VidCon 2022 Recap

Duke McKenzie
LinkedIn - Duke McKenzie

Kyle Kaplanis
LinkedIn - Kyle Kaplanis
TikTok - @theweb3guy
IG - @kyle_kaplanis
YT - The Web3 Guy

Transcript

Duke McKenzie: 0:00

All right, everybody. Welcome to Tomorrow Today. I am Duke McKenzie and we got our co-host Kyle Kaplanis. How you doing Kyle?

Kyle Kaplanis: 0:09

I'm doing well Duke. I'm excited for another episode.

Duke McKenzie: 0:11

Kyle, we're gonna do something a little different today. We're gonna, switch up the script because even though. Even though you are a cohost, you are Tomorrow Today's special guest because we were supposed to be at VidCon together and I ended up getting sick. It wasn't COVID apparently there are other coronaviruses out there. I had the flu, the normal flu and whatever, and it knocked me out. But this was the first VidCon in, I think over two years,

Kyle Kaplanis: 0:39

there's three

Duke McKenzie: 0:40

in three years, right?

Kyle Kaplanis: 0:41

Yeah.

Duke McKenzie: 0:41

And there's been a shift in all these things. We promised the people to share some thoughts and what was going on and you are the messenger to the people of sharing thoughts and all that stuff. So just start off summarizing VidCon, just summarize it again. What is VidCon?

Kyle Kaplanis: 0:54

VidCon again, as a easy definition of it. Yeah. Is creators brands and fans all coming together under one roof. That's really the simplistic definition of what VidCon is.

Duke McKenzie: 1:06

Yeah. And, and when it started and when I started going and all that stuff, it used to be the types of creators that generated the most attention were probably YouTubers. Like on all those things, like when we'd go. So when you went, just give an overview of, like, when you went talk about the creators. What did you see from the creators there? Anything interesting. How was fan engagement? We'll love your thoughts.

Kyle Kaplanis: 1:28

So this year was a little bit different. What I noticed was there wasn't a lot of creators amongst the audience of the fans. So what I mean by that is the year before COVID 2019, the TikTok creators that were emerging. Or were not invited guests. Right? So they were everywhere. They were rampant in the general areas where fans could collaborate. But this year, a lot of 'em were brought in as featured creators. And there was a different place that they had to be VidCon was not allowing them to mingle. So,

Duke McKenzie: 2:00

let me ask you question with this year, were most of the feature creators, TikTokers, or was it a mix or what did you see? Like when you say featured creator, what does it mean to be a featured creator?

Kyle Kaplanis: 2:11

Featured creator is somebody who was invited by VidCon, they have a meet and greet time for their fans to come. Or some of them are invited to speak on stage. Things like that. I would actually say that majority of the creators that were invited this year were TikTokers.

Duke McKenzie: 2:25

It looked that way. When you look at the advertising materials and everything along those lines and so different like this year. All the big TikTokers and all the featured creators were in like a special VIP area. And then,

Kyle Kaplanis: 2:36

yeah.

Duke McKenzie: 2:36

Yeah.

Kyle Kaplanis: 2:37

Mm-hmm

Duke McKenzie: 2:37

so, it's in Anaheim, in the Disney area, right? Where were the Hilton hotel and stuff? What were the fans doing when they were just walking in the crowd over the weekend. were they looking for creators or were they trying to engage with the brands? What were they doing?

Kyle Kaplanis: 2:50

So there was a mix, right? There was a lot of them looking for creators because a lot of them come there to try to get a photo with them or be able to do something cool with them. But inside the convention hall at the Anaheim convention center there was a lot of booths, set up like paramount, Amazon prime, , you know, squa, meows, like all of those had their booth and they were very interactive with their audiences. The squash Melos booth had a human claw machine. They were hooking people up to a harness system and lowering them into this giant, like claw machine and the person get to pick a prize.

Duke McKenzie: 3:20

That's cool.

Kyle Kaplanis: 3:20

There was a lot of really cool, brands getting together with their fans

Duke McKenzie: 3:24

now, do you think that like this year compared to other years, were the brand activations better than previous years? Like the brands were the star of the show or what do you think?

Kyle Kaplanis: 3:33

I would think that they were pretty much the same., but I do have to say that you could feel the energy of the competition, between short form platforms . So the first year, there was zero competition, but now everybody's competing for short form. So what I noticed big time was YouTube shorts got a lot of attention this year. They created a whole outside drive through, setup, which was really cool. And they drove around in really cool golf carts and people got to jump on they got to go through the experience and then YouTube shorts selected. I don't remember how many creators, but maybe 20 or 30 creators they selected. And each of those creators, uniquely designed their own snack and they were all packaged with that. Creator's face on it. It was actually really cool.

Duke McKenzie: 4:13

That's a cool execution.

