#190 - Reinventing Product Discovery: Al Schuster on Building SampleFinder and the Future of Consumer Engagement

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SampleFinder Promise is the ability to find quality real-world experiences, and we want to
offer a quality experience every time someone opens up our app.

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All right, you guys, hey, welcome back to what's gonna be another fun episode today.

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We seem to be living in an AI world, but we're talking about the intersection of
businesses and how they're built and really what's driving innovation now.

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So I'm pumped to today's guest as an entrepreneur, which you gotta almost be to be on
here, an experiential marketing innovator.

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That's new terms for the show here.

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They're reshaping how brands connect with consumers in the real world, which is what we
find ourselves not talking enough about.

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theory, but actually being brand practical, which we're doing today as president and
founder of Polaris brand promotions and co-creator of the new sample finder app designed

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to bring free experiential brand activations to consumers nationwide.

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He's built a business that bridges boots on the ground marketing with emerging tech and
retail engagement.

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So that's a lot we're going into.

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So please welcome Al Schuster.

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Great to be here, thank you for having me.

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Yes, that's a lot to say.

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What did I just say in your brain with all of that on who you are and what you're doing?

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Let me break it down to the most simple terms.

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ah I founded an agency that gives out free merch, swag, samples, giveaways to consumers,
whether it be in stores or out in the field like like large stadium events, like concerts,

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sporting events, music festivals.

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Sometimes we run street teams.

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That's how people mostly know us.

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ah It's kind of funny because a lot of people don't know our industry exists because we're
out there representing our clients' brands.

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You know, we're talking about the brands.

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We're wearing branded t-shirts.

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No one really knows that a lot of the times people giving you the samples or having you
sign up for something to get a free t-shirt, they don't work directly for the brand.

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They work for an agency like ours.

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Where'd this start?

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Okay, so I'll tell the story so many times.

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All right, so very long story short, my background is in accounting and finance, 2001
graduate of St.

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Joe's University.

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um And I was working part-time for someone who had a marketing agency who was doing
promotional activations like alcoholic beverage tastings in stores.

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And I told her one day, I'm like, you you always love my marketing ideas.

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something I'm going to work for you, just kind of jokingly.

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She called me up one day and says, hey, I got this great opportunity for you.

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You can kind of help out part-time with managing my promo business.

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I'm like, what's all that about?

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And she's like, well, the shifts come in, you match them up with the talent and the
database, and I'll give you a cut of it.

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I'm like, all right, sounds pretty good.

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So I wound up doing it before my day job, during my day job, after my day job, like on
lunch breaks and things.

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And kind of little bit of a falling out.

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And I kind of realized, know what?

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I can do this myself, I can do it better, I could take it national.

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So I founded Polaris Brand Promotions back around 2017.

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And did it along with my full-time job for a couple of years.

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And I always tell people, ironically, I left my day job about nine months prior to the
pandemic.

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So just when I kind of started getting on a roll with it, the world collapsed.

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I always tell people that being in the experiential industry is the absolute worst
industry to be in during the pandemic.

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You cannot get close to people, you cannot talk to people, you cannot hand them stuff
easily.

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So our entire industry was shut down.

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So around 2021, started to pick back up again, did a few small events, met a couple of
amazing people, Stephanie Wells, who's now our VP of Operations and

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Heather Johnson, who's not only our marketing director, but also the co-founder of Sample
Finder, met them around that time, working, doing activations for our agency, like we're

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doing, like we're activating it now, but they're now on the corporate end of things.

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So we've been growing strong.

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We're now like a four person team with about 9,600 brand ambassadors in our nationwide
database.

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We go out and do like, yeah, everything from in-store demos, street teams, like,

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anywhere where I like to say our clients like to promote their products and services to a
consumer or to an end user like in a trade show type of environment that's beta big.

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Hmm.

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What changed it?

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Was it already changing pre-COVID or did COVID just push it over a cliff from a retail
perspective?

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I mean, your boots on the ground there.

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What changed?

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It just all stopped.

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Our entire industry stopped.

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mean, a lot of other owners in our industry of agencies like ours, they tried to pivot.

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They did some online things.

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I tried to do some more influencer marketing, but the entire industry just completely shut
down for about a year, year and a half, something like that.

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There's nothing we can do.

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We can't really talk to people, engage face to face with them.

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at to promote brands because it was very much like just taboo to say the least if not
illegal.

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So what has happened with, you know, if you talk to the real experts of AI, this has been
around for decades.

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It just wasn't consumer facing where we were messing with it at our fingertips, right?

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It wasn't something that was practical to us.

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So what has happened that has now caused you to be able to launch this app and integrate
it with your businesses?

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What's the reality of AI with sample finder and what you're doing and how it's happened?

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So as I like to say with Sample Finder, we are looking to integrate AI in terms of
analyzing some of the user data for marketing and advertising purposes.

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But we're kind of very much anti-AI in the fact that we're all about getting consumers
back out into retail, engaging with brands, engaging with brand ambassadors, having that

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very personalized experience that technology will help to enhance.

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How Sample Finder came about was I was actually out doing a demo one day.

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And the store I was doing the demo in was very oddly laid out, like three entrances, two
floors, very old style.

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Hadn't really been like one of those stores that just really hasn't updated its interior
in like 50 something years.

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Yeah, escalator separating the two floors.

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Someone had dropped in their carts near where I was at.

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And I was walking around getting set up.

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It really kind of annoyed me because I thought to myself, you know, probably 90 % the
people in the store are not going to walk by my table.

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you know, the project is going to come in, go to the aisle or the spot they want and grab
what they need and then go to register, which is nowhere near me, and pay for it and

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leave.

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And I thought to myself, you know, it would be amazing to actually have an app that
promoted these events.

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It's not that they're not promoted.

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You know, stores will put up like a chalkboard or dry erase board of upcoming demos, or
sometimes they'll put it on their social media.

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Same with the brands themselves.

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But there wasn't like a one stop shop where you can find out where these little

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promos and giveaways and things were happening around you.

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Each brand just advertised to its own base of users, of social media followers.

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Each store only advertised to their customers who are on their social media, who are on
their app, who are physically seeing signage in store.

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So our goal with sample finder is really to use technology as a uh centralized focal point
to find all different types of promotional activation events going on around them.

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to get free merchant swag, to sample brands, to offer you that brand experience that
you're just not going to get on oh e-commerce platforms.

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The one big thing that we've really pushed is the fact that on Sample Finder, the top
results when you're looking for upcoming activations is what we call them in your area is

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going to be the events that are happening closest to you and the closest in time to when
you're looking at the app.

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So without naming any big brand names, it's good to put the brands on a very like level
playing field with the big brands.

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Like for instance, if you're like a startup soda company, if you're doing an activation
that's happening in an hour, like a block away from me, you're going to get higher

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exposure than a brand that says is doing a tasting event maybe like a mile away in a week.

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So the goal is to try to give, you know, those up and coming brands just as much exposure
on our app.

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It's not going to be like a pay to play.

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It's not like where the e-commerce platforms just bump up the brands they want to the top
of the search results.

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You know, just like in a store where you see everything on the display and you can kind of
look at the different options, CFO finders really going to allow you to see everything

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that's going on near you and the soonest in time and let you have exposure to a lot more
brands.

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So as your whole game now and your play, the gamifying of any business, is it we have to
get as much adoption of this app that we possibly can.

