Explore every episode of the podcast Future of Consumer Marketing

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Andrew Maffettone, Founder of BlueTuskr, a full-service e-commerce marketing agency that operates at the intersection of Amazon marketplaces and direct-to-consumer strategies. With 15 years in e-commerce marketing and multiple agency exits under his belt, Andrew has built BlueTuskr into a 55-60 client operation that serves as an outsourced marketing department for e-commerce brands. BlueTuskr's differentiation lies in its ability to bridge the traditionally siloed worlds of marketplace and D2C marketing, creating truly omnichannel strategies through specialized sub-departments that function like seven agencies under one roof.

• Building a full-service agency structure with specialized sub-departments
• Qualifying clients through an investor lens: treating agency partnerships like investment decisions
• Navigating the tension between being embedded in client teams while maintaining agency culture
• Developing new service offerings through complimentary pilot programs with early clients
• Scaling operations with a global team across US, LATAM, and Philippines
• Integrating AI tools strategically to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality
• Managing omnichannel marketing strategies that bridge Amazon marketplaces and D2C platforms

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Lin Sällström, Head of Sales & Marketing at Hickap, a 9-year-old Scandinavian vegan beauty brand. Hickap is carving out space in the highly competitive beauty market by building an inclusive community-first brand that treats customers like friends rather than transactions. Operating with a lean team of just nine people, Hickap has become one of the fastest-growing vegan beauty brands in Scandinavia through a marketing approach centered on consistency, authenticity, and deep customer relationships. Their strategy demonstrates how smaller brands can compete against legacy players like Max Factor, Lancôme, and Maybelline by leveraging proximity to customers and cultural relevance.

• Building an inclusive, warm beauty brand for Gen Z and Gen Alpha first-time beauty users
• Operating a lean, high-performing marketing team in a competitive category
• Leveraging consistency as a competitive advantage and growth accelerator
• Creating community through customer-influencer integration at events and campaigns
• Using customer feedback to drive product development and category expansion
• Launching culturally-relevant seasonal campaigns in Nordic markets
• Expanding from makeup brushes into skincare, makeup, and hair care categories
• Competing against legacy beauty brands with significantly larger marketing budgets

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Jordan Malara, owner of Adventure Inn Durango and The Ridge Hotel (rebranding to The Outrider Hotel). Jordan is building a boutique hotel brand in Colorado's competitive hospitality market by recognizing a fundamental insight: guests don't search for hotels first - they choose destinations, then look for places to stay. By marketing the destination alongside the property and focusing on authentic local experiences over sterile accommodations, Jordan is creating a scalable hospitality brand that stands apart from both traditional hotels and the fragmented short-term rental market.

• Marketing destination experiences rather than room amenities
• Leveraging user-generated content and influencer partnerships for authentic storytelling
• Building brand consistency while maintaining local authenticity across multiple properties
• Creating operational efficiency through centralized management structures
• Using seasonal marketing strategies to balance revenue across peak and off-peak periods
• Developing partnerships with local businesses to enhance guest experience
• Training staff to embody brand culture and deliver insider local knowledge
• Applying AI to guest communications, bookkeeping, and market research
• Transitioning from short-term rental management to branded hotel operations

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Tyson Hill, Vice President of Content, Marketing and Communications at Phoenix Rising Football Club. Phoenix Rising operates in one of marketing's most challenging environments: a second-division soccer team competing in a crowded sports market dominated by NFL, NBA, and major university programs—while also competing globally against Premier League and international soccer broadcasts. Rather than trying to convert existing soccer fans, Phoenix Rising has carved out a unique positioning by marketing live experiences to non-traditional audiences, turning accessibility and atmosphere into their competitive advantages. Through hyper-targeted creative, experience-first messaging, and a lean but highly skilled team, they're building a community-driven sports brand in a market that didn't know it existed.

