Elyse Oleksak is the author of A Shark Ate My Bagel and co-founder of Bantam Bagels. Elyse has always been competitive and incorporated the concepts she learned as a D1 lacrosse player, such as time management, hustling, and perseverance, into her entrepreneurship. She began her career in advertising as an Account Associate at JWT. From there, she went to Morgan Stanley, where she learned how to navigate the politics of corporate America. After some soul-searching, a late-night idea came to her husband, and eventually Bantam Bagels was born. After googling “how to make a bagel," figuring out how to get the cream cheese inside, and developing a business plan, they came up with the recipe that they took to Shark Tank.

On the show today, Alan and Elyse talk about her rocket ship ride into entrepreneurship as the cofounder of Bantam Bagels, when they knew they had something real, her experience with Shark Tank, and how it changed everything for them. We also talk about her recent book, what inspired her to write it, and the advice she has for budding entrepreneurs that she learned from both failures and successes alike.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Bantam Bagels was born
• The benefits of being a Shark Tank brand
• Elyse’s advice to budding entrepreneurs

Key Highlights:

• [01:20] Experience of a D1 lacrosse player 
• [06:00] How Bantam Bagels was born
• [12:00] How do they get the cream cheese inside?
• [12:30] When they know they really had done it
• [13:15] Why A Shark Ate My Bagel, and why now? 
• [15:15] The Shark Tank experience 
• [19:35] Major lessons learned
• [24:20] Success does not exist without failure. 
• [29:30] Advice to budding entrepreneurs
• [31:10] The impact of a semester abroad 
• [34:45] Advice to her younger self 
• [35:40] The AI balance 
• [37:45] Trends to watch
• [38:35] The speed of change 

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Nicole Vilalte was born and raised in Puerto Rico, went to college on the island, and started her career there as an account executive at DDB LATAM. She eventually moved to New York to work for JWT before becoming an account supervisor at The Vidal Partnership for Sprint Wireless. She relocated to Portland for a few years to take over the Target account at Wieden + Kennedy before heading back to New York to work on IBM Global at Ogilvy. In 2017, Nicole returned home to become the Business Director for Puerto Rico Tourism Company, and after another stint with Ogilvy, she was hired on as the Chief Marketing Officer at Invest Puerto Rico in 2021.

Invest Puerto Rico is on a mission to promote the island and bring new capital investment and businesses to the region. It is a public-private partnership that helps companies get established on the island by assisting them in navigating incentives, connecting them with resources for real estate selection and access to talent, and facilitating introductions to key stakeholders like sector experts and industry associations. Over the last 5 years, Invest Puerto Rico has secured commitments of $1 billion in capital investments, contributed to the establishment of over 550 new businesses, and helped create 20,000 new jobs. 

On the show today, Alan and Nicole talk about the unique challenges of marketing a place, who their target audience is, and how they communicate the benefits of establishing and expanding business operations in Puerto Rico. Nicole also tells us about the inspiration behind their new campaign, “It’s not what’s next, it’s where,” and what business sectors they are focused on the most. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Invest Puerto Rico’s mission and how they market a place. 
• The inspiration behind their new campaign: “It’s not what’s next, it’s where.”
• The future of marketing for Invest Puerto Rico

Key Highlights:

• [01:55] Life with a hot sauce addiction 
• [04:45] Full circle agency career path 
• [12:55] Invest Puerto Rico: Their mission and who they serve
• [14:55] How do you market a place?
• [18:55] Which sectors are they trying to grow in most?
• [23:20] The new campaign, “It’s not what’s next, it’s where.”
• [26:30] Benefits of being in PR
• [27:40] The future of marketing for Invest Puerto Rico
• [29:40] Unique challenges of marketing a place to niche audiences
• [31:10] Crossroads that shaped who Nicole is today 
• [34:05] Advice to her younger self
• [37:10] The AI portion of the show
• [40:10] Watching the metaverse and VR space 

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Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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Richard Sanderson started his executive search career as a summer intern at Russell Reynolds Associates in London, then transitioned it into a full-time position as a research consultant with them, which brought him to the States. After five years in that role, he left the world of executive search and went to business school. He then worked at a management consulting firm until 2010, when he rejoined Russell Reynolds Associates. He then moved over to Spencer Stuart in 2018, where he leads their Marketing, Sales, and Communications Officer Practice. 

For the past 22 years, Spencer Stuart has created an annual CMO Tenure Report to better understand the average tenure of marketing leaders with the goal of determining if there is truth in the perception that marketing leadership roles have high turnover rates, if so, why, and how CMO tenure compares to other leadership roles. 