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I think that goes for any app.

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The two core foundations for growing the app are going to be content, which we're working
with partners to kind of develop, and then acquiring users.

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We have a database of like 9,600 brand ambassadors.

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the first ones we're going to kind of share the app with and try to get them to sign up
and get their friends and family to sign up as well.

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And from there, we've got some marketing tools, some ideas for getting the word out there
on social media, paid advertisements, videos, things like that.

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So you're a company that you embrace human interaction.

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So you don't love the new evolution of AI and technology where it's trying to remove some
of that, but then you have to use it to embrace it, to try to make the app.

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How does your brain connect that?

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There needs to be a balance.

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uh There very much needs to be uh utilizing technology to the benefit of the consumer, not
just to lying corporate profits or to kind of kill the experience.

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mean, think about like dating apps, for instance.

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And just from looking casually over the years, different.

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dating apps and what they offer and kind of their their shtick.

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ah You know, it's very much like, know, okay, you have the access to, know, hundreds,
thousands, tens of thousands of your major city potential single people, which is great.

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But then you have, you know, number one, you've got swipe culture, which kind of really
dilutes from the opportunity about like meeting your soulmate, for instance, the other is

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like offering premium

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like some of these dating apps offering like premium pricing for memberships and exposure
and things like that.

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And you're taking away from your core brand promise of trying to help someone find the
best opportunity, best soulmate, the best person for them, and just kind of diluting it

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down to, how do we get the most user and make the most profit?

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And so there really needs to be that balance between utilizing technology to help enhance
the industry and to provide actual value to the users.

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We talked a little bit before we jumped on here, before we hit the record button and you
were talking about a uh new hire that you just brought on and it's her first job out of

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college and we were sharing some of that and we were talking about our age and it, know,
wife happening so fast and the reality of it and stuff.

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um

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How exciting is this being a four person company and you growing and expanding and growing
your influencer base and your brand ambassadors?

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Take us through the entrepreneur part of what you're doing, not consumer facing on what
you're learning right now and that part of the evolution of your business.

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Wow, how long do you have?

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There's just so many thoughts came into my head at once.

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To be an entrepreneur, mean, it's a lifestyle.

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It's not a job.

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It's not a career.

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It is at times all encompassing.

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mean, you are on the clock kind of 24-7.

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You're on call for any emergencies, especially in our industry when predominant

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of our work is done on nights and weekends.

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It's amazing, it's fun.

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I'm very proud of what we've accomplished.

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I mean, it was just me when we were kind of getting out of the pandemic and then hiring
three of who've turned out to be amazing employees.

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You're responsible for everything.

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Being an entrepreneur, it is all on you.

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You know, again, you have one of my favorite books of all time that I highly recommend is
Extreme Ownership by Jaco Willink, think his name is.

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One of the greatest books I've ever read.

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it's all about, you know, like taking accountability and being the owner of a business.

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Everything falls on you.

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You know, you're responsible for your employees and everything, you know, their success
and their, you know, their failures and everything in between.

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As a business owner is all on you.

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And, you know, I've

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you if a brand ambassador goes out into the field and messes up, you know, they're not
getting the blame.

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I am.

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indescribable in terms of like, you know, the realism is like, wow, I own a company that
has four employees in it, and 9600 people in our kind of international database.

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I mean, kind of getting down into specifics.

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It's not just a job.

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I mean, you just have to make all the big decisions.

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You're responsible for kind of everything.

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Now, I love to delegate to my team because, you know, they, you know, they're very smart
people.

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They, you know, I trust them to make the best possible decisions and

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You know, pretty much all the time they do.

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I'm not even going to joke and say, well, know, most of the time, oh, no, they're all
amazing.

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I trust them implicitly, you know, to take ownership of their positions.

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Yeah, but as an entrepreneur, you have to handle everything.

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You're getting hit constantly, you know, and I'm kind of dabbling every department.

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I'm trying to compartmentalize myself as much as I can, but it's like, you know, the human
resources, the accounting.

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You know the sales those all primarily fall on me and it's a matter of working with my
staff for like operations and marketing the things that I'm Involved into a degree, but

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it's not like kind of like my my part-time job I think that answers the question, you
know, it's so many ways I could go with that But uh, you know after almost nine years now,

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it's you know It's just amazing to think how much we've grown and how much we're still
growing

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um It's funny if you look up like top brand ambassador staffing agencies on like chat, GPT
uh or Google's option.

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Granted, every time you run the prompt, it comes up with a different response, probably
about a third of the time, Polaris brand promotions is showing up there.

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Just to think that we're actually getting that much traction in our industry and getting
our name out there, um it's very surreal.

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It's been a really long and fun journey.

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So if you've given so much as an entrepreneur over nine years and millions of others of us
out here do the same thing to you from your perspective and your brain, because all those

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quiet moments that no one see the struggle, the wins, the celebrations, the losses, but
some of the hard times, why is it worth it?

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You've given nine years to this.

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Why is it worth it?

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when you successfully grow a business, um, it's a kind of accomplishment.

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You really can't replicate anywhere else.

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mean, you know, it's great, you know, getting promotions at your job and growing within
your industry or, kind of making a lateral move with more potential or things like that.

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Um, it's really just that intangible feeling of I accomplished my dream.

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I accomplished something and was never guaranteed.

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can't say didn't think I would, but you always hope you would, you always think you would.

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To have a team underneath you that you've built, there's very few things in life that can
replicate that.

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Maybe you could say, I got married, I had children, I grew a family, or I saved money and
I bought a house.

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Yeah, are kind of equally as amazing.

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I I think it's all kind of a personal sense of satisfaction.

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But to be able to say, I accomplished something that's very hard to do.

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And I have something I'm proud of, not only the business, whether it be like the brand,
kind of the brand knowledge throughout the industry.

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It's kind of like the reputation.

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But also to say, I've got this team underneath me.

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Um, that, know, I've kind of cultivated and grew and nurtured and promoted and, given
responsibility to hand it off things too.

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There's really very few things in life you can compare it to.

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00:17:59,701 --> 00:18:04,103
It's very rewarding when it all does work out kind of like knock on wood.

195
00:18:04,103 --> 00:18:09,046
Um, but yeah, I mean, that's kind of where, you know, what I think of.

196
00:18:09,046 --> 00:18:16,556
What I think of is like, what is all the long hours, the nights and weekends, the having
to drop everything to solve a problem.

197
00:18:16,556 --> 00:18:22,622
It's a fact that we together, my team and I have grown this company to where it's at now.

198
00:18:23,288 --> 00:18:28,042
So with all that, nothing's guaranteed and can change overnight, just like during COVID,
right?

199
00:18:28,042 --> 00:18:30,684
It just changed and everything you've worked for.

200
00:18:31,005 --> 00:18:35,730
What do you perceive over the next, we use these time horizons of five and 10 years.

201
00:18:35,730 --> 00:18:42,916
What do you see as the consumer experience in your space over the next five to 10 years?

202
00:18:42,916 --> 00:18:47,160
Are we going to start experiencing VR and AR?

203
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,484
Are we going to start doing these things?

204
00:18:49,484 --> 00:18:57,296
whether you want to, or I want to, not, and we embrace human interaction, is this where
we're going to evolve quicker or slower?

205
00:18:57,296 --> 00:19:05,158
And do you think we get there where we're not out here engaging doing this physically
anymore?

