Outside In with Charles Trevail

Lots of companies copy what’s cool and relevant in youth culture. But what about the ones defining it? The brands that are starting -- and owning -- the conversation. Since the mid-2000s, Complex Networks has driven the cultural ethos behind hip hop, style, sneakers, music, sports, food, art, and design. With a catalogue of original content that includes shows like Hot Ones and Sneaker Shopping, licensing deals, live events, and a distribution strategy that reaches millions of loyal fans, Complex Networks is an entirely different type of media brand. CEO Rich Antoniello joins the podcast to explain just how the company does it and how Complex has an unapologetically “inside out” influence on what’s cool now...and what’s cool next.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• The story behind ComplexCon and how it changed the perspective of the Complex brand

• Why segmentation and fragmentation are permanent cultural shifts -- so you better embrace constant iteration!

• What building a dock can teach us about increasing reach without losing credibility and authenticity

• Will expertise and the “magic” of creativity suffer at the expense of speed?

• Why we’re about to experience the biggest shift in media and advertising we’ve ever seen -- and why most aren’t prepared for it

• Advice for those willing to “attack the white space”

Guy Kawasaki pioneered evangelism marketing. Starting in the mid-1980s as Chief Evangelist at Apple, Kawasaki spread the good gospel of the Macintosh computer. The product itself, Kawasaki says, made his job easier: “One of the lessons in my life is that it's easy to evangelize good stuff, but it's hard to evangelize crap.” Since his years working for Steve Jobs, Kawasaki has become a bestselling author, speaker, and evangelist for Canva, an online graphic design service, and ambassador for Mercedes-Benz. Kawasaki joins the podcast for a funny and heartwarming discussion about lessons from his life of evangelism and some stories from his new book, Wise Guy: Lessons from a Life.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Was Steve Jobs right when he said, “People don't know what they want until you show it to them”?

• How to bring brand evangelism and customer benefit together

• The problem with “Steve Jobs emulation mode,” and why it’s better to be like Sir Richard Branson

• The legitimizing power of a “second follower”

• What could happen if Silicon Valley continues to operate unchecked

• How, despite popular opinion, fear can be a powerful motivating force

• The tension between what a customer actually wants and what they think you want to hear

• The joy of sports cars, family time, and catching the perfect wave

Tom Colicchio is a James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Crafted Hospitality, a restaurant group with restaurants across the U.S. He’s also a judge on “Top Chef,” Bravo’s Emmy-winning reality cooking competition show. Tom has seen and accomplished a lot since entering the culinary scene in 1980s New York City. He joins the podcast to talk about what he’s learned along the way, why people today are so food obsessed, and what goes into mastering the business and creative side of food.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• A brief history of the rise of today’s food-centric culture

• Lessons from a career that spans opening the iconic Gramercy Tavern in NYC, to starting Crafted Hospitality, to being a Top Chef judge for 16+ years

• Why the restaurant experience (and any customer experience) must always push boundaries, even if it’s already exceptional

• How to manage a culture and creatives, ensuring they embody the same core values

• How success atrophied Tom’s creative “muscle,” and how he re-trained it (on Tuesdays and in the garden)

• Are food halls where Americans are dining out next?

• Advice for those looking to enter and/or move up in the restaurant industry

It started with a filmmaker’s audacious idea: establish one day of global unity, intercultural cooperation, and ceasefire. Now, 20 years later, 1.2 billion people around the world celebrate Peace Day on September 21st. Jeremy Gilley, founder of the non-profit organization Peace One Day, talks about how he turned his idea to institutionalize peace into a global movement. He also explains the organization's newest effort to launch Impact Profile, a “LinkedIn for change makers” that tracks and showcases an individual's positive contribution to humanity.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• The story behind how Peace Day got started, confronting cynics and challenges, and the goal of getting 3 billion people to recognize Peace Day by 2025

• How the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan, Jude Law, the United Nations, UNICEF, NATO, Burger King, and others have worked to grow the movement

• Why companies have the biggest role to play in fostering peace, and how they can connect impact and values with profit

• Why establishing “a day” has the power to be the rallying focal point of a budding movement

• The tangible benefits of Peace Day, like getting the Taliban to stop fighting for one day, allowing 4.5 million children to receive polio vaccinations

To learn more about Peace One Day, email Jeremy at [email protected]

Tina Sharkey is an entrepreneurial force. Since the days of the dial-up modem, she has been building communities, companies, and brands “with soul.” Today, she’s co-founder and CEO of Brandless, a fast-growing startup that’s putting everything from gluten-free hand cream to healthy snacks into the hands of more people at affordable prices. Sharkey says she’s “so done” with false narratives. Instead, she’s focused on scaling kindness. On the podcast, she explains the DNA of Brandless and how its success is rooted in trust, transparency, and community.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• How to build a values-driven brand in a world where trust is eroding

• Tools and tips for building a culture around customers (including handwritten thank-you notes!)

