Room For Growth

The COVID pandemic upended education as we know it. School closings affected 1.5 billion students globally, demand for virtual learning surged, and new concerns emerged around teacher shortages. Even as this week marks the “official” end of the COVID-19 global health emergency, no signs indicate that the education sector will return to its pre-pandemic sense of “normalcy.”

For Michael Collins, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Services at online learning services firm Pearson, it’s an industry rife with new opportunities for digital innovation. Gen Z poses new, exciting EdTech marketing challenges as the digital-native generation gains spending power. And, as generative AI technologies proliferate, companies will need to pair newfound efficiencies with human-centric strategies to foster meaningful, long-term consumer relationships.

Some tech leaders are voicing their concerns as generative AI continues advancing at its breathtaking pace. In March, over 1000 tech leaders signed an open letter calling to halt AI development. Just recently, the “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton quit his role at Google, joining a growing body of technologists warning companies of the danger of AI. After all, isn’t fear of the unknown what makes us uniquely human?

SafeGuard Cyber Senior Director George Kamide is similarly interested in what differentiates distinctly human experiences from artificial ones. George believes safety and trust are critical elements in human-centric growth marketing and product development strategies. As we enter an increasingly “synthetic” or digitally-mediated reality, George encourages marketers and brands to stand out by employing what makes us human: creativity.

What does an exceptional in-store shopping experience look like? What about a frictionless visit to your doctor’s office? Or your bank? One BCG study estimates that retail, health care, and financial services brands creating highly personalized moments for their consumers will drive 6–10% revenue growth or an $800 billion income shift for the 15% of companies nailing this growth marketing fundamentals. Moreover, brands integrating advanced digital technologies with proprietary data will realize that profit is two to three times faster than brands that don’t.

Today, we’re exploring this big business showdown as Billie and Billy highlight top performers making quick wins in the race to profitable personalization. Spoiler alert? It might not be the digital-native brands you’ve come to expect.

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According to a recent McKinsey report, 81% of companies don’t have an integrated MarTech stack to deliver personalized cross-channel experiences, and 76% don’t operate sprints or follow a formal Agile process. The same study cites 67% of CMOs as overwhelmed by the quantity of marketing data available.

The technical expectations for today’s marketing teams continue to rise — questions and concerns around generative AI, data science, cross-functional communication, budget cuts, and more. And on top of that, how can teams produce creative content that truly stands out from the competition? It’s a topic Billy and Billie feel empathetic toward as they look toward Q2 and beyond, discussing how the digital transformation “floodgates are opening.”

We’ve all had delightful digital experiences. They’re the surprising, novel moments we didn’t know we wanted but suddenly can’t live without. According to a recent Forrester report, delight drives business revenue: a one-point improvement in a company’s customer experience score can lead to an additional $175 million in revenue over three years, higher customer retention rates, and lower customer acquisition costs.

WillowTree Partner and VP of Commercial Strategy Nate Wootten helps the world’s most beloved brands build and incorporate delightful digital product features into their growth strategies. Recognized as a “40 under 40 Top Mobile Innovator,” Nate leads our award-winning strategy and design thinking practice and has spoken on digital innovation worldwide — from Apple’s Cupertino campus to client conferences in Hong Kong.

Nate joins Billie to discuss how companies can architect moments of delight that drive customer adoption, loyalty, and revenue. We explore frameworks our teams use to help clients categorize and compare delightful product features to other feature categories, such as must-haves, performatives, and thresholds. Join us as we lay out the roadmap to delight across product practices like research, strategy, design, and growth.

“Spicy auto-complete” with many great use cases. That’s Rand Fishkin’s hot take on generative AI technologies like ChatGPT. It’s a stance that might not surprise long-time followers of the Moz founder and Inbound.org co-founder (acquired by HubSpot), who’s an SEO and content marketing “legend,” according to WillowTree Director of SEO Kurt Peterson.

Now the CEO and co-founder of the audience intelligence platform SparkToro, Rand joins Billy, Billie, and Kurt to explore emerging topics in growth marketing, such as what makes for good LLM or AI use cases and how these technologies might drive innovation across sectors and functions.

As an entrepreneur, digital thought leader, and author of Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World, Rand shares his wisdom on building great corporate culture, which involves weaving company values into every fabric of a business. It’s a vision we can definitely get behind at WillowTree.