- Marketing a second-division sports team in a saturated major market - Competing against global sports broadcasting for local attendance - Building community and camaraderie as the core product experience - Converting non-soccer fans through live experience marketing - Operating with lean, expert teams in resource-constrained environments - Creating accessible sports experiences versus premium league paywalls - Leveraging broadcast partnerships for brand awareness without major budgets

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Hal Smith, Founder of H Street Digital, a performance marketing agency that guarantees to 2x digital advertising revenue for eight-figure DTC brands in 90 days. After a decade of scaling multiple performance marketing agencies and working across presidential campaigns, Fortune 100 banks, and DTC brands, Smith identified the systematic bottlenecks that prevent most brands from scaling efficiently. His agency's approach differs radically from the typical agency model: they audit brands across five core performance levers, identify the single biggest constraint using theory of constraints methodology, and commit to specific, measurable outcomes through 90-day sprints with full refund guarantees if they don't deliver.

- Applying theory of constraints to identify the biggest growth bottleneck in DTC brands - Building a performance marketing audit framework across thousands of data points Using 90-day outcome-based sprints with measurable KPIs and refund guarantees - Leveraging AI for creative research and customer insight extraction Testing product-market fit through systematic persona and pain point matrices - The five core performance levers: offer strategy, creative systems, media buying, CRO, and attribution - Why tactical advice on social media often delivers low-impact results Building a lean, profitable agency model focused on accountability over growth - Preparing for agentic commerce and AI disruption in the DTC ecosystem

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews John Tabis, Founder and Chairman of The Bouqs Company. The Bouqs Company transformed the floral industry by eliminating the traditional five-to-six layer supply chain and shipping flowers directly from eco-friendly farms in Ecuador, Colombia, and beyond to consumers across the United States. Starting with just $13,000, Tabis and his co-founder grew the company from $2 million in year one to $32 million by year four—all by rejecting commodity positioning and building a premium brand in one of the most emotionally charged but underserved consumer categories. Through strategic storytelling, aggressive PR tactics, and ruthless focus on customer experience optimization, The Bouqs Company carved out a new position in a market dominated by players competing solely on price.

• Disrupting traditional supply chains by shipping directly from farms to consumers
• Finding the "Holy Shit Moment" (HSM) in brand storytelling to break through noise
• Leveraging guerrilla PR tactics to secure celebrity endorsements and media coverage
• Evolving brand narrative and product offerings based on customer feedback
• Transitioning from growth-focused founder to strategic chairman role
• Building subscription models that balance flexibility with customer lock-in
• Expanding from pure e-commerce to omnichannel retail strategy

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Allie Egan, Founder and CEO of Veracity. After reversing her own autoimmune thyroid disease through functional medicine, Allie built Veracity into a doctor-recommended, clinically-backed metabolic health brand that's achieved 40x growth in two years. Operating in the increasingly crowded natural alternatives to GLP-1s market, Veracity has differentiated itself by combining rigorous Western scientific validation with plant-based ingredients, while riding the wave of consumer education created by the prescription weight loss medication boom. Through strategic product development driven by biological data from tens of thousands of hormone tests, Veracity pivoted from a broad wellness brand to focus exclusively on metabolic health - a decision that 4x'd their business in a single year.

• Using proprietary biological data to identify product-market fit and category opportunities
• Positioning against prescription medications without directly competing
• Leveraging market education created by pharmaceutical competitors (GLP-1s)
• Building scientific credibility through physician partnerships and clinical testing
• Pivoting from broad wellness to category-specific focus based on customer data
• Balancing founder authenticity with scalable content production
• Maintaining brand principles throughout manufacturing and supply chain decisions

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Andres Gimeno, Director of Growth Marketing at Hyperice, the world's leading recovery technology company. Hyperice has mastered the art of building premium brand authority through professional athlete validation while simultaneously scaling to everyday consumers. Born from a courtside observation of Kobe Bryant's recovery routine 12 years ago, Hyperice now partners with every major professional sports league globally - NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA, UFC - and has recently launched the groundbreaking Nike x Hyperice boot collaboration. With just over 100 employees operating across 65+ countries, Hyperice demonstrates how a lean team can execute sophisticated global expansion through strategic partnerships, localized market intelligence, and a product-first marketing philosophy that lets results speak louder than campaigns.

