June 20, 2024 • 34 mins
For Clint Misamore and Joe Petrillo, marketing is the intersection of storytelling, hospitality and impact. They co-founded WUF, a platform for uniting pet lovers worldwide. They also have a long history of creating marketing campaigns for Martha. On today’s episode, they talk about creating viral hits for Tito’s Vodka and Liquid Death, and share stories about their Artic Circle expedition with Martha to raise awareness for the Global Seed Vault.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I remember my dad saying, Martha, you know, save these seeds.
He said, Remember the Pharaohs, they put seeds in their
pyramids and their tombs, and seeds don't get old. And
I love the idea of being able to regrow something
that has been destroyed. Hello, everybody, this is Martha Stewart
(00:25):
and it is the Martha Stewart Podcast. Today I have
the pleasure of speaking rather informally to two friends, two
friends with whom I have worked for quite a few years.
They're fun, they are very smart, they are very energetic,
and they travel the world doing their thing. What is
(00:47):
their thing? Well, we're going to learn what their thing is.
Joe Batrillo has spent his entire career in marketing and
advertising partnerships, on both the ad agency side as well
as the media side. Joe worked for me for over
eleven years selling advertising at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He
is currently the co founder of a new pet startup
(01:10):
called wolf World. That's wuf. Clint Missimura is also comes
from marketing and partnership background. He is the co founder
and CEO of wolf World. Prior to launching wolf he
helped lead the marketing partnerships for the Grammys. He co
founded an invitation only dinner series called Storytellers, which was
(01:32):
attended by some leading business executives and Hollywood influencers. He
also worked for Mike Milkin at the Milken Institute. Joe
and Clint are joining me today at Newsstand Studios in
New York City. Welcome to my podcast, guys. It's really
nice to see you again. I get to see Joe
and Clint quite often. Actually during the year, we've worked
(01:54):
on so many projects together. And let's talk about Wolf,
because that is what you are, folksocused on now. Just recently,
Joe and Clint hosted an amazing event in New York City.
I had no idea when I accepted the invitation to attend.
I had no idea what a big event it was
actually going to be. And so tell us about Wolf.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Wu F Yeah, and the WUF stands for with you Forever.
And on an abstract level, you know, our animals really
are with us forever, even after they're gone because of
the values. And I know you're a huge animal animal lover,
and they just make so much contributions during the time
that they're here.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So Joe and I are really building a.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Platform to connect the animal lovers across the planet. And yeah,
we're just getting started. But the event that you came
to was our efforts to create more pet consciousness in
corporate America. People are really struggling. And so after the pandemic,
Joe and I ended up hosting some events in LA
and we had over twenty thousand people come out with
(02:56):
no paid marketing, and so one of the things pulling
our community that we were asking is what do you
guys want to see? And they were saying, we want
more pet benefits in corporate America. And so there's twice
as many pets living in American households than children. Our
pets save US almost twenty three billion dollars a year
in annual human health care savings cost. But unlike benefits
(03:20):
for children, or for spouses or for elderly parents, there's
really not a lot of traditional benefits for pets. And
so that's one of the many things that we're in
the process of doing, getting companies to think beyond whether
or not they can physically have animals on site.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
That's not the point.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think only ten percent of businesses are actually set
up to physically allow animals on site. But there's a
range of other things that companies can do to show
their employees that they value what they value, and so
that's things like pet insurance, bereavement days, volunteer opportunities, gotcha days,
and so you know, subsidized nutrition, subsidized daycare, vet care,
(03:57):
and the list goes on and on. So that's really
what Joe and ire and for is just building this movement.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, what I think about about wolf comes at a
really opportune time because of the pandemic YEP. During the pandemic,
everybody got a pet. The adoption of agencies were pretty
empty of animals because everybody went to the pound to
get a dog or to get a cat. And now,
(04:23):
after the pandemic, guess what problem. We have a major
problem of too many unwanted pets. So what are you
doing about that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, one of the partner organizations we have is called
Best Friends and the Best Friend's Animal Society, and I
encourage everyone to go check that out. But they're actually
turning the whole country no kill by the end of
twenty twenty five because when these pets are in the shelters,
a lot of them, unfortunately will get euthanized if they
don't have a home.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And so what was the stat was at seventeen million,
so in nineteen eighty four, and Julie Castle is their CEO. Martha,
I would love to have her. She's just a remarkable force.
And so there is some optimism here that in nineteen
eighty four there were seventeen million animals euthanize and now
it's around three hundred and eight, three hundred thousand, so
(05:11):
not great.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But we're still eighty thousand animals, are you saying?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yes? But we're going in the right direction. And that's
the thing, like when we talk about these things they
are sometimes hard to talk about. You find solutions. And
I like what you said earlier, like where what if
we had all the young people in the world, like
your amazing grandkids, just starting to think, like, can elderly
people who are very lonely volunteer at these filters? Can
it's really fostering. You're gonna hear a lot more about
(05:36):
fostering where you may not be able to take on
another animal. Martha has like too many a count, but
you know you can foster.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And I'm adopting two cats on sunday.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yah yes, okay, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And you've just got a new puppy and I just
got a new puppy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, but that was not an adoption. But but the
cats are adoption.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Okay, that's awesome, Martha. So and you know what, one
of your you know who, it's one of our former colleagues,
is in the space Tusue works for ASPCA, Liz ESTROPI believe.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, yes, So there's just.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Amazing, amazing organization ASPCA best friends. We're just as a country,
like things sometimes look bad and that number is not great,
but we're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So what's been the results of that gathering that you
had any.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh, it's been phenomenal. I mean, there were too many
brand executives to count on this podcast that we're in
the room. But I think what what for me has
been really exciting is just the receptivity to it. You know,
these brand leaders, you know, are always looking at how
do we attract, engage and retain talent in a competitive
labor market. So we've had a lot of folks reaching
out asking us to come and consult for them, you know,
(06:41):
help them kind of create systems and structures we're rolling
out very soon in accreditation to actually recognize the companies
that are doing great work. And so that was one
event of four we're hosting this year. In two weeks
will actually be hosting a similar event in Los Angeles,
and September we'll be hosting an event Nashville and then
and see it. We'll be in Seattle in October. So
(07:03):
we're building the movement through events, through curated events, through content,
through accreditation, and ultimately throughout.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And what are the major companies involved in your in
Wolf at the present time.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Well, I'd love to just the happenstance that we're in
Rock Center. NBC Universal is doing amazing things for animals.
And I think you met the Atlas. So remember meeting Atlas.
He's so so you cannot have dogs inside of thirty Rock,
and I don't. I think we all agree. It's so
beautiful that you know, maybe someday they're going to kind
of build new architecture. But most companies, like QLINT said,
(07:35):
cannot have pets on site. So what they're chief human
resources Officer Vicky Williams does is she works with guide
dogs for the blind, and so Atlas is training to
be a guide dog. So we just think that's amazing.
