Capitalizing On Shifting Consumer Behaviors With Tony Marlow, CMO At LG Ad Solutions

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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, Tony and I 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, delivering 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:

  • Causes and Impacts of “The Big Shift” in consumer viewing behavior
  • Performance and optimization opportunities with CTV
  • How LG is balancing ad relevance with data privacy

Key Highlights:

  • [02:00] Bike, swim, and rum
  • [03:20] Tony’s path to LG
  • [07:45] What are LG Ad Solutions?
  • [10:20] What should we know about the big shifts happening in TV?
  • [16:30] We can do TV better.
  • [19:50] Balancing ad relevance with a sense of privacy
  • [22:00] Data-informed ads
  • [24:30] The correlation between relevance and effectiveness
  • [25:30] It’s less of a walled garden and more of a gated community.
  • [28:10] Brand safety in CTV
  • [30:40] Performance and optimization opportunities with CTV
  • [35:15] How high-performance training impacts Tony’s life
  • [37:50] The Eisenhower Matrix
  • [41:30] All marketing is storytelling.
  • [42:00] Causes to watch
  • [48:00] We’re on the precipice of a new era of human productivity with AI

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Adding Meaningful Insights And Activating Data With Vincent Washington, VP Of CXM Best Practices Group At Sprinklr

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Vincent Washington is the Vice President of the 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 CMX, 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 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 CMX strategies.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How Sprinklr has evolved
  • CXM Best Practices
  • How AI can be used in CMX strategies

Key Highlights:

  • [01:10] Introductions
  • [01:55] Sprinklr and Adobe partnership
  • [02:40] The latest and greatest at Sprinklr
  • [04:00] CXM Best Practices
  • [07:10] A better way to view the world to boost CMX
  • [08:00] Milk’s favorite cookie
  • [08:40] Adobe’s powerful partnerships and nostalgia
  • [10:25] Technology is going to change, but relationships will remain.
  • [11:30] Smiles are universal, and empowerment is paramount.

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Building Internal Marketing Foundations With Lara Krug, CMO At The Kansas City Chiefs

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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:

  • The role of the CMO of an NFL team
  • How Lara is building the foundation for “The World’s Team”
  • The power of personalization and content at scale

Key Highlights:

  • [01:15] What it feels like to win the Superbowl
  • [02:30] When you win or lose, everyone sees it.
  • [03:20] The road from Connecticut to KC
  • [05:25] Marketing focus: it’s more than just a team
  • [07:40] Personalization and content at scale
  • [09:30] A team, a venue, and a media company
  • [11:00] Setting up workflows
  • [12:30] Key Insights from the Summit
  • [14:00] “Believe in best intent” and “progress, not perfection.”
  • [15:10] Rewarding fandom
  • [16:00] Magic and mispronunciations

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

The Future Of Customer Data Platforms With Ryan Fleisch, Head Of Product Marketing, Real-Time CDP, And Audience Manager At Adobe

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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, Ryan and I 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:

  • The three critical components that make Adobe’s CDP “real-time”
  • The main things to consider when selecting a CDP
  • Use cases for generative AI with customer data

 Key Highlights

  • [01:25] What is Adobe Real-Time CDP?
  • [02:55] What new things are available?
  • [04:35] A 3D view of the customer
  • [05:20] Real-world applications and activations
  • [06:20] Use Case playbooks
  • [07:10] It’s all generative.
  • [08:00] What to think about when you are selecting your CDP
  • [09:40] Key takeaways from the Adobe Summit
  • [11:30] Advice from Dad
  • [12:20] Looking beyond the immediate use cases for AI
  • [12:55] Checkmate

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Teamwork, Perseverance, And Innovation With Bridget Esposito, Vice President, Group Creative Director At Prudential Financial

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Bridget Esposito has been the Vice President and Global Creative Director at Prudential Financial for nine years. She is also a visual problem solver, a mother of two, a professor teaching design to non-designers, and a former D1 softball player and coach. Bridget still plays softball and credits the sport with her philosophy around leadership, team dynamics, and culture. The best piece of advice she has received is that “the game doesn’t know” anything about you. All it knows is your level of effort on that given day. This advice has helped her fight the fear of hierarchies in business and approach her career with a “why not me?” attitude.

