Mindfulness in the Metaverse | Angélic Vendette, Alo Yoga

[00:00] I can't remember what we're talking about. [00:04] Um... [00:06] You can't either. [00:09] Welcome to Boys Club Interviews. This is a show where we bring on people much smarter than us to talk about the new internet. I'm Natasha Hoskins. I'm Dina Burke. And this is Boys Club. Wait, is it just Boys Club? It's just Boys Club. The Boys Club podcast? No. Just Boys Club. [00:28] Hey. Hi. How's it going? Good. So in today's show, we had Angelique Vendette, who is the CMO of All Yoga. [00:35] And we had a lovely conversation about [00:39] the future of retail, digital commerce, metaverse, meditation. Yeah. [00:46] Totally. I love Alo Yoga as a brand and their clothes fit so well. And I was excited to talk to her because I think they've done a really amazing job. [00:55] marketing themselves and sort of re [00:57] invigorating excitement around an athleisure brand. And then it was really interesting to hear her talk about [01:03] her as a CMO also [01:06] leading their innovation and I [01:10] really can see how in today's world of like web three and AI and all these emerging tooling, how that role makes a ton of sense for someone who's a marketer. And I think for you and I, we think like we're both marketers and brand people and community people, and we understand that. [01:26] how powerful these tools can be from a marketing perspective, from a community perspective. And so, um, it's cool to see a brand like theirs understand that as well and have somebody at the helm of those things.

[01:38] really given an opportunity to be experimental. Totally. And she's been able to produce very real business results as a consequence of her experimentation. So that was also cool to hear about. And that's the show. Give it a listen. [01:53] Bye. [02:00] On today's show, we have Angelique Vendette, the CMO at Aloe Yoga. Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm a big fan of Aloe, so very excited to have you. It's the workout clothes that I feel like hottest in when I'm working out, which honestly makes me work out so much better. I'm like, I'm so beautiful in these clothes. So thank you for that. I mean, when you look good, you feel good. [02:30] I wanted to start off with a bit of a grounding for you and your journey and your experience. I think as Natasha alluded to, AloYoga has such a strong brand. [02:44] in many households it's a household name in mine it certainly is wellness is not a category that's very strongly associated with web3 some people would be surprised to see how bullish you guys have been with nfts and the metaverse and digital assets and i imagine that you've had to champion [03:03] for that quite a bit internally. So tell us about how it's been for you. What has the process been like? What has your journey been like in Web3? Yeah, of course. Well, I've been a long time, you know, player in the Web3 space, even before joining Allo. My journey began, you know, investing in crypto in 2016. And actually, you know, specific to Allo, when I was interviewing there, I had specifically asked, like, what are we, what are you guys doing in Web3? What are you

[03:33] "What do you mean? We're not doing anything." It wasn't until [03:37] About nine to 10 months in, although I had been talking about this since even before taking the role, that I was really able to start working on the Web3 projects. [03:47] You know, at the core of it, leading marketing, right? It's not intrinsic to say that you're also going to be the one leading innovation. And although that had always been an interest in my career, right? I had always been at the intersection of innovation and fashion, you could say, or innovation and lifestyle. It was not the case at Allo, or that was not the remit of my role coming in. It was really as... [04:09] the CMO to lead all things marketing, social influencer, PR site, email, all those things. And after... [04:17] you know, doing some strategy work and after repositioning us in a place that was a lot more transcending of a category, transcending of athleisure or a workout apparel and really bringing us into a place of wellness, i.e. being the official wellness partner of New York Fashion Week or setting on some really big. [04:37] fashion partners in like Kendall Jenner. It was really after hitting some home runs in marketing that I was then able to create my business case to say, hey, okay, that thing about [04:49] - Went three. [04:50] about NFTs, about gaming that I had been talking about this whole time. I think it's time and I understand the brand. I understand the strategies and that had been very clear and apparent. And so it was like, OK, we trust you. And that's how we got to

[05:06] to leading into the Innovation Roadmap. So although I'm the CMO, I really do lead everything marketing, but also innovation. And that's my pride and joy. That's where I love spending the most of my time. [05:17] The journey was not obvious. It was not written in the JD, but it was such a white space for wellness. Within Web3, as humans, are all going through different wellness journeys. No matter what that looks like, that might be you're meditating, you're going to yoga, you're buying a cute outfit because it makes you feel good. That's all part of your wellness journey. You're having the green juice, or you're having that piece of pie. Again, all part of that wellness journey, what makes you feel good in that moment. And [05:45] Leaning into that. And you also need that in Web3. You need that in the metaverse. If you're spending more and more time in the metaverse, for example, why not take... [05:56] five minutes of your day for you to meditate um we're often simulated by all senses right online [06:02] loud music, bold colors, all the things. [06:06] jumping through hoops in different metaverses. [06:08] Why not create something where you can actually close your eyes [06:12] Put your hand at heart center. [06:14] and you know some breath work or do some meditation so that's really where [06:19] the worlds of wellness and the worlds of Web3 do intersect. We need wellness in all aspects of our life. [06:24] I think one of the things that I have [06:27] been thinking a lot about as I've sort of been digging into what you guys have been working on is how a brand like [06:32] Aloe, which is so... [06:34] known for... [06:36] really being in your body and physical activity, even like the way you look so much about the brand ethos and why it's so powerful is you guys have done a really good job of connecting that to what you look and feel like in the real world. And so I'm curious how you add that as sort of a brand value, how you balance that against prioritizing digital commerce, digital experiences,

