I Have Great Jeans

I Have Great Jeans

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
show is sponsored by G three of Parol. The views
expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor
and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor or iHeartMedia.
Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive
here to help you find your success from the New

(00:21):
York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His
global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice. Mark his classic
proof that the American dream is alive. And well, here's
your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mark Weber, good evening. Let me stop by saying something
very simple. I have great genes. I have great genes.
Of all the controversies, the political debates, the differences of
opinion in this country, in the history of fashion, the
wrong decisions, the folk o, the wrong colors, roll styles,

(01:02):
wrong fits, in the history of America and what we
wear look like as Americans. There's never been a stupid, dumber,
more ridiculous controversy that the idiots who have criticized and
publicly and wrongfully positioned the horror the horror of American

(01:22):
eagle genes and Sydney Sweeney. No corporate haalf to meet tonight,
no politically correct this is beyond stupid. Not since the
Russian hoax has the depraved wing of American idiocracy latched
onto something so stupid. That's the question. American values, American fashion,

(01:46):
American women, American vision in the eyes of the world,
regarding and through the use of advertising of great genes
j Ea and s or ge and ees. I have
both great genes now. Really, when I think of the

(02:07):
ruggedness of America, our history, I think genes. What does
America look like in the eyes of the world genes.
When I think round floor him and I try to
emulate his style, I think genes. Well. I would think
if America put together a collage or what America is,

(02:28):
genes would be at the forefront of that collage. When
I think school and college, I think genes. Genes are ours,
America's invention for work with. During the industrial evolution, they
became so cool and so prominent. They became our streetwear.
I think of genes. I think of the rebellion of

(02:50):
the sixties, the wind in our hair, the expanse of
our country. The excitement of youth, the confidence and coolness
as we get older, are a symbol of contentment and
American freedom. They also represent sensuality between humans, sexiness, ruggedness,

(03:11):
hard work, ethic, dressing down, dressing up, casual style of genes.
Genes are more us than toys r us. Every generation
is a genes generation. Everyone owns them, Everyone prays that
they look good in them. Everyone understands genes. Except for

(03:32):
the morons, liars and perpetuator of nonsense and divide in
this country. Idiots, insane, stupid annoy I thought we were
done with this woke schmucks, those who have turned the
American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney the commercial into a conscience,
diversity and a pr bonanza. By the way, it's not

(03:56):
the first time. Calvin Klein on before I was the
present of that company, long before the CEO of Calvin
Klein reported to me corporately, I appreciate the efficacy of
America and Jeans as a young man. I marveled it
to genius. So Calvin Kline and brook Shields. Nothing comes
between me and Mike Calvin. The double entendred closed to

(04:17):
stir a public outcry, and perhaps correctly so. I don't
believe that commercial could be done today. But the greatest
publicity coup in the history of fashion maybe the world Brookshields,
seen provocatively in Calvin Klein Genes. I was an observer,
too young, not smart enough to have an educated opinion
that positioning again would never happen today. But we do

(04:39):
know publicity seller, but it has to be the right publicity.
Valenciaga almost went bankrupt in recent memory when their advertising
was seen as exploiting miners, and correctly so. But reality today,
this controversy is galactically stupid. I will tell you I
never wore a American ego, but I admire their style

(05:02):
and taste level always. I wouldn't know Cinity Sweeney if
I bumped into her, I have a sore or anything.
I don't have a clue she is. And yes, I
did read the question on genealogy crazy stupid, Yes, I
read the acquisition of course. Then on everyone is blonde
and beautiful. I've said it a million times in my
show here we call can be six for two and

(05:25):
bond and beautiful. But we have an opportunity and we
have a responsibility to look our best and genes, and
this commerce is not saying you can only look like her.
It could be anyone wearing jeans. You could be central.
I read of this controversy and I really refuse to
talk about it. I can't go stupid. I don't want

(05:47):
to bring a guest on the air to validate the stupidity.
I will talk genes j E A n S and
Jens ge n Ees tonight. But first of all, the
business jeans are staple in everyone's life. We all wear them.

(06:07):
I know that's a generalization, but more do than don't.
I think maybe if the sixty many men may stop
wearing them, but I do see guys that are all
to wearing them. Women will wear jeans forever. They go
out at night with their high heel shoes and all
their accessories, and they look sensational. Jeans are a part
of that women's wardrobe, no matter what age she is.

