Gary Vaynerchuk is taking London by storm

An outspoken entrepreneur, investor and social media master, Gary Vaynerchuk‘s story is nothing if not unique.

In his 20s Vaynerchuk realised he could use the power of the internet to turn his family’s modest $3m wine business into a $60m wine empire through online marketing.

Next he became an early investor in Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, and has since made investments in dozens of other early-stage tech firms.

Then in 2009 he launched VaynerMedia, a fast-growing digital marketing agency in New York working with the likes of General Electric, Budweiser and 20th Century Fox.

During this time he became well-known for making outlandish statements during presentations and keynote speeches regarding his business prowess, our favourite being:

“I have more hustle in this finger than Skittles has candy.”

All the while building a huge social media presence with over 1.2m Twitter followers, a YouTube series #AskGaryVee on business and marketing with 200,000 followers and last month published his fourth book #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness.

Today Vaynerchuk has set his sights on London with his new European headquarters, led by executive director Eric Fulwiler. The Memo caught up with Vaynerchuk and Fulwiler to find out how they’re taking London by storm.

Alex Wood: The Times quoted you as “too American for the Americans” – how do you expect to be received by conservative Brits?

Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia: Favorably.

While I think that there will definitely be some people that may see a quote from me on a keynote speech on YouTube that might seem too brash or will turn them off, I’ve been able to navigate through my life because anyone close to me recognises where I sit, what my temperature really is and how I actually roll.

For all my ego and bravado, I deploy a ton of humility, but most of all I’m very focused on actual results, which has over time made me successful and made me palpable.

AW: You’ve said one day you want to own the New York Jets, do you have your eye on a London football (soccer) team too?

Gary Vaynerchuk: I’d love that, but I’m scared that I won’t be able to afford it one day by the time I’m ready, because as soccer gains popularity all over the world (even though it’s already the world’s sport), I think it will get harder and harder to buy these teams.

It’s no question that one of the most exciting parts of our expansion to London is the beginning of the process of me becoming a Premier League football fan.

When you launch was first announced you were reported as saying the UK has a lot of “white space”. What’s attracted you to London?

Eric Fulwiler, executive director, VaynerMedia London: There’s always white space for results. When you can drive real, bottom-line business results for brands in the social media and digital arenas, you grow.

In the US, and we believe in the UK and Europe, businesses are still geared towards making money, selling products and driving shareholder and consumer value. That’s a global truth. VaynerMedia helps businesses do exactly that.

London is a good base for us to start growing internationally. The UK makes a lot of sense in particular – it’s where a lot of our existing clients are based and has an easy linguistic, cultural, and geographic bridge back into the US.

What’s the secret sauce behind VaynerMedia?

Eric Fulwiler: No secret sauce. Really.

Our success is based on a few very simple beliefs. We believe that our people, our talent, is the most important part of any relationship – even more than our clients or their business.

We’re a human-driven organization. A lot of organizations pay lip service to that, but their actions don’t match. Our retention rate is two times the industry average.

We also only believe in the long-term.

We’re privately owned, which allows us the financial freedom to make long-term bets, investments, and decisions. But we’re also building a company that we want to be a new model for the industry.

We want to change the game, not just play it a little differently or a little better than everyone else. When you’re obsessively focused on people and the long-term, great things happen.

There’s a lot of agencies around – what’s your USP?

EF: For all the bells and whistles of a modern digital agency, there’s really only one thing we care about for our clients – understanding where the marketplace is undervaluing attention and then distributing content to drive business results on those channels.

We do a lot of work in social media because people spend a ton of time there and most advertisers still don’t know how to effectively reach them on those platforms.

We get excited about selling and generating real business results through what we do. So we’re wired a bit differently in how we think about media and what we judge as success.”

What’s the biggest mistake your competitor agencies make?

EF: We really don’t pay much attention to other agencies.

Advertising is a big industry and there’s plenty of space for different models and different offerings. But as outsiders, it does continue to surprise us how often the industry can be driven by incentives and objectives that aren’t about business such as award shows, trade press, etc.

We don’t participate in much of that part of this world. We want to be judged on business results and we’ve seen that our clients really appreciate that.

For businesses with a limited marketing budget, what should they prioritise?

EF: It’s really not possible to give a blanket recommendation–every business is different. But, if you’re out-spent by your competitors, you need to find ways to make each dollar work harder. And that usually means it won’t be the obvious, ‘traditional’ options.

We see great results with social media because it’s undervalued and under-leveraged relative to the business results it drives. If you’re not #1, you need to change the game and find arbitrage in places others haven’t.

Who’s leading the business here in London?

EF: I’m leading our recently opened London office. I first joined VaynerMedia in 2011 when it was 15 people, left in 2013, and came back last July to strategise and implement how we expand into Europe. We officially opened the office here in London on April 1, 2016.

You’re hiring in London. What’s a typical VaynerMedia employee?

EF: There’s no such thing as a ‘typical’ VaynerMedia employee, really. But commonalities include: some strand(s) of entrepreneurial DNA, hustler mentality, and a passion for what’s new and next in tech, media, and human nature in general.

We love people with diverse backgrounds – people who know what good work is and refuse to compromise. And, most importantly, just genuinely good people – someone you want to have a beer with after a long week.