Episode 5 Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to giant stories, a podcast inspired by people and brands with meaningful stories to share. I’m John Kiker, your host and president of Medium Giant, a creative integrated agency based in Dallas and Tulsa. While the tools we have at our disposal to create and share stories have never been more broad and varied, the fundamentals of great storytelling remain as transcendent as ever.
[00:00:21] Despite the headwinds our industry faces, Clients will always covet companies that remain steadfast with a steady eye on culture and understanding of the business dynamics at hand and a commitment to the fundamentals of what makes a great story. So today I am so pumped to be reconnecting with my former client and good friend, Tracy Chaffee.
[00:00:42] Tracy is currently the CMO of the Bay Club Company, a sports recreation and active lifestyle brand on the West Coast with 26 locations and 135, 000 members. That is a lot. Um, where she’s been for just over five years. You know, one of the most interesting things about Tracy’s career [00:01:00] though, is how varied it’s been across categories.
[00:01:02] So prior to the Bay club company, Tracy served as CMO at mod pizza, which that brand has an amazing story. She was also EVP of marketing at surla tab, of which I’m a customer and my, my credit card would, would tell you that in a pretty significant way. Um, she was also a VP and head of marketing at C’s candies, another brand with an amazing history and also held marketing leadership roles at sports authority, PAC sun and the gap.
[00:01:26] But wherever Tracy’s been, she’s been a builder. She’s been a builder of brands, of business transformation platforms, and of people. She’s a highly competitive human who knows how to lead with empathy and how to bring teams together to achieve more than they thought possible. And I know she’s got some amazing stories to share with us today.
[00:01:45] Tracy, my friend, it is so good to have you. Okay, Kurt. So I’m so happy to be here. So thank you for having me on. I know it’s been too long since we got to reconnect. This is a great platform. I know. I know. So obviously I just rattled off a little bit of your career [00:02:00] history, but we always start these podcasts off by allowing our guests to share their story.
[00:02:04] So what would you like listeners to know about you and your story? I know even, even hearing the story, you always sit back. You’re like, wow, there’s been a lot to this journey, you know, never, never straight road, always a wild journey. Um, You know, I think early on I learned to love brands and brands that had a story to tell.
[00:02:24] So even in my early twenties, you know, I’ll start a little bit of how I got things started and, and how I learned about that. But, um, I’m from Northern California. So when I graduated, I, you know, said, Oh, got to go work in Silicon Valley cause that’s what you did. Um, and I started in tech sales in the late nineties.
[00:02:40] Um, it was just around the e commerce was becoming a thing. And, you know, right before the dot com bust, exactly, exactly. I was, you know, taking orders on inside sales phones. And me and my boss said, you know, there’s this e commerce thing going on. I think we should break off and build that and see what comes.
[00:02:56] And we did. And we learned how to code and UI and UX. And we, [00:03:00] you know, late nineties, we were learning how to do it ourselves. And, you know, within a couple of months, we were blowing the doors off the sales of the inside, you know, the guys on the phone. And that’s why I said, this is cool. During that process, I went to this dinner.
[00:03:13] My dad’s, um, did executive placement. I went to one of his dinners and I sat next to this awesome woman and we hit it off and we started talking and she said, what are you doing? I said, Oh, I’m building websites. And you know, and she said, so I work for the gap and we launched up. com. And what kind of products are you selling?
[00:03:31] I said, Oh, scuzzy cables and CD recording software. And she said, okay, you are way too cool to be doing that. Why don’t you join the gap? We’ve just launched Gap. com. We’re about to launch Old Navy and BananaRepublic. com. Come on board with us. And let’s do this in e commerce. And I did. I packed up my bags.
[00:03:49] I moved to San Francisco. And so I was part of something that was so cool, right? I was to be alive. I mean, it was so cool, right? And again, to go in at that time. [00:04:00] So I think it was 99 when I joined. And you know, you have this 25 billion Company that’s on fire at that time. They were doing so, so well, yet we got to build something new.
