Joe Marchese Turns 28; His Pink Balls Catch Fire

Image via CrunchBase

Here at A Media Circ.us, we often hear the term “wunderkind” used to describe the
radiant social entrepreneur, Joe Marchese; but what makes this, “Zack Morris of social
media” tick?

Our own John Swords caught up with Marchese to talk cause marketing (and how
sometimes doing too much good can actually be bad), strange men climbing into your
window at night and calling you Doogie, and why pink balls beat blue balls (but take
longer to pack).

Swords: Iʼm here with Joe More-cheesy of SocialVibe.

Marchese: Itʼs Mar-chez-ee.

Swords: So SocialVibe - I get the social part. What's the vibe?

Marchese: We were supposed to have a different name and we couldn't get the URL.
So, I guess “vibe” is what we liked when the URL wasn't available.   I think we were very lucky we didn’t get the URL and ended up with the Vibe, because SocialVibe just fit’s what we are doing and nobody here would want it any other way.

Swords: What is SocialVibe?

Marchese: It's pretty simple. People help brands out by putting them onto their online
profiles and in exchange those brands help out the charity of the person's choice.  You
could think of it as a cause/marketing mash-up.

Swords: How long have you been around?

Marchese: Well, today's my birthday. So I've been around about 28 years as of today.

Swords: You're pretty young for the role you're in. Do you ever get called Doogie
Howser? Or maybe you have a friend named Vinnie who climbs into your bedroom
through a window at night?

Marchese: Oh yeah. Well, I think everybody does, right?  If that's weird, then I've been
watching too much television because Saved By the Bell is the same way

Swords: I assume you were in grade school before SocialVibe?

Marchese: Well, I had a stint in preschool but I didn't take to it. It was the paste eating
that got me kicked out.  Before that I did some consulting and worked for Monster.com.

Swords: How does one find a job at Monster.com?

Marchese: On CareerBuilder, of course.

Swords: How long has SocialVibe been around?

Marchese: We launched to the public in April of 2008. Before that we had it private for about seven months.  There was a time when it was just three guys, a PowerPoint, and a patent kicking around.

Swords: How much money has gone to charity so far?

Marchese: Over $400,000. It's pretty amazing because all the money coming from the brands. People want to help, but it isn't always in the checkbooks. So, especially with the bad economy, people are saying, "Well, how else can I help?"

Swords: So I could pick Cherry Coca-Cola and Butterfinger as my sponsor. I could then choose American Diabetes Association as my cause?  Do you ever get situations where the sponsors and the causes conflict?

Marchese: Oh, for sure. We're happy to block if there's a conflict between the two.  For example, Partnership for a Drug Free America for some reason does not want to be partnered with alcohol brands.

Swords: Do you think there's a point where you can do so much good that you're actually doing bad?

Marchese: Sure, but as much as my mother would like me considered for sainthood, we're not doing all the good.  We just set up a system to get other people to do good.

Swords: You're from San Francisco, right?

Marchese: No, actually, I'm from Boston. No, I'm not from Boston.

Swords: Get your “facts” straight if youʼre going to lie to me.

Marchese: Let me back up. I'm actually from New York.  Born there, raised there.

Swords: I pegged you as being from San Francisco because of the pink balls you ship to some members as an award.



Marchese: Well, I do live in West Hollywood now.

Swords: I noticed that members have to wait for up to two weeks before receiving a pink
ball. So, going without something for weeks at a time, maybe you should have made them blue balls?

Marchese: Yeah, that might have been more appropriate for the waiting.

Swords: What are the logistics that make it take so long?

Marchese: It usually involves alcoholic beverages.  See, we close down the office on
Friday afternoons and we have a pink-ball-packing party. We can only hope that all the
balls go the right places.

Swords: Nothing says serious like a pink-ball-packing party.  I noticed a lot of your users, they take pictures of themselves with your balls?

Marchese: Yep.

Swords: Some of them hold them in their hands. Some of them press your balls against their face.  A few users put your balls in their mouth.  Do you have a preference as to how they pose with your balls, or maybe a favorite position?

Marchese: No, I can't say that I do.  Keep in mind they're not our balls at that point.
Those are their balls.

Swords: So they're putting their own balls in their mouth.  Those would be interesting pictures to see.  Have you ever had to take down any of the photos?

Marchese: I don't know, my fiance doesn't let me review the pictures so I can't tell you for certain.

[alarm sounds]

Marchese: The fire alarm's going off in the building.

Swords: Maybe your balls are on fire.

[alarm sounds]

Marchese: Seems that way.

Swords: Do you need to go?

Marchese: Yeah.