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Billy and Billie join us live from Adobe Summit in Las Vegas with empty pockets but full hearts about the future of MarTech. Our digital experts share key insights and takeaways from their three days in Sin City. In just 15 minutes, we cover AI, automation, CDP ROI, #bilingualmarketers, and more.

But first, we discuss the MarTech foundations a brand needs before pursuing the latest trends in generative AI and automation, and how WillowTree helps the world’s biggest brands unlock the power of the Adobe Experience Cloud.

The AI space is booming. And it’s evolving every day. One thing we know for sure? Generative AI has the potential to transform how users engage with content. But are businesses ready to deploy this supercharged tech? What foundations are fundamental to have in place first?

Our growth experts, Billy and Billie, explore these questions and more with Fabien-Pierre Nicolas, co-founder of the news aggregation product SmartNews and COO of the diversity, equity, and inclusion SaaS platform Remixt.

We also address another hot topic in tech: budget cuts. Fabien-Pierre shares lessons learned on navigating layoffs with empathy, optimizing tech stacks to do more with less, and aligning growth goals with top-level company goals.

Bring your notepad, growth fans: this episode is brimming with clear, actionable advice for product leaders in any sector.

Join Billie and Billy as they discuss their upcoming trip to the Adobe Summit Digital Experience Conference and share their top recommendations for making the most of your attendance. As a Platinum Sponsor at Adobe Summit 2023, WillowTree will provide guided tours on the latest Adobe technology. Swing by and introduce yourself at Booth 806 in the Community Pavilion to explore our demos and sponsored events (spoiler, there will be a bourbon bar and a chance to win a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle!). See you in Vegas, baby!

Not attending Adobe Summit in person this year? No problem. Schedule a virtual meeting with our team prior to the show to learn more about each demo and our capabilities. View our full conference guide here:

Unleash the Power of Your Platform | WillowTree

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The average Delta flier takes 22 years to reach Million Miler® status. A lot can happen in two decades and one million miles: our flight patterns shift, our jobs change, pandemics come to pass, and the technology powering the airline industry evolves. And yet, Delta has enabled a smooth ride through such an extended time horizon, building a best-in-class loyalty program and overall customer experience.

Courtney Bradley is Delta’s General Manager of SkyMiles® Engagement and Growth. She’s well acquainted with cult-like consumer bases: Courtney’s resume includes the likes of Nike, JetBlue, and Virgin Airlines. Courtney joins Billy and Billie to explore how her team engineers joyful brand interactions for its diverse consumer base. WillowTree and Delta’s growth experts discuss innovations in growth marketing, like brand partnerships and tech stack evolution, while underscoring the importance of cross-functional collaboration and human-centric communication.

Bow down, growth fans. It’s time to talk about Queen Bey and the “Renaissance” tour experience. Superfans Billie Loewen, Quin Hicks, Alicia Rose, and Zana Johnson evaluate and reimagine lifecyle marketing for Beyoncé’s global “Renaissance” tour. Together, they explore how a customer data platform (CEP) like Braze might have provided better experiences for ticket buyers.

Even before ticket pre-sales launched, ticketing platforms anticipated that demand would exceed available tickets by at least 800%, prompting some superfans to pay thousands of dollars or travel thousands of miles to see the Queen slay. But never fear: we’re not letting price-gauging, poor communication, and subpar experiences break our souls.

WillowTree President Tobias Dengel knows firsthand what it means to be a great leader. Tobias (affectionately called “TD”) earned the #2 spot on Glassdoor’s list of Top CEOs for small-to-medium businesses and was a featured speaker at the Consumer Electronic Show’s VOICE Summit in 2022 and 2023. Before WillowTree, Tobias stewarded strategic partnerships and acquisitions for companies including AOL and Kearney.

Tobias’ forthcoming book, The Sound of the Future, explores how innovations in voice technology will change the way we work at every level and every function, drive down costs, boost productivity, and create entirely new business models.

In today’s episode, Tobias and our hosts explore the complexities — and importance — of committing to and iterating on WillowTree’s core values, especially amid rapid growth. TD shares the use case that inspired the launch of our growth marketing practice, several book recommendations, what excites him most about joining the TELUS International family, and a little teaser on a future episode topic — innovations in voice technology.

