[Applause]
so here I am I let my high school a
school that had never been to the state
tournament and they said no way magic
can lead them to the championship and I
love proving people wrong and we started
off my first year in high school we will
pick last come in last place we got off
to a great start
eight know I went to a school that was
supposed to win the state title they
were supposed to beat everybody and we
blew them out on their home court and
that same 15 year old had 38 points and
19 rebounds and 18 assists that was my
first triple devil ever and our sports
writer came in and said somebody’s
already called dr. J somebody’s already
called Big E I want to call you magic so
at 15 years old that’s when I got my
nickname magic well I let that school to
the state title we won I had to make a
big decision where would I go to college
because everybody in America were were
recruiting me I decided to stay home and
go to Michigan State oh yeah all right
go green go away they said no way at six
nine could I play point guard in college
and they said that again I said oh thank
you for saying that I was going to prove
them wrong once again and sure enough we
had a great year my freshman year I
decided to stay in school because I was
not ready mentally or physically to go
to the NBA and I came back and we went
all the way to the NCAA championship and
we met that blind here God you know who
I’m talking about
his name is Larry Bird and we played
them for the national championship in
college and we end up beating Indiana
State and Larry Bird for the
championship so now into
years I’ve won the high school
championship then the NCAA Championship
and then I decided it was time to come
out of school and Los Angeles Lakers
came calling which was great for me they
played with Kareem abdul-jabbar and long
story short we won five NBA
championships and went to the finals
nine times in 12 years and then after
playing basketball I had to decide what
am I gonna do with the money that I’ve
been saving up from my salary
where was I going to invest it when I
looked up african-americans have a
trillion dollar spending power Latinos
had another trillion dollars spending
power right now but there was nobody
going after their disposable income so I
decided to build my business in urban
America and when I did my homework and
research I found out that minorities are
the number one group of people going to
the movies but there was no theaters in
our community so I believed in
partnerships that’s really important
so Peter Gruber was one of our season
ticket holders I went to dr. buss I said
give me the season ticket holders that
come to the Laker games because I want
to take twenty CEOs to lunch so I cold
called twenty CEOs and those CEOs went
to lunch with me and also they became my
mentors and I picked their brain about
how do I start my business what should I
look out for and they all gave me great
advice and that’s when Peter Guber was
one of the guys in that meeting and so I
called him after our meeting and said
look the growth of your business will be
through urban America
you build a lot of movie theaters but
none in our community so let’s do a deal
together so we did a deal and we built
Magic Johnson theaters around the
country we were very successful matter
of fact my first theater in Los Angeles
was in the top five of all of Sony
theaters and top ten in the nation my
perk caps was so high why because there
was high demand and
and we finally build it we’re in their
community instead of making them drive
30 or 40 minutes outside their community
and then I went up to Seattle because I
was in line one time it was a long line
at Starbucks and I’m saying why is
everybody in line at this coffee house
so I had to get in line and find out
what it was all about so I got in line
and ordered some coffee and I said man
I’m not even a coffee drinker and I said
wow okay I see why everybody’s in line
so and I saw different people in line
different races of people so I said I’m
gonna call Howard Schultz determined CEO
of Starbucks and asked him to take a
meeting so Howard took a meeting and I
said look the growth of your business
will be through urban America and sure
enough he had six meetings and on the
sixth meeting he finally said yes I can
have Starbucks now they don’t do
franchisees I’m the only person in North
America to ever own Starbucks outside
the Starbucks and so the headlines in
the LA Times was no way minorities are
paid $3 for a cup of coffee
yes we’re paid $3 for a cup of coffee we
quite don’t know what scones are so I
had to take the scones out of my
Starbucks and put in sweet potato pie
pound cake sockitumi cake things that
resonate with the urban consumer now
this is what I want you to take away
from that my per caste 459 his per cat
451 wait a minute I was doing better in
urban America than he was in suburban
America and then I took out the egos in
my with my music the Eagles you know
playing their other Starbucks I had to
take the Eagles out of my Starbucks put
in Earth Wind & Fire and the Commodores
music that resonated with the urban
consumer so what am I telling you I know
my customer and it’s important that you
know your customer and that you speak
your customer every single day and it’s
not enough in the marketplace today just
to deliver you got to over deliver to
your clients and to your customer base
and that’s what I do every single day is
I over deliver to all my clients and all
my customers and then I get the
retention that I’m looking for and I
mark it right to the urban consumer and
I’m in their face every single day see I
don’t have a general market message for
them I tailor my message right to the
urban consumer and that’s why again my
perk caps are so high and then I went
from there I said man Starbucks doing
well I asked dr. bus could I own a piece
of the Lakers and we had a great 10-year
run man we were making so much money we
were winning so many championships then
all of a sudden Kobe got old and I said
wait a minute the market value of the
Lakers as high as it’s gonna be right so
it might be time to sell so I built 125
Starbucks I had negotiated the multiple
within that contract I sold those 125
back to Howard also sold the Lakers at
the same time stand up my man what’s
your name Andre Andre where you from
Belgium
wait Andre
all right you you cool yeah okay having
fun I’m having fun yes okay cool
I have the feeling every individual is
magic but you’ll need to be more
matching than yours oh thank you my
friend thank you that was cool
Kelly come on stand on up Kelly man I’m
getting all these compliments I mean I
never sit down
where you from Kelly I’m from DC all
right get your phone and give it to her
you know we got to get a picture Kelly
you’re gonna be late you’re not ready
so you from DC okay so what was funny
Kelly is I got this tracker record
excuse me this track record of success
and through the magic Johnson theatres
through the Starbucks through the Lakers
and now I’m going up to Sacramento
California up to get money to start a
fun equity fund and it’s really
interesting because institutional
capital was not ready to invest in urban
America so as I went up there not only
that these these institutional capital
firms turned me down but also ten banks
turned me down as well because they said
we don’t invest in urban America
Wow doing this day and age they still
overlooking minorities so I went up
there five times they said no five times
the six times they finally said okay
magic we don’t give you fifty million
dollars and if you over deliver with the
50 million you can come up come back up
and get a hundred million more
so I bought a shopping center for twenty
two million dollars only forty percent
occupied made it a hundred percent
occupied resold that Center for forty
