In this episode, Drew and I discuss Fiat Growth, Fiat Ventures, and why it makes sense for them to go together. They also talk about the challenges of raising venture capital and the success companies can find by organically leveraging affiliate partnerships to add value for the user while driving revenue to the business. Drew explains total addressable markets, how he thinks about shifting an existing committed user base into a marketplace, and the reasons he sees fintech as the industry that will have the largest impact on generational wealth. Drew emphasizes the importance of taking risks, valuing different experiences, and learning that solutions and problems are not one-to-one. Finally, he notes that podcasts are becoming a force in marketing and that AI is not a competitor but a source of power.
Drew Glover is a founding partner of Fiat Growth and a general partner at Fiat Ventures. He has experience leading go-to-market strategies, marketplace development, user acquisition, and growth teams. Drew further developed his skills at Steady, Namely, Fjord, and Portal A, and has helped companies like Root, JP Morgan Chase, Adidas, and Nike bring award-winning services and partnerships to market. Drew has a very diverse work history, and when he was younger, he was concerned that jumping from industry to industry would be a downfall, but it gave him a wide range of skills and knowledge he would need to find and succeed with Fiat. Those broad interests are still with him, and he tells us his biggest competition is a lack of focus.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How Fiat Growth leverages unique insights and exclusive access to make winning investments with Fiat Ventures
The trends Drew sees in fintech and his predictions for the industry
How data can simplify The Client’s Happy Path
Key Highlights
[01:30] Fresh perspectives from fatherhood
[03:15] Drew’s path to founding Fiat
[06:00] Leaving the day job and leaning in: What Fiat does and why
[08:00] Fiat only works with winners. Let’s invest in them too.
[10:00] Raising money is never as easy as you expect
[12:45] Leveraging partnerships and marketplaces
[14:45] Generating additional revenue streams from affiliate partnerships.
[18:00] What fintech can do for people who need it most
[19:40] How money and finance will be different for GenZ
[22:10] Data’s impact on simplifying The Client’s Happy Path
[24:00] “Change is inspired by incentives.”
[25:30] Predictions and trends Drew sees coming in fintech
[28:20] Looking at the world as a growth marketer and as an investor
[29:30] When should I focus on marketing, and how should I think about it
[33:30] It takes a village
[35:30] How his father’s passing changed Drew’s life
[36:50] Value different experiences and take the risk
[38:30] Solutions and problems are not one to one
[40:20] Podcasts are becoming a force in marketing
[42:10] AI is not competition; it’s a source of power
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.
In this episode, Jon and I discuss System1, how they drive insights for marketers on the brand side, and what works in advertising today. Jon tells us about the differences he experienced from the client side to the agency side and gives an honest look into what it means to be a CMO day to day. He explains why the skills that make a great marketer aren’t necessarily the same as those that make a great CMO and how balancing the long-term view of the brand with the daily execution of tasks can make the CMO job very lonely. CMOs, removed from the “doing,” must focus on creating the conditions for success and representing the customer in the room where decisions are made. Jon tells us that successful CMOs quickly recognize talent on their team, harness creativity to drive business outcomes and understand that advertising is both an art and a science.
Jon Evans is the Chief Customer Officer at System1 Group and host of the ‘Uncensored CMO’ podcast. For years before that, he was a client-side agency CMO. One of Jon’s most formative roles was with Lucozade, where he learned the power of asking the right questions and why managing perception, not reality, is important in advertising. During his agency days, Jon was shocked to find out how little most agencies understood their clients, and he was perplexed by the hesitancy he saw agencies have towards talking to their clients or asking them important questions. Jon first encountered System1 as a client and, over time, became a member of the team, where he has been able to transition from a generalist to a specialist in consumer behavior.
