Manoj Bhargava discusses the future of media
Manoj Bhargava, founder of 5-hour ENERGY and owner of Bridge Media Networks, sat down with TheStreet's J.D. Durkin.
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00:00 All right, joining me now one on one from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange,
00:02 officially for the first time as a member of the family, Manoj Bhargava.
00:05 Congratulations and thank you for joining us.
00:08 Thank you.
00:08 So, of course, as people see there from the brand you're proudly representing,
00:11 you are the founder of Five Hour Energy, a wildly successful story.
00:16 Also the owner of Bridge Media Networks.
00:18 Tell us about the empire you've already built and some of the keys to your success.
00:22 Well, it's not really an empire as such, but
00:24 we have a lot of things.
00:27 I have 11 startups and three businesses that make money.
00:30 And then I just added two more.
00:32 So we're just getting started.
00:36 And can you talk to us about some of those other businesses,
00:40 some of the ventures that people might not yet be familiar with
00:43 that you are very proud of?
00:45 Right. Well, we tend not to announce stuff before it's really ready.
00:49 However, we have gotten a lot of the products to a level where it's
00:55 it's ready to go, but not necessarily
00:58 we're publicizing.
01:00 For example, our biggest project is we've actually got an invention.
01:05 We have an invention shop, right?
01:08 The purpose of that is to look at the biggest problems in the world
01:10 and see if we can solve them.
01:12 In our perception, the biggest problem is water.
01:16 And so we actually are a decade ahead of everyone in the world
01:20 in terms of fixing the water, world's water problem.
01:25 Then we have interesting things.
01:27 We're just about finished with the FDA for something that has,
01:32 in some cases, reversed Alzheimer's
01:35 without any side effects, unlike the current stuff.
01:37 And we have
01:39 we have a die that when surgeons do surgery,
01:45 they can see from underneath, not just from on top.
01:48 So just we look at projects that have
01:53 significant meaning to human beings and do it.
01:57 We don't do cool stuff.
01:58 We don't do entertain and entertaining stuff.
02:01 Of course, now we're on TV, but
02:03 the biggest stuff we are doing is that will affect humanity.
02:08 I already have enough money.
02:11 I don't really care anymore.
02:13 I don't have any.
02:14 My hobbies are don't require much money at all.
02:17 And I'm not 10 years old, so I don't need toys.
02:20 That's fair.
02:21 I know for people who have followed your career publicly for some years,
02:25 they may wonder why a foray into media seems like the logical next step for you.
02:30 How did you decide in the last few years to do it?
02:32 And if you could talk to us a bit more about this deal
02:34 specifically with the arena group as well. Sure.
02:36 Look, basically, I make stuff, I sell stuff.
02:39 So media becomes part of it.
02:43 In other words, the middle, the guys in the middle is media
02:45 for me to reach the customers that we sell to.
02:49 And so media has gotten nuts.
02:52 In other words, media at this point doesn't care about the advertisers.
02:57 They go get in line, get that 30 second ad bid for it and get out.
03:02 That's the response of media today.
03:05 Right. Nobody's working with their customer.
03:08 And they're so enamored of
03:12 technology delivery systems that forgotten everything else.
03:15 Oh, is it streaming? Is it this?
03:18 Well, wait, wait a minute. What about the audience?
03:20 What about the people who are paying you to advertise?
03:23 Everybody's ignoring all of that.
03:25 So because the media got little nuts, you know, we have a we have a T-shirt
03:31 in the office that says, never mind, we'll do it ourselves.
03:35 Never mind, we'll do it ourselves.
03:37 Right. So that I find if
03:39 we're just going to do our own advertising, so we'll buy the media
03:44 instead of buying spots, we'll we'll be getting into the media side of it.
03:49 So, of course, you know, we have a little scale.
03:53 So we thought, let's see what's what's available, what's really good.
03:57 There's a bunch of other things that play into it.
04:00 For example, everybody wants to aim at 18 to 34.
04:03 Right. That's the age group.
04:05 It's very fashionable to go after 18 to 34.
04:08 From my point of view, I'm sorry, did you think 18 to 34 people have any money?
04:13 No. Why would you advertise to people that have no money?
04:16 Sure. So we're aiming at sort of 40 plus.
04:20 Now, if you're selling toothpaste, it's across the board,
04:25 whether it's young or old. Right.
04:27 But there's a lot of product that
04:28 only 40 plus people can afford.
04:33 So we're going to go where nobody else is, which is 40 plus.
04:38 And because the 18 to 34 is so fashionable, you know,
04:42 all the ad agency said, well, no, that's what you got to get, you know,
04:46 because in 20 years, if you don't get them now, you won't have.
04:50 And then they turn around and go, yeah, but what are quarterly earnings?
04:54 Well, which is it, 20 years from now or the next quarter?
04:57 So they're a little confused.
05:00 So we're going to bring a whole new sort of a 1950s vibe to this thing where,
05:06 you know, where there used to be the Colgate-Pamali Bauer.
