[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Welcome to Talks at Google.
I'm Marc De Schweinitz.
I'm here with Tony Hawk, Ryan
Maconochie, and Adam Wilson,
all part of the new D/CAL
creative brand consultancy
agency.
How would you
describe that, D/CAL?
Let's start with that.
TONY HAWK: That was pretty good.
ADAM WILSON: Yeah.
Yeah, I think you
nailed it, Marc.
I mean, we're still
trying to figure it out.
We don't like to
use the word agency,
but that's how people know
companies that do what we do.
I guess if there's
a tag line, it
would be we're not
here to make ads.
We're here to make
brands happen.
That's kind of our jam.
And maybe we'll weave
a little bit of that
into this discussion because
there is a lot of overlap.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Yeah, cool.
So today we're going to
talk about skateboarding,
marketing, creativity.
First let's talk a little
bit about skateboarding.
Tony, you've done a ton of
interviews on skateboarding.
How would you relate your
experience skateboarding
to marketing and creativity,
like, in a general sense?
TONY HAWK: Well, I think
skateboarding at its core
is highly creative.
I think that to be
a skater, you've
got to figure out how to make
it your art form, you know.
It's not just the sport of who's
fastest, who jumps the highest.
It's more like what can you do
with this, what kind of style
do you have?
And I fell in love with
it at an early age.
And I fell in love with
all the characters,
too, because it was just
this very unique crew
from all walks of life.
And they listened to punk
music and they had weird hair,
and I loved it, you know?
And then suddenly my
classmates thought
I was a freak, like, within the
first year that I was doing it.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Right.
Did that put any pressure
on you to do something else?
Like were you awkward
as a younger person?
TONY HAWK: Absolutely.
I was-- yeah, I was super
skinny, small, nerdy kid,
and found skateboarding.
And then all of a
sudden I was hanging out
with what I thought was much
older guys, like 18, 20.
And they all had this
really cool style
and just went against the grain.
And I think that's what
I learned at the time,
especially.
It was just like, yeah,
just do your own thing
and be proud of it and
enjoy it, even if it
doesn't fit in with mainstream.
I mean, it's hard to quantify it
because people don't understand
how truly uncool skateboarding
was in the early '80s.
Like if you did it, you were
instantly marked as an outcast.
I got picked on a lot, which
we now know as bullying.
And it was just it was a
time when, if you did it,
were part of this very--
we like to consider it
elite, but it was just
a strange outcast group.
And for the most
part you were just
made fun of because you did it.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
What do you think
when you look at
skateboarding today,
and it's much more
mainstream, and we
have sponsored competitions,
versus when you were a child?
TONY HAWK: I think it's awesome.
I would have killed to have
people pay me back then
and to have those opportunities.
I think it's great.
I think it just shows
how far we've come,
and that skateboarding
and skaters themselves
stayed the course.
Like they kept doing
what they loved.
They refined this
activity into something
that does translate
to a bigger audience
and really hits
the mark for kids
who have short attention spans,
like daredevil activities,
like something that is still
kind of against the grain.
I love the fact that I
get to see skateboarding
come of age like this.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
When you were
skating when you were
young, did it ever
help you feel like this
was an escape from any
of the other pressures of life?
Like what really brought
you into that zone
or that flow of skating?
TONY HAWK: It was the
idea that you could always
be learning something new.
It wasn't really-- escape.
I don't know.
I don't think of
it as an escape.
You know I didn't really
have the pressures of family
or mortgage when I was 12.
But I think it was
more that I really
enjoyed that it was this other
thing that gave me an identity,
and you could do it
in your own style.
That's what I loved about it.
I was skinny and my style
was different than, say,
the sort of Dogtown era flow.
But at some point--
I think it was when I
learned my first trick that I
knew no one else
had done, and that
sounds like an awesome thing.
It really was just me
going halfway up a bull
and turning my board around.
And it was like, oh,
cool, no one's done that.
No one cared.
But for me, it really gave me
a sense of self-confidence,
and I think that carried me
through because suddenly it
was like, this is
just a blank canvas,
the skateboarding thing.
You can do anything.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Can you talk to us
more about the process
of creating tricks?
Like do you start
with something known,
and then incrementally tweak it?
Or what do you do?
TONY HAWK: It's
always different.
A lot of times a mistake
will be a beautiful accident.
And then you think, whoa,
what if I actually did that,
or I turned my board this way.
And sometimes it's
just more obvious,
like if you're spinning, like
what's the next 180 degrees?
What's the next spin?
Or can you maneuver
your skateboard while
doing that same spin?
And nowadays, with the advent
of street skating and skaters
being so technical, it's
literally like games
because it's like, oh, you
do this crazy flip trick
into a grind, and flip it out,
and spin around, and go down
the stairs.
And I mean, all
that stuff we were
doing as a joke in our
video games 15 years ago.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Do you
think your video games have
influenced new skate tricks?
TONY HAWK: I think so
on a very general scale.
But I think more so
that kids grew up
playing our video game series
and thinking that was possible.
They had no idea
that we were just
doing these fantastical
moves and doing it
because we loved doing
it in a video game
because it's not real.
And then kids grew up doing
that, thinking that's real,
and then they pursued it.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Can you
tell us a little bit more
about creating the
Tony Hawk video games?
