This episode. Kathryn discusses finding the right person, at the right time, with the right message with Greg Licciardi,  Professor of Marketing and Vice President of Partnerships at ANA. The discussion covers the impact of AI on marketing, useful tactics and innovative case studies from brands like Wendy's, e.l.f., and Harry's.

Guest Quote:

•  ”Marketing is moving at breakneck speed with all the new technologies coming in and AI. Marketers need like a north star, a framework to guide them through this complex time we're in.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[02:21] Alchemy Unveiled: The Holy Grail of Marketing

The Holy Grail of Marketing includes the five Rs: right person, right time, right message, right outcome, right environment. 

[28:10] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Case Studies in Creative Targeting

Greg shares a case study that demonstrates how small behavioral signals, testing in real time, and a willingness to pivot can turn early campaign learnings into breakthrough performance gains

[35:55] Gold Rush!

Reach is the most overrated marketing metric. Spray and pray is not the right approach. 

 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Greg

Learn more about Deluxe

Check out Holy Grail of Marketing

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode, Kathryn digs into the art and science of customer experience with Bennett Fox-Glassman, SVP of Customer Journey at Macy’s. Together, they explore how listening, context, and authenticity shape memorable interactions in modern retail.

Guest Quotes

• “One of our first focuses was taking stock of what was working and what wasn't. And in our CRM programs, when we looked at them, we believed we could actually get more by sending less, which was maybe counterintuitive at first, but in fact, we have. And so it used to be that it was Tuesday and so everybody got the coats email, and now we are much more attentive to where you are in your journey. So if you recently bought something at home, for example, we wanna be talking to you about how do you style it and how do you complete that room. And that becomes our priority over talking to you about the fact that it happens to be Tuesday.”

Episode Breakdown

[01:42] Alchemy Unveiled: Rewiring Around the Customer

[14:13] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Power of Iconic Moments

[21:00] Gold Rush Round: Bennett’s Bumper Sticker Wisdom

Links & Resources:

Links & Resources:
Connect with Kathryn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynturnoff/
Connect with Bennett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennettglassman/?skipRedirect=true 
Learn more about Macy’s: https://www.linkedin.com/company/macy/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Kathryn sits down with Connor Swegle, CMO and Co-Founder of Priority Bicycles, to discuss how simplicity, authenticity, and gut instincts drive smarter marketing. Connor explains how his team strips data down to what truly matters, avoids the distractions of automated platforms, and builds meaningful customer connections—both online and on the road. From postcard campaigns to 190-mile bike rides with customers, he reveals why sometimes the best data is human experience.

Guest Quotes:

 We don't say, oh, well, the marketplace is $7 billion, so we just need a slice of that. No. What we want to be able to do is understand who are the people who are in a position to have desire to purchase. We don't think a lot about specific customer segments, and breaking down demos.  We'll use Google to really understand, where the customers are, who are interested. So a lot of that can just be looking at locations where weather favorable for cycling. We really believe that anybody from, you know, 18 years old until as late as you want to be active in life, could be a customer of ours. But we really try and focus our energies on the ones that we know would be in a position to buy. We don't really believe that we can just create demand for somebody to spend $2,000 on new bikes for their families out of nowhere. We really want to find those customers who are kind of in that funnel, in that interest set already, and then really focus on them.

Episode Breakdown:

[02:34] Alchemy Unveiled: Simplifying Your Data SandBox

Connor explains how Priority Bicycles moved from tracking endless metrics to focusing on the essentials—purchases and interest.

[21:36] Nuggets to Campaign Gold: The Power of Simple Creative

After running complex campaigns, Connor found that the simplest message—one bold image and tagline—outperformed everything else. The takeaway: clarity wins.

[31:04] Gold Rush: Connor’s Bumper Sticker Advice

“Keep it simple.” In a world of dashboards and data overload, Connor argues that clarity is the true competitive advantage.

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynturnoff/

Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swegle/

Learn more about Priority Bicycles: https://www.prioritybicycles.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kathryn sits down with Jill Kellett, VP of Product & Marketing and Annie Yang, Senior Director of Data Science of Root Inc. to unpack how a smaller player competes with giants. The dive into ditching the idea of campaigns, leveraging deep telematics, and precision targeting.

Guest Quotes: 
"Don't try to go head to head. If you know that you're in a saturated market and that everybody else is running Facebook ads, you're probably not gonna win, or you might win and it might be really cost prohibitive to win." - Jill 

"We're not going to win on brand spend. We're not trying to target every customer or show an impression to every person in the U.S. We're much more about precision and discipline in our experimentation approach." - Annie

Episode Breakdown:
[04:20] Alchemy Unveiled
Telematics and predictive data: Root leverages information on driver safety from their app and from third parties, to predict LTV of customers and adjust their pricing models. 