(06:30):
In fact, the hottest trend in young women's at the
moment is cut off dream shorts, and I see a
lot of moms wearing them as well. And then when
you think about the business, all the tops that go
with jeans, the shirts for men, accessories that are designed
to accompany gene from t shirts to tanks for women,
for button down shirt to blazes, to dress them up

(06:52):
or dress them down. Jeans rule. It's a big business,
and it's a big business we in this country. If
you're reliant, not US, just America, in the world, jeans
will work forever. They are part of the psyche now.
The gens business is predictable to a point, will always wear.

(07:13):
It will always be a big business. The challenge of
the genes business is the changing styles. Reading it right.
One day it's skinny, the next day it's flat, or
it's both knowing how much to have and when to have.
And we need a crystal ball. But that's what we
get paid for. Jeans are us. I have great jeans,

(07:35):
create a controversy. I want millions of people talking about
me today. I have great genes G E N E
yes or J E A N s. Oh my gosh.
You know, I've always been a jeans wear I've always
won them. When I was growing up, you know, to
hang out, jeans were cool worm with boots and warm

(07:55):
with with sweaters when I wanted to dress them up.
But my outfit corp In America was on Fridays. In particular,
whenever I traveled, I would wear jeans, swede shoes, a
button down shirt, a tie, and a navy blaze. It
was my look. In fact, you want to talk controversy.
When I was fired from PVH, and when I read

(08:18):
all the articles Women's Wear Daily or was the New
York Post, I don't remember, made a comment one of
the reasons I was fired was because I wore jeans
to work. Now, that was eighteen years ago. Could we
believe how stupid that was? But I want to give
you a little tip. I wish I was an invader,
but I saw it on Ralph Laura and you morons.

(08:39):
I said that then, and I'd say it now. But
I want to talk about jeans, and let me say
my credentials first. I oversaw one of the largest businesses
in the history of the world, Calvin Klein Jeans. In
my next career at LVMH, I oversaw one of the
largest women's jeans companies in the world, dkm y Genes,

(09:01):
which during my tenure represent billions of dollars in sales
and jeans and tops and everything related to gens. And
from there, I don't think it makes persons a Gens
company g E n e S, a Genes company g
E n e s brilliant in partnership with one of

(09:22):
the world's most famous, important global agents for change and philanthropy.
He and his wife weren't worried about whatever they're talking about.
It was a clever concept. I have to tell you.
The first time that I saw Gens spelled out as
g E n e S, I think it was one

(09:42):
of the most brilliant concepts I ever saw. One day,
one evening, actually it's around six o'clock, and I get
a call from a woman named Gail Zouder. Gail was
a consultant. One of the smartest people I've ever worked
with or ever met is. She was a consultant that
on business issues. When I was running down a Karen
for LVIMH, she represented Donna in a number of businesses,

(10:06):
including a company the Donna own called urban Z. So
I figured when Gail called me at six o'clock at night,
it was to talk about the Unna Karen, But it wasn't.
And she said the following Mark mister Arnault, that's the
founder of Elvimh, made a decision to purchase a minority
share of a gens company owned and founded by Bono

(10:31):
and his wife Ali. Why are you telling me this, Gail?
He said, Well, we have been looking for the past
few months for someone to take corporate ownership at LVMH
and run this business for us, and we've decided it's you.
What are you talking about? She said. Mister Arnault finally

(10:52):
got frustrated and said, this is wasting time. Get Mark
Webber to run it. You'll know what to do. And
I'm calling you Mark to ask you you'd be willing
to do this. So I listened for a second. I
said to myself, I don't know what's in entails. She's well,
here's the thing I'd like to ask a favor of you.
Bono and his wife Ali would like to meet you tonight.

(11:14):
Would you be willing to go to their apartment and
have a meeting. They want to talk to you about
joining the group and taking over this business. We've recommended
you very highly, but in that they are the controlling
partner they own fifty one percent of the agreement. We
would like you to meet with them, and they have
something to say on who we hire. So I said
to myself, you know, just the guy living come from Brooklyn,

(11:38):
minding my own business. I'm going to be one of
the most famous men in the world, and his wife
and I agree to go to their apartment in the city.
Fast forward. Before anything else I thought about it, I
was thinking about how I was dressed, and I thought
about maybe changing my clothes, but no, I was wearing
my uniform baby blue suit, white shirt, navy ties during

(12:00):
Civil Complics Dayla Steele Rolex Watch. I went to see
them at their apartment. They were gracious. They were one
of the finest buildings in New York City. They had
an incredible apartment, and they were incredibly gracious to me.
They introduced themselves. They asked me to explain what I
do for the company, what my background was, and then

(12:21):
they told me that concept. They began a gens company
called Eden e d u n a takeoff on the
Garden of Eden, and they wanted to create a gens
company in Africa, which was the cradle of civilization. I