In this episode, Bridget and I discuss the launch of Adobe Firefly and how it’s helping calm fears and answer questions about AI for marketers and creatives. She advises professionals not to be scared of AI replacing them but instead to use it as a tool and understand how it can support them. She also gives us insight into the marketing focus at Prudential and the benefits and challenges of being a 150-year-old company. Prudential is pushing for innovation with a customer-first mindset and a culture that empowers everyone to understand they have the responsibility and ability to solve problems and improve processes. Bridget finishes with advice about the necessity of failure to achieve innovation and the importance of having a holistic business understanding to facilitate effective creativity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why AI isn’t a threat but rather a tool
  • Why innovation is so prudent for Prudential
  • Lessons learned from softball

 Key Highlights

  • [00:30] Introduction
  • [01:20] Lifelong athlete
  • [02:15] Takeaways from the summit
  • [03:15] AI copyright conversation
  • [04:10] Prudential’s marketing journey
  • [05:50] Culture at Prudential and accountability at the top
  • [06:45] Content Creation to Personalization
  • [08:25] Tips for marketers trying to change business lines and improve partnerships
  • [10:00] Her biggest lessons learned
  • [11:00] The best piece of advice she’s ever gotten
  • [12:25] Learn ALL aspects of marketing.
  • [13:25] The love of teamwork

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Building Authentic Connections With A Skeptical Audience With Nate Burke, Chief Marketing Officer At Axonius

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Nate Burke is the Chief Marketing Officer at cybersecurity solution provider Axonius. Axonius is Nate’s fifth startup and his third in cybersecurity. He was Axonius’ first US employee, starting before they had a product; this allowed him to develop relationships and lean into the “solve, don’t sell” mindset that really sets Axonius apart. Nate wanted to join a company that was simply solving a big problem that was getting worse and where he loved the founders. He found his perfect fit at Axonius and is now working to deliver on their promise of “controlling complexity.”

In this episode, Alan and Nate discuss Nate’s approach to marketing to one of the most skeptical audiences ever, cybersecurity professionals, and how Axonius is doing it differently. Axonius tackles one of the most fundamental problems in cybersecurity: understanding what businesses have. They aim to be the system of record for all the digital infrastructure in a company and refuse to use FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) to market to their clients. Although that is the typical cybersecurity marketing play, Nate and Axonius understand that no one likes buying based on fear, so they choose to lean into the novelty of honesty and delivering on their promises to stand out and build trust with their skeptical audience. In addition, they focus on building relationships with collaborators like Olympian Simone Biles and cross-fit athlete Amy Bream to differentiate themselves in the market.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to build trust with a skeptical audience
  • What makes a great salesperson?
  • How Axonius is subverting the marketing norms in their industry

 Key Highlights

  • [01:40] RSA Tattoo Story
  • [04:40] How Nate became CMO at Axonius
  • [06:20] Why Nate left the marketing program in college
  • [09:00] What does Axonius do?
  • [11:40] Why the fundamentals are so complicated
  • [13:00] How to approach marketing to the most skeptical audience
  • [16:00] Where cybersecurity marketers fall short
  • [16:55] The benefits of joining Axonius early
  • [18:00] Solve, don’t sell.
  • [21:20] The opposite marketing approach Axonius is taking
  • [23:50] How Simone Biles and Amy Bream embody “controlling complexity”
  • [27:15] The importance of emotional appeal in B2B marketing
  • [29:45] Trust based on integrity
  • [31:15] It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you ask for help.
  • [34:05] What AI really means for marketing right now
  • [37:20] Brands to watch
  • [39:05] The opportunity to be unique and honest

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Gen Green: Brands Court Gen Z With Authenticity

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An eco-aware lifestyle is an ideal that over 60 percent of Gen Z reported that they adhere to as a rule, per a recent survey of 16,000 Gen Z consumers, and it’s driving their purchasing decisions, even when it costs more.  In this post, we’ll look at how brands translate old themes for a new generation of consumers who actively seek opportunities to express their values through their purchasing decisions.