Kyle Kaplanis: 4:14

It was really cool.

Duke McKenzie: 4:15

What creators were involved? Do you remember off the top of your head?

Kyle Kaplanis: 4:18

Most of them were YouTube creators. Yeah.

Duke McKenzie: 4:21

would make sense for YouTube.

Kyle Kaplanis: 4:22

Yeah, they were mostly all YouTube, creators. Some of 'em have a TikTok following like Ben of the Week and something like that. But I thought that was really cool. It showed that YouTube is paying attention to their creators, and also that they're paying attention to what their fans enjoy and want to interact with. Also Mr. Beast we all know Mr. Beast he's killing it on YouTube. A part of that YouTube shorts set up. He also had this giant gumball machine where people can win prizes. And

Duke McKenzie: 4:47

was he there?

Kyle Kaplanis: 4:48

Yeah, he did. He showed up, he was there. Okay. We got to go through it, myself, Emily and my younger one, Jessie. And we actually won some really sweet prizes. So Jesse won a, an switch.

Duke McKenzie: 5:00

Oh, that's cool. Your daughter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I

Kyle Kaplanis: 5:02

won, a retro old school game boy, which was super cool. And then Emily won, a Mr. Beast hoodie. So it was really cool, actually.

Duke McKenzie: 5:11

That's cool. I'm doing a quick search. I believe that YouTube shorts now has 1.5 billion, subscribers. And I believe that it's neck and neck with TikTok, which is interesting of the, like you mentioned that everyone is heating up competing for the short form content. It is funny. We had a conversation about it. I've been doing some content about it, about how shortform content is the future for the foreseeable future for creators or foreseeable future for brands and everything. Mm-hmm shortform content is the future of content right now. It's interesting that YouTube was known predominantly as a long form platform, how they flipped the script and really pushed that this year. Yeah. And you know what else is funny? And you mentioned this before. I'd love you talk to the crowd. So TikTok sponsored the whole event, right?

Kyle Kaplanis: 5:53

Mm-hmm

Duke McKenzie: 5:53

You mentioned that they were not engaged in the crowd as much as YouTube or others, right?

Kyle Kaplanis: 5:59

A hundred percent. What I saw from them was they had this giant TikTok logo, the little music note, it was really cool. It had videos playing from TikTok. And then the banner on the building was like all TikTok, right? Cuz they're the sponsor. But inside they had no TikTok booth for the general public mm-hmm they only had a really cool, TikTok activation center for the creators that were featured creators that could get in there. But other than that, they had a few people passing out little bracelets, which I thought was cute. To me, if I could rank them, YouTube short stood out a hundred percent then TikTok maybe with their advertising and then meta

Duke McKenzie: 6:36

How did Meta do? Cause God knows. They are persistent and they keep pushing, how is their stuff?

Kyle Kaplanis: 6:41

their stuff was only limited to featured creators. So there was nothing I saw that was for regular fan engagement. Yeah. They were all, they had a really cool pool set up outside, but, it was more meetings for creators themselves,

Duke McKenzie: 6:53

Maybe they're trying to get more creators to treat it like a platform to create on cuz they have to reinvent themselves as well. Mm-hmm because there's the Instagram star and everything along those lines, but Instagram is a product now that's like 15 years old, or something like that. They're trying with their Reels product to focus on short form and things along those lines. It's interesting that they spent most of their time trying to engage creators. Which is interesting, right?

Kyle Kaplanis: 7:17

Yep.

Duke McKenzie: 7:18

And what other brands did you see there? When you were walking around? You spent a lot of time talking about the publishers, you saw the TikTok engagement, the YouTube short engagement, the Meta engagement. You mentioned that paramount was there. Mm-hmm um, Amazon prime, Amazon prime. What are, what other brands do you remember being there when you were walking.

Kyle Kaplanis: 7:35

So there was a, there was quite a few, , and interesting. There was a few booths that were run by the craters themselves, which caught my attention.

Duke McKenzie: 7:42

Oh, really? Like what were they doing there?

Kyle Kaplanis: 7:43

So there was a creator, Kall me Kris. Who's a really large creator. She's actually a Canadian creator, but she's huge. And one of the most popular ones there, she drew in a lot of crowds. Mm-hmm but she had a booth that was selling merch, selling a beverage product. That's released. And it was a popular booth. The line was just as big for that as I saw for some of these bigger ones. So to me, that was a really clear indication of whoa, creators are also brands. Right. Right. Some people might walk by and not think twice about it, but me, I was like, holy, okay.

Duke McKenzie: 8:15

Like that's a big deal. We're see that, that particular creator acted just like one of the sponsors and just like one, thank God a booth, say, okay, this is how I'm gonna launch my products. This is how I'm gonna get more exposure, more attention and to move that forward,

Kyle Kaplanis: 8:28

right.

