HEATHER JOHNSON & AL SCHUSTER: SAMPLE FINDER / LETS PLAY A GAME / IS RETAIL ACTUALLY DYING

[SPEAKER_03]: Is anyone out there a Costco member or a Sambs Club member?
[SPEAKER_03]: And one of the things that drives me nuts is all the sample stations.
[SPEAKER_03]: Do we really need like 35 sample stations across the entire store?
[SPEAKER_03]: All they do is clog up the aisles and I can't get what I need when I want it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Drives me absolutely nuts and or not knowing what's at the sample station only to wait and then get up to it and realize, I don't even want to try it.
[SPEAKER_03]: But now there's an app I can use to know exactly what's going on in the sample world
[SPEAKER_03]: Today, I'm sitting down with Alan Heather, the co-founders of Sample Finer, a platform that connects everyday shoppers with in-store food sampling events, happening right in their own backyard.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if it wasn't enough already to get you excited, they went and gamified the whole damn thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: Honestly, free food just got an upgrade.
[SPEAKER_03]: Trust me, you're going to want seconds on this one.
[SPEAKER_03]: Consider this your free sample of What's Coming on this week's episode.
[SPEAKER_03]: I first have to know the quick 30,000 foot up both of your backgrounds because then ultimately, I got to know how someone in graphic design teams up with an accountant to come up with something in food.
[SPEAKER_02]: That is hilarious.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'll let each of you kind of one at a time.
[SPEAKER_03]: Heather, if you want to start first and give again, kind of your 30,000 foot background journey and then how you jump in yours and then we'll figure out how the two of you combined.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so yes, I went to school for graphic design and marketing and so I have worked at different agencies.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've worked at small agencies.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been freelance for large agencies and I do a lot of freelance local work around Philadelphia and other areas.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alongside of that, I've been a
[SPEAKER_00]: So that ties into the marketing because I love brands.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love brand identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love logos.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love seeing how they create different things and go out into the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: An experiential marketing is part of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hired as a brand ambassador by Al.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the president owner and founder of Polaris Brand Promotions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'll hand it off to you now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, Heather.
[SPEAKER_01]: So got my BS and accounting from St. Joseph University back in 2001.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was doing accounting, you know, it was always a job never occur for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I started helping out someone like part-time with their promo staffing like, you know, hiring brain ambassadors do liquor promotions.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I loved it, and I'm like, I'm going to start my own company doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, I kind of my personality, you know, doesn't lend as much I think to the accounting world.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, yeah, never really was passionate about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so I started Polar Spray and Promotions, um, back, uh, almost nine years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, um, hired, uh, Heather, uh, Resulise a brand ambassador, then she kind of came on on a part-time role.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then a year ago, she was hired full-time as our marketing director.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of the the very crazy winding story if had the last 10 plus years of gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's it's simplified yet complex at the same time.
[SPEAKER_03]: So we got to dig into this.
[SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, maybe talk about a little bit about Polaris before we dig into the what I find so depressing and the app and maybe talk about kind of set the stage with with Polaris and kind of what you guys do there and what it's kind of morphing into.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's it's very they're not two separate companies like how the is the marketing director for plage brand promotions, but we are both co founders.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted her to have that title, but yeah, basically like, you know, plage brand rushes is the company and sample funders, the app that the company is founding just see understand like kind of the logic there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome because yeah, we're going to talk about samples and Heather I did want to dig in first because you're talking about you love brands and everything around brands what drew into that is a graphic and was it specifically food brands or has it always been you know with graphic design was it kind of a bit of everything and I guess what made you fall in love with the food side or food brands.
[SPEAKER_00]: a little bit of everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love good design out in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love working with different brands of all kinds, small, large, and seeing how they grow throughout time.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the very initial stages of establishing a brand identity is how you're going to show up in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how people are going to see your logo and they need to immediately, maybe they get a tagline with it, maybe not, but that's how they're going to immediately interpret who you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's the whole color theory of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the fonts you choose.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the spacing.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the icon.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then the journey to get that in front of other people is another separate type of marketing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where it ties into like the food and beverage world that I became part of after I started being a brand ambassador.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started seeing.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a brand ambassador, I'm explaining why the logo it is the way that it is or I'm explaining what the products are or what the history of the company is and tie it all together and that's fascinating that's why I love promo staffing agencies like Polaris brand promotions because.
[SPEAKER_00]: It brings that brand identity, design, and marketing to experiential marketing, which is what the agency is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an experiential marketing and nationwide promo staffing agency.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all together.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love seeing the brands that I was working with.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was the type of brand ambassador that would do extra research to make sure I knew the background.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I saw that Al's team, whenever we hire a new brand ambassador, we train them with the same type of prep that I used to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, oh, this agency values the brand as much as I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: and they want to tell the stories of the clients.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just, I mean, of course it's sales, but it's also the brand awareness and loyalty that we build when we're out in the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of where I started to see the power of experiential marketing after the design part, because I love the design part.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love the marketing too, but the experiential and event marketing is that's where it collides and comes together and is exciting for me.
[SPEAKER_03]: what's the big difference between like promotional staffing versus like traditionally?