eight million took the twenty six
million back up to Sacramento they said
mmm I guess you do know business so when
I talk about over-delivering
I lived that every day I’m not just
telling you something I live it every
single day so we were able to raise 300
million my first fund 36 30 percent
return six six hundred million my second
fund and then a billion dollar fund my
last fund and we called Canyon Johnson
fund and the great thing about it we own
great properties you’re from Washington
right where’s that young lady she said
she was from Washington the Washington
Hilton anybody stayed at the Washington
Hilton yeah we own that property the W &
Austin
Texas the W and Hoboken New Jersey those
are type of investing investments that
we make with that fun and it’s gone
going very very well so that’s what I’ve
been doing so that’s no magic is my
full-service business we have contracts
with to order their headquarters I feed
all their employees Disneyland and
Disney World I feed their employees so
Mickey and Minnie eat my food
if anybody’s flew Delta Airlines are
there there are sky clubs if you flew
American Airlines the Admirals Club all
the peanuts soda sandwiches that come
from my company across the country
that’s what I do every single day and so
the urban consumer trust and follow my
brand why because we’ve over delivered
to them we hired them not only hired
them but we trained them to do their job
they become my brand ambassadors so they
are marketing my business for me and
that’s a great thing when you go on to
urban America and you over deliver to
those people who live there they will
become your brand ambassadors and
deliver the message that you want to
other people who live in our community
and that’s been a great thing for me so
now what I want to do is have some fun
because I got I think five people or six
people who have mics and you’re allowed
to ask me some questions yeah there you
go got young lady in that aisle that
I’ll just raise your hand here’s a young
man right here in the front and we can
talk about anything why the Lakers not
doing well and then before before I go
into that this is the greatest moment
I’ve had in my business career once I
sold the Starbucks back to Howard
Schultz and Starbucks
once I sold the Lakers the Dodgers who
had ever thought the Dodgers would be up
for sale and then who would ever think
that six billionaires would call me up
and
a partner with me a kid from the ghetto
now from the neighborhood and so I
settled on Guggenheim it was a great
great deal they said we were crazy that
we paid two billion dollars for the team
until our TV contract came out and we
negotiated a deal for nine billion
dollars so we went from from a stupid
businessman to a smart businessman
overnight so let’s go right quick yes
sir yeah magic Pete here question for
you with all your expertise and
knowledge right there developing
communities and stuff so any lesson
learned like in the last couple of years
where you thought something was
definitely to work that didn’t mmm-hmm
or didn’t that did Wow
I think in the last couple years no in
the last couple years the only thing we
were concerned about was the economy
when the market crashed and what we did
with Starbucks is really unique normally
a customer comes four to five times a
week in Starbucks and so they were gonna
make an adjustment instead of coming at
much time that many times they meet they
say well we’re gonna cut it back to two
or three times so what we decide to do
at Starbucks was said let’s make sure
that we keep the customers that we have
not worrying about getting new customers
and let’s treat them special so we
wanted to know your name so when you
would come up and you’re Peters your
name and you come in there we say Peter
you want that same drink how’re you
doing today and you say yeah I want that
same Frappuccino with soy milk bah bah
blah blah blah blah we already knew that
and it made you feel special when we
acknowledge hey you want the same drink
hi Peter how you doing this morning on
and on and on but when the market crash
that’s what happened we want to make
sure we kept who we had and then after
the market came back then we go after
new customers as far as things failing
knock on wood
you know I mitigate risk I’m not I’m a
risk taker but I vet deals very very
well
and the only thing new that came up
that’s really doing well there’s a lot
of big boxes Best Buy’s and all these
different companies called me to help
them go into urban America because if
you don’t know how to go into urban
America you’re gonna fail and you need
somebody like myself to help you
understand the urban consumer so what’s
been going good come on get a picture
she’s taking one Wendy gonna take one
point all right don’t mess that up okay
thank you yes go here I’m ready and
who’s gonna go first are you gonna go
first ladies first
oh hi magic I swear I’m really nervous
you nervous okay I’m gonna come on back
up there then all right come on Abel
and you are you shaking okay what’s your
question my question bring the mic up
Alibi okay my question is I’ve been in
marketing for over 14 years and the
reason I wanted to go into marketing is
to help small businesses market their
company right
but what’s holding me back is fear
so I want to know how did you overcome
it well for me it was I was up against a
dumb jock thing right the banks turned
me down because they thought I was a
people didn’t take me seriously in the
beginning they never thought I could go
from the basketball court to the
boardroom but I believed in my strategy
I believed in myself and I knew I could
execute upon that business strategy and
so you got to believe in yourself right
and if you also in your strategy and I
think that your honor when you talk
about small businesses you should do it
because small businesses do need
marketing advice and expertise and so I
think you should do it but if you don’t
believe in you why would a company
believe in you so you got to come in and
sell it sell yourself and what you can
do for that business and so I already
know what I can do because I’ve already
proven that I got the track record of
success now you can call Sony you can
call Starbucks you know all these
companies you can call and they know now
that I’ve proven the fact that I can
drive our oh I I can make them a lot of
money which they’re very happy I can
also grow their brand because how a show
says that they’re a better company when
they did that deal with me and so so
it’s a wonderful thing so believe in
yourself and you’re gonna be able to to
win and you’re in your strategy okay so
just build good strategy around your
business and around the people’s
business that you’re trying to sell your
company to okay can you do that okay
cool
and then last but not least this is for
everybody to everybody in here should
take a SWAT of their business twice a
year I take a swallow my business and
myself twice a year strengths weaknesses
opportunities and threats right and I
make sure that
just the other last year this is really
interesting I got the grofe I was
looking for I got the sustainability
that I was looking for right I was about
to get three major contracts when I did
the SWOT I looked up and said wow I’m
gonna make a lot of money but I can’t
handle the three deals so my business is
gonna fail so I said I need three
executives executives to manage the new
business I’m about to receive but if I
hadn’t taken that SWOT I would have took
on that new business and my business
would have fail and my brand would have
went down and so I’m so happy I did the
SWOT I heard three new great executives
and now we manage that deal very very
well
so see it’s one thing to get the growth
that you’re looking for but also can you
manage that growth that’s that’s what’s
really important because you have to