206
00:19:06,766 --> 00:19:12,868
I'm going to tell you my biggest fear and where I see the retail industry going, and then
I'm going to explain it.

207
00:19:14,129 --> 00:19:27,364
My biggest fear is that within maybe 10 to 20 years, if not even sooner than that, you
will not be able to shop, traditionally shop, in a supermarket or almost any retail

208
00:19:27,364 --> 00:19:28,595
establishment.

209
00:19:28,915 --> 00:19:30,666
Here's how that is going to play out.

210
00:19:30,666 --> 00:19:34,937
All right, so we're already starting to see.

211
00:19:36,256 --> 00:19:39,187
you have your, you know, start with online delivery.

212
00:19:39,187 --> 00:19:46,731
You know, most of what you can find in a, a, you know, maybe like a Target or a Walmart,
you can get, you can get delivered to your home.

213
00:19:46,731 --> 00:19:47,071
Okay.

214
00:19:47,071 --> 00:19:48,731
So we're at that point.

215
00:19:48,731 --> 00:19:52,073
The next is like grocery delivery.

216
00:19:52,073 --> 00:19:54,854
So now you don't need to go out to the supermarket.

217
00:19:55,094 --> 00:20:03,257
Um, you know, the younger generations, and Z gen alpha, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah,
Like they're all growing up.

218
00:20:03,257 --> 00:20:04,850
Like they've never lived.

219
00:20:04,850 --> 00:20:10,443
in an age without computers, maybe even most within an age without smartphones.

220
00:20:10,443 --> 00:20:13,414
Everyone is being conditioned to do everything on their phone.

221
00:20:13,855 --> 00:20:29,644
I see a world where you place your order online or you go to a kiosk and it's happening if
you look at like uh Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, you'll have to do order in kiosks,

222
00:20:29,644 --> 00:20:34,280
where you go into your supermarket, grocery store, whatever.

223
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:45,865
And you basically either just pick up your online order or you look up things on a kiosk
and you just place your order and someone brings it to you or a robot at some point will

224
00:20:45,865 --> 00:20:46,915
bring it to you.

225
00:20:47,015 --> 00:20:48,606
And it sounds crazy.

226
00:20:48,606 --> 00:20:52,158
It's like, how are you going to get rid of a supermarket?

227
00:20:52,158 --> 00:20:55,199
It's so easy if you think about it.

228
00:20:55,199 --> 00:21:01,841
And the retail establishments are going to be incentivized to do this because they can.

229
00:21:05,006 --> 00:21:08,386
It is going to save stores so much money to do so.

230
00:21:08,406 --> 00:21:14,506
You're not going to have to worry about as much maybe HVAC as much.

231
00:21:14,746 --> 00:21:14,826
Yeah.

232
00:21:14,826 --> 00:21:19,766
I think about like the open, like you've got those open cold case displays with fruits and
vegetables and stuff.

233
00:21:19,766 --> 00:21:21,526
You can just keep that indoors.

234
00:21:21,526 --> 00:21:22,946
You're not going to need it out.

235
00:21:22,946 --> 00:21:24,626
You're going to save money on signage.

236
00:21:24,626 --> 00:21:32,066
You're going to save money on loss prevention, save money on music and you know, all of
that.

237
00:21:32,646 --> 00:21:33,998
And that's really going to

238
00:21:33,998 --> 00:21:36,719
Kill the consumer experience.

239
00:21:36,759 --> 00:21:48,152
Again, back to what saying before, know, everything you see like on a, you know, like a
grocery shopping app or, you know, a kiosk, it would be the top options that they want to

240
00:21:48,152 --> 00:21:49,032
push to the top.

241
00:21:49,032 --> 00:21:53,963
It's like the, know, kind of the old saying like nobody looks at page two of the Google
search results.

242
00:21:54,864 --> 00:21:57,144
It's going to really hurt consumers.

243
00:21:58,025 --> 00:22:00,715
It probably already is for a couple of reasons.

244
00:22:00,715 --> 00:22:02,966
You're not going to have the ability to

245
00:22:02,966 --> 00:22:05,547
look at what you buy before you buy it.

246
00:22:06,108 --> 00:22:14,793
For instance, seafood, meat, poultry, um fruits and vegetables, the things you can
actually look at and you inspect.

247
00:22:14,793 --> 00:22:21,667
Like you look at the different avocado or lemons or watermelons before you pick the right
one.

248
00:22:21,667 --> 00:22:27,800
You're not going to be able to compare different products on the shelf.

249
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,086
Like is the packaging torn or damaged?

250
00:22:31,086 --> 00:22:36,328
uh Maybe I can quickly look at the nutritional value between a couple of items.

251
00:22:36,328 --> 00:22:41,370
The lesser known brands aren't going to be as readily accessible to consumers.

252
00:22:42,751 --> 00:22:54,316
The other thing is, uh especially with the grocery delivery and the online ordering, the
pain of keeping inferior products that are delivered to you is going to be less than

253
00:22:54,316 --> 00:22:58,157
having to go through the process of returning them.

254
00:22:58,157 --> 00:22:59,858
If you find like,

255
00:23:00,086 --> 00:23:06,532
If you order like a cut of beef and you find a lot more fat on it than you expected, it's
like, okay, well, maybe I'll just keep it.

256
00:23:06,532 --> 00:23:16,740
You know, if you're, you know, just instead of having to go and try to return it to the
store, it's those things are really going to hurt the consumer.

257
00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,802
It's really going to kill the consumer experience.

258
00:23:20,143 --> 00:23:27,890
And that's why on the back of all of our shirts that we've given out, we've got hashtag
safe retail, because it's not a matter of the store going away.

259
00:23:27,890 --> 00:23:28,462
It's.

260
00:23:28,462 --> 00:23:38,325
Killing off that retail experience, that engagement with brands that you have, not only to
the natural shopping experience, which is wandering around looking at things, maybe

261
00:23:38,325 --> 00:23:44,642
spontaneous purchases, but also engagement with brand ambassadors themselves, which is
what we do.

262
00:23:44,642 --> 00:23:46,127
We do in-store samplings.

263
00:23:46,127 --> 00:23:48,068
We try it before you buy it.

264
00:23:48,068 --> 00:23:51,249
Liquid to lips, as we call it, like in the alcoholic beverage industry.

265
00:23:51,249 --> 00:23:56,430
And having that brand engagement go away is it's...

266
00:23:56,430 --> 00:23:58,731
going to be very detrimental to the consumer.

267
00:23:58,731 --> 00:24:03,154
Maybe it's just the natural progression through technology of where it's going to go.

268
00:24:03,154 --> 00:24:06,076
But we want to keep that outlet still available.

269
00:24:06,076 --> 00:24:19,927
And one of the core things that we want to have happen with Sample Finder is really to be
able to share those in-store experiences and convert retail establishments into more

270
00:24:19,927 --> 00:24:22,545
experiential engagement spaces.

271
00:24:22,545 --> 00:24:24,066
Spaces where you go,

272
00:24:24,110 --> 00:24:32,290
because you want to try new brands, you want to experience new things, not just because, I
have to get in my car, I have to drive, I have to fight for parking, I have to find a car,

273
00:24:32,290 --> 00:24:37,550
I have to maneuver through the aisles and then wait at a register.