[SPEAKER_03]: You hear the word staffing and people in this food industry.
[SPEAKER_03]: Either most people do not have the best experience with staffing in the food and beverage world, especially if you're in the operation side, but kind of what's the difference between promotional staffing versus the traditional medical.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's funny we're mentioning it's on another podcast recording recently that the funniest thing about our industry is that nobody knows we exist.
[SPEAKER_01]: because we are out there representing other people's brands and what I need about that is you know we hire all of our independent contractor brand ambassadors we have over 9,600 in our nationwide database and you know we go out and represent those clients brands directly to consumers.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would just, I mean, it's really an independent contractor model almost like, you know, like an Uber or, you know, something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, it's in terms of like we hire independent contractors and whatnot, you know, we give them kind of the option of which shifts they want to pick up or not pick up.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's very much that kind of like, that model in our industry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, as opposed to like, you know, traditionally hiring, what why brands hire us is because it's, you know, a lot more cost effective to hire us instead of doing the recruiting, the interviewing, the hiring, the setting them up on payroll when they may wind up only working one three hour event.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, nobody, nobody wants that in their operation and you see a lot of the independent model these days especially freelance contract work It just it seems work out for both parties, right a lot of people who are doing the freelance consulting in that boat Sometimes it's just easier right.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, I've got a client.
[SPEAKER_03]: They need something.
[SPEAKER_03]: I can pop in do what I need to do be an expert at what I am and then pop out And I don't have to be on full payroll and then for on on the flip side, you know the client the brand They don't have to make that like you said that huge investment into
[SPEAKER_03]: people don't understand it's not just okay you're hiring in your paying salary it's benefits it's holidays it's it's all all that comes with the job and then to your point what do you do if three hour event and then it's like what are they going to do for the rest of time nobody's going to take a job for five hours a week you don't what he's going to do that you know what I mean unless you're maybe somebody's retired and just looking for some some little bit of sidewalk here and there which which it does happen
[SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, we're talking samples, we're talking promotions.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're representing brands.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, where would you see your contractors or your brands, representing brands out in the real world?
[SPEAKER_03]: So people have a little bit of context.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think people are still kind of like, okay, well, where do they actually do this at?
[SPEAKER_00]: Everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will start by saying a lot of the in store demos that we do is like 90% of what our activations are and their campaigns that can be across the market all at the same store or in different stores and you might be going grocery shopping you walk up you see a table that's all set up you see all the branding on the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: you see that they're samples in your hungry because you're grocery shopping.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you might be like, okay, you know what I am looking for in a new type of snack, let me just try this.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is where our brain ambassadors excel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because now you are talking to somebody from the actual company, you get to try it before they buy or representing the company.
[SPEAKER_00]: You get to try it before you buy, you get to ask some questions, like, hey, is this going free?
[SPEAKER_00]: And you get an answer from a real person instead of having to just slightly read the packaging.
[SPEAKER_00]: It gives that personal touch.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we also set up at product launches.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, street teams that tackle outside of tailgating parking lots, walking around and we've walked around with wagons, giving out different samples to tailgators.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been at parades handing out bags.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been in tours that set up across different sections of,
[SPEAKER_00]: the cities that we represent in.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been and we do a lot so it can be very customizable.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the biggest hard points selling points that we have for Polaris Brain Promotions if you dream it up and it's feasible for our staff and us to train we will we will help you out.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, people listening.
[SPEAKER_03]: Think about if you're a Costco member or a Sand Club member, I'm Costco.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you go in and
[SPEAKER_03]: My god, I don't think I can walk five feet without somebody.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, you want to try this?
[SPEAKER_03]: You want to try this?
[SPEAKER_03]: You want to try this?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm just like, for me, it's too much.
[SPEAKER_03]: And others, I feel like they go there just to try the samples.
[SPEAKER_03]: And while sometimes it is a great type model because you do get a try for you by, like, hey, I want to, oh, that actually looks interesting.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was thinking about buying it, but I don't want to buy a whole pack that's going to, especially the big bookstores.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I don't want to buy 40 of them, and I don't like it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then I'm stuck with it.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's kind of in that same vein, but you have product experts in that, because I know many times I come up like, hey, is it this and they're like, I don't know, read the package and I'm like, well, can you give me a little bit more?
[SPEAKER_03]: I want to know what's going on, and then I see some other activations where you may actually be part of those where, you know, they've got like an actual table and there's actual people and they're interacting with all the folks and I mean, you could tell it's more vibrant and you could tell it's not just the little cart stand.
[SPEAKER_03]: sitting around.
[SPEAKER_03]: So just to give some clarity context, that's what people can are probably most used to seeing it out in the wild.
[SPEAKER_03]: So okay, we're talking samples sample finder.
[SPEAKER_03]: How did it come to be?
[SPEAKER_03]: How did it?
[SPEAKER_03]: What's the birthplace of the app?
[SPEAKER_01]: A supermarket grocery store down in Washington, D.C.
