Kind: captions
Language: en
please welcome Tom
you thank you thank you very much was
incredibly kind um got some slides okay
so Quest is really interesting in this
context in hearing Jeff talk about the
Collision of the old and new it really
makes me think about what we've done
what we were trying to do and what we
were trying to mean because at the end
of the day the reason we've had this
kind of astronomical
growth is because of that concept of
collision so you take the incredibly old
I can't think of anything that's older
human psychology of what we love what we
like what we respond to what motivates
us what our drivers are at a
neurobiological level and then you
combine it with modern technology and
you can get something incredibly fast
growing but to really understand the
story of quest you have to understand
where we came from so my partners and I
entrepreneurs we had another company
before this was a technology company
that company back in 2010 was named as
the 4C fastest growing technology
company in North America we were making
money we were winning Awards we were
sending in this beautiful conference
from over looking the Pacific Ocean and
I turned to my partners and I said I'm
completely miserable there's got to be a
better way we living that cliche of
money Camp by happiness which is
incredibly ironic because we're three
guys that really understand the power of
money money is a great facilitator money
allows things to happen and if you look
at what Bill Gates is doing with the
Gates Foundation I think they're going
to cure malaria and they're going to do
it because they have access to resources
but at the end of the day there's this
other thing that humans have which is
Passion which is a desire for impact
which is to find meaning in their life
and that was the one thing that was
really missing from us so in many ways
Quest Nutrition is a reaction to our
previous company which was very much we
actually used to joke this makes me a
little uneasy now
but we used to joke that it was a child
born to be sold into
slavery and the reason we said that was
it was like any other company we were
just going to build it up to a certain
level of Revenue and then we're going to
sell it off and move on to the next
thing and we thought it would take us a
couple of years and then that turned
into eight and a half years and
somewhere along that time we really
realized that focusing on money wasn't
giving us that sense of fulfillment we
weren't tapping into our love or our
passion so we asked ourselves a very
simple and fundamental question what
would we do every day and love it even
if we were
failing and that question changed
everything for us because once we
started asking ourselves what really
motivated
us it turned us inward instead of
focusing on what we were doing and
that's one of the things people talk a
lot about with Quest is hey they're
approaching bar company but we wanted to
be more than that we wanted to transcend
that we wanted to give people something
that they could have a relationship with
not just the product but that they could
have a relationship with a company and
if you guys know Simon s in fact who
know Simon
s right if you don't know him you're in
for a treat he wrote a book called start
with why it's an incredibly powerful
book about finding the thing that
motivates you so for me I was waking up
every day not thinking about money I was
waking up every day thinking about my
mom and my sister so when you look at
the massive impact you would think that
would be enough to get you motivated but
in truth it's going to be something way
more personal and for me it was my
family and wanting to to help them and
so that's where everything began but we
wanted we were Tech guys and we had lost
sight of the humanity and Technology we
had lost sight of Technology's ability
to allow us to connect with people and
that's what we wanted to refine and we
knew this was back in 2009 when we first
started thinking about the company that
social media was coming on board
everybody thought it was a big
distraction but we thought really what
social media is is a
megaphone it's nothing more than that it
gives you a chance to connect it giv
gives you a chance to reach somebody who
then can have a global audience to talk
about that interaction with you within
minutes of encountering you and we
thought if we could remember one simple
thing that it's about authentic
connection that our goal cuz at the time
Quest didn't exist it was nothing we
couldn't even give away the protein bars
and if you guys know our company that's
kind of funny now with the growth that
we've had and people will now stand
online for an hour at our trade shows
for an hour to get a free bar
we couldn't give them away so in the
beginning we said this isn't about money
we already know what that looks like we
know what it looks like to chase money
what we want to do is connect we want to
bring value we want to create value and
in fact that has to be the lead of
everything that we do from a company
standpoint whether it's marketing
whether it's customer service whether
it's product design all of it has to be
designed to bring value so that meant
even if we had the option between
something that was more profitable and
something that delivered more value we
chose the thing that delivered more
value why
because value is the only thing that's
sustainable value is the only thing that
lasts and value is the only thing that
people will pay for forever so we wanted
to authentically connect with people and
we wanted to recognize that there's a
new generation Millennials they have
been off
malign but there's one immutable truth
about Millennials and I think it'll
bring true with you guys cuz I'm sure
you feel it yourselves they want to add
impact they want to mean something they
want to matter they want to know that
they wake up every day and they're
contributing to a company that's trying
to do something or they're bringing
value somehow in their life to even if
it's one person and how many times have
you said that to yourself or heard
somebody else say it even if I just help
one person it'll all be worth
it but what I love about this
image this is the mythology of a
billionaire he all the money in the
world he's famous he's Rich he's wildly
intelligent
and what does he do with all that he
suits up in a suit of armor and he goes
and fights against Injustice and crime
and tries to help people because that's
that old that sits at the center of all
of us that desire to help the tribe that
desire to have meaning and impact to do
something great for others and when you
look at the human species we are the
only animal that can act in a
Cooperative as large as we
do and the way that nature has rewarded
that is by giving us this massive Rush
of neurochemistry that makes us feel
really good about doing really simple
