Red Bull, or companies like Tony Hawk and Live Nation. So what do you learn from some of those early experiences in your career?
Why Empathy is a Building Block in Forming Great Partnerships [3:30]
Mark Sperling: You know, I think the biggest thing I always did is, I always wanted to work or create events where I would enjoy it. So one of the things that I do on almost every event that I work on, or produce is I kind of sit in the back row, and I look at people and see how they're reacting, and how they're kind of taking it all in. And then from there, I kind of create a more immersive experience in the future, for them to enjoy. You know, at the end of the day, it's like, if I'm not having a good time, I know they're not having a good time. So I want to make sure it's the best experience ever.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, I love that in terms of just putting yourself in the audience's issues. I think that's so important. Whether you're an executive for a consumer products company, thinking about the experience of your customers, how they use the product, how they experience a product, I think it's such a great example of just using empathy as they use from a design thinking perspective.
Mark Sperling: Exactly. Exactly. And that's, I try to apply that to everything that I do in my life.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, tell me more, actually, I'd be curious to know how you use that in terms of how you build out your company group. Why?
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so you know, throughout my career, I've kind of been in a number of different industries, and I've worked for so many different companies, I've been very fortunate to have that experience. And each one has kind of allowed me to learn from each other, or learn new skills. So you know, for one example, with partnerships, I've done that for a number of people, like you said, Live Nation and Red Bull, I always try to create a partnership between two brands that are probably unique, but have similar needs. So whether it's one that's a consumer products, goods company, maybe wanting to connect with a ski resort, and how those two can work together. And then from that, you look at how that relationship will affect the end consumer. And so from that, I'll look at what is the experience component of it? What is the end goal of it? How can we have this be, so there's longevity with this relationship? And so we build that out and work on it. And it's something a lot of these things that I've done in the past are not like a one and one and done deal. They're kind of a long term deal that will last for years and years to come.
Darren Reinke: How do you go about doing that? Obviously, I think about what are the values of those brands, what some of the messaging, trying to look for areas of congruent, but can you get into some of the practical details about how you go about establishing partnerships between two unique brands, as you called it?
How Lesson’s from Matchmaking are Used to Build Strong Partnerships [4:47]
Mark Sperling: Yeah. So it's really interesting because I get approached all the time by different companies, and they're always saying, Hey, I would Like to reach this certain age group or a certain market. But we don't know how to go about doing it. We don't know how to be authentic about it, which we can talk further about later on. But it's one of those things where I'll sit there and kind of analyze, okay, well, here's some of the good parts of what you're trying to accomplish. And here are some of the things that I feel like it doesn't resonate with your audience. And then from there, looking at others that may have approached me and said, Hey, we would love to have this kind of brand work with us. And it's kind of more like a matchmaking type scenario where you're trying to find like, who are those two compatible to work together? Or maybe two that are opposing, in a lot of ways. But can you feel like there is something there to accomplish or something that can be very unique with it. And then from that, you kind of bring the two parties together, talk it out, work with them, brainstorm, figure out different ideas that would fit. And it goes from there. I mean, I've done this hundreds and hundreds of times. And again, it's you know, I've done it with automobile companies working with an action sports brand. I'll do that with consumer products, good company, with a major, like a ski resort, or maybe a music festival. And it's really interesting to kind of just really think outside the box, you know, try to do stuff that's not already out there in the marketplace, really try to figure out something that's gonna stand out among their consumers.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, it makes me think about a word you mentioned before is authenticity, and how that can actually create a new experience for companies, how they connect with people. Can you talk to me about authenticity, how you think about that, and what that really means?