And he makes his rounds to all the employees, so
that's something like we can't wait to see how we
can collaborate with them. Oh great.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I've known Joe, as I said, for nearly twenty years,
and I have worked with him to create unique marketing projects. Well,
you helped develop a program for Martha Stewart Living called
American Maid, which we still think of as one of
the one of the foremost programs in America because what
we were doing was highlighting what was created and made
(08:18):
and developed and promoted in America and mostly young makers,
people who were entrepreneurial, and this was just an incredible
opportunity to really focus on things made in America. That's right,
and that was I love that program so much and
we still have a seal now you know, a good thing, seal.
(08:39):
But it really reminds me so much of American Made,
and we brought it to life in the magazine with
wonderful articles, and so many friends had been made through
that program. Well, Clint, tell me a little bit about
your background and how you met Joe and eventually how.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
You met me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, first of all, it's great to be here, Martha,
so thank you for having us. Let's see, I grew
up in Indiana, in a small town, and I went
to I did my undergraduate at Pretty University, and when
I graduated, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.
And I had met my senior year of college, i'd
met a gentleman who turned out to become one of
my best friends. And he was from Australia, and he
(09:17):
told me about these programs I have in Commonwealth countries
called gap year. And I hadn't done a lot of
traveling up to that time, but I wasn't sure what
I wanted to do, and so I took kind of
a gap decade in my twenties, a gap decade, and
I was working, though I was working, and I was studying,
and I went back to school for to do my
master's in geopolitics and economics. But I learned so many
(09:39):
different things while I was traveling, and I really just
learned that we're all all after the same things, and
we're all all united and connected, and so it's inspired
me to launch my own business. I was actually living
in Siberia. I don't know if you've been to Siberia,
but I moved from Siberia to Los Angeles and so yeah,
over that span, you know, I'd traveled probably around one
hundred country He's on a shoe string budget, and I
(10:02):
learned a lot about myself and about you know, what
I valued and and so yeah, I ended up moving
out to l A twelve years ago and took a
job for Mike Milkin at the Milk and Institute.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And what did you do for Mike?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we he had the Global Conference? Had you have you?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, yeah, it's quite an affair, yea. It's one of
the largest conveniences of capital on the planet. And so
I helped put on the Global Conference. I also helped
introduce a new program. I'd spent a lot of time
in Africa, and so we hadn't had any you know,
African programming or anything in depth. So I started and
ran the African programming for the Milk and Institute.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That's that's impressive.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, it was a it was.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
A great time, and I'm still living in LA I
kind of switched industries and ended up, as you said,
going into entertainment and was at the Grammys.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Did you have a lot of one on one with Mike?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I had some you know, he was, as you can imagine,
a very busy guy. And he's you know, always always traveling.
And but I have to tell you, like he was
always the smartest guy in them for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, yeah, he's Mike Milkan was known as the junk
bond King, and he worked very feverishly and well in
the finance world in New York City until he was
accused of something and imprisoned for And I always thought,
what an unfair sentence for a genius like Mike Milkin.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I mean, he.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Is known as a financial genius. I thought, why couldn't
they just set him, give him a job of solving
the Third world debt? Wouldn't that have been a good
job for a great job for him, And instead of
wasting those years of his life in a stupid jail,
put him put him to work solving debt. Yeah, that's
(11:44):
his expertise. Yeah, I mean, raising capital, solving solving problems,
real serious problems.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, and he's very good at it. In fact, anything
he does he's been very good at. I don't know
if you know this, but he's also the I believe
the largest private financierer of prospers at cancer research.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh, I worked for that organization with him. He always
had his conference, his annual conferences coming up in Las Vegas.
It was always in Las Vegas, and I was asked
by Mike to come to Las Vegas and to take
care of the wives of all the men attendees. So
I created all kinds of fabulous programs with Hannah Millman
(12:23):
and our craft department at Martha Stewart Living, and we
did We showed them how to do everything, how to
make flower arrangements, how to do this, how to do that,
everything the Living magazine. No, it was so much fun.
We had a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And then yeah, I met Joe in twenty seventeen. I
was curating a dinner series in La called Storytellers, as
you mentioned, and it was really interviewing individuals who were
driving change or inspiring culture. You've actually met me me
Kim because she was at the Seed Ball and now
we're going to talk about that. But she was generous
enough to open up her home, which was the Charles
Tooberman Estate in La He's the same guy that built
(12:58):
Hollywood Bowl and Chinese Theater, and so yeah, we would
interview people like David Lynch and you know, Jane Fonda
and Moby and I mean we just had at dinners
at dinners, and each dinner we would have a call
to action. And the dinner that Joe came to, we
were interviewing Marie Haga, who runs the Global Seed Vault,
which I know we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Well, let's talk about that now, because that's when I
really got to know what you guys were up to
the Seed Vault. Tell us Joe, what the Seed Vault is.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Well, it's a fascinating place in the farthest Clint helped
me out. I'm the four hundred miles south of the
North Ball, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
That was the closest I got to Siberia was the
Seed Vault in Salbard, Norway.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Yeah, which is a really special place. It's beautiful and
if you go on Google and type in the Global
Seed Vault, I mean, it's really architecturally stunning. It looks
like a shard coming out of the snow, and so
very few people have gotten to go inside, and so
I had just recently recently even been a of it.
And it's one of these things in life like once
(14:02):
something's on your radar, you'd even know your passionate about seeds,
and so all of a sudden, I'm like, this is
cool because it's we love food. Obviously you're a big
food lover. And to know that the whole world, pretty
much even North Korea, thinks that this seed Vault is
a good idea.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
But the one fact that Marie had shared at dinner
and I think inspired the whole trip and definitely inspired
the Vault, because you also know Carrie Fowler.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh yes, yeah, but it was that ninety three percent.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Of our crops have gone of our crop diversity has
gone extinct in the last hundred years. It's this sort
of epidemic that no one's talking to.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
So the Seed Vault actually every country that wants to
can give the essential seeds of that country's crops. So
say Nigeria grows corn and rice, and they give the
essential different varieties of seed to the Seed Vault to
(14:56):
protect those from extinction. And then if there's there is
something of natural disaster and Nigeria's flooded, say, and the
seeds are all destroyed in Nigeria, then when this floods receed,
they can go to the Seed Vault and get their
same seeds out of the vault and replant.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
That's the whole idea of the seed vault. And it's
so deep because it's called the crop trust. So there
is a trust. It's no different like you trust that
the that they're secure. You're trusting the other countries that
are storing the seeds. There's safe, it's safe, it's it's deep.
It's something out of a James Bond.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, they also figured that these seeds have to be
in a place where they will stay cold. That's right,
they will. It's almost it is a refrigerator basically, or
a freezer, and they will be protected from the elements
and nothing can ever happen to them. And seeds last
for millions of years. Actually they can if they're well,
if they're well stored. So that was the whole idea
(15:54):
of the seed vault. I remember my dad saying, Martha,
you know, save these seeds. He said, remember the Pharaohs,
they put seeds in their and their pyramids and their tombs,
and seeds don't get old.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
And and I love the idea of being able to
regrow something that has been destroyed.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Absolutely, And that's what if I could suggest your listeners,
if you go on. There's a YouTube that go pro did.
