Olivia: Okay, Jackson. The Thank You Economy. Review it in exactly five words. Jackson: Hmm. "Be nice, don't be creepy." Olivia: I'll take it! Mine is: "Your grandmother's business plan works." Jackson: Okay, I'm intrigued. How is my grandma's knitting circle the future of marketing? Olivia: That's the brilliant, counterintuitive heart of The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. It's classic Vaynerchuk, who wrote this back in 2011, which in social media years is basically the Jurassic period. This is the guy who famously grew his family's local liquor store into a national powerhouse, not with fancy ads, but by starting one of the first-ever YouTube shows, just talking to people about wine. Jackson: So he was basically the original influencer, before that was even a word. He saw something that other people were missing. Olivia: He saw a massive cultural shift. And that’s our first big idea. Vaynerchuk’s whole argument is that we’re not in a technology shift; we’re in a cultural one. The internet didn't change human nature; it just put it on steroids.

Jackson: What do you mean by that? A cultural shift, not a tech one. It feels pretty tech-heavy when I'm scrolling through TikTok. Olivia: Well, think about business a hundred years ago. Vaynerchuk tells this great story about a hypothetical "Butcher Bob." In a small town, Bob knew everyone's name, their kids' names, what cut of meat they liked. If he sold someone a bad steak, he couldn't just hide. The whole town would know by dinner time. His reputation was his entire business. Jackson: Right, word of mouth was everything because the community was small and connected. There was no hiding. Olivia: Exactly. Then the industrial revolution and mass media came along. Suddenly, businesses could be anonymous. They could broadcast one-way messages through TV and radio. The relationship disappeared; it became about shouting the loudest. Vaynerchuk's point is that social media has bent the world back into the shape of that small town. Jackson: That’s a great way to put it. It’s a digital small town. Your brand is Butcher Bob again, and if you mess up, the review is on Yelp or Twitter in seconds, and the whole "town" sees it. Olivia: And not just when you mess up, but when you do something great, too. The power is back with the consumer and their network. But what's fascinating is how much resistance there always is to these shifts. The book opens with these incredible quotes from history. In 1876, a Western Union internal memo dismissed the telephone as having "too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." Jackson: Wow. That’s like someone in 2005 saying nobody will ever buy things from a website. Oh wait, people did say that. I think the book mentions an author, Cliff Stoll, who in 1995 called the idea of online commerce and virtual communities "Baloney." Olivia: He did! And that's the core mistake Vaynerchuk says businesses are still making. They see social media as a new, weird piece of technology to be skeptical of, like the telephone. They don't see that it's just a new town square, a new place where the same old human rules of reputation, trust, and relationships apply. They’re so busy analyzing the technology that they’re missing the much bigger shift in human behavior. Jackson: So the companies that get it are the ones that stop treating social media like a megaphone to shout ads into, and start treating it like a neighborhood block party where you have to actually talk to people. Olivia: Precisely. You have to show up, listen, and care. Which, of course, leads to the big question every executive in a boardroom asks. Jackson: Let me guess. "This all sounds lovely, but what's the ROI on being nice?" Olivia: You got it. And Vaynerchuk has a powerful answer for that.

