From Resy to Empathy Wines, VaynerX chairman Gary “GaryVee” Vaynerchuk knows how to build a profitable business. But up until now, the serial entrepreneur and YouTube star’s work has been based largely on impersonal ideas. Enter VeeFriends, the business that Vaynerchuk has wanted to own since he was a kid.
On its face, VeeFriends is a brand that aims to “fill a gap in the collectibles” market. Run by Vaynerchuk as founder and CEO, VeeFriends is a storytelling universe that includes more than 280 hand-drawn characters, each designed to teach kindness and life lessons across both younger and older generations. Influenced by the work of Jim Jenson and Walt Disney described as a cross between Pokémon and “Sesame Street,” Vaynerchuk’s the VeeFriends brand launched in 2021 and now spans comic books, collectibles, content, trading cards and purposeful storytelling.
I believe intellectual property is the winner of the next half century,” Vaynerchuk, who boasts nearly 5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, tells Variety. That’s a meaningful business. I think it could be the biggest business I ever build in my life.
Genuinely in my heart, I view it as Disney, Marvel, Pokemon. I’d be surprised if this isn’t where I end up at some point in my career. Meaning, with all my 13 different businesses, if you ask me, you got to pick one — restaurant group, all these alternative sports, the advertising agency is huge, the wine business — if I had to pick a horse where I think I’m riding on just one in my 60s, 70s, 80s, I think it’s VeeFriends.” At New York Comic Con this week, Vaynerchuk is unveiling the brand’s biggest product expansion yet through digital and physical collectible content, including the reveal of “VeeFriends” issue #22, “Gentle Giant.” Featuring cover art by Rob Liefeld, “Gentle Giant” is set against the paranoia of the Cold War and tells the story of a secret government experiment to create the ultimate supersoldier using ancient giant DNA.
But when the 20-foot-tall creation awakens, his gentle nature clashes with the violent purpose he was built for. Part sci-fi thriller, part Frankenstein story, the issue explores what happens when a living weapon begins to seem more human than the people controlling him. But then Considerate Cowboy is going to come out in the future, and that’s going to be a romance novel.
That’s going to be for women. One of the cool things I did, and it was very selfish, but it was also on strategy, is by creating 280-plus characters, I will never run out of time telling my stories.” As he builds up a transmedia and merch business, Vaynerchuk says isn’t looking for every VeeFriend to be appealing to every demographic — he’s looking to create one VeeFriend that each person can connect with. But each individual character and each individual execution may be looking at different demos,” Vaynerchuk says.
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