Welcome to our AMA write-up with Glen O'Neill, who generously agreed to spend time with us answering questions about his experience at The Yetee, their open Brand Manager role, and the secrets behind their top-notch merch.
Glen, thank you for being here and sharing your insights with the Work With Indies community!
❄ Glen: Hi everyone! I'm Glen, I'm co-founder/co-owner and president of The Yetee. The Yetee is a small gaming merchandiser based in Aurora, IL. We're closely approaching our 10th year in business and we're excited to continue our journey exploring the shared spaces between game creators and game players with bespoke and high-quality goods. We work with dozens of amazing artists and game creators to produce really rad collectibles and apparel. We've also got a record label and full service kickstarter development team! I look forward to chatting with you all about how we fit in our odd corner of the game industry!
What made you decide to start a t-shirt company? 👀 - Harmonia
❄ Glen: Well... that's an interesting one. I am an artist and graphic designer and at the time I was working at the University of Victoria's Newspaper, The Marlet, as a Production Co-Ordinator. Laying out the newspaper. I got a freelance gig designing a tee and fell in love with it. Ultimately, it opened the door to other gigs and as I did more I found that communication on rejected works was really poor, that I'd often have to buy my own work and that sometimes it was discouraging.I met my business partner, Mike, on Twitter and we both had similar experiences in terms of communicating with shirt purveyors. So we decided to try out our own thing with an emphasis on communicating openly with artists, providing freebies etc. After about 2 years we quit our day jobs and went full time and since then it's been organically pursuing our interests in terms of collectibles and merch.We've been really fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with so many collaborators in different fields and truly grow and try new things all the time.
[.c-insight]I love this! It is crazy (and a little sad) that transparency and honesty can be such a huge competitive advantage and business differentiator. Thank you for doing this work and providing a bar-raising example. - Nate[.c-insight]
Is remote possible for the brand manager role or does it need to be on site in Illinois? If on-site, what is your position on relocation timing and assistance? - Anonymous
❄ Glen: I think for the right candidate we would consider relocation, but a key part of the job is working with our onsite marketing team and capturing and sharing the warehouse culture with our audience. It is definitely a on-site endgame. I think if we had someone remote we would need a clear relocation plan that won't suffer from delay.
Could you elaborate a little on what you mean by “buy (your) own work”? - Rowan
❄ Glen: Artists whose work was sold and printed with companies would not get free tees of their work. They would have to buy their own tee, of their own work. It's a small gesture, but it is important.
TheYetee has a lot of partnerships with games/devs/artists of varying sizes, even within the "indie" sphere. How does the team go about starting such a partnership? Is there a role whose responsibilities includes outreach? - Nate B.
❄ Glen: It's a lot of connecting at live events and having a good licensing consultant for the bigger companies! Usually it will be indies reaching out to us, or us developing relationships with people at events, or word of mouth.
There is no simple answer, sometimes things literally fall into our lap and I couldn't be happier. The main thing for me is curating what we make and who we make it with a strong degree of intention. I never want to slap a logo on something or make merch for the sake of having merch.
Is the Brand Manager role a "brand" new position 😅 or backfill for an existing role? - Nate
🙄 ... okay nate - Harmonia
❄ Glen: It is a new position and it has a lot to do with existing members taking initiative on new things and having to leave old duties behind— along with a growing pile of "It would be cool if we could..." that no one has time for.
We have a really awesome marketing team and a strong voice, so it would be less of developing a tone, and more of scaffolding on what we've built on.
"It would be cool if" projects sound like a lot of fun. Also, it is good to hear that they are growing– a strong signal of a quality business and team.
What does success look like in this role? What would be a result that you would be ecstatic about a year after the hire date? - Nate
❄ Glen: Great question. Success would be freeing up some of the shared burden of our team in terms of meeting our brand goals. Ideally it's be someone who can build on the existing tone of our accounts and work instep with our amazing Video Producer, Photographer, Content Writer, Illustrators, Designers and Production Manager to expand on what we're already doing.
Growth in social metrics, partner happiness and customer understanding of Yetee Culture are the goal results!