(12:43):
guess it was Mesopotamia where man was created, and they
wanted to emulate the idea of man woman jeans in
the Garden of Eden and bring business to Africa. Now
I didn't know at the time. But Bono told me

(13:03):
that he never gave much thought to Africa until he
met Sir Bob Geldof, the founder of Live Aid. We
all know the concert, we know the song We are
the world. We know the hundreds of millions of dollars
they raised to help eliminate starvation in Africa cured the disease,
and Bono, he told me, I became addicted. I went

(13:24):
to Africa with him, and my life changed. I was
never the same and from that day on, I wanted
to do everything I possibly could in my power to
make things better in Africa, and he did. By the
time I met him, he was involved with Red and
won with Gap. He did everything he could. But at
this point in time, what he wanted to bring was

(13:45):
commerce to Africa. He didn't want to bring money. He
wanted to bring jobs. He wanted to teach them how
to manufacture and how to build company. And that's what
Eden was all about. The concept. You probably have heard
it before. I think the line has been credited to
a Chinese philosopher, rals Sue, who said, give a man

(14:06):
of fish he eats for a day, teach a man
of fish he eats for a lifetime. We He didn't
want to just give them money. He wanted to give
them industry. And the idea of eating Jens g E
n Ees in the cradle of civilization in Africa was

(14:27):
to build a Gens company textiles manufacturing, teach them how
to make so they could become self sufficient. And I
thought it was an extraordinary idea.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
No.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
The first thing I did when he said this to me,
I closed my eyes and I pictured the advertising and
I'll tell you exactly went through my mind. I saw
a guy and a woman, both topless, walking away from
the camera. The sun was setting in that golden light
that takes place between four o'clock or s six o'clock
at night in the summer, and I saw the sun

(15:04):
beating down on their naked backs. I saw them wearing boots,
and I saw them wearing Eden jeans g E n
e S. And I saw the label the patch on
the back of the jeans, and that was the concept
that I was watching in my mind's eye as they
were beating jeans ed un made in the cradle of

(15:31):
civilization Africa, and I really got excited about the idea,
and I thought it was amazing. I did my interview
with Bono. It was white. I was very independent. I
didn't need more work. I was more concerned with how
am I going to work with one of the most
famous people in the world. When Bono talked, you listened.

(15:51):
He was brilliant. He talked about George Bush and his
He was amazing about talking with Kundl, Lisa Rice and
Dick Cheney, and the fact that he thought he had
a chance of raising fifteen million dollars and he came
back two weeks later to find out. If he didn't,
George Bush gave him fifty million. It was amazing. This

(16:14):
man really cared about the world. And then of course
he got into a fashion in parrelown. I want to
do to the company and what his ideas for the company? Hell,
he wanted it to run. And that's when one of
my famous lines of all time came up. I said, Bono,
I will never tell you how to write a song.

(16:34):
You can't tell me how to run a company. That's
what I do. We can collaborate, we can agree on ideas.
When it comes down to the day today running of
a company, you're gonna have to let me do it.
And I wasn't sure how that sat with him. I
went home that night, I thought it through. I called Gail.
I told her, you know, listen, I don't think these

(16:56):
guys are going to like me. I was very independent.
I don't need this. I don't want to be involved
necessarily unless I'm in control. I don't need Bono. I
can't be starstruck. I can't let him tell me what
to do. Just what he called me. They loved you.
Whatever you said to them work. They understand who you are,
and they're going to give you your head and they
want you to come and join us. Will you listen.

(17:18):
I need to think about it. But that's great to know.
The interesting part of the story. Of course, I'm talking
genes e du and Garden of Eden. No controversy with genealogy,
no question what the people would be. They could be anyone.
Man began woman began in the Garden of Eden in Africa.
But well, what's interesting is buying this company and the

(17:42):
managing director and I went to look at the company
right before the paperwork was signed, and I had to
tell you that I never saw a worse collection of
product than I saw in their showroom. It was dastardly,
the ugliest ill conceived, worst stuff in the world. How

(18:04):
he got Bernard Orna to agree to purchase into this
tight unseen was insane. But I have to tell you
the concept was great. I would have run with this competent.
I would have liked to own it myself. It was brilliant.
I love them. But the product was terrible and one
of the most unusual things ever to happen to me
in business. I'm dealing with it. The managing director of

(18:26):
the Ntrol Intensive Purposes, that's the president, the number two
guy in the company. He was Italian, he spoke multiple languages.
He lived in Paris. He used. The managing director, him
and I are sitting in this room. We look at
the product. After it's shown to us. The people are gone.
We're both sitting there. We're about to say something and
what was crazy. We've both said the same thing at