The Power of Authentic Brands [6:32]
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so it's been something that I've been really kind of passionate about. Understanding that meeting for a number of years now, it kind of came about when being involved in the action sports world for so many years, I mean, you have to be authentic in that space, you have to be your true self. And then eventually, later on, when I was at Red Bull, my role was to oversee National Partnerships for the brand. And so in that role, I would meet with top CEOs and CMOS of every fortune 500 company out there, almost immediately in those meetings, I would talk with them. And the first thing they would say is, hey, our company spends millions and millions of dollars trying to connect with our consumer and audience, we look at you at Red Bull, you understand, you understand your audience better than anybody, you know, you're part of all the different subcultures or immerse yourself, as I said, they spend millions of dollars and they get zero results from it. And so hearing that was kind of really baffling me, going, Oh, my gosh, I'm like, they don't get it, you know, they don't really understand that connection. So the past eight years, I really kind of been focusing on what that word means. It gets thrown around a lot. I mean, it's kind of like a buzzword. It's, you know, any conference I go to the speaker gets up there, and we kind of joke around it, we turn it into a drinking game, where if they say the word authentic, or authenticity, we all kind of do our imaginary drink to our mouths, you know, in some cases, ends up being like, we would be completely drunk, because this speaker has thrown it out there about 30 or 40 times, it's now part of our daily dialogue, you hear it on TV all the time, celebrities are throwing out that word. Once I started kind of diving into it, and really understanding what this is about, and asking people, what their thoughts of it were, it really brought on a whole new sense. I have a website called authenticity.co, which people can go on there. And I asked them three basic questions. What does authenticity mean to you? What makes you authentic? And what brands do you feel are authentic? And the answers that come from it are very diverse. And there's similar themes in there. But it's great to see people how they kind of have different perspectives of what that word means to them,
Darren Reinke: I'd probably actually not be a good person for your panel, because it's one of my favorite words, in terms of authentic leadership and authentic styles. I think it's so important. And a word that I'm in grappling with is either confidently authentic or authentically confident, because I think so much of our confidence and could be even a brand's confidence comes from the idea and ability to exhibit that authenticity.
How Transparency Leads to Authenticity [9:16]
Mark Sperling: true, very true. It's been interesting to see people's answers, especially when it comes to what brands they feel are authentic. And you know, the ones that kind of resonate to the top are the ones you kind of would think about are the Patagonia's of the world. Vans, Adidas, and a number of other brands like that are kind of at the top of the list. And the reason why is, you know, they're very transparent. They're very open with what they are as a brand. They've kind of stuck to their original core and their DNA, you know, it kind of goes back to who their founder was, and their how their founder kind of structured the company with their messaging, the marketing, the way they handle their products, the way that the sourcing of it all and again, going back to that transparency aspect of it. And so in seeing people's reviews of each of those companies, that's where we're starting to see that there Is this kind of commonality between those ones that kind of are the top five on that list?
Darren Reinke: Yeah, definitely apples right in there. And a lot of the other ones I saw on the the authenticity.co website. Yeah, definitely,
Mark Sperling: You know, Apple has been up there, you know that for me, they would probably be one of my top three, for sure. along that lines for those same reasons.
How Companies Can Exude Greater Authenticity [10:22]
Darren Reinke: So more from a practical perspective. So how can companies go about creating greater authenticity? Like, where does that start from?
Mark Sperling: It starts from inside. I mean, it definitely starts from the top down, you know, a number of different corporations that I've worked for, it was really interesting to see this, you know, they would try to exude that they were authentic in a way. But yet, they weren't thinking that it was always about dollars, you know, it's always about hitting the certain margins and such, but yet, they would never take on other ideas and concepts to help that kind of more connect them to their consumer or their, their customer. So I think the ones that do listen to their customers, what their beliefs are, what their ideals are, what are the reasons why they would pick a particular product over another, you know, brands need to do that more. And I think, you know, again, those kinds of top five brands, that's what they do very well, they kind of listen to their audience that's out there. And then they kind of take that feedback, and bring it in house and figure out ways to change their business model to fit that.
Why Mark Believes Vans Shoes is One of the Most Authentic Brands [11:30]
Darren Reinke: So do you mind just double clicking a little bit? Can you give me an example of a really authentic brand? I know you provided a few examples earlier, but I love just thinking about the inner workings of a brand. And what happens internally within a company based on your experiences working with these large organizations.
