Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Gary Vaynerchuk
Entrepreneur, Social Media Expert
The Thank You Economy
GARY VAYNERCHUK is social media expert, entrepreneur and bestselling author. He is in the top 100 people followed on Twitter and a frequent speaker at noted events such as the TED conference, South by Southwest Interactive conference and the New Media and Web 2.0 expos. A weekly contributor to TheStreet.com and Popeater.com, Gary is regularly asked to consult on social media for some of the world’s largest and most recognizable companies like Google, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, Proctor & Gamble, and Pepsi.
He is best known for revolutionizing the wine world with his irreverent wine reviews on WineLibraryTV (has over 100,000 viewers daily) and using social media to propel his family owned liquor store from a $4 million to a $60 million business in a few short years. (WineLibrary TV). In 2009, Gary became a best selling author with his first business book, Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion, which has since been translated into over sixteen languages. He also launched a social media consultancy firm, Vaynermedia (Vaynermedia) to help Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, sporting teams and entrepreneurs expand and build brand equity.
In The Thank You Economy, Vaynerchuk calls out for the humanization of business and the need to strengthen the relationship between businesses and their customers using social media and other new communication strategies. According to Vaynerchuk, the ‘Thank You Economy’ is the way we buy and sell, the way we’re interacting as consumers, as employees, as entrepreneurs on all levels, right now. The way the marketplace functions is evolving at a record pace. Top-down, one-way exchanges are gone, replaced by relationships based on open, honest, and constant communication between customers and business. Today, individuals and brands that ‘out-care’ and ‘out-love’ their competition—with an emphasis on quality, value, responsiveness, and attention to detail, among other essentials—see the biggest returns. Vaynerchuk contends that the people and companies harnessing the word-of-mouth power provided by multiplatform media—those that can shift their outlook and operations to be more customer-aware and fan-friendly—will pull away from the pack and profit in today’s markets. He dissects the companies on the leading edge, showing how they are succeeding—and sometimes failing. Laying out the ideas and insight that support this enormous change, Vaynerchuk explores these emerging connections—from consumer to consumer and business to business and everything in between.
Breakfast: 7:45-8:30am
Forum: 8:30-9:30am followed by book signing
KPCC Crawford Family Forum
474 South Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA
Tickets on sale on Jan 11
Tickets: $20, $35 includes book
Purchase Tickets
Drucker Alumni and Students register here.