(18:49):
the same time. This is sad, not amazing, and it
was said it was terrible. But because of that, it
was a great opportunity. And I looked the demandager in
the director and I said to him, this is a
big job. This is not going to be easy. We
have to throw out everything that was done. We have

(19:09):
to start all over. We have to recruit the right people.
We have to get the right directors, we have to
get the right designings. We have to get everywhere. I
said to him, I'll never forget. You know, we can
go out right now. All they make, with all you know,
war chests, we could buy a billion dollar jeans company
tomorrow and be up and running. That'd be a whole
lot easier than starting a new business. And the idea

(19:31):
was the company wanted to be affiliated with Bono. We
wanted his brilliance, we wanted his interest in saving the
world as part of the group. We made a decision
to buy this. Now I can end the story right here,
except there's a concept cold group think. I think that
this is a business show by and large, and it's

(19:51):
cultural and lifestyle. I like talking business. Of course, there's
something called group think, and what it really is is,
if you put a group of executives in a room
together and you ask them to build the product somehow
or another, you're going to end up. Well, let me
say differently, if you put a group of executives in

(20:13):
a room, the CEO walks in the room and says,
we're gonna buy this company, or we going to start
this company. In this case, we're gonna buy this company.
Make it work. You put six of us in a
room and tell us you're gonna make this work. Every
one of us is gonna come up with their discipline.
The warehouse and distribution guy's say, you know it's in Africa,

(20:33):
it's gonna be a problem. I bet you Egypt might
be the place to ship the products. Or we we
have is our wear out, I'll get it done. To
talk about the designer, Can we design in Africa? No,
but I could bring designs to them. We can copy it.
I'm sure they can make the fabric somewhere in Africa.
Don't worry about it. They don't know how to manufacture.
I had a manufacturer. We'll sit there and say, look,

(20:56):
we can teach them how to sew. It's the easiest
thing to do. And they having managed the company. I'm
new to LVMH. I didn't know very much about how
they did things. This is my first acquisition with them.
Sure I can make it work. That's group think, and
what happens at a group think very often is people
don't say what they really want to say. They go
with the consensus. A good example being with talking Africa.

(21:20):
You ask a group to create a camel, he's gonna
have three humps instead of two. So anyway, make the
long story short. Somehow or another, a group of six
or eight or ten made a decision to change the
concept from eating genes ge n ees d and make
it already wear a company rather than a gen's company.

(21:42):
I hired one of the world's great genes CEOs and
now we're esking a runner ready to wear a company
with runway shows and all those things. LVMH is responsible for. Well.
I was there. It was a nightmare. The ability to
manufacture in Africa needed be taught, needed to be trained.
None of the fabrics wearing available, the infrastructure to ship

(22:04):
and manufacture, the desire to use only a cotton that
was organic, not to use any byproducts of leather. It
became a cultural and philosophical nightmare. But everyone tried. Once
we changed the jeans to a runway collection never worked.
We should have stayed jeans g e NAEs. I have

(22:30):
great genes such as American eagle back in a moment,
always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
I spent a lifetime of my career building the van
usen Brand, and I am so pleased that they're back
with us now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again,
and it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can
be won on multiplications in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(22:57):
an event, to wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(23:19):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Venues In invented a new idea.
It's called the cool Flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(23:41):
this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the ven
using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up let's not forget
venues and made it's name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(24:03):
You can find vanues and cool flex men's stretch suits
at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
you should go look at them. Donna Karen began her
career as one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at

(24:23):
the luxury market for women on the go, women who
were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that
extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing
Donna Karen had a young daughter, and she had friends
and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karon collection.
And Donna invented dk NY Donna Aaron, New York. It's

(24:46):
an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept
a lifestyle brand. Now we talk about lifestyle brands, what
does that really mean? Simply what they say, there are
brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get up
in the morning, start to get dressed. Donna Karen dcan
why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products.
You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,

(25:09):
and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into
the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,
the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from
day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You
have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna

(25:31):
Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label.
A vast array of casual sportswear that make women look
great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you're going
to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going
out to the movies, whatever you want to do, dcn
Y jeens, dcan Hy sportswear is there for you. That's

(25:54):
what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention DKY
active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DKY active wear certainly in
the gym, certainly when you're working out at home, and
certainly if you want on the street. Because it's that
well done. The quality of DKY is nothing short of exceptional,

(26:17):
and why shouldn't it be Because it was born from
the idea of luxury made affordable for women of America.
DK and Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you
from day and tonight, from the week into the weekend
DCN Why you can find DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com.