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so again, it's one of those ones where I have been very fortunate to work with so many different brands that are out there. You know, one of the ones I would say that I feel exudes this to all levels is Vans shoes. They're a brand I've worked with closely over 30 plus years. There's actually a great book that just came out yesterday from the original founder, Paul Van Doren called authentic. And he talks about the story of why he created this shoe, how it's kind of been a family business for a number of years, how they kind of started off small. And now it's, you know, you go anywhere, you'll find a pair of vans on somebody, regardless of what age they are. I mean, you know, it's kind of funny to see now this younger generation wearing vans wears myself, that was one of the very first pairs of shoes that I wore, you know, some 40 plus years ago, and it's still the exact same style, the same look, what's been interesting with them is from a company culture wise, it's always been about those that work internally. It's always been that family kind of close together. Steve Van Doren, who is Paul's son, is still kind of the figurehead of the company. He's still out there, he's flipping pancakes, making waffles for all the employees, he's out at every event, just exuding what that kind of brand is all about. They're still kind of actively involved in all the different subcultures that they were originally started out with. So whether it was kind of like the action sports with skateboarding and surfing, with music, with art, self expression, they've all kind of figured out ways how to kind of dive into each of those different subcultures and help support them. So whether it's through events, competitions, working with high schools, or doing art projects, they've done it in such an incredible way. And then it kind of goes outward, where now their customer is kind of their ambassador, they're the ones that are going out there and showcasing the brand in a lot of different ways. They're customizing the shoes in their own way. They're kind of posting photos of where they are wearing their shoes. So it's really interesting to see how that brand from almost a 360 perspective, has kind of just taken what their original, as I say, their original DNA, and just kind of grown upon it, and it's still resonating. 40 plus years later.
Mark’s Tips for Brands Hoping to Stay Both Relevant and Authentic [14:12]
Darren Reinke: Vans shoes are such a fantastic example. Because that's definitely a brand that I grew up with vans, shoes, and my friends and so forth. But how have they stayed authentic over time, and he gave some great examples of the family staying heavily involved. But what are some tips in terms of how a brand can stay authentic and it can stay relevant to their audience over time?
Mark Sperling:Yeah, so I mean, bands, they're the first to admit they made a number of mistakes. Throughout the years, there were a couple of periods where they decided to jump into maybe some sports or different activities based upon what was popular at the time. They looked at some of their other competitors, whether it was Nike or Adidas or others and seeing what they were involved in and they tried to replicate or kind of copy some of their businesses or their marketing. And it didn't work. It failed. I mean, Vans his audience is a particular mindset. They're very kind of true to what that brand is about. And once you start deviating from it, they will turn on you instantly. And they'll let you know. And so they saw that happen. And so there's periods during the 80s, and 90s, which they don't like to talk about, but they still kind of showcase that. And they'll talk about it some of the day. Like, look, we did this, we were involved in breakdancing, we were involved in aerobics or something along those lines, and it just flopped, it was not who we were. So I think what they've done is they realized, you know, let's just stick to those kinds of three or four core lanes that we're great at, they're kind of like their bit of their silos. And let's just be the best we can be at that. And, again, it's one of those things where the audience, you know, it's multi generational now for them. So you have people like myself, where it was our very first pair of shoes, now the next generation is worn, you know, they're giving it to their kids to wear it. And the kids are loving it and enjoying it, you know, there's not many brands that are like that. Footwear space definitely is one of them. But if you look at some of the other kinds of categories, there's not many brands where it becomes very multi generational, that they're as supportive of it from day one. And then the next generation is supporting it just as much or has love as like the previous generation.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, I can just picture a dad maybe in their 40s or 50s. We're in their vans with some reasonably fitted jeans and a sports coat. And then you have the skaters and the surfers out there rocking the vans as well.
Mark Sperling: Exactly. I mean, who would have thought a pair of vans is good to be in a boardroom? You know, it's now part of daily attire at any company. It's amazing that somebody that grew up in skateboarding and wearing a pair of vans and you know, with holes on them, and dirty and writing band names on the side of the shoes, you know, you could wear it to any occasion now, it's incredible.
