Our guest this week is Ivonne Kinser, VP of Marketing & Innovation for Avocados from Mexico, the innovative marketing organization that has delivered some truly remarkable results. In our fourth episode recorded live at last month's GroceryShop event in Las Vegas, we get the inside story of how AFM went from start-up to advertising on the Super Bowl. We then dig into the details of how Ivonne and her team have elevated what could be seen as a commodity product to a highly in demand, powerful consumer brand. We also get Ivonne's perspective on how consumer and technology trends are intertwining, what it means to be channel agnostic, and how "learning agility" is key to career success. 

But first we share our hot-takes on the past week in retail news, including what a tight labor market portends for interest rates and inflation, why the holidays seem to come earlier and earlier every year, and what to make of Prat Vemana joining Target as their new Chief Digital & Product Officer. We also discuss Poshmark going from from Wobbly Unicorn to Prized Possession, yet more layoffs at Peloton, and how Allbirds continues to take the D out of DTC. We wrap up with REI's decision to opt out of Black Friday and a trifecta of news from a little outfit called Amazon.

About Ivonne

Ivonne is the Vice President of Marketing and Innovation for Avocados From Mexico. Her chief responsibility is to lead a high-performance team and the innovation agenda that put Avocados From Mexico on the Fast Company 2021 list of “Most Innovative Companies in the World,” and top in the branding category. In 2022 Ivonne became the first Latina to be awarded with the American Marketing Association’s highest honor bestowed upon a deserving recipe, the Lifetime Achievement Award.

She has also been included in the list of “100 Most Influential Latinas in the U.S.” for two consecutive years, in 2021 and in 2022. In 2018, she became one of the five women honored with the Changing the Game Award in the Brainwave category, an award given by the prestigious She Runs It organization which recognizes women within the marketing industry who are true catalysts of innovation by fearlessly making bold moves and reinventing the rules of marketing to transform their brands and their organizations.

The previous year, the American Advertising Federation had included her in the list of “20 Women to Watch in Dallas Advertising” and awarded her the Shining Star Award, which recognizes women in the Dallas advertising industry who are breaking glass ceilings.

Over the span of more than 20 years in marketing, Ivonne has played leadership roles in multiple corporations representing multibillion brands, as well as in top advertising agencies such as Lintas, McCann Erickson Worldwide, and The Richards Group, working with well-known brands in almost every category. In 2014, she joined Avocados From Mexico as the Head of Digital Marketing, and in seven years she built the organization’s digital practice which became one of the most successful digital groups in terms of performance and innovation. 

Under her leadership, AFM’s digital work won dozens of accolades and recognitions, including the only brand to be among the top two position on Merkle’s list of “Best Digital Super Bowl Campaigns” for five consecutive years, from 2016 through 2020; an ANA REGGIE Award in 2020 for Disrupted Use of Digital Technology; and a Gold (Sol De Oro) for AFM’s 2017 Super Bowl digital campaign in the category of Real-Time Content at the FIAP competition in Buenos Aires. This festival is recognized in the Latin American region as one of the two most important festivals, together with Cannes. 

She has addressed hundreds of keynotes — across the nation and internationally — about Avocados From Mexico’s digital marketing successes, and she is a regular guest speaker at the IPADE, the top business school in Mexico.

Innovation, disruptive creativity, and a nontraditional approach to marketing are the hallmarks of Ivonne’s work.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.

Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. 

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

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About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.