[07:06] It's a really difficult balance in the sense that as your [07:11] practicing or preaching practice of being present and being in oneself, right? When you think of meditation or mindfulness, it's all about being in the moment and focusing in on that breath or focusing in on that one thought or that one mantra, you know? And on the other side, when we do think of the digital space, whether that's in the web three or also web two, it's a lot about going [07:41] are going through kind of a path that technology has driven you down. And so [07:46] in that exploration and in trying to merge both, we've created a few kind of interesting things. Again, it's all been in the test and learn phase, but having that at the core is, [07:57] where we do want you to be present. We do want you to continue to value and focus on that mindfulness and that mental health aspect of things. It's [08:05] brought to life some really, really interesting manifestations of the digital experience. We tested the first virtual reality store in a digital space this past February. We partnered with Obsess, we partnered with Meta on the Oculus, so that you can really wear this VR headset and actually feel like you're in an Aloe Sanctuary world. [08:27] you know, shopping clothing, you're going through racks, in front of a mirror, trying new things. [08:33] Of course, that's on the clothing piece and not on the wellness piece. But getting to that, you can also learn about gua sha. I want to learn so much about gua sha. Yes, I'd like that even more.

[08:45] So yeah, you can learn about gua sha. You can learn about face yoga. You can lay down on your mat as you're wearing the oculus and take a wonderful alo moves class with us, whether that be a meditation or whether that be actually Pilates or yoga or bar, whatever that may be. [09:03] could do that within our virtual store. And it is fully immersive. And that allows you to once again, feel like you're submerged in that digital [09:12] story experience that looks and feels like one of our [09:15] sanctuary stores, which is what we call our stores, where you could do yoga, you could have to adapt the gin latte and cafe somewhere. And then you could also browse products, whether that's like face, body, or even just athleisure apparel. And this mimics that, but it also goes that step further where you could actually [09:34] you know, submerge into your practice. And that's one example. That's one example with the virtual reality store. I would say that our metaverse [09:41] experiences, [09:42] are very, very similar. Where, you know, if I think of, for example, Roblox, where we have 78 million people doing yoga and meditation with us, it's... [09:53] They're doing the same thing. Yes, it's their avatar going around this island. They're collecting orbs, but the orbs that they collect is not through kind of like a game or jumping through hoops. Once again, it's really... [10:05] okay, you've come one day, [10:07] you get an orb, you've come two days in a row, you get a second orb, you've meditated now for seven days. [10:13] you get the seven orbs. And so it's really

[10:16] leaning in on versus anything transactional or about buying anything. Just leaning into that wellness journey and coming from it in a really authentic way that's focused on the user and on our community. That's where those both worlds marry, again, really seamlessly because it's authentic. I love that you called it your test and learn era or I don't know exactly what the words you use, but like that you guys are experimenting and I love it. [10:45] just appreciate that it takes something, especially with a brand that has as much equity and as well known as Aliyoga to be sort of openly experimenting in these new digital frontiers. And it's really cool to see that is a boldness and you've clearly built up a lot of trust internally. And it's so fun to see all these different ways that you're like, okay, is this the thing? Is this the thing? And we love to see it. Are you seeing much of a crossover [11:15] the people who come into your store and are buying sets. What's that crossover look like? Yeah, yeah. That's a great question. A good example to kind of walk you through if we see crossover is March 1st. We launched a digital fashion collection. It was made up of items that we do have IRL. So our accolade hoodie, our accolade sweats, and this cute bucket hat. [11:38] And so a unisex collection drop and we dropped that digital collection on a thousand metaverse platforms. [11:46] and social media platforms.