Darren Reinke: Yes, definitely a remarkable brand story. And just obviously, we all make our mistakes over time and getting into yoga, or I think you said, I don't know, Jazzercise or something. That is definitely probably not authentic from a fan's perspective. true, very true. The other thing I remember is working with some of the people internally at vans, I know a lot of their marketing managers were actually either x pro surfers x Pro skateboarders, snowboarders, etc. And so that seemed to help from an authenticity perspective, because they know what they demand of the products and what they demand of the brand as well.
Mark Sperling: Exactly. You kind of touched on it right there, you know, they do a lot to bring in those people that kind of live and breathe that lifestyle. So whether they are musicians or former action sports athletes, they bring them into positions of marketing, and they help dictate the direction of the company. Whether it is the events, you know, one of the best things I thought vans had done, they created a thing called the Triple Crown series. So back in the day, we had created the world championships of skateboarding with the Hard Rock Cafe when I was working at Transworld media. And we brought vans on board to kind of give it that authentic feel, you know, we wanted to make sure that there was kind of a like minded brand involved. And then from there, Van said, Hey, let's create the Triple Crown series. And so in surfing skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle, motocross, BMX. So they kind of went down the list of all the different sports, and it helped grow not only the sports themselves, but it allowed that to kind of be showcased to a whole different audience. So they got it on NBC and it, you know, the TV viewership definitely helped it. Another thing they did great was a thing called House of Vans, where they created kind of like their own music venue in a number of different cities and allowed them to kind of showcase art, do these great exhibits there and showcase other bands that you probably would normally not get to see. And it was just, you know, it was the perfect world of dance, it can showcase the brand and all different aspects of it. And they're the best at what they do when it comes to that, especially on the experiential side for sure.
Identifying the Most Authentic B2B Companies [18:53]
Darren Reinke: So we're talking a lot about business to consumer brands with vans and, and the like, but can you talk a little bit about perhaps business or business companies, I know Adobe ranked really high on that authenticity scale for you. Can you talk a little bit about how those kinds of companies can think about authenticity and staying relevant over time?
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so that's something I've been definitely working a lot on is companies that are kind of more on that b2b side of things. And Adobe is definitely one of the best out there. Just the past couple days, they had the Adobe Summit, which I was kind of tuning in. And it was really interesting to see how they kind of mix culture with technology. So they would have these kinds of big name celebrities speaking about how their lives have kind of transformed during these times, whether it was due to the pandemic, or how technology has kind of evolved and is in constant change throughout the day. I mean, it seems like every day now, there's a whole new platform that's out there, whether it's on the social media side of things or some kind of new software or automation. Adobe, you know, for a lot of us, that's part of our daily lives. I mean, we use their products. I mean, I'm constantly using Photoshop and Illustrator every single day, and you know, a lot of other people are using it for video editing and such. And so I think we as this society, we use technology to help enrich our lives to help enrich our jobs, our careers and things like that. From a b2b perspective, you know, brands like them are incredible, I look at Shopify is probably another terrific company, you know, who would think a company like Shopify, who is basically an E commerce platform, they don't even look at themselves as a technology company anymore, they look at themselves as a tool to help entrepreneurs come up with an idea and allow it to grow. And so it's been great to see how a company like that has really kind of entrenched themselves become part of like almost our daily vocabulary, and how they kind of say, like look with us, we will take that idea, we will help nurture it for you, we will help give you all the different tools for you to grow that idea. And we will make it flourish. And you will be successful. From that. I think a lot of companies that are in that b2b space, they need to look at those kind of companies that how they take on their messaging, how they kind of really work directly with their specific customer, how they can talk to them to kind of have this almost like two way conversation to make that happen.
Practical Tips To Better Engage with B2B Customers [21:30]
Darren Reinke: What are some practical tips of what those b2b companies can do to engage more directly with their consumers so they can understand them and create products and services that really will resonate with them?
