The Real Gary Vaynerchuk

Earlier this week, Actions Talk co-founder Ryan Graves (Twitter/Blog) posted the following tweet:

who are good examples of a strong personal brand? other than @garyvee 

@GaryVee is Gary Vaynerchuk (Twitter/Bio) is someone who has launched into Internet celebrity stardom because of his savvy use of traditional and new media communication tools. He did so to grow awareness and word-of-mouth passion and loyalty for the family business he took over, a liquor store in New Jersey. Today he uses these same tools to convey his experiences, first-hand, to the masses.

Ok, so when Ryan posted his tweet I responded like this:

@ryangraves I'm beginning to think @garyvee has watered down his personal brand. Not sure what he stands for beyond self promo in any arena.

Fair or not, this was my perception of the Gary Vaynerchuk brand at that moment. And even though we all know customer or audience perception isn’t always true, it does drive behavior.

In only a few hours, Gary responded directly to me via Twitter with this:

dude really? would love 2 grab a beer one day and chat about it, I think wine and biz/branding is what I like to talk about respect ur thgts

This really had an impact on me. I suspect Gary receives hundreds or thousands of emails, texts, Twitter replies and DMs and more every day. Yet somewhere between midnight and 7am he replied. I was super impressed, but it’s no surprise given his perspective on responding to people (video).

I decided to update my perception of Gary Vaynerchuk, the brand. After all, when his book came out earlier this year he was gracious enough to send me a few copies for wine lovers in the Spreenkler community.

Gary is the real deal. Does he get a little boisterous for me sometimes? Sure. But he is what he says, all about wine and biz/branding. He breaks it down - what he knows and what he’s learned - every day for you, me and everyone else to benefit.

So, Gary, I officially apologize for the comment.

I’m going to email and DM my apology to him (I know he says he doesn’t check DMs but I don’t believe him) as well. Plus, I’m going to take him up on his offer to have a beer and offer to fly wherever is most convenient for him to have a conversation on biz, branding, and the Jets. I'll let you know if he accepts.

Until then, I strongly encourage you to check Gary out if you’re at all interested in wine, business, branding or the power of the web to build word-of-mouth loyalty.

Comments

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

THANK YOU! You see you can be whoever you are even if you are over the top and high energy as long as you have the chops and care about others and have something worthwhile to say :) Thnx for this post it meant a lot to me!

[lawain mcneil]

I had the opportunity to spend a day with Gary-business brainstorming and consulting. The business consulting was the real deal but what impressed me was this...my college son (who is a big fan of Gary's Wine Library Show and Keynotes)emailed him asking him for advice and direction. He not only responded but made sure they connected while he was at our offices. Needless to say my son was blown away and I am super grateful for a media figure like Gary for being authentic and genuine. It will have a lasting impact on my son. Props goes to Ryan for sharing this...thanks Gary.

[Jamie Lee]

I'm a fairly new GaryV fan. Although I learned the basics about his family biz and Wine Library gig early on, that wasn't what drew me to follow him. What I love about Gary is his absolutely uncensored enthusiasm and optimism. My four-and-a-half year-old daughter watched one of his videos and said, "He's pretty excited." Yes he is. And I think that's the point - to get excited...about life, about what you do, and about how you might be able to help other people do the same.
I'm glad Gary's out there on the web - cheering everyone on and having fun doing it.

[MattieJ]

Gary may be a little over the top sometimes but that's part of the "thing" that keeps most people coming back. He managed to inspire me to try my own hand at video blogging (http://mattiej.com). Gary could easily make his ONLY profession motivational speaking and make a killing at it!!

[Ryan Graves]

Steve- I'm pumped that my thought/questions on personal branding inspired such a powerful dialog between you and Gary! Yesterday I met a guy named Phil Bilodeau who owns Theif Wine in Milwuakee Public Market and brought Gary up. He mentioned he had met Gary and although he can be "over the top" he is absolutely authentic! I have much respect for the guy. If you end up having that beer with Gary anywhere near MKE I wanna come! Talk to you soon bro!

[Bob Brill]

Very cool. I retweeted note and link posted by Ryan Graves from http://twitter.com/ryangraves.

[Bob Brill]

http://twitter.com/ryangraves/ for the hot link

[Liz]

As impressed as you are by Gary, I'm impressed that you told the whole story instead of just the ending, explaining your first perceptions instead of trying to pretend they didn't exist. It makes your current appreciation of Gary's work & method more valuable because you were initially a skeptic (and with good reason, there is a lot of BS out there!).

Thanks for your honesty. It makes your brief story all the more compelling.

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

Great story. It's easy to think one thing about someone without really knowing. With someone like Gary, it's the simple things that reveal more than what a great marketer he is - what a super person he is.

I remember after a book signing I'd arranged just outside DC here in MD, we all went over to someone's apartment to hang out and taste wine. At the end, as we were leaving, Gary noticed a list of some names with contact info. He asked, "What's this?" The host said, "Oh, it's a list of people to get together to taste wine. Anyone who wants to come." Gary's eyes lit up, and a huge smile engulfed his face. "That's what touches my heart. People getting together and sharing wine together.

Oh yes, I know some naturally negative peeps will say that was all marketing too. After all, Gary sells wine. For those peeps, I would say you need to get out and meet more people and decide first hand - not from a casual observation of the world.

[Dan]

Gary is entirely right, and a very good model about how to take criticism -- especially when you're claiming to be a social marketing expert.