274
00:24:37,550 --> 00:24:48,790
So all those things that are really like kind of the pain points by kind of using the
retail establishment as a place to engage with brands, you're bringing the fun back into

275
00:24:48,790 --> 00:24:51,490
shopping in a way, if that makes sense.

276
00:24:51,660 --> 00:24:57,993
So that's kind of where we see things going and seeing how the technology is going to
allow that to happen.

277
00:24:57,993 --> 00:25:00,154
And we don't want to see it happen.

278
00:25:00,154 --> 00:25:08,457
We'd love to work with retailers to really helping create better spaces in their stores to
make retail shopping fun.

279
00:25:08,457 --> 00:25:10,499
But we'll see what happens.

280
00:25:10,499 --> 00:25:16,480
Yeah, is sample finder, is it rolled out across the country now or is it in specific
markets?

281
00:25:16,596 --> 00:25:18,387
It will be nationwide.

282
00:25:18,388 --> 00:25:20,750
We are looking at launching early April.

283
00:25:20,750 --> 00:25:22,691
We're beta testing right now.

284
00:25:22,972 --> 00:25:32,690
We've done a lot of promotion right now just because we were at Consumer Electronics Show,
now known as CES, as well as NRF, the National Retail Federation's big show.

285
00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:38,505
We kind of did like an announcement, uh kind of a debut, so to speak.

286
00:25:38,505 --> 00:25:39,856
Like we're not ready yet.

287
00:25:39,856 --> 00:25:44,330
We do have a uh forum on our homepage.

288
00:25:44,422 --> 00:25:52,194
To you know kind of add your email address to be the first to know we're not out there yet
We are beta testing, but we're looking at launching pretty quickly nationwide

289
00:25:52,194 --> 00:25:54,409
What's been the reception from retailers?

290
00:25:56,334 --> 00:26:01,394
We haven't had a lot of retail kind of engagement yet.

291
00:26:01,774 --> 00:26:05,794
It's been generally positive from everyone that we've talked to.

292
00:26:05,794 --> 00:26:08,234
A lot of people say, oh, it's genius, it's great.

293
00:26:08,234 --> 00:26:14,614
The one real challenge about explaining the Samplifier concept is doing so quickly because
there's so many verticals here.

294
00:26:14,634 --> 00:26:19,854
The one most important thing we haven't touched on is ethically collecting consumer data.

295
00:26:19,854 --> 00:26:24,574
Consumer data is like a $136 billion industry in the US.

296
00:26:25,326 --> 00:26:33,586
With sample finder, we are going to incentivize our users to complete like surveys and
reviews of the samples that they tried.

297
00:26:33,726 --> 00:26:41,986
And we can then take that information and not sell it, not just give away, you know,
names, addresses, numbers.

298
00:26:41,986 --> 00:26:53,186
What we can do is we can actually take that form and, our clients can come to us and say,
everyone who filled out like a kind of a survey form that rated at least four stars out of

299
00:26:53,186 --> 00:26:54,836
five said they brought the

300
00:26:54,836 --> 00:27:05,640
bought the product and liked two out of the five or so criterion, I want to send them a
coupon every quarter through the Sample Finder app or through us running an email campaign

301
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:14,114
in perpetuity to kind of continue that brand engagement on and on and on.

302
00:27:14,114 --> 00:27:21,897
So that's how we want to utilize the technology of Sample Finder to really kind of enhance
that in-person experience.

303
00:27:21,897 --> 00:27:24,508
Again, using technology the right way.

304
00:27:24,878 --> 00:27:32,642
uh I thought about earlier what you said about um losing the consumer experience.

305
00:27:32,662 --> 00:27:41,017
And as I was listening to you speak to that, it's great to have all these different
perspectives on being in an industry for what you're talking about.

306
00:27:41,017 --> 00:27:42,328
I'm a consumer, right?

307
00:27:42,328 --> 00:27:43,388
I'm not running the business.

308
00:27:43,388 --> 00:27:44,089
I'm the consumer.

309
00:27:44,089 --> 00:27:47,711
And, and I thought what I do like is I like consumer choice.

310
00:27:47,711 --> 00:27:49,191
I like choices.

311
00:27:49,472 --> 00:27:54,222
I thought about as you were talking about it and saying, to compare nutrition.

312
00:27:54,222 --> 00:28:00,862
labels to be able to pick up a fruit and decide on different types of meats and delis and
stuff.

313
00:28:00,862 --> 00:28:09,802
And I sat here and thought, said, if consumers me in this moment, then you, when you're
not using your app, when you're buying things, you're a consumer.

314
00:28:11,670 --> 00:28:21,756
I thought that what businesses have done a really good job at now is they do a good job of
delivering what we say we want.

315
00:28:23,574 --> 00:28:32,168
And I'm just sitting here wondering and saying, how are they going to continue to evaluate
that versus let's say this makes them a lot of money in this future.

316
00:28:32,168 --> 00:28:34,378
If it evolves, you're trying to bring the experience back.

317
00:28:34,378 --> 00:28:36,439
Let's say the alternative evolves.

318
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:38,650
do they gauge?

319
00:28:38,650 --> 00:28:40,234
you think will they care?

320
00:28:40,234 --> 00:28:46,233
How will they gauge consumer interest and how we're using their systems and their
products?

321
00:28:46,233 --> 00:28:48,745
Because usually they do gauge it.

322
00:28:48,745 --> 00:28:51,585
And the one that wins is they give us what we want.

323
00:28:51,826 --> 00:28:52,530
So.

324
00:28:52,530 --> 00:29:06,420
I'm thinking the world that you operate in will continue to thrive and be massively
successful if consumers want that versus the perceived convenience of not having to engage

325
00:29:06,420 --> 00:29:07,281
with it.

326
00:29:07,441 --> 00:29:08,592
What's your take?

327
00:29:08,592 --> 00:29:14,216
a big conversation around it, but it's almost like a company's job is to deliver us what
we want.

328
00:29:16,172 --> 00:29:33,980
I think there's a lot of examples out there of, you know, companies not giving us what
they want, but giving us um what either they think they want or kind of like what they're

329
00:29:33,980 --> 00:29:38,912
pushing towards um for whatever reason.

330
00:29:38,912 --> 00:29:40,652
Maybe it's increasing profitability.

331
00:29:40,652 --> 00:29:44,664
uh One of the most interesting things I ever heard is, you know, uh kind of a

332
00:29:44,664 --> 00:29:49,401
company's main responsibility if you're a public company is to increase shareholder value.

333
00:29:49,401 --> 00:29:53,716
Now, however you do that, as long as it's not illegal, is kind of on the board.

334
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:03,536
I think it's very difficult to say, OK, companies are just going to us what we want.

335
00:30:03,536 --> 00:30:05,418
I think it's very much so.

336
00:30:05,418 --> 00:30:15,686
Companies are going to give us options that satisfy their needs, as well as what we
believe we want.

337
00:30:16,207 --> 00:30:24,320
Think about, if you remember a good example of this is like, uh I think I heard one time,
like KitKat bars.

338
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:33,514
And some chocolate brands, like they don't taste as good as we remember them when we were
uh like uh kids, like you're basically my age.

339
00:30:34,394 --> 00:30:43,678
The chocolate, and I think this goes for a lot of things where, you know, over time, like
you switch from like sugar to high fructose corn syrup because it's cheaper.