System1 was originally a research company based on behavioral science that explored why we buy what we buy, with the idea that emotion predicts most of our behavior. Today, they design simple yet clever questions about their clients’ ads, innovations, or branding to ask people how they feel about it and what associations come to mind. They have turned their process into a platform so customers can upload content, send it to their target demographic, measure the response, and compare the results against other content to predict performance. They are using neuroscience to measure attention and emotion to understand why some ads work and others don’t. Their clients use this data to allocate spending and sell their ideas to the rest of the c-suite. Jon tells us marketers are often overexposed to their products, so typically, the simplest ideas win out.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why taking the time to understand your clients will be beneficial for everyone involved
The two questions that will help you win the pitch
What really works in advertising today and why
Key Highlights
[01:30] The bitter impact of the sugar tax
[07:20] Jon’s path with System1 from contractor to CMO
[10:50] The shift from the client side to the agency side
[13:50] Two questions to help you win the pitch
[15:50] What does a CMO do?
[18:00] Agency Pitch (forks)
[19:30] Why is it called System1?
[20:20] What is the system?
[25:15] What works in advertising today?
[29:20] Lessons from the Uncensored CMO
[33:15] The unique role of the CMO within the C-suit
[35:00] Young Jon’s first marketing lesson
[36:30] Costs of not playing the game
[39:00] “If you’re not being fired, you’re not trying hard enough.”
[41:00] The power of confidence, compounding, and consistency
[43:40] What skill will keep us employed in the future?
[46:30] They may buy, but would they invest?
[49:10] The amazing Amazon model
[52:00] The threat and opportunity of AI for marketers
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.
Jocelyn Swift Harjes, Ayzenberg VP of Insights and Analytics, was recently honored with a spot on this year’s Social Intelligence Insider 50 list, which includes the world’s most influential social intelligence professionals. We asked Jocelyn to discuss some of the changes she has seen in the industry and her work with clients.
How has the role of analytics and data in brand strategy changed over the past few years as the power of social media in culture becomes more apparent?
Social media has established itself as an essential part of how we interact with others, and with the increase in social media comes a rise in data availability. Social networks have become the dominant form of communication billions of people use worldwide. Their ease of use encourages people from all walks of life to share and communicate, allowing a platform for political debate, and awareness raising, and brands to connect directly with their customers.
While it’s key to remember that social listening is not a focus group because it does not represent the general population, which is crucial for research design, the power of this unprompted, unscripted, and unfiltered organic conversation can represent the most authentic indication of consumer sentiment.
Online mentions have an impact. Twitter conducted research that proved that conversations lead to bottom-line success. At the high range, just a 10% rise in the conversation has led up to a 3% increase in sales volume. Within the technology category, for example, they found that on average, just a 1% increase in the conversation has led to more than $6 million in incremental sales.¹
This is why its clear data governance is key, and why having an integrated measurement framework that aligns with all programming is so important. Structuring metrics and those all-important key performance indicators (KPIs) around the business’s strategy, goals, and objectives into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Having a clear understanding of your data systems and processes, it enables you to make sense of the data signals and generate actionable insights.
What are some aspects of strategy that brands often need help with, and where is the need for social intelligence the greatest?
Synthesio called 2022 the year of AI-enabled Consumer Intelligence or “AICI” as the value of social data continues to move past social marketing teams to empower insights, brand, and even innovation.
We also see that SI LAB’s 2022 Social Listening reporting highlighted that 33.5% are spending $100K or more on social data tools every year (up from 10% in 2019).
Social Intelligence isn’t going anywhere, and when understanding the way to harness its power it can help marketers identify trends and insights that may drive brand engagement, increase sales leads or conversions, build brand reputation, and change consumer behavior.
What are some of the key components of a data strategy and how do you help brands with theirs?
Data-driven marketing is essential in the modern business world. Marketing teams use data to track important metrics like conversion rate, content response and repeat purchase rate which helps them respond quickly to changing consumer preferences and adjust their strategy accordingly to hit their revenue targets.
A 2022 CMO Council Report found that 91% of marketers with direct access to customer data say it provides them a competitive advantage. However, the difference between top and bottom performers is speed: How quickly do you detect market and consumer behavior shifts and adjust accordingly?
