Gary Vaynerchuk is truly an epic interview with so much insight and foresight into the world of business and branding. Eric and Gary go back over a decade, as Eric was one of Gary’s first hires for VaynerMedia back in 2010, and would go on to launch VaynerMedia in EMEA in 2016. In today’s catch up, Gary and Eric talk about NFTs, and how harnessing their power can turn your marketing function into a profit generator. Gary sheds some fascinating light on what some still see as a subject irrelevant to marketing, and the whole interview is really worth a listen (or two) to make sure you and your business aren’t falling behind.

GaryVee, chairman of VaynerX, reveals the thinking behind his NFT venture, VeeFriends, and how he used NFTs to market his latest book,  Twelve and a Half, so successfully that he may not be able to fulfil pre-orders. We’re so glad this book - which speaks to the emotional skills necessary in life and business - is coming out, because in a world that seems to value profits over people, Gary truly stands out as proof that empathy and human connection are essential to lasting success. To know Gary is to know he truly practices what he preaches and insists upon kindness and empathy in everything he does. To the nicest guy in the business, thanks again for the chat and always inspiring us to be better. 

As promised, here are the takeaways Eric and Gary want you to know about how to use NFTs to market your business: 

• Search #NFT on Twitter and follow 50 to 100 people.
• Join 5 to 7 discords of NFT projects: go to cryptoslam.io or OpenSea, look at the top 100 projects on both those platforms. Choose 5 -7 in the top 100 that you like and join their discords.
• Most importantly, spend time education yourself about NTFs. Gary recommends at least 3 hours, but ideally 5 - 10 hours a week, until you get to about 25 - 50 hours of education about NFTs, and now you’re in the game.

At the end of this week's episode, we wanted to highlight an organisation we at Rival are proud to sponsor. Eric talks to Jake Dubbins from The Conscious Advertising Network,  a voluntary coalition of over 70 organisations set up to ensure that the ethics of the advertising industry catch up and align with the technology of modern advertising. Read about their six manifestos: diversity, informed consent, anti ad-fraud, hate speech, children’s wellbeing and mis/disinformation, and how you can join them to make the world of advertising a better place.

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Today's episode was produced by Leanne Kilroy and hosted by Eric Fulwiler. 

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn, Twitter. 

Find Eric on LinkedIn and tweet him @efulwiler.

Say hi at [email protected], we’d love to hear from you. 

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗  https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024