[11:48] So you could dress your avatar in it on, of course, the traditional kind of web to TikTok snap. [11:54] Instagram filters and things like that, but also in [11:58] VRChat, also in Decentraland, also in the Sandbox, also in Roblox, also in Zeppetto. And I can keep going. And that collection, that accolades sweatsuit, right, is a core and staple. So we buy a ton of it. We have a ton of it in all of our stores. [12:15] on digital, it's something we replan consistently because it's our unisex kind of staple. And we saw that, you know, after launching that on May 1st, by May 3rd, [12:25] The accolades sweatsuit was fully sold out. And so was the bucket. Oh, wow. And that includes all stores and digital platform. So knowing that we have a lot of inventory and a lot of stock on that, it took two days for it to be fully won. Wow. Wow, that's amazing. That's such a great... [12:43] example of how new commerce experiences and new digital experiences are driving a relationship to customers in commerce. And one thing that we think a lot about at Boys Club is what is the future of digital commerce and how are brands on the cutting edge of that thinking about their relationship to audience and [13:06] specifically sort of on-chain engagement and what that [13:10] will open up in terms of a brand new relationship to [13:13] to commerce. So I'd love for you to sort of talk about the business use case for these types of experiments. Yeah. Well, first off, I am so passionate about the future of commerce and the future of retail. I think that we're prime for huge, huge, huge disruption. It still feels so transactional, right? Whether we're in web two, including web three, it just so feels like it's a one-way relationship and it's time for that to change, at least from my perspective,

[13:43] The way that I think that that will look, you know, thinking of on-chain use cases and how that's applied to business, I do think that there is a lot more room for co-creation. You know, people throw around the word community, like left, right and center. It's like authenticity, community. And you're like, OK, but really, what are you doing and what does that look like? And you peek under the hood and you're like, oh, OK, never mind. This is a facade or you slap that on your Instagram or whatever. Right. [14:13] Thank you. [14:14] Community and consumers are actually in control or creating conversations. And [14:20] Again, not specific to Aloe, but just in the general gist of kind of the retail world. And I think with on-chain capabilities, that opens the door. And we talked a lot about this in the space, right? But it opens the door to that co-creation. And it opens the door to not specifically saying co-creation in the sense of [14:41] creating avatars or creating digital clothing or creating the co-creating design or anything like that, you know, brands are worried for the most part for like, oh, logo and IP and that type of thing. And that, of course, that's normal. But co-creation can also be co-creation of their journey, co-creation of their input with you as a brand, and really owning that part of the life cycle, if you will, determining whether they want to share their data, determining whether [15:11] it just opens doors for...

[15:15] a more in-depth relationship, I think. And so I do think that that part, specifically being on-chain, is also a big part of what's next in commerce. Similarly, when we talk about the broader definition of Web3 and not specifically on-chain, but you can't not speak about AI, right? And we can't ignore that, especially in the space where [15:35] There's... [15:36] So much room again for optimization and amplification of making things better, whether that's processes, whether and again, blockchain does the same thing for bettering processes, transparency, authenticity, all the way back from like supply chain or where things are sourced. But specifically to AI, there's also this component of kind of flipping the full funnel on its head. [15:59] Right. Instead of starting [16:01] with something broad in terms of awareness messaging and then getting to a place where you perhaps have seen the brand, understand the values and then consider buying the clothes to then being retargeted with the clothes. [16:12] and or whatever the beauty product or the [16:15] the health shake you want to buy or whatever product we're speaking about. Instead of doing that, why not go in with something hyper-personalized from the get-go, something that is super tailored to me, whether that's me sharing my inputs from the get-go and exchanging that data, again, have ownership in the relationship, exchanging that data to get something that is more meaningful to me from the beginning, and then understanding if the values align, and then coming back to a place of understanding the full brand

[16:45] and story. And that feels really exciting to me. It's high time for us as consumers to take ownership back of the entire relationship and of the entire sales funnel. [16:55] Let's talk about speaking of the consumer experience, you just launched a mindfulness experience in store. Talk to us a little bit about that and how that came to life. [17:25] signs that say tap here for mindfulness. And so it's NFC chip activated. You bring your phone and get a daily affirmation. And so it's really, again, [17:38] to give back and to give value right away to the consumer. It's almost like a surprise and delight where you don't know what you're expecting and you just so happen to have a beautiful relationship. [17:48] daily affirmation that you might want to remind yourself with or bring into your daily practice that evening if you're going into yoga or whatever that may be or if it's just in that moment and you read something you know delightful that's that's also wonderful and being nfc chip activated obviously you walk around the store you can tap a few different ones get a different daily affirmation depending on the day that you're coming in right each day is a different one throughout the month