[00:04:10] We were these kind of crazy tech kids. They kept us away from corporate. You know, we were down in a different section of San Francisco. They kind of didn’t know what we were up to and we built this amazing thing. Um, but while I was there, I learned the power of brand storytelling, just being exposed to the gap and being exposed to old Navy.
[00:04:28] And so, you know, I think early in my twenties, I, I got that brand storytelling bug. I would say. Um, I also learned that I loved, um, gritty, get it done, figure it out culture. You know, people always ask me, why did you leave? You kind of left at the height of e commerce for the Gap brands. You guys were the biggest and the best.
[00:04:50] And why did you leave? I said, Oh, it kind of got too big. Right. It kind of got, you know, when I was sitting in a room and there was 17 executives making a decision on an [00:05:00] email, I said, I’m out. Right. This doesn’t feel like me anymore. And since then I’ve continued to look for Brands that have a story to tell as well as a kind of gritty, figure it out culture.
[00:05:12] And sometimes you can look at my background and say, really? Like C’s was that? No. C’s had this amazing story to tell, which they weren’t necessarily telling. Right. I was like, you were very much a part of that. Especially outside of California. Right. That was a big challenge. I mean, even in California, they weren’t even telling all of the richness in the story that they had to tell as well as, you know, I always called it, I know you know this.
[00:05:33] I called it my 90 year old startup because. Everything, you know, I, it’s a little bit chitty, chitty, bang, bang era. A little bit with, you know, we had to build e commerce. We had to build a call center. We had to build all these amazing things around a great product. So, uh, yeah, that’s what I just fell in love with.
[00:05:48] Brand storytelling early on. And I know what kind of culture I look for. So Talk about that sort of critical mass, because most of the stops you’ve been to your point, like you reach a point, like, okay, we have lost that [00:06:00] sense of, of grittiness and sort of scrappiness that you thrive in. And then do you, do you decide, like, does, is that what makes you, is that what gives you the wandering eye?
[00:06:11] Because, because, because some brands. Um, I mean, you’ve been fortunate to be with companies and we’ll talk about, uh, we’ll talk more about Bay club here in a second, but you’ve been fortunate to be with companies that had this really interesting genesis of a story. I mean, even surla top, um, up in Seattle and how that brand started and evolves.
[00:06:32] And so talk about getting to that critical mass and like why you loved being at the, in that scrappy stage of being able to, to bring that story to life. Yeah. I. Seize is such a great one to use. Again, I love, I have a feeling, again, when you say the wandering eye, and I know you’ve pinged me, like, wow, you’re still at Bay Club.
[00:06:51] You’ve hit that five year point. Why are you still there? So we’re going to have to get into that. Because I do have that wandering eye. I do get to a point where I feel like, okay, we did what we said we were going to do. [00:07:00] Right. We rebuilt X, Y and Z and I have this high functioning team and you don’t need me anymore.
[00:07:06] So once I feel like when I looked at See’s Candy at a certain point and I said, you don’t need me anymore. You guys are killing it as a team and we’ve done everything we say we’re going to do. So I feel like I’m on to next. Right. And what’s different here at the Bay Club? And I know we’ll talk a little bit more about who the Bay Club is, but, um, So my CEO, Matthew Stevens, um, we are both, we both love that gritty, figure it out, late stage startup nature.
[00:07:32] So our goal is to keep it that way as we grow. Right. And you can hear like Steve jobs talk about being a forever startup, right? That’s if that’s in your nature, if that’s in your DNA and you both can stay that way and keep it lean and mean on the inside. Yeah. Right. Build the right teams with the right spirit that can do that.
[00:07:54] Right. Then, then you got, you keep me, you’re not going anywhere. I was like, no, right now I’m, I’m still, I’m still good. [00:08:00] I’m not having that feeling. So, so let’s talk about that story. So again, how you’ve been able to maintain that sense of culture within Bay club, but we’ll talk about that. Talk about the Genesis because outside of the West Coast, or I guess now in, uh, Oregon and Washington, some recent acquisitions that you guys have had to tell, tell the nation about Bay club.