remember everybody in your industry talk
and so if you do a great job that’s
what’s gonna go out if you do a bad job
that’s what’s gonna go out so for me
making sure that I manage those
contracts very well and I’m gonna give
you another secret April if you just
break even from having those contract be
happy with that oh why did I say that
because you rather keep that client and
I also have a good reputation then make
the money because you eventually make
the money I remember when I first
started I’d rather break even and
they’ll over deliver to that client so I
can get the retention that I’m looking
for I want that contract for 20 30 40 50
years so I made sure that I over
delivered to the clients that’s how I
got Disney World I used to only have
Disneyland I over delivered to
Disneyland it put me in the position to
get Disney World because Disney World is
the biggest contract I was like
okay yes yes oh we haven’t fun around
here what’s up little man
how you doing how you feel how you doing
sorry stand on up get a picture no no I
said stand up oh where are you from
France Paris Paris it’s a beautiful
place man you having fun yeah we defend
you are really great I love it okay cool
give me some knuckles okay that’s what
we do here all right
all right I’m having a good time all
right here we go what’s up sir how you
doing magic everything to have you with
us I’m really enjoy your talk was an
excellent thank you just wanted to how
did you how did you carry your
leadership skills over from the
basketball court onto the corporate
world because there’s so many athletes
out there mm-hmm that you know I’m
actually friendly with one of your
Michigan State alum Carl banks yeah who
was done who’s I evil to do it himself
there’s been very few athletes who have
been able to transfer that leadership
ability in the quality
what are you tribute that’s oh that’s a
Paul thank you telling my boy car I said
hello – this is what happens for me the
same way I prepared and I over prepared
when I was playing basketball I prepared
the same way for business because I’m
big in preparation like before I came
here to this morning the last week or so
when I know I was coming even before
that we had booked it I was studying
studying get the I got the information
to understand who I was speaking to
right I’m a very disciplined cat right I
was I knew I was going on at 9:52 well
it’s a two-hour ride from LA I made sure
I got down here at 8:15 cuz I’m a person
who I’m never late right I’m never I
respect your time and so we got a
meeting I’m gonna be on time that’s who
I am
basketball I brought that over right and
the same focus and paying attention to
details i watch the quarterback I was
the leader so I had to pay attention to
all the details I had to look and see
what’s Kareem ready if he came in
stumping like that I knew he was ready
but if he came in like this oh I knew he
wasn’t ready so then I had to score more
that night you see so you pay attention
as a leader you must pay attention to
the people who work for you so all of us
are here we have people who work for us
so we got to be able to lead them when
you leave here and get back to your
office they’re gonna be ready for you to
say okay what do you have for me what
did you learn at the conference I’m
ready let’s go so I pay attention to
details and then last but not least the
same work work ethic that I had as a
basketball care excuse me as a
basketball player I’ve carried over to
the boardroom so I get up every morning
4 o’clock I’m in the gym by 5
two hours working out and then I’m in
the office all day and we go until we
get it done that’s who I am so nobody’s
gonna outwork me you know it’s just who
I am you know that’s that’s what made me
a great basketball player and making me
a good business man a CEO today it’s my
work ethic understanding of business oh
all right go ahead oh she’s on the phone
texting somebody magical question yeah
I’m about to get a picture with magic Oh
Oh got the phone ready to come on come
on all right cool
thank you my pleasure I’m a lot of your
business deals you’ve done because you
intuitively knew what we needed in our
community I was wondering if you use
data in your business and if so how well
of course you’ve got to use data data
every time because it’s important that
you know the spending power the spending
habits you’ve got to also know the
trends what’s going on and then for me
investing in those type of systems and
technology is important also to the
success of my business as well so yes
and even now we’re growing seven times
that of the general population the
things that I need to know come from
from data come on Nathan let’s stand on
up my man get a picture so yes I use it
all the time are you gonna take a selfie
and I must keep up with what’s going on
and so that’s very important and to my
business to this bottom line and the
success of my business so yes wherever
she went yes
okay who got the next one go ahead I’m
ready I’m gonna come in the back because
I haven’t been back there go ahead hi
how are you I’m coming around to see you
hi magic how are you I’m listening to
your question I’m taking pictures at the
same time well I have two sons one had a
real bad critically injured an accident
and he wants to get into racing but they
and his name is Alex so I would like you
to say something courtesy to Alex and
being a mother I have to have even time
my the younger son name is Chris and he
plays football okay well let me just
tell you what they told me six nine guys
don’t play point guard right that’s
right you saw what happened I play point
guard they said that I couldn’t be a CEO
you see what happened right my
competitors said no way match is gonna
win Disneyland and Disney World I won
both of those contracts who would ever
thought I’ll be serving food at Toyota
John Deere at Allstate Insurance their
headquarters I can take you through 40
other clients that we have now I’m gonna
really get you with this one why did
they choose me how it shows that’s the
that he could build 125 Starbucks with
he could have chose any buddy else do
you see what I’m saying
so your son if he wants to be a race car
driver it’s not about what people say go
after it he can achieve it he’s just got
to be the best see you got to be the
best when Howard Show said I’m gonna
trust you with not only my business but
my brand see he trusted me with his
brand that’s big so I had to
over-deliver I had to take care of his
brand as well as the bottom line and I
was able to achieve both okay so you
tell him that and what he doesn’t know
is 25% of Nascars audience is
african-american oh oh I know my numbers
now I know my numbers all right all
right here we go
I’m coming this way now all right who
got the next one I’m just gonna take him
pictures oh what’s up big man how you
my pleasure
all right okay sir hi magic hi how are
you good my name is Jason want to shake
your hand cause Jason what’s that in the
manhole man I’m shaking around turn
around see that you are all right cool
all right
I got a good question for him okay given
that the theme of BMA this year is don’t
mark it alone I was about to two-part
question I was wondering if you could
speak to the importance of building a
good marketing team and also the second
part of the question was do you have any
plans of teaming up a Larry Bird on
future business endeavors nice nice
what’s the theme again is what don’t do
it alone don’t mark it or don’t mark it
alone okay
that’s a great theme that’s a excellent
theme now what I would tell you is the
first question was what give me that one
more time okay marketing the right team
okay okay
for me I had to get somebody who was
experienced at marketing and so I went
out the young lady I just hired years
ago and she had worked on a couple
campaigns with me she started off with