[SPEAKER_01]: So here's how this happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went down, I live outside of Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I go out and still do demos, so does the rest of our corporate team.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was a brand new client, what to make them happy, so I drove down a DC to do a demo at a very important store for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was a really funky layout.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like two levels that had like three entrances, an escalator between the two, and you know, even though I was in a really high traffic area, you know, I realized that like I was missing probably like 90% of
[SPEAKER_01]: And it really frustrated me because I was like, you know, I really wish it was a way to promote these events.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it isn't to say that promotion doesn't happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the stores will put up like a dry res board or a chalk board, but they're upcoming demos.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the brands themselves will be like, stop by the store and try our new product.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's like no one centralized database and I thought, you know, it would be great to be able to build an app.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just kind of an afterthought.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I kind of ran the idea by Heather, who's our, you know, our creative genius in our agency and said, you know, I mean, Heather's been doing this for, you know, over a dozen years, just like myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, what do you think about, like, if, you know, build the concept first, and then, you know, and she liked it and, you know, and the, the overall, like, like,
[SPEAKER_01]: What about building an app and building this out and you know, and so she is our co-founder and you know as I like to say I just give up with the idea everything else that you see like you know all the creative design or anything like that That's all Heather's genius right there But that's kind of how it you know how it came about the concept and God it was almost like probably like eight months ago And the fact that we're like beta testing and we went to see yes and RF the national retail Federation is just
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this kind of incredible?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you jumped right in the CES because I want to touch on that.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's high tech shiny.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, if they've got everything right, everything of everything in tech is there.
[SPEAKER_03]: What was the vibe on the floor in the food sector food tech?
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know how much you got to walk, but what was the overall sense in the food segment?
[SPEAKER_00]: in the food segment.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were in your recap arc.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were actually next to a bunch of different sectors.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was everything from like a type of nail polish to gym equipment.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were technically not in the food section, but we were with other people who are launching.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there was so many exciting ideas that were around.
[SPEAKER_00]: People were, you know, excited to show off.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were demos.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was really fun to be part of that, especially for the people walking around who are like,
[SPEAKER_00]: They also specifically came to Eureka Park to see what was new.
[SPEAKER_00]: And since sample finder was new, we got to have some great conversations to share what it is like there.
[SPEAKER_00]: What we did for food is we did set up something we called it a sample hour for sample finder.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we set up a table like you would see in a grocery store and we had food and snacks and we handed that out because we wanted to give a direct visual representation of what it's like to interact with an activation that would be on our app.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm, okay, awesome.
[SPEAKER_03]: What kind of feedback did you get from both, you know, customer, you know, end user brands?
[SPEAKER_03]: What was, what were they saying about the app?
[SPEAKER_00]: It was exciting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll pass this to you in the second hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanted to say that what was cool is we actually did speak to all everybody from those categories.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were some people who were like, oh, wow, I know of some brands I could use this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or, see, yes, is in Las Vegas.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there were people from the Vegas entertainment sectors walking around who were like, wait a minute, when you launched, please reach out to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there were other users like who I would consider users who were like, oh, I want to download this app when it comes out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there were investors.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a lot of different conversations.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead, Al.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I would say overall the reception was extremely positive, um, the important thing about to know about SIGS is you really need to plan out before you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you really need to kind of pre-show promote, uh, you know, get your press release out, things like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we did have a lot of people who, you know, came up like, oh, you know, I heard about you guys, you know, here and there we it sporadically.
[SPEAKER_01]: some people doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: When people really understood the concept of sample finder and what a cannon will do for kind of the retail sector as a whole, you know, we received comments like, oh, it's genius.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is this is awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to go out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, granted, you know, appreciate the praise, you know, fingers crossed that actually does create, you know, a real disruption in that sector.
[SPEAKER_01]: But overall, let's say, you know, the reception is really positive.
[SPEAKER_03]: And maybe we should unpack the actual app and what it does.
[SPEAKER_03]: We've talked to, we kind of think we've kind of been actually all around the app and talking about samples.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, actually walk through, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: I got an app.
[SPEAKER_03]: I download it.
[SPEAKER_03]: What does it mean both for a brand, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because there's that piece of it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then what does it mean for the end user or the consumer, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because ultimately somebody's got to buy a product for this whole thing to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: True.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, for the brands, what's super exciting about this and what I love especially being somebody who's a fan of different brands is that the goal is to build brand loyalty and to get feedback from your consumers.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as a person who is opening the app,
[SPEAKER_00]: You would see a list of brands that are activating, which means they're having events in your area where you can get samples.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't have to be just samples, it could also be giveaways, it could be t-shirts if you sign up for a service.
[SPEAKER_00]: So not just for food and beverage, it can be for anybody, however you would like to creatively use it.
[SPEAKER_00]: but for brands now your logo is on this person's phone and they can read a description about your your company.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a little option for them to list the products that they have already and when a user uses it and shows up to an event now it's in their history.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it really brill builds that brand loyalty together.
[SPEAKER_00]: The user gets to show up, check in, get points for checking in, get points for leaving a recap.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the feedback that the brands will now get is
[SPEAKER_00]: we set up all of these demos.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you buy it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you like it?