Mark Sperling: Yeah, I mean, it's crazy to see a lot of companies that are on the b2b side of things, they take on the traditional sales model, you know, they have kind of like their sales reps that are going out there. And they're kind of doing this almost shotgun approach, where you know, a lot of us that are on LinkedIn, we get bombarded with messages that look like they're almost automated, saying, hey, you need to try our product, you need to try our software, you need to try our services. Without them really understanding that I don't need their service, you know, there's nothing in my life or in my company that I would need to use their services. So I think there's something you need to have as a company, you need to kind of figure out exactly who your end customer is going to be or who that other business is going to be, and why they need to use it. And there needs to be that connection and that bond between those two, with Adobe, you know, there are other alternatives to their products. I mean, there's a lot of free alternatives to their products. But for myself, the reason why I do use it is because I truly believe in who they are as a company, I truly believe that they are creating things that help enrich what I am doing every day, you know, I look at other companies like Canva is a great one. Even though that kind of is almost like a bit of a consumer aspect of it, it can be kind of more of a general public thing. It's helping businesses, simplifying the design process. And there's that connection now that you see people are gravitating to that brand. We had Guy Kawasaki speaking on one of our talks just recently, and he's kind of like the evangelist of that brand. And he was really kind of talking a little bit about how companies that are on that b2b side of things, you need to have a different perspective, you need to be nimble, you need to kind of move with the times, and really embrace what is out there and embrace what a company needs. And that again, it goes back to that kind of one on one connection. Having that conversation and listening, what you can do, changes that are needed, as opposed to just kind of going out there and just doing it on your own.
Darren Reinke: You've talked about you probably haven't said the word purpose, but you talk about purpose, talk about authenticity, talk about you like what the company the brand stands for, I'd love to switch gears a little bit on that note, in terms of talking about youth marketing, and millennials and Gen Z in particular. So what's unique about those generations, what should companies be thinking about if they're looking to engage with them, both as consumers, but also as potential employees.
How Companies Can Better Engage with Younger Generations [23:49]
Mark Sperling: I just spoke with somebody about this the other day, it's, you know, we're one of the generations that when we grew up, there was no Internet, there was no real technology for us, you know, our way of connecting with people was, hey, at six o'clock, we're gonna meet at the local pizza place, let's all get on our bicycles or in our cars, and we'll go over there. And then that was our chat room. It was kind of being there in person. I think the only technology we had at that time was probably playing Pac Man, or something like that. But over time, we've kind of seen so many different variations of it, whether it was you know, we would have beepers, or we saw every different kind of cell phone. There's the internet kind of grew up among us. We saw a company like Apple basically start off with a little clunky laptop to kind of evolve itself. So we now are dealing with a generation that this is part of their life. Technology is immersed in every aspect of their lives. They're on their phones 24/7. They can't do anything without a phone or looking at a screen, they consume content completely different from any prior generation. So we are always learning and we're always adapting to the behaviors that have completely changed from a generation before and even two generations back, this is a new generation where they can look at opportunities, and they can make things happen at an instant. So whether it is like, hey, I want to start my own clothing company, within two seconds, they can have a store up and running, they can have designs created on another software, and then they don't even need to have the tangible items. Because everything is kind of printed on demand. Now, they are figuring out ways to make revenue and money and make their own living off. cryptocurrency and NFT's. And I mean, you name it, it's like every day, there's a new kind of acronym that kind of pops up that people are involved in. So it's really fascinating to watch this kind of evolution over the past kind of maybe four or five decades, with these different generations on how they've been adapting to the way they consume, the way they interact. And the way they kind of grow.
Darren Reinke: It's fascinating, just in terms of how companies are even conducting interviews, in some cases via text, right? So test to really engage and meet them where they are. But what should companies be thinking about, or what are companies doing wrong when they're trying to connect with and market to these new generations?