[00:08:18] Yeah. So, you know, Bay club is so fascinating. So right now, as you said, in the opener, we have, um, 26 clubs from Seattle down to San Diego. So we’re hugging the West coast as of right now, but. That soon will change. Um, we’re acquiring faster viewers. We only grow via acquisition, so we don’t, we don’t build.
[00:08:33] We know what we do well. We know what we don’t. Um, and our clubs can vary. I mean, it can be a, you know, high end fitness center. It can be a resort like tennis and swimming club. It can be a large scale golf club. Right. Um, and so our clubs are, are, they vary. Um, I think what’s super interesting about us, um, we don’t, and storytelling specifically, it’s not about necessarily the product or the beautiful [00:09:00] clubs or whatever we have.
[00:09:00] Yeah, we have those. We know that, but it’s really about the communities that we operate in and the members, right? This is the first time I don’t have customers. I have members and that is Where do you have, where do you work for somewhere that people are coming to you six to seven days a week, right?
[00:09:20] Their life is at your place. Yep. Right. And so it’s been so fun to be a part of something like that. Right. And each community is so different, you know, and they can be relatively close to each other. So I live in the South Bay in Las Gadas, about an hour and a half south of San Francisco. Um, and we have multiple clubs that are maybe 20 minutes apart, but they’re so, so very different because of the communities that make them up, right?
[00:09:47] And so interesting. Talk about storytelling. It’s so, so how do you, how do you think about that from a, from a master brand perspective of Bay Club and what’s your promises? Versus, okay, this is a country club here. And [00:10:00] then this might be, Hey, it’s a pool and some gym facilities over there or something, you know, it might be more of a tennis club over here.
[00:10:06] So like, what is that? What is that thread that connects all those for Bay club? You know, truly the thread is community. That is the thread. And it’s knowing that each one is unique, right. And having to deliver. In a different way for each one. And it is incredibly difficult to get your head around as a marketer when you come in here.
[00:10:25] Um, I always say it’s the smallest company I’ve ever worked for, and it’s the most difficult to truly get your arms around as you get here, right? You think, Oh, here’s the Bay club. It’s cookie cutter. We can, you know, roll these different things out. And then as you really get into it and you really spend time at each one of the communities, which each one of the teams you realize, Oh my gosh, like they’re so different, but the center is.
[00:10:46] community and hearts and soul of each one, right? So that is the thread, even though they uniquely show up in different ways. And so do you, um, how do you work with each of those clubs to help give them a level of [00:11:00] autonomy? Because, hey, What they have to offer from an amenity perspective and where they specifically are located are quite bespoke.
[00:11:07] And so how do you let them say, okay, well, we’re the Bay Club, but our version of the Bay Club from a storytelling perspective and connecting with our members looks like X. How do you manage that? Yeah, I would say, and everyone says this. When you talk to the big corporate guys, they all say, oh, you know, we’re decentralized and we let our field.
[00:11:25] You know, lead. This is the first company I’ve been at that truly does that. Our field leaders are responsible for their clubs, they are responsible for their communities, and we here at Corporate in San Francisco are in service to them, um, and are in service to their members, right? Um, I have not actually seen that in practice before, and I know you’re in and out of all kinds of companies.
[00:11:50] Sure. Everyone says it. This is the first company I’ve actually seen do it. Um, we have incredible leaders in all of our [00:12:00] regions and, and the people that they hire and the people that they employ are, they’re delivering for our members, right? And we’re truly in service and we’re small here, corporate, our corporate office is less than 50 people.
[00:12:10] Wow. Yeah. We’re lean and mean. How, how many people are on your team specifically? Just out of curiosity. 12. Okay. And that’s everyone. Right? Everyone. And then I lean, as I always do, I lean heavily on our network, right? So I keep all of design and copy outside. Um, I believe it just, it gives us, we’re more flexible.