Disney and I said man okay if Disney
hired you you must be pretty good then
she went to Nissan then she went Burger
King on and on and on so she had a lot
of great experience in corporate
marketing and marketing to the general
public
but also she had experience in urban
marketing as well and it was really
important that she had a combination of
both because I have businesses based in
urban America but also you have
businesses like the Dodgers who giant
brand right and she was just at the NFL
and so I stole her from the NFL and so I
said come on work for me we have this
incredible brand that’s a worldwide
brand and I know you could take it to a
whole nother level and I really believe
in the theme what it says don’t mark it
alone I I built my business on not doing
it just by myself partnerships that’s
how I built my business so it was really
for me I believe in what the theme is
here because that’s how I built my
business marketing is so important and I
think that the message that goes out is
important and she craft that message to
make sure that our brand is out in front
of people all the time and it’s
important that we send out the right
message and so she’s done a wonderful
job our brand has just taken off because
of her leadership and that CMO was doing
a wonderful job and I’m so happy and
proud of her
– at the same time and did you have a
second one it’s a part to that do you
envision yourself teaming up for a
future business endeavor oh yeah you
know Larry and I team up it’s funny
because this is what we do when a
company calls us to do a commercial or
do something I say Larry you be the good
guy I’m not sorry I’ll be the good guy
you’d be the bad guy so you hold out
okay so so I say okay I’m gonna sell
like I’m happy with the deal but you
keep holding out to drive the price up
because that’s his personality anyway
right so we’ve done so many great things
together the HBO special story about our
lives and how basically you know we are
linked together I love Larry I hated
them when he wore the green and white
but I liked him today you know and we
have mutual respect and I tell you what
changed our life we didn’t speak for
eight years because you have to hate
Larry to beat them because Larry is that
good and also – I want you guys to
remember this – your competitor can make
you better Larry Bird made me a better
basketball player I knew he was shooting
thousand shots today guess what I had to
shoot a thousand shots today I knew he
was running every single day probably
five six months he made me run five six
miles a day and so I credit Larry making
me a better man and a better basketball
player because I knew he was working
hard to be better for the next season
and he made me do the same thing so our
lives changed we went shot a commercial
converse commercial at his house so when
I got there we had never really had a
conversation so I stayed in a limo until
it was time to shoot the commercial so
the director told us the lines we said
the lines and then a couple of hours we
shot now it’s lunch break gotcha and I’m
thinking okay I’m going to my trailer to
eat it was on his at his house on his
property as I’m leaving the go to the
trailer he said no no no no magic we’re
going up to my house my mom has cooked
lunch oh man okay what does that mean so
I didn’t want to be rude so I went on up
to the house we got inside and his
mother just came and gave me a big hug
and I was like oh man so that kind of
made me feel better
we sat down and about five minutes into
it his mother said sure you tell him
what shall I tell him tell me what I’m
you’re my favorite player I was like oh
man okay I’m good now and then Larry
turned red I hate that when she says
that and so that broke the ice for us
and we had not only a mutual respect but
then we became friends and so I love
Larry so he’s he’s the best he’s a
straight shooter
and he’s a guy that he him and Michael
Jordan were the biggest two trash
talkers that ever lived but they could
play basketball I said Michael was the
greatest that played in the air and
Larry was the greatest player on the
ground because him and I couldn’t jump
up that high so I got one more they
telling me I got to wrap it up give me
some
I got a left I gotta let him have it go
ahead come on let’s get a picture though
go yes sir all right so I think the most
amazing thing about the Starbuck story
was that you got that exclusive and you
didn’t take no for an answer right right
and a lot of the things that we do in
business are confronted with the know
whether it’s big data or new technology
or any of that what tips would you give
a marketer to negotiate that yeah
mmm right oh well I think that knowing
the core values of the company that
you’re going after it’s very important
what’s important to that company that
CEO that’s really important
understanding how they’ve been growing
because what I do is when I go after RFP
I look at the company the past five six
years what are they been doing okay and
then what is their mission statement
where are they going in the next five to
ten years
try to understand that then you can meet
the RFP by having a clear understanding
of the vision of that CEO that CMO of
that of that company and now go after
that RFP when we started doing that our
success rate went up winning the
contracts and I think that’s so so
important so when you come after that
that that contract you will know now
what you have to put in there to put you
in a winning position and I think that’s
so important a lot of time we just see
the RFP we go out okay I’m gonna do this
for you bubble but if you don’t have a
clear understanding of the vision of
that that company and what they’ve been
doing and what they want to do then how
can you really go after and meet it
you know the RFP so and it’s a process
and then you got competition too you
know so for me understanding okay man
for the last five years they’ve changed
a couple times they may have changed
CMOS three times two or one you know so
you need to understand that so you can
say okay I get it now
now also their mission statement is blah
blah blah you can put that in there as
well you see and that to me I’ve been
winning at a high rate now because we
have an understanding of what all state
wants to do I just one directional
University contract just just about
three weeks ago but we had a clear
understanding
what they wanted where they wanted to go
and we met the RFP based on that did we
get our picture yes okay cool um now oh
yes you got your hand up what’s up you
want a picture all right Stan man wait a
minute you shorter than him all right
you got stand on this chair come on get
up on the chair there you go that’s a
good selfie right there
all right so in closing I want to wish
all of you first good luck but what I am
proud of is that you own your own
business you or you represent your
company and that you understand how to
market because I wanna I want to pass
you on the back to send out an
incredible message or to make a great
commercial or whatever it is you guys
are so intelligent I mean it’s really
great for me when I see a great tagline
or I see a great commercial or I see
great messaging and it’s coming from
people like yourselves you are so good
at what you do
so congratulations keep on coming back
to conferences like this that can give
you you know tips and also give you
great advice and you listen to the
speakers who have been doing this for a
long time I do the same thing I’m a
sponge I love to learn and to grow you
know i reinvented myself three times and
I keep reinventing myself come on out
you can get one I can’t reinvent myself
and that’s very important don’t never
stop improving and getting better never
be satisfied always take your game to
the next level and you will be successful
so here I am I let my high school a