Under Tobias’ leadership, WillowTree grew from a three-person app development team to a leading digital product consultancy with 1,200+ “Trees” partnering with iconic global brands. In January 2023, WillowTree became a publicly traded company after being acquired by TELUS International for over $1.2 billion.

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What do brands like Zillow, BarkBox, WHOOP, Wegman’s, and Frontier Airlines have in common? They all stand out in the world of in-email and in-app growth marketing tactics. But are they standing out for the right reasons? Find out which growth tactics resonate with consumers and which tactics leave your audience feeling a little… icky. Here, Billy and Billie swipe left or right — and sometimes both — on the stand-out messages landing in their inboxes.

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The most popular day for flower deliveries? Here’s a hint: it’s not Valentine’s Day… Find this trivia tidbit and many more growth marketing insights shared by Megan Bailey Darmody, senior director of brand marketing for online gifting company UrbanStems.

Megan, Billie, and Billy explore how proactive communication improves customer satisfaction and loyalty, and how the shifting landscape of supply chain logistics for perishable products impacts long-term marketing strategy. Megan shares her expertise in cross-functional collaboration, data, and insights, and why the best strategy is treating people well.

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The Adobe Experience Platform delivers the firepower for the most advanced marketing functions our field has ever known. So how do you unlock the power of this platform — and ultimately, derive the greatest possible value? As Managing Director of WillowTree’s Adobe Practice, Mike Colombo partners with some of the world’s biggest brands to accomplish exactly that. Mike has deep expertise in orchestrating brands’ digital infrastructure to amplify customer experiences through the Adobe tech stack.

Mike and Billy explore the three unique pillars underpinning WillowTree’s approach to scaling the Adobe platform across enterprises to quickly drive ROI. And, spoiler alert: the Adobe Experience Platform offers the most comprehensive capabilities set do so.

Ever come across the iconic “Shot on an iPhone” campaign? Yep, Simon Cassels is behind that. In addition to directing one of Apple’s longest-running ad campaigns, Simon has lent his advertising chops to Ring, Amazon, Duolingo, and now GoodRx as the telemedicine platform’s senior vice president of marketing and chief brand officer.

Billie and Simon discuss the need for truth-telling and brand authenticity in an era of burgeoning AI and fear-based marketing tactics that value profit over peace of mind. And as two creative leaders themselves, Simon and Billie discuss how to empower and foster innovation on creative teams, and many more topics. With the Super Bowl — that behemoth of advertising and brand-building — just around the corner, Billie and Simon also explore the lively, ever-changing dynamics between leadership, MarTech, performance marketing, and creative entertainment.

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Sure, January has nearly come and gone (thank goodness…), but there’s still plenty of time left in the year to incorporate these emerging MarTech trends into your growth marketing strategy. On the heels of CES 2023, growth marketing experts Billy Fischer and Billie Loewen share the digital products that drove the most buzz at the most influential tech event in the world and dive deeper into their predictions and recommendations for the year ahead. 

From facilitating more co-branded partnership experiences to restructuring and revitalizing your brand’s loyalty program to anticipating big-name mergers and acquisitions, there are a lot of exciting developments in store for the rest of 2023.

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Hungry to solve sticky problems, drive business outcomes, and learn the latest technical skills? Growth marketing might be the career for you, as our host and growth expert Billie Loewen explains. Here, Billie explores the skill sets and mindsets she seeks in growth marketing candidates, including familiarity with growth- and marketing-specific frameworks, analytics and measurement tools and tactics, overall product and user experience, and many more. So brush up on those interviewing skills, growth job seekers: we’re hiring!

What do marketing teams at Fortune 1000s and local nonprofits have in common? A lot, if you ask WillowTree growth marketing expert Rebecca O’Connor. Large and small shops alike have to demonstrate ROI and stay current with rapidly changing capabilities of software such as customer relationships management (CRM) systems or customer data platforms (CDPs).

Rebecca joins the podcast to explore solutions for such cross-industry challenges facing growth marketers as well as CRM and CDP users. (Bonus: many of Rebecca’s recommendations are easily implemented and widely available.) She and Billy explore the power of effective preference centers, why real-time data benefits content strategy, marketing *and* communications, and how Rebecca’s unique background in Latin American policy analysis jump-started her growth marketing career.

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Add another celebration to your holiday circuit, as we mark our 25th Room for Growth episode this week! Our hosts Billy and Billie share their MarTech resolutions for 2023 and reflect on what we learned in 2022.

