Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Garcia.
Kim, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I launched VaynerExperience roughly two years ago, creating a new division within VaynerMedia which focuses on live events and brand partnerships; however, I’ve been with VaynerMedia for seven years.
After five years of developing and leading our Entertainment division within VaynerMedia, I was looking for a new challenge, while still expanding the capabilities of the agency.
My CEO, Gary Vaynerchuk, who is an incredible mentor to me was open to discussions, and after a bit of brainstorming and research within the consumer landscape, we felt that VaynerMedia was ready for an experiential arm.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been smooth in the sense that the agency has been incredibly supportive and our clients and the market has been receptive to our new offering. I found hiring to be a challenge because of the emerging skill set needed to understand the world of social media/consumer attention; which is VaynerMedia’s core business; and how events and experiences merge with that world.
I met a ton of very qualified event professionals, but because the industry has largely been operating in a silo from other marketing efforts, they weren’t as well versed in social media or consumer behavior which is critical for my team. Until the recent rise of “Instagram Museums” and immersive Branded Experiences, Social Media was really an afterthought in the events world. Now I see it a catalyst for the event or experience.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Agent2021 was born from the demand of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and independent agents to learn how to leverage social media to grow their business.
Historically, the Auto, Insurance, Mortgage and Real Estate industries have been slower to adopt more innovative methods of marketing. As an agency, we began to see a pattern of inbound inquiries from these specific industries and wanted to develop a program to teach, in a very tactical way, how to leverage all of the digital tools available today.
I think we can all agree that there is no shortage of conferences within the event and business landscape, so as we started to develop the program for Agent2021 we wanted to be very focused on tactical information. If you want to be inspired, Gary (as well as many other business leaders) put out endless amounts of free content, or give an inspiring keynote that will give you a kick in the butt at the moment, but what we saw missing was the action. The “now what?”
After that inspirational moment has passed how do you execute? We want to ensure that our attendees know what to do when they head back to the office with clarity and precision. I’m proud that all of our leaders within VaynerMedia are not only excited to share and teach but are also practitioners in their specialty. No one sits in their ivory tower delegating. As an agency, we truly go deep in to our craft and are passionate about educating.
What are Agent2021’s plans for the future? How will this event evolve – any big changes?
We live for feedback, so we’ll continue to be very critical of ourselves and take the feedback of our attendees and speakers very seriously. We were overwhelmed by the support and positivity coming out of our inaugural Agent2021 last year but are always looking to outdo ourselves. Beyond that, the market will dictate the evolution. The social media landscape and consumer behavior is changing rapidly, and we’ll be sure to be ahead of it.
Pricing:
- Tickets cost between $1,050 – $2,700 to attend Agent2021. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://agent2021.com/.
Contact Info:
- Address: 347 Don Shula Dr, Miami Gardens, FL 33056
- Website: https://www.agent2021.com/
- Email: agent2021@vaynermedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vaynerexperience/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VaynerExperience/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMExperience
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