What was that like for you?
How did the opportunity come?
TONY HAWK: It was--
well, there's a
long version of it,
but the short version is
that Activision called me
because they knew I was
interested in doing a game
because I had actually pitched
a game to other console
manufacturers and
software developers.
And they said, well, we
heard you want to do a game.
We are doing a game, and we'd
love to have your input on it.
And so I went to Activision,
and they presented me
with a Playstation.
And there was Bruce
Willis on a skateboard
because they had just done a
game called Apocalypse starring
Bruce Willis.
I think it was one of
the first games that
ever had a celebrity in it.
And they said, we
made this game,
but the engine seems
like it's better
suited for skateboarding.
And so I played as
Bruce Willis with a gun
strapped on his back
skating through a desert.
And immediately, I felt it.
Like I just felt that
this was intuitive,
that the controls
matched how you
would imagine skating to work.
And I basically
signed on that day.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
That's amazing.
And the soundtrack has
been super popular.
I know the Goldfinger song
is one of the top on YouTube.
Do credit some of that
to the video game?
TONY HAWK: Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, it was a vehicle
for me, at least,
to share the soundtrack
of skateboarding
because in the '80s,
like mid-'80s, early
'90s and whatnot, it was
all fueled by punk music.
But it wasn't a
hugely popular genre.
And so I just sort of
brought that along.
I didn't really
think that that was
going to be the big selling
point or the big takeaway
from the video game.
I was more proud of the
mechanics and the locations
and the authenticity.
But at the same time, It was
cool to be able to show people
the music we were listening to.
Literally, to have
a Dead Kennedys
track on the first game, to
me, was the end all, you know?
I couldn't believe that
I got to share that
and that it was
so well-received.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
So what advice
do you have for marketers
that are looking
at other elements
of their products,
like the soundtrack
and the style?
How do you make it
authentic and popular?
TONY HAWK: Well, I
think that for us, it's
just being in the mix and having
grown up in this skateboarding
and street culture and truly
knowing what is authentic.
And it's just more
that you can't learn
that going to marketing school.
You just have to live in that
industry or in that world,
and we all grew
up in that world.
So to us, it's more innate,
what is cool, what is authentic.
ADAM WILSON: I mean,
if you were to--
we kind of like to look at
brands kind of on an x,y axis,
right?
So like the vertical axis
is the functional category.
So take Jeep, for example.
Like if you overlay Jeep,
they make SUVs, right?
That's their vertical sort of
category, functional category.
Across, like
horizontally, is sort
of that cultural
continuum, right?
And the reason why Jeep
is such a strong brand
is because they mean more than
their functional category.
So if you go across,
we call it culture.
Culture is just a fancy word for
the things we all care about.
People don't have deep,
deep feelings for SUVs.
But they have deep, deep
feelings about community.
So like universally, in a Jeep,
there's the Jeep wave, right?
You see someone driving a Jeep.
Skateboarding.
You could take skateboarding
as a brand and overlay it over
that x,y axis, right?
So functionally there are tricks
that you can iterate upon,
and the fundamentals.
But when you go across,
Tony is talking about music.
And he's brought that and pulled
that together in skateboarding,
has a lot to do with his
success in his own brand
and his own ventures.
But there's music.
In terms of community, if
you overlay skateboarding
as a brand on that, the
equivalent to the Jeep
wave is banging your
trucks on the coping
when a kid you don't even
pulled a great trick.
That can happen in Berlin
at a skate park in Berlin.
It can happen in Rio de
Janeiro, or here in Detroit.
It's the same common language.
And that's how brands
become meaningful.
And I guess that would be
lesson number one for marketers,
is to something more than
your functional category.
And we draw a lot of lessons
from that, from skateboarding.
| would say lesson
two is inclusiveness.
I mean, you've got
a 51-year-old here
who remains one of the greatest
skateboarders in the world,
and a 46, and
whatever you are, who
also remain some of the worst
skateboarders in the world.
TONY HAWK: Are you
hiding your age?
ADAM WILSON: Yeah.
So you know, there's
staying power.
There's inclusivity.
But to me, that's
the biggest parallel,
is having that lateral
meaning, you know?
There's design.
There's art.
There's music, you know?
It's not just about the
act of skateboarding.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
There are a lot
of brands that try to be cool.
Maybe they don't
skateboard, but they
try to integrate that
into their culture.
Why do you think
they go wrong there?
Is it just because they
don't have the background
and understand the culture?
TONY HAWK: Yeah, or they're just
not hiring a good consultant.
I think--
ADAM WILSON: There's the plug.
We're done.
TONY HAWK: But that's
the truth, though.
And I had to--
with the success
of the video game,
I got some pretty
big opportunities
to do big sponsorships
and endorsements.
And I had to fight
for final approval
and, for the most part, art
direction in those instances
because they didn't want to
hear from some scrappy skater
that you can't do it that way.
That's not cool.
I think the best example was
I was working with Frito-Lay,
and they wanted to
do some packaging.
And they were
taking skate photos,
and they were turning
them so that they
worked with the
logistics of the package.
And I said, well, you can't
turn that trick upside down.
That's not skateboarding.
Well, you don't know.
You don't know our world.
I said, that's fine, but
I know skateboarding,
and you're going to get panned
by a whole generation that
understands skateboarding now.