[00:12:34] Um, now there’s people who’ve been with us. You know, I have one designer who I absolutely adored. She’s been with me for years and years and years at different companies, but she does better on the outside. She only wants to do 20 to 30 hours a week. Great. That works for her. That works for us. Right. So we keep a lot on the outside.
[00:12:47] We work with some smaller agencies, again, nimble, quick guys who can move and pivot with us. Um, yeah, but we, we keep it lean and mean on the inside. Okay. Very cool. Um, [00:13:00] so talk about the places you’ve been and not just, you know, deciding to work, to work at a particular place, but even when you’re there, what do you look for when you’re bringing stories to life?
[00:13:12] They have to be real and I think you have to work. I work really hard at that, at bringing the actual stories out. It takes a lot of work, um, to get to them. Um, I think Sur La Table was a great, um, a great example of that. You know, when I first got there, yeah, they had this rich history of how they started in the first cataloger and, you know, down at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, they had this rich history.
[00:13:40] And I think over time, anyone does, you kind of, you lose, you lose a bit of that storytelling. You’re just selling gadgets. Yep. Right. So when I was there and I had a great team around me, I had this wonderful head of culinary there, Joel Cameron, who’s just, um, and him and I spent a lot of time together of like, why does Sur La Table [00:14:00] exist?
[00:14:00] Why? You know, it’s, it’s not to sell gadgets. It’s not to make a great meal. What is it? Right. I remember we had this one meeting where we sat in a room, I think there was about 10 of us and we sat in a room and we. served a meal. We ate family style and we talked about why do we exist? Why do we exist?
[00:14:18] Right? And it came down to being at the table together. That’s why Sir Latav exists, right? It was about getting families and friends together at the table to put their phones down and to actually connect. That’s why we existed, right? And then from there, we were able to go out and tell these rich stories about being together at the table, right?
[00:14:41] And it was, Again, it was a lot of hard work to get there. I think a lot of people skim surfaces, right? Well, and, you know, I, I think you have to balance that, especially at Cereal on Top, because you’re such a massive retailer with such a massive product catalog. So understanding the role, their ability to enable you to bring [00:15:00] people together at the table in a meaningful way, not just for any meal, but for something that was curated and prepared with, with what they had to offer to, to, to facilitate and enable that experience is kind of where the magic is, right?
[00:15:11] And again, if you talk about like a very clear example of storytelling in that meeting, we’re sitting at this big long table talking about why we exist. And again, this wonderful chef sitting there and he said, Okay, I’ll tell you why I cook. Right. He was our national chef on TV. I’ll tell you why I cook.
[00:15:27] My parents got divorced when I was young. And he said, Nobody came to the table anymore. We didn’t talk more as a family. He said I felt this incredible loss And he you know, I think he was the youngest of three and he said so what I did is I learned how to cook He said I learned how to cook because when I cooked on sundaes I could get my family back to the table my mom and my dad Weren’t seeing eye to eye at that point in life came back to the table out of respect to me their youngest son Right?
[00:15:56] To sit at the table and enjoy Joel’s meal. He was like, I [00:16:00] changed my life, I changed my family’s life, based on cooking and bringing people together. And it was literally that one story that he told that set us on this journey of Sur La Table and saying, this is why, this is why we exist. I mean, it was so cool.
[00:16:14] It was so cool that he was able to share that. Well, talk about how you took that narrative of bringing people to the gather and you guys thought about creating content in very different ways. Because I remember you guys created a show. Um, talk about that a little bit. Cause that was a great, great series.
[00:16:30] And this was a while ago now, right? It wasn’t 10 years ago or so. Um, we did, we created a cooking show. We did online. Cooking classes. I can’t. It was all around. We did a lot of experiential events, big, long tables, bringing different people together. And again, yes, the food is fantastic because that’s what’s really tough.
[00:16:48] It’s about, but it was all about being together and storytelling together. Yeah, it was an incredible, incredible time. And it was, you think about William Sonoma does the same thing, right? It was always people. I was like, Oh, I’m [00:17:00] confused. William Sonoma versus gorilla tub. And it was like William Sonoma. I always thought as the beautiful place to buy gifts.