The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When Connecting With Younger Generations [26:20]
Mark Sperling: I mean, we can talk about hundreds and hundreds of different brands that have failed miserably. It's just funny on almost like a daily basis, whether you're looking at your screen, or you're watching TV or something, some of the ads that you see are just like, wow, that just felt flat, like who created that, who was the ad agency, I think it goes back again, to transparency. The youth today resonate with a brand that is more open, showcases every aspect of what they're doing. The transparency, I keep constantly talking about, you brought up purpose, which I really think that's something I definitely need to kind of talk about purpose driven, has kind of grown more. So I would say, over the years, and you are starting to see a lot of brands kind of go back to that, especially now in this day and age where we're talking about a lot of social and justices that are happening, environmental issues. Everyday, we're kind of bombarded by something that's happening in this world. And so it's great to see brands connect and figure out solutions to help that, you know, I think some of these platforms have been really kind of talking about whether it's things that are happening on the original injustice side, people raising money, through different avenues, corporations coming on board, and working together, regardless of their competitors, on trying to figure out ways how to help resolve this solution. I mean, in most cases, they're actually doing a better job than some of the governments are doing. Because they have that kind of audience that kind of will lead if the company leads by example.
Darren Reinke: And then it also gets back to authenticity. Right? So it's like, not just corporations, just giving money, you know, X percent of profits or whatnot, but actually doing so and engaging in a truly authentic way.
Mark Sperling: Exactly. I mean, you can tell who are the brands that are just kind of checking the boxes, when it comes to that, like, Okay, we'll have our one day where employees will go clean a beach, or, you know, we are going to give our point 000 1% of profits to a charity, they need to do more, they need to go above and beyond that.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, I guess so important. Such a great example, I just was thinking about that, you know, X percent for this process, or this nonprofit, etc. So versus actually doing so in a really authentic way?
Mark Sperling: Yeah, you know, there's a lot of ways now where companies can do this, you know, the 1%, for the planet is a great organization, there's B Corp, where corporations can kind of transform and kind of be their own certification when it comes to that. So there are ways that companies can go about doing this and lead by example.
Why Listening Internally is the Key to Deriving More Purposeful Organizations [29:03]
Darren Reinke: So take me a little bit more from a practical leadership perspective for companies that are trying to connect with Gen Z by having more purpose, like, how can they go about doing that? How can they go about transforming their organizations so they can have greater purpose and connect more with their consumers?
Mark Sperling: It definitely is one of the things where I think they need to listen internally. You do have a lot of corporations that are very male driven. They are not as diverse and so I think they need to kind of listen internally to their employees, they need to listen to their customers. There's one group of people that I work with closely, their names Afdhel and Bobby, and they have a book called Good is the new cool. And they actually worked in corporate America, and they talk about how brands can use social purposes for good and they kind of go through a step by step of how they go about doing it. They hold an incredible event called good con, where it brings together leaders from all different corporations from around the world and they talk about this in a very open setting. And showing examples of how a brand like Adidas, a Gillette MasterCard, go about doing this with just simple examples. It's nothing that's major that would kind of almost upheaval, an entire company structure, there's little examples of how they can go about doing it, and create such a dramatic change in what's going on in society.
Darren Reinke: I'd love to switch gears a little bit and get back to something that's core of you and what you're doing as a group why, but also your career experience and talk about events. And obviously, the last year, year and a half events have been decimated, they've really been transformed. My wife's in the wedding industry. So obviously, there's been a lot of upheaval there. But talk about like just before, just regardless of whether we're in before, after the pandemic, what do events provide from an opportunity perspective for companies, whether they're b2c or b2b in terms of how they can connect with their customers.