We’ll discuss how even amid unprecedented layoffs in the tech sector, brands should nonetheless invest in marketing strategies to deliver on — and exceed — customer expectations. That happens when companies get crystal clear on their “North Star” metrics and how those impact ROI. And (hint hint…), all that hard work all happens in Q1.

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Grocery shopping is one of Jeff Tang’s favorite past-times. As VP of Marketing and Revenue Generation for the plant-based food startup Wicked Kitchen, it’s a “lost art” that offers a window into the way CPG companies and consumers think. And, it’s one way that brands can build authentic connections with consumers — a strategy that underpins Jeff’s human-centric approach to digital marketing in the quick service retail (QSR) space.

As a former Emmy-winning journalist who cut his marketing chops at General Mills and Clif Bar, Jeff believes marketing must fulfill consumers’ functional, social, and emotional needs first. He joins Billie and Billy to explore global customer acquisition in the vegan food space, how a meaningful founder story can spark a startup’s growth, and (perhaps most notable for our vegan-curious, sweet-toothed listeners) where you can find Wicked Kitchen’s vegan ice cream that Jeff claims will change your world.

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The customer data platform (CDP) space is crowded and confusing. Do CDPs drive ROI? Will they even be relevant in five years? (Spoiler alert: The answer to both questions is “Yes, and…”) This week, mParticle CEO Michael Katz brings clarity to what’s become a controversial topic in the technology space. At its core, mParticle is a CDP that gathers data across diverse sources and organizes that into individual profiles to inform audience segmentation, custom attributes, marketing redeploys, and more.

Before Michael launched and grew mParticle, he founded InterCLICK, an advertising technology company that grew revenue by 7x in two years, went public, and was sold to Yahoo for $270 million. At one point, Michael was the youngest CEO on Nasdaq. Hear Michael’s leadership lessons, and how in spite of all of his entrepreneurial pursuits, he still manages to read a book a week. As Michael says, “It’s all interconnected.”

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The six different “likes” in the English language each have a functional purpose, explains speech and dialect coach Samara Bay, whose A-list clientele includes the likes of (ahem…) Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan, Gal Gadot, and Keegan-Michael Key. For Samara, identity and voice are intertwined. Her work asks listeners to reimagine what we think strength, warmth, power, and passion sound like in settings that include the boardroom, big screen, campaign trail, and beyond.

Samara’s forthcoming book Permission to Speak discusses voice standards and stories, historical biases, and how to establish ownership of our own voices. With Billy and Billie, she explores how to bring passion and joy into authentic messaging and public speaking, dialing up or down the energies we bring into a room or marketing tactic. Samara also shares her experiences as a young actor and mentor for women that has shaped her approach to speech coaching. Grab some tea with honey to go along with this episode: you’ll probably be talking about it for quite a while.

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Jason Lambert, VP of Beyond Labs and BEES at AB InBev, thinks of a customer data platform (CDP) as a circulatory system: it powers the instantaneous flow of data to all business functions.  It’s not the “perfect” metaphor, he says, but it does summarize the impact of a platform that’s become a buzzword for marketers.

Part of Jason’s role at the largest and oldest brewing company in the world involves a few more buzzwords that we can definitely get behind — empowerment, transparency, and inclusivity within the B2B ecommerce space. With over 500 iconic brands and 10 million small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) in the AB InBev portfolio, Jason wants to solve pain points and elevate the experiences of these worldwide retail partners.

Enter BEES: it’s a B2B e-commerce and SaaS platform co-created by AB InBev and Ambev that is reinventing the digital ecosystem for retailers through highly personalized reward and loyalty programs, expanded portfolio visibility, flexible fulfillment, and more. As the platform matures, Jason creates space for even more tech innovation at BEES’ incubator, Beyond Labs, and in his role as an adjunct professor of product management at the Columbia Business School.

Here, Billy and Jason discuss best-in-class, consumer-grade platforms, and processes in the massive yet oft-neglected B2B market. Our host and guest also explore the hyper-local yet global nuances of the beverage industry, and how to incorporate a modern tech stack and business development strategy into a 650-year-old commercial business. It’s a deep dive into martech that will leave you feeling all the Budweiser.