[23:06] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold
Scaling back can glean insights: If you have to turn off channels or partnerships, view it as an opportunity to expose which partners truly drove impact.

[31:14] Gold Rush!
Don’t play where you can’t win: if you’re a challenger, be strategic where and how you invest. You need to think differently. 

Links & Resources

• Connect with Kathryn: LinkedIn
• Connect with Jill: LinkedIn
• Connect with Annie: LinkedIn
• Learn more about Root: joinroot.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Sue Beckett, SVP of Marketing & eCommerce at Lovesac. Sue shares insights into how Lovesac leverages first-party data, customer satisfaction surveys, and third-party data to make informed marketing decisions. She also discusses omnichannel strategies and handling attribution challenges.

Guest Quote:

• “It's not just using all parts of data that you have, it's actually what is the right data for what your end goal is? I think companies have just so much marketing data, but not all of it is relevant to what exactly you want to do. And I think in my past I have said to myself, okay, well, the data is just telling me this, so my gut might be telling me maybe that's not right, but let's just go with it. And there is a gut instinct to marketing and that's the art part of it. And I have made that mistake in my past.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[02:15] Alchemy Unveiled

Negative customer feedback is an opportunity: Customers made Sue’s team aware that they didn’t have the information they needed after they completed their purchase. Sue’s team leveraged this to build a new website ecosystem that tripled customer account signups. 

[18:09] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Virality can’t be the initial goal: While virality is amazing, it can be the starting aim of your campaign. Customers can detect inauthentic and off-brand marketing from a mile away, and the intentions have to be authentic from the start. 

[23:16] Gold Rush!

Not all data is the right data: Consider your end goal and then determine the right metrics to watch. Don’t make the mistake of following the wrong metrics down a path that is aligned with the outcome you are working towards.  

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Sue

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Lovesac

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Kathryn mixes marketing magic with Jennifer Warren, VP of Global Brand Marketing and Creative at Indeed. They discuss the intersection of brand and performance marketing, the challenge of proving the value of brand efforts and Indeed’s experiments with social listening. 

Guest Quote:

 

• “ One of the things that we have done to help build faith in things like media mix modeling is calibrate the model based on different information. So whether it's experiments, clean room experiments that we're doing or using last click data, we use that to look at what we're learning from our model, for example, and say, ‘okay, this is like out of line. So that means we should probe a little bit more on this channel and what the model is telling us’. Last click is a lot simpler to measure, so it's a lot easier to put your faith in that. When I think about performance marketing, that was for a long time the way everything was measured. But as the world has become more complicated,  I've had to really work hard at trying to demonstrate that brand and performance are things that work together.’

Episode Breakdown: 

[03:02] Alchemy Unveiled

Attribution and proving the value of brand: While last click may be easier to measure, it doesn’t tell the full picture. There is huge value in brand initiatives, even if it is harder to calculate. 

[17:34] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Listen to the market: Indeed experimented with social listening tools that allowed them to better position and educate their customers, avoiding costly mistakes. 

[24:24] Gold Rush!

Brandformance is the way to go: Brand versus performance is a false dichotomy. The two functions should be in lock-step with each other, driving impact together. 

 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynturnoff/

Connect with Jennifer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferstilleywarren/

Learn more about Deluxe: https://www.deluxe.com/

Learn more about Indeed: https://www.linkedin.com/company/indeed-com/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Joshua Brost, VP of Marketing at Pie Insurance. They discuss managing dual B2B and B2C marketing strategies, highlighting key data metrics and innovative campaigns used to resurrect partners and retarget abandoned carts. 

Guest Quote:

• “ We can acquire partners all we want. But eventually some subset of partners, and often not a small subset, go completely dormant. They stop sending business our way. And we wanted to figure out a way to understand, one, why are you not submitting business anymore? And then two, to resurrect the dead. And so we built this campaign that starts with an embedded survey in an email that gives them a very easy way to click, 'Hey, why have you stopped submitting business with us?' And then depending on that answer, they get put into unique content tracks to help get them active again. Including, uh, in, in certain tracks, uh, a meeting with our BD team to go over whatever concerns or whatever issues they've had.It's been running for, I'd say roughly a year and we've already generated over $3 million in premium from formerly dead agencies.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[02:06] Alchemy Unveiled

When brand is done right, all boats rise: Brand attribution is challenging, but if you come into a company that hasn’t invested in brand, it is worth adjusting your strategy.

[16:57] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Resurrecting dead leads: When prospects go cold, you can find success in leveraging e-commerce strategies to retarget and re-engage. 

[29:54] Gold Rush!