Duke McKenzie: 8:28

Yeah. That's interesting. Now this year what's been interesting. There's always one creator who's the most popular, either the king or queen or something like that, of a particular social media platform. So right now, even though YouTube's pushing up there, Instagram's pushing up there and all that type of stuff. TikTok is still the social media platform that gets the most tension and is the most forward looking at getting the most, buzz. There was a bit of a change where. The largest TikTok in the world, up until two weeks ago was a young lady by the name of Charlie Demilio and she got unseated. And now the largest TikTok in the world is a creator by the name of, Khaby Lame and full disclosure. We do some work with Khaby Lame and all those to all the listeners out there. But he surpassed, Charli D'Amelio to be the largest TikTok creator in the world. Yeah.

Kyle Kaplanis: 9:21

And not only passed her, but he's flying past her now, I don't even think she can catch his dust cloud.

Duke McKenzie: 9:26

It's crazy.

Kyle Kaplanis: 9:26

Yeah. It's insane. There was a lot of interesting things about that because for one. The first ever most followed creator, also to be a black creator who passes a perfectly girl next door American.

Duke McKenzie: 9:39

Right, right, right.

Kyle Kaplanis: 9:40

That's a big deal.

Duke McKenzie: 9:41

And it's interesting because Khaby Lame is the first black creator. To be the most followed black creator on any social media platform. So that's an interesting milestone. Yeah. And then the other thing which is interesting is that TikTok took a lot of grief, when it launched because all of the creators who got the most financial benefit who became the largest, all had a similar profile, they all looked like Charli D'Amelio, Addison Rae and nothing against, I love them all. I think they're great. Totally. They're wonderful. And it was funny. And one of the big criticism was, the music, the content, the dancing, and all that seems to be fueled by African American and black creators. Mm-hmm But. For the longest time, there was not one black creator in the top 100, like that was born on TikTok. What they do is they would point out Jason Durulo or Will Smith, or Kevin Hart. But they're not born on TikTok creators. Exactly. They're famous in something else and they ported their audience over. It is just fascinating that not only is Khaby the first black he was born in Senegal immigrated to Italy when he was two years old, grew up in Italy and he's a global character. He is the most popular creator in America, the most popular creator in Europe, the most popular creator everywhere. It's just interesting that after all that criticism that TikTok had the face of the platform now is Khaby Lame, which is a black creator, which is one of the most followed people on earth now.

Kyle Kaplanis: 11:06

Totally. Yeah. I have to give a lot of credit to his ideas are so smart is taking already popular videos, adding his own unique twist to them without the use of word, which speaks the global language,

Duke McKenzie: 11:20

brilliant, brilliant. And it's funny cuz you watched him grow. Again, It's not that, like I said, I love them all. I support all creators. There's some great creators, but there's a group of creators that are easy to cheer for. Mm-hmm , for example, , we work with our creator, Alex Stemp. He's a wonderful creator. Who's on the show. He's a very easy creator to cheer for because he works on, making other people go viral, other people getting famous. Right? Yep. We worked with a creator named Michael Le. Michael Le is in the top 10 on TikTok, 50 something, million followers, great dancer, but also businessman. And he's very easy to cheer for. Right? Like he works so hard and all of those types of things, and Khaby's one of those creators is in you feel good? He's very easy to cheer for. Right? He works hard. He has a great, story. And he speaks the universal language that, everybody else like making people feel good and all of those things. And you understand why he took the number one spot?

Kyle Kaplanis: 12:10

Yeah, absolutely. I got a chance to meet with him and hang out with him and, I have to admit there's a lot of people that are like, how are these creators from real life? He is so charming. So funny. So humble. Absolutely sweet with his fans. And I take my hat off to him for, being just a genuine, really nice guy. And I love that about him. Yeah,

Duke McKenzie: 12:30

no, that, that's interesting. So he was the king of social media now. What's interesting as we leave our, last couple thoughts on VidCon. Now it could be that I was sick and was stuck in my bed that I didn't notice as much, but I normally have all the alerts and all the news and all the stuff. And it seemed like it didn't make as big of a splash this year. Mm-hmm , as it did in previous years. What are your thoughts on that?