That's the video that Marie showed at your dinner. In
that and Martha knows, I'm not afraid to a mote
and have a tier. I was teared up because I
wasn't present to just what's going on when you think
in our country all the Martha, when you think of
how many more apples there should be here, all the
(16:34):
varieties that aren't. Just as someone who loves food, it's
just curious, right. But the good news is they find
some of these that they thought. They're seed hunters out
there that find the seeds and then you could be
eating lettuce from like the eighteen hundreds that we thought
was extinct. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Oh it is. It's very exciting. So that's one program
that you got very involved with it. We had how
many people came on that train.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
We had I think around forty people. It was Leading
Eggs executive's talent.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
And Sophia Bush, Minka Kelly, Yeah, and great.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Time it was.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
So what was your first impression going into the vault?
Was it what you were expecting?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, it's just like a gigantic security vault where you
would keep your diamonds, but instead there were seeds, which
are even more a lot more important than diamonds. That's true,
but that's what that was. So and now with global warming,
I hear that they are thinking of even moving the
vault further north.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Well, they had some melting issues.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Few, Yeah, no one was expecting the climate to heat
this quickly when they built it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Anyways, Well, anyways, so it's an extraordinary undertaking and so
great that you have popularized it.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So why do well out of that trip? And Martha,
once you said yes, we were able to really accelerate.
Joe and I put that together in probably two months,
so it happened very quickly. But they raised and got
some grants and raised a lot of money to support
their important efforts.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Out of that trip, do your fans are out.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
We're in a glass in shoe box in Rocket Pillar
Center and people are walking by taking pictures and screaming.
(18:20):
So what other brands have you worked with and promoted
in such an important way?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Remember when we don't have that crazy space downtown anymore.
But you visit us in LA when the Super Bowl
was going on, and we hosted a Super Bowl brunch
and Martha was a referee, and we had a sandwich
making competition, and so the Kroger Corporation sponsored that. And
here's a stat that I don't know if you remember this,
but Martha there there's more money spent on food during
(18:48):
Super Bowl than Thanksgiving. Did I get that right? We're
almost right. So we're like, it's a national holiday that
we all love and celebrate. You go to the Super
Bowl every year, and we're just thinking, how can we
do something fun and raise awareness because you know, in
Los Angeles we have you know, the in house that
we want to take care of, and so out of
that runch, I think we raise one hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So that's so great. And so your your commitment of
environmental and educational values, how do you translate that into
a real business. How do you guys make a living?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well? Yeah, I mean Joe and I like to say
that we're at the intersection of impact, storytelling and hospitality. So,
you know, I think it's just finding something that the
market size is big enough that you know you can
you can have a number of different paths to financial outcomes.
The pet category is for us just been exceptional because
(19:39):
it's now about a half. It's going to be about
a half a trillion dollar market and we're approaching it
really from the human health and well being standpoint. So
that's really when we're thinking about opportunities. We just look
for the market size, and we also look for what
we're passionate about.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I see. And so now, how does Tito's, for example,
come into this.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
That's a great question, and it kind of is how
we love to work because there's a Martha element to it.
Do you remember when I called you and said, hey,
Tito's has a really fun idea. And actually the chief
marketing officer's brother works for us at Wolf and so
we were because they have this amazing program called Vodka
for Dog People. Okay, so they would come to our events.
We actually built a speakeasy and I don't think you
(20:20):
have to see our bark easy. We had a in
that crazy loss and all the dogs knew a secret
bar that became kind of legendary in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And are you in touch with Sketchers?
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Well, you get us. We love them so much more so.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Have you've been down to their often beach, Yes?
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, and their founders.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Headquarters there for their pet for their pet business.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
We are huge fans, huge fans, so we'd love.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You have to get them involved with your with your wolf.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well, we want to do we want to do community
dog walks. So imagine Sketchers being involved in that.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh yeah, right there in Manhattan Beach, the whole boardwalk there.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
What a fun partnership that is with you. Like, that's
another thing. It's fun to kind of hear. What when
people know that we work with you? What they say?
And they say Sketchers a lot. And not only are
the ads fun, but people love the product.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. Indeed, so you and I have worked with Cheeto's,
We have worked with that went viral dry January.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Wasn't that great?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Hysterically everyone has to see that check that video.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
And uh and yet and this is the This is
a family owned.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Company, yes, one one shareholder.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Vodka made out of corn. And it's a strange thing
that I think is the only popular vodka made out
of corn. Everything else made. Amazing company.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Amazing company.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
If you if we go to Austin together, it would
be fun to go to visit them. This isn't Tito's
last name Beverette.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
It is.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, I mean someday we'd love to meet him by that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So my favorite, if I can choose a favorite of
all my commitments so with with you is Pretty Litter.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Oh my gosh, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
What a great founder, right, Oh yes, Daniel Rotman.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Daniel Rotman founded this amazing company called Pretty Litter, which
manufactures a litter that is lightweight, It is odorless, it
is dust free. It uh it actually stains with the
dogs urine different colors. If there is a problem with
with this, an illness in the dog, acid or alkaline.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Me he should do something for dogs because some dogs
can be literature.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, he's probably doing pepe pads.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
But he's recently sold his business to Mars.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
We do a lot of stuff with Mars.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Great, such a good guy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well, he's a very big entrepreneurial, thoughtful creator of business.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And it's like the thing what's interesting is not that
long ago he was a scrappy start up with a
handful of employees and he came on my radar and
I just wanted to visit him because he had he
allowed cats in the office. He might have been the
first company that allowed cats in the office.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah. Well, the whole program with Pretty Litter was really,
really good.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Well, they are very happy. I don't remember the stats,
but what's interesting about digital advertising is they know what
units work, and so they saw such a difference in
sales when Martha was aligned with Pretty Litter to a
I mean extraordinary amount that they keep working with you
as it works.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Right. Another crazy product, which I just I just didn't
understand it at all when you first brought it to me,
was a product called liquid desks.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
We are obsessed with it, which is and water.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
In a can, not in not in a plastic bottle
in a can, which is recyclable. Plastic plastic. You know,
I've been reading all the new stats on plastic plastic
is not recycled, never will be, no matter what anybody
tells you, forget it. You can throw all your plastic
bottles into the recycle the plastic recycle bin, and those
(24:17):
plastic bottles will not be recycled.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
That's right. We just have to hope there's new technology.
We hear things about mushrooms being able to digest it,
but right now, you're absolutely right, there's no type of
plastic that's recyclable.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, so so for liquid deaths to come out with
water in a can. It was hysterical and the commercial
was ridiculous, ridiculous and silly, but it worked. It was
viral that that company is now is really a valuable company.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Very very yeah company and yeah you know, and they
are such a great case study if Clinton. I love
that podcast How I Built This, and I believe it
was on that podcast, but hearing Mike's story about never
giving up, because I think sometimes you see the success
and you don't see the struggles. I mean, he really
struggled to get that off the ground. No one people
(25:06):
thought he was really crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well because of the name.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah, Well, so I first showed it to your death.