(26:39):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
America through Carlagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagafeld also off is a reen of watches I wear

(27:01):
in premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlagovo collection at
Carlagofelpois dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one,
love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
happening and what catches my attention, what would make me
feel good to wear Now. I don't wear the women's
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing.

(27:22):
If you want to look right, you want to have
clothes that fits you well. You want to look like
you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you
and yours. You can find it at very affordable prices
at Macy's, Orcarlagofel dot com Paris. The women's ready to
wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and
the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my

(27:46):
appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want
to look current. I want to look the way I
want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in
black and Carlagofel is my buddy. Calls are great. They
fit great, and they have little weeks and touches, whether
it's a stripe on the sleeve or button at the
neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details
that go into Carl Lagafel because he's always been, he

(28:08):
always had been one of the world's great designers, and
this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak
enough about it except to say to you, you want
to feel good about yourself. You want to know that
you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well.
Carl Lagafeld, Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Tonight, I have great genes. In case you're not knowledgeable,
what's going on this week? This craziness idiocrasy surround the
American Eagles jeans commercial with Sydney Sweeney and the controversy
it's started at whatever it is. I'm not going into
it again. I think it's ridiculous. I think it's great.

(29:00):
I don't believe in it. I believe America and jeans
are joined at the hip. How that for a good one? Anyway,
And make a long story short, I got into this
whole thought process of genes and what's wrong with us
as a country. I can't believe we can't agree on
this one. But got me thinking and what we really

(29:22):
brought it to my attention. The other day, I was
hanging out with a couple of let's say, very close friends,
and one of them particularly was the twenty one year
old guy in college who was very smart, and we
were talking about this Genes controversy. He actually explained it
to me because I wasn't paying attention, and then at

(29:44):
one point asked me, do you believe Mark that all
publicity is good publicity?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
No?

Speaker 2 (29:51):
I wasn't sure if he was baiting me, he had
his own point of view, or he really wanted to
hear my position. I'm going to assume that was what
it was. My problem is is I'm so quick to
talk and I have stories to tell all the time
that maybe I should have listened a little bit more closely.
But it got me into a dialogue of publicity and advertising.

(30:12):
It made me think of the show tonight, and they
got me into thinking about what is or is not
good publicity or good advertising. I thought, first those of
you who remember how it co Sell. He was the
famous sportscaster on WABC when they're at the time of

(30:33):
dominance in sports. He was also the close friend and
boxing announcer on all of Muhammad Ali's fights, and those
two became a pair. Ali loved him. They together were
friends and they were great. Howard co Cell said, I
don't care. I'm gonna paraphrase, I don't care what anyone
says about me as long as they're talking about me,

(30:54):
which meant in theory, I don't care if you say
good things about me are bad things you're talking about me,
it's good for me. They got me thinking is that
true or not. I'll tell you. You know, Jesse's not here tonight.
He's busy. He's so busy on television podcast. But you know,
you want to talk about bad publicity and his trial,

(31:14):
which is still going on. Jesse coveted on the Long
Crime Network. He covered on Sidebark in his podcast for YouTube.
He was the number five podcasts in the country for
three weeks. He's still in the top ten. When he
got in they pushed out Joe Rogan. It was amazing.
I have the article on I talked about it before.

(31:35):
Jesse was with Joe Rogan, Megan Kelly, Tucker Colson and
some other person. And you see the picture there Jesse
right up front. It was the biggest thing that could be.
But that came out of bad publicity. So in reality,
not all publicity is good. Let's face it. People get
in trouble, they get they do things stupid, their controversies

(31:55):
all the time. This thing with Sydney Sweeney and American
Ego I think is ridiculously stupid, idiotic, moronic, and I
don't want to go into it again. But it got
me thinking. That's where the show came from me. And
it started with advertising. It started to explain it. I
had a thing people ask me a question. I'm realizing
now that I'm so used to talking then I really

(32:18):
don't answer questions simply. I don't answer them yeah, no, yes, no,
right wrong. I give a story to make the point.
And I started to think about what is important can
advertising and they got me into thinking. There's been a
debate year and a year out add infiniteum on big

(32:42):
versus small. I guess you could say, if you're going
to buy a car today, that was all electric, the
biggest in the world, the most successful in the world
is Tesla. People are buying those cars because they were first.
They do them well. Elon Musker's out there. His publicity
had been extraordinary, of course, until he decided to support

(33:05):
Donald Trump. Unfortunately, his company, his own brand, took a
hit and he's had to walk away. I don't know
whether their breakup was a game to show the world
that he's no longer involved with Trump, and they agreed
to do attack together or if they broke up over
the reason of the budget bill. The things that Elon