[00:17:06] But I always thought as the mark, the marble, the marble kitchen, maybe you didn’t actually cook in or Sir Latav was the sauce on the counter and, you know, throwing salt over the shoulder. So, right. We started to differentiate. Flour all over the place. Exactly. I was like, Sir Latav got messy with you or where, where, you know, I have the friends who are the Williams Sonoma kitchens that you, you wouldn’t dare cook in.
[00:17:25] Oh my gosh. It’s not. Talk about, um, talk about Mod Pizza because that’s a very different brand with a very different genesis of how they came to be and how they, how they look at bringing people in to, to, to work at their stores. I thought was one of the most meaningful parts of their story. Yeah. And again, why I chose to go there.
[00:17:42] So I was living in Seattle. I had, I had the wandering eye, as you call it. I felt like Serla Tom was okay. We did what we were going to do. And now what? And I had felt like I had been selling things for too long. Um, I was also down the street, you know, when you’re sitting in Seattle and you’re down the street from Amazon and [00:18:00] you’re selling things and every time Amazon gets into a category, it takes your things away.
[00:18:04] It makes it difficult. So I started questioning, what am I doing and what can I go do differently? And I started talking to ModPizza and. Yes, they had a great product and it was cool, fast, casual, and they, you know, their stores were each unique. They, even though they were the fastest growing, fast, casual restaurant in the United States, it was more when you got under the covers on them.
[00:18:27] That was, that was again, this, the story, um, and you know, some people may notice, some may not, but they are, they’re a second chance employer. So 30%, around 30 percent of their employees are second chance employees. So. Prison release programs, you know, people who have been in prison or somehow involved there and getting out and are trying to get back on their feet.
[00:18:54] And it’s incredibly difficult to get back on your feet if you cannot get a job. Right? [00:19:00] So, and when there’s very, I mean Dave’s Killer Bread, there’s a few guys who lean in hard to the second chance employers, but not many. And I understand why. It’s difficult. It’s incredibly difficult. to do it properly and to do it well, but Mod Pizza leaned in and that’s how they got me.
[00:19:18] It wasn’t because they were the fastest growing restaurant. It wasn’t because they had great pizza and salads. It was because they were leaning in on something that mattered. Um, and again, I, I saw the ups and downs of it, but it was, it was an incredible mission. That’s awesome. So looking out amongst the world of, of brands telling stories, um, What do you see in overabundance?
[00:19:41] Like what is just oversaturated is like, Oh my God, if I hear another example of acts, you know, you guys had sent me some of these questions prior, obviously. And I was like, Oh gosh, everything is overabundance right now. I’ll be honest. Like everyone’s telling me when to get up and what to eat and what to do.
[00:19:57] And I’m like, Leave me alone. Right? Leave me [00:20:00] alone. But that also led me, Kiker, you also asked, what, who is telling great stories? Yeah. I really had to sit back and think. You know, there is the guys who have done it consistently well for a very long time. Sure. Patagonias, Nikes. They just They, they do it, they tell great stories, they, they live it right, seemingly they seem to live it and those guys are great.
[00:20:27] But when I sat back and thought about this question and said, who has changed my behavior via a story? It was Dove. Dove. So about, I would say, and again, I have, Real beauty we’re talking about. Yeah. Real beauty campaign. Yeah. So I have small kiddos. I’m actually a Brady Buncher. So I, I have two kiddos. He has two kiddos.
[00:20:49] So we have four under the age of 12. Right. So I’m living that life and I’m, I’m, I’m looking at things through that filter. And I would say about three years ago, I saw the [00:21:00] first real beauty ad from Dove and it stopped me in my tracks with social media. Um, I actually fully that day went off all LinkedIn.
[00:21:15] Wow. I have not been on Instagram and right. I’m a CMO. People are like, how’s that possible? I’m like, it is. Um, I personally have not been on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, for, since I watched, literally. I remember where I was when I watched it in the kitchen and I went off and I deleted all of my accounts and I never ever went back because it was so impactful to see what social media, you know, the harmful effects of social media to, to young children.