I showed it to you at that Super Bowl party,
and I I liked it because I thought it was
just so out there and they approached their business like
an entertainment company and they just want to create like
content that people laugh and I thought it was funny.
I like Clinton, it was like, I like, really inappropriate humor.
(25:30):
And so when I showed you the can, you made
a face because it is it's it's it's edgy, but
sometimes it's that's the thing that people are going to
know something about that people.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Paid attention, and I see it more and more. It's
it's in the roadside stops, you know, in the seven
eleven's and every place now, and it's the thing you
pick up because it's weird.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It's very, very big. With the big demo for them
is you know, the youth.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
They have a very big and love to acknowledge him
because it's the environmental thing, Martha. But it's also better
to drink that type of ridge than energy drinks. Right,
these young kids that are in elementary school having caffeine
amounts that are really.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Off the charge should and water water water.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
That's right. So so a lot of these things are like, like,
we know you believe in those amazing water filter systems
because you take the water taste good, the texture is good.
But we live in a modern era of convenience, and
so Mike's like, let's let me do the best thing
that is convenient without ruining the environment. The environment without
sugar and without caffeine. Yeah, and he was right, he's amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
The one that we're really excited about is Hope in
the Water. It's not a company, but that's a collaboration
that our friend Jen Bushman, we met her at Sundance,
and she just told us this simple fact about you know,
our oceans, we hear all the trouble they're in, and
it's not not not being present to that. But there
are so many things we could do, those of us
who love food, Like right now in California, Martha, if
(26:57):
we eat more sea urchins, that's going to actually help
the ocean. Right now, there's like too many se because
the water. But I don't even have We were so busy.
You did that shoot, so we don't even know what
you filmed. Oh, but you're in good company with other talent.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Well we can we can talk about that a little bit.
But David Kelly and Andrew Zimmern produced a series that
it's going to be aired on PBS Public Television in June,
and I just got the dates. I think it's June.
My segment will be on June twenty fourth. I think
it's called Hope in the Water, And what it's really
(27:33):
about is sustainability or sustainably grown foods from the ocean harvests.
So I did the scallops and who knew. I didn't
know at the time that most of the scallops that
we eat, but that we buy it the fishmonger. Are
scallops that are actually farmed in the ocean, and the
(27:54):
Japanese are by far the leaders in manufacturing really growing
in the ocean. You drill this shell. It's time consuming,
it is unbelievably tedious, and I don't know how it happens,
but millions and millions of scallops can be grown by
just hanging the shells, the scallop shells as they grow,
(28:16):
like one year old shells on strings and hang them
in a deep ocean.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Wow, it's incredible off.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Buoys, you know, in the ocean, and within two years
or three years, you're eating a scallop and they are delicious.
Of course they are fresh sea grown scallops. I couldn't
believe how fabulous. And there's two entrepreneurial young guys up
in Maine in a great big bay in Maine are
doing that kind of farming. So and then they're going,
(28:44):
of course to salmon fisheries and shrimp fisheries. Most of
our shrimp comes from Vietnam, grown in the ocean, and
those are the best shrimp. Not you know, you think
you're gonna you know, the frozen shrimps that you get
in the supermarket, not necessarily really the best shrimp, not
the most tasty, the most succulent. Lots of them just
(29:05):
say sort of like cardboard, but some of them are
so good and and they're pointing out who does the best.
This is kind of forming, so I think, and how
did you get involved with that? Though?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And we met Jennifer at Sundance and you know we
do we do the annual event at Sundance every year.
So it's just a great time to bring people together.
And again it's something where we combine impact in film
and storytelling. So yeah, so Jen came in and shares
her vision with us and immediately thought you would be
great for the.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Great I just have one segment, but it was, but
I must say it was really big.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Shyleene Woodley's got a segment on.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Woodley jo and I believe. Yes, yeah, so what a
remarkable that's like the New Avengers.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, I think people will sit up and pay attention. Well,
the oceans are I mean, as our earth is defiled
by the pollution and by the drought and famine and
it's hugely warm climate, the oceans are still very very
fertile for for growing things.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Absolutely and David David E. Kelly. We didn't know this
until Jennifer showed he's the largest trout farmer farmer on
a brand called Rivers right. Beautiful, Yeah, gorgeous, beautiful product.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's incredible.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Oh, look a whole all of our whole bands, school.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Grow going through the this. This is a very busy
it's a very very busy.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I think Rockefeller Center. I was telling you cl if
you ever want to mood boost, come here and be
optimistic about America. Like, this is a special place.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
This is a center for tourism in New York City
and it's awesome and and there's great restaurant.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Did that amazing renovation? Like I have been here ice skating?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, the Today Show has its has its turn.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
That outdoor area into a dog park. To think of
how symbolic your podcast studio used to be. It was
a new stand in a new stand. So it is
print dead.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Huh. Our newest fresson Martha Stewart Living has a new
garden and everyone is so excited. Oh the special issue.
It's on the new stands right now and it is
a beautiful congratulation.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
You know how many people have said like they miss
it so badly. There was that young woman and you
guys have to meet, but she's collected almost all your issues.
Remember that. Just I just saw that on your on
your feed mark that like all the Martha Stuart Living issues,
people know which ones they have in which ones they don't.
Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yes, that's so interesting. And I have three sets of
my of my issues, and no one is allowed to touch them,
to go and hear them.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
What about the Smithsonian? Would they be allowed to have them?
Of course? Okay, of course let's call them.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
We should call them.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
But it's but I wish you guys well with your business.
I think Wolf has real future and I think there's
so many things to do with Wolf and you might
have to start MEW too, because.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Well they're part of it.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Part of it is.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
MEW is a big business and with best pet workplaces
like we hear more cat stories honestly than dogs. And
we have a little gift for you. You know, it's
building a business. Mark like things. Sometimes you have to
test things that we're not ready to sell yet. But
we have a prototype for you and we would love
your feedback.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Show me what this prototype is.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And we've also got to line out as of this
week and pet Co, which is very exciting.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
They got a little scuffed up Martha.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
These are slides shoe slides and on one is Han
He's the most beautiful dog.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Hurt. All of Martha's animals are.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The other one is Chin and for his chin.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
So they're with you forever, right.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
These are lovely.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
So we're testing how can we do something real. This
is American Maid, all American Maid and downtown Los Angeles
and we're trying to get these at an affordable price
using American craftsmanship with the customization. So this is that
you got. You got pair number one, so so yeah,
you're so welcome.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
But people can send in their their their.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Photos so tag us like follow us on Instagram and
be patient with that. Woof dot world okay, wolf w
uf dot World.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
We do have a We do have a line out
as of this week at the Union Square Petco as
part of our Saturday Dog Club brand. Yeah, so people
can go down to Peco. We're right at the front
of the store. They gave us like the best placements.
They've been giving a very really positive feedback. So it's
right at the front of the store. Have you been
to that store?