Marketing data maturity has moved beyond customer segmentation and targeting. Top performers generate actionable insights from their data, enabling them to identify shifts in market and consumer behavior before their competitors do.
Key factors for data and analytics success include a strong command of technology, data control and management process, and highly skilled teams that can make sense of the numbers and develop strategies to put the insights to work.
Creativity is still key in data-driven marketing. Analytics can be used to create new customer experiences, campaigns, and products that are both intuitive and intellectual. Striking a balance between instinct and intellect enables you to combine both strengths and maximize insights’ effectiveness in driving revenue growth.
What are some examples of winning strategies that your clients have used?
The work I’m proudest of is usually behind the scenes, but seeing the power of social intelligence being the canary in the coal mine is always something that blows me away. From moving up product timelines within game launches to uncovering crucial insights regarding product innovations that lead to unlocking the next $100M idea, harnessing the power of social intelligence is a key competitive advantage.
What do you see on the horizon for brands navigating data complexity across platforms and through new retail formats?
When I look at the top 4 themes according to the 2023 State of Marketing Report (Strategic Leadership and Growth, Brand Loyalty, Community, and Purpose, Engaging Content and Innovative Storytelling, and Data Connectivity & Creativity), it’s clear the need for a data maturation process is becoming a stronger need across organizations. With the death of the cookie, we’ll need to rely on first-party data – the trust of this data is crucial when building out trust with customers. Dealing with the demise of cookies is one thing, but developing a well-aligned functional data strategy that powers insight is another. Moving from backward-looking, siloed data to forward-looking, predictive information is critical for future success.
In this episode, Andrew and I discuss Turo’s mission, how marketing helps them achieve it, and how he views today’s CMO role. Andrew outlines the challenges Turo faced early on, how they got around them, and how a shift to focusing on improving the host experience has been one of their most effective marketing assets. We go into the details of Turo’s most recent “Open Doors” brand campaign and how they are riding the web3 craze by subverting it and encouraging new experiences in reality. As a CMO, Andrew feels his role is more than just advertising and performance marketing. It’s about solving a problem for the customers. His approach is rooted in holistic thinking and understanding how you provide value to the world.
Andrew Mok never thought he would be in marketing because he was more left-brained, but in 2012, when analytics became a large part of marketing, he found his path. When Andrew joined Turo in 2012, 54,000 users were being served in just two cities. In 2017, at age 29, Andrew was promoted to CMO and has advanced the company to over 10,000 cities serving 7 million users. Today, Turo is the largest global peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace, and their revenue has grown over 250X since he joined. As an Asian American, Andrew always felt different growing up but sees now that differences are to be celebrated. That is the approach he takes to marketing by showcasing Turo’s unique value propositions and living out their brand values of being expressive and grounded. It’s all about celebrating uniqueness and seeing the person first.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The unique challenges Turo faced early on and how they overcame them.
How embracing uniqueness is a personal value for Andrew and how that shows up in his approach to marketing.
Why a holistic view of marketing yields better results than a siloed one.
Key Highlights
[01:30] How Turo is making a weird thing normal
[04:55] What is Turo?
[07:20] From computer science to CMO
[09:50] The role of CMO from a younger leader’s perspective
[10:50] Make sure you don’t have a leaky bucket
[14:15] The Open Doors brand campaign
[17:40] The role of Unreal Engine in Turo’s new campaign
[19:00] Turo’s global expansion and aspirations
[21:50] Challenges and benefits of international ride sharing
[22:40] Developing a passion for leadership in the AAPI community
[26:45] How growing up Asian American shaped his approach to marketing
[28:30] Enjoy the current moment and reflect on past successes
[29:45] Simplification makes you a better storyteller
[30:50] The importance of accessible reproductive care
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.
In this episode, Alan and Heather discuss brand, the role of the CMO and why focusing on the fundamentals will never go out of style.