[18:18] theme and things that I like to put out there is that it doesn't you don't have to know that it's web 3 the good news is is that anyone can go in and tap you know bring your phone close and just tap and get this wonderful affirmation and you get to redeem it either you get to read it on place and and right away but you get to also redeem it and add it to your digital wallet and [18:40] and it becomes a collectible. And that is also building the basis for, you know, you might also be surprised and delighted with something else coming down the line. So you get to add that in. And some folks we've seen have been coming in like day in and day out. They're obviously not specifically buying day in and day out. And again, that's not the goal. The goal is really just to give them a moment of wellness throughout their day. And again, that's all part of [19:07] building that community and really giving the consumer, you know, some some utility right away in the sense of giving them kind of this feel good moment. [19:17] So yeah, excited to have partnered on this and excited to have launched NFC Chips. I think it opens the door for what's to come. [19:25] To clarify, is that going into the the redeem the NFT aspect of it is that [19:31] So it is redeemable into a wallet experience. [19:34] It is. [19:35] Yeah, it doesn't have to be, but it is. So it opens up right away on your phone and then you can add it to your digital wallet. Okay, cool. Yeah. That's awesome. I'd love to close with just... [19:44] some things that you're excited about in the space generally or more specifically to Allo, but what are some things that you're thinking a lot about? Yeah, I'm still very much excited about how AR can amplify things.

[19:57] And I know that's not specific to Web3, but when I think of larger digital ecosystems. So we had done a beta test with Snap at New York Fashion Week with their Snap lens mirror that they just announced at their partner summit a few weeks ago. But what does that look at scale? And what does that look like in stores or in yoga studios? And how does AR amplify that? I'm also really excited about a lot more immersion in the VR spaces. [20:27] dabbled in it with our obsessed partnership in our virtual reality store. But what does it look like to do like a full, [20:34] let's say, teach a training class in that setting. Oh, wow. Yeah, or maybe you're meditating with it every day. And how does that amplify your meditations? So just really looking at how VR continues to push that forward, specifically on the blockchain front. I mean, I mentioned we just ended on NFC chips. I think there's so much room for connected clothing, right? And for giving folks utility right away. [21:04] at and you come to your studio and you just [21:07] stand that in and right away you have access to classes. That's one iteration, but there's so many more that become available. And then in the larger ecosystem of retail overall, I'm really, really excited again about that disruption. Looking at building retail for the future, I do think that the current models are fully broken and they work for us right now, right,

[21:37] more hyper-personalized content that is meaningful to us, right? There's so much noise [21:43] we're online and you just you're bombarded with all these things what if you can cut through the noise and get to a place where you get exactly what you want and what you're looking for um so i'm excited about that and excited about contributing to the build of that amazing angelique so nice to have you and now i'm gonna go meditate i'm like i you've infused me with a call for wellness in my own life so i'm gonna go do that now so lovely to to talk with you and thank you so much for coming on of course thank you so much for having me have a great day [22:13] draft tweets let's do it okay do you want to go first or do you want me to you go for it okay um this one I couldn't figure out how it didn't sound like it was like mean and a dunk on my mom so I didn't end up tweeting it but happy mother's day happy mother's day it was on mother's day uh nothing like your mom saying in quotes I know I gotta let you go and then talking for another 45 [22:43] But it was like, it's, it, it's not a dunk. That's a classic mom. It's a classic mom. And also what's so funny is she does that. [22:50] Like I call her and then two minutes in, she's like, I know I got to let you go. And I'm like, I never said that. Like you're saying that. And now I'm like, no, what? Like, and then proceed to continue talking for 45 minutes. So anyway, but then I was like, I don't know. My dad reads my tweets and he'd be like, are you dunking on mom? And I'd be like, no, I'm not. So I don't know what to do about that. So it's a draft tweet. It may stay forever in drafts, but I think it's kind of sweet. At least you called your mom. I called her on mother's day. I didn't call my mom.

[23:20] - You didn't? [23:22] I couldn't. You could not. She shan't. I can deal with a 45 minute conversation. Uh... [23:28] I like it. It's sweet. Oh, thanks. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. I think it's nice. It's nice in a... Yeah, it's not sweet. It's nice in a kind of... [23:38] subversive way okay what's yours okay mine is my mechanic [23:46] What's your address? [23:48] Me in my head. [23:50] Dina Y2K Dyeeth. [23:53] He was not asking for my ETH address. Yeah, I can't imagine. [24:00] So what's that? Good stuff. You should send it. Okay. Bye. [24:06] Dina, where are we going to be in September? We are going to be at Permissionless in Austin, Texas. Permissionless too. It's happening. And we're curating the culture track for the conference. So if you're into the stuff we talk about here, you should come and have a good time with us. So email your boss. [24:23] need to go and buy your ticket now. They will never be as cheap as they are today. And we also have a promo code in our discord for boys club members. Come hang in Austin. Friends. [24:36] This is where we make an ask. We're in our call to action era. It's CTA times. Rate and review this podcast. Subscribe to our newsletter. And if you're feeling extra generous... [24:49] Send it to one friend.

[24:51] Thank you for listening. We love you. Bye.