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And yes, it's allergentastic.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah yeah, it's a really good store. And they have
a grooming sick and.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It looks like a little barber shops, dog trains, that's
the appeal.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
We've learned an awful lot from you, so we just
want to thank you as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Good luck with this.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Well, thanks for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
It's a pleasure and.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's so much more to talk about. Come back next
year and tell me the progress you've made.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Okay, you'll get the status up there.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I want them regularly.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Thank you so much, Martha.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Thanks
I remember my dad saying, Martha, you know, save these seeds.
He said, Remember the Pharaohs, they put seeds in their
pyramids and their tombs, and seeds don't get old. And
I love the idea of being able to regrow something
that has been destroyed. Hello, everybody, this is Martha Stewart
(00:25):
and it is the Martha Stewart Podcast. Today I have
the pleasure of speaking rather informally to two friends, two
friends with whom I have worked for quite a few years.
They're fun, they are very smart, they are very energetic,
and they travel the world doing their thing. What is
(00:47):
their thing? Well, we're going to learn what their thing is.
Joe Batrillo has spent his entire career in marketing and
advertising partnerships, on both the ad agency side as well
as the media side. Joe worked for me for over
eleven years selling advertising at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He
is currently the co founder of a new pet startup
(01:10):
called wolf World. That's wuf. Clint Missimura is also comes
from marketing and partnership background. He is the co founder
and CEO of wolf World. Prior to launching wolf he
helped lead the marketing partnerships for the Grammys. He co
founded an invitation only dinner series called Storytellers, which was
(01:32):
attended by some leading business executives and Hollywood influencers. He
also worked for Mike Milkin at the Milken Institute. Joe
and Clint are joining me today at Newsstand Studios in
New York City. Welcome to my podcast, guys. It's really
nice to see you again. I get to see Joe
and Clint quite often. Actually during the year, we've worked
(01:54):
on so many projects together. And let's talk about Wolf,
because that is what you are, folksocused on now. Just recently,
Joe and Clint hosted an amazing event in New York City.
I had no idea when I accepted the invitation to attend.
I had no idea what a big event it was
actually going to be. And so tell us about Wolf.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Wu F Yeah, and the WUF stands for with you Forever.
And on an abstract level, you know, our animals really
are with us forever, even after they're gone because of
the values. And I know you're a huge animal animal lover,
and they just make so much contributions during the time
that they're here.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So Joe and I are really building a.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Platform to connect the animal lovers across the planet. And yeah,
we're just getting started. But the event that you came
to was our efforts to create more pet consciousness in
corporate America. People are really struggling. And so after the pandemic,
Joe and I ended up hosting some events in LA
and we had over twenty thousand people come out with
(02:56):
no paid marketing, and so one of the things pulling
our community that we were asking is what do you
guys want to see? And they were saying, we want
more pet benefits in corporate America. And so there's twice
as many pets living in American households than children. Our
pets save US almost twenty three billion dollars a year
in annual human health care savings cost. But unlike benefits
(03:20):
for children, or for spouses or for elderly parents, there's
really not a lot of traditional benefits for pets. And
so that's one of the many things that we're in
the process of doing, getting companies to think beyond whether
or not they can physically have animals on site.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
That's not the point.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think only ten percent of businesses are actually set
up to physically allow animals on site. But there's a
range of other things that companies can do to show
their employees that they value what they value, and so
that's things like pet insurance, bereavement days, volunteer opportunities, gotcha days,
and so you know, subsidized nutrition, subsidized daycare, vet care,
(03:57):
and the list goes on and on. So that's really
what Joe and ire and for is just building this movement.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, what I think about about wolf comes at a
really opportune time because of the pandemic YEP. During the pandemic,
everybody got a pet. The adoption of agencies were pretty
empty of animals because everybody went to the pound to
get a dog or to get a cat. And now,
(04:23):
after the pandemic, guess what problem. We have a major
problem of too many unwanted pets. So what are you
doing about that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, one of the partner organizations we have is called
Best Friends and the Best Friend's Animal Society, and I
encourage everyone to go check that out. But they're actually
turning the whole country no kill by the end of
twenty twenty five because when these pets are in the shelters,
a lot of them, unfortunately will get euthanized if they
don't have a home.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And so what was the stat was at seventeen million,
so in nineteen eighty four, and Julie Castle is their CEO. Martha,
I would love to have her. She's just a remarkable force.
And so there is some optimism here that in nineteen
eighty four there were seventeen million animals euthanize and now
it's around three hundred and eight, three hundred thousand, so
(05:11):
not great.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But we're still eighty thousand animals, are you saying?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yes? But we're going in the right direction. And that's
the thing, like when we talk about these things they
are sometimes hard to talk about. You find solutions. And
I like what you said earlier, like where what if
we had all the young people in the world, like
your amazing grandkids, just starting to think, like, can elderly
people who are very lonely volunteer at these filters? Can
it's really fostering. You're gonna hear a lot more about
(05:36):
fostering where you may not be able to take on
another animal. Martha has like too many a count, but
you know you can foster.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And I'm adopting two cats on sunday.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yah yes, okay, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And you've just got a new puppy and I just
got a new puppy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, but that was not an adoption. But but the
cats are adoption.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Okay, that's awesome, Martha. So and you know what, one
of your you know who, it's one of our former colleagues,
is in the space Tusue works for ASPCA, Liz ESTROPI believe.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, yes, So there's just.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Amazing, amazing organization ASPCA best friends. We're just as a country,
like things sometimes look bad and that number is not great,
but we're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So what's been the results of that gathering that you
had any.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh, it's been phenomenal. I mean, there were too many
brand executives to count on this podcast that we're in
the room. But I think what what for me has
been really exciting is just the receptivity to it. You know,
these brand leaders, you know, are always looking at how
do we attract, engage and retain talent in a competitive
labor market. So we've had a lot of folks reaching
out asking us to come and consult for them, you know,
(06:41):
help them kind of create systems and structures we're rolling
out very soon in accreditation to actually recognize the companies
that are doing great work. And so that was one
event of four we're hosting this year. In two weeks
will actually be hosting a similar event in Los Angeles,
and September we'll be hosting an event Nashville and then
and see it. We'll be in Seattle in October. So
(07:03):
we're building the movement through events, through curated events, through content,
through accreditation, and ultimately throughout.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And what are the major companies involved in your in
Wolf at the present time.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Well, I'd love to just the happenstance that we're in
Rock Center. NBC Universal is doing amazing things for animals.
And I think you met the Atlas. So remember meeting Atlas.
He's so so you cannot have dogs inside of thirty Rock,
and I don't. I think we all agree. It's so
beautiful that you know, maybe someday they're going to kind
of build new architecture. But most companies, like QLINT said,
(07:35):
cannot have pets on site. So what they're chief human
resources Officer Vicky Williams does is she works with guide
dogs for the blind, and so Atlas is training to
be a guide dog. So we just think that's amazing.
And he makes his rounds to all the employees, so
that's something like we can't wait to see how we
can collaborate with them. Oh great.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I've known Joe, as I said, for nearly twenty years,
and I have worked with him to create unique marketing projects. Well,
you helped develop a program for Martha Stewart Living called
American Maid, which we still think of as one of
the one of the foremost programs in America because what
we were doing was highlighting what was created and made
(08:18):
and developed and promoted in America and mostly young makers,
people who were entrepreneurial, and this was just an incredible
opportunity to really focus on things made in America. That's right,
and that was I love that program so much and
we still have a seal now you know, a good thing, seal.
