Marketing Today with Alan Hart

Stacey Andrade-Wells joined Liquid I.V. as Vice President of Marketing in January 2022. Before that, she spent over seven years at Procter & Gamble working on a variety of brands like Mr. Clean, Swiffer, and Gain. As a second-generation Colombian, she is passionate about driving diversity in all aspects of her work. This passion lends itself perfectly to her work at Liquid I.V., focusing on using hydration as the entry point to making wellness accessible for everyone. Liquid I.V. is a wellness company based in Los Angeles. In 2020, Liquid I.V. became part of Unilever's companies through acquisition. Their product lines are non-GMO electrolyte drink mixes designed to deliver rapid hydration utilizing a proprietary technology they call cellular transport technology. By increasing the absorption of water and other key nutrients into the body, the end result is 360-degree wellness. According to Stacey, the functional drink industry is expected to develop at a rate of 6.5% between 2023 and 2032 and reach a size of over 206 billion in 2023 alone. This growth means Liquid I.V. has to be continually innovating, and they always start by asking consumers what their needs are. Liquid I.V.'s go-to-market strategy focuses on getting communication right by nailing down who they are speaking to, what message will resonate with them, and making sure they reach them at the right time. Stacey calls this "mastering the intersection of creativity and medium." In this episode, Alan and Stacy discuss what Liquid I.V. is, the evolution of the brand, how inclusivity is a core part of its strategy, and the future of the functional beverage industry as a whole. They talk about the unique functional ingredients in the products Liquid I.V. sells, how this sets them apart from competitors in the marketplace, and how listening to consumers where they are the most honest (in the comments section) informs their product development. Liquid I.V. has carved out its place in the market by keeping a finger on the pulse of culture, advocating for clean water access for all, and being mindful not to frame itself as a drink mix exclusively for high-intensity sports athletes but as a way to improve hydration for everyone every day. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yon Raz-Fridman is an entrepreneur, repeat founder, and technology executive. Originally from Israel, he went to London to start his career, met his wife, and moved to New York. Eventually, they moved back to her hometown and are now based in Columbus, Ohio. In college, Yon was part of an entrepreneurial academic program where he developed a passion for blending expression, creativity, and digital products. Supersocial is the number one developer, publisher, and operator of premium virtual worlds on immersive social platforms like Roblox and Fortnight. They create engaging games and experiences that focus on bringing joy to next-gen digital communities using their IP and IP from some of the world's most innovative and largest brands and companies. After seeing the rise of Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnight before and during the pandemic, Yon began to believe virtual 3D worlds would be the next frontier of the consumer internet. There are two generations (Z and Alpha, born after 2000) that have been born into a smartphone-based world with large, immersive social platforms. They are playing, socializing, and expressing themselves on these platforms and representing themselves as a 3D avatar with a mindset of "It's not just me playing the character. I am the character". Yon realized these kids are going to grow up and will likely want to continue to interact with the internet in the same way. This evolution will change how they interact with media, entertainment, and shopping. While the fundamentals are yet to be determined, the scale is undeniable. In this episode, Alan and Yon discuss how Supersocial capitalizes on that hypothesis, how brands and advertisers might think about experimenting and getting in early, and what the KPIs are in these spaces. Yon talks about trends he sees in the Metaverse, how they are connected to actual human behavior change, and how Supersocial works with brands like NARS to harness these opportunities. Yons says the Metaverse isn't replacing the current internet; it is the next iteration. It is the next frontier of the consumer internet, and there is exponential potential to grow into it. However, he also warns against getting caught up in hype, both negative and positive, and instead advises to "pay attention to what people do with technology, not the technology itself." In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brigitte King moved around a lot when she was young, and she credits this global, multicultural upbringing for the broad worldview and unique perspective that has served her throughout her career. She was traditionally trained in marketing and packaged goods early on but eventually pivoted to digital when it was first emerging. Over the years, she has learned how to utilize digital while leveraging her roots by keeping brand growth top of mind. Brigitte began her career at L’Oreal, where she spent 13 years progressing through increasingly senior roles, including Vice President, Deputy General Manager, and Chief Consumer Officer for the United States and Americas region. After L’Oreal, she went on to be the Vice President of Marketing for Kao Brands, then Chief Consumer Officer for Calvin Klein, and Executive Vice President for North American Digital Operations for the parent company, PVH Corp. In 2020, Brigitte joined Colgate as their Chief Digital Officer and now