Promoting Authentic Change As The New Brand Differentiator

Gas-guzzling muscle cars don’t usually appear in ads targeting Gen Z, especially when they’re talking about sustainability—but as manufacturing brands like BF Goodrich target the next generation of consumers, they are focusing on ways that products can blend in with a sustainability-driven lifestyle. And that might mean highlighting how their brand works for electronic vehicles or how Gen Z car enthusiasts who rebuild muscle cars piece by piece rather than purchasing new ones off the lot are practicing a form of upcycling, as BF Goodrich does in its campaign promo short, “Your Next Starts Now.” 

That marketing push is rooted in a meaningful shift in how and why Gen Z and millennials purchase today. Unlike a generation ago, three-quarters of younger consumers care more about what a brand represents and does than the brand itself, per Nielsen. According to a recent report by Credit Suisse, Gen Z consumers in the world’s two largest consumer markets, India and China, are even more concerned about purchasing sustainable products than American and UK shoppers in the same demographic.

That kind of values-driven consumption has sparked new language in many brand campaigns and new public initiatives by brands to integrate sustainability programs into their branding narratives. Brands like Kering, Adidas, McCormick and Microsoft’s Xbox have woven details about their sustainability initiatives into their ad and PR campaigns, even when those efforts are well behind the scenes. For example, McCormick announced its 54th place on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies List and Fortune’s 2022 Change the World list of 50 global companies in a press release, even though many of their achievements have to do with backend work—like increasing the financial resilience of small hold farmers—that can’t fit neatly on a label. Microsoft’s Xbox, the first console to offer carbon-aware downloads and updates, followed a similar tactic, promoting its sustainability efforts with content that included video activations across social platforms.

It’s Not Easy Being (Or Claiming To Be) Green

There’s good reason for brands to trumpet their sustainability cred: Products that placed ESG-related claims in their branding or advertising averaged 28 percent cumulative growth over the past five-year period, compared to 20 percent for products that made no such claims, according to McKinsey. But there’s also the matter of authenticity to consider. With 78 percent of all consumers stating that sustainability is important to them, Gen Z is among the most sensitive to greenwashing—the practice of saying but not necessarily doing anything about sustainability. 

According to Deloitte, nearly 30 percent of Gen Z consumers have “canceled” a brand when claims in an ad campaign or a brand affiliation contradicted the company’s actions. As approximately 88 percent of Gen Z consumers in a recent survey stated that they don’t trust most brands’ claims regarding sustainability, a branding or campaign misstep that could be interpreted as greenwashing could be a costly mistake. With 40 percent of many brands’ sustainability claims likely to be exaggerated at best, per The International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN), brand marketers representing a company that can back up its green-leaning marketing themes with actions may find an edge in gaining Gen Z trust.

One way brands can connect with Gen Z and maintain a patina of trustworthiness as they begin the process of evolving towards greener operations or practices is to work with influencers. A survey by Unilever and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) of 6,000 consumers across the US, UK and Canada showed that 78% of consumers cited influencers as the most important reason why they made sustainable choices when shopping. That’s far more influential on buying choices than news reports touting green messaging (37 percent) or government campaigns (20 percent) doing the same.

The Takeaway: Influencers are the translators of Gen Z’s purchasing intent. While brands launch new sustainable products and many fail—research shows it’s not consumers who don’t want to purchase—it’s likely a marketing (or cost) issue. As savvy brands develop new lines and court Gen Z, marketers should be mindful not to overstate their brand’s commitment to sustainability and make sure that changes are meaningful, not cosmetic.

A Marketer’s Cheat Sheet For Reaching Gen Alpha

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Gen Alpha. Depending on who you ask, they might be considered our best hope for the future or a real piece of work, but for marketers, they represent potentially billions in buying power in the next 5 years as they reach 18 and begin making adult brand choices.