(33:27):
must said weren't right about the president. I'm troubled by that.
But the point is to you buy the most established
biggest companies are to buy the little guy starting up,
maybe Chevrolet, who has the vault? Small business? Do you
buy big or small? And there's pose and cons for
all of it. They got me thinking about my experience

(33:50):
and advertising. For whatever reason. When I was a young
guy in van Using, even when I just began, the
people there saw something, whether it was the way I looked,
the way I carried myself, the questions I asked. I
was very humble. I got to that company. I realized
I knew nothing. I had to learn everything that I

(34:12):
was behind most everyone. I went to school in New York.
I went to Brooklyn College. I was isolated. I grew
up in the city project. I was competing with guys
that were Harvard educated or blue bloods or Northwestern University,
always out of town colleges. I went to a local school.
I got a great liberal arts education. Nothing in business.
I could see the way the people processed information, the

(34:35):
way they worked. I never had an internship. I never
really worked in anything other than selling clothes in a
clothing store. I was behind them. They were trained differently
than I was. They had accounting degrees, in business degrees
I did not. I wasn't uncomfortable, I wasn't ashamed of
my background. I just was a realist. I could watch

(34:58):
they were ahead of me. For whatever reason, the company
and the management the company saw something in me and
included me in everything. And what I want to talk
about is putting your account up for you. What does
that mean? Well, in the case of their user at
the time, they had been using an advertising agency. If

(35:19):
I recall correctly, it was Gray Advertising, traditional advertising company
who'd been around forever, and they decided that they wanted
one of the new artshot companies that were creating great
new advertising and changing the world. And when you put
your account up for you, your head of advertising, your
marketing decides to bring in ten different agencies to present

(35:42):
their ideas of where they see your company going and
the kinds of advertising they would like to represent for you. Basically,
they're pitching for business. But the way they do it
is they put together presentation and they put together ideas
and they have their best people come in and present
the idea, hopefully to catch your attention and give them

(36:05):
the business going forward. And that's cold putting up the
account for review. So the head of marketing, good friend
of mine at the time, Henry Justice, we may rest
in peace, decided to put the account up for review.
And what he did was he arranged for ten different
agencies to come in and present to us, very large

(36:26):
agencies and small agencies. And as they said before, which
do you pick which is better the large one or
the small one? Now? I remember how did the large
agency came in, whether it was BBDNO or Young and
rubik Ham. The big ones would come in and it
was always interesting to see because these are billion dollar

(36:48):
companies and I'm talking twenty years ago, twenty five years ago.
They come in, the CEO's there. He's the one who's
going to present and start to introduce. His number two
would either be the chief financial or the head of creative.
But the key in these positions was the CEO and
the head of creative and they would walk in and
say thank you for having us today. I brought with

(37:10):
me five groups of people who have five different ideas
on what venues and should look like going forward, we'd
love to present them to you. I am John bez
Per Tipton, the CEO, and this is John Cooney, who's
the head of marketing and advertising, the chief creative director,
and they would present and then they bring in one
team after another and they would show five different ideas

(37:33):
or three different ideas. Now generally speaking, the big companies
wanted you to meet in their offices and we would
go there and they'd be in big, beautiful buildings. They'd
have their own floor or two floors. The office were
decorated like crazy, because that's what they's sell it. They're
selling pump and circumstance and freshness and creativity. And you'd
sit there and you'd be in are of these facilities,

(37:55):
and they may come in each individual group with ahead
of the project and his team and they present to
your ideas and the rationale and it was bigger than
life than you were in hall. And we went through
over a period of a month or two, five or
six different big agencies, and it was amazing to sit there,
unbelievable resources. It never ended. And by the way, at

(38:18):
the end of the three or five they said, if
you didn't like that we got ten more to come
and show you. Then there were the small agencies. The
small agencies, generally speaking, was a founder and the partners
or a group of two or three guys who began
an advertising agency together after having worked in other agencies.
They decided to come together. One of them was a

(38:39):
great business guy, one of them was a great creative guy.
They put together a small agency and they present to you.
And the difference was they would prefer to come to
your offices because their offices couldn't compete in size and
scope and the beauty of the big agencies. And they
knew it. They might have had creative areas, but it
just was different. Nobody had private offices. Everybody sat in

(39:02):
the space, even the CEO of the company. They all
sat together so they can collaborate. It's like that TMZ
show on TV. They're all sitting there together. But they
would present, and the difference would be the presenter was
the founder and or the creative director, and they presented
with the team of people one idea. We've given a

(39:25):
great deal of thought to how we would position venues,
and this is what we want to do in order
to get you right now. The interesting thing is they
were great. Also, the small agencies were great, very creative,
They looked wonderful, they were amazing. But who do you
go with? Do you go with the biggest small? Now?