leads the Global Digital Organization, which includes Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, Media, Measurement, CRM, Digital Solutions, and Capabilities to accelerate Colgate’s digital transformation. In this episode, Alan and Brigitte discuss what it means to drive digital transformation for a company with an extensive portfolio like Colgate-Palmolive, what type of data is important to the process and how that data is being collected and used, as well as the role a great team plays in the execution of an innovative, fully connected full-funnel marketing strategy. As a pioneer in digital marketing, Brigitte gives a first-hand account of how first-party data changed the game for marketers. Data will always be key in any transformation, and she urges us to consider what data is being collected, how it’s being collected, and what is being done with it in order to get the most out of what we have while remaining respectful of consumers. To this end, she outlines two principles she uses when thinking about data collection and gives practical advice to the people who are driving transformation when it comes to managing their time, their team, and their strategies. At the end of the day, declaring your digital ambition and finding alignment is how you move the needle. At Colgate-Palmolive, it is all in service to their mission of "Reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets, and our planet." In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Skena remembers having his first Krispy Kreme doughnut at age 13, and even back then, he knew this company wasn’t like the others. In college, he thought he was going to be an economist, but through his first job at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), he realized marketing was where he really wanted to be. After going back to school, he began his new career at Kraft Foods, then went to PepsiCo for over eight years, where he led brands such as Lay’s, Ruffles, SunChips, Tostitos, and Lay’s Dips. He left CPG when he became Chief Marketing Officer at Ruby Tuesdays, where he helped them transition from public to private. Then moved on to his current role as Global Chief Brand Officer at Krispy Kreme. As a 20-year "performance-driven" innovator and marketer, Dave has flipped the script regarding traditional marketing in the category for an underdog brand by putting a premium on insights and creative-driven earned media strategies. In this episode, Alan and Dave discuss the uniqueness of the Krispy Kreme brand being both accessible and premium with the omnichannel hybrid model, where their brand promise of freshness is a top priority. Dave is a performance marketer, meaning his goal is to get the most out of every marketing dollar spent. Rather than focusing on the top of the funnel, he is constantly monitoring the performance of each move his team makes through A/B testing. Earned media, collaborations, and participation in culture are the top ways Krispy Kreme increases traffic and awareness. Power partnerships with big brands such as Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Herseys, and Good Humor are a win-win for all involved and compound the joy for consumers. Dave says "happiness is not a fixed pie", meaning there is plenty to go around. When it comes to capturing cultural moments, the Pandemic gave Krispy Kreme the perfect backdrop to counter with their extremely popular Acts of Joy, such as free donuts for all healthcare workers, graduates, and people who were vaccinated. By capitalizing on unity, Dave and his team are making news, reinforcing a culture of generosity, and driving sales at the same time. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Acton is the Chief Marketing Officer at BILL and brings more than 25 years of experience in marketing and brand-building work in both consumer and business markets. She had an interest in marketing early on and started her career in media buying, then went back to business school, moved into consumer packaged goods, spent some time on the agency side, and eventually opened her own small business. After that, she returned to technology, where she was responsible for global brand oversight during pivotal periods of growth at LinkedIn and consumer marketing leadership at Yahoo!, then led both marketing and sales at Athos, a wearables company in the athletic performance space. She has now been with BILL for the past 18 months. Sarah believes one of the roles of marketing is to build and reinforce trust with your customers and the market at large, and she is grateful to be immersed in a culture of people who have a shared respect for small businesses as well as a shared connection to the mission and values that matter to her. In this episode, Alan and Sarah discuss what her marketing department is doing to help drive discovery, connection, and trust with BILL’s customers and how the integrity she learned when she was running her own small business helps inform the way she operates with BILL today. BILL is an all-in-one financial operations platform serving small businesses with all the "messy back office financial things". They recently underwent a rebrand to satiate an appetite to bring more humanity into the operation. Despite being a tech company, at the end of the day, it is just a group of humans serving another group of humans in the deeply personal space of operating a small business. Marketing to small businesses falls somewhere between B2B and B2C, making it complex to message and connect with their diverse range of scope and scale. BILL's role is not only about managing the day-to-day operations but also helping its customers fuel growth and understand cash