As an 80-year-old company, Lippincott has a unique perspective on balancing the cutting edge with longevity. They have seen trends come and go and even shaped some of them along the way. Heather talks in depth about the role Brand has played historically, the huge impact it can have when viewed holistically, and why a siloed CMO is not as effective as it can be if they are given a seat at the table. She also discusses the fundamental shifts happening in the industry as things move from an institutional era of branding to a human era of branding. She also stresses that the underlying fundamentals of deeply understanding your consumer and brand are just as important now as ever.
Heather Stern is the CMO at Lippincott and host of the podcast Icons in the Making. She wears many hats at Lippincott by managing all aspects of marketing, PR, and digital for their brand, as well as business development and sales. Heather oversees the entire funnel, from best-in-class brand activations to industry partnerships in collaboration with companies such as eBay, Google, IBM, Samsung and Southwest Airlines. She has been at Lippincott for ten years and serves as a trusted advisor to top clients across industries.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The ways Heather’s specific CMO role at Lippincott has evolved over the past ten years.
How Lippincott stays relevant despite turning 80 this year.
What has changed in the industry and what has stayed the same?
Key Highlights:
[01:40] It all started with Janet Jackson
[03:10] Heather’s career path
[06:30] Why Heather’s CMO role is unique and a little meta
[08:20] How Heather’s role has evolved over the past ten years
[11:55] What has changed and what has stayed the same for CMOs, overall?
[16:00] The importance of being partnership oriented
[18:10] How Lippencot is defining brand today
[21:20] How Lippincott is trying to take the “squishiness” out of branding
[21:55] How has building and managing a brand changed and stayed the same?
[25:00] It’s all about agility and experimentation
[27:10] How gymnastics and a special Barbie inspired Heather’s career ambition and work ethic
[30:40] Find the joy in making mistakes and embrace the gray zone
[31:40] Experimenting with AI and how brands are focusing on sustainability
[34:40] Brands to watch
[38:20] Icons in the Making Podcast
[39:15] The risk of missing the forest for the trees
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.
China has been at the forefront of social commerce, with companies like Alibaba, WeChat and Taobao paving the way for a new era of online shopping. In contrast, brands in the U.S. are lagging behind in realizing the opportunities social commerce presents, but are also keenly aware of the transformations necessary to appreciate this growth.
While social behaviors are shifting in the U.S.—leading to a clear indication of social commerce growth—it’s the decision-making process and relationship between tech, commerce, creative, consumer insights and data that need to grow to realize the capacity for U.S. shoppers to be influenced by social engagements on any number of platforms.
“In the last 12 months, social commerce-based apps have taken a 10 percent market share away from traditional e-commerce platforms like Tmall in China,” says Qunin founder Thomas Nixon, who led Monday’s SXSW panel, Prepare for the Social Commerce Era and Look East!
“Expanding at a 26 percent CAGR, China is on track to reach $1 trillion by 2025, representing 30 percent of China’s e-commerce market,” Nixon added. In contrast, social commerce is projected to be “just 6 percent of e-commerce in the U.S. and 5 percent in the U.K. by 2025.”
In order to pick up the pace, Nixon says brands need to overhaul how they think about consumers, products, sites—and their own organizations—outlining how they can take a page from China’s social commerce playbook and shift the already-evolving key differentiators in shopping and social behaviors leading to the divide.
This includes acknowledging the difference in how we define social commerce, even as that definition is changing—to move beyond a conflation of all e-commerce 1.0 with the peculiarities of social commerce.
Social Commerce Is More Than Never Leaving Social To Make A Purchase
According to Nixon, there’s a misconception among some marketers that the minimum qualification for social commerce is an ad that links through to a website. He says it’s also a misconception to think of it as necessarily taking place within one social ecosystem.
“For me,” Nixon says, “there is a very, very different view on what social commerce is when working in the Chinese market versus working in other international overseas markets. … When you’re operating in a dynamic social-first market like China, you very, very quickly begin to understand, learn from and observe certain behaviors that tend to lead to a different way of thinking.”