(08:39):
But it really reminds me so much of American Made,
and we brought it to life in the magazine with
wonderful articles, and so many friends had been made through
that program. Well, Clint, tell me a little bit about
your background and how you met Joe and eventually how.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
You met me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, first of all, it's great to be here, Martha,
so thank you for having us. Let's see, I grew
up in Indiana, in a small town, and I went
to I did my undergraduate at Pretty University, and when
I graduated, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.
And I had met my senior year of college, i'd
met a gentleman who turned out to become one of
my best friends. And he was from Australia, and he
(09:17):
told me about these programs I have in Commonwealth countries
called gap year. And I hadn't done a lot of
traveling up to that time, but I wasn't sure what
I wanted to do, and so I took kind of
a gap decade in my twenties, a gap decade, and
I was working, though I was working, and I was studying,
and I went back to school for to do my
master's in geopolitics and economics. But I learned so many
(09:39):
different things while I was traveling, and I really just
learned that we're all all after the same things, and
we're all all united and connected, and so it's inspired
me to launch my own business. I was actually living
in Siberia. I don't know if you've been to Siberia,
but I moved from Siberia to Los Angeles and so yeah,
over that span, you know, I'd traveled probably around one
hundred country He's on a shoe string budget, and I
(10:02):
learned a lot about myself and about you know, what
I valued and and so yeah, I ended up moving
out to l A twelve years ago and took a
job for Mike Milkin at the Milk and Institute.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And what did you do for Mike?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we he had the Global Conference? Had you have you?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, yeah, it's quite an affair, yea. It's one of
the largest conveniences of capital on the planet. And so
I helped put on the Global Conference. I also helped
introduce a new program. I'd spent a lot of time
in Africa, and so we hadn't had any you know,
African programming or anything in depth. So I started and
ran the African programming for the Milk and Institute.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That's that's impressive.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, it was a it was.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
A great time, and I'm still living in LA I
kind of switched industries and ended up, as you said,
going into entertainment and was at the Grammys.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Did you have a lot of one on one with Mike?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I had some you know, he was, as you can imagine,
a very busy guy. And he's you know, always always traveling.
And but I have to tell you, like he was
always the smartest guy in them for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, yeah, he's Mike Milkan was known as the junk
bond King, and he worked very feverishly and well in
the finance world in New York City until he was
accused of something and imprisoned for And I always thought,
what an unfair sentence for a genius like Mike Milkin.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I mean, he.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Is known as a financial genius. I thought, why couldn't
they just set him, give him a job of solving
the Third world debt? Wouldn't that have been a good
job for a great job for him, And instead of
wasting those years of his life in a stupid jail,
put him put him to work solving debt. Yeah, that's
(11:44):
his expertise. Yeah, I mean, raising capital, solving solving problems,
real serious problems.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, and he's very good at it. In fact, anything
he does he's been very good at. I don't know
if you know this, but he's also the I believe
the largest private financierer of prospers at cancer research.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh, I worked for that organization with him. He always
had his conference, his annual conferences coming up in Las Vegas.
It was always in Las Vegas, and I was asked
by Mike to come to Las Vegas and to take
care of the wives of all the men attendees. So
I created all kinds of fabulous programs with Hannah Millman
(12:23):
and our craft department at Martha Stewart Living, and we
did We showed them how to do everything, how to
make flower arrangements, how to do this, how to do that,
everything the Living magazine. No, it was so much fun.
We had a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And then yeah, I met Joe in twenty seventeen. I
was curating a dinner series in La called Storytellers, as
you mentioned, and it was really interviewing individuals who were
driving change or inspiring culture. You've actually met me me
Kim because she was at the Seed Ball and now
we're going to talk about that. But she was generous
enough to open up her home, which was the Charles
Tooberman Estate in La He's the same guy that built
(12:58):
Hollywood Bowl and Chinese Theater, and so yeah, we would
interview people like David Lynch and you know, Jane Fonda
and Moby and I mean we just had at dinners
at dinners, and each dinner we would have a call
to action. And the dinner that Joe came to, we
were interviewing Marie Haga, who runs the Global Seed Vault,
which I know we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Well, let's talk about that now, because that's when I
really got to know what you guys were up to
the Seed Vault. Tell us Joe, what the Seed Vault is.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Well, it's a fascinating place in the farthest Clint helped
me out. I'm the four hundred miles south of the
North Ball, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
That was the closest I got to Siberia was the
Seed Vault in Salbard, Norway.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Yeah, which is a really special place. It's beautiful and
if you go on Google and type in the Global
Seed Vault, I mean, it's really architecturally stunning. It looks
like a shard coming out of the snow, and so
very few people have gotten to go inside, and so
I had just recently recently even been a of it.
And it's one of these things in life like once
(14:02):
something's on your radar, you'd even know your passionate about seeds,
and so all of a sudden, I'm like, this is
cool because it's we love food. Obviously you're a big
food lover. And to know that the whole world, pretty
much even North Korea, thinks that this seed Vault is
a good idea.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
But the one fact that Marie had shared at dinner
and I think inspired the whole trip and definitely inspired
the Vault, because you also know Carrie Fowler.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh yes, yeah, but it was that ninety three percent.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Of our crops have gone of our crop diversity has
gone extinct in the last hundred years. It's this sort
of epidemic that no one's talking to.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
So the Seed Vault actually every country that wants to
can give the essential seeds of that country's crops. So
say Nigeria grows corn and rice, and they give the
essential different varieties of seed to the Seed Vault to
(14:56):
protect those from extinction. And then if there's there is
something of natural disaster and Nigeria's flooded, say, and the
seeds are all destroyed in Nigeria, then when this floods receed,
they can go to the Seed Vault and get their
same seeds out of the vault and replant.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
That's the whole idea of the seed vault. And it's
so deep because it's called the crop trust. So there
is a trust. It's no different like you trust that
the that they're secure. You're trusting the other countries that
are storing the seeds. There's safe, it's safe, it's it's deep.
It's something out of a James Bond.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, they also figured that these seeds have to be
in a place where they will stay cold. That's right,
they will. It's almost it is a refrigerator basically, or
a freezer, and they will be protected from the elements
and nothing can ever happen to them. And seeds last
for millions of years. Actually they can if they're well,
if they're well stored. So that was the whole idea
(15:54):
of the seed vault. I remember my dad saying, Martha,
you know, save these seeds. He said, remember the Pharaohs,
they put seeds in their and their pyramids and their tombs,
and seeds don't get old.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
And and I love the idea of being able to
regrow something that has been destroyed.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Absolutely, And that's what if I could suggest your listeners,
if you go on. There's a YouTube that go pro did.