beautiful things for other
people it doesn't need to be big it can
be as small as a protein bar it can be
taking that protein bar and turning it
into an ingredient and then sharing that
recipe and sharing it all for free by
the way and that's what we wanted to be
The Driver of our marketing we wanted to
understand that we want it to connect
this is a new age for companies where
you're dropping the veneer you're
stepping out front why do I go out and
speak why do I have a social Channel I'm
a total introvert and I know none of you
are going to believe that but that's
actually true I'm completely introverted
if you left me alone I would still be
sitting at home in my bedroom right
now but at the end of the day to be able
to give something to people to be able
to impact them is such a call something
that people hunger for but you have to
drop that to Mir and this is what social
media this is what that new modern
technology is allowing us to do to have
a direct relationship with our customers
to show them how as a company we're
trying to have impact to show them how
by eating our product and this was big
for us we wanted to transcend our
products to show them what it meant to
eat a Quest Bar and when you think about
Apple and the success that they've had
it's because people feel a certain way
about that logo right they feel a
certain way about what does it mean to
have that computer or that iPhone it
meant that you were one of the rebels
you were one of the Crazy Ones you were
an artist
you dared to
dream that's what it meant to have an
app it didn't have anything to do with
the products it had everything to do
with the ethos of the brand but how do
you get that out in today's highly
connected
environment you dro the veneer you let
people in you let them see what you're
doing and you be very very real but I
know you guys have a business to build
and I know you want very actionable
things Jeff was very specific about
making sure that I gave you things you
could actually go and
this right here is the most important
thing that I'm going to tell you about
today and it is the Pyramid of influence
this is going to be the thing that
you're going to supercharge your
business with this pyramid is how we
grew our business 57,000 in our first 3
years
alone at the top of the pyramid are
thought leaders thought leaders are the
people that most people don't
understand but influencers pay attention
to them so think about a
scientist a scientist sits at the top of
that in fact if any of you guys have R&D
departments I'm sure there's some food
scientists that you guys have on staff
that not everybody really
understands but you know enough to put
that person in position and listen to
what they say because while you may not
understand the cellular biology they
do and that brings us to the influencers
the influencers are the people that
digest what the thought leaders say and
they turn it into something that's
accessible so think about the famous
scientist think about someone like Bill
NY the Science Guy it's actually Qui
smart but he knows how to popularize
science he knows how to make it
accessible and making things accessible
at the end of the day is what
influencers do now we're going to come
back to these influencers they are
incredibly important they're going to be
your silver bullet in terms of getting
your message out there amplifying the
ethos of your company which should be
very real and need to be entirely
focused on adding value but once you
have all of that in place once you have
killer products now you have to get them
out of the
world and the way that you're going to
do that is to influencers now below the
influencers are the masses the masses
listen to the influencers now when you
think about influencers you want to
think about reaching your thousands
screaming
fans you've all read the book I hope the
4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris which
changed my life certainly made me
stopped reading email much to the shrin
of many people in my
life but in that Tim feris talks about
finding the Thousand screaming fans that
will buy anything your brand puts
out now in that there's obviously a t
asset agreement that you're only going
to put out things that are worth them
buying otherwise it stops being
sustainable remember the only thing the
only thing that's sustainable is value
creation but if everything that you put
out actually delivers value then this
becomes an incredibly powerful way to
amplify that because you have a thousand
people who are going to go out and tell
the rest of the world now obviously
we're trying to get Beyond a thousand
but if you focus on that in the
beginning you'll crush it later down the
road now when people think about
reaching their thousand screaming fans
finding them they think about these
people the famous Among Us Dave Barum I
know you're thinking about famous people
and they are really effective if you get
any one of the people in this photo to
go tout your product it will sell more
units but they will be incredibly
expensive in fact they may even ask for
a piece of your company just to do it
but the people I would say you should be
thinking about are these people now I'm
going to guess none of you know who any
of these people are but they are the
ones that people are listening to on an
accessible level they are the ones that
you can get to talk about your product
for free and to give you an idea does
anybody know who this
is wow all right this is Jenna Marbles
Jenna Marbles reaches 20 million people
a day and you don't know who she
is there is an army of people by the way
this is her with her wax sculpture at
madam
tusos okay that's how big this woman is
she is absolutely massive she is a
YouTube celebrity at the highest level
she reaches 20 million people
daily and we sent her product and she
posted it all over her social
channels just because we sent your
product now we always try to go above
and beyond so we also happen to knit
some sweaters for her dogs with our
brand on it which she happens to be a
fiend for her dogs so we knew that that
was probably a potential way to get her
to really listen but that was all stuff
that we did for free so understanding
who reaches your audience because you
have to remember if you aren't
representative of your audience then you
need to find the people that are and you
need to identify those personas have you
guys all played the Persona game in your
company who are we actually marketing to
at quest one of our primary personas is
a millennial female I am neither
Millennial nor
female so we had to really grow to
understand where the millennial female
is online how I can reach her who she
respects who she listens to but when you
identify those people then you're able
to transcend marketing and get into
building a community and at the end of
the day that's one of the most important