If an indie company would like to work with y'all for merch purposes, what would that process look like? What is the best way for them to get in contact about the many services you offer and what do they need to have prepared on their end to make everything as smooth as possible? - Harmonia
❄ Glen: Great question, merch@theyetee.com for all inquiries! We do our best to respond as quickly as possible. [.c-highlight]I am a firm believer in NO GATEKEEPING[.c-highlight] so if there is something I am not able to help with, I am more than happy to offer some free advice or direction on what could be done.
The process is usually similar, meeting, discussing goals and marketing beats, figuring out bandwidth in terms of art production, dream merch, smart plans.
Then getting an agreement in place and rolling up the sleeves and doing it.
[.c-highlight]Slight edit: If an indie job board company would like to work with y'all for merch purposes... - Nate[.c-highlight]
Haha merch@theyetee.com we can offer a variety of services!
You'll be hearing from our people (its me I'm the people) - Harmonia
❄ Glen: Yes please! I need a "I got my job from <insert Work With Indies Logo here>" tshirt 😂 (Because I did! 😍 )
Are you more about distribution of merch or the creative design elements too? - LizMac
❄ Glen: Each partnership varies. Some want to do it all and let us handle production and fulfillment, others have no bandwidth and need our support developing designs and concepts.
Yeah, honestly [.c-highlight]we try our best to fill in the gaps where the developers need it.[.c-highlight]
I know you’re specifically looking for a brand manager right now, but would you mind talking a little bit about what you look for in artists and the process for application/hiring? - Rowan
❄ Glen: We have open submissions for artists on the website, as well as an artist discord with over 200 members! Hit me up on Twitter and I'll help ya get in! With artists that we work with regularly, we develop relationships and work with them on larger projects and artist stores!
How might someone go about approaching a larger IP for licensing, really, since it seems less approachable than working with indies? - Rowan
❄ Glen: For big IP, you want to have someone with industry experience in licensing. It's hard to cold email your way in.
What would an average workday look like for your new Brand Manager? - LizMac
❄ Glen: Show up at HQ, do standups with marketing team and managers! Tackle any orders for clients/artists/partners, look at the needs for marketing and collab/produce things for social, have a yummy lunch in the snack room + play the arcade cabs on the break, back to work- planning this week's stream, checking in on customers on social and connecting them to Customer Service, reporting on culture moods/tones at a meeting and punching out for the day!
Also [.c-highlight]not stressing about going to the doctor, because we pay for medical. 💟[.c-highlight]
Oh, we have an arcade too, offsite– hopefully reopening in June.
Do you have any dream collaborations/projects that you've managed to achieve with TheYetee or anymore than you're hoping for in future? I really appreciate the collaborations that you have with GDQ. 🙂 Keep up the good work! - Chloe
❄ Glen: I love this question! GDQ is my passion, such a fun and amazing thing we are so lucky to be a part of!
My top three dream projects:
- Japanese Branch Office - Yetee Japan
- BitSummit Booth - Hanging with Japanese Gamedev Friends and making new connections
- Yetee Brand streetwear - we have a really cool mascot and I would love to see Yetee takeoff like Pusheen, Puglie, Hello Kitty, etc
100/10 would wear Yetee streetwear! If you could ask for any "this would be amazing if you had ___ experience or know how" skill, what would it be? Are you secretly hoping to hire the world's best juggler? Someone who can beat Super Mario Sunshine Blindfolded? Or just someone with a specific language fluency, etc. - LizMac
❄ Glen: Oh jeez, Puppet Skills. We have Yetee puppets we use on the regular! Japanese language skills would be amazing! Hidden streaming talents like speedrunning blindfolded sounds awesome.
This is the puppet BTW. This is the kind of material the new Brand Manager will have to work with.
[.c-highlight]Live action puppet gifs should absolutely be a part of the job description. - Nate[.c-highlight]
What was the decision behind deciding to print designs via screen-printing? Was there a definitive reason you did not go with outside manufacturing? - CharBurst
❄ Glen: YES. This is a great question!