Or they would take a
photo of me and flop it
because they liked
the direction was.
And I said, you can't
make me a regular footer.
That doesn't work for me.
Just those small
instances were ones
that I truly had to fight for.
I had to stand my ground,
like, no, that is not approved.
That's not going out like that.
And eventually, I guess,
won those battles,
but also, through
that, were proven
to have that authenticity.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
I've seen surf videos
where someone's going left,
and then the next panel,
they're going right.
Same type of thing.
TONY HAWK: Yeah, all that
stuff, you know, it's flashy,
and it might have
gone well for a group
when no one really
understood these sports.
But we're way beyond
that now, and people
are very savvy to these things.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Let's
talk about some of the product
endorsements you've done.
I know you got some
flack in the past
for doing endorsements outside
of the skateboarding industry,
like in the early
days in the '80s.
What was that like?
TONY HAWK: Well, I made plenty
of mistakes in the '80s.
Luckily, we didn't have social
media back then or YouTube.
And I think I just learned to
be more authentic with what
I was doing, and to--
like that fight for control.
In the '80s, it was wild west.
And it was just kind
of like, yeah, sure.
What, this?
Of course.
Yeah, you know, and
didn't really care
how it was presented.
There was just a
paycheck at the end.
I think that probably
where I got the most
flak after that run of
success, if you call it that,
was doing the Bagel Bites
endorsements in '98, '97.
And that was the
first time that people
saw a big commercialized
version of something
using skateboarding because
they had huge marketing dollars.
And I mean, what I
did and how I did it,
I presented it as
very authentic.
But it didn't matter.
Didn't matter how
cool it was presented.
People were just like,
you're a sellout.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Tell us more about why
your peers call you a sellout.
ADAM WILSON: Bagel boy.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Because it's not like you
would not actually
eat the product,
and you're selling something.
TONY HAWK: It was just skating
had been around for so long,
and people coveted it as this
very pure hardcore activity.
And they identified
themselves with it.
And it was kind of like this
cool club that you were in.
And so to have anyone outside
of that coming in and marketing
was unheard of.
And in a lot of ways, people
thought that was taboo.
I was never against it.
I mean, had Bagel Bites knocked
on my door when I was 14,
I would have done it.
And it was something that
I wasn't changing my value
system.
Like I definitely
still eat Bagel Bites,
and they don't pay me.
But-- so it wasn't something
that was so outrageous to me.
I was never trying
to keep skateboarding
as this coveted thing that
only cool people can do,
and outsiders are not welcome.
I always wondered why it
didn't resonate more with kids.
I wondered why.
It seems that it's the kind of
thing kids would want to do.
It's super cool.
It's daredevil.
It's freeing.
It's low cost of entry.
And so I wanted to
promote it as best I can.
And Bagel Bites actually--
my mindset was, I'm using
their marketing dollars
to promote skateboarding
on a bigger scale.
Like I'm showing
skateboarding at its best
here in a commercial
that's going
to be seen by people
who have never seen
skateboarding in their life.
And this might be their
entry point to it.
So I had a much
different view of it.
And I had survived, or
suffered through all the flak
of the '80s that I had
resolved, when this came through
and people were, for
lack of a better term,
talking shit about me, where I
was like, I'm still doing this,
you know?
I'm doing it.
I'm not doing it for
any different reason.
And I think that having
pushed through that
set me up in a good way,
especially for these days,
for the online hate
that comes through.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Right.
So you're very active on social
media, Twitter, other channels.
Are there haters on there ever?
How do you deal with that?
TONY HAWK: Please.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
I know personally.
But for you, what's that like?
TONY HAWK: Yes very much so.
But like I said, I think between
being an outcast in school
for being a skater,
between pushing
through the hate of being called
a sellout through Bagel Bites
or through having video games,
that hardened me for what
was to come in social media.
And so when people
hide anonymously
and they'd say mean
things about you,
I'm just like, please, at
least say that to my face.
When I was little-- or they
used to used to say things about
my skating, and how--
what was the word they used?
Well, they used to say that
I cheated in my skating
because I would
ollie into my errors
because no one was doing it
that way at the time, which
I thought was
awesome because yeah,
I could grab my boy however
I wanted to because it
was already in the air.
And that that was very much
against the grain of skating.
And so I used to
get panned literally
in "Thrasher" magazine
for winning an event.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Like
you're cheating or something.
TONY HAWK: Yeah, it was
like, oh, Tony Hawk just
ollies around and grabs
his ball wherever.
Like what's the point?
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Now everyone does it.
TONY HAWK: It's really the
only way you can get air.
But it was-- for me, it
was more functionality
because I was so small.
I didn't have the bulk or the
strength to get in the air
by muscling it through.
It was more like I
had to do it that way.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: So when
you look back at your career,
you're still a professional
skateboarder, still compete.
How did you bring
all this other stuff
into your life like
endorsements, video games?
Did you seek for other
avenues to expand your career?
Or how did that all happen?
TONY HAWK: Yes and no.
If I felt like there was
a void in the industry,
or if there was an opportunity
to expand skateboarding
through a different
type of promotion,
then I was willing to do it.
I don't know.
It's more I take
it case by case.
It's whatever I
think is something
that would resonate
that does fit,
or if it's something
I believe in.