Family First: Why Brands Have To Address The Values Of Millennials and Gen X To Win Gen Alpha

Luckily for marketers, Gen Alpha is a true digital native generation with strong brand identification. But marketers can’t connect with them directly via marketing due to COPPA—so that means winning the trust of Millennials, and in some cases, Gen X, their parents. In this article, we’ll look at Gen Alpha, how they are being reared and how marketers can win their parents’ engagement and trust.

Born between 2010 and 2023, Gen Alpha are most frequently the children of Millennials and Gen X. Diverse, urban and digitally brand aware, Gen Alpha is the first generation to spend hours interacting with digital media as toddlers—and holding brand awareness from kindergarten.

Source: McCrindle; Understanding Generation Alpha

The majority of Gen Alpha owns a tablet (54 percent), and over one-quarter lives in a household with a VR headset. That proximity to digital content goes well beyond exposure to older siblings’ or parents’ activities. For example, 46 percent of 5-7 year-olds spend 1-2 hours daily online.

In addition, well over 75 percent of children 4 and under showed brand recognition for groceries and snacks and asked for those brands specifically.

With their Millennial and Gen X parents guiding and approving their brand choices, brands that align with Gen Alpha parents’ values and priorities can forge lifelong relationships with Gen Alpha.

When attempting to connect with Millennial and Gen X parents, research suggests that brand marketers should be mindful to:

Highlight values. Articulate their alignment with values that Millennials and Gen X focus on when choosing brands. Millennials prioritize sustainability and other ESG concerns when choosing brands to purchase from, so if brand marketers have these values to showcase, this may provide a competitive edge when attempting to reach Gen Alpha through their parents’ purchasing choices. Millennial parents prioritize wellness, independence and a broad worldview. Brands that offer tools or pathways to help Gen Alpha children nurture these traits or experience moments to exercise these traits may win Millennial loyalty.

Source: Morning Consult

Be creative with social strategy. While Gen Alpha uses digital media frequently, 75 percent of Millennial parents want to keep their children off social media as long as possible, so marketers should not rely on traditional social marketing tactics to influence Gen Alpha. However, younger consumers are heavily invested in short-form video, so marketers should lean into video content—such as YouTube, the choice of 52 percent of Gen Alpha—that appeals to their targeted demographic on and off social platforms.

Understand that Millennial parents are often striving for “perfection” in lifestyle choices. While Millennials don’t believe they’re “the greatest generation,” a higher percentage of Millennial moms (80 percent) than Gen X (70 percent) think that being a “perfect” parent is a legitimate goal to work towards. That often translates into seeking advice from peers in addition to heavy research before every purchase. 

According to Weber Shandwick data, 55 percent of Millennial moms state that they frequently give advice to members of their social circle on which products to buy. So, influencer relationships and product and brand transparency are key to raising brand awareness and winning social circle trust that will drive conversion.

Operating In The White Space And Creating A New Category With Jason Andree, CMO At Nufabrx

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Jason Andree is the CMO of one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, Nufabrx. He grew up on a farm, and showing cattle translates surprisingly well to being a CMO. Jason joined Nufabrx from GlaxoSmithKline, where he led their global digital marketing department, executing marketing strategies across global categories. He is now a senior-level marketing executive with over fifteen years of success within the healthcare industry and is forging a new path in Healthware with Nufabrx.

Nufabrx puts medicine in clothing by making it water-soluble, infusing it into yarn, and coating it onto textiles. The company started in Seattle but soon relocated to Alan’s home state, North Carolina, to be closer to experts in the textile industry. Due to its proximity to suppliers and researchers, Nufabrx is able to source all of its product materials within 90 miles of its manufacturing plant.