[SPEAKER_00]: What did you like about it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have any opinions?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a great way to have the brands feel like they're hearing directly from the shoppers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for the end user to be like, yes, I loved it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is why.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now maybe you're sending all these five-star reviews and you can, the brand can reach back out and be like special discount for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really ties the whole journey of the brands and
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, go ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, no, I mean, the other, I think you kind of really hit that nail on the head with all that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we really want to be a disruptor in the retail space.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're actually kind of launching under the hashtag savory tale.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, you know, we really see how retail is changing and not necessarily in a good way for the consumer.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we see a lot more of like, you know, online delivery of products and serve it well products.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you have like grocery delivery on top of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I can honestly see in about like 10 to 20 years, you know, people not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Being able to shop in a supermarket anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're just going to order everything on your phone or go to a key Ask and then someone's going to bring it out for out to you as you're really going to you know kill the opportunity to have like choice So we we're launching under save retail to really highlight the fact that like we want to create you know Kind of like um experiential engagement spaces and stores Where demos can happen and you can try samples and things like that to make the shopping if experience fun
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it said like Costco, it's like everyone knows them for their samples, you know, we want to kind of have that in every retail location as a motivational tool to get consumers out to to kind of add that value there to, you know, to make it like, you know, not as cumbersome and not as kind of uncomfortable to have to go to a store park.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, walk through miles and all that stuff, you know, which online delivery kind of removes that all those headaches and now it's, you know, the younger generations are on their phone all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're easily going to be like, well, hey, I could just order everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do I need to go to a store and deal with that headache?
[SPEAKER_01]: And kind of being able to provide real world experiences in those stores.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's going to be the one thing that's going to really make a mark, you know, with sample file.
[SPEAKER_03]: can we double click on that because I've got my own opinion on the whole like pick up slash delivery grocery versus going in the store okay right covid hits what does everybody do picks up groceries right that was the hot thing everybody got there's launched it was damn near impossible to get a pick up space if you didn't reserve it a day two days in advance for that slot and you had to be there within that time slot right so that happened
[SPEAKER_03]: And then, which was great, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Nobody knew shit about what was going on in the world.
[SPEAKER_03]: And everyone was scared that they were going to die.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, right, you picked up your groceries.
[SPEAKER_03]: You felt safer.
[SPEAKER_03]: But now that we're out of it, I don't see much on the pick-up side in the grocery sector.
[SPEAKER_03]: I will, I will kind of like pin that because like a target, they're always freaking busy in the pickup, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: And for me,
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, I'm trying to just unpack it because like target, I feel like I don't care.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like I'm like, I don't want to walk through target because it is so massive, but as that may be a chef and in the food industry, there's something about when I got removed from the grocery store, it really like messed with my psyche of like, I want to be able to walk through the aisles and I actually want to see what's available, what is out there and things, again, to each their own, you know, the outside of the perimeter of the store usually your best
[SPEAKER_03]: how do you know what the quality, if I want to pick a beef, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: What's the quality of that cut?
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, when I'm picking up certain things, I'm looking for certain marbling or certain fat, I don't want to just have some random person that's like, hmm, they're some pork chops, and let me pick them up throw them in a cart, and they're 30% fat because they're on, you know, the tail end of a, of a loin or something.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'd love to hear both of your opinions honestly on this is,
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, like with the whole Renaissance of people coming back to like the roots of like wanting to know where their food is.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_03]: Do that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Does it go more into delivery or and convenience?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because there was also a charge with that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Very much notice that it gets up charged if you pick up.
[SPEAKER_03]: They obviously have to cover that labor versus going in.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'd love to, you know, just dig into that a little bit more and what you what you think and on that topic in general.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to jump in real quick with the one it also sum up my thoughts really in just one sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: The pain of keeping inferior products and items that you get is going to be less than the pain of having to return it and this is what the retailers are banking on.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're going to say, well, you know, the cut of meat in your example, it wasn't that great,
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's reducing consumer choice.
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes to like, you know, is it going, is the product going to expire tomorrow?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, is there something, you know, is the box damaged?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I wouldn't put that thing in my cart.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, creating that balance of a pain point is definitely something that's going to be leveraged against the consumer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll pick it up from there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So from what we learned during COVID and having all of the delivery and the pickup options is also has been great for accessibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do see the benefits of those options, specifically if you're unable to leave the house, if you just had surgery, if you have other things that you're dealing with, I understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm also watching these apps do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm quite an app user.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like my rewards, which is one of the reasons
[SPEAKER_00]: The more that companies can pay for placement on their app, and this is something we're not doing with sample finder, and we can come back to that, but the more that happens, the again with the less options that you have.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I am using GoPuff or if I'm using whatever I'm using a door dash, whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm only getting a certain selection and quite honestly those usually don't include small businesses and I am somebody who cares about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm also understanding of people who really want to make sure they're eating the right thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to make sure what they're giving their kids is the right thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to be looking at the package and if something gets replaced in your bag because it's being delivered, you don't really lose that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So all that to say is that creating and experience to go shopping and removing that like
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, oh, it's a chore versus, oh, I get to explore and discover and yeah, be it a chef like what new ingredients or what what alternatives can I try this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, for fruits and vegetables as well, it's you want to be able to see it, but it goes for package goods too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you're a small business and you finally got shelf placement, you matter too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you want the people to be walking through and seeing your stuff on the shelf.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you want to help the store get it off the shelf.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you might have demos to really promote it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now people know who you are and they get to try it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They become brand loyal retailers happy, brand is happy.
