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PERSPECTIVES
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as Amazon, Jordan Brand, and Beats by Dre. He founded
Laundry Service in 2011 after identifying a aw in the O
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existing agency model: the handoff between creative and V
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media buying was too slow to keep up with the pace of A
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social media. Laundry Service handles all aspects of con- T
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tent creation and distribution, bringing creative, media O
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buying, production and in uencers under one roof for R
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the rst time. With this business model at the forefront, S
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Laundry Service has grown over 100% YoY for the last
Gary Vaynerchuk
three years and has more than 120 employees in New 2
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York, Los Angeles and Portland. In early 2015, Laundry
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Service named to AdAge’s A-List as an Agency to Watch, 1
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and was acquired by Wasserman Media Group. Fun fact: 5
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Jason solicited his rst client via Craigslist.
As a product of Laundry Service, Jason also runs
Cycle, which is a multichannel network made up of the AJ Vaynerchuk
top creators, in uencers and athletes in the world. Every
month Cycle publishes 50,000+ pieces of original con- 1994 and he was a freshman in college who discovered the
bene ts of the Internet. Three years later, Gary transformed
tent, reaching over ve billion people.
Shoppers Discount Liquors to WineLibrary.com, one of the
Jason’s social media expertise is often featured
rst wine e-commerce businesses. The shop’s annual reve-
throughout stories in major media. In 2014, Jason was
named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 and Forbes named nues soared from $3 million to $60 million in just 5 years.
Laundry Service a Media Company of Tomorrow. R3 In the spring of 2009, Gary and his brother AJ launched
VaynerMedia, a new breed of digital agency to help For-
Worldwide named the agency ‘Top Social Agency.’
tune 500 companies such as GE, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch
Outside of Laundry Service, Jason is also a manag-
InBev, the New York Jets, and USA Network build their
ing partnin Windforce Ventures, which invests in early
digital brands across social media and beyond with mi- stage mobile technology startups. In the last year, two
cro-content, video, campaigns, and other methods of Windforce portfolio companies were acquired by public
storytelling. They found a niche, and in just six years, the
companies; see: Lettuce and Nexgate.
6-person team has grown into a 500+ person agency across
Jason also keeps a highly engaged audience of 30K+
the U.S., with of ces in New York, San Francisco, Los Ange-
on Twitter, talking all things social media and pop cul-
les and Chattanooga, TN.
ture. His handle is @jasonwstein.
Throughout, VaynerMedia has continued to use in-
sights gained through digital content to inform and build
Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder & CEO creative campaigns that drive actual business results.
AJ Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder & COO — In addition to running VaynerMedia and Wine Library,
VaynerMedia
Gary has maintained an extensive public speaking and book
publishing schedule (he’s the author of three New York
VaynerMedia may be a social media- rst digital agency
Times bestselling business books). AJ and Gary are also that focuses on storytelling across platforms; however
founding partners of VaynerRSE--a venture fund and incuba-
the stories of Gary Vaynerchuk and his brother, AJ, are,
tor focused building the next generation of world-changing
appropriately, the stuff of advertising legend.
technology companies. In addition, the Vaynerchuk brothers
Gary Vaynerchuk talks about being an entrepreneur
co-founded GrapeStory, a mobile- rst marketing agency and
at eight years old when he was managing—not one, but
production house which pairs the best micro-content cre- seven-- lemonade stands in Edison, New Jersey. Born
ators with innovative brands to tell powerful and engaging
in Belarus, he came to the US with his family in 1978.
stories.
The legend begins when he started work at his father’s
liquor store, named Shoppers Discount Liquors. It was
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