In this episode, Jason and I discuss why biohacking is becoming mainstream and the challenges of operating in the “white space” to create a new product in a giant industry. Jason and his team are crafting creative to make people rethink solutions to pain and targeting the demographic that is most familiar with pain: older consumers. Many marketers want to focus on the flashy fun of younger consumers, but older consumers are often overlooked, and Nufabrx is taking the opportunity to fill the gap. As a smaller brand, Nufabrx has to be innovative with its marketing dollars, so they keep a keen eye on performance and know they have to be flexible, take risks, and stay close to consumers. In addition to B2C, Nufabrx operates in the B2B space as well. Jason believes innovation can only come from consumer behavior. By licensing its technology and working with established brands rather than against them, Nufabrx is leading the charge in the construction of a new category.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why we are seeing a ride in mainstream biohacking
  • How to build and think about a new product, brand, and category
  • What is “co-opetition”?

Key Highlights:

  • [01:30] Cowboy Kid
  • [04:00] Jason’s path to Nufabrx
  • [05:50] Nufabrx Overview
  • [09:10] Why is biohacking big right now?
  • [12:30] Building a new brand, new product, and new category leader
  • [15:20] Crafting creative to make people (re)think
  • [19:40] Making less money work more
  • [22:00] “Co-opetition” in B2B
  • [25:10] How to handle your ambition
  • [26:45] Plan your steps, but not too much.
  • [28:10] Less about marketing performance. More about telling better stories
  • [29:50] Biomes to watch
  • [32:10] The Times They Are A-Changin’, fast!

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Getting People To Try Your Product With David Sandström, CMO At Klarna

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David Sandström is the Chief Marketing Officer at Klarna and a member of its executive management team. Since joining Klarna in 2017, he has overseen the transformation of the brand from a traditional financial institution to a vibrant retail media network with a hot pink edge.

As CMO, David is responsible for driving consumer growth as well as leading design, marketing, branding, communications and sustainability efforts. David’s diverse background includes experience in agency and client roles and working in various industries around the world, which has shaped him into the marketer he is today. David warns against full outsourcing and instead advises using agencies as an extension of the company to maintain control over the marketing efforts. This approach is one of the main reasons he looks for people with diverse backgrounds when hiring.

In this episode, David and I discuss what makes Klarna unique in the fintech space, how he approaches marketing, and what he is trying to do with the Klarna brand. Klarna is primarily known as a buy now, pay later platform, but it is so much more than that. The core of Klarna is a payment company with the aim to become a shopping utility platform where customers can search for products, find deals, and get inspired. Klarna benefits both retailers and purchasers by making sure incentives align and staying on top of ever-changing consumer behaviors. They are in about 45 markets worldwide and have over 150 million consumers and 400,000 retail partners. David views marketing as an avenue to increase the likelihood of people trying Klarna and then letting the superior product and user experience speak for themselves. He does this by investing in the Klarna brand to counteract negative perceptions of finance and leveraging culturally relevant partnerships to showcase the product. David has launched several pioneering marketing campaigns and has brought in high-profile celebrities like Lady Gaga and Snoop Dogg to help build a stage from which they showcase Klarna. He and his team are working to build a brand that really stands for something in fintech and will push the industry forward.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • David’s approach and philosophy around marketing
  • The three levers to engage that get people to try your product
  • A new way to think about in-house vs. outsourcing

 Key Highlights

  • [01:55] The hippie/engineer blend
  • [03:15] David’s early obsession with consumer behavior
  • [05:00] The path through DDB Sweden to Klarna
  • [07:10] The current state of Klarna
  • [11:55] How “Buy Now, Pay Later” is fueling shopping and the evolution of e-commerce
  • [14:30] BNPL vs. Credit Cards
  • [18:10] The benefits of Klarna partnerships and integrations for retailers
  • [21:10] Becoming a retail media network
  • [22:30] How Klarna is benefiting from the Big Tech Wars
  • [24:45] David’s main focus when guiding his marketing team
  • [29:25] The concept of building a brand that stands for something in fintech
  • [31:10] Leveraging partnerships to build yourself a stage
  • [34:50] Extending instead of outsourcing
  • [39:40] Diversity in experience makes a good marketer
  • [41:00] Start the side hustle
  • [41:45] Empathy as the counter-weight to AI
  • [43:00] Brands to watch
  • [44:50] Creativity will never go out of style

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.