Remaining within a connected social ecosystem when making a purchase is part of this, Nixon notes, but it’s not social commerce, in totality, since it’s not really “social.“
“True” social commerce relies on a number of touchpoints across apps, motivated by a growing trust in and democratization of Key Opinion Consumers, orKOCs, the rise of group shopping, an increasingly always-online population, the DTC model, cross-generational mobile tech adoption and gamified experiences.
This marks a shift from social commerce as a purchase made on social media, to purchases motivated by online social behaviors that just happen to take place in or across those ecosystems. In actuality, the “ecosystems” in question span a range of apps that all act as different constellations connecting the social shopping experience. And they’re heavily franchised.
“Forty-two percent of all unicorns in Asia are invested in by Tencent or Alibaba,” Nixon notes.
Source: China Trading Desk
With this in mind, it’s better to understand approaches to social commerce as requiring a shift from traffic, product and site-based ends, to a more customer-centric focus. It also means an approach to social commerce that anticipates future shopping behaviors rather than recapitulating those of the recent past.
A Different Approach To Social Commerce
To prepare for the social commerce era, Nixon suggests companies adopt a customer-centric online presence, differentiated consumer operations and cross-functional collaborations, as well as omnichannel synergy and CRM across the journey.
Nixon outlines a three-point overhaul based on current limitations in approaches to social commerce outside of China. These include:
Overhauling consumers: A major problem for marketers is the limited profiling and lack of clear segmentation to adequately understand social commerce opportunities.
Overhauling products/sites: These currently lack the insights that social commerce apps provide and have outdated commerce and marketing operations, and products are not developed nor priced with social commerce in mind.
Overhauling organizations/teams: Organizations are working in silos or along a linear decision-making path. Instead of a linear model of workflow, consider positioning a digital specialist at the center of a process wherein consumer insights, commerce, tech, data and creative work collaboratively rather than in discrete, progressive steps.
Part of initiating these changes involves a revamped design thinking process, which Nixon notes has been the blueprint for successful social commerce engagements in China.
In brief, design thinking begins with a period of inspiration. During this phase, marketers should first understand the market through research, observe the market themselves and then define a POV. Following that, a process of ideation, in which ideas are developed, prototyped and tested, leads to the final phase: implementation. In the implementation phase, storytelling, pilots and business models are put into action. (Read more about design thinking here.)
Brands that have seen success with this approach include Pizza Hut, Lancôme and Philips. For Philips, the secret to the six-fold growth of its Home Appliances GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) was the following:
“Build incremental value through livestreams and content, connect with users within the WeChat ecosystem, facilitate the linkage between public and private traffic and establish differentiated content to achieve long-term relationships with users and promote the conversion of potential customers,” Nixon says.
Breaking it down further into a three-step management strategy for WeChat livestreaming accounts, Philips Home Appliances achieved 6x GMV with the following steps:
“Cold Start Period” – Divert private traffic to livestreaming by integrating with other WeChat features such as mini-programs to pre-heat consumer engagement.
“Livestreaming Strategy” – Adjust live content and pricing strategy based on consumer preferences.
“Stable Traffic” – Increase public traffic and accelerate private domain Click Throughs via personalized WeChat service and livestreaming to improve backend conversion rate.
The Transformation Is Already Happening
Senior U.S. marketing leaders are already invested in these overhauls to capitalize on a shift toward social commerce, bridging otherwise disconnected sales, product and marketing processes.
At the Tuesday morning featured session, A New School of Leaders Transforming the Marketing Experience, Unilever’s Conny Braams discussed why she ditched the “marketing” in her previous title in exchange for the title of Chief Digital and Commercial Officer as the company undergoes digital transformation.
“I think the most important challenge and opportunity for fast-moving consumer goods … is probably the creative commerce revolution,” Braams said.
She went on to explain how the company is approaching social commerce and the necessity for similar overhauls.