school that had never been to the state
tournament and they said no way magic
can lead them to the championship and I
love proving people wrong and we started
off my first year in high school we will
pick last come in last place we got off
to a great start
eight know I went to a school that was
supposed to win the state title they
were supposed to beat everybody and we
blew them out on their home court and
that same 15 year old had 38 points and
19 rebounds and 18 assists that was my
first triple devil ever and our sports
writer came in and said somebody’s
already called dr. J somebody’s already
called Big E I want to call you magic so
at 15 years old that’s when I got my
nickname magic well I let that school to
the state title we won I had to make a
big decision where would I go to college
because everybody in America were were
recruiting me I decided to stay home and
go to Michigan State oh yeah all right
go green go away they said no way at six
nine could I play point guard in college
and they said that again I said oh thank
you for saying that I was going to prove
them wrong once again and sure enough we
had a great year my freshman year I
decided to stay in school because I was
not ready mentally or physically to go
to the NBA and I came back and we went
all the way to the NCAA championship and
we met that blind here God you know who
I’m talking about
his name is Larry Bird and we played
them for the national championship in
college and we end up beating Indiana
State and Larry Bird for the
championship so now into
years I’ve won the high school
championship then the NCAA Championship
and then I decided it was time to come
out of school and Los Angeles Lakers
came calling which was great for me they
played with Kareem abdul-jabbar and long
story short we won five NBA
championships and went to the finals
nine times in 12 years and then after
playing basketball I had to decide what
am I gonna do with the money that I’ve
been saving up from my salary
where was I going to invest it when I
looked up african-americans have a
trillion dollar spending power Latinos
had another trillion dollars spending
power right now but there was nobody
going after their disposable income so I
decided to build my business in urban
America and when I did my homework and
research I found out that minorities are
the number one group of people going to
the movies but there was no theaters in
our community so I believed in
partnerships that’s really important
so Peter Gruber was one of our season
ticket holders I went to dr. buss I said
give me the season ticket holders that
come to the Laker games because I want
to take twenty CEOs to lunch so I cold
called twenty CEOs and those CEOs went
to lunch with me and also they became my
mentors and I picked their brain about
how do I start my business what should I
look out for and they all gave me great
advice and that’s when Peter Guber was
one of the guys in that meeting and so I
called him after our meeting and said
look the growth of your business will be
through urban America
you build a lot of movie theaters but
none in our community so let’s do a deal
together so we did a deal and we built
Magic Johnson theaters around the
country we were very successful matter
of fact my first theater in Los Angeles
was in the top five of all of Sony
theaters and top ten in the nation my
perk caps was so high why because there
was high demand and
and we finally build it we’re in their
community instead of making them drive
30 or 40 minutes outside their community
and then I went up to Seattle because I
was in line one time it was a long line
at Starbucks and I’m saying why is
everybody in line at this coffee house
so I had to get in line and find out
what it was all about so I got in line
and ordered some coffee and I said man
I’m not even a coffee drinker and I said
wow okay I see why everybody’s in line
so and I saw different people in line
different races of people so I said I’m
gonna call Howard Schultz determined CEO
of Starbucks and asked him to take a
meeting so Howard took a meeting and I
said look the growth of your business
will be through urban America and sure
enough he had six meetings and on the
sixth meeting he finally said yes I can
have Starbucks now they don’t do
franchisees I’m the only person in North
America to ever own Starbucks outside
the Starbucks and so the headlines in
the LA Times was no way minorities are
paid $3 for a cup of coffee
yes we’re paid $3 for a cup of coffee we
quite don’t know what scones are so I
had to take the scones out of my
Starbucks and put in sweet potato pie
pound cake sockitumi cake things that
resonate with the urban consumer now
this is what I want you to take away
from that my per caste 459 his per cat
451 wait a minute I was doing better in
urban America than he was in suburban
America and then I took out the egos in
my with my music the Eagles you know
playing their other Starbucks I had to
take the Eagles out of my Starbucks put
in Earth Wind & Fire and the Commodores
music that resonated with the urban
consumer so what am I telling you I know
my customer and it’s important that you
know your customer and that you speak
your customer every single day and it’s
not enough in the marketplace today just
to deliver you got to over deliver to
your clients and to your customer base
and that’s what I do every single day is
I over deliver to all my clients and all
my customers and then I get the
retention that I’m looking for and I
mark it right to the urban consumer and
I’m in their face every single day see I
don’t have a general market message for
them I tailor my message right to the
urban consumer and that’s why again my
perk caps are so high and then I went
from there I said man Starbucks doing
well I asked dr. bus could I own a piece
of the Lakers and we had a great 10-year
run man we were making so much money we
were winning so many championships then
all of a sudden Kobe got old and I said
wait a minute the market value of the
Lakers as high as it’s gonna be right so
it might be time to sell so I built 125
Starbucks I had negotiated the multiple
within that contract I sold those 125
back to Howard also sold the Lakers at
the same time stand up my man what’s
your name Andre Andre where you from
Belgium
wait Andre
all right you you cool yeah okay having
fun I’m having fun yes okay cool
I have the feeling every individual is
magic but you’ll need to be more
matching than yours oh thank you my
friend thank you that was cool
Kelly come on stand on up Kelly man I’m
getting all these compliments I mean I
never sit down
where you from Kelly I’m from DC all
right get your phone and give it to her
you know we got to get a picture Kelly
you’re gonna be late you’re not ready
so you from DC okay so what was funny
Kelly is I got this tracker record
excuse me this track record of success
and through the magic Johnson theatres
through the Starbucks through the Lakers
and now I’m going up to Sacramento
California up to get money to start a
fun equity fund and it’s really
interesting because institutional
capital was not ready to invest in urban
America so as I went up there not only
that these these institutional capital
firms turned me down but also ten banks
turned me down as well because they said
we don’t invest in urban America
Wow doing this day and age they still
overlooking minorities so I went up
there five times they said no five times
the six times they finally said okay
magic we don’t give you fifty million
dollars and if you over deliver with the
50 million you can come up come back up
and get a hundred million more
so I bought a shopping center for twenty
two million dollars only forty percent
occupied made it a hundred percent
occupied resold that Center for forty
eight million took the twenty six