[SPEAKER_00]: User gets to be happy too because now they know what they're eating.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know what they, yeah, are getting and picking out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I see the benefits, I see the cons, and this is another way that will just help, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I was saying is a level playing field because we will not be having that type of option to purchase the top spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is whatever's closest to you within the radius and the soonest.
[SPEAKER_00]: So small business can be right on top, even if this is their one and only demo.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's what it is.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a paid a play game with the apps and what pop pop updates very much though.
[SPEAKER_03]: I never I didn't I never equated to it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I probably should have but I never put those two together of You pay more that obviously we're gonna promote your products in it for pick up because yeah I'm just it's so weird.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know you go to what happened.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're like, oh, I really want this especially to your point If it's something smaller or niche But you're you're very keen on it and then you go in search for it and you're like, I know they carry it Why is it on the app?
[SPEAKER_03]: I can't I buy this
[SPEAKER_03]: that makes total sense like well you that brand probably doesn't have a big in a presence and or it's they haven't paid enough to to be in a slot to for for pick up or delivery that's yeah that's that's insane to be so how do you know with the brands that are that are partnering they're going to go on to sample finder
[SPEAKER_03]: you know what does that look like you know what kind of metrics are you giving them obviously you know there's that feedback it's what is the time deliverables you know for a brand that's listening hey this sounds like something that I want to do you know brands do it all the time in grocery stores or wherever it retail in general you know what what are they going to get from the experience of putting their product onto the platform or activating you know a session or whatever with you guys let's say first of all it would be you know
[SPEAKER_01]: essentially, free advertising of their promotional events.
[SPEAKER_01]: How it's going to work is if you utilize our agency, players' permissions for the staffing, you'll get all the corresponding sampling events on sample finder for free.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a value add.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's number one is you're getting your product name out there and you're going to try to drive people to source and try to try them.
[SPEAKER_01]: In addition to the
[SPEAKER_01]: consumers of a bead normally going to store anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second is by a very simple kind of almost like a like a like a like a yelp style little review where it's you know one to five stars you know what did you like you can click multiple boxes did you buy the product and then they can write in feedback so that feedback will be going directly back to our clients brands for free.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they can use that data to create customizable marketing campaigns.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, oh, you know, we want to send a free Cobb coupon every three months to everyone who bought you're who rated at least, we're out of five stars.
[SPEAKER_01]: who noted that they liked the product and that they bought it and that maybe that they you know put a positive comment on.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're not only getting the exposure, they're also getting the kind of the anonymized start, can't make a little on-term promises, but to start.
[SPEAKER_01]: The anonymized user data that they can then get.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's almost like a combination of like a yelp and event break at a focused group in a way, especially if you're launching an
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, before you launch the entire product nationwide, you can get feedback on the taste, the packaging, things like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: From the consumers, our brand ambassador is they do an amazing job completing recap reports, but they are a little biased sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they may say it was a little bit more positive feedback than it was.
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, by hearing directly from the consumers, you get a ton more information that you're getting just from our brand ambassador summary.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I'm making a couple of notes because I don't I don't want to forget how do you how do you keep the experience from turning it I hate say it this way Yelp is a mess like I cannot go to yelp anymore the reviews are just horseshit like I'll just I'll just call it out You can't use it anymore, and so it's like almost these review systems that we've used for so long are like
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, I want to see what people think of something all look at a place and take restaurants, for example, and you'll be like, no, it's not a two star place like I've been there before and and then you start digging into the reviews and it's because somebody didn't get their water in the first 10 seconds that they sat down and you're like, you gave a place a one star review because of that come on, you're you're really.
[SPEAKER_03]: ruining what the whole point of the application was.
[SPEAKER_03]: So what's kind of guess you're guys safeguard to make sure that it doesn't turn into the yet another yelp and it's just like, okay, great.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's another app out here and the reviews mean nothing because they're either paid for or, you know, uh, it's just a bunch of bots.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what we're going to do is, we're going to go to old school on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were originally going to do a GPS-based check-in to make sure that they were close by, but we didn't want anyone driving around just trying to collect points like crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we are getting each brand ambassador, a six-digit code.
[SPEAKER_01]: that the user has to physically go to the store to collect by engaging with the brain ambassador, you know, that experience, that your connection that makes our industry so amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And by doing that, then they can enter in that they check in, then they can write their review.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's like, I think a very strong safeguard, you know, it's nothing digital except for giving the brain ambassador in advance what the sixth digit code is.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, it's a little bit old school, but you know, we really want this authentic in-person experiences and that's the safeguard we have in place.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and the brand is going to see this, so the other users will not necessarily see their reviews for phase one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, that will not affect negatively if somebody is having a bad day.