(39:48):
I tell you I have worked with big agencies and
I've worked with small agencies. Here's the thing. With the
big agency, Remember that CEO is chief financial and creative director.
Never see them again ever, they're there for show. You
would work with a team that came in and presented team.

(40:09):
Is that a negative? No? Is it a negative? Perhaps
we still get the same attention. I don't think so,
but it was a fact of life. The small agency,
that guy who sat in front of you, the founder,
is partner of the creative guy, the business guy. Together
they would work your account and over the course of
the years, I worked with both large agencies. As I

(40:32):
said before, CHEA Day was the hot agency at the
time we worked at them, and when we work with them,
our input helped. We just didn't never accepted what they presented.
We always had input pushing back and forth, and we
helped together collaborate and be great. I don't work, but
I also worked with small agencies. We contributed, we put

(40:52):
and we were great and then I worked as that
time went on, as I grew out of Van User,
I should point out the Calvin Klein used to outside
guy named Favian Barn famous in this industry for advertising
and creative and he didn't need any input. I gotta
tell you. I also work with a guy named Trey
Laird and his team Hans Dorsonville also small boutique agency

(41:14):
that Handel Donner. Since the beginning, they didn't need much input.
We made the final decision, but they were great. But
we worked with both big and small. But I take
you back to van Usen when we're looking to have
the advertising review and one group of people presented to
us that I'll never forget and won the account. Now,

(41:34):
remember I started this good publicity bad policy is all
publicity good. That's why I'm on the subject because whatever
it is you're doing, you want to make a good impression.
And I'll remember, May he rest in peace. Other than that,
he has to be one hundred and twenty five years old.
A gentleman named David Olman. He was a unique guy.

(41:57):
He was a master of the universe. The minute we
walked in and he walked in with his team, you
knew he was in control. You knew he was successful.
He was wearing I recall he had thick gray hair.
He was wearing a turnbull Anassa's shirt. Those of you
don't know Terminolassam their British shirt company, Thomas Bink. When
I was there competing against them. You see their shirts.

(42:18):
They're very bright stripes, often with white collar, white cuffs,
always French cup impeccable quality. He would wear one navy
blue blazes, the gold buttons, gray slacks, gray flannel slack,
and the penny loafers of some sort, usually swayed. I
always remembered he had French cuffs and the cufflings he
wore with them, and we were biggest pufflings, gold matches, blaze.

(42:42):
He had a presence and he had a look. And
back to where I was. Why I was in all
these meetings, I don't know. I don't remember. I don't
recall why at such a young age, Joeph's fanues of
the Venus and Company decided to keep me involved in
all of the facets of this business. They didn't need

(43:03):
me there. But maybe because I was young, maybe because
I presented well, maybe because I packaged myself well. And
in this show, package yourself. This is important. It's the
product to package. They wanted my input and they wanted
me there. But I'm guessing it was Usman. I had
a brain. David Allman took me aside and said, Mark,
I'm presenting to all of them today before he made

(43:25):
his presentation, but I'm really presenting to you. Hold that
story back to why I'm included in all stings. There
was a company named build More Textiles, and there was
a guy named Sam Jarreed, if I remember correctly, I'm
sorry Sam. He was the head seller, executive vice president.

(43:45):
Then once a year he would take us out to dinner.
Now when I say us, I knew there was a
history of it. I never went. I'm in my company.
The first year they have this corporate dinner where they
invite the president of the company in all senior most office.
I was include amongst another handful of young people to
go to dinner with them. And it was a cocktail

(44:06):
party for six, you know, for six to seven, dinner
from seven to nine whatever, it was seven to ten
with cigars at the end. And of course I'm not
a cigar smoke, but I went to the dinner. I
hung through the cocktails and it's about time seven o'clock
and everyone's now. Sam said to everyone, okay, everyone take
your seats and let's have dinner. And when I went

(44:28):
to go for dinner, he put his hand out in
front of me and stopped me from going to the table,
and he whispered to me, said wait a minute. And
everyone started going to the table, and he started to
walk to the table to come with me, and he said,
sit down next to me, Mark, And I said, this
is unusual because he was the head guy from the
text Doc Coupan. He's talking the lowly me and everyone

(44:50):
started to have dinner and we were having talking whatever,
and he leaned over to me and he said to me, Mark,
do you know why I want you to sit with me?
I said, to tell you the truth, Sam, No, I don't.
There's something to tell you. See all these people here,
they're dinosaurs. You're the future. They're great people, but you're
the future. I already know them, I know how to