340
00:30:44,239 --> 00:30:51,764
You know, not necessarily because the consumer wants the change, but because it might be
tweaked down so little that they're not willing to.

341
00:30:51,764 --> 00:30:54,718
as heavily strongly go to their competition.

342
00:30:54,980 --> 00:30:57,263
You follow what I'm Yeah.

343
00:30:57,263 --> 00:30:59,014
Again, it's like I,

344
00:30:59,226 --> 00:31:05,269
You're not pushing me too much down a hallway in a tunnel that I'm willing to abandon the
thing I'm comfortable with.

345
00:31:05,269 --> 00:31:08,730
But it's like the analogy of the boiling frog.

346
00:31:10,911 --> 00:31:18,414
Well, if you put a frog in water and you turn up the temperature, it actually doesn't
realize it's boiling.

347
00:31:19,214 --> 00:31:20,164
Until it's too late.

348
00:31:20,164 --> 00:31:20,994
Exactly.

349
00:31:20,994 --> 00:31:21,465
Exactly.

350
00:31:21,465 --> 00:31:23,375
You can, you can make minor tweaks.

351
00:31:23,375 --> 00:31:29,857
mean, how many times you've heard, well, you know, oh, the call that, know, they put out a
new version and the quality isn't as good.

352
00:31:29,857 --> 00:31:38,329
You know, you've seen this a lot of times in the restaurant industry where it's like, you
know, we had a chain called iron hill around the, it started around the, I think like the

353
00:31:38,329 --> 00:31:41,920
Delaware like area and spread out.

354
00:31:42,020 --> 00:31:46,961
And I noticed over the years, their menu was getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

355
00:31:46,961 --> 00:31:49,176
And it was annoying when it went from an entire.

356
00:31:49,176 --> 00:31:51,968
book to like essentially a placemat.

357
00:31:51,968 --> 00:31:54,621
And my favorites were going down.

358
00:31:54,621 --> 00:31:58,093
And it's like, I heard from someone, yeah, lot of the breweries are doing that.

359
00:31:58,093 --> 00:31:59,124
They're focusing on their beer.

360
00:31:59,124 --> 00:32:06,220
But I'm like, I went to this chain because their menu was so huge that anyone could find
anything that they liked.

361
00:32:06,220 --> 00:32:14,167
And eventually I think there were kind of, I don't know the exact reason, it might have
been like a private equity thing, but the chain went under and it was just a huge,

362
00:32:14,167 --> 00:32:16,158
well-known chain around the filiary.

363
00:32:16,158 --> 00:32:18,572
And it kept expanding and expanding all of sudden.

364
00:32:18,572 --> 00:32:20,023
doors completely shut.

365
00:32:20,023 --> 00:32:24,386
know, it's kind of like, you know, shrinkflation, or other words.

366
00:32:24,667 --> 00:32:33,450
JIT flation is another one I've heard where it's like, you know, the price stays the same,
but either the size or the quality or the quality goes down.

367
00:32:33,450 --> 00:32:34,040
Everything.

368
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,451
You've noticed that in almost every food.

369
00:32:36,451 --> 00:32:47,337
I've noticed a box of cereal, whether it's a candy bar, if it is, I don't know if the same
thing has happened like in vegetables and fruit, um, because things that are measured in

370
00:32:47,337 --> 00:32:52,639
ounces, if you're used to going to a deli and vegetables and fruits, I think the prices
just go up of those.

371
00:32:52,639 --> 00:32:59,742
It's tough to shrink them, but the things that are packaged and the things that are in
boxes, they have all gotten smaller over the past decade.

372
00:33:00,212 --> 00:33:10,050
Again, it's, I think this is why a lot of those like kind of more healthy nutritional
things are trying to get a lot more traction because I think people feel a little bit more

373
00:33:10,050 --> 00:33:14,574
authenticity because like, Hey, this thing tastes better.

374
00:33:15,635 --> 00:33:23,782
I'm going to say something a little crazy and controversial here, but like I was actually
talking with my buddy, uh, one time I'm like, you know, it'd be awesome if we could go

375
00:33:23,782 --> 00:33:28,846
back, like take some of the, I'm not going to name the names, but like take some of the
major social media platforms that have.

376
00:33:28,846 --> 00:33:34,426
changed over the years, like filled with ads or become very like marketing targeted and
such.

377
00:33:34,426 --> 00:33:41,046
I'm like, I wish we could just go back and like recreate the original versions of those.

378
00:33:41,046 --> 00:33:46,026
Like the ones that, you know, were, you like you didn't see a whole bunch of ads for
stuff.

379
00:33:46,106 --> 00:33:56,186
You just went and you just could connect with your friends or you could connect with your
brands or you could see cool videos where everything is in an algorithm and an

380
00:33:56,186 --> 00:33:57,856
advertisement and a paid

381
00:33:57,856 --> 00:34:03,802
you know, promotion or stuff, they just go and, oh, let me upload a video and just share
it with my friends.

382
00:34:03,802 --> 00:34:06,534
And it feels like everything is becoming so commercialized.

383
00:34:06,534 --> 00:34:15,733
So I think, you know, you know, the goal is to kind of like kind of shrink the consumer
expectation or change it, downgrade it, like you said, the boiling frog, little bit by

384
00:34:15,733 --> 00:34:18,235
little bit, kind of push it down and push it down.

385
00:34:18,235 --> 00:34:23,560
Not to the benefit of the consumer, but to the benefit of the bottom.

386
00:34:23,595 --> 00:34:25,196
Yeah, almost everything's monetized.

387
00:34:25,196 --> 00:34:26,386
That's what it is.

388
00:34:26,626 --> 00:34:30,367
And so, but you know, what, what is old can be new again.

389
00:34:30,367 --> 00:34:34,449
And I do think we still are in an environment where consumers are still driving it.

390
00:34:34,449 --> 00:34:38,580
think, you know, talking about social media platforms, they just became monetized.

391
00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:40,631
These companies found ways to make more money.

392
00:34:40,631 --> 00:34:46,072
And if we continue participating in them, they're going to continue finding ways to
leverage and make more money.

393
00:34:46,072 --> 00:34:50,074
And I think if I was running the business, probably I would do the same thing.

394
00:34:50,074 --> 00:34:51,790
I'd hope to have a conversation.

395
00:34:51,790 --> 00:34:55,250
that, I'm gonna make sure this isn't harming the customer.

396
00:34:55,250 --> 00:35:01,110
I'd wanna make sure, right, that we're not somehow stealing identities.

397
00:35:01,110 --> 00:35:05,150
We're not taking information that we shouldn't be taking, that we're being totally
transparent.

398
00:35:05,150 --> 00:35:14,630
I think in 2025 and 26, this is the word around this idea why authenticity seems to be the
thing that we keep talking about, that we want.

399
00:35:14,630 --> 00:35:16,750
But I don't know if we want it.

400
00:35:16,970 --> 00:35:21,066
I don't know if we truly want authentic,

401
00:35:21,066 --> 00:35:23,027
experiences from every human being.

402
00:35:23,027 --> 00:35:24,549
I don't believe we do.

403
00:35:24,549 --> 00:35:28,691
So I'm trying to figure out what we mean when we say we want people to be authentic.

404
00:35:28,691 --> 00:35:32,334
I guess it's just to say, just tell us what you're really thinking.

405
00:35:33,135 --> 00:35:37,167
I guess, but, but the reality is that's not what people want.