[SPEAKER_00]: They give a one-star review and they're like,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I didn't like that the I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't like that the table was set up in front of what I needed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm going to leave a bad review for the brand when it isn't even the free and fall that we will be monitoring it, especially to start monitoring and having everything run through and make sure we don't have like, you know, just even vulgarity will be being on top of that, but
[SPEAKER_00]: Currently the way that the app is set up is the brand will be the only ones receiving it And if we see something like that, we'll share it, but we'll be like, okay This is we you understand that this has nothing to do with your products and that that rating is not going to show up You know like how Uber drivers get a rating and the one person like they might have it be having a bad day And now the Uber rating star review is going down and it will not be like that Your brand review rating none of that will be showing up.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is more specifically for the brand to get the feedback
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, somebody might be like, yeah, you know, I really, really loved it, but I'm supposed to not be having as much sodium right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I thank you for the taste, but maybe make an option with less sodium, and now if they get enough of that, or say they're like, yeah, I love your ice cream.
[SPEAKER_00]: I use this example before all the time because I'm trying to be vegan, and I love ice cream.
[SPEAKER_00]: But so if I went and I was sampling...
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to review.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, I love this, but could you please consider this?
[SPEAKER_00]: If enough people are getting this type of feedback, they you get to be speaking directly to the brand.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a very cool feature in a world where people love parasocial relationships.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's face it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you get to feel like the brand has a personality as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if any brand is doing experiential marketing, they care about the personality of that they're putting out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: Another touch point, another chance to learn more about your target audience and maybe make changes the way I'll said like you tested out in certain areas maybe next time you're like okay you know what people really did like the sample but they really wanted to have if states of alcoholic drink they love the sample but they're a lot of feedback was given that they would like to try it in a drink okay next round that we do we're going to make drink we're going to be mixologist now and our brand ambassadors will be trained it's
[SPEAKER_00]: If they work with us, I will say that this is open even if you don't work with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, you'll be listed for free if you do use our staffing services.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so it's open to everybody, but yeah, then you can, you get to learn.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how I don't want to be another yelp.
[SPEAKER_03]: Good.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sidebar, you said you're trying to go vegan, you love ice cream.
[SPEAKER_03]: Have you had Eclipse ice cream?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I have not, okay, right down.
[SPEAKER_03]: Just like the moon is called called Eclipse and look for the pink logo.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's, uh, it's only like anything you've ever had.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not just a coconut base or an almond base.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's a truly vegan product and I do recognize for logo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I'm just throwing it out.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're giving them some love.
[SPEAKER_03]: I've had it in the past.
[SPEAKER_03]: Love the product anyways, uh, back on subject.
[SPEAKER_03]: So then brands necessarily don't need these huge teams, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: It's almost kind of like in the manufacturing equipment world.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's reps all over the country, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Manufacturers don't have these massive teams.
[SPEAKER_03]: They rely on these rep groups all over the country.
[SPEAKER_03]: You kind of are that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But on the food side where the message can get out, they can get feedback and they're not worrying about playing tickets in hotel stays and I mean, what a person can only do so much, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Like from a demographic standpoint, knows how to talk to those people.
[SPEAKER_03]: Right?
[SPEAKER_03]: If you're down on the south, it's a different dynamic than if you're up here in Chicago, with completely different worlds, and probably would lend better, in my opinion, if somebody from that,
[SPEAKER_03]: general area is sampling something has the same dialect, et cetera, versus somebody that's for, again, from Chicago, New York, and they have this weird accent, and they're just like, ah, these are these city people.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't, I don't want them.
[SPEAKER_03]: I wish you that's a huge benefit as well for these brands if they, if they jump on board.
[SPEAKER_00]: love that you said that because i that is not something that ever crossed my mind it makes total sense we love talking about local talent but yes you're talking to a member of your peers like this is somebody who lives in your state who knows and is trained to speak about it and you know it's it's in that role it's almost building community that's really cool i'm glad you said that very good and safe
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I've gone around and done not sampling, but I've been to certain places, and people can tell that you're not from the area.
[SPEAKER_03]: They can tell by, again, just the way you dress, the way you act, the way you talk, that you're like, there's something about this person, they seem salesier.
[SPEAKER_03]: They don't feel authentic per se to the experience because they just want to push a product, whatever, maybe, I don't know, just kind of hit me in the back of the mind.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so with the app, all right, we hit CES, you hit the couple things,
[SPEAKER_03]: When are we looking at for launch date for this, you know, what does that look like?
[SPEAKER_03]: Or what did you wrote back for 2026?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're targeting around April 1st.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're doing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're kind of beta testing as it's being built, which is very unique through this thing called test flight on, through the Apple developer services.
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, so we're kind of building it and
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, obviously a very slow process, you know, with going through testing and building it and making sure the features work.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're looking at really like doing a public launch run April and then, you know, getting our brand partners on board and really trying to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd say around probably like July first probably really starting to do like consumer marketing to kind of, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: cool.
