Beyond The Shelf

This week's guests are industry veterans Manish Sharma and Parag Shah, Co-Founders of Think Blue.  Their combined experience includes global leaders such as Kellogg, Wakefern Food Corp and The GIANT Company.

They discuss why the customer should always be at the center of your lens (4:45), their belief in the concept of joint value creation (12:11),  the meaning behind the name Think Blue (12:51), why the term "Omnichannel" is misleading (23:40), and the 4 pillars of retail media (28:54),

Follow Think Blue: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkbluesolutions/

Connect with Manish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishsharm/

Connect with Parag: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omnigrowthparag/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker

Coming off of another wildly successful Prime Day, Dave spends this episode with Jeff Cohen, Principal Evangelist at Amazon Ads.  Jeff has nearly 20 years in the eCommerce space, cutting his teeth with Texbooks.com and CampusBooks.com before launching his own initiative, Seller Labs.  At Amazon, he is tasked with developing a best-in-class developer community for Amazon advertising APIs.

Jeff shares how his minors in Consumer Behavior and Sociology informed his professional marketing development (5:01), his experience in the eCommerce textbooks world (6:27), why it's important not to fear failure (17:08), what a day in the life at Amazon is like (22:19), and how Amazon has become much more than a conversion-focused platform (30:33).

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreycohen/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker 

Dave speaks with Aisha Khan from L'Oreal.  Aisha's previous experience includes J&J and Publicis Media.  They discuss why disappointing results are a "Who?" problem and not a "What?" problem (5:19), the continuing importance of off-site marketing (7:26), learnings from working at a big agency (12:04), how brands can keep up their momentum between now and the fall and holiday seasons (19:20), and their thoughts on creative testing (23:36).

Connect with Aisha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecommercequeen/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker 

Dave speaks with Wendy Jean Bennett, Vice President of Retail Commerce Leadership at Tyson Foods.  Wendy Jean's storied career at Tyson has also included stints as VP of Retail - Case Ready Division and VP of Sales - Consumer Products.

Wendy shares insights on how she manages shifting roles within same organization (2:35), the 3 things she wants to be known for (8:50), the importance of utilizing your data for cross-team collaboration (15:19), strategies for bringing large teams together (21:06), and tactics for reaching consumers on their phones while they're in-store (25:01).

Connect with Wendy Jean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-jean-bennett-5113216/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker 

Today Dave is joined by Andrea Leigh, Founder & CEO of Allume Group.   Allume Group is an eCommerce knowledge hub helping professionals learn the information and skills they need to be successful online.  Andrea is a founding member of The Digital Shelf Institute and a co-host of the "Fresh Four" podcast from The CPG Guys.

They discuss how Andrea got her start in the space (1:30), what it was like working at Amazon during its rapid expansion (2:57), an overview of Allume Group (10:58), why goal setting is so important (20:34), and predictions for the future when it comes to search and retail media (26:22).

Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreakleigh/

Learn more about Allume Group: https://allumegroup.com/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker 

We're back from a brief summer hiatus with Dan LeBlanc, CEO and Co-Founder at Daasity.  Daasity provides the experience and tools to help clients transform into data-driven organizations. Dan founded Daasity after an illustrious career with Capital One, ProFlowers and other brands and firms.

They discuss how the flower industry taught Dan about LTV (6:11), why he decided to become an entrepreneur (10:10), the best parts about growing your own business (12:55), why D2C brands are realizing they need to be in retail (16:57), and where brands are spending most of their acquisition dollars these days (24:47).

Learn more about Daasity: www.daasity.com

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddleblanc/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker

Dave sits down with Joe Gaudreau, Co-Founder and CEO of Lettuce Commerce.  Joe founded Lettuce Commerce last month, after nearly a decade at Salsify, where he was VP of Corporate Development.

Dave and Joe discuss the secret to forecasting upcoming trends (4:45), Joe's journey at Salsify (9:58), an overview of "Value Engineering" (11:56), what Lettuce Commerce is trying to accomplish (22:26), and what Joe foresees over the next few years of PIM (28:16).

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joegaudreau/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker

This week, Dave speaks with Joel Ponce, Co-Founder and CEO of Hashku.  Hashku is a leader in the gaming marketing and advertising space.  Joel offers his expertise and perspective on the fast-growing but often-misunderstood world of gaming.

They discuss how the evolution of gaming over the last decade inspired Joel to start his own company (6:46), how brands are working with Hashku (9:55) (the latest stats on the size and scale of the gaming industry (12:34), leveraging in-game items to influence commerce behavior (18:41), and how the next 12 months and beyond will push gaming from emerging channel to an established one, similar to retail media (21:24).

Connect with Joel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelponce/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker

Dave's guest this week is Danny Silverman, Partner - Digital Commerce Practice at The Partnering Group (TPG).  Danny helped build Johnson & Johnson's eComm presence before pivoting to leading digital consultancies including Catapult Ecommerce and Flywheel.  At TPG, he helps drive omnichannel ROI for leading retail and CPG companies.

They discuss how Danny became passionate about marketing (3:58), learnings from his time at J&J (6:00) and why he pivoted to smaller companies (13:16), how marketing fills the gap between a perfect product and the reality of said product (17:02), how to properly advise decision-makers on their marketing budgets (24:08), and his predictions for the rest of 2024 (25:29).

Connect with Danny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljsilverman/

Check out Danny's YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@dannysilverman1459

Get in touch with TPG to request a copy of "9 Digital Commerce Trends that are Shaping 2024": https://www.thepartneringgroup.com/contact-us/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker

Dave has an illuminating conversation with Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager at CVS Media Exchange (CMX).  For over 20 years Parbinder has had a successful career driving performance at multiple industry-leading global organizations, including Walmart Connect and Spotify, among many others.

Parbinder shares the incredible story of his family's business (6:44), an overview of his previous experience working for big brands (11:34), what makes CMX stand out from other retail media networks (15:25), the transition from "trade dollars" to "brand dollars" driving retail media business, and what "Retail Media 3.0" looks like in the aftermath of cookie deprecation (29:09).

Connect with Parbinder on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parbinderdhariwal/

Learn more about CMX: https://www.cvsmediaexchange.com/

Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing [email protected] with code "BEYOND2024"

Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/

Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Producer: Jake Musiker