Screen printing is the gold standard when it comes to apparel printing. It is the only way to create prints that last as long or longer than the tee itself. Direct to Garbage... I mean Direct to Garment printing is great when you need to print a single shirt or don't have the funds to produce a full run of tees, but the quality does not align with creating lasting relationships with your customer. Eventually the print fades, falls apart or... just is bland.
Doing it ourselves in house is just something that is important to us. We can employ more talented individuals who care about the work we're making in a different way than outsourcing it to a printer.
We often hear from indie devs that merch is better viewed as a reward and method of engagement with their fans than an income generator. And that the effort required and profit returned provides for a fairly low ROI. Is that an accurate portrayal? - Nate
❄ Glen: I would say, merch is marketing first and foremost and success metrics vary based on the individual's interests. I can't say in my experience or understanding that merch has ever outpaced game sales in terms of income; however, it definitely is an incredible augment to income if the game has a cultural mark in the gaming zeitgeist— or if the perfect merch gets made!
In your most unbiased opinion 😉 what's it like to work at The Yetee? Besides having access to the amazing arcade? - Harmonia
❄ Glen: I think it is a fun and inclusive place. [.c-highlight]Lots of love and care goes into how we make and send our items and it shows in the attitudes of our staff.[.c-highlight] Before the pandemic we would open the warehouse to the local community for sale events and always have an incredible turn out.
It's also a space with a lot of room for people who organically pursue their interests. It is almost like working at a maker studio. A number of staff use the space outside of hours to create their own apparel or prints.
Mike and I care a lot about our Yetee Fam and we're always working to try and make everyone happy in their job.
Can you provide an example of some of the things that you have done to increase happiness/fulfillment for your employees? - Nate
❄ Glen: For sure! The pandemic has made this challenging as we can't gather everyone like before, but we regularly would do staff events, vacation, bonuses, freebies, team lunches, donuts on birthdays, flexible hours, accommodations for family stuff, sometimes there's office dogs, snacks/drinks in the staff kitchen... it's hard to pin down what, it's a broad nuanced vibe haha.
What is your number one piece of advice for those looking to start a Kickstarter campaign? Do you have any cool data points or insights that you can share from campaigns that you have run in the past? - Anonymous
❄ Glen: Oooh good question! There isn't a large brush stroke for Kickstarters. I think the big thing is to ask yourself what is your goal, what is your metric for success. Is it exposure? Is it marketing? Is it funding?
These should shape your rewards more than anything. Some other quick thoughts:
- Always plan shipping 6-8 months later than what you think.
- Always pad your costs on rewards as global supply chains can cause unexpected issues. (whoops pandemic)
- Try to keep it simple, offer less "style" choices on the backer end and be assertive and create something that someone won't have to ask for options.
- Underpromise, Overdeliver.
For the job seekers here, any pro tips for how interested parties can stand out, make your job easier, and increase their likelihood of a callback? - Nate
❄ Glen: Definitely follow the steps outlined in the description! I need to know those things!
[.c-insight]💡 Editor's Note: Notice how Glen simply calls out the basics here? That is because it is quite common for applicants to miss or dismiss the instructions laid out in the job description. Standing out can be as simple as responding to the job description as requested with a quality resume, cover letter, and portfolio.[.c-insight]
What is your MOST popular form of merch? T-shirts? Pins? Plushies? - Harmonia
For the crocs.
But honestly, tees.
Out of all the games you've played in the last few years, what sticks out as your favourite and/or most played? 👀 - LizMac
❄ Glen: I go back to Celeste a lot. 🍓 The experience is really emotional and the music is incredible. I don't have time (as a dad) for 40 hour games these days, so I try to play digestible titles, indies tend to be really good for that!
Also, I live in Vancouver, so I have a soft spot for Vancouver devs.
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Final question, where can I get these super cool 🥶 Yetee Discord emotes? - Nate
❄ Glen: Sub on Twitch 😆 or join as a Yetee artist in our Discord.
GLEN! This was amazing. We had a blast chatting with you today and are so very grateful to you for spending your time with us and answering all of our questions.
❄ Thank you to Harmonia, Nate, and Katherine for being so welcoming and having this happen! It was cool to share! And thanks to everyone here for the cool questions!