You can’t fake caring. Authenticity, and true investment in your customers is the only path forward. 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynturnoff/

Connect with Joshua: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrost/

Learn more about Deluxe: https://www.deluxe.com/

Learn more about Pie Insurance: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pieinsurance/

Marketer's Alchemy Website: https://www.deluxe.com/resources/marketers-alchemy/ 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

n this episode, Kathryn talks with Lindsay Hanson, Chief Marketing Officer at John Hancock and Global Head of Behavioral Insurance at Manulife. They discuss how data can dispel business-damaging myths about the customer and the ways that John Hancock is better able to understand their customers through their data. Lindsay also dives into their use of data and behavioral science to engage customers and impact their health for the better. 

Guest Quote:

• “ We went ahead on this myth busting, myth busting trail. One, was that this was really going to be, our program was gonna be impacted by age. Older people may not want to engage over certain age groups. They're not digital, they're not gonna go onto your mobile app. And we said, okay, let's actually test that. And so we put our customers into different cohorts and we said, okay, let's separate them by decades. Every 10 years, let's take a look at it. And one of our highest engaged populations is between 70 and 80 of actually getting into our app. Four times a day, they're in our mobile app. And if I think of, as a consumer, how many apps am I going to four times a day? You don't think of life insurance or insurance in general.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[02:06] Alchemy Unveiled

Busting myths with data: Stories that are told about groups of consumers or different demographics may be false. Look to the data to determine how to best serve your customers, you may be surprised by what you learn. 

[16:57] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Customer stories as a catalyst for change: Strong stories campaigns will have a balance between head and heart, and for John Hancock, they also empower the consumer to take control of their health. 

[29:54] Gold Rush!

Data and marketing is limitless: The opportunity is limitless. There are so many ways to leverage data in marketing, and the challenge is pulling the data together in a way that reaches your goals. 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Lindsay

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about John Hancock

Marketer's Alchemy Website: https://www.deluxe.com/resources/marketers-alchemy/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

 In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Liz Teran, Chief Marketing Officer at Owlet Baby Care, discussing how to market to a rapidly changing addressable market with very short buying cycles. Liz shares her insights into leveraging both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as how they tweak their messaging to accommodate for different mindsets throughout the buyers’ pregnancy journey. 

Guest Quote:

•  “Owlet has one of the largest infant health data sets in the world. so this is really exciting. We're just getting started, but there's so many opportunities for us to use that information to, you know, empower parents further to just delight them in their product experience. For example, things we're talking about but haven't implemented yet, might be like, ‘Oh, we can see that your baby woke several times last night. It looks like you had a rough night, mom. You know, here's a Starbucks gift card on us. Have a good day.’ You know, so it's not just the product pieces of like, oh, your child might be getting sick, or this, you know, key health metric has changed for them, but also just provide them a delightful brand experience as well. And I think that's really magical.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[03:51] Alchemy Unveiled: Take the path less traveled

Digging into the data often leads you down a path that differs from industry trends or traditional approaches. Make sure to leverage scrappy, intuitive data to truly understand buyer needs. 

 

[11:09] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Nothing beats word-of-mouth

When Owlet learned that 50 percent of their customers first heard of them through a friend or family member, they changed their strategy, leaning into parent stories over features. 

[20:02] Gold Rush! Gain Inspiration As a Consumer 

Sometimes, the best inspiration and way to get a pulse on the marketing industry, is to pay attention to what grabs you as as a consumer. Pull inspiration from other disciplines and keep your marketing hat on as you move through the world (and in the internet). 

 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Liz

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Owlet Baby Care

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Kathryn talks with Mary Ann Donaghy, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer of ZIPS Cleaners, discussing marketing in a franchise business and understanding the mindset of your customer. Mary Ann shares how they have leveraged a consumer research project to better understand customer demographics and behavior, highlighting the significance of consumer insights. She also covers strategies for opening new franchise locations and their efforts to reach a younger consumer. 

Guest Quote:

• "We saw that our customers bring in a broader range of items than other customers.  You know, so their whole mindset is very different. They didn't care as much about bells and whistles, you know, they didn't care about having a free bottle of water or coffee or, you know, wooden hangers or things that a higher end dry cleaner might provide. They want a good solid cleaning, they want it fast, and they want it cheap because they're bringing in, you know, a lot of items every week. So, super interesting and it also then gave us a baseline for what we would do moving forward from a messaging, and targeting standpoint."

Episode Breakdown: 

[01:58] Alchemy Unveiled: Understand the customer mindset 

Unique and specific aspects of your customer mindset influence their buying behavior. Mary Ann discusses leveraging a consumer research project to guide marketing decisions. 

[18:27] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Tapping into underlying emotion 

Researching and tapping into emotional drivers is key to a successful campaign. Mary and her team made sure to tap into the emotional side of decisions in their UMC campaign. 

[30:22] Gold Rush: Data reveals opportunities 

You can’t understand the opportunities in front of you without data. It is essential to understand the direction you want to pursue. 

 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Mary Ann

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about ZIPS Cleaners

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.