How Events Provide Opportunities for Companies to Connect with Consumers [30:42]
Mark Sperling: So before COVID hit, we were doing anywhere up to about 35 to 40 events per year. And they would vary anywhere from a small kind of network gathering for a couple of 100 people to conferences and trade shows, two all the way up to producing talks and panel discussions at major music festivals. So you know, some of the most iconic names that you've heard of. And so we would get these kinds of interesting audiences at each one of them. So whether it was more of a b2b perspective to more of a people that are attending a music festival, but they want to hear and they want to learn. So conversation was always a key component of this, people are constantly wanting to learn more to enrich their lives. And so that is something that we were really working upon, giving them the tools and the opportunities for them to enrich themselves, whether it was themselves personally, or maybe even their, the brands or the companies that they work for. And so, as we were kind of seeing this, there's also that connection, people love the networking aspect of it, they want to connect with others, they want to find those similarities, that they can figure out ways how to either maybe become a new friend with them, maybe there's a partnership that they can form, maybe there's a new product that they can go on, or some kind of new initiative that they could work together on. So we were trying to create those opportunities for them throughout this entire thing. And almost a year ago, around that time, we had a full roster of events. And when COVID hit it really kind of created this massive, massive ship. You saw within an instant first it was sports competitions, then it was music events, festivals, were canceling left and right. art performances, you name it, we saw it all happen. And it decimated an entire career that a lot of people didn't really realize that it's part of our everyday life. I mean, events are what we live for. And events, again, can vary in so many different fashions of it all, when everything kind of shifted more to that kind of virtual side of things. You know, first it was zoom, everything was Zoom, zoom. So we all had our fatigue, we all had our getting nuts of it, of just how crazy it was to be on this camera all day long. But if anything, it allowed us to connect people, it allowed us to kind of see what our daily lives were about. For me, it was interesting, because when I do events, I always try to create these pairings of people that you would never expect to see on stage together. So again, working with a lot of different kind of subcultures and genres, whether it's celebrities and fashion to politics, to something like cannabis cryptocurrency to the sports world, any types of business founders influencers, we would try to get them all interconnected and have them speak on stage when the pandemic happened, because of them people now shifting to zoom in allowed us to bring all these different voices together on their clubhouse was a great example. I mean, the clubhouse was, either you love it, or you hate it kind of thing. But it would bring these people that you would never expect talking on there. I mean, who would think Bill Gates and Elon Musk would talk to the public and have open up and talk about topics and open up questions from an audience that is kind of almost unimaginable prior to COVID. Now you're starting to see this kind of hybrid event that is happening, people are using AR and VR to hold events. I think if anything now that we're trying to go back to live experience, we're going to start seeing audio only being part of it, or the virtual side will be still part of a live event where then it kind of opens up to not just the people that are there in person, but to the entire world can be a part of the experience.
Darren Reinke: What else though, in terms of moving towards this new or next normal? Like what else do you think will impact events waiting to look like moving forward?
Mark Sperling: I think everyone realizes that they don't need to travel to a trade show or convention anymore. They can sit at home and be still a part of it. Technology still needs to evolve, it's still very clunky. When it comes to this, there's a lot of different components of the live experience that need to be figured out in a way that can be inserted into these kinds of virtual experiences. I've seen a lot happen, you know, people look at fortnite as an example, you know, your kids are using fortnite, but they're immersed in this world of a lot of creativity. You can speak to anybody from anywhere around the world, you can interact, there's commerce, part of it. So taking that kind of virtual world experience, this is something that second life had done years and years ago, taking that kind of experience and bringing it into an event. So say, for example, you go to a major music festival, you're there, you're enjoying it, you're running around to all the different stages, you're seeing the bands play, you can, you know, buy merch, you can eat food, if I was living in Belgium, I can't fly all the way over to the United States to come to the event. So creating this kind of virtual AR experience, wherever it may be, you can then feel like you're immersed in it, you can be a part of it, you can run around to the stages, you can be like, could talk to somebody that's from UK or from China. And you can talk about those shared experiences. So it's just taking it to a whole nother level. I know it sounds a little scary. It sounds almost very like Black Mirror, if you follow that TV show, or like where things can go. But that's where it's going to happen. And if anything, COVID and this whole pandemic kind of speeded up that process,
Darren Reinke: what about from a brand perspective and leadership perspective? What should they think about? How can they tap into events to be more successful in terms of connecting with their audiences? You talked about learning experiences, connection experiences, like but what can brands do? What can leaders executives do to relate better leverage events?