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What drives the deep craving for a White Castle burger? Why do “Cravers” wait in line for hours, even days, before the opening of a new location? And how has the 101-year-old, family-owned hamburger chain — the first in America — facilitated collabs with the likes of PUMA and Wu-Tang Clan? For Chief Marketing Officer Lynn Blashford, it’s a blend of the Castle’s distinct product offerings and unrivaled Craver passion that creates a perfect recipe for the brand to reach new heights in quick service retail (QSR) locations in the Midwest and coast-to-coast go-to grocery markets. 

Lynn and Billy discuss the niche, nuanced definition of a “cult-like” brand, the importance of trial-and-error in building loyalty programs, and how White Castle has among the lowest employee turnover in the industry. Word to the wise before you start this episode: make sure you have a 10-pack of sliders heating up in the microwave. You’ll definitely be craving them by the end of this delectable episode.

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Ashley Elleby wants Amazon Music to differentiate rather than duplicate. As Global Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Amazon Music, she drives customer awareness of and engagement with the retailer’s ad-free and unlimited music streaming platform for Prime members. It’s a tall order, but as Ashley discusses, her bias toward action comes with a big reward: it’s the same “no fear” mindset she had as a college athlete, engineering student, MBA grad, fashion founder, former Google marketer, and mentor for underrepresented communities in tech.

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We’ll explore how Ashley helps Amazon Music surprise and delight its customers amid the cacophonous, competitive landscape of music streaming services. We discuss metrics to determine customer LTV, the benefits of speaking the language of engineers, marketers, and executive leadership, and how to hit the mute button on all of our annoying internal “What ifs?”

Ever get the feeling that Instagram is listening to you? It might be — or it might not. In the words of one of our favorite Facebook relationship statuses, it’s complicated. Here, our experts explore how customer data platforms (CDPs) can take out the “ick” factor for brands in search of more personalized, automated customer experiences.

Guided by the use cases proposed in the MarTech article “19 CDP Use Cases That Can Annoy or Engage Your Audiences,” Billie and Billy break down when marketing and re-marketing tactics are creepy vs. cool, and when they’re annoying vs. appreciated. We’ll explore how to take the pushy out of push notifications, the differences between CDPs and CRMs and CEPs, and examples of when location tracking works like gangbusters — or when it breaks up the party. Let’s not make it weird, k?

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What happens when you get 60 lifecycle marketers together in one room? Find out in this week's episode that offers a rare window into the energetic and talented team that makes up WillowTree’s Growth Marketing practice.

In our first segment, "Cool Sh*t Stories," two teammates discuss dating app messaging qualms and QSR client work.

In our second segment, "Burning Questions," the team launches rapid-fire questions to Billie, which she answers with quintessential candor.

It's spicy. It's entertaining. It's worth a listen.

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We know that the upcoming Fall and Winter holidays are the Olympic games of marketing. Today’s episode is a special gift from Billie and Billy to our listeners.

Billie and Billy’s sage advice will guide 2022 holiday campaigns, aid in decision-making, and suggest incredibly intentional messaging and frequency choices. ‘Tis the season for smashing success.

* Warning for parents with small children and hyper-intelligent pets: episode contains spoilers about Santa Claus.

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Being both a beloved people manager and a lifecycle marketing visionary is a major balancing act. How do we find the balance? Our guest this week, WillowTree’s Associate Growth Director Caitlin Watson shares her secret: it’s all about grit.

Growing up in Philadelphia and being raised by two "gritty" individuals shaped how Caitlin sees the world and approaches her varied roles as a marketer and manager. We discuss how this same learned characteristic of grit can make us better marketers and extend to our everyday lives outside the workplace.

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In today’s episode, we discuss all things strategy with our guest, Jarrod Cady, SVP of Commercial Strategy and Operations at WillowTree. Jarrod has been crowned "The King of Frameworks," for decision-making, analysis, and communication. He sits at the intersection of go-to-market strategy, business development, and delivery and brings a strategic perspective to WillowTree clients' businesses at every step of the customer journey by imaging what is possible and delivering a strong point of view on how to execute.
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Jarrod is a trusted advisor to clients and executives alike, and this episode gives a glimpse of what it’s like to work with him. If you’re looking to overhaul your commercial or engagement strategy, use this conversation as a starting point. And if you’re going to take anything from this episode, let it be Jarrod’s advice to make friends with the people who can help you intimately understand the entire picture of the business that you're running or a part of.