million back up to Sacramento they said
mmm I guess you do know business so when
I talk about over-delivering
I lived that every day I’m not just
telling you something I live it every
single day so we were able to raise 300
million my first fund 36 30 percent
return six six hundred million my second
fund and then a billion dollar fund my
last fund and we called Canyon Johnson
fund and the great thing about it we own
great properties you’re from Washington
right where’s that young lady she said
she was from Washington the Washington
Hilton anybody stayed at the Washington
Hilton yeah we own that property the W &
Austin
Texas the W and Hoboken New Jersey those
are type of investing investments that
we make with that fun and it’s gone
going very very well so that’s what I’ve
been doing so that’s no magic is my
full-service business we have contracts
with to order their headquarters I feed
all their employees Disneyland and
Disney World I feed their employees so
Mickey and Minnie eat my food
if anybody’s flew Delta Airlines are
there there are sky clubs if you flew
American Airlines the Admirals Club all
the peanuts soda sandwiches that come
from my company across the country
that’s what I do every single day and so
the urban consumer trust and follow my
brand why because we’ve over delivered
to them we hired them not only hired
them but we trained them to do their job
they become my brand ambassadors so they
are marketing my business for me and
that’s a great thing when you go on to
urban America and you over deliver to
those people who live there they will
become your brand ambassadors and
deliver the message that you want to
other people who live in our community
and that’s been a great thing for me so
now what I want to do is have some fun
because I got I think five people or six
people who have mics and you’re allowed
to ask me some questions yeah there you
go got young lady in that aisle that
I’ll just raise your hand here’s a young
man right here in the front and we can
talk about anything why the Lakers not
doing well and then before before I go
into that this is the greatest moment
I’ve had in my business career once I
sold the Starbucks back to Howard
Schultz and Starbucks
once I sold the Lakers the Dodgers who
had ever thought the Dodgers would be up
for sale and then who would ever think
that six billionaires would call me up
and
a partner with me a kid from the ghetto
now from the neighborhood and so I
settled on Guggenheim it was a great
great deal they said we were crazy that
we paid two billion dollars for the team
until our TV contract came out and we
negotiated a deal for nine billion
dollars so we went from from a stupid
businessman to a smart businessman
overnight so let’s go right quick yes
sir yeah magic Pete here question for
you with all your expertise and
knowledge right there developing
communities and stuff so any lesson
learned like in the last couple of years
where you thought something was
definitely to work that didn’t mmm-hmm
or didn’t that did Wow
I think in the last couple years no in
the last couple years the only thing we
were concerned about was the economy
when the market crashed and what we did
with Starbucks is really unique normally
a customer comes four to five times a
week in Starbucks and so they were gonna
make an adjustment instead of coming at
much time that many times they meet they
say well we’re gonna cut it back to two
or three times so what we decide to do
at Starbucks was said let’s make sure
that we keep the customers that we have
not worrying about getting new customers
and let’s treat them special so we
wanted to know your name so when you
would come up and you’re Peters your
name and you come in there we say Peter
you want that same drink how’re you
doing today and you say yeah I want that
same Frappuccino with soy milk bah bah
blah blah blah blah we already knew that
and it made you feel special when we
acknowledge hey you want the same drink
hi Peter how you doing this morning on
and on and on but when the market crash
that’s what happened we want to make
sure we kept who we had and then after
the market came back then we go after
new customers as far as things failing
knock on wood
you know I mitigate risk I’m not I’m a
risk taker but I vet deals very very
well
and the only thing new that came up
that’s really doing well there’s a lot
of big boxes Best Buy’s and all these
different companies called me to help
them go into urban America because if
you don’t know how to go into urban
America you’re gonna fail and you need
somebody like myself to help you
understand the urban consumer so what’s
been going good come on get a picture
she’s taking one Wendy gonna take one
point all right don’t mess that up okay
thank you yes go here I’m ready and
who’s gonna go first are you gonna go
first ladies first
oh hi magic I swear I’m really nervous
you nervous okay I’m gonna come on back
up there then all right come on Abel
and you are you shaking okay what’s your
question my question bring the mic up
Alibi okay my question is I’ve been in
marketing for over 14 years and the
reason I wanted to go into marketing is
to help small businesses market their
company right
but what’s holding me back is fear
so I want to know how did you overcome
it well for me it was I was up against a
dumb jock thing right the banks turned
me down because they thought I was a
people didn’t take me seriously in the
beginning they never thought I could go
from the basketball court to the
boardroom but I believed in my strategy
I believed in myself and I knew I could
execute upon that business strategy and
so you got to believe in yourself right
and if you also in your strategy and I
think that your honor when you talk
about small businesses you should do it
because small businesses do need
marketing advice and expertise and so I
think you should do it but if you don’t
believe in you why would a company
believe in you so you got to come in and
sell it sell yourself and what you can
do for that business and so I already
know what I can do because I’ve already
proven that I got the track record of
success now you can call Sony you can
call Starbucks you know all these
companies you can call and they know now
that I’ve proven the fact that I can
drive our oh I I can make them a lot of
money which they’re very happy I can
also grow their brand because how a show
says that they’re a better company when
they did that deal with me and so so
it’s a wonderful thing so believe in
yourself and you’re gonna be able to to
win and you’re in your strategy okay so
just build good strategy around your
business and around the people’s
business that you’re trying to sell your
company to okay can you do that okay
cool
and then last but not least this is for
everybody to everybody in here should
take a SWAT of their business twice a
year I take a swallow my business and
myself twice a year strengths weaknesses
opportunities and threats right and I
make sure that
just the other last year this is really
interesting I got the grofe I was
looking for I got the sustainability
that I was looking for right I was about
to get three major contracts when I did
the SWOT I looked up and said wow I’m
gonna make a lot of money but I can’t
handle the three deals so my business is
gonna fail so I said I need three
executives executives to manage the new
business I’m about to receive but if I
hadn’t taken that SWOT I would have took
on that new business and my business
would have fail and my brand would have
went down and so I’m so happy I did the
SWOT I heard three new great executives
and now we manage that deal very very
well
so see it’s one thing to get the growth
that you’re looking for but also can you
manage that growth that’s that’s what’s
really important because you have to
remember everybody in your industry talk