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just have some like weird off the wall questions because you guys are do sampling and it's just a very weird.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't say it's a very unique thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: I kind of know there's really like horror stories of going out to do a sample and just like some crazy happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, you're first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I got one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know you're, I think I might know of yours.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had been in weird situations where like, there was a snowstorm and they didn't want to cancel it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The storm was still open, so I had to walk up, hill in the snow to go do the sampling, and then like, of course, not really that many people were there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just like, yeah, I'm going to talk about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still going to do the best that I can, but when it's weather related, sometimes that's really hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which was now.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, this did not happen to me personally, but we've done thousands of different, you know, promo events, you know, throughout the years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the craziest story I ever heard was we had a brain ambassador who was representing our brain at a store and the store called me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because obviously, you know, in a supermarket, you have, you know, your aisles just going, you know, parallel with each other, well some stores you've got like a perpendicular cut through the cuts through all the aisles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this brand ambassador managed to finagle it so that she was working to
[SPEAKER_01]: promos at the same time at the same store for two different agencies with two different brands.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what she did was like she like had like in the like like a it's like a caddy corner to the she said two tables.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like one category category order to the other and just set them both up and was bouncing back and forth And the craziest thing that was like she denied it the store called us because the store knew something was like really wrong And then like yeah, we're letting all the agencies know she's you know Blacklisted from you know she's not allowed to use demos in here anymore
[SPEAKER_01]: and you know we call her and like they actually sent the security video which was literally right above her head and she's like oh yeah you know you know it's just denying it like you know and it was just like I mean our brand ambassadors I mean you know usually I would just say ballpark 25 to 35 dollars an hour you know they are independent contractors so that's you know pre-tax and pre-expenses and everything but like
[SPEAKER_01]: They make good money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you go out.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can kind of like, you know, pigeon hole in a little three hour demo, you know, make, you know, 75 to 105 plus dollars for doing like a, you know, a three hour demo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you really want to try to like game the system on top of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, come on, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, other little stories about, you know, the only other one was, you know, B.A.
[SPEAKER_01]: was returning unused demo bottles and keeping the store credit for herself, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: So...
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, it's like you're looking at ruining your reputation, sometimes this is actually breaking the law.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it is theft to the agencies and Torah clients, but yeah, that one is definitely like, I mean, you know, props for the creativity there, but like, you know, I was going to say, I was going to say, I create a creativity points, but yeah, yeah,
[SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I mean, it's a better it's a better get it's it's got to be a better gig than drive an Uber or or some of these other things, you know what I mean, like you don't know what Tom comes to carry a salary, you're going to you're going to pick up when you could just go to a store and sample products all day and talk about it, but what are some of the hardest products to sample properly like to get a message across like, what would you say the hardest is Food that needs to be prepped.
[SPEAKER_01]: like cooked on site like if we need to bring in a burner if we need to like you know like cut things prepare things you know one of the craziest ones I ever dealt with was we had a client they gave out like a little like carry on size demo kit suitcase or making non-alcoholic you know mocktails and they gave out like you know like like
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was just like such an overkill because they wanted like the product with a club soda and then like an orange like Rind like a little piece of orange peel or something and I'm just like and there was a cutting boards and everything like it's It's very difficult to execute those just because of like all the logistics that need to come into that I Yeah, sounds like sound like regular demos
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's possible to do them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just it's easier than if you have two people maybe somebody who can like be doing the prep and another person who can be actually giving out the samples.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we see this all the time at trade shows where we do the we help with food prep.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we do that, and our brand ambassadors are in a higher level.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of people, but they're trained for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they are helping on sites.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we see food and beverage shows.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, OK, we want to be prepping all of this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we also want to be handing out samples.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we also want to have meaningful conversations.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, you need a brand ambassador to do all of that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And speaking to your point, maybe a local one, because they know the convention center
[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't have to fly them out and spend money for your team to go, so I know that takes it a little bit out of the store and the retail activations that we do, but we also do so many trade shows and festivals and in that case, setting this type of stuff up is not as hard, but it is still always a challenge to just, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure everything goes well, and that's why we have an excelling operations team that I don't know if I mentioned this, but we interview every brain ambassador before we work with them and we have close to 10,000 brain ambassadors nationwide, so we're very in we are very on top of the type of personality we're sending out and then on top of that we have training and it is all customizable types of training to help the more complicated and customizable services that we do offer runs smoothly.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't even think about food shows.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's that it's that time of the year, especially in the in the food world.
[SPEAKER_03]: I got the first one of mine coming up at the end of this month.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then in our days around the corner and the the pizza, pizza shows coming.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's there's their popping up everywhere.
[SPEAKER_03]: I see them all over LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_03]: I never, I never even thought, I never thought about trade shows.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it could also be a benefit to now that I'm thinking, you know, even to a food broker, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: There's so many food brokers that that need support.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you guys ever work with food brokers or not,
[SPEAKER_03]: They try to do have their own, like they represent so many brands, but they, again, there's only so many of them that can support.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's, I like the concept.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a very unique and interesting niche segment that that's that's why I had to talk to you guys is I was like this is this is a really cool piece of the, of the food and beverage world that like you said that nobody's ever heard of and they wouldn't think of it as, as being something.