(45:11):
do business with them. But I need to have a
relationship with you, and that's why I asked you to
sit with the neighbor. Fascinating. I'll tell you very often,
you know This is something you don't realize. You work
for a company, and you know you're very grateful and
you're worried about having a job. This and that. The
way it really works today, companies need you more than
they need then you need them. They need you. You're young,

(45:35):
you're new, You're the future. They need you, even if
you're older. If you're doing a good job, companies need you.
They don't want to lose. Should never lose sight of that.
You handle yourself well, you can do well. You shouldn't
be afraid to ask for a raise if you need me,
you don't like the raise you got. If you could
say it in the right way, you could talk to them.
There's something to be said for doing that. They need you.
So anyway, let's go back to David Altman whispering to

(45:58):
me and said, I'm going to talk to everybody. I
want to talk to you. He starts his presentation back
small Advertising group to Van using he's there for the
review of account. He wants our business, and he said,
the world is changing. Nothing is the same. I can
tell you what we're doing now five years ago was

(46:20):
unheard of. Five years from now, whatever we talk about
is going to be obsolete. Things are changing and the
rapid pace. There's only a few things in life you
can count on, and one of them is change. And
what we want to talk to you about is change.
But before I start, he looked at me and he said, Mark,

(46:44):
you're new to this. You're a young guy. You'll be
in this business long after all of us here have retired.
This one thing you have to remember about advertising off
of that matter, publicity. And then he said it, and
I never forgot it. You have to break through the clutter.

(47:04):
You're in Bolden. You are hit with so much stimuli
everywhere you look and go. All the packages of every
product are designed to catch your attention. Every bus in
New York has advertising on the sides in the back.
Every taxi game has a billboard on top their billboards.
In every street. There are wild postings on every building

(47:27):
being built. Television, there's radio, there's everything that's out there
to try and capture your attention. And what you have
to do is break through the clutter, whether it's pr
publicity or advertising, which I'm here to show you today,
it has to break through the clutter. And then he

(47:50):
showed us what was a double page spread for magazine.
Back in the day, magazines were a big part of advertising.
I've been looking lately making somewhat of a comeback, but
there's so much online. But even so, the impression you
create and the ad, he said to us. He showed
us an ad and he said, remember, I said it

(48:11):
a moment ago. Everything in this world is changing, and
I want you to break through the clutter. And on
one page on the advertising on the left side, it
had a guy taking off his shirt and all you
could see was his profile in his back, but he
was taking off his shirt. And the accompanying page on
the right had the same guy in his dress shirt

(48:33):
in his tie. Beautiful dress shirt closed and underneath there
was a caption what a changing America is changing into
van use him? Well? I voted for him, as did
everyone else. They won the account. They became our advertising.
We chose the small over the log because his presentation

(48:53):
was brilliant. What he said was the world was changing
and we needed to change, and he showed us how
to do it. Anyone. So back to that young man,
when he asked me about his old publicity good I
would tell you that Howard Cosell said it. He was
new he wasn't like by many he's like Donald Trump.

(49:14):
He was controversially, he had a point of view. He
was different, and he said it. I don't care if
they're talking about me, as long as they're talking about me.
I don't care whether they're saying good things, as long
as they're talking about you. Think about Donald Trump today,
he is the most famous person in the world. There's
more coverage of Donald Trump than anyone. It's crazy. They're

(49:34):
how people along the way have done it, who have
had good publicity, bad publicity. I'm a la Michael Jackson,
Tom Brady, the good, the bad, the ugly, Michael Jordan,
good bad, the ugly, Tiger Woods, good, bad, the ugly,
on and on and on and on, Aaron Rodgers the good,
bead and the ugly. The bottom line is, I don't
have an answer for that except to say not all

(49:57):
publicity is great publicity. So I've talked about change, I've
talked about public and now I've talked about advertising. I
have great genes. What the heck controversy could that have
caused this week? To catch my attention, To catch the
world's attention over nothing innocent, someone trying to break through

(50:21):
the clutter, someone trying to create a positive image, someone
trying to sell genes to get their name recognized. I
applaud what American Eagle has done this week. I endorse
it one hundred percent. I hate those people are still
focusing on woke nonsense. Pick your spots. There are things

(50:45):
that you're right about. This isn't one of them. This country,
as we learned in Venues, is changing. What are we
changing into? That's what we have to consider. We have
to come back and be together. We have to decide
what's important. We have to want our president to be successful.

(51:06):
We shouldn't be working against it. We shouldn't be hoping
he fails. So the next election you win. What a
changing American is changing into a smarter country. I hope
I have great geans, so do you all. Good Night,