And I don't really have
some overall criteria
that, like, OK, this will work.
This will work.
And also, it's just more like
I've got to walk the walk.
I mean, that's truly
what it's about for me,
is I'm still skating.
Yeah, I'm way older
than most skaters,
most pros, most people.
But I'm still able
to do it, and I
feel like I'm still relevant
in that I'm progressing.
I'm not trying to do
the biggest spins.
I'm not doing the
big ramps and stuff.
But I do have a creative
force that's still in me
that I still really enjoy.
And that's why I'm able
to, or that I could justify
doing these bigger promotions.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Looking
on YouTube, or at Google here,
your most popular
video, when I search
for Tony Hawk on YouTube,
is the spiral loop
going into your half pipe.
TONY HAWK: It is odd.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Yeah, why do you think
that's the most popular video?
TONY HAWK: I don't know.
I think maybe it's
easier to understand
from a non-skating
perspective because you know,
skate tricks are very technical.
Some people don't understand
why this one could be
that much harder than that one.
It's more visual, and there
are plenty of crashes.
I know the value of showing
your painful attempts as well.
Yeah, I don't know.
That one's the gift
that keeps on giving.
Like it just comes around
every once in a while,
and suddenly it gets
millions more views.
But I'm proud of it.
I mean, it was definitely
as hard as it looks.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
It looked hard.
TONY HAWK: I never
want to do it again.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Some
of the other popular ones
are when you rode a hoverboard,
and it was trick photography.
There were wires, and you
got some flak for that.
TONY HAWK: I thought
we got past that.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: I
know there's interest.
And what's the story there?
The video said
this is not a joke.
This is real.
And then you got some pushback.
TONY HAWK: So first of
all, that was not my idea.
It came from "Funny or Die".
ADAM WILSON: It wasn't ours
either, for the record.
TONY HAWK: Yeah.
If these guys had
been around, we
would have marketed
it much better.
No, "Funny or Die"
came to me and said,
we have the rig that they
used for "Back to the Future"
for the hoverboard.
Do you want to come
be a part of it?
I'm like, that sounds awesome.
And it came from "Funny or Die".
So clearly, in my eyes, this is
going to be a comedy segment.
And they had--
what's his name, doc.
Sorry.
His name escapes me.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Yeah, Christopher Lloyd.
TONY HAWK: Christopher
Lloyd come to the set.
And I was like,
oh, this is insane.
Like this is one of the
coolest things I've ever done.
And they loved the edit so
much that they presented it
as being real and
then went dark.
The guys who made
it just went silent.
So I was the one
to answer for it.
And people were
just angry with me,
like, I don't
think this is real.
Why are you lying to us?
And it really--
RYAN MACONOCHIE: The
inauthenticity showing through.
TONY HAWK: What's that?
RYAN MACONOCHIE:
The inauthenticity
showing through, right?
People saw right through that.
TONY HAWK: Yeah.
It was exactly not authentic.
So I actually had to make
a video of me pleading
with people, like, I'm sorry.
This was a joke.
I thought it was supposed
to be presented as a joke.
We're not trying to fool you.
It was more fun.
And yeah, they're not real.
I wish they were real.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: I
thought it was real at first.
TONY HAWK: The funny thing
is, right around that time--
it was only just a
few months later--
that someone said this group
in Palo Alto was like, hey,
we actually made a hoverboard.
Do you want to come try it?
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Oh,
yeah, the Hendo one.
Is that right?
TONY HAWK: Oh, the Hendo, yeah.
Which was very much not like
the one that people imagined.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
It's like a centimeter--
TONY HAWK: Super clunky.
Yeah, it had to go
on a metal surface.
It had these whirling engines.
It was impossible to control.
You would go into a
death spiral immediately.
But it was real.
So at least we got people--
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
It was authentic.
TONY HAWK: Yeah, I
mean, so the timing
was it was very odd with that.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Right.
Are there other mistakes that
you've made in terms of--
these are interesting, you know?
Like signing your rights
to your name over early on?
I think there were
products that maybe you
didn't believe in that had
the Tony Hawk brand on them.
TONY HAWK: Yeah.
I think the biggest
lesson I learned
was not to sign my name over
for approval to someone else,
to just--
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Like carte blanche.
TONY HAWK: To literally
sign my life away.
I think the biggest
lesson came when it was
in the mid-'80s,
maybe late '80s.
And I didn't know any better.
I was 19 or whatever.
And I signed a contract
with these people
that they could make any
product my name on it.
And they started making these
super cheap Velcro wallets,
these plastic finger boards.
And it wasn't even the products.
It was more the logos
were just so cheap,
and they were kind of ripoffs
of other skate brands.
And I was like, you guys--
I finally went up there and I
said, you guys can't do this.
And they said, actually, we can.
And as this guy's talking--
I'll never forget.
As the guy's talking to me,
he has all these products
behind him on his shelves.
And there's a roll of toilet
paper that says Tony Hawk Gear.
And it keeps catching my--
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Toilet paper.
TONY HAWK: It was catching
my eye as he's talking.
And I go, what is that?
And he said, oh, that
was one of our retailers
said, you know, we're
making all this stuff.
And they said, you can put Tony
Hawk's name on anything, even
toilet paper, and it would sell.