[00:21:44] And I believe, um, living in a household with four under 12, that they do what you do and not what you say. Bye. And so how can I be spending all my time scrolling on Instagram then tell them not to? And so I went off and you know what I think is really cool is you’ll hear my [00:22:00] kids and I hear it. I love it when I hear them say it, they’ll be like, you know what, my mom’s super cool.
[00:22:04] And she’s not on that stuff. And I’m always like, they still think I’m cool. I’m going to ride that for as long as I can. I was going to say, cause I think a lot of kids look for their parents for validation that they’re liking Instagram. I mean, I know I do with my daughter and it’s one of the, actually one of the unique ways that we connect, but I’m, I’m not sure.
[00:22:22] I think we’re all leery of the dangers. So talk about, I’m just going back to your, to your current role, um, yeah. With Bay Club and obviously, and I, because I I see the, the activity on Instagram or Yeah. Or, or Facebook or whatever it might be. Yep. How do you stay connected, guide your teams, making sure that they’re connecting with your members and with your communities the right way when you have personally disassociated yourself with that?
[00:22:49] Yep. Yeah. And my, my team knows that, um. My team knows my personal stance. That’s not my stance for the company. Now we do have conversations about it, right? We do [00:23:00] make sure anything we’re posting doesn’t have filters is real. We actually use all of our members are in all of our ads. Everything is our members.
[00:23:09] We do member casting calls, which is super cool, right? We put out, all right, we’re going to, we’re going to film about X, Y, Z. And we have all of our members send in videos about their stories. Right. Um, and then we select a few in different regions and we go out and film with them. Um, so that’s a way that I have tried to keep it real with, with this brand.
[00:23:30] Um, which is hard because we are in the, the, you know, We are around fitness, but we don’t take the stance of kind of the sexy fitness. We’re real. I love that. So, so talk about what, what are two of those stories that you got from members that you’re just like, wow, okay, this is, this is a meaningful moment of impact.
[00:23:49] And, you know, we’re, we’re honored that they want to talk about how we’ve been able to help them. You know, there’s, there’s so many, um, When we did our first casting call, [00:24:00] it was, um, so I had been here a year or so and it was during COVID and Um, you know, so some of our clubs were closed. Some of our clubs were open, right?
[00:24:09] We were kind of just going, we were surviving. Um, we said, you know, let’s go out and we’re going to do photography, but we’re just going to send a videographer. Right. We’ll just see what happens. We’ll just see what happens. And we just said, you know, just ask them. What does the Bay Club mean to them? We had no, it was with Angela Barnard, right?
[00:24:24] So Angela and I send, send a photographer and a videographer out. We say, Oh, let’s see what we get. When we got it back, Angela and I, We couldn’t keep our eyes off of these stories that these people were telling of what the Bay Club meant to them. I mean, literally tears in your eyes of, especially during COVID, coming out of COVID, this was my place to reconnect again with people, with family.
[00:24:46] I mean, it’s, it’s unbelievable. And then you also hear stories of kind of what I would call rituals, daily rituals. We have this beautiful club in San Francisco called Gateway. It’s not too far here from the corporate office. It’s [00:25:00] unbelievable. Um, swim and tennis club in the middle of. San Francisco. You don’t even know it’s there.
[00:25:04] It’s behind these gates and you go in and it’s palm trees and pools and it’s unbelievable. And I was there one morning, super, super early, maybe like six o’clock in the morning, and I saw this couple in their late 80s. Um, he, he, um, rolled. She was in a wheelchair. He brought her to the pool, helped her get out, then he joined her in the lane and they They did this beautiful, I mean, they swam for 30, 45 minutes together in their lane.
