4Ps in a Pod

We had the pleasure of chatting with Sydney Petrovic who is the Global Head of Brand at The Ordinary. The Ordinary is a Canadian skincare brand that has grown into one of the hottest skincare brands in the world.🔥However, their story is far from ordinary as they’ve broken most of the rules of the beauty industry on their way to becoming a billion dollar brand. Sydney’s team of brand builders has helped to fuel this growth by developing remarkable campaigns, crafting the unique brand identity & ensuring that the brand shows up consistently in new markets. 

When she isn’t helping to scale the brand, she can be found scaling mountains such as Mount Kilimanjaro (the world’s highest freestanding mountain). 

In this episode, we chat with Sydney about how she leveraged her “student card” to land opportunities, her unique approach to planning her career, why The Ordinary doesn’t use the word “marketing” internally & the smart reason she started hosting wine clubs. 

More specifically, Sydney shared her thoughts one the following questions: 

• How would you describe what you do to a stranger? (9:54)
• What inspired you to pursue a career in marketing? (11:34)
• Can you walk us through the different chapters of your journey? (15:13) 
• How has your view on marketing evolved? (23:19) 
• What is the north star that drives your career decisions? (25:52)
• Can you speak to The Ordinary’s ethos? (30:21)
• What does your team look like? (33:43) 
• How do you think through segmenting your consumers ? (37:09) 
• How do you build a premium brand while charging such low prices? (40:59) 
• What challenges have you faced while scaling up the brand internationally? (44:00)
• Is the global strategy driven out of Canada? (46:42) 
• What are the types of skills/values that you’re looking for when recruiting for your team? (48:12) 
• Rapid fire - we put her in the hot seat! (50:35) 

We recently chatted with Lauren Aitchison who is the Director of Marketing Operations at Cineplex. Cineplex needs no introduction - they’re synonymous with movies in Canada & many of us have found ourselves enjoying buttery popcorn at one of their 160 theatres across the country. Interestingly enough, their business actually extends beyond movies. They have a digital media arm, entertainment hubs (i.e. Rec Room), and much more. Before joining Cineplex, Lauren spent ~10 years between Telus and two of Toronto’s leading ad agencies. 

When Lauren isn’t helping to transport movie viewers to new worlds, she can be found travelling to new countries (32 and counting)! 

In this episode, we chat with Lauren about joining the movie industry during the pandemic, a peek into how Cineplex is thinking about the future, how she’s approached the pivot from agency to client-side, and which actress would play her on the big screen. 

More specifically, Lauren shared her thoughts on the following questions: 

• How would you describe what you do to a first year business student? (6:43)
• How big is the marketing team at Cineplex & how important is it to have a connector? (7:57)
• What inspired you to pursue a career in marketing? (9:09) 
• How did you scratch that itch & explore marketing further?  (10:41)
• Can you walk us through your career journey? (12:44) 
• What advice would you have for someone thinking through making the jump from agency to client-side? (16:30)
• How has your view on marketing evolved? (19:00) 
• What was your experience like making the transition to CIneplex during the pandemic? (20:45) 
• Can you give the listeners a feel for Cineplex beyond just their movie business? (25:27) 
• How does Cineplex continue to differentiate its offering? (30:49)
• What was your experience like within film marketing? (34:35)
• What are some of the problems that your current team is working to solve? (36:28)
• How are you measured for success? (37:51) 
• Can you talk us through the challenges of trying to unite different teams? (39:30)
• What are the types of skills that individuals need to thrive in this space? (42:10) 
• How is Cineplex thinking through the next wave of Gen Z consumers? (43:45) 
• Rapid fire - we put her in the hot seat! (47:05) 

The networking circle is one of business school’s greatest mysteries. It’s usually stressful, cringe-inducing, and highly transactional. Yet, business students everywhere will find themselves in these circles over and over again as they frantically try to land jobs.

The experience doesn’t have to be all that bad. A networking circle presents an incredible opportunity to chat with industry professionals and could serve as a launching pad for a much deeper connection. All you need is a few tips on how to reframe the experience & best position yourself to make the most of it. 

Introducing…”The Cheat Sheet”! Every few weeks - we’re going to release short-form content that will answer the most burning questions that we hear from students & new grads. First up - we talk about the networking circle and share our top 5 tips... you can do this!

In our third episode, we chat with Tayyab Rizvi who is a Product Marketing Lead at Patreon. Patreon is a platform that enables creators (i.e. podcasters, musicians) to build direct relationships with their biggest fans, share exclusive work, and monetize their efforts. Patreon currently has over 250K+ creators, 8M+ members & has paid $3.5B+ out to its creators. Tayyab helps to identify new features to increase creator engagement & develops the go-to-market plan to bring them to life. Before joining Patreon, he had an incredible 8 year run at Google where he most notably led Creator Marketing efforts for YouTube. Tayyab started his career in digital marketing at General Mills. 