Kyle Kaplanis: 12:54

A hundred percent. It was really quiet. Typically Friday and Saturdays are really busy. Saturday was like dead. So a little bit of my theory with that is whoever's on their team to decide who are the featured creators or who are the creators to bring. If you went . Through their list, I would've probably picked different creators. To be honest, there was a lot that if you looked at their meet and greet lines, there were some creators who didn't have a single fan in their line. Right, right, right. And maybe they're just not as relevant or maybe, they should have figured out what fans can draw in a lot more excitement. and again, I think the first couple days were busy, but because of the craters were so segregated and they had to be like, they weren't, they were told they couldn't come to the regular areas. I link a lot of fans were just a little bit disappointed that they couldn't, you know? Yeah. Yeah. You know,

Duke McKenzie: 13:41

one, one of the things, one of the things that people like about. Social media creators is they feel closer to them than a regular celebrity. Mm-hmm and they're more accessible, right? Yeah. Like they're real people. And I remember in the past, yes, there were some segregated, but it was more of the creators would walk and mingle with the regular people. But then if they needed a break, then they would go yes. To the separated area. One of the things, and this is how you bring fandom. And especially if we're born on TikTok, creators, They have not had a chance to, because they all started coming on the rise during the pandemic. One of the things that builds fandom and that people find really cool are these serendipitous connections, like you're walking by and you snap a pic of your favorite creator walking to this line that used to be the old Beauty Cons when Beauty Con was a thing. There was this young lady by the name, Bethany, Moto who's the biggest at the time, like most popular but they would all still be available, but when they wanted a break or they wanted an area or whatever, they would mingle with the rest of the people. Right. But when they wanted a break, they would go into a special area. Yeah. So one of the things that might be happening is being that this is all user generated and creators fans want to connect with them. There needs to be more interaction. That's not maybe so scheduled like more serendipitous interaction.

Kyle Kaplanis: 14:52

Absolutely because, we had two of our creators that I got to a chance to hang out with as well and experience some of the convention with, which was, Ella Watkins, one of our great creators and also Mason Denver. Yeah. And I got to hang out with those two and it was so fun to see. I'm talking hundreds. Hundreds of people ask them for photos

Duke McKenzie: 15:12

and got, and we just kinda come up to them. Right. Like, like, absolutely. And that's what builds those serendipitous connections and all those things. That's what bills, fandom. And that's what makes a cool event. Yes. Right? The reason why you go to VidCon. Is cuz you wanna mingle and see your favorite creators, your favorite social media stars and have access to them. And if it's only you see them talk or you can't go take random pics or you don't see them walking by in the hall or out on the grounds that's not what they want. With the way that the world is today and all that type of stuff. I know you have to be a certain way for an abundance of caution mm-hmm, but that's not, it's more grassroots. That's what the people want.

Kyle Kaplanis: 15:48

Exactly. And to be honest from the creator Standpoint. It was really cool over there on the creator's area was really dope, but a lot of the creators were really disappointed that they didn't get a chance to get photos because, through the pandemic, it was difficult to meet and greet with your fans. Right. This is the first time at bands. Yeah. They were like, they wanted that adrenaline. They wanted, it's been

Duke McKenzie: 16:06

over two, two years for a lot of these TikTok. Right. They have not been able to. Yeah. But anyway, you know what, it is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback because I've never hosted a VidCon and whatever, there's a lot going on, it's funny. I was sitting tracking the news and all those things there. Wasn't a lot of talking about it. There was talk about Khaby becoming number one. There was excitement around that. But even from the creators that were there, the ones that seemed to got the most out of it were the ones like Ella, like you said, yes, that are walking the crowd. Those are the ones that seemed to enjoy it. The most. Absolutely

Kyle Kaplanis: 16:36

so true.

Duke McKenzie: 16:37

As we wind down Kyle Kaplanis, do you have any final thoughts or that you'd like to leave people with about VidCon or to sum it all up?

Kyle Kaplanis: 16:44

Yeah. We dabble into all different kinds of things. And I wanted to just throw in a little web three into this mix. Of course, of course it was very, of course you have to throw in

Duke McKenzie: 16:53

some web three best three. Okay,

Kyle Kaplanis: 16:55

go ahead. Web three guy. What I found interesting was there was a couple really big NFT booths. They had that thing there where you could do that 360 picture, and claim an NFT, which was fun and out that queue was really big and interesting enough, like mini brands was there, the brand called mini brands and inside their display, they had little Bitcoins and , I thought that was interesting. And then upstairs, in the north hall, there was a couple other NFT booths that are looking to help creators, create their own projects and things like that. And funnily enough, I talked to the guy, I said, Hey, has anybody even come and asked you questions? And he said, I think we're too early. And I'm like, you can never be too early. You guys you'd never be too early. You guys should be so excited. Yeah. That you're this early. Yeah. Like, yeah, that's insane. I feel like the next one, they're either gonna have to. Figure out who the real relevant talent are, that can drive fandom. And too, I think that there's gonna be more NFT, related things in the future.

Duke McKenzie: 17:48

That makes sense. Those are two good points. Let's wrap it up there. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening to tomorrow today, please rate and subscribe this podcast. Kyle thanks for being a co-host of being a guest.

Kyle Kaplanis: 18:01

Thanks, dude. All. Yeah, make sure you give this podcast a follow, give this

Duke McKenzie: 18:05

follow follow, and we'll talk to you guys later.