Impressions of the Gary Vaynerchuk talk in Tel Aviv

Gary Vaynerchuk spoke live at an event organized by the Tel Aviv office of advertising agency McCann Erickson last night, and it was the first time that I got to see him on stage in person.

Gary became an Internet celebrity after he started using wine reviews in video format to transform his family liquor business from a mom and pop store to a major force in the US market. Since then, he he broadened his activities. He is a well-known author of books, runs a marketing consulting firm, and is a sought after speaker.



The one thing that got him were he is, is for sure his passion and energy that shines through in his presentation style. One of his opening statements was that every single brand that has been successful over the past 150 years has been one that managed to tell its story well.

Gary delivers a great performance in a unique style while breaking many of the rules of presentation delivery. And maybe that is what makes it interesting. He can pace back and forth, looking at the floor while speaking. His story line is an improvised sequence of stories. But these stories are memorable and delivered well.

Gary is good at building up tension in a talk. He is hinting at a crucial question he will ask you, or that he is about to reveal a major insight (what do I think that the Old Spice guy campaign was a failure), but he waits and waits with giving the answer.

It was a shame that after this powerful, high-energy talk that on multiple occasions challenged the practices of most people in the audience (traditional advertising agency staff), the audience was mostly silence and had limited questions (I felt compelled to ask one, which I usually do not do). Maybe it is a bit hard for a Israeli/Hebrew audience to follow the flood of high speed English.