• Building brand authority through professional athlete validation before scaling to mass market
• Translating premium product positioning from elite athletes to everyday consumers
• Leveraging UGC content to bridge the gap between professional and amateur use cases
• Executing global expansion with cultural localization across 65+ countries
• Using AI to accelerate creative prototyping and market-specific insights at scale
• Navigating payment infrastructure differences in emerging markets
• Partnering with Nike to launch category-defining products (Hyperboot)
• Focusing on endurance sports communities as primary adoption channels

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Sangwook Park, Chief Executive Officer at Laughland. Laughland is disrupting the oral care category by bringing dentist-level personalization to teeth whitening at an accessible price point. Starting from a consumer growth equity background at a fund investing in brands like Olaplex and Curology, Park identified a critical gap: oral care lacked the innovation and fun that had transformed skincare and beauty, while remaining clinically credible. With over 200,000 customers across 25+ countries and a lean team of nine, Laughland has proven that personalization doesn't require sacrificing accessibility, achieving double-digit growth while actually reducing prices through supply chain optimization.

• Building a personalized oral care brand in a commoditized category dominated by legacy players
• Scaling internationally from day one through organic press coverage
• Leveraging dentist expertise and authority to educate consumers on product differentiation
• Optimizing team productivity through AI tools to maintain lean operations while scaling rapidly
• Transitioning from premium positioning to mass-market accessibility through strategic pricing and product expansion
• Balancing clinical credibility with brand personality in a traditionally boring category

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Joseph Heller, CEO & Founder of The Studio. The Studio has quietly become one of the most essential manufacturing platforms for consumer brands, serving over 100,000 customers across 14 years by solving one of the hardest problems in consumer business: finding the right manufacturer. Rather than competing on price or technology features, The Studio built its business around curation and trust—acting as the critical bridge between brands and the world's manufacturing infrastructure. Their approach to marketing reflects a fundamental understanding that sophisticated customers don't buy software or platforms; they buy solutions to specific problems delivered with speed and clarity.

• Building trust in a market where manufacturers have poor reputations
• Evolving marketing strategies as customer acquisition costs increase
• Curating manufacturing partners rather than simply connecting buyers and sellers Using AI to compress design iteration cycles from days to hours
• Expanding beyond China to build global manufacturing networks
• Translating complex B2B services into simple, compelling marketing messages Leveraging organic growth and word-of-mouth in the early stages
• Adapting to social media-driven product trends and customer inspiration

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Phil Cohen, COO and Co-Founder of Simplifyber. Simplifyber is tackling one of manufacturing's most entrenched challenges: making sustainable materials compete directly with plastics at scale. Rather than positioning themselves as a premium alternative that costs more, they've engineered a platform technology - combining proprietary liquid natural fiber slurries with custom manufacturing equipment - that can produce everything from flexible shoe uppers to rigid automotive interiors. By starting with high-margin durable goods rather than commoditized packaging, and by designing for scale from day one, Simplifyber is building a razor-and-blades business model where their technology diffuses globally through equipment sales and consumable material contracts.

• Designing sustainable materials companies for scale from inception
• Competing with plastics through strategic product positioning in high-margin categories
• Re-engineering industrial equipment to create proprietary manufacturing advantages
• Building platform technologies that enable unforeseen applications
• Maintaining ruthless team accountability in venture-backed environments
• Navigating complex technical decisions with multiple stakeholder voices

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Ankur Goyal, SVP of Growth at Coterie. Coterie is disrupting the baby care category dominated by legacy CPG giants through a relentless focus on product superiority, demand generation marketing, and leveraging direct-to-consumer advantages that traditional competitors simply cannot replicate. In four years, Ankur has scaled the company 15x while taking it from unprofitable to highly profitable, culminating in an acquisition by Mammoth Brands. Through sophisticated use of AI, hyper-personalized customer experiences, and creative that prioritizes demand generation over demand capture, Coterie has proven that even in commodity categories, digital-native brands can command premium pricing and build defensible moats.