• How the Brandless team looks to its community for insights, on everything from lifestyle choice to what’s on the label

• What’s next for Sharkey, Brandless, and the growing do-good ethos

Trend chasing does not make for great advertising. It’s not a business model, either. As Jeff Beer, staff editor at Fast Company sees it, advertising is everything a brand does -- from creative execution to the CEO’s political donations. Recorded on location at the 2019 NRF Retail’s Big Show conference, Beer talks about what he’s learned from a career spent reporting on brand advertising and creativity, and what to look out for in the year ahead.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Purpose is as unique in a company as it is in humans; with examples from Salesforce, Unilever, Toms, and Patagonia

• The customer value of utility versus purpose; and the business impact of scale versus intensity

• Does Gillette’s toxic masculinity ad embody the best and worst of modern advertising?

• Why Scott Galloway’s prediction of “woke” as a business strategy will dominate in 2019

• Examples of great work from brands (they all use a mix of creativity, distribution, storytelling, and outside-in thinking)

Additional reading:

Jeff Beer’s Fast Company articles:

https://bit.ly/2NWINWd

2019 NRF Retail’s Big Show recap:

https://bit.ly/2DMR3D3

Scott Galloway's 2019 business predictions:

https://bit.ly/2VL1WyD

As Beth Comstock sees it, most companies simply aren’t ready for the massive change happening in the world. After nearly three decades in senior leadership roles at GE and NBC Universal, she’s learned a lot from her successes (and failures) in navigating change and fostering creativity. It’s why she wrote her book, Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. Comstock joins the podcast to share ideas from her book and why she describes herself as an “outsider inside.”

Listen to this podcast to learn:

• Why fear hinders your ability to change and innovate

• From Hulu to green tech: stories about how to push for change and fight for the future

• How to inspire innovators (even when they think they’re Steve Jobs)

• What Saudi women and Brooklyn entrepreneurs taught her about innovation

• Comstock’s GE legacy and where her journey (or, walkabout) will take her next

Author and Columbia Business School Professor Rita Gunther McGrath is a world-renowned expert on strategy, innovation, and growth. Her work has been a beacon for companies during times of uncertainty. She and Ian MacMillan created “discovery-driven planning,” a foundational idea for the lean startup methodology — and her bestselling book, The End of Competitive Advantage, is considered the definitive strategy playbook. McGrath joins the podcast to talk about how growth strategies and innovation have changed over the last few decades, how companies should be responding to these changes, and why spotting “strategic inflection points” can open a world of opportunities for businesses.

Listen to this podcast to learn:

• Why “arena thinking” is an imperative and should be prioritized over industry thinking

• What inspired the thinking behind “discovery-driven planning”

• Why aiming for a sustainable competitive advantage is actually a disadvantage for companies

• Why blockchain will change a lot less in the short run, and a lot more in the long run

• How technology has opened up the “marketization” of more business functions

• A preview of McGrath’s forthcoming book about strategic inflection points: how to spot them, what to do about them, and how to convince your organization to act on them

From Asia to the Americas, there are 320+ million esports fans around the world -- and the audience is expected to double by 2020. But the professional sport of competitive gaming is not just another sport. It’s a new type of global entertainment. Mike Sepso is one of the pioneers of the modern esports movement. He and his partner, Sundance DiGiovanni, founded Major League Gaming, and, as SVP at Activision Blizzard, Sepso helped create and launch the Overwatch League, a new type of city-based, global esports league. Sepso joins the podcast to explain the origins of the esports phenomenon, why it’s poised for more incredible growth in the future, and why gamers are more welcoming for brands to play along than you’d expect.

Listen to this podcast to learn:

• A brief history of modern esports -- from South Korea’s Starleague to the Overwatch League

• Who are esports fans, and what is their culture?

• Why a “fear of authenticity” should not stop brands from marketing to esports fans -- as long as marketers don’t break one simple rule

Play is a product of our imagination and creativity. It’s up to play companies to turn great play ideas into fun experiences, then get them to market, fast. And there’s no bigger “play company” in the world than Hasbro. It owns classics like Nerf, Transformers, My Little Pony, Play-Doh, and Monopoly. Jane Ritson-Parsons leads Hasbro’s global brand and consumer teams. She visits the podcast to talk about how her team observes what’s trending in consumers’ worlds and works with them to design play into every part of their lives.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Why storytelling and consumers are at the center of Hasbro’s “brand blueprint”

• How inspiration for new products can come from unexpected sources

• How Hasbro stays close to consumers -- from “HasLab” to “HasCon”

• The Alexa effect, cheating at Monopoly, and the future of play