And he's like, so we made
that for him as a joke.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: As a joke.
Did it sell?
It probably did sell.
TONY HAWK: And to
him, that was amazing.
And he was complimenting me.
And to me, I was like,
this is terrible.
This is my worst nightmare.
And I actually had to pay
to get out of that contract.
That was the last
time I saw them.
I said, I don't want to
work with you guys anymore.
And they said, well,
it's going to cost you
because they tried to
charge me for the molds
for their fingerboards, what
now is considered Tech Deck,
but they made the
little plastic molds--
as if they weren't going
to make those anyway,
as if other companies weren't
making the same thing.
They said, I have to pay
for this giant machine that
makes those products.
I was like, that
doesn't work, no.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
Question for Ryan here.
You see Tony from the outside.
You know him.
How do you think he's maintained
his personal brand relevancy
as a 51-year-old skateboarder?
RYAN MACONOCHIE:
Oh, my goodness.
I mean, Tony-- come on.
Well, first of all,
he's still performing
at a level of a 22-year-old
when he's 50 something.
You know, he's constantly
kind of reinventing himself.
He's constantly
staying relevant.
He's communicating.
He's unbelievable with how he
handles social media is great.
We're constantly kind
of learning from that.
So there's kind of this--
he just has a good,
well-rounded personality
that is pretty multifaceted that
I think is great, where there's
the intensity and the
competitive side of him
that people relate to.
But then there's also the--
he's very charitable
in nature and stuff,
and constantly showing off and
showing others' accomplishments
and things like that.
I think there's just a
really relatable person that
relates to many age levels,
many different interest
levels and stuff like that.
So he's constantly kind
of doing new things
and being progressive.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Yeah
you mentioned the charity.
There's the Tony Hawk
Foundation, which is amazing.
Do you want to put
in a plug for some
of the work you've done there?
I think it's incredible.
TONY HAWK: Sure.
Yeah.
Well, we act as
a resource center
for groups that want to get
skate parks in their area.
And at some point, we realized
that our funding, even
though it's not a lot,
it goes a long way
to help people finally
get a park approved
or to get matching
donations and things.
And so we started 18 years ago.
We've helped to fund
over 900 skate parks now.
We've given away, I
think, over $8 million.
And we are partnering up
with other groups, including
Ralph C. Wilson Foundation,
to focus on areas in Michigan.
So a lot of the parks
that are around here we've
had a hand in because
of that grant.
And I mean, it's the
work I'm most proud of.
And selfishly, I just
get more places to skate.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Yeah.
Keep it up.
I love skating, too, so I'm
hitting up all the parks.
TONY HAWK: Yeah,
the Ann Arbor Park.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Yeah, I
love the Ann Arbor skate park.
TONY HAWK: And then the one
here, the Riverside, the Ride
It Sculpture Park and Hamtramck.
Ferndale.
Those are all parks that
we helped to facilitate.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Right.
They're beautiful spots.
TONY HAWK: Thank you.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: What about
one more word about D/CAL?
Tell us what does this
agency mean to you?
TONY HAWK: It's exciting
to be on the other side
of the marketing
game, so to speak,
because I feel like I was
working with companies that it
wasn't the most positive
interaction or the most
positive experience.
And there was a lot
of fighting to just
to keep this authenticity
of this world
that I grew up loving and
that I want to represent well.
And so to be on the
other side of that,
I feel like we are giving
an opportunity to brands
to have a good experience,
and to actually
listen to what we have to say
instead of having it a battle.
And the first campaign
we did was bringing back
Bagel Bites, which I thought
was super cool because we
got to acknowledge that
the first time around
was tricky with being called a
sellout and whatnot, but also
in a fun way.
And I don't if anyone
saw it, but we brought it
back around where I'm an
adult now and still living
through the echoes of having
been called a sellout.
And as we're doing
this interview,
you realize that the interview
is actually just a big Bagel
Bites commercial.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
I did see it.
It's a good one.
TONY HAWK: Yeah, it
was really funny.
ADAM WILSON: It was
almost like therapy.
TONY HAWK: It was.
Yeah.
But these guys brought
that to them, the idea,
and I went along for the ride.
And I loved it.
I'm really proud of it.
So I think that that was a
good example of what we're
doing, where we're actually
acknowledging what we're doing,
but still doing
it in a cool way.
ADAM WILSON: It is funny
that when we go talk
to prospective
clients, there's often
a question, because Tony can't
go to all of these things.
And you know, there's the
excitement and all that.
And then there's the, so
Tony's role, you know?
But it leads it leads
directly into probably
one of the biggest
differences, and it
does blend into this
whole conversation
we've been having, is just
that outsider mentality.
You know, 80% of the people that
are affiliated with our shop
have never worked
at an agency, ever.
And Tony is an
integral part of that.
Quite frankly,
he's introduced us
to people that probably wouldn't
have returned our phone calls.
You know, Atiba
Jefferson is one of them.
You wouldn't know
his name, but when
LeBron James went to the Lakers,
he's like, where's Atiba?
He's takes my photos.
You know, he's a very
accomplished photographer.
Came from skateboarding,
street culture.
He's just one of these
really interesting people who
just intrinsically understand
brands, and understand brands
and their place in the world.
And we're the ones that
know all the acronyms
and know how to
interface with clients
and kind of translate that.