• Disrupting legacy-dominated CPG categories with demonstrably superior products
• Building a demand generation-first paid acquisition strategy
• Leveraging AI for customer segmentation, personalization, and CX automation
• Creating digital product experiences as competitive advantages in physical product categories
• Structuring lean growth teams with specialized creative pods
• Extracting customer insights to drive messaging breakthroughs
• Balancing premium positioning with accessible brand communication

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Ajay Prakash, Co-Founder & CEO of Rinse. Since 2013, Rinse has been building a technology-enabled dry cleaning and laundry service that's tackling one of life's most universal pain points through strategic category creation. Operating across 11 major North American markets with expansion into Canada, Rinse has built a trusted brand in an industry that hasn't innovated in decades. Rather than relying on viral campaigns or growth hacks, Ajay shares how Rinse has achieved market leadership through relentless focus on customer experience, strategic channel selection, and the compounding effect of trust-building at every touchpoint.

• Creating a new category in a legacy industry resistant to innovation
• Building trust as the foundation for considered purchases
• Evolving marketing strategy from early-stage to scale-stage
• Channel-specific customer acquisition and the power law of marketing effectiveness
• Leveraging AI to enhance operational productivity in a complex, multi-market business
• Managing distributed teams across physical and remote operations
• Scaling while maintaining culture and institutional knowledge

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Gary Spittle, Founder and CEO of Sonical. Sonical is pioneering the "Headphone 3.0" category—building hearing computers that transform how consumers interact with audio technology. Rather than accepting the fixed functionality of traditional headphones and earbuds, Sonical created a platform that lets users customize their audio experience through downloadable apps, applying the smartphone model to wearable audio devices. Gary shares how his team navigated the challenge of building both a B2B licensing platform and a direct-to-consumer hardware product, using crowdfunding, ecosystem development, and mission-critical user targeting to carve out a new market category in the competitive audio technology space.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a dual-business model: B2B platform licensing and D2C hardware 
• Targeting mission-critical end users (DJs, audio professionals, construction workers, enterprise users) 
• Using crowdfunding as both capital and marketing strategy 
• Creating a developer ecosystem to drive platform adoption
• Simplifying complex technology through familiar mental models (smartphone app concept) 
• Positioning a new product category ("Headphone 3.0") in an established market 
• Leveraging trade shows and conference speaking for investor marketing

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Lou Lentine, CEO and Founder of Echelon. Echelon has built a distinctive position in the crowded connected fitness market by designing products around consumer pain points rather than technology first. While competitors focused on premium positioning and professional installation, Lou's team created equipment that consumers could set up in 30 minutes without tools - a critical differentiator during COVID when in-home installation became impossible. The company has evolved from a single spin bike with 100 pieces of content to a global fitness platform producing 2,000 pieces of content monthly across studios in Chattanooga, Miami, and soon Dubai. With a multi-channel strategy spanning DTC, major retailers like Costco and Dick's Sporting Goods, and a rapidly growing commercial business, Echelon demonstrates how to scale authentic community engagement while maintaining profitability across diverse distribution channels.

• Building a content ecosystem before launching hardware products
• Designing consumer products with retail distribution and home assembly in mind 
• Navigating the connected fitness boom during COVID and subsequent market correction 
• Managing multi-channel distribution across DTC, major retail, and commercial segments 
• Leveraging AI and AWS partnerships to create personalized workout experiences 
• Making strategic pivots in content production (closing London studio, opening Dubai) 
• Building authentic community engagement without celebrity endorsements 

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Brett interviews Sarah Meller, CEO of Saatchi Art. Saatchi Art operates at the intersection of technology and the art world, running a global online art marketplace alongside The Other Art Fair and a hospitality art advisory business. Sarah discusses the unique challenge of marketing a premium product category that most consumers don't yet know they want—original artwork—while competing against mass-produced wall art and fighting the perception that art collecting is only for the wealthy. Through democratizing access to original art and leveraging technology to solve discovery challenges, Saatchi Art is creating a new category of everyday art collecting.