[00:25:30] And I looked over at Jake, who runs, totally, who runs that club, and I said, Jake, what’s the story here? Right? And he said, they’ve been coming here every day. They come every single day at 6 a. m. to swim together. This is exact, their ritual, they’ve been doing this for over 30 years. Wow. And you just, right, and then you get, and then of course Jake said, would you like to meet them?
[00:25:51] Of course! Right? And in comes, because they have that relationship. So then I can now sit on the side of the pool and hear their story and hear how this developed. [00:26:00] And it’s gold. That’s amazing. And there’s hundreds, thousands of these stories at every one of our clubs. And it’s up to us to connect with those people enough that they’re willing and able to tell those stories.
[00:26:14] Right. But it’s, it’s, well, and that you, um, You don’t do it for, for commercial purposes in that, like, like the, like, these are stories that people need to hear about, about rituals. And you know what, if somebody never joins the Bay club, but they get moved by something like this, then great. That’s okay.
[00:26:33] Great. You know, we did a, and also when you just talk about different, different channels and different things also, when I was here, I also know that we have. Products and we need to tell those stories. Sure. Right. So like we just, um, launched active recovery where people can go in and be in cryo chairs, massage therapy, and all that kind of stuff.
[00:26:49] So that was a big, and I know we have to talk about those things too. Sure. Right. So, but I always want to do it in a different way. That doesn’t feel like that’s what I’m doing. Yeah. And this wonderful woman who I [00:27:00] met on my team, uh, when I first got here, she was here and I was sitting across from her and I said, she’s got something that I need to lean into.
[00:27:07] She’s got a superpower that I need to lean into. She can tell stories on I just knew that if I put her on video that she could tell really cool stories Her name’s Marissa And so I literally was sitting in a room and I took out a piece of paper and I wrote Marissa tries And I looked at her and I said if I put you on the road and you went to our different clubs And you tried different things with a videographer.
[00:27:29] We recorded you and we started a little show. A show called Marissa Tries. Are you into it? Oh yeah! No problem! So we’re now two years into this show. We launched the first of every month. Marissa goes out and she just tries something at the Bay Club. Right? So Love it. And she’s a little bit I love Lucy.
[00:27:49] She’s been here for eight years, and she’s a little bit of I love Lucy. She’s fully unscripted. It’s her and one videographer. And they show up at the club, and they try something. My goal, also, while she’s trying, is [00:28:00] to educate. So if she’s trying, for instance, we sent her out to do, uh, rowing. Rowing in the club.
[00:28:05] Rowing was like a big thing when a couple of those rowing movies came out. And I said, go out. Everyone hurts themselves on rowing. So go try rowing, but then get a couple of people who know really what’s up and talk to them on film so that you leave. Also, maybe you watch the eight minutes. You understand what we have.
[00:28:20] You learn a little bit, you take a little bit away. Right. But we’re showing all the things that the Bay club has through this really cool, hilarious voice. Yeah. I mean, it’s, she now can’t go anywhere, anywhere we go with her. People run up. Are you Marissa from Mercer? That’s awesome. Look what you guys have created a persona.
[00:28:38] You’re really cool. And now partners. People reach out to us. Yeah. And say, you know, we just did one with Canyon Ranch. Canyon Ranch launched a new property up here in Northern California. And they said, could you send Marissa out? Could she try Canyon Ranch Woodside? We said, absolutely. And so now she’s kind of trying other things.
[00:28:53] We’re getting creative about the stories you have to tell also. Yeah, for sure. So, so speaking of technology, I [00:29:00] love it that when you talked about, you know, basically being at the, at the very start of gap. com and yeah, they’d be. com and so now you think about technology in a very different evolved way for, for Bay club.
[00:29:11] And so whether that’s, you know, uh, technology used to communicate and, and, you know, foster good relationships with your members and their communities. But from a, from a marketing perspective, how have you guys embraced technology? Um, how do you think about it? Yeah, we definitely, again, you’re coming to us six to seven days a week.
[00:29:33] So first and foremost, we want to make that easy, right? So whether getting into the club is easy because you’re going to do it on your phone, you check in via phone, right? Is that app good enough, right? for a smooth entrance. Um, and then booking like we use technology for all of our booking. So if you’re booking a court for tennis or golf or right.