“You’ve announced me as the Chief Digital and Commercial Officer, and often, people are mistaken [about] why Unilever, as a big marketing company, would drop marketing from the title of one of the execs, and basically, that isn’t the case. … We’ve added sales to it,” Braams said. “That’s how it became ‘Commercial Officer.’ And the reason for this [is because of the external] convergence of entertainment, media, commerce [and] content. We basically said, ‘You know, if I sell something via Facebook or Instagram, later on probably via Netflix, is that marketing, or is it sales?’”
Braams noted that previous organizational structures and approaches to e-commerce were not adequate for social commerce and creative commerce—and shared why she has positioned herself as a digital specialist at the very center.
“You can’t really distinguish [sales vs. marketing] anymore,” she continued. “So we’re blurring [the] lines between marketing and sales internally to respond to what is happening externally. … We’ve taken marketing and sales together to really make sure that we build brands and convert to sales at the same time with all the new channels that are developing.”
In October of 2021, Unilever launched its Positive Beauty Growth Platform, an initiative to help the CPG giant partner with scale-ups and start-ups linked to social commerce in the beauty space.
In this episode, David and I discuss the mission of Restore Hyper Wellness, the relationship between demand generation and brand marketing, and the dangers of marketers confusing being purpose-driven with being cause-driven. David talks about the siloing and diminishing of the CMO role and how concepts like “Team One” and taking a critical look at new growth titles could help remedy this.
David Fossas calls himself “The Accidental Marketer” but is actually an accomplished marketer who has worked with over 35 brands, including General Motors, Verizon, HP, Visa, and Philips. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for Restore Hyper Wellness, overseeing consumer experience, marketing communications, and revenue operations to drive business growth and brand value. David emphasizes an adaptive approach to being a CMO and the importance of acting as a thought partner to the CEO and CFO. He also touches on topics such as the untapped potential of marketing, the true purpose of purpose-driven companies, and the impact of ongoing digital transformation.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why David sees demand generation and brand marketing as dependent on each other
What is leading to the CMO’s influence over “the 4 Ps of Marketing” diminishing and ideas to reverse course
The reasons why not every brand’s mission and purpose need to align with a social cause
Key Highlights
[01:45] Meeting Jean Claude Van Damme
[03:30] From Hollywood aspiration to CMO
[06:30] What is Restore Hyper Wellness
[09:30] The potential of marketing and the role of CMO
[13:25] Importance of partnerships with other players in the C-suit
[15:15] New growth titles and the specialization of the CMO role
[19:00] The relationship between demand generation and brand marketing
[22:15] The challenge of identifying upper funnel activity that drives conversion
[23:30] Purpose and how it relates to marketing
[27:35] Finding financial freedom and leveraging an entrepreneurial spirit
[29:25] Focus on understanding business early on in your career
[31:00] The importance of developing a holistic view of marketing
[32:40] Brands to watch
[34:50] Losing your influence is losing your impact
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.
In this episode, John and I discuss Narrative Economics, how it works, and why marketers may need to reevaluate their use of Brand Management theory. John tells us how Boathouse uses data and AI to empower brands to understand their true narrative and evaluate how it aligns with their desired narrative. Boathouse employs strategies like “news-jacking” and “social-jacking” to manage and leverage their client’s stories in a way that drives engagement and aligns with their goals and values.
John Connors has spent his entire career in the advertising industry. He founded Boathouse in 2001 after serving as CEO of Zentropy Partners and being part of the McCann World Group Management team. At Boathouse, John and his team use Narrative Economics to help brands manage and leverage stories by overseeing both the strategy and execution.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How narrative economics works in practice
What Tesla and the Catholic Church narratives have in common
How narrative economics can help CMOs reestablish power
Key Highlights
[01:30] On the farm and off the grid
[02:50] The path to Boathouse
[04:00] Boathouse overview and national scaling plans
[08:15] What is Narrative Economics
[11:20] Remembering a conversation with Phil Kotler
[14:00] How Boathouse tested its tools before talking to clients
[16:20] Using AI to monitor what is catching on and what isn’t
[18:25] Artificial Intelligence + Human Intelligence
[20:30] The lifecycle of a narrative
[22:30] Why Narrative Economics should matter to the CMO
[25:20] Use cases
[27:00] A hard lesson that taught John what matters in life
[28:20] Don’t chase other stars. Lean into your own strengths
[29:20] Think about why and how marketers embrace brand management
[30:00] Brands to watch
[31:30] Rethinking how marketers approach the c-suite
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.