When Tayyab isn’t helping creators explore new ways to engage with their fanbases, you can find him exploring NYC (most likely, laughing it up at the Comedy Cellar). 

Now, we know this episode runs longer than usual but you won’t regret it (we might be a tad biased…). We chatted about: how he thoughtfully approaches career planning, how Patreon is starting a new chapter, what defines a great product marketer, and his cautionary advice for those considering Big Tech. We may also talk about his cool experience with top YouTube creators like Sean Evans on “The Hot Ones”. 🔥

More specifically, Tayyab shared his thoughts on the following questions:

• If your career was a book, what are the chapters? (6:29)
• What sparked your interest in marketing? (10:49)
• How did you navigate being unemployed? (11:56)
• How has your approach towards career planning changed? (18:46)
• How do you set yourself up for success in the next role? (20:26)
• How did you navigate a large organization like Google? (23:12)
• What does Product Marketing look like at Patreon? (26:59) 
• What is it about Product Marketing that you love? (28:40)
• Do you have some examples of great product marketing in action? (30:18) 
• What differentiates an average Product Marketing Manager (PMM) from an exceptional one? (38:27) 
• What transferable skills does someone w/o tech experience need to break into tech? (40:33) 
• What is some cautionary advice that you would have for someone considering big tech? (41:56)
• What are you most excited about in this next chapter? (48:12)
• Why do creators gravitate towards Patreon? (50:13)
• Rapid fire - we put him in the hot seat! (52:25)

In our second episode, we chat with Dean Hayward who helps to lead the Brand Partnerships team at Instacart Canada. His team is focused on partnering with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies to grow their business on the platform via advertising. Instacart is a tech company that is best known for powering eCommerce for some of North America's largest retailers (users can receive same day delivery from the likes of Loblaw, Best Buy and Sephora). Before helping to scale Instacart's advertising business - he had done the same at Amazon Ads Canada for 5 years and held various sales positions at other organizations (i.e. Hershey, Neptune Retail Solutions). He started his career in media planning at Saatchi & Saatchi. 

When Dean isn't navigating corporate relationships, you can find him navigating the waters of Georgian Bay by boat and enjoying the outdoors with his wife at their cottage.

In this episode, we chat with Dean about the misconceptions that exist around advertising sales, the power of networking, Instacart being the "new kid on the block," and Toronto flourishing into an emerging Tech hub.

More specifically, Dean shared his thoughts on the following questions:

• How would you describe what you do to a complete stranger? (5:38)
• How has the transition been from individual contributor to a manager of people? (8:05)
• Can you describe what the brand partnerships team contributes to Instacart? (10:44)
• What moment sparked your interest in marketing/sales? (13:08)
• Can you walk us through your journey from that moment to present day? (19:05)
• What filter have you leveraged to make career decisions? (26:18)
• What are the types of skills that you're looking for in candidates? (30:36)
• How is the Canadian tech scene shaping up and what types of roles are available here vs. the US? (34:06)
• Can you debunk some myths that exist around advertising sales? (38:30)
• Rapid Fire - we put Dean in the hot seat! (41:54)

In our first-ever episode, we chat with David Berdock. Dave is the Director of Incubator Brands at Riverside Natural Foods (best known for the healthy snack brand MadeGood). He leads a team that is tasked with identifying new growth pockets for the company to innovate against. Prior to his current role, Dave worked in various brand management & innovation-centric roles at General Mills and in a partnership accounts role at A&C. 

When Dave isn't changing the food space - you can find him changing diapers (he has two beautiful kids) & watching/playing basketball.

In this episode - we chat with him about charting out a career in innovation, how he likens his role to the history's greatest explorers, overcoming imposter syndrome & why Paw Patrol helped his career/personal life.

More specifically, Dave shares his thoughts on the following questions: 

• What sparked your interest in marketing? (4:50)
• Were you looking to work on a specific product line within CPG? (7:25)
• What is a bigger priority - seeking a business problem you're interested in solving or working with a brand that you're passionate about? (8:25)
• What has kept you in marketing for this long? (10:31)
• Can you tell us how your view on marketing has changed since you started your career? (12:42)
• If you had to use an analogy to describe your current role - what would that be? (14:52)
• How does marketing and innovation differ a larger organization vs. a smaller one? (18:35)
• Can you speak to the art/magic of identifying white space? (22:47)
• Can you tell us about how you evangelize & build a sense of belief around an unproven idea? (24:55)
• How have you dealt with imposter syndrome? (30:18)
• Can you tell us what you're looking for from upcoming talent? (33:45)
• Anything else that you would like to share with someone thinking about a career that is innovation-focused? (36:53)
• Rapid fire -  we put Dave in the hot seat! (40:10)

In this not-quite-an-episode episode, Jeevs and JP introduce themselves, share why they started this podcast, and talk about what you can expect.