On the show today, Alan and Richard talk about the methodology of the study, key takeaways, and what he predicts for the future of the CMO role. Richard tells us how the current average CMO tenure compares to the past average, where it ranks among the rest of the C-suit, and what that means for new hires and internal promotions. They also discuss what may lead to misrepresentations and misunderstandings around the CMO role, as well as how the percentage of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups has changed in recent years. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The goal of the CMO Tenure Study and key takeaways from the newest report
• How CMO tenure compares to the rest of the C-Suite and what it tells us
• Predictions for the evolution of the CMO role

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] The second “Stag Do”
• [04:05] Richard’s career path
• [07:40] What is the CMO Tenure Report?
• [09:10] Changing up the methodology: From the Top 100 advertising spend to the Fortune 500 
• [11:15] The average CMO tenure and how it compares
• [13:20] Is a longer tenure always better?
• [17:10] External hires vs. internal promotions 
• [20:55] Succession data across industries 
• [24:55] Marketing in the technical sector
• [25:43] Everyone has a CMO, right?
• [26:50] Women in the CMO ranks
• [28:20] Underrepresented groups in the CMO ranks
• [29:40] The future evolution of the CMO role
• [35:25] Different names for the same jobs
• [38:45] Structural changes cause collateral damage. 
• [40:45] Lessons from immigration 
• [42:30] Advice to his younger self 
• [45:50] Marketers are asked to do it all.
• [47:20] The ongoing politicization of brands

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In this episode, you'll learn:

• What is the role of the Chief Corporate Citizenship Officer?
• Key takeaways from the global survey Rethink Disruption: The Rise of the Fifth Estate
• What is the Fifth Estate, and how do we leverage it?
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Marian Salzman is a global trend spotter, the first person to do market research in cyberspace, and the author of the book “The New Megatrends: Seeing Clearly in the Age of Disruption.” In 2018, she joined Phillip Morris as Senior Vice President of Global Communications to act as the spokesperson for them as they transitioned away from their power brand, Marlboro, towards a smoke-free future. In January of this year, she returned to the States from Switzerland to take on the role of Chief Corporate Citizenship Office. Prior to joining PMI, she served as CEO of Havas PR North America and, prior to that, CMO at Porter Novelli. 

On the show today, Alan and Marian talk about her responsibilities as Chief Corporate Citizenship Officer and key takeaways from a global survey she oversaw called Rethink Disruption: The Rise of the Fifth Estate. Marian helps us understand what the Fifth Estate is, how Alan fits into it, whether it's a good or bad thing, and how brands and marketers engage with it.

Key Highlights:

• [01:40] The first person to do market research in cyberspace
• [03:55] Marian’s career path
• [06:20] What is a Chief Corporate Citizenship Officer?
• [10:10] Rethink Disruption: The Rise of the Fifth Estate
• [13:15] The other four estates
• [16:15] Clarence, the dog, and the power of content creators 
• [17:30] Trust, but verify.
• [18:20] So, is the Fifth Estate good or bad?
• [19:25] How can we engage with the Fifth Estate responsibly? 
• [21:10] Two things that shaped who Marian is today
• [26:20] Advice to her younger self
• [26:30] Do online learning!
• [28:10] Trends and subcultures to watch
• [30:20] Beware of fake news.

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In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The role of Revenue Operations
• Cortland’s unique approach to branding, awareness, and rethinking marketing as an investment rather than an expense
• The importance of peer-to-peer recommendations and how Cortland manages their online brand reputation

Tim Hermeling is EVP of Revenue Operations at Cortland. He is a goal-oriented person, both professionally and personally, as seen in his love of competing in triathlons and marathons. Tim went to college to be a sports broadcaster, but pursued public relations in order to find work in the city. After working closely with C-level executives in that role, he found his love for strategy and goal-setting would make him perfect for the marketing world. Tim started his journey in relationship marketing, focusing on direct mail, before serving as VP of Marketing for Classic Residence by Hyatt and VP of Product Marketing at Northern Trust Company. In 2015, he started with Cortland to establish their marketing strategy and recently moved into revenue operations to align all of the teams that support the top-line growth of the company. 

Cortland is a vertically integrated, multifamily real estate investment, development, and management company based in Atlanta. With over 250 apartment communities comprising over 80,000 homes in the US, Cortland is rethinking what apartment living can look like and giving tenants top-of-the line amenities throughout the Sun Belt. 

On the show today, Alan and Tim talk about his new role as head of revenue operations as well as how Cortland differentiates itself, their unique approach to branding, how they are rethinking marketing in the multifamily industry as an investment rather than an expense, and how they approach performance-driven marketing.