And so that's-- I mean,
we couldn't have created
a different sort of model had
Tony not decided to be a part
of this.
So we're very fortunate.
Very cool.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
That's awesome.
We want to have some
Q&A from the audience.
AUDIENCE: All right.
What's going on, Tony?
TONY HAWK: Hi.
AUDIENCE: Southern California.
Thanks for wearing
out my Gamecube
with Underground 2 and
American Wasteland.
TONY HAWK: Awesome.
Thank you.
AUDIENCE: So just looking
at the future of skating,
I know with the 2020
Olympics with skating
being in there, what do you
see for the future of skating?
TONY HAWK: I just see
it being an activity
that kids choose
as readily as they
choose to play
basketball or baseball
or soccer across the world.
I don't think that
the Olympics will
be a boost for the international
awareness of skating.
I think that kids
who will probably
be inspired to try it in
places where maybe wasn't
available to them before.
But in terms of that
aspect with the Olympics,
I've always said I truly
feel that at this point,
the Summer Games need the
cool factor of skateboarding
more than skateboarding
needs their validation.
And I stand by that.
And that rubs some people the
wrong way, especially the IOC.
But I do feel that
way because they
got the cool factor with
snowboarding in the winter
games.
And summer games, how many more
swimming events can we have?
That's how I feel.
And it's going to
resonate with kids.
Finally, they're going to
get a younger viewership.
And what a cool
opportunity for the kids
that grew up
skating as outcasts,
as people who were told not to
skate on public property, who
were told skateboarding
is not a career--
it's not just a crime,
it's not a career--
and that suddenly they're
going to be on this huge stage,
and they're going to be
revered for their skills.
I think it's awesome.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Thank you guys for spending some
time with us on this Friday.
Love the story about
the toilet paper
branding and trying to figure
out a way to make that cool.
TONY HAWK: We're
bringing it back.
AUDIENCE: Well, I
was going to say--
TONY HAWK: We got plans.
AUDIENCE: So Adam over
here, I know, was able to--
when he was at Organic, was
able to help make the U by Kotex
brand pretty awesome and cool.
So it's like basically breathing
life and breathing an identity
into a feminine care
product is a great start.
But I was going to say what was
cool to me about that campaign,
giving teenage girls
a voice and a platform
to express themselves,
your skating and brand
and style and the music,
for me as a teenager,
was kind of speaking to me
on this independence level,
giving me a platform to
actually separate myself,
forge my own identity.
What advice would you
guys have for Google
as a big brand, ubiquitous,
not a new brand anymore.
How can we kind of avoid
falling into the trap of being
this monolithic, faceless
kind of entity in the future
and still maintain a cool brand?
ADAM WILSON: Return our emails.
RYAN MACONOCHIE: Clean
up your home page.
ADAM WILSON: The New York--
the New York [INAUDIBLE]
TONY HAWK: Stop
tracking my whereabouts.
No.
I think-- well, Google
has great opportunity
to help highlight new
ideas, new sports.
I mean, skateboarding
is so inclusive now.
Like in the Olympics, there
will be equal disciplines,
male and female.
Nowadays with the competitions,
there's equal prize money.
And I think to be able to really
lift that idea up is something
that Google is fully
capable of, and to highlight
and to celebrate.
I mean, that's just
one small part.
But I think it's just more
diving in and realizing
what can you do as
a force of good,
and what can you promote that
is something that is maybe
is under appreciated?
That's my sort of vague answer.
And I didn't think I'd
be marketing for Google.
So--
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ:
And some free advice.
TONY HAWK: What's that?
Yeah.
I mean, I'm a huge fan.
Google, here's how our
lives have intersected.
I was on "Who Wants To Be A
millionaire Celebrity Edition",
I think, in 2002.
Maybe 2001, 2002.
And my brother was my
lifeline to call for advice.
It was a charity episode,
so any money you won
goes to your charity.
And that was the year I
started Tony Hawk Foundation.
And I got to the
$125,000 question,
and I called my brother because
he is a literature major,
and it was a quote
about Hemingway.
And he had been
practicing using Google
as a lifeline, which was kind
of unheard of at that time.
People were not really like--
I know in later episodes, people
would call up, OK, Google this.
But at that time, he was
actually experimenting
with Yahoo and with Google.
And he found that
Google was the one that
had the most correct answers.
Yes, you can applaud yourselves.
But the funny thing
is, I called him
because it was a
literature question
and he's a literature major.
And as I'm asking him the
question, I hear him typing.
I'm like, ah shit,
he doesn't know it.
And immediately, he was
like, uh, yeah, it's--
sorry.
What's the book?
Anyway, the thing
was about Mark Twain.
He said, it's Mark Twain.
Yeah, it's Mark Twain.
That's it for sure, because
every hit, like the top five
answers were that.
And so thanks to
Google, we got $125,000
for the Tony Hawk Foundation.
That was the very first seed
money for the foundation.
That was literally
the first donation
to Tony Hawk Foundation.
So thank you for that.
That was a long way
to get there, but.
ADAM WILSON: You guys have
achieved what a lot of brands
want to achieve, and that is
for your brand to be a verb.
I mean, you've got that.
AUDIENCE: All right.
Hi, Tony.
So people probably think
at this stage in life
that your body's
pretty much invincible.