and so if you do a great job that’s
what’s gonna go out if you do a bad job
that’s what’s gonna go out so for me
making sure that I manage those
contracts very well and I’m gonna give
you another secret April if you just
break even from having those contract be
happy with that oh why did I say that
because you rather keep that client and
I also have a good reputation then make
the money because you eventually make
the money I remember when I first
started I’d rather break even and
they’ll over deliver to that client so I
can get the retention that I’m looking
for I want that contract for 20 30 40 50
years so I made sure that I over
delivered to the clients that’s how I
got Disney World I used to only have
Disneyland I over delivered to
Disneyland it put me in the position to
get Disney World because Disney World is
the biggest contract I was like
okay yes yes oh we haven’t fun around
here what’s up little man
how you doing how you feel how you doing
sorry stand on up get a picture no no I
said stand up oh where are you from
France Paris Paris it’s a beautiful
place man you having fun yeah we defend
you are really great I love it okay cool
give me some knuckles okay that’s what
we do here all right
all right I’m having a good time all
right here we go what’s up sir how you
doing magic everything to have you with
us I’m really enjoy your talk was an
excellent thank you just wanted to how
did you how did you carry your
leadership skills over from the
basketball court onto the corporate
world because there’s so many athletes
out there mm-hmm that you know I’m
actually friendly with one of your
Michigan State alum Carl banks yeah who
was done who’s I evil to do it himself
there’s been very few athletes who have
been able to transfer that leadership
ability in the quality
what are you tribute that’s oh that’s a
Paul thank you telling my boy car I said
hello – this is what happens for me the
same way I prepared and I over prepared
when I was playing basketball I prepared
the same way for business because I’m
big in preparation like before I came
here to this morning the last week or so
when I know I was coming even before
that we had booked it I was studying
studying get the I got the information
to understand who I was speaking to
right I’m a very disciplined cat right I
was I knew I was going on at 9:52 well
it’s a two-hour ride from LA I made sure
I got down here at 8:15 cuz I’m a person
who I’m never late right I’m never I
respect your time and so we got a
meeting I’m gonna be on time that’s who
I am
basketball I brought that over right and
the same focus and paying attention to
details i watch the quarterback I was
the leader so I had to pay attention to
all the details I had to look and see
what’s Kareem ready if he came in
stumping like that I knew he was ready
but if he came in like this oh I knew he
wasn’t ready so then I had to score more
that night you see so you pay attention
as a leader you must pay attention to
the people who work for you so all of us
are here we have people who work for us
so we got to be able to lead them when
you leave here and get back to your
office they’re gonna be ready for you to
say okay what do you have for me what
did you learn at the conference I’m
ready let’s go so I pay attention to
details and then last but not least the
same work work ethic that I had as a
basketball care excuse me as a
basketball player I’ve carried over to
the boardroom so I get up every morning
4 o’clock I’m in the gym by 5
two hours working out and then I’m in
the office all day and we go until we
get it done that’s who I am so nobody’s
gonna outwork me you know it’s just who
I am you know that’s that’s what made me
a great basketball player and making me
a good business man a CEO today it’s my
work ethic understanding of business oh
all right go ahead oh she’s on the phone
texting somebody magical question yeah
I’m about to get a picture with magic Oh
Oh got the phone ready to come on come
on all right cool
thank you my pleasure I’m a lot of your
business deals you’ve done because you
intuitively knew what we needed in our
community I was wondering if you use
data in your business and if so how well
of course you’ve got to use data data
every time because it’s important that
you know the spending power the spending
habits you’ve got to also know the
trends what’s going on and then for me
investing in those type of systems and
technology is important also to the
success of my business as well so yes
and even now we’re growing seven times
that of the general population the
things that I need to know come from
from data come on Nathan let’s stand on
up my man get a picture so yes I use it
all the time are you gonna take a selfie
and I must keep up with what’s going on
and so that’s very important and to my
business to this bottom line and the
success of my business so yes wherever
she went yes
okay who got the next one go ahead I’m
ready I’m gonna come in the back because
I haven’t been back there go ahead hi
how are you I’m coming around to see you
hi magic how are you I’m listening to
your question I’m taking pictures at the
same time well I have two sons one had a
real bad critically injured an accident
and he wants to get into racing but they
and his name is Alex so I would like you
to say something courtesy to Alex and
being a mother I have to have even time
my the younger son name is Chris and he
plays football okay well let me just
tell you what they told me six nine guys
don’t play point guard right that’s
right you saw what happened I play point
guard they said that I couldn’t be a CEO
you see what happened right my
competitors said no way match is gonna
win Disneyland and Disney World I won
both of those contracts who would ever
thought I’ll be serving food at Toyota
John Deere at Allstate Insurance their
headquarters I can take you through 40
other clients that we have now I’m gonna
really get you with this one why did
they choose me how it shows that’s the
that he could build 125 Starbucks with
he could have chose any buddy else do
you see what I’m saying
so your son if he wants to be a race car
driver it’s not about what people say go
after it he can achieve it he’s just got
to be the best see you got to be the
best when Howard Show said I’m gonna
trust you with not only my business but
my brand see he trusted me with his
brand that’s big so I had to
over-deliver I had to take care of his
brand as well as the bottom line and I
was able to achieve both okay so you
tell him that and what he doesn’t know
is 25% of Nascars audience is
african-american oh oh I know my numbers
now I know my numbers all right all
right here we go
I’m coming this way now all right who
got the next one I’m just gonna take him
pictures oh what’s up big man how you
my pleasure
all right okay sir hi magic hi how are
you good my name is Jason want to shake
your hand cause Jason what’s that in the
manhole man I’m shaking around turn
around see that you are all right cool
all right
I got a good question for him okay given
that the theme of BMA this year is don’t
mark it alone I was about to two-part
question I was wondering if you could
speak to the importance of building a
good marketing team and also the second
part of the question was do you have any
plans of teaming up a Larry Bird on
future business endeavors nice nice
what’s the theme again is what don’t do
it alone don’t mark it or don’t mark it
alone okay
that’s a great theme that’s a excellent
theme now what I would tell you is the
first question was what give me that one
more time okay marketing the right team
okay okay
for me I had to get somebody who was
experienced at marketing and so I went
out the young lady I just hired years
ago and she had worked on a couple
campaigns with me she started off with
Disney and I said man okay if Disney