Key Highlights:

• [01:45] How to hate running less
• [04:55] Tim's career path
• [09:00] Marketing vs. Revenue Operations
• [10:25] What is Cortland?
• [14:30] Tim’s approach to branding Cortland
• [17:55] Finding efficiencies in driving awareness 
• [19:25] Cortie, the Pug Mascot 
• [21:20] Marketing in the multifamily industry 
• [25:40] No one’s doing it quite like Cortland.
• [27:20] Online brand reputation management 
• [31:25] Performance measurement and research
• [33:30] What Tim learned from his time as a reporter 
• [35:20] Advice to his younger self 
• [37:45] The AI portion of the show
• [39:40] Harnessing the growing focus on experiences
• [41:05] The importance of the human touch

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Jeff Biesman grew up in Texas with dreams of being an NFL GM. While those dreams didn't pan out, he learned a lot along the way and decided to heed the advice he received to separate his hobbies from his career and went on to grow his marketing skill set in a very purposeful way. His path started in CPG product marketing with Converse, LA Gear, and Disney, went on to learn digital and performance marketing at Sony, got deep into data with Bank of America, moved onto venture-backed startups ShoeDazzle and Little Black Bag, then pursued B2B at YP and Remoov. In 2021, he was offered a role that was a perfect fit for all the skills he’d gained throughout his career and aligned with his personal values, so he accepted and joined the NDR team as their new CMO. In this role, Jeff is responsible for all direct-to-consumer marketing activities for the company, including PR, partnership development, paid search, social media, and CRM.

The state of consumer debt is grim as we are coming out of COVID and battling inflation. NDR acts as an agent on behalf of qualified consumers, putting them on a budget and getting them into an escrow-like program payment that is less than their debt service. As those funds accumulate, NDR then works with creditors to negotiate down the debt owed. Jeff tells us most of their customers are out of debt within 24 to 48 months and see long-term changes in their credit behavior.

On the show today, Alan and Jeff talk about why NDR doesn't want repeat businesses, how that impacts their marketing efforts, and what they are doing to stimulate demand in the upper funnel and then capture and migrate those consumers. Many people need help, but unfortunately, most are unaware that there are options like NDR to help them with debt relief, so a large part of the work for Jeff and his team revolves around building awareness, education, performance marketing, and meeting the consumers where they are by layering marketing through paid search, organic search, broadcast TV, and earned media. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How does debt relief work? 
• Why does National Debt Relief NOT want repeat businesses, and how does that impact their marketing strategy? 
• How can marketers maximize demand stimulation, capture, and migration when the pool is shrinking?

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] NFL Dreams
• [04:30] Purposeful steps in the career path
• [07:50] What drew Jeff to NDR?
• [09:40] The state of consumer debt
• [12:00] NDR's role and how it works
• [15:55] Qualifying to be a customer
• [18:40] Real human stories
• [20:00] NDR does NOT want repeat customers.
• [23:00] What marketing looks like at NDR
• [25:10] What CMOs need to know about demand capture 
• [28:45] Learning grit, determination, and perseverance 
• [31:15] The importance of patience 
• [33:05] Neuromarketing just makes sense.
• [34:35] Nothing is set it and forget it.
• [35:55] We’re in the midst of an AI revolution.

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Dave Raggio holds dual roles as Vice President of QuickBooks Acquisition Marketing and Intuit SMB MediaLabs. He began his studies in aerospace engineering at Auburn, but found his passion for marketing while running a triathlon team and helping athletes at this school secure scholarships. After graduation, he started off in the agency world, seeking a wide understanding of the marketing world. Eventually, he went client-side with Method and Northface before entering the B2B world when he joined the team at Intuit in 2020. 

Intuit SMB MediaLabs is essentially an audience layer that can be applied to advertising campaigns. It was born out of a personal frustration Dave had with 3rd party data quality and a knowing that there was a better way to execute. In contrast to traditional retail media networks, Intuit SMB MediaLabs doesn't own or operate any inventory, freeing them to solve for a wider variety of KPIs and increase the efficiency of campaigns for the small businesses they serve. 

On the show today, Alan and Dave talk about what Intuit SMB MediaLabs is, how they compare to traditional retail media networks, and what makes them better at building an SMB business owner audience. Dave also gives us examples of how they are using their audience layer to enhance marketing for other businesses in banking, insurance, retail, and CPG, as well as the phenomenal results they have been able to achieve and what is on the horizon for Intuit SMB MediaLabs moving forward.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How Intuit SMB MediaLabs differs from traditional retail media networks
• Revelations around SMB spending power
• The power of specificity in digital creative

Key Highlights:

• [01:30] Life as a professional mountain guide 
• [02:15] Hiking the career path 
• [04:25] Intuit SMB MediaLabs: what they do and who they serve
• [06:50] How Intuit SMB MediaLabs differs from traditional retail media networks?
• [11:10] Why the timing of serving SMB’s ideal right now 
• [15:50] What working with Intuit SMB MediaLabs looks like
• [18:15] Examples of results 
• [19:15] The future of Intuit SMB MediaLabs
• [22:30] What he learned at Digitas
• [23:20] Advice to his younger self
• [24:15] Looking into the future 
• [25:10] Knowing is hard, but executing is hard too.
• [26:50] Laser focus and gardening tips
• [27:50] Identity in the context of measurement

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Erika White is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Affirm. While she has experienced great success in her career, as a child, she was a rambunctious and highly social student who was told she was wasting her potential. However, one special teacher believed in her, challenged her, and got her to see the potential in herself. That lesson stuck with Erika as she obtained both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California and began to build an impressive resume. Erika got her start in marketing at Hilton, where she says another person saw her potential and took a chance on her. From there, she moved on to Director of Global Corporate Relations and Corporate Marketing at Visa, then to Pandora as their Corporate Communications Director, then to Director of External Affairs at TPG, a large private equity firm, before landing at Affirm. In her role at Affirm, she oversees the core functions of building the brand, including brand and partner marketing, creative, paid activations, social media, and communications. 

On the show today, Alan and Erika talk about Affirm’s place in the ever-growing buy now, pay later market as a more honest, transparent, and flexible alternative to credit cards for over 17 million active consumers and over 290,000 merchants. Erika tells us about the role buy now, pay later has in the overall marketplace and where she believes the industry is headed. She also gives us an overview of how she and her team are driving growth and customer acquisition for their retail partners, what she sees as the role of marketing as a whole, and why marketers have to always be adapting, changing, and embracing fluidity. She drives this point home by identifying those as the same attributes she looks for in new hires and telling us how her team embraces those qualities to continuously find new opportunities for value creation. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The key attributes that set Affirm apart and how they benefit merchants
• What is next in the buy now, pay later category?
• The role of brand and cross-functional partnerships in marketing

Key Highlights:

• [01:45] A special teacher that impacted Erika
• [06:35] The peak and valleys in her career path
• [11:30] The state of Affirm's businesses today
• [12:55] What is unique about Affirm?
• [15:45] How is this similar to and different from layaway?
• [17:45] What is next in the buy now/pay later category?
• [20:15] The value proposition for merchants 
• [22:20] The role of marketing 
• [24:45] How she learned smart risk-taking 
• [27:15] The role of brand and last year's refresh
• [30:15] Speed, precision, and fluidity
• [32:25] Read more books and nurture relationships. 
• [33:55] AI is a mandatory consideration. 
• [37:55] A decline in the desire for 4-year degrees 
• [41:25] The threat of lacking agility

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Elina Vilk has been the Chief Marketing Officer at Hootsuite since August 2023. She has more than two decades of experience in the industry, but her love of marketing started years before that, when she was a 12-year-old refugee immigrant who had to raise money to get to her 8th grade graduation by being the top candy salesman at her school. Elina says this taught her a lot about marketing and gave her the first insights into consumer-based selling and asking the right questions that have continuously developed throughout her career. Prior to joining Hootsuite, Elina led marketing at WooCommerce, Small Business Marketing at Meta, spent nearly a decade at PayPal/eBay, and ran consumer and digital advertising at Visa. 

On the show today, Alan and Elina talk about Hootsuite's new Social Media Consumer Report, key takeaways and insights markets should be thinking about in terms of making their brands more relevant and authentic, and the biggest mistakes brands make on social media. They also talk about the design thinking and human-centered marketing philosophy she utilizes to solve consumer's real pain points, what it was like to be a digital marketer and social media manager before those terms even existed, and where social media is going in the future.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How human-centered design thinking helps marketers ask the right questions 
• The purpose of the Hootsuite Social Media Consumer Report and key takeaways 
• The future of social media and the biggest mistakes brands make online

Key Highlights:

• [01:30] An entrepreneur at 12
• [04:15] The career path from selling candy to CMO
• [08:15] Things Elina learned along the way that she uses most now
• [10:45] How design thinking fits into marketing
• [13:00] The brilliance of “Got Milk”
• [15:15] The purpose of the Hootsuite Social Media Consumer Report
• [17:05] Report key takeaways 
• [18:40] Beyonce released a country album, so Hootsuite did too.
• [20:20] The worst social media brand sins
• [22:25] What Hootsuite is doing on social 
• [25:50] The future of social media
• [27:00] How the immigrant mentality shapes who she is 
• [28:30] Advice to her younger self
• [30:45] Two things CMOs have to think about
• [31:35] Specific subcultures of community building 
• [33:35] How business levers map to the business impact

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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