Why Creating Memorable Experiences Allows Leaders to Better Leverage Events [36:42]
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so you know, the events, in a lot of cases were always looked at as a lead driver, you know, what leads can we get out of it, who are going to be able to attend, who are some of the customers that we would want to be there. So it needs to go above and beyond that, you need to create an experience that's memorable, you need to create an experience that's going to be impactful, and that Aha type thing. So that's what I've tried to do with all the events that I've worked on. I don't want it to be a boring conversation where it's just like a couple of talking heads on a stage. It needs to go above and beyond that. And so working with these events that are either b2c or b2b, who says that a trade show education component has to be boring. I feel like every kind of trade show that I've ever gone to, it's just like, again, it's company founders selling their products, you need to go different, you need to think about again, who is in that audience? And if it was you, would you want to be sitting there for an hour listening to this conversation? No. So you need to kind of maybe a couple of components of it to bring up your customers and really kind of have this conversation and talk about what are the challenges that they had? What were the things that they realize that they're like, if they went back, they can totally change it over again? What were their biggest failures, you know, kind of humanized the experience a bit. I think, also companies need to think outside the box, again, of what that event is, it doesn't need to be a boring event, make it part of like, what are the things that you love in life, bring those components to it, bring the food element to it, bring the entertainment aspect of it, you know, give out merch give out, you know, fun products to people, as opposed to like, Oh, here's your notebook. Here's, you know, some little tchotchke. Like, do things different?
Darren Reinke: Yeah, so many great examples. And you know, what you're leading to almost like, what can these big organizations, trade shows, etc, borrow from action, sports events, lifestyle events, music, festivals, and so forth to bring more fun and enjoyment to these events. They don't have to be boring just because they are educational, they are an opportunity to network and to sell products.
Mark Sperling: Exactly. You know, one event that I work on is called complex con with complex media. And it was kind of brought originally. It was kind of like Comic Con meeting the streetwear and footwear world. But we looked at it and we just said let's bring in all the aspects of the culture. So again, we would have an incredible food area with some of the best restaurants and chefs from all over the United States. All the brands, on the exhibitor floor, it was kind of like the most curated shopping mall that you can ever have. They went above and beyond with their experiences in each of the booths there, we would have some of the top artists and then we would have a concert stage and DJs and celebrities walking the floor. But then the area that I kind of oversaw was the conversation aspect of it. And again, we would have topics about anything under the sun that was going on whether it was cryptocurrency or social issues. And we even had an area where it was kind of almost a b2b type thing. It was like, Here are the tools that you need to grow and it would be Gary Vee would be on there talking with Karen Civil, or another kind of the guys from Shopify, or eBay, and that kind of stuff, and you just see this packed house of 800 to 1000 people crammed into this ballroom, sitting there for an hour listening, whereas, you know, their favorite band was playing on the stage and a whole nother part of that of the arena, or the convention center. So there is a need for that. But you have to make it in a way where it's an experience for that.
Darren Reinke: Well, Mark, I really appreciate your time and your insights today. I know you're incredibly busy guys. So where can people go to find more about you group Y, potentially how they can get involved in some of the events you're putting on?
Mark Sperling: Yeah, so our website is a group, the letter Y network.com. Or you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, at just group y. You can also go to our other website, which is authenticity.co. And we have a number of events going on. We have other platforms like industry resources, which is another one that helps it's tools to help brands grow. And we're constantly providing content. We're also on YouTube. So we have hundreds of hours of content from our past events on there. So those are the best places to find us. And you can also connect with me there, too, on LinkedIn.
Darren Reinke: Great, we'll be sure to put those in the show notes. Yes, definitely. Well, thanks for coming on today. Appreciate it, Mark.
Mark Sperling: Yeah, thank you so much for this opportunity. I really enjoyed it. And it was great speaking with you.
Darren Reinke: Thanks for listening to today's episode of The Savage Leader Podcast. My hope is you walk away with tactics that you can apply to become a better leader in your life and in your career. If you're looking for additional insight in tactics, be sure to check out my book titled The Savage Leader 13 Principles to Become a Better Leader From The Inside Out. Also, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and I would truly appreciate it if you would leave a review and also rate the podcast. Thanks and see you in the next episode.