In this episode, Kristen and I discuss how she became the Chief Marketing Officer of Homedics, the state of the industry, and the way Homedics markets to the modern consumer through both DTC and traditional distribution channels. Kristen also outlines the recent brand refresh and the resulting captain that resulted in a rapid 80% D2C sales jump. Kristen credits this success equally to the creative, the media mix, and the improved website. Homedics plans to double its video efforts and is exploring opportunities for influencer partnerships in 2023.
Kristen D’Arcy is an agent of change and has intentionally guided her career path to gain the skills she knew she would need to be a CMO. She is driving growth at Homedics by emphasizing the importance of consistency across assets, the perfect mix of brand and performance investments, and the need to maintain that balance even during tough times. Kristen is a huge believer that the right marketing drives growth, and Homedics has incredible product lines and a unique family culture that empowers her to make amazing things happen.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The details of Homedics’ brand refresh and the campaign that lead to an 80% sales jump
Why marketers need nerves of steel in hard times to ensure long-term brand success
Homedics’ plans for the future
Key Highlights:
[01:30] Learning resilience from Geoffrey the Giraffe
[04:55] From CRM to CMO
[14:00] Homedics: the scope of the business
[16:55] Breaking down the campaign led to an immediate 80% D2C sales jump
[23:15] What is the brand plan for 2023?
[24:50] Balancing DTC and distribution partners
[29:40] How Homedics is helping Bring Change to Mind
[33:00] The hard conversation that taught Kristen an important lesson
[38:10] Where AI fits into marketing conversations
[40:00] Brands to watch
[44:00] The unique threat the economy is posing for marketers
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.
Nick Horan is the Global Brand Experience Lead for Vanish at Reckitt. He is passionate about using design as a tool to drive intentional brand experiences and understanding the consumption habits of consumers to identify the touch point that will have the most impact. Nicks’s role is to craft the entire brand experience framework from first exposure to becoming an advocate and repurchaser and translate this vision into a cohesive experience across various touchpoints in over 70 countries.
In this episode, Nick and I discuss his thoughts on the future of Brand Experience, how he approaches e-commerce and digital marketing challenges at a fast-moving consumer goods company, and the importance of physical experiences to the overall brand experience. Nick notes that brands are expected to take a stand on larger social issues and tells how Vanish is purposefully rebuilding a brand experience that encourages conversations and fosters a community around shared values and views.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
What is Brand Experience?
How Nick approaches physical design for brand experience
Why marketers cannot personalize an experience without truly knowing the individual
Key Highlights
[01:30] Nuclear Submarines and Product design
[03:05] Nick’s path to Reckitt
[05:20] How product design plays into Nick’s role as Global Brand Experience Lead
[05:50] What does it mean to be Global Brand Experience Lead for Vanish at Reckitt
[07:40] How Nick thinks about the function of brand experience overall
[09:55] How does brand experience translate to Fast-Moving Consumer Goods
[11:35] What Vanish is doing to decrease waste in the fashion industry
[12:50] How Nick is helping FMCG catch up with the deconstruction and reconfiguration of the historical business models
[14:00] How is Nick approaching e-commerce and digital marketing with an FMCG brand
[18:50] Examples of how physical experiences play into the overall brand experience
[20:05] Bridging the gap between physical and digital experiences
[20:55] QR codes and how to utilize them effectively
[22:45] The future of brand experience
[24:30] Why personalization doesn’t always equate to the richness in engagement
[25:50] Why Nick is so observant of how people interact with the world
[28:15] What advice would Nick give his younger self
[29:15] Marketers need to lean into creativity for the omnichannel world
[30:15] Brands to watch
[31:20] Opportunities and threats facing marketers today
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.