• Marketing category creation versus demand capture in luxury markets
• Balancing democratization with premium brand positioning
• Navigating UGC-based marketplaces and discovery challenges
• Building IRL experiences in an increasingly digital world
• Leveraging AI for content creation and visual merchandalization
• Evolving from marketing leadership to CEO in a DTC business

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Daniel Perales, Head of Digital Marketing at Baskonia-Alavés Group. Daniel oversees digital marketing for an unprecedented sports conglomerate that includes a EuroLeague basketball team, a La Liga football club, gyms, sports academies, and residential facilities. Operating from Spain's Basque Country, Daniel navigates the unique challenge of marketing to fans rather than customers—a distinction that fundamentally changes how sports organizations approach digital strategy. From gamification campaigns that generated 10x normal lead volume to building unified data systems across multiple brands, Daniel shares tactical insights on marketing in an industry where Monday's strategy depends entirely on Sunday's game results.

• Marketing to fans versus customers in professional sports
• Managing digital marketing across multiple sports properties and brands
• Implementing gamification strategies to drive engagement and lead generation
• Building unified data systems for cross-selling across sports teams and facilities
• Adapting marketing tone and messaging based on game outcomes
• Demographic differences between basketball and football fan bases
• Creating sponsorship value through promotional campaigns
• Using in-stadium technology for real-time fan engagement

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Ari Tulla, CEO and Co-Founder of Elo Health, a smart nutrition company pioneering the concept of "food as medicine" through personalized supplements, AI-driven insights, and at-home blood testing. Elo Health is building nutrition products that act as multipliers for medical treatments and lifestyle interventions—where one plus one equals three. After analyzing data from 10,000 users, they've evolved from direct-to-consumer personalized supplements into a B2B/B2C platform partnering with fertility clinics, weight loss programs, and wellness brands. Drawing on lessons from pioneering mobile gaming at Nokia and building healthcare companies following personal tragedy, Ari shares the marketing playbook for launching category-defining health products in a market that doesn't yet know it needs them.

• Building consumer trust for products in categories that don't yet exist
• Pivoting from D2C blood-test-based personalization to B2B/B2C platform partnerships 
• Leveraging AI to operate a 10-person company doing the work of 40
• Creating supplement products as "companion treatments" for existing medical protocols (IVF, GLP-1 drugs) 
• Marketing to two distinct demographics: health-awakened 35-40 year-olds and proactive Gen Z 
• Navigating healthcare data regulations across markets to enable product innovation
• Using founder story and mission as recruiting tools for talent acquisition from big tech 
• Transitioning from exclusive blood-test model to accessible Amazon distribution 
• Building authentic brands rooted in purpose rather than promotional messaging
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In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Greta McAnany, CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Fever, a youth-centric mental health platform that's bridging the gap between social media and clinical care. Blue Fever has grown from a simple text message service to a sophisticated AI-powered companion app serving nearly half a million young people, backed by investors including Amazon and Serena Williams. Through innovative positioning between social media and clinical mental health care, Blue Fever is creating a new category of preventative mental wellness that meets Gen Z where they are—while building sustainable business models through municipal partnerships rather than traditional consumer monetization.

• Building a mental health platform that sits between social media and clinical care
• Evolving from SMS-based service to AI-powered community platform
• Creating guardrails and safety protocols for youth-focused AI
• Monetizing youth mental health tools through B2G (business-to-government) partnerships
• Developing clinically-informed AI that knows when to escalate vs. support
• Understanding Gen Z's relationship with technology and mental health
• Navigating the policy landscape for digital mental health tools

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Sarah McNabb, Chief Marketing Officer at GigaStar. GigaStar is pioneering a new asset class in the creator economy by building the first SEC-registered crowdfunding platform that allows YouTube creators to raise capital by offering investors a share of their future AdSense revenue—without sacrificing creative control or IP rights. Operating with a lean team