406
00:35:37,167 --> 00:35:38,939
Like, so I'm with you.

407
00:35:38,939 --> 00:35:44,602
I think this word of authenticity and being authentic, I've been saying that's what I want
to just be authentic.

408
00:35:44,883 --> 00:35:47,945
Well, I guess I'm saying that so I can then make a decision.

409
00:35:49,066 --> 00:35:49,886
Right?

410
00:35:50,316 --> 00:36:05,985
Maybe one thing, one good example, um something that I've told a few people just because
the Super Bowl was a few days ago was, know, advertisements, like commercials during the

411
00:36:05,985 --> 00:36:18,574
Super Bowl, I keep seeing this trend over and over again that they aren't authentic in the
sense that they don't actually try to create

412
00:36:18,574 --> 00:36:21,374
a connection between their brand and the consumer.

413
00:36:22,534 --> 00:36:23,914
Perfect example of a few of them.

414
00:36:23,914 --> 00:36:33,794
It's like how many of them have, they're all like supposed to be like just funny ones,
like funny videos that have celebrity cameos.

415
00:36:34,874 --> 00:36:41,254
Like there was at least a couple of ones and I can't really tell you the, you know, the
brands behind them.

416
00:36:41,454 --> 00:36:46,114
The one was, I actually kind of remember two.

417
00:36:46,114 --> 00:36:47,170
The one was like the

418
00:36:47,170 --> 00:36:51,521
Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, I think a couple other people from like Duncan.

419
00:36:51,521 --> 00:36:56,653
And they did this whole, this thing in a Duncan store where they de-aged everyone.

420
00:36:56,653 --> 00:37:01,624
And then they had one where they had like the three main characters from Jurassic Park
were there.

421
00:37:01,624 --> 00:37:08,015
And it goes for like one of the like major, think was like Comcast or Verizon, probably
Verizon.

422
00:37:08,016 --> 00:37:16,974
And I'm just like, okay, you're just trying to get the shock value of having these
celebrities on and de-aging them or having a celebrity do something

423
00:37:16,974 --> 00:37:20,234
you know, wacky or silly or unexpected to get talking points.

424
00:37:20,234 --> 00:37:24,314
I'm like, OK, how do you connect that back to your brand?

425
00:37:24,314 --> 00:37:28,314
How do you get consumers interested in your brand and excited about your brand?

426
00:37:28,414 --> 00:37:30,334
Like, I'm just not seeing it.

427
00:37:30,334 --> 00:37:36,214
You know, you're just you're just like, oh, what does major Super Bowl ad and have all
these celebrities in it to get people talking about it?

428
00:37:36,214 --> 00:37:43,596
It's like maybe I'll talk about them like some of the times it just you're not going to
remember the brand, just the commercial and what it was about.

429
00:37:43,596 --> 00:37:44,437
Yeah.

430
00:37:44,437 --> 00:37:52,216
So, yeah, one of the gurus out here of, of marketing and, uh, branding and online and
social.

431
00:37:52,216 --> 00:37:56,660
I heard him say something recently and say, Hey, it's not social media anymore.

432
00:37:56,681 --> 00:37:58,282
It's attention media.

433
00:37:59,438 --> 00:38:00,441
Totally.

434
00:38:00,770 --> 00:38:01,342
Totally.

435
00:38:01,342 --> 00:38:02,946
That's what you're seeing at the Super Bowl, right?

436
00:38:02,946 --> 00:38:06,182
And so the question is, is that attention on the brand?

437
00:38:06,182 --> 00:38:11,102
Is it gaining traction and gaining eyeballs so then people are going to engage and spend
money with the brand?

438
00:38:12,140 --> 00:38:14,892
I guess it's up to the brands to determine that.

439
00:38:15,614 --> 00:38:17,796
I say that kind of loosely.

440
00:38:17,796 --> 00:38:20,198
There's no real right or wrong answer.

441
00:38:20,198 --> 00:38:29,117
If you see an increase of sales after you run any type of social media campaign, if you
see a boost, then maybe it worked.

442
00:38:29,117 --> 00:38:29,908
Maybe it didn't.

443
00:38:29,908 --> 00:38:32,210
uh Probably it did.

444
00:38:32,210 --> 00:38:34,753
ah You can find a direct correlation.

445
00:38:34,753 --> 00:38:36,046
uh

446
00:38:36,046 --> 00:38:43,258
Because that's what you're trying to do with your business, I mean, really, the reason why
these businesses, retail businesses, restaurants, wherever they are, are going to pay you

447
00:38:43,258 --> 00:38:48,426
to come and do these experiences because they believe through that experience, it's going
to turn into more sales.

448
00:38:48,558 --> 00:38:49,378
Oh, of course.

449
00:38:49,378 --> 00:38:58,298
I mean, that's the one major metric that all of our clients look at, you know, when they
look at the success, like how many units were sold during the time of the demo.

450
00:38:59,338 --> 00:39:01,218
You know, and it does go beyond that.

451
00:39:01,218 --> 00:39:01,598
Yeah.

452
00:39:01,598 --> 00:39:12,158
And I try to emphasize this to, you know, current and potential clients where I say, okay,
now you can't just take it as the number of units that were sold.

453
00:39:12,158 --> 00:39:18,124
I mean, yes, you can then directly correlate, but you could have, you know, maybe 20
people who buy your product.

454
00:39:18,124 --> 00:39:21,377
during a sampling event and none of them buy it again.

455
00:39:21,377 --> 00:39:22,278
You don't know that.

456
00:39:22,278 --> 00:39:30,664
I mean, you can look at the same store, you know, month over month sales to see if there
was a patterned increase to the sales, but you don't know factually.

457
00:39:31,225 --> 00:39:41,594
the, you know, the opposite end of that, you know, you could have someone who, you know,
buys one unit of product at a sampling event and maybe they're the only sale of the day

458
00:39:41,594 --> 00:39:47,288
for whatever reason, poor in-store placement, poor weather or something like that, poor
store traffic.

459
00:39:47,288 --> 00:39:51,570
but that one person who buys it becomes a customer for life.

460
00:39:51,570 --> 00:39:54,041
you know, there's many ways to look at it.

461
00:39:54,041 --> 00:40:03,251
You know, you're never going to get a perfect correlation, you know, of your marketing
spend to, you know, direct sales unless like you put out one social media campaign that's

462
00:40:03,251 --> 00:40:09,087
literally your only advertising so you can correlate a hundred percent of all my sales
came because of that one effort.

463
00:40:09,087 --> 00:40:13,279
um Unless you do that, you know, you're just going to have to look at the trends.

464
00:40:13,279 --> 00:40:16,870
You have to look, see your marketing spend, your campaigns.

465
00:40:17,019 --> 00:40:25,376
You know, maybe like what your social media ads, which ones gained the most traffic, if
you saw an increase ah during the time of that.

466
00:40:25,376 --> 00:40:26,579
It's not easy.

467
00:40:26,579 --> 00:40:28,572
It's not easy to always correlate.

468
00:40:29,228 --> 00:40:35,421
How much of what you do is about your customer hiring you for these experiences for
consumers?

469
00:40:35,421 --> 00:40:42,325
How much of it is to sample the product to have them engage with the product and buy it?

470
00:40:42,325 --> 00:40:44,636
Or is it to test the product?

471
00:40:46,242 --> 00:40:48,143
very rarely test.