hired you you must be pretty good then
she went to Nissan then she went Burger
King on and on and on so she had a lot
of great experience in corporate
marketing and marketing to the general
public
but also she had experience in urban
marketing as well and it was really
important that she had a combination of
both because I have businesses based in
urban America but also you have
businesses like the Dodgers who giant
brand right and she was just at the NFL
and so I stole her from the NFL and so I
said come on work for me we have this
incredible brand that’s a worldwide
brand and I know you could take it to a
whole nother level and I really believe
in the theme what it says don’t mark it
alone I I built my business on not doing
it just by myself partnerships that’s
how I built my business so it was really
for me I believe in what the theme is
here because that’s how I built my
business marketing is so important and I
think that the message that goes out is
important and she craft that message to
make sure that our brand is out in front
of people all the time and it’s
important that we send out the right
message and so she’s done a wonderful
job our brand has just taken off because
of her leadership and that CMO was doing
a wonderful job and I’m so happy and
proud of her
– at the same time and did you have a
second one it’s a part to that do you
envision yourself teaming up for a
future business endeavor oh yeah you
know Larry and I team up it’s funny
because this is what we do when a
company calls us to do a commercial or
do something I say Larry you be the good
guy I’m not sorry I’ll be the good guy
you’d be the bad guy so you hold out
okay so so I say okay I’m gonna sell
like I’m happy with the deal but you
keep holding out to drive the price up
because that’s his personality anyway
right so we’ve done so many great things
together the HBO special story about our
lives and how basically you know we are
linked together I love Larry I hated
them when he wore the green and white
but I liked him today you know and we
have mutual respect and I tell you what
changed our life we didn’t speak for
eight years because you have to hate
Larry to beat them because Larry is that
good and also – I want you guys to
remember this – your competitor can make
you better Larry Bird made me a better
basketball player I knew he was shooting
thousand shots today guess what I had to
shoot a thousand shots today I knew he
was running every single day probably
five six months he made me run five six
miles a day and so I credit Larry making
me a better man and a better basketball
player because I knew he was working
hard to be better for the next season
and he made me do the same thing so our
lives changed we went shot a commercial
converse commercial at his house so when
I got there we had never really had a
conversation so I stayed in a limo until
it was time to shoot the commercial so
the director told us the lines we said
the lines and then a couple of hours we
shot now it’s lunch break gotcha and I’m
thinking okay I’m going to my trailer to
eat it was on his at his house on his
property as I’m leaving the go to the
trailer he said no no no no magic we’re
going up to my house my mom has cooked
lunch oh man okay what does that mean so
I didn’t want to be rude so I went on up
to the house we got inside and his
mother just came and gave me a big hug
and I was like oh man so that kind of
made me feel better
we sat down and about five minutes into
it his mother said sure you tell him
what shall I tell him tell me what I’m
you’re my favorite player I was like oh
man okay I’m good now and then Larry
turned red I hate that when she says
that and so that broke the ice for us
and we had not only a mutual respect but
then we became friends and so I love
Larry so he’s he’s the best he’s a
straight shooter
and he’s a guy that he him and Michael
Jordan were the biggest two trash
talkers that ever lived but they could
play basketball I said Michael was the
greatest that played in the air and
Larry was the greatest player on the
ground because him and I couldn’t jump
up that high so I got one more they
telling me I got to wrap it up give me
some
I got a left I gotta let him have it go
ahead come on let’s get a picture though
go yes sir all right so I think the most
amazing thing about the Starbuck story
was that you got that exclusive and you
didn’t take no for an answer right right
and a lot of the things that we do in
business are confronted with the know
whether it’s big data or new technology
or any of that what tips would you give
a marketer to negotiate that yeah
mmm right oh well I think that knowing
the core values of the company that
you’re going after it’s very important
what’s important to that company that
CEO that’s really important
understanding how they’ve been growing
because what I do is when I go after RFP
I look at the company the past five six
years what are they been doing okay and
then what is their mission statement
where are they going in the next five to
ten years
try to understand that then you can meet
the RFP by having a clear understanding
of the vision of that CEO that CMO of
that of that company and now go after
that RFP when we started doing that our
success rate went up winning the
contracts and I think that’s so so
important so when you come after that
that that contract you will know now
what you have to put in there to put you
in a winning position and I think that’s
so important a lot of time we just see
the RFP we go out okay I’m gonna do this
for you bubble but if you don’t have a
clear understanding of the vision of
that that company and what they’ve been
doing and what they want to do then how
can you really go after and meet it
you know the RFP so and it’s a process
and then you got competition too you
know so for me understanding okay man
for the last five years they’ve changed
a couple times they may have changed
CMOS three times two or one you know so
you need to understand that so you can
say okay I get it now
now also their mission statement is blah
blah blah you can put that in there as
well you see and that to me I’ve been
winning at a high rate now because we
have an understanding of what all state
wants to do I just one directional
University contract just just about
three weeks ago but we had a clear
understanding
what they wanted where they wanted to go
and we met the RFP based on that did we
get our picture yes okay cool um now oh
yes you got your hand up what’s up you
want a picture all right Stan man wait a
minute you shorter than him all right
you got stand on this chair come on get
up on the chair there you go that’s a
good selfie right there
all right so in closing I want to wish
all of you first good luck but what I am
proud of is that you own your own
business you or you represent your
company and that you understand how to
market because I wanna I want to pass
you on the back to send out an
incredible message or to make a great
commercial or whatever it is you guys
are so intelligent I mean it’s really
great for me when I see a great tagline
or I see a great commercial or I see
great messaging and it’s coming from
people like yourselves you are so good
at what you do
so congratulations keep on coming back
to conferences like this that can give
you you know tips and also give you
great advice and you listen to the
speakers who have been doing this for a
long time I do the same thing I’m a
sponge I love to learn and to grow you
know i reinvented myself three times and
I keep reinventing myself come on out
you can get one I can’t reinvent myself
and that’s very important don’t never
stop improving and getting better never
be satisfied always take your game to
the next level and you will be successful
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