So you pretty much have
pissed off your body.
So day to day, what
constantly hurts?
TONY HAWK: My neck.
My neck.
Yeah, that's the
one thing that I
do get worked on because of all
the whiplash through my life.
I definitely-- I'm that guy
that, when someone calls over
here, and I go, like, huh?
What?
Yeah, and then they're like--
I look like an old man when
I do it, and they're like,
is something wrong
with your neck?
Yes.
For decades there was
something wrong with my neck.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, because
mine are my ankles,
and I just skated for 10
years and that was it.
And so I can't imagine doing
it as long as you have.
TONY HAWK: The irony is
that is that I continued
to skate big ramps,
which, believe it or not,
are a little bit
safer because you
don't have that giant impact.
You have this big gradient
to go down and land,
and I know how to
fall in that realm.
I can't run out of
jumping down eight stairs.
That's just not what
I'm doing anymore,
and my body can't
deal with that.
ADAM WILSON: That's a true
fact, because my garage is
a mini-ramp, and it's deadly.
TONY HAWK: Yeah, the
smaller stuff is where--
ADAM WILSON: I fall, I
immediately hit the flat.
TONY HAWK: The one mistake
is you can't sort of just
fall downward,
like down the hill.
ADAM WILSON: His ramp is
like the Grand Canyon.
TONY HAWK: Everything
is right there.
ADAM WILSON: And it's like giant
slides that you can slide down.
TONY HAWK: But I do get
shins like that from--
I mean, that's just from--
yeah.
That's 40 years
of trying to avoid
my skateboard in that area.
Didn't work.
AUDIENCE: Hi, guys.
Thanks so much for being here.
Back in the back.
I want to talk about
the agency a little bit.
Most of us in this
room got our start
on the creative agency
or the agency side.
And curious to know--
we know how many
hours and what kind of hustle
it takes to make an agency grow.
Curious to know how you guys are
going to future proof or bullet
proof your agency
here in Detroit
given some of the
challenges we have
with the strike and
automotive, and how
you plan to help grow our
community as well, if so.
ADAM WILSON: Yeah,
that's a good question.
Do the bags under my eyes
and his eyes give it away?
Yeah.
I mean, I think one
would ask themselves,
why would you start
an agency now?
Like Gary Graff's agency,
one of the greatest, just
closed its doors.
You've got in housing
happening, right?
I think it's, like,
to the tune of 75% now
of brands in housing.
When I left advertising
for a little while
and ran brand
marketing at Carhartt,
we were in housing,
but not all of it.
So I know the trials
and tribulations there
of creating too
much of a bubble.
And ask Pepsi.
I don't know if anyone
knows that joke,
their in-house agency.
They went all in house.
The very first
thing they put out--
you know, let's not relive that.
Yeah, so to future proof, it's
really about being as nimble--
and I know that sounds
like such a cliche,
but the way we've set this thing
up is we go in with the same
two or three people every time
to figure out what exactly--
let's triangulate the issue
instead of service selling.
We are an industry that
loves to hate itself.
I mean, it's true.
We're really good at that.
And so that was
part of the reason
why we wanted to bring mostly
outsiders that don't have
the bad habits to
kind of keep us
honest and approach things
a little differently,
approach things kind of
how skateboarders do,
seeing a loading dock, a
skateboarder sees a skate park.
So I would say that would
be one of the biggest
sort of differentiators
is the outside, or being
comprised of mostly outsiders.
And I think the other
thing is being adaptable.
So we can deliver--
our deliverables, if we're going
to use some of these terms,
are very different
depending on the client.
There's some clients, we're
just giving one-sheeters
to their in-house.
And we're like their in-house
agency's favorite agency
because we're
bringing them concepts
they wouldn't have thought
of, but they can go execute.
So it's setting
ourselves up to not go
in with this army
of hungry mouths.
RYAN MACONOCHIE: Right.
We're trying to be nimble.
ADAM WILSON: Use
that microphone.
RYAN MACONOCHIE: We're
trying to be nimble
and we're trying
to be networked.
We don't have this
massive army, but we
do have a big network
of original thinkers
from all over the
country, and we're
trying to bring a lot
of that creativity
to businesses in Detroit, but
also businesses everywhere
else.
We're working with the
big auto companies,
but we're also trying to help
people with small business
incubators in Flint,
trying to come up
with new solutions and stuff.
So we like tackling all kinds
of problems, big and small.
And we just come at
it from different ways
with different outside thinking.
ADAM WILSON: And that network,
with Tony involved, helps.
I mean, you know,
there's been times where,
can we run something
by Spike Jones?
And Tony can help us do that.
And then having
this advisory board.
I mentioned one of them, and I
won't go through all of them.
But they're all on our
website dcalagency.com.
They all have
interesting connections.
So this network is very real,
not to mention this creator
network we're building.
I wouldn't call
it crowdsourcing.
It's much more curated.
But there's a world of
creative people out there.
And we have people
on this roster
that are everything from
a poet to ceramicists
to street artists.
And we've kind of reimagined
the creative process.
They don't know how to look at
a creative brief like we do.
They don't know what to
do with technigraphic data
and demographic data
and all of that stuff.
We've kind of reimagined it with
very simple pictograph briefs.
And 80% of the stuff we get
back from them is garbage.