Jackson: Okay, I’m ready. Hit me with the ROI of caring. Because it’s easy to say "just be nice," but businesses have payrolls and bottom lines. How does caring translate to cash? Olivia: Vaynerchuk argues it’s the most direct path. He says the next great playing field for business isn't product innovation or supply chain efficiency—it's culture. And he points to one of the biggest acquisitions of that era as proof: Amazon buying Zappos. Jackson: The online shoe store, famous for its legendary customer service. Olivia: Legendary is the word. People thought Jeff Bezos was crazy for paying over a billion dollars for it. But Bezos said, "I get all weak-kneed when I see a customer-obsessed company." He didn't buy a shoe retailer; he bought a blueprint for a culture built entirely around customer care. Zappos empowered its employees to do whatever it took to make a customer happy, including 10-hour phone calls or referring them to a competitor. That culture of care was their product, and it was wildly profitable. Jackson: That’s a powerful example at a huge scale. But what about for a small business? A local restaurant can't afford to spend 10 hours on the phone with one customer. Olivia: That’s the perfect question, because Vaynerchuk’s best examples are often the small ones. He tells the story of AJ Bombers, a burger joint in Milwaukee that opened in a location where every previous restaurant had failed. The owners, Joe and Angie Sorge, decided their only advantage was to outcare everyone. Jackson: How did they do that? Free burgers for everyone? Olivia: Not exactly. They built a community. They let their customers on Twitter help create the menu. One customer, Kate Barrie, suggested a burger with peanut butter on it. They put it on the menu, called it the "Barrie Burger," and it became a huge hit. When their grill broke down one night, instead of just closing, they threw a party. They put a live video stream of the broken grill online and offered free beer and peanuts to anyone who came down to watch the disaster with them. Jackson: That is brilliant. They turned a crisis into a community event. They invited people inside the problem instead of hiding it. Olivia: And it worked. They built such a loyal following that their revenue doubled in just a few months. They weren't selling burgers; they were selling a sense of belonging. The customers felt like it was their restaurant. That's the ROI of caring. It’s not about giving things away for free; it’s about giving people a reason to care back. It’s about having the right intent. Jackson: The intent to build a community, not just a customer list. That makes sense. But it sounds like it requires constant effort. You can't just do one big party and then go back to business as usual. Olivia: And that brings us to Vaynerchuk's most famous, and perhaps most controversial, case study. The difference between a one-night party and a real, long-term relationship.

Jackson: Okay, I’m hooked. What’s the case study? Olivia: The Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign. Jackson: Wait, that campaign was iconic! "I'm on a horse." It was a massive, undeniable success. How can he possibly critique that? Olivia: He doesn't critique the start; he celebrates it as one of the most brilliant marketing moves ever. He calls it a perfect game of "media Ping-Pong." First, they launched the amazing TV ad—that was the serve. It went viral. Then, instead of just letting it sit there, they did something revolutionary. They had the Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa, spend two days responding to questions from fans on Twitter and YouTube in real-time, with personalized videos. Jackson: I remember that! He was responding to celebrities, regular people... it was incredible. That’s the ping-pong. Ad goes out, response comes back, another video goes out. A real conversation. Olivia: A perfect conversation! It was a masterclass in engagement. Sales shot up over 100%. They had millions of views, hundreds of thousands of new followers. They had built this enormous, excited, engaged community from scratch in a matter of days. And then... they dropped the ball. Jackson: What do you mean? What happened? Olivia: They stopped. After that two-day blitz, the conversation ended. The Old Spice Twitter account went mostly quiet. They had all these new friends they’d made at the party, and then they just walked out and locked the door. Vaynerchuk's point is that they treated it like a short-term campaign, a sprint. But the Thank You Economy, he says, rewards marathon runners. Jackson: Wow. That’s a sharp insight. They built the community but didn't nurture it. They got the first date right, but they never called back. Olivia: Exactly. They had a chance to build a long-term relationship with millions of people, and they settled for a one-night stand. It highlights the difference between a tactic and a philosophy. The tactic was brilliant. But the underlying philosophy wasn't there. They hadn't truly committed to the culture of ongoing care. Jackson: It’s a perfect example of how you can have all the right tools and a huge budget, but if the long-term intent isn't there, you miss the real opportunity. Olivia: And that’s the core of the book. It’s not about a single campaign or a clever tweet. It’s a fundamental shift in how a business sees its customers.

Jackson: So when you put it all together, it’s a pretty simple, but profound, idea. The internet didn't create a new economy of bits and bytes; it created an economy of gratitude and relationships. Olivia: That’s it. It’s not about one big campaign or a single viral moment. It's about showing up, day after day, with the intent to connect. The "thank you" isn't a one-time card you send; it's the entire, ongoing relationship. Jackson: And it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The companies that win are the ones that are willing to play the long game, building trust one interaction at a time. Olivia: Exactly. The Thank You Economy isn't a marketing strategy; it's a business philosophy. And Vaynerchuk's challenge, which feels even more relevant today than it did in 2011, is that the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all. It feels like care. Jackson: It makes you wonder how many businesses are still just shouting with a megaphone, when they should be listening and having a conversation. Olivia: And that’s the perfect place to leave it. The question for all of us, whether we run a business or are just navigating our own digital lives, is this: in our interactions, are we just transacting, or are we actually connecting? Jackson: A question worth thinking about. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.