That's the video that Marie showed at your dinner. In
that and Martha knows, I'm not afraid to a mote
and have a tier. I was teared up because I
wasn't present to just what's going on when you think
in our country all the Martha, when you think of
how many more apples there should be here, all the
(16:34):
varieties that aren't. Just as someone who loves food, it's
just curious, right. But the good news is they find
some of these that they thought. They're seed hunters out
there that find the seeds and then you could be
eating lettuce from like the eighteen hundreds that we thought
was extinct. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Oh it is. It's very exciting. So that's one program
that you got very involved with it. We had how
many people came on that train.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
We had I think around forty people. It was Leading
Eggs executive's talent.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
And Sophia Bush, Minka Kelly, Yeah, and great.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Time it was.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
So what was your first impression going into the vault?
Was it what you were expecting?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, it's just like a gigantic security vault where you
would keep your diamonds, but instead there were seeds, which
are even more a lot more important than diamonds. That's true,
but that's what that was. So and now with global warming,
I hear that they are thinking of even moving the
vault further north.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Well, they had some melting issues.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Few, Yeah, no one was expecting the climate to heat
this quickly when they built it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Anyways, Well, anyways, so it's an extraordinary undertaking and so
great that you have popularized it.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So why do well out of that trip? And Martha,
once you said yes, we were able to really accelerate.
Joe and I put that together in probably two months,
so it happened very quickly. But they raised and got
some grants and raised a lot of money to support
their important efforts.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Out of that trip, do your fans are out.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
We're in a glass in shoe box in Rocket Pillar
Center and people are walking by taking pictures and screaming.
(18:20):
So what other brands have you worked with and promoted
in such an important way?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Remember when we don't have that crazy space downtown anymore.
But you visit us in LA when the Super Bowl
was going on, and we hosted a Super Bowl brunch
and Martha was a referee, and we had a sandwich
making competition, and so the Kroger Corporation sponsored that. And
here's a stat that I don't know if you remember this,
but Martha there there's more money spent on food during
(18:48):
Super Bowl than Thanksgiving. Did I get that right? We're
almost right. So we're like, it's a national holiday that
we all love and celebrate. You go to the Super
Bowl every year, and we're just thinking, how can we
do something fun and raise awareness because you know, in
Los Angeles we have you know, the in house that
we want to take care of, and so out of
that runch, I think we raise one hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So that's so great. And so your your commitment of
environmental and educational values, how do you translate that into
a real business. How do you guys make a living?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well? Yeah, I mean Joe and I like to say
that we're at the intersection of impact, storytelling and hospitality. So,
you know, I think it's just finding something that the
market size is big enough that you know you can
you can have a number of different paths to financial outcomes.
The pet category is for us just been exceptional because
(19:39):
it's now about a half. It's going to be about
a half a trillion dollar market and we're approaching it
really from the human health and well being standpoint. So
that's really when we're thinking about opportunities. We just look
for the market size, and we also look for what
we're passionate about.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I see. And so now, how does Tito's, for example,
come into this.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
That's a great question, and it kind of is how
we love to work because there's a Martha element to it.
Do you remember when I called you and said, hey,
Tito's has a really fun idea. And actually the chief
marketing officer's brother works for us at Wolf and so
we were because they have this amazing program called Vodka
for Dog People. Okay, so they would come to our events.
We actually built a speakeasy and I don't think you
(20:20):
have to see our bark easy. We had a in
that crazy loss and all the dogs knew a secret
bar that became kind of legendary in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And are you in touch with Sketchers?
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Well, you get us. We love them so much more so.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Have you've been down to their often beach, Yes?
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, and their founders.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Headquarters there for their pet for their pet business.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
We are huge fans, huge fans, so we'd love.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You have to get them involved with your with your wolf.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well, we want to do we want to do community
dog walks. So imagine Sketchers being involved in that.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh yeah, right there in Manhattan Beach, the whole boardwalk there.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
What a fun partnership that is with you. Like, that's
another thing. It's fun to kind of hear. What when
people know that we work with you? What they say?
And they say Sketchers a lot. And not only are
the ads fun, but people love the product.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. Indeed, so you and I have worked with Cheeto's,
We have worked with that went viral dry January.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Wasn't that great?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Hysterically everyone has to see that check that video.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
And uh and yet and this is the This is
a family owned.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Company, yes, one one shareholder.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Vodka made out of corn. And it's a strange thing
that I think is the only popular vodka made out
of corn. Everything else made. Amazing company.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Amazing company.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
If you if we go to Austin together, it would
be fun to go to visit them. This isn't Tito's
last name Beverette.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
It is.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, I mean someday we'd love to meet him by that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So my favorite, if I can choose a favorite of
all my commitments so with with you is Pretty Litter.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Oh my gosh, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
What a great founder, right, Oh yes, Daniel Rotman.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Daniel Rotman founded this amazing company called Pretty Litter, which
manufactures a litter that is lightweight, It is odorless, it
is dust free. It uh it actually stains with the
dogs urine different colors. If there is a problem with
with this, an illness in the dog, acid or alkaline.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Me he should do something for dogs because some dogs
can be literature.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, he's probably doing pepe pads.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
But he's recently sold his business to Mars.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
We do a lot of stuff with Mars.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Great, such a good guy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well, he's a very big entrepreneurial, thoughtful creator of business.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And it's like the thing what's interesting is not that
long ago he was a scrappy start up with a
handful of employees and he came on my radar and
I just wanted to visit him because he had he
allowed cats in the office. He might have been the
first company that allowed cats in the office.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah. Well, the whole program with Pretty Litter was really,
really good.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Well, they are very happy. I don't remember the stats,
but what's interesting about digital advertising is they know what
units work, and so they saw such a difference in
sales when Martha was aligned with Pretty Litter to a
I mean extraordinary amount that they keep working with you
as it works.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Right. Another crazy product, which I just I just didn't
understand it at all when you first brought it to me,
was a product called liquid desks.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
We are obsessed with it, which is and water.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
In a can, not in not in a plastic bottle
in a can, which is recyclable. Plastic plastic. You know,
I've been reading all the new stats on plastic plastic
is not recycled, never will be, no matter what anybody
tells you, forget it. You can throw all your plastic
bottles into the recycle the plastic recycle bin, and those
(24:17):
plastic bottles will not be recycled.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
That's right. We just have to hope there's new technology.
We hear things about mushrooms being able to digest it,
but right now, you're absolutely right, there's no type of
plastic that's recyclable.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, so so for liquid deaths to come out with
water in a can. It was hysterical and the commercial
was ridiculous, ridiculous and silly, but it worked. It was
viral that that company is now is really a valuable company.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Very very yeah company and yeah you know, and they
are such a great case study if Clinton. I love
that podcast How I Built This, and I believe it
was on that podcast, but hearing Mike's story about never
giving up, because I think sometimes you see the success
and you don't see the struggles. I mean, he really
struggled to get that off the ground. No one people
(25:06):
thought he was really crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well because of the name.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah, Well, so I first showed it to your death.
I showed it to you at that Super Bowl party,
and I I liked it because I thought it was
just so out there and they approached their business like
an entertainment company and they just want to create like
content that people laugh and I thought it was funny.
I like Clinton, it was like, I like, really inappropriate humor.
