What does it take to resurrect a beloved but broken retail brand? In this episode, we sit down with Josh Rockoff, long time retail turnaround expert with deep experience in distressed brands to explore the high-stakes, high-reward world of brand resurrection. With a career spanning private equity, venture capital, and executive roles across brands like Diane Von Furstenberg, Urban Decay, Kmart, and Destination Maternity, Josh knows what makes broken brands worth saving, or forgetting. We dig into how investors identify distressed retail IP and what it costs to bring a zombie brand back to life. If you've ever wondered about the business of brand comebacks, this one's for you.

We also learn Josh's business origin story, which is so unique and incredible that he should definitely sell the film rights!!

What has been trial and error in the past is now coming into its own, and is rapidly becoming the backbone of modern retail operations. In this episode we bring Ed Crowley, Founder of URWay Holdings, and Nick Leonard, CEO of VoiceRun, two of the industry's foremost experts, into the studio to talk about how they have made online and in-store voice agents transform the customer experience. We break down the tech driving this shift, the challenges retailers face in adopting it, and what it means for the future of the shopping experience. DeAnn ponders the joy of buying chocolate from Brad Pitt, and we try our hand at pranking Josh, but fail miserably.

PR doesn't drive demand, it builds belief, which underpins everything in retail. In this episode get the inside scoop on how PR helped to build Saatva into a premium brand that stands out in a competitive market. We'll explore how A.I. has redefined the role of PR, and why influencers and global audiences, such as Saatva's Olympics sponsorships, matter more than ever. We often hear from marketing leaders. This is a rare chance to hear from one of the best retail PR leaders in the business.

AI is about more than just optimizing your ads, it's rewriting the rules of who you can reach and how. In this episode, we sit down with AS Beauty's Head of Growth to unpack how artificial intelligence is transforming performance and programmatic marketing from the ground up for the brands they own, including Bliss, Laura Geller, and more. From targeting hard to reach shoppers, to building entirely new tools for engagement and conversion, this is the industry's future playbook. If you're still running campaigns the old way, this episode will change how you think.

Loyalty programs were built on points and perks, essentially training customers to "shop like minnows, not whales "to quote our own Josh Rockoff. But AI is rewriting long established rules, almost in contravention of what seems to make sense. Yet with surprising results! We dig into the shift from discounts to data-driven relationships, and what it means for trust, personalization, and long-term customer value.

Athletes train for years for their shot at the podium. Olympic sponsorships aren't built in a single campaign cycle, they're built over years of strategic commitment, yet the average CMO tenure is just 15 months today. In this episode we examine the real business of Olympics sponsorship and ask how you go for gold when leadership turns over faster than an event cycle. And who really won the Olympics this year?

Grab your raincoat, the U.S. is bracing for a tariff-ic storm. In this episode we break down the plot twist that has supply chains spinning and CFO's stressing. Who's eating the costs? Who's passing the buck? And why could consumer's shopping carts feel even heavier?

The Super Bowl offers retail a big sugar high, and an equally big post-sugar crash. This week we break down who feasted, who quietly fumbled, and why event-driven spikes often hide deeper operational risk, and what can be done to drive more purchase touchdowns (yes, we had to go there).

Incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is reputed to be hawkish. But so was Jerome Powell, until he was not. We're mining the depths of Kevin's potential impact on the retail industry, and what retailers should be watching out for as he takes over the reins this year. Is Kevin Warsh more comfortable with market pain than market rescue?