[00:29:53] So again, we’re very leaned in there. Again, we’re in your pocket. Um, you’re using us a lot, but then in terms of [00:30:00] storytelling, you know, it’s a little bit across the board. I, we have a really wide range when it comes to, you know, yes, we’ve got these really young up and comers who are in our clubs and they’re, Believe technology focused, but then we’ve got a lot of older members that I need to speak to them in a way that makes sense.
[00:30:17] You know, we still write, I actually personally write a newsletter that goes out to our membership base every other week. So I write the entire intro. It’s got, you know, it’s a, it’s at a little TLC. So little TLC comes out and it’s talking about like what’s happening in sports and active lifestyle or some kind of cool tip or something we’re leaning in on.
[00:30:35] And then the rest of it is all about what’s happening at your specific club. Um, so we’re, we’re a little bit, make it easy. Right? Whether you’re booking, childcare, racquet sports, whatever it is, and then we’re aligning to your communication channel because we have varied, varied ages, I would say. That’s great.
[00:30:54] So looking ahead, um, over the next, uh, five to 10 years and, you know, of course you won’t have a [00:31:00] wandering eye because you are so happy. But how do you see storytelling evolving? Like what’s, you know, what’s going to happen when over the next few years that whether it’s, um, I, I won’t. Dive into the AI world and all the things that we know it’s already doing to storytelling, but I, you know, how do you see it evolving?
[00:31:22] Gosh, I hope, um, it just feels very noisy right now, right? I feel like there’s so much, um, coming at us in so many different ways. Um, you know, I hope it slows down. It comes more meaningful is, is my hope. Maybe that’s nuts. But then again, I’m not on a lot of platforms. I want to go back to a flip phone. I’m that person.
[00:31:47] Um, you know, I hope it slows down and becomes more meaningful. Um, I think that the, I hope that there’s a bit of a, I don’t know if it’s a regression is the right word, but I think that there are, you know, the, the fundamentals to us of great [00:32:00] storytelling. And I talk about it at my intro, like those are pretty transcendent.
[00:32:02] Like what makes a compelling story is a compelling story. Now it could be, it could be a book, it could be, it could be a tick tock video in 30 seconds and you know, learning how to communicate in, in, in sound bites. And I think we could also. We can learn how to tell great stories in all these formats, but to me, the fundamentals and what, what I love about your career is that you, you, you go places where you don’t have to manufacture stories.
[00:32:27] They’re there, they’re there to be chiseled away and uncovered and they’re right there for you. It’s almost like Michelangelo sees the block and he knows what’s in it and can just uncover it and tells the story. So I really appreciate that about where you’ve been. Yep, Kaiker, that’s so beautifully said.
[00:32:41] That’s absolutely when I’m talking, um, to a company or a brand. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. You know, when I was walking around C’s they were touring me during the interview process and you know, they didn’t even know it, but that’s what I was looking for. Right? Was those I, and it was gold. There was so many nuggets that they didn’t realize because they don’t.[00:33:00]
[00:33:00] Their average tenure maybe was 30 to 40 years on the executive, you know, so they just didn’t realize they had all these amazing nuggets. But that’s what it is. Yeah. Looking at those stories that are already there. Yeah. I mean, when you walk by and you see the actual conveyor belt that Lucy and Altho were working on.
[00:33:14] It’s kind of one of those amazing things. Absolutely. Mary C’s recipe is still handwritten. Handwritten in books. I mean, that’s, it’s gold. It is. Well, this conversation has been gold and it’s been so good to connect with you, my friend. And I’m so happy for your success and I look forward to seeing where the Bay Club goes with your leadership.
[00:33:33] Thank you. Cause there’s no wandering eye here. I’m staying. No, you’re staying from, from your, from your lips to your boss’s ears through this podcast. There it goes. Right. All right. Thanks so much for having me. Thanks, Tracy. Appreciate it.
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