flow. Sarah tells us BILL saves their customers between 50% to 75% of their time spent on financial operations, allowing them to invest more in the things that align with their mission and passion. "Brand strategy is not independent of company strategy. It is in service of company strategy." In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kadian Langlais is the Chief Marketing Officer at Renfro Brands, a 100-year-old legacy sock and hosiery design and manufacturing company. In her role, she oversees Renfro’s diverse portfolio of brands and maintains its position as the largest manufacturer of socks in the U.S., producing three million pairs per week. Kadian grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, where she developed a love for interior design and has always had a passion for fashion. After immigrating to New York, she initially planned to go into investment banking but decided to follow her passion instead and enter the business side of the fashion world. Prior to joining Renfro, she consulted with leading brands and retailers on their e-commerce and digital marketing strategies. In this episode, Alan and Kadian discuss her pathway to becoming the CMO at Renfro, the role of DEI and how she’s focused on it, and an initiative she helped launch called Project Footprint. When Kadian joined Renfro in 2018 as Vice President, DTC and Digital, she was tasked with expanding the business beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar stores the company traditionally relied on. With the move to CMO, she has had the opportunity to further help modernize Renfro through a full rebrand and instilling a new values system. Kadian tells us there can be a sock for every moment of the day and a way for Renfro to pivot its businesses to thrive through every economic shift. Despite commodity price inflation, global competition, and dynamic consumer preferences, Renfro has maintained its place as the largest sock company in the world. They design, manufacture, and sell socks for all occasions, from hiking to fashion, and now they are expanding into new categories like underwear and t-shirts. Today, Kadian is focused on growing consumer engagement across Renfro Brand’s direct-to-consumer platform, Loops & Wales, and the company’s brand portfolio, which includes Hot Sox, K. BELL, and more. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Looking for more? Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Lattman is an avid traveler and serves as the Senior Vice President for Card Acquisition Marketing at Discover. Prior to Discover, Matt was Chief Marketing Officer at Zero Financial, a financial technology startup. He also spent six years at Capital One in various roles, most recently as Head of Acquisition Marketing for their Consumer Bank. He joined Discover in 2019 as VP of Marketing, Pricing, and Product Strategy in Personal Loans. With his start date being just 4 months before the pandemic, Matt quickly got to see firsthand how Discover helps its customers through hard times, meets their needs, and keeps empathy at the core of the brand and operations. Now, he is working to optimize the discovery of Discover through the journey of customers getting their cards, both through cross-selling and net new acquisitions, to ensure people find the products that are right for them. In this episode, Alan and Matt discuss how he conceptualizes Acquisition Marketing at Discover, the critical aspects of getting Acquisition Marketing right, where creative excellence and storytelling fit into the picture, and the benefits and challenges of marketing a highly recognizable brand. Matt tells us Discover has "midwestern values" and places its customers first in business conversations. When it comes to getting Acquisition Marketing right, knowing what a bad outcome is is essential to narrowing down the target audience. Yes, it is important to understand your ideal customer, but understanding the consumers who don't want or can't have your product is the key to driving down acquisition costs. Matt's goal in marketing is to make the advertisement feel like a letter from the brand to the consumer, and the only way to accomplish that is to truly understand who the consumer is. Matt and Alan also talk about the future of AI in generating creative and the soul that is missing when using this kind of technology to create powerful messaging. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Resources Mentioned: Matt LattmanDiscover Avant Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joshua Hollin is the Digital Associate for the Born This Way Foundation, where he executes digital content in service to the mission of building a kinder, braver world. He's passionate about combating the stereotype that young people are lazy, apathetic, or indifferent to the world around them by showing that they are empowered, resilient, and creative. In this episode, Alan and Joshua discuss Born This Way Foundation initiatives, the impact social media has had on young people, and what the Foundation is doing for the LGBTQ+ community. Founded in 2012 by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, the Born This Way Foundation is on a mission to support the mental health of young people and build a kinder and braver world. They aim to make kindness cool, validate the emotions of young people, and eliminate the stigma around mental health. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Resources Mentioned: Joshua HollinBorn This Way FoundationLinkedIn LIVE Session and VideoChannelKindness.org#PleaseStayPledge FindYourAnchor.usBRP Powers Up Born This Way Foundation's #BeKind365 Digital Platform To Ride Out Intimidation Year-Round2023 Social Innovation Summit Innovator of the YearBorn This Way Foundation and TimelyCare PartnerBe There Certificate Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lauren Weinberg is a proud boy mom, a loving dog mom,and currently the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Square, driving global marketing and communications strategy. She started her career by measuring media metrics, then made her way into b2b media, and eventually moved over to the consumer side of marketing strategy. She spent some time running her own consulting business, then landed at Square where she has been for the past 6 years. Previously, she held leadership roles at Yahoo!, MTV, and AOL. Lauren sees marketing at Square as the growth engine, and her team is responsible for the brand, the perceptions, and the acquisition of new customers. In this episode, Alan and Lauren discuss Square's business model, how it has dimensionalized and expanded over the years, the impact of data on Square's marketing efforts, and the incrementalism and principled risks that marketing organizations need to take in order to be competitive. Square started in 2009 with the purpose of enabling any individual or business to participate and thrive in the economy with the little white card reader. Now, 14 years later, they have a full ecosystem of software and hardware that allows companies of all sizes to run their entire operation through Square. With such a diverse audience, Square thrives on implementing an audience-first marketing perspective. By focusing on key audiences and tailoring messaging for each, Square is able to drive discoverability and cultivate relationships with a variety of different demographics and businesses in all sectors and scales. Square is very data-driven and informed, so everything they do and plans for is tied back to the overall strategy, metrics of success, and business results. Their category is competitive, so they have to be responsive and adapt quickly while also being smart with their risk-taking. Lauren tells us taking small incremental risks gives them space to break through and try new things. Thankfully, experimenting and learning from failures is in the DNA of Square, and that serves them well in being innovative. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Amrita Mathur joined Superside as their first marketing hire in 2019, there was no product, no platform, and no recurring revenue. She is no stranger to being called in when companies are at a strategic inflection point with their growth strategy, so she did what she spent a career in B2B marketing learning how to do: implement a marketing-led growth strategy that translated into $8 million in subscription revenue in the first year and 400% year-over-year growth since then. Amrita is passionate about community, but she denotes an important difference between community building and a sense of community. For her, it’s about a sense of goodwill and feeling like you have someone in your corner. Now as VP of Marketing, with that sense of community top of mind, she and her team are revolutionizing design at scale for ambitious brands like Amazon, Meta, Shopify, and Coinbase. In this episode, Alan and Amrita discuss her journey from developer to Marketing VP, the moves that played a key role in taking Superside from $0 to $55 million in annual recurring revenue in just four years, and the importance of Design and Creative Ops in running an efficient and effective team. Superside is a fully managed design subscription company that serves marketing and creative teams to help them unbottleneck their design challenges and empower them to get creative work done in a fast and efficient manner. Unlike an agency, freelance marketplace, or internal team, Superside acts as a point solution for key problems inside a company. They optimize for efficiency, speed, and scale, which allows them to cater to companies that are pivoting and changing rapidly. Amrita says an understanding of the importance of Design and Creative Ops helps Superside be an extremely efficient and effective partner. When it comes to Superside’s rapid and sustained growth, Amrita tells us they did make smart moves, but also attributes some of their good fortune to good timing. One key move was figuring out their differentiation early. With marketing, the problem is well-defined but the solutions are messy, so from the start, Superside dove deep into what their best use cases were and what value they would provide in that space. Another key move was the founder's investment in marketing from day one to intentionally "build an efficient machine" for lean operations. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: get Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raj Pudipeddi currently serves as the Chief Product and Marketing Officer for Align Technology, makers of Invisalign, and its Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region. Through his dual roles, Raj has global responsibility for product, marketing, strategy, and clinical teams, as well as for the market development and commercial execution of all Align Technology products and services in the Asia Pacific region. Raj is an engineer by training who spent nearly 22 years at Procter & Gamble after he received his MBA. Today, he considers himself an "accidental marketer" who gets his joy out of serving the business and believes that ordinary people can deliver extraordinary outcomes when they are empowered to do so. In this episode, Alan and Raj discuss the first steps he took when he arrived at Align Technology and how he has transformed the organization to deliver on the brand purpose. Align Technology encompasses several brands (Align Technology, Invisalign, Itero, and Exocad) that combine to provide end-to-end service, from generating interest to helping doctors model and use their products. They operate in a two-sided market by serving consumers and doctors, but a common purpose of "transforming smiles and changing lives" brings the two together. Align Technology is creating a whole new market and modernizing a discipline that has been stationary for hundreds of years. By ensuring the seamless integration of their products, Align Technology is able to increase throughput, drive demand in the general population, and match it in the doctor's office. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hiroki Asai is the Head of Global Marketing at Airbnb, overseeing all marketing efforts and in-house creative teams. Hiroki grew up as a skateboarder in the 80s, loved the design aspect of that world, and started his career as a graphic designer. Eventually, he learned how to apply what he knew about creativity and design to solve business problems. He spent 18 years at Apple and served as Vice President of Global Marketing Communications and Executive Creative Director, where he was responsible for a variety of iconic marketing campaigns for a range of products, including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Now, Hiroki is responsible for maintaining Airbnb’s strong global brand and sharing the stories of our millions of hosts who offer unique homes and experiences to guests around the world. In this episode, Alan and Hiroki discuss Airbnb’s post-pandemic rebalancing of spend between performance and brand, why he is a firm believer in the importance of in-house creative teams, and what he thinks makes a great campaign today. Hiroki is an advocate for the creation of in-house creative teams for the benefit of the company, brand, and creatives alike. He believes in-house teams offer the distinct advantages of having creatives closely connected to business challenges and maintaining a close integration between "in-bound" and "out-bound" aspects. When hiring creatives, Hiroki looks for individuals who can both take a broad perspective and execute artistic visions while understanding the larger business impact. He also touches on the importance of storytelling and differentiation in marketing, highlighting the need to shift the narrative through brand tactics rather than solely focusing on performance metrics. In his opinion, a good campaign shows truthfulness and real stories by embracing simplicity, authenticity, intelligent messaging, and shared experiences as a response to the proliferation of overproduced advertisements. To this point, Hiroki tells us how Airbnb's newest campaigns around Rooms and The Host's Passport were influenced by first-hand user experiences, leading to a transformation in people's perceptions and overcoming hesitations they may have about staying with strangers. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oded Netzer is a world-renowned expert in data-driven decision-making. He serves as the Vice Dean of Research and the Arthur J. Samberg Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, Oded is the first in his family to attend college. After graduation, he spent some time working in a chicken house but quickly decided that wasn't for him. After a quick stop at a consulting firm, he returned to college to climb the academic research ladder and pursue a career in education. Currently, he splits his time between teaching as an affiliate of the Columbia University Data Science Institute and consulting as an Amazon Scholar. He has published dozens of papers in the world's leading marketing and management science journals, and his award-winning research is widely read and highly cited. In this episode, Alan and Oded discuss "Decisions Over Decimals," Oded's latest co-authored book with Christopher Frank, Vice President of the Global Advertising and Brand Management team at American Express, and Paul Magnone, Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Google, who are also professors at Columbia. Having worked on the front lines and taught future executives, they identified two data myths that served as the inspiration for this book. Oded presents these myths and explores the three core pillars of quantitative intuition covered in the book, highlighting how marketers can improve decision-making by understanding these concepts. Oded advises against the inclination to rush to find a solution and instead encourages spending more time understanding the problem. According to Oded, a well-thought-out problem is already half-solved. This interview and the book emphasize the significance of asking insightful questions and properly defining the problem. This approach is evident in the emergence of Prompt Engineers for tools like ChatGPT, where precise questioning leverages quantitative intuition to achieve desired outcomes. The conversation also touches upon unstructured data and its implications for marketers in terms of analysis, decision-making, customer listening, and demonstrating that marketing is not just a cost but can also drive revenue. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guillaume Bouvard is the COO, CMO, and co-founder of Extend. He founded the company with two friends and credits their success to complementary skill sets, trust, shared values, and education. Before starting Extend, Guillaume spent 12 years at American Express in various roles, advising the C-Suite as a leader of the Strategic Planning Group for several years. Before Amex, Guillaume led marketing efforts at Capital One and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. In this episode, Alan and Guillaume discuss what Extend does, why it uniquely benefits marketers and agencies, and how they utilize marketing within their b2b2b model. Extend is a platform that turns business credit cards into a full spend management platform. They do not compete with banks but rather partner with them and empower them to offer better add-on products to their clients. Those banks then have to give Extend access to those clients, the real end users. This B2B2C or B2B2B model has unique challenges. Extend must be strategic about how it markets and communicates to its banking partners to gain access to cardholders and ensure the partnership is beneficial for all parties. Guillaume and his co-founders believe that effective marketing efforts continue well after customers walk in the door. Whether it be through cross-selling or continued engagement, you have to get them, keep them, and increase their usage. The nature of marketing is understanding how to create a strategy to influence consumers. Guillaume tells us that marketers and marketing agencies are a large portion of Extend users, and he outlines several use cases that highlight why. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zach Kitschke is the CMO of Canva, the online visual communication and collaboration platform. In his comprehensive role as CMO, Zach oversees the international brand and drives growth initiatives. He closely collaborates with teams responsible for product marketing, PR and communications, affiliates and performance, content, SEO, brand development, creative innovation, advertising, and product growth. Zach joined Canva in 2013, the year it launched. Since then, with a mission to empower the whole world to design, it has grown to over 130 million users each month in over 190 countries around the world, with more than 13 billion designs created. In this episode, Alan and Zach discuss how visual content fits into our world today, Canvas's approach to marketing complexity, and the inspiration behind their newest "What will you design today?" campaign. Additionally, Zach provided insights from the recent Visual Economy Report, sharing noteworthy findings from a survey of 1,600 global business leaders. These insights revealed how visual content is being leveraged to foster stronger audience engagement. The business landscape has shifted towards a widespread need for employees to communicate visually and adopt creative roles, even if they don't specialize in design. Zach highlighted the role of technology in fueling the creator economy and offered valuable tips on how to stand out in a sea of visual content. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katie Krum started her career at PURE in 2006 as the sixth employee at the insurance start-up. She played a significant role in shaping the brand, and throughout this process, she discovered her passion for marketing. Katie eventually left to develop her skill set at Nickelodeon, Marriott, Under Armour, and Weber Shandwick. She now leads a "small but mighty team" as the CMO at PURE, where she oversees all aspects of marketing communications and PR. One of the driving factors that drew her back to PURE was her incredible boss and her determination to explore innovative approaches to generate interest in insurance. She firmly believes in the power of collaboration, as she sees teams achieve more together than as individuals. In this episode, Alan and Katie discuss the challenges involved in transitioning PURE from a company to a brand tailored specifically for high-net-worth families. Katie highlights the significant impact that service experiences have on driving progress. Katie's expertise from other industries is instrumental in bringing attention to PURE's distinctive "membership model" that sets them apart. Despite boasting a strong membership base with high renewal rates and an impressive net promoter score, consumer research revealed a lack of understanding of what PURE is all about to prospects and what they do for their members. This led to the launch of the "Join the Club" campaign, the development of a mobile-first brand book, and the redefinition of "excellent service." As a first-time CMO, Katie infuses the insurance industry, which typically lacks excitement, with her enthusiasm and fresh perspective. She actively spearheads transformative changes and anticipates significant shifts in marketing team structure, performance evaluation, and the utilization of AI. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Marlow is the Chief Marketing Officer for LG Ad Solutions, where he uses data-driven insights to lead all aspects of marketing and communications. Since the beginning of his career, Tony has always been interested in technology, thought leadership, and helping people understand why they should embrace emerging tech. He has served as CMO at Integral Ad Science, CMO at Data Axle, Global Head and VP of B2B Marketing at Yahoo, and a consultant for Nielsen Online. As an avid athlete, his training for triathlons and Iron Man races has taught him a lot about efficiency in planning and tenacity in execution, which he brings to his professional life as well. In this episode, Alan and Tony discuss "The Big Shifts" in consumer viewing behavior and how CTV is accounting for the new ways in which people consume media. LG Ad Solutions is a CTV advertising company with over 150 million smart TVs worldwide, where they deliver video and native units on the biggest screen in the home. The first phase of the shift in consumer viewing behavior coincided with the beginning of the pandemic when people were staying home and streaming more than ever before. The second phase is happening now, with people moving away from subscriptions and leaning into ad-supported TV to get free or less expensive on-demand TV. In contrast to the "spray and pray" approach of traditional TV advertising, the increased user data associated with CTV allows advertisers to reach a target audience with more sophisticated and relevant creative messaging and then track performance and brand objectives all in one place. Tony highlights the importance of marketers being cognizant of how they are connecting with their audience on the different screens they are engaging with, as well as finding the balance between relevancy and data privacy. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vincent Washington is the Vice President of the Unified Customer Experience Management Best Practices Group at Sprinklr. With four years of experience at the company, Vincent has a diverse professional background, having worked previously at Amazon, UPS, LinkedIn, and BlackBerry. With his extensive experience in various roles and seeing technology come and go, he has learned that only authentic relationships built on mutual respect and genuine interest stand the test of time. When it comes to CXM, Vincent advocates for the inclusion of relevant insights related to existing conversations rather than forcefully inserting messages that do not align with the context, resulting in the best long-term outcomes. In this episode, Alan and Vincent discuss the evolution of Sprinklr, which has transformed from a digital listening and social media management platform to a comprehensive Unified-CXM solution. Through breaking down data silos and gaining a deeper understanding of customers, Sprinklr, in collaboration with Adobe, can provide a holistic view of the customer and enable businesses to create personalized marketing and advertisements that are more targeted and relevant. Vincent also shares his valuable insights on CXM best practices, including warnings against common mistakes that brands make while attempting to remain relevant and ways AI can be incorporated into CXM strategies. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Resources Mentioned: Vincent WashingtonSprinklr Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lara Krug is the CMO of the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs. Before entering the NFL, she worked at Avon, L'Oréal, and Anheuser-Busch, where she learned the GTMs for beauty and beer weren't all that different. During the pandemic, Laura and her family moved back to her husband's hometown, Kansas City, and it wasn't long before she was contacted about being the Chiefs' first-ever CMO. They had never had a formal marketing team, so she has been working hard to build foundations and help the organization understand the role of marketing. They are more than just a team; they are a brand. In this episode, Alan and Lara discuss what it's like to start and lead marketing efforts for an organization that isn't just a business but a source of entertainment as well. Lara and her team don't just market Mahomes and the boys; they also market the concerts and other events at the stadium, youth programs, and corporate partnerships. They are essentially an internal agency working to entertain fans at every touchpoint using personalization and content at scale. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Resources Mentioned: Lara KrugKansas City Chiefs Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ryan Fleisch is Adobe's Head of Product Marketing and Real-Time CDP and Audience Manager. Being a lifelong chess player, it makes sense that he is passionate about looking beyond the immediate use cases of AI and trying to understand and anticipate ways the technology will impact workflows and the nature of marketing in the future. He learned from his dad that "the day you stop learning is the day your career becomes nothing more than a job." This wisdom has kept him intellectually curious and lends itself perfectly to the cutting-edge work being done at Adobe. In this episode, Alan and Ryan discuss customer data platforms, what makes Adobe's CDP "real-time," new features to help businesses operate effectively in the cookieless world, and how generative AI will transform how companies use data. At Adobe, "real-time" isn't a buzzword; it's a key component they have been optimizing since day one. They have built a globally distributed network of servers to be able to handle data and use it in milliseconds. This network allows Adobe's Real-Time CDP users to collect data, manage it, process it, and immediately use it to understand customer intent and activate strategies. In addition to the immediacy of the tool, Adobe has launched a new open framework that allows them to work with data providers to compile consented, non-cookie-based data into their platform in a private, safe way. Once businesses effectively collect and manage their first-party data, many are unsure exactly what to do with it. This is where Adobe's new use-case playbooks come in handy. These tools are built into the CDP and give businesses guided workflows based on their specific business objectives. Ryan tells us one of the many uses for generative AI in marketing is helping marketers understand and recognize missed opportunities hidden in the mass of data. He highlights Adobe Sensei GenAI as one such tool. In this episode, you'll learn: Key Highlights: Thank you to our sponsor: PartnerHero: to waive set-up fees, go to https://www.partnerhero.com/marketingtoday and mention “Marketing Today” during onboarding! Resources Mentioned: Ryan FleischAdobe Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.