472
00:40:49,364 --> 00:40:52,026
Mainly the main goal is to buy.

473
00:40:52,326 --> 00:41:04,254
A lot of times, especially with up and coming brands, they want to do in store demos
because they got into a major retailer or uh like a new flavor of a line extension of

474
00:41:04,254 --> 00:41:06,996
their offerings got into a store.

475
00:41:07,717 --> 00:41:12,050
And they want to get the word out about consumers.

476
00:41:12,050 --> 00:41:13,820
They want to of hype it up.

477
00:41:14,861 --> 00:41:16,204
So yeah.

478
00:41:16,204 --> 00:41:21,996
I mean, a lot of times, you know, our clients come to us for that.

479
00:41:22,077 --> 00:41:30,720
Not necessarily to kind of, you know, as a focus group, we do take consumer feedback into
account, but that's more along the lines of how did they like the giveaway items, you

480
00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:37,803
know, you know, I mean, if you before you get into a retailer, you probably have to be
fairly confident that your product tastes good.

481
00:41:37,944 --> 00:41:43,636
You know, I mean, the store is going to have to try it before they say, Hey, yes, we want
to buy, know, X.

482
00:41:43,636 --> 00:41:48,551
number of hundreds of thousands of pallets of your product and put them in different
stores and stuff.

483
00:41:48,972 --> 00:41:57,932
So it's very little, you know, actual like focus group feedback kind of and more, you
know, they're in the stores, they want to force depletions, they want to force reorders of

484
00:41:57,932 --> 00:42:02,026
product, they want to develop a base of repeat customers.

485
00:42:03,650 --> 00:42:15,619
Why when you see, if you look back on your history here, why don't bring, if they already
know the product is quality, let's just use that word quality, that consumer, that it

486
00:42:15,619 --> 00:42:21,072
tastes good, that it's meeting a market, you know, placement that maybe he's not already
met or anything.

487
00:42:21,072 --> 00:42:23,104
Hey, this is going to win in the category.

488
00:42:23,104 --> 00:42:25,456
Why do they lose when they lose and they don't hit?

489
00:42:25,456 --> 00:42:26,536
Why is that?

490
00:42:29,886 --> 00:42:30,706
Many reasons.

491
00:42:30,706 --> 00:42:41,029
um Maybe you're just fighting for market share in a crowded market.

492
00:42:41,029 --> 00:42:43,860
mean, how many IPAs came out?

493
00:42:43,860 --> 00:42:47,401
How many THC drinks are coming out?

494
00:42:47,401 --> 00:42:48,991
CBD drinks?

495
00:42:48,991 --> 00:42:49,988
Seltzers are coming out?

496
00:42:49,988 --> 00:42:51,372
mean, with the Seltzer bandwagon.

497
00:42:51,372 --> 00:42:56,113
ah It could be a crowded marketplace.

498
00:42:56,113 --> 00:42:57,593
As I like to say, if

499
00:43:00,545 --> 00:43:04,306
In-store demos were like the end all and be all of marketing your product.

500
00:43:04,346 --> 00:43:12,026
Everyone will be doing them all the time and the stores would start needing to charge
money for you to get your spot in the store.

501
00:43:13,726 --> 00:43:15,346
It's a number of things.

502
00:43:15,346 --> 00:43:18,406
It's really, do you have the capital to raise the brand awareness?

503
00:43:18,406 --> 00:43:23,406
Do enough people like it after they try it and recommend it to their friends?

504
00:43:23,406 --> 00:43:26,786
Go out of their way to make it a repeat purchase?

505
00:43:26,866 --> 00:43:27,692
Sometimes I'll

506
00:43:27,692 --> 00:43:28,803
you know, try something once.

507
00:43:28,803 --> 00:43:30,103
I'm like, that's kind of tasty.

508
00:43:30,103 --> 00:43:31,864
I'll forget to buy it again.

509
00:43:31,864 --> 00:43:37,097
Like I tried it once, you know, maybe ate a bag of chips as a random example for two,
three days.

510
00:43:37,097 --> 00:43:44,371
You know, we go to all these different like trade shows that offer different samples and
stuff and I'll go on Amazon later and I'll buy some and I'll try it.

511
00:43:44,371 --> 00:43:47,013
But, you know, unless I'm like, my God, this is the best thing ever.

512
00:43:47,013 --> 00:43:48,934
You know, I'll forget to reorder.

513
00:43:48,934 --> 00:43:51,715
um know, consumers are fickle.

514
00:43:51,715 --> 00:43:54,157
You know, I think it's all those factors.

515
00:43:54,157 --> 00:43:56,878
um You know, if you're a new brand, I mean,

516
00:43:57,066 --> 00:44:01,864
You never know, it could hit suddenly very quickly and then just fizzle out.

517
00:44:03,286 --> 00:44:09,014
What, what about the newer world of influencer engagement in some of these brands?

518
00:44:10,062 --> 00:44:12,073
I mean, it's kind of funny.

519
00:44:12,073 --> 00:44:13,694
like, how big is your marketing budget?

520
00:44:13,694 --> 00:44:24,268
I mean, you you aren't necessarily going to be the best brand out there to, you know, kind
of dominate market share.

521
00:44:24,609 --> 00:44:26,699
There have been some brands that are mediocre.

522
00:44:26,699 --> 00:44:32,252
I'm not going to trash any, but if you come to mind where I'm like, your product's kind of
mid, like it's good.

523
00:44:32,252 --> 00:44:33,122
It's not great.

524
00:44:33,122 --> 00:44:34,253
It's not terrible.

525
00:44:34,253 --> 00:44:36,960
I mean, it's good for the price point, you know.

526
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,512
And then you see like, you know, it dominates most of the shelf space.

527
00:44:40,512 --> 00:44:51,496
You know, you know, there have been, I forget the name brand, there was, um, I think like
one of the, the hard sultres or something like did a massive influencer push.

528
00:44:51,996 --> 00:44:54,957
And all of sudden they were everywhere.

529
00:44:54,957 --> 00:44:56,538
Like everyone was buying it.

530
00:44:56,538 --> 00:44:57,618
Everyone was asking for it.

531
00:44:57,618 --> 00:45:02,661
Everyone was talking about it because they got a, I guess the right social media people to
talk about it.

532
00:45:02,661 --> 00:45:03,841
blew up.

533
00:45:03,841 --> 00:45:06,402
You know, you can never, can never guarantee.

534
00:45:06,402 --> 00:45:12,465
virality of anything, whether it be a review or a post or anything like that.

535
00:45:12,465 --> 00:45:22,231
uh mean, influencers kind of sway what our efforts are for experiential because it all
comes down to trust.

536
00:45:22,231 --> 00:45:29,595
Do you trust that when they are pitching a product or service that they're not just
pitching it because they're being paid to pitch it?

537
00:45:29,595 --> 00:45:34,786
um You're probably not going to hate the influencer or stop following them if you're like,

538
00:45:34,786 --> 00:45:38,209
Well, they loved it, they liked it, I tried it, I wasn't crazy about it.

539
00:45:38,230 --> 00:45:42,634
I mean, again, it all comes down to authenticity.

540
00:45:42,634 --> 00:45:51,142
being paid to promote a product doesn't necessarily, it means you get coverage, it means
you get attention, but it doesn't mean you get authenticity.