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Why does “networking” get such a bum rap? This week’s guest, Matt McRoberts, SVP of Global Alliances at Braze — one of our favorite partners at one of our favorite platforms — explores why too many of us are “fair-weather networkers,” leveraging our contacts only when we need something. Matt shares a better, more consistent approach — cultivating and connecting with our professional communities digitally and in person aiming for authentic, win-win relationships.

Matt is one of the OG Braze employees — starting way back when Braze was still Appboy — and has watched the platform grow into a publicly-traded company and a leading provider of automated and personalized omnichannel messaging.

In his role, Matt oversees the ecosystem strategy at Braze focusing on technology integrations, regional reselling, and channel development as well as partnerships with MSPs including GSIs, consultancies, and agencies. All of the above is ultimately about relationships — with customers and your professional network — and Matt is here to demonstrate how great relationships are forged and nurtured over time.

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It’s that time of year: Q4 is typically when brands set their vision for the coming year and take a hard look at their loyalty programs. Is it time for an overhaul?

Billie and Billy dive into the reasons why it may or may not be the right time to shake things up. Whether trying to regain market share, revisit your tech stack, or re-examine how loyalty programs play out across various platforms, this episode is all about unlocking an exceptional personalization and omnichannel strategy around loyalty.

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We had the pleasure of speaking with an analytics industry veteran, Amplitude product evangelist, and author of the definitive book on Adobe Analytics, Adam Greco. Joining Billie and Billy for their deep dive with Adam is a special co-host, Jeremy Stern, who leads our Analytics practice at WillowTree.
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In this episode, you’ll hear about Adam's decision to leave his role in consulting to become a product evangelist for Amplitude, and his insights on how product and marketing teams can increase collaboration. Adam also does some vision casting, predicting a massive convergence of digital analytics platforms in the future. Whether you’re just starting out in analytics or leading a large product team, this episode is an invaluable resource.

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From singer-songwriter to author-CEO? In this week’s episode, Billie and Billy speak with Tim Schurrer of David Novak Leadership, and unpack his untraditional career path, exploring the ways that failure shapes us and the benefits of servant leadership.

Tim's book, The Secret Society of Success: Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) Again, reframes what it means to be successful. Sharing powerful stories from CEOs (Apple’s Tim Cook and Ford’s Alan Mulally), all-star athletes (LeBron James), and cultural icons (Fred Rogers), Tim teaches readers how to capture meaningful and sustainable success by joining what he calls The Secret Society—a community of people who know how to make an impact, whether or not they have the spotlight.

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This week we are joined by Kristen Castle and Lorraine Terry, two talented marketers from WillowTree client Ohio Liquor—a public-private partnership that helps promote safe consumption of liquor in the State of Ohio. Kristen and Lorraine share how OHLQ creates stellar marketing experiences while safely promoting the sale of high-proof liquor products and directing profits toward statewide economic development.

In this episode, Billie reveals how OHLQ achieved record-high performance rates (in terms of click-through, engagement, and attribution) and OHLQ discloses its unique tech stack. Our liquor experts also share their go-to cocktail and mocktail recipes. Meet us at the bar for an educational and “spirited” fifty minutes of marketing insights.

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Billie and Billy are trusted advisors to some of the most influential marketing and IT professionals in the country, and they hear the same questions time and again. In each Growth Marketing Master Class segment, they’ll dig into these burning FAQs, offering guidance, industry expertise, and a little attitude.

For our inaugural Master Class segment, we’re tackling the single MOST frequently asked question: Is there a “right” order of operations for platform implementation, and if so, what comes first? The answer may surprise you.
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The most powerful digital platforms are ones that effectively capture a live, real-world experience.

That’s exactly what this week’s Room For Growth guest, Phil Michaelson, has done as CEO of LiveAuctioneers, a digital auction house solution for buying and selling one-of-a-kind treasures.

Translating the fast and furious experience of a live auction into web and mobile is complex, but Phil credits the success of the platform to a strong, cross-functional team that includes research, design, product, and advanced analytics.

Throughout the pandemic, consumer interest in estate sales has grown exponentially, and Phil joins Billie and Billy to discuss how his team examines search data and recent trends to reach this growing market and compete with analog auction experiences. As a long-time entrepreneur, Phil is always thinking about the best channels to leverage and how to fulfill user needs on both sides of the marketplace.