(25:30):
And so when I showed you the can, you made
a face because it is it's it's it's edgy, but
sometimes it's that's the thing that people are going to
know something about that people.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Paid attention, and I see it more and more. It's
it's in the roadside stops, you know, in the seven
eleven's and every place now, and it's the thing you
pick up because it's weird.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It's very, very big. With the big demo for them
is you know, the youth.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
They have a very big and love to acknowledge him
because it's the environmental thing, Martha. But it's also better
to drink that type of ridge than energy drinks. Right,
these young kids that are in elementary school having caffeine
amounts that are really.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Off the charge should and water water water.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
That's right. So so a lot of these things are like, like,
we know you believe in those amazing water filter systems
because you take the water taste good, the texture is good.
But we live in a modern era of convenience, and
so Mike's like, let's let me do the best thing
that is convenient without ruining the environment. The environment without
sugar and without caffeine. Yeah, and he was right, he's amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
The one that we're really excited about is Hope in
the Water. It's not a company, but that's a collaboration
that our friend Jen Bushman, we met her at Sundance,
and she just told us this simple fact about you know,
our oceans, we hear all the trouble they're in, and
it's not not not being present to that. But there
are so many things we could do, those of us
who love food, Like right now in California, Martha, if
(26:57):
we eat more sea urchins, that's going to actually help
the ocean. Right now, there's like too many se because
the water. But I don't even have We were so busy.
You did that shoot, so we don't even know what
you filmed. Oh, but you're in good company with other talent.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Well we can we can talk about that a little bit.
But David Kelly and Andrew Zimmern produced a series that
it's going to be aired on PBS Public Television in June,
and I just got the dates. I think it's June.
My segment will be on June twenty fourth. I think
it's called Hope in the Water, And what it's really
(27:33):
about is sustainability or sustainably grown foods from the ocean harvests.
So I did the scallops and who knew. I didn't
know at the time that most of the scallops that
we eat, but that we buy it the fishmonger. Are
scallops that are actually farmed in the ocean, and the
(27:54):
Japanese are by far the leaders in manufacturing really growing
in the ocean. You drill this shell. It's time consuming,
it is unbelievably tedious, and I don't know how it happens,
but millions and millions of scallops can be grown by
just hanging the shells, the scallop shells as they grow,
(28:16):
like one year old shells on strings and hang them
in a deep ocean.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Wow, it's incredible off.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Buoys, you know, in the ocean, and within two years
or three years, you're eating a scallop and they are delicious.
Of course they are fresh sea grown scallops. I couldn't
believe how fabulous. And there's two entrepreneurial young guys up
in Maine in a great big bay in Maine are
doing that kind of farming. So and then they're going,
(28:44):
of course to salmon fisheries and shrimp fisheries. Most of
our shrimp comes from Vietnam, grown in the ocean, and
those are the best shrimp. Not you know, you think
you're gonna you know, the frozen shrimps that you get
in the supermarket, not necessarily really the best shrimp, not
the most tasty, the most succulent. Lots of them just
(29:05):
say sort of like cardboard, but some of them are
so good and and they're pointing out who does the best.
This is kind of forming, so I think, and how
did you get involved with that? Though?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And we met Jennifer at Sundance and you know we
do we do the annual event at Sundance every year.
So it's just a great time to bring people together.
And again it's something where we combine impact in film
and storytelling. So yeah, so Jen came in and shares
her vision with us and immediately thought you would be
great for the.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Great I just have one segment, but it was, but
I must say it was really big.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Shyleene Woodley's got a segment on.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Woodley jo and I believe. Yes, yeah, so what a
remarkable that's like the New Avengers.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, I think people will sit up and pay attention. Well,
the oceans are I mean, as our earth is defiled
by the pollution and by the drought and famine and
it's hugely warm climate, the oceans are still very very
fertile for for growing things.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Absolutely and David David E. Kelly. We didn't know this
until Jennifer showed he's the largest trout farmer farmer on
a brand called Rivers right. Beautiful, Yeah, gorgeous, beautiful product.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's incredible.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Oh, look a whole all of our whole bands, school.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Grow going through the this. This is a very busy
it's a very very busy.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I think Rockefeller Center. I was telling you cl if
you ever want to mood boost, come here and be
optimistic about America. Like, this is a special place.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
This is a center for tourism in New York City
and it's awesome and and there's great restaurant.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Did that amazing renovation? Like I have been here ice skating?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, the Today Show has its has its turn.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
That outdoor area into a dog park. To think of
how symbolic your podcast studio used to be. It was
a new stand in a new stand. So it is
print dead.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Huh. Our newest fresson Martha Stewart Living has a new
garden and everyone is so excited. Oh the special issue.
It's on the new stands right now and it is
a beautiful congratulation.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
You know how many people have said like they miss
it so badly. There was that young woman and you
guys have to meet, but she's collected almost all your issues.
Remember that. Just I just saw that on your on
your feed mark that like all the Martha Stuart Living issues,
people know which ones they have in which ones they don't.
Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yes, that's so interesting. And I have three sets of
my of my issues, and no one is allowed to touch them,
to go and hear them.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
What about the Smithsonian? Would they be allowed to have them?
Of course? Okay, of course let's call them.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
We should call them.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
But it's but I wish you guys well with your business.
I think Wolf has real future and I think there's
so many things to do with Wolf and you might
have to start MEW too, because.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Well they're part of it.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Part of it is.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
MEW is a big business and with best pet workplaces
like we hear more cat stories honestly than dogs. And
we have a little gift for you. You know, it's
building a business. Mark like things. Sometimes you have to
test things that we're not ready to sell yet. But
we have a prototype for you and we would love
your feedback.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Show me what this prototype is.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And we've also got to line out as of this
week and pet Co, which is very exciting.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
They got a little scuffed up Martha.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
These are slides shoe slides and on one is Han
He's the most beautiful dog.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Hurt. All of Martha's animals are.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The other one is Chin and for his chin.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
So they're with you forever, right.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
These are lovely.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
So we're testing how can we do something real. This
is American Maid, all American Maid and downtown Los Angeles
and we're trying to get these at an affordable price
using American craftsmanship with the customization. So this is that
you got. You got pair number one, so so yeah,
you're so welcome.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
But people can send in their their their.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Photos so tag us like follow us on Instagram and
be patient with that. Woof dot world okay, wolf w
uf dot World.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
We do have a We do have a line out
as of this week at the Union Square Petco as
part of our Saturday Dog Club brand. Yeah, so people
can go down to Peco. We're right at the front
of the store. They gave us like the best placements.
They've been giving a very really positive feedback. So it's
right at the front of the store. Have you been
to that store?
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And yes, it's allergentastic.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah yeah, it's a really good store. And they have
a grooming sick and.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It looks like a little barber shops, dog trains, that's
the appeal.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
We've learned an awful lot from you, so we just
want to thank you as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Good luck with this.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Well, thanks for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
It's a pleasure and.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's so much more to talk about. Come back next
year and tell me the progress you've made.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Okay, you'll get the status up there.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I want them regularly.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Thank you so much, Martha.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Thanks
Host
Martha Stewart
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