[SPEAKER_03]: So anything that we didn't talk about today that you guys want to talk about.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only thing I would say is the simple finder, like the gamification in the rewards.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes, yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is where, and you know, this is kind of Heather's brain child.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you had, do you want to jump in on this one?
[SPEAKER_01]: Heather and kind of talk about like, you know, yeah, I will.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will in the sense of like making it fun because, okay, we're talking about food.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody eats.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all need to, with multiple times a day, but what is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you going to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then how can you get the most out of it, help wise?
[SPEAKER_00]: And how can you have fun doing it?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mentioned that grocery shopping can be a chore, but so can, you know, putting together snacks for, you know, kid lunches and like all of this stuff and how how do you make that fun while going and going to the sampling events?
[SPEAKER_00]: finding what's happening in your area and making it sort of gamified where, you know, we will be having trivia questions that goes back to the marketing side of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can answer questions about like new favorite brands, learn as you're doing it, and earn points.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you check and you get points, leave review, you get points and these points will be turned into down the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: Chances to win more food products, discounts, monthly swing stakes, points for points that adding up into new types of experiences potentially.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of ways that this can go.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, we're launching in later this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: April 20, 26 is the goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you go to samplefinder.com, you can put in your email address and get notified just so that you know when it's coming out and stay on top of everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just wanted to plug that so that your listeners can follow along the journey as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're on Instagram and social media.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I was going to ask to plug all those you already did if you already did it for me, but I want to make a point on the Amification because my kids right there at that age nine and seven Tech is they know phones inside now.
[SPEAKER_03]: There are things that they do on my phone.
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't even know that a phone could do which is really sad when I am a tech person myself
[SPEAKER_03]: But they're always like they're different like they're doing their rewards.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're daily check-ins and to me I'm like, oh, this sounds kind of like a a free way in a sense to take the kid somewhere and do something and not Right everything costs money nowadays You take them this place and it's 200 bucks to go bowling nowadays.
[SPEAKER_03]: Why not go to the grocery grocery stores with my jam?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's therapy.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's just I get out of the house.
[SPEAKER_03]: I can walk aisles and when my kids get to come, they get to see things.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're asking questions about products.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're they're helping put things in shop.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know just becoming a human being like in society like they should become and I don't think that happens enough.
[SPEAKER_03]: But they would be asking me I guarantee you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, did you, oh, there's a sample did you log in and get your points, I guarantee you that if you like turn it into like a family type thing as well, that your kids would jump on and to your point now it's learning now it's education it's not just, you know, brands, signing up to be on an app and getting feedback, which they need and they want, but now you're bringing it all together with both the consumer, the brand and everybody all together.
[SPEAKER_03]: So,
[SPEAKER_03]: I really like what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm super excited to see how it all plays out.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll have to get a follow up from from y'all in April.
[SPEAKER_03]: See how everything's going.
[SPEAKER_03]: Any other socials to plug besides sample finder if they want to contact you guys directly on anything?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so our Instagram handles and Facebook and all of that is sample finder app.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our agency, if you're interested in working with us and learning more about our services, is Polaris,
[SPEAKER_00]: And both of those are also the website.
[SPEAKER_00]: So samplefinder.com, Polarisbrampromotion.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can reach out in any of those ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be one of the two of us responding to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're speaking directly with the co-founders and with the team and the owner of the agency.
[SPEAKER_00]: We like to keep it very personable.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can ask us questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you just are interested in knowing more, we're happy to talk to you very open to sharing what we do and helping other brands.
[SPEAKER_02]: Cool, anything else from you, Al?
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, no, just, you know, it's...
[SPEAKER_01]: just we're so excited and like you know overwhelmed that you know how quickly this has come about I mean this was just an idea I think like now it's eight months ago and we've already exhibited CSNNRF and you know we're really excited to be kind of you know using this to set our agency apart not only as a way to staff promotions but also to you know promote them one of the things that really kind of look at those case studies that came to mind was
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was Mr.
[SPEAKER_01]: Beast launched Mr.
[SPEAKER_01]: Beast burger up at the American dream wall, and I think they had like 10,000 people that showed up from, you know, that drove and show up from godnily knows how long and how much distance just for, and I don't know what the giveaways or I'm sure they give away some, you know, merch or swag or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're grand opening, and just I guess for the chance to maybe see Mr.
[SPEAKER_01]: Beast in person.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, if you weren't willing to do that out there and we can flood them with different opportunities like this on like a smaller scale, like certainly not a major YouTube celebrity if you're as, you know, if we can get that kind of excitement on a consistent basis with consumers then I think this is really going to make a difference in the retail space.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Everyone listening, go check out Sample Finder.
[SPEAKER_03]: Download it when it comes.
[SPEAKER_03]: Comes out in the store.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Mark the counters for April.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you liked this episode, want to hear more, be sure to check out all the other previous episodes, Apple Spotify, YouTube, the sector.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know where to find us, I fell in the food.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Heather, Al, thanks again for your time today.
[SPEAKER_03]: Really appreciate everything.
[SPEAKER_03]: And until next time, we'll catch you on the sunny side.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.