541
00:45:52,270 --> 00:46:00,230
What do you think, cause I touched on it a little bit, but what do you think when we say
authenticity and we want humans to be authentic, we want brands to be authentic.

542
00:46:00,230 --> 00:46:02,270
What do you think we're saying that we want?

543
00:46:02,310 --> 00:46:06,670
So you, what are you saying you want when you just want people or a brand to be authentic?

544
00:46:06,670 --> 00:46:07,846
What do you want?

545
00:46:10,139 --> 00:46:14,600
there's an old saying that like a brand is a promise.

546
00:46:16,861 --> 00:46:27,356
you know, like you, when you go into like a fast food chain, whether you're in LA or New
York or Miami, you're kind of expecting the same promise from that brand.

547
00:46:27,356 --> 00:46:37,960
You're expecting the same experience, the same type and quality of food, the same feeling
you, you get from the experience of being a consumer there.

548
00:46:38,470 --> 00:46:44,294
Um, you know, authenticity, I mean, one example, one great example is you've seen them all
the time online.

549
00:46:44,294 --> 00:46:57,073
You, know, you see the, the burger in the commercial versus the burger that you get from,
from the store, you know, really being honest and authentic about what the consumer can

550
00:46:57,073 --> 00:47:07,182
expect, what you are promising them, and then actually being able to deliver upon that
promise, whether it be, you know, kind of like the

551
00:47:07,182 --> 00:47:13,402
the subjective opinion, the objective truth, the brand facts, the brand experience.

552
00:47:13,602 --> 00:47:22,362
I think that's the way you kind of need to be authentic is to keep that promise that your
brand is making to the consumer.

553
00:47:23,714 --> 00:47:29,646
So as we wrap this up, that's perfect to say, what do you believe the sample finder app
brand?

554
00:47:29,646 --> 00:47:32,319
What promise is that going to make to consumers?

555
00:47:33,288 --> 00:47:48,892
The sample finder promise is the ability to find quality real world experiences that offer
trying new products, getting new merchants swag um from those brands.

556
00:47:48,892 --> 00:47:52,225
um You know, let me think.

557
00:47:52,225 --> 00:47:55,417
It's funny, no one's really asked that before.

558
00:47:55,738 --> 00:48:00,321
But overall, you know, just having that authenticity of,

559
00:48:01,016 --> 00:48:07,189
there are brands out there that, yes, they are soliciting, they are promoting to you, but
they are also rewarding as well.

560
00:48:07,189 --> 00:48:16,635
They're rewarding you through a sample, through an item of MerchantsRide, through a
discount code, and we are then kind of rewarding their participation in the app through

561
00:48:16,635 --> 00:48:23,318
monthly contests and giveaways and tier rankings and extra points for more engagement.

562
00:48:23,318 --> 00:48:30,122
So really showing upfront uh that we want to be authentic and we want to offer a quality
experience

563
00:48:30,122 --> 00:48:32,690
every time someone opens up our app.

564
00:48:33,708 --> 00:48:35,323
What's quality mean to you then?

565
00:48:35,323 --> 00:48:37,017
So quality experience, what's that?

566
00:48:37,017 --> 00:48:40,084
Because that's stacking on top of authenticity.

567
00:48:42,097 --> 00:48:52,398
getting the value you expect and providing good quality and good value relative to the
consumer expectations.

568
00:48:53,918 --> 00:49:00,098
know, in an experience, mean, so I could talk about so many ways they go wrong that are
not quality.

569
00:49:00,218 --> 00:49:05,018
if, you know, I mean, think of any type of event, you know, does it start late?

570
00:49:05,018 --> 00:49:07,398
Will you promise something and not delivered?

571
00:49:07,458 --> 00:49:09,586
I mean, how many times it's like, okay,

572
00:49:09,586 --> 00:49:18,771
How many times have you heard, yeah, the performer didn't come on for two or three hours
or they just decided to cancel last minute and you have an uproar on social media?

573
00:49:18,771 --> 00:49:20,392
mean, think about like Fire Festival.

574
00:49:20,392 --> 00:49:32,258
mean, that's the perfect example of people were promised this quality experience and they
got fema tents and plain cheese sandwiches.

575
00:49:33,119 --> 00:49:36,681
Essentially, quality is kind of, I mean, it's subjective.

576
00:49:36,681 --> 00:49:38,612
It's a matter of what you expect.

577
00:49:38,770 --> 00:49:46,972
But it also means, you know, putting the best quality forward relative to your
expectations and to what you promise to people.

578
00:49:47,598 --> 00:49:48,363
All right, so good.

579
00:49:48,363 --> 00:49:51,581
So when are we going to be able to download this sample finder app?

580
00:49:51,778 --> 00:50:00,064
Well, we are not releasing it until we feel that it is absolutely 100 % ready to go for
the consumers and the users.

581
00:50:00,124 --> 00:50:05,287
We're projecting right now about early April.

582
00:50:05,388 --> 00:50:10,982
We're not putting exact date upon it because if there's delays and stuff, we don't want to
over promise and then under deliver.

583
00:50:10,982 --> 00:50:16,896
But we're looking at early April right now and the best way to find out when it's going to
launch is to go to samplefinder.com.

584
00:50:16,896 --> 00:50:19,862
There should be a pop-up that you can enter your email address

585
00:50:19,862 --> 00:50:23,261
And those that do that will be the first to know as soon as it's launched.

586
00:50:23,466 --> 00:50:24,426
Awesome.

587
00:50:24,706 --> 00:50:27,387
All right, Al Schuster, thank you for this.

588
00:50:27,387 --> 00:50:37,250
It's nice to dive into the retail experience and learn some things going behind the scenes
when we come out and somebody's giving us a sample or an experience like we know what's

589
00:50:37,250 --> 00:50:38,590
going on behind the scenes here.

590
00:50:38,590 --> 00:50:41,311
um Yeah, we appreciate it, man.

591
00:50:41,311 --> 00:50:42,131
Thank you for sharing.

592
00:50:42,131 --> 00:50:49,834
then, and also it gives consumers, you know, a perspective on, you know, Polaris brand
promotions, really what's happening behind the scenes of another business that we might

593
00:50:49,834 --> 00:50:51,114
not even understand.

594
00:50:52,654 --> 00:51:01,674
happy to share my knowledge and if anyone has additional questions, to reach out,
shameless plug, if anyone's looking for staffing services, go to

595
00:51:01,674 --> 00:51:09,670
PolarisBrandPromotions.com, fill out one of our handy forms and we will be in touch with
you within about 24 hours or so.

596
00:51:09,902 --> 00:51:10,182
All right.

597
00:51:10,182 --> 00:51:11,562
That's pretty good response time.

598
00:51:11,562 --> 00:51:16,882
Thanks again for sharing your time and I hope Philly's sunny the rest of the week.

599
00:51:16,938 --> 00:51:18,523
It's sunny but cold.

600
00:51:18,523 --> 00:51:21,512
It's a giant storm rolled in.

601
00:51:21,512 --> 00:51:24,268
Oh, it's left us freezing since then.

602
00:51:24,268 --> 00:51:30,243
It lets us spend all this time inside innovating and figuring out new things that are
going to evolve inside our brand.

603
00:51:30,243 --> 00:51:35,166
So thanks again for the time and look forward to following and seeing what you guys are
doing with this app.

604
00:51:35,192 --> 00:51:36,358
Thanks for having me.