05:12 Um, you know, it's called Soap Operas.
05:15 Do you know why they're called Soap Operas? I don't know.
05:17 Because it was sponsored in the beginning by Soap.
05:20 Soap advertisements.
05:22 OK, Soap took the whole show, you know, like Dial Soap took the whole show.
05:27 And so the name became Soap Operas.
05:29 And that old idea that the
05:34 the advertiser was working directly with the producers
05:39 and saying what we need to do versus there's six guys in the middle.
05:43 And what do those two guys bring to the table?
05:49 Nothing. They're just getting in the way.
05:51 So we're looking to say, OK, look, we're going to change it. Right.
05:56 And I love this stuff, because if all of these guys are messing up,
06:00 this makes my job really like, oh, this is sweet.
06:03 So easy. Cool.
06:06 So that's that's kind of what we're doing.
06:09 I wonder what some of the biggest opportunities are as you see them
06:13 in the media space overall.
06:14 You're obviously very well dialed in and focused to maybe what
06:17 maybe a lot of the big players in the media space not only are doing,
06:21 but maybe what they're not quite doing right.
06:23 And I wonder where you see untapped potential.
06:26 Well, the biggest thing is they're focused on delivery technology.
06:30 You know, is it streaming? Is it this? Is it that?
06:33 Which is OK.
06:37 You know, it's this big of it.
06:39 There's content, which is huge.
06:41 And then there's the audience and there's the customers who paying you.
06:44 They've forgotten about those.
06:46 So the opportunities are endless.
06:50 So we'll work with people.
06:53 Let's say automotive.
06:54 Of course, we're in Detroit, so automotive.
06:56 Now, who are their customers?
06:58 Are they actually selling to those customers or are they
07:01 are they advertising to people are never going to buy that truck?
07:05 And then how do they portray that?
07:07 Oh, it's just a 30 second ad.
07:10 Really, you're going to buy a car for a 30 second ad.
07:14 You know, so there's so much there
07:18 that has been left in the 1950s and 60s.
07:21 Now, there's a tendency to think we're much smarter than
07:25 than people from the 1950s and 60s.
07:28 It's actually not true.
07:30 We're not smarter than people 2000 years ago.
07:33 They did great stuff then.
07:35 And a lot of it got dumped because it's old
07:39 and we have to do something new.
07:41 New is not necessarily better.
07:43 Right. And so they threw kind of the baby out with the bathwater.
07:47 There's a really some really great stuff that they did.
07:49 So we're kind of looking at that.
07:51 And what did they do that was great? Right.
07:54 And then copy that.
07:57 All the mistakes were already made.
08:00 Huge brands were built on on like, for example,
08:04 I know the big one right now, the movie Barbie, right,
08:08 which is company Mattel.
08:10 Mattel was built from sponsoring the Disney show.
08:14 And I'm sure at that time, somebody said,
08:18 well, you're just going to concentrate on one show.
08:20 What about all the other people?
08:23 And they didn't.
08:24 They said, no, we're just going to do the Disney show.
08:27 And they built this giant company off that one show.
08:33 So are you learning anything
08:35 instead of being enamored of of technology?
08:38 I mean, technology has a space in it, but
08:41 don't throw everything else out because.
08:45 And of course, you've got all these fancy people that know everything
08:48 and predicting the future and all this thing.
08:51 You know, we're not about predicting.
08:54 I look at it this way.
08:55 You're going to predict what's going to be the weather
08:57 two years from now on a Wednesday.
08:59 Knock yourself out. Right.
09:02 I'm not doing that.
09:04 The only type of prediction I do is sort of
09:06 if there's a fire and you put throw wet leaves in it, there's going to be smoke.
09:11 I can predict that one.
09:14 Other than that, it's complete nonsense. Right.
09:17 So I don't buy into because they're big shots
09:20 that they know anything more than anyone else.
09:23 They kind of go with the industry, whatever the entire industry says.
09:28 Everybody agrees.
09:32 I like that. I appreciate the context.
09:33 I got one more question for you, if you don't mind.
09:35 I've watched a good number of your previous media interviews.
09:38 You've talked about the importance of walking the walk.
09:41 And I know you're someone who's very proud of the fact
09:43 when you said before, Manoj, I just like to work.
09:45 What more would you want someone watching this interview to know about you?
09:49 Well, I wish they wouldn't know about me at all.
09:52 You know, people say, oh, what's your legacy?
09:57 I'm going to and I say, I'll be dead.
10:00 What do I care what my legacy is?
10:01 You know, so it's not really about what?
10:04 About me, it's about the work.
10:08 So I like working and I wish I could just do that
10:12 and not give you this interview.
10:15 Fair enough.
10:16 Hope you don't hold it against us that we wanted to talk with you.
10:18 No, no, no. I'm just kidding.
10:19 Of course. Well, thank you for taking the time.
10:21 Congratulations. And thank you for being here.
10:23 Thank you.
10:23 Thank you.
10:25 Thank you.
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