VaynerX CMO Andrea Sullivan on moving at the speed of culture

For VaynerX CMO Andrea Sullivan, it all started with a farmer named Bill, whom she credits for teaching her everything she knows about marketing. Sullivan started her career by selling fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets in Madison, Wisconsin, and the experience shaped her ability to listen to people on the front lines and figure out what makes them tick.

Sullivan has since parlayed that into a 30-year career in marketing and advertising. What’s interesting, though, is that her experiences at VaynerX, the creative and media agency that aims to move at the speed of culture, draws on some of the same lessons she learned from Farmer Bill.

“We’ve really changed up our model in a way that’s very different than that of traditional agencies,” Sullivan says on The Current Podcast. “We really celebrate getting to know where the customer is, following attention, understanding where there’s underpriced attention, and working in a highly integrated way.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, she explains why she thinks brands are really built on social media, how a tweet launched the beginnings of VaynerMedia’s Super Bowl commercial with Planters, and what it’s like working with VaynerX chairman Gary Vaynerchuk.