But when you put it on
the wall, it kind of
feels like cheating because
it's like the engine's warm,
and you can start
making correlations
and seeing and
clustering things.
And it's just a fun way to work.
I don't know.
Hopefully that
answers your question.
TONY HAWK: It's also embracing
how the speed of change now.
Like when I was doing
the original Bagel Bites
promotions, those were
two- to three-year deals.
Nowadays people want to promote
stuff, and they want it quick,
and they want it out on social
media, and it's like a three-
to six-m month cycle.
And to embrace that
and to enjoy that
is something, because
everyone's trying
to hang onto it much longer.
And to be impactful in
that short time period
is something that
we're very used to.
AUDIENCE: Hey, Tony,
and two guys with Tony.
How's it going?
RYAN MACONOCHIE: Who are those
two dudes sitting next to Tony?
AUDIENCE: I'm Rachel,
and before two years ago,
I had no idea about
skateboarding or knowledge
around skateboarding.
I just knew Avril Levigne's
skateboarder song.
So that was my knowledge.
And I met my boyfriend, who is
deeply rooted in skateboarding
and has brought me into
this community and culture
that I didn't even know about.
And advertising was way off,
because that was my perception.
And I'm not sure
if you're familiar,
but his friend group is
actually the friend group
that was in "Minding the
Gap", the movie on Hulu.
TONY HAWK: Oh, sure, yeah.
We sponsor Keire.
AUDIENCE: Oh, nice.
Keire.
TONY HAWK: I don't know if
anyone saw "Minding the Gap",
but Keire is one of
the featured subjects,
and we sponsor him
on Birdhouse now.
AUDIENCE: Awesome.
It's great to hear.
Keire's really cool.
That's what I hear.
I haven't met him yet.
Jordan loves him, and Bing.
And so it's been so cool getting
a peep into this community.
And everybody should
watch that movie
because I think it
just really speaks
to the culture and the guys,
and what they are able to do.
But obviously behind
it being cool--
and Jordan is way cooler than
me and very authentic in his
style--
but there is this deep-rooted
background to these guys,
and coming to the skate
park and being an outlet.
So I'm just curious, is
this something you're
passionate about,
something that you're
willing to take a stand for
than just authenticity and cool
and going to these
different competitions.
TONY HAWK: Well, in
terms of just trying
to promote skateboarding
on a bigger scale,
I tell people that it did
wonders for my self-confidence
at a time when I was a nerdy
kid and I didn't really fit in.
I played baseball
and basketball,
and I was OK at best.
I didn't stand out.
But also, I didn't
like that I had
to go to this
regimented schedule,
and I had to listen
to the coach,
and the team was relying
on my performance,
and I was relying on
their performance.
I mean, I don't want
to knock teamwork,
but it just didn't speak to me.
And I found skateboarding,
and I found this collection
of people that didn't
fit in anywhere else
but were supportive.
And I learned to solve problems.
I mean, that's the bottom line.
If I came up with a small
challenge for myself,
it was problem solving
and I figured it out.
And it did wonders for
believing in myself.
And that's what I want to
promote for skateboarding.
And that's what is
truly the heart of it
and what I believe in.
ADAM WILSON: If I could add
to that, growing up, I was a--
I'm not just saying this.
I was a Tony Hawk fan.
You were a Christian
Hosoi fan, right?
RYAN MACONOCHIE: Mark Gonzales.
ADAM WILSON: Gonzalez, OK.
RYAN MACONOCHIE: And Tony Hawk.
ADAM WILSON: And Tony.
But they were these
mythological people
who lived in a faraway land,
and we were here in Michigan.
There was no internet.
Like you circled the
box to order your stuff
and you waited six
weeks for it to come.
And it was like, oh my god,
they're really for real,
or you traded the
videos and all of that.
Now we can see what he ate
last night on Instagram.
I guess where I'm
going with this
is I didn't realize
at the time how much I
was learning about creativity
and iteration and all that.
It wasn't being
taught in school.
It wasn't being
taught in sports,
where you needed to
know how to throw a ball
or catch as a point of entry.
It was learning iteration.
I mean, before you
could even tail stall,
you had to learn how
to rock the fakie.
And you'll probably know some
of these terms at some point.
But building on those
things and connecting dots,
it just came naturally,
and really problem solving.
And I think, if I
could speak for you,
Tony, early in his
career, he was a creative.
He wasn't an agency creative.
He was a creative.
He learned how to
edit and animate
and all the things
you need to do
to market within an industry
that wasn't doing very
well because people
like me went to college
and forgot about it
for a little bit.
TONY HAWK: I was doing those
things more out of desperation
because I couldn't afford to
have somebody else do them
for me.
So I learned how to edit
videos just because I had to.
ADAM WILSON: Point
is, kids don't even
realize it right now.
Like the young kids, they're
learning about iteration
and how to connect dots, and
how to add style to something
that there is a
fundamental way to do it,
but you can do it your way.
And that's just something that
they're not getting at school.
And not to knock
team sports, there's
a certain way you have to do it.
So.
MARC DE SCHWEINITZ: Great.
Well, Tony, Ryan,
and Adam, thank you
so much for coming to Google.
We're all huge fans.
Thank you.
Round of applause
for these guys.
[APPLAUSE]