From jewelry to gazebos to knights in shining armor to David Hasselhoff memorabilia, LiveAuctioneers’ customers are always bidding on something completely unique. You can hear about all things niche eCommerce and more in this episode, so be sure to tune in.

How can a company drive growth and become a differentiator through brand positioning? Exceptional branding has the power to impact top-line KPIs,  increasing revenue and customer engagement across both traditional and digital media.

This week we spoke to Alvin Chow, VP of Global Brand Marketing at Hanesbrands Inc., about all things brand. Before his current role, Alvin worked for powerhouse brands such as Coke, Nike, and McDonald’s. Fun fact: you can thank him for the existence of indulgences like the McFlurry and McGriddle.

To Alvin, an exceptional brand creates a rockstar proposition, consistent global experience, and an emotional connection with consumers. Billie and Alvin discuss how brands can shift from transactional to emotional relationships, as well as the challenges of balancing acquisition and retention efforts and measuring awareness-level KPIs through traditional media.

Traveling and learning about communities across the globe helps this week’s guest Margo Bulka better understand how people interact with technology—and she uses that perspective every day in her role as WillowTree’s Product Strategy Director to envision best-in-class digital experiences.

Billy and Billie share their insights on the current crowded ecosystem of MarTech, and how many companies fall into the trap of choosing a platform to grow their digital product before fully understanding the perspective of the user. To prevent WillowTree’s clients from making this understandable misstep, Margo employs a lean "Jobs to Be Done" process to fully understand the problems that users have and how they can use the digital product to solve them. Spoiler alert: getting in front of users and learning about their problems doesn’t have to be a big, long cycle.

Margo also recalls from her travel experience the dominance of super apps in the eastern hemisphere, and how functionality consolidation goes beyond apps but also into operating systems. Finally, Margo, Billy, and Billie share how the team at WillowTree brought a bold vision to life in partnership with Pepsi for the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show mobile app.

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Airline miles, hotel points, fast food stars—no matter what industry you’re in, loyalty programs play an important role. Taking your brand’s loyalty program from “earn and burn” to “true brand love” is no easy task, but this week’s guests from CKE Restaurants—the parent company of the beloved Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. QSR brands—have built an impressive track record of brand love and loyalty.

Jason Seeley, Sr Director - Digital Strategy and Integrated Technology at CKE Restaurants, and Apryl Felver, Director of Loyalty and CRM, launched a revamped rewards program for CKE Restaurants in 2022, moving from concept to live in just nine months. Along the way, they learned directly from their consumers how to create a loyalty program that would exceed expectations and differentiate their brands with unique campaigns, including partnerships with Fandango for the recent release of Jurassic World: Dominion. While taking the burden off restaurant operators by expanding features in their digital properties, Jason and Apryl are also exploring how to enhance their on-premise loyalty experience.

Given the growing opportunities and ever-evolving technology in the loyalty space, you won’t want to miss our guests’ insights in this episode!

If you’ve purchased a book in the past 10 years, chances are you’ve picked up a product made by Penguin Random House. On this week’s episode of Room for Growth, Penguin Random House’s Director and VP of Growth Marketing, Anne Bono joins the podcast to share insights from her 20+ years of gutsy, fascinating experience as a “homegrown” marketer.

Anne discusses how being an early adopter of marketing channels has given her a wide range of experience across industries, leading to her current responsibility of growing the Penguin Random House (PRH) brand. She explains how PRH stood up as a direct-to-consumer arm during the pandemic, and how they use customer data to make product recommendations based on niche interests. As a Latina and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Anne is deeply passionate about how organizations take action to include underrepresented identities beyond window dressing, and she gives candid advice on how marketers can own it when they make mistakes in their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.

A self-described “violently happy” individual, Anne shares all the above and more with Billie and Billy on this week’s episode – you don’t want to miss it.

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Fan experience is top of mind for any marketer involved in the sports world, but very few brands have nailed the strategy and execution of omnichannel fan engagement in live sports. In the pilot episode of Room for Growth, Billie and Billy are joined by WillowTree Growth Manager Alyssa Baker to talk about her experience managing touchpoints such as email, push, and in-app notifications to engage NCAA fans throughout the March Madness tournament. Alyssa shares how her team balanced a hybrid of manual and automated messaging, controlled notification frequency, and adjusted their strategy based on how fans responded to the broader context of the tournament.

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