things you should be thinking about as a
marketer stop trying to market right
super counter intive we're actually
going to I know that this is a follow-up
question that Jeff has for me and I'm
excited to go into it in
detail but don't Market build a
community now I know a lot of people are
scared by social media I was one of them
I used to be so paranoid about Facebook
I I still to this day have a false
birthday on my Facebook page I get happy
birthday wishes every year January 1st
without fail because that's what my
Facebook account says my birthday is
because I was convinced someone was
going to steal my identity if I put my
real birthday on my Facebook
page but if you want to build this
community then you have to put yourself
out there you have to have Outreach and
if it's not going to be you if that's
totally inauthentic for you if you
absolutely hate social media fair enough
but find somebody in your company that
loves it that'll be good at it people
that grew up with social media they
don't have the fears and the
insecurities that a lot of uh us may
have so find people in your company that
can speak incredibly authentically to
the community that you're trying to
build and then deliver value like your
life depended on it so in the beginning
we were writing letters to the
influencers that we thought really would
understand our product that we wanted to
talk about our product and we would
write these highly customized letters
that show them we know who you are we
know what your value is this is not hey
I was scanning Instagram and I saw that
you have 100,000 followers and so I
thought I would write to you it's I get
the value prop position that you make to
your followers and I believe that our
product can help you and that's
incredibly incredibly important you have
to identify what's valuable to the
influencer and once you identify what's
valuable to the influencer you can give
it to them dog sweaters for Jenna Marvel
apparently Big Value the product that we
sent to her she's very Fitness conscious
that delivers value liking sharing
somebody's stuff especially when you
find somebody who's just beginning to
build their Community you can deliver a
ton of value just by supporting
commenting intelligently asking nice
questions sharing what they put all of
that stuff goes a long way and a big
thing especially in our space people
just want to say that they're sponsored
by you even though the sponsorship is
entirely product and nothing
else so but finding out what's valuable
to them
credibility we got to a point early in
our career where it actually meant
something to a bodybuilder or a physique
athlete to say Quest sponsors me now
what did sponsorship look like it was to
boxes of bars a
month right for 24 bars we were able to
make that person feel supported we were
able to get them excited to make them
feel something warm about our brand and
to give them credibility to their fans
it doesn't always take a lot it's just
about identifying those people and
delivering value and then I'll encourage
you guys to go above and beyond really
invest in these people emotionally
personally find out what they're up to
um we just had um a woman anybody know
Grace Bonnie design
sponge she's an incredible human being I
encourage you guys to look at her she
just wrote a book called in the company
of women it was a very powerful book uh
we do a show called inside Quest she was
a guest on that show and just to thank
her for being an incredible human being
being supportive of the brand when she
did a book signing and it came through
La we took like eight or nine people to
the book signing to to just show love
and thank her so actually getting to
know people knowing what's knowing what
they're trying to do in their life will
go a very long way and again talking
about that Collision of old and new I'm
telling you stuff you understand you
already know this I mean this is how you
build relationships in your real life
with your friends this is so fundamental
to The Human Condition that's how you
know what going to work all right it's
important to recognize that social media
is not the web the web is very passive
people go consume content passively
somewhat
invisibly social media is
connectivity authentic relationships
it's a give and take it's back and forth
It's Real Time raw feedback you will
definitely get haters I promise you but
listen because they usually carry the
most actionable items they'll tell you
what's wrong with your product your
service whatever you just have to be
willing to listen
unguarded all right the power of social
it's largely free and in the beginning
beginning if you guys are just getting
your feet under you with social media
you don't have to pay for a lot of this
stuff a lot of these people are trying
to build their following and so if you
reach out to them at that very opportune
moment they'll push and promote you as
they develop their channel it's real
time connection the transparency is up
to you guys you have to really be
transparent communicate admit to the
things that you mess up that's really
really important Leverage The Raw
feedback make sure your community knows
that you're listening and understand
that the different platforms have
different personalities in and of
themselves so you're not going to act
the same way on Twitter that you would
on Snapchat right Snapchat is Uber young
it's fun and silly and you can put funny
little pictures and drawings and all
that stuff and that's going to be very
different than something you do on
LinkedIn so you need to make sure that
you treat them very differently all
right this is critical what if I told
you that your customers pave your
content your content has to be value add
if your content is designed to sell the
products stop immediately if the content
is designed to somehow push the
community forward like our
recipes customers started sending us
recipes of ways that they were using our
bars to create other things and so we
instituted a policy that we called
Mirror marketing we wanted to mirror the
customer back we wanted to show them
recipes to the extreme we wanted to
feature their own recipes so that they
saw themselves literally their own post
echoed back all the credit in the world
encouraging the community to do things
with each other so that it could become
this Snowball Effect of
value and that brings us to the last
thing for all of this to work for social
media to take off you have to deliver
real and Lasting value that has to be
the one thing that sits at the very core
of your company if you're going to
leverage Commerce leverage technology
you also have to Leverage The Human
Condition you have to Lage people's
desire to connect with you with your
brand with your product you have to mean
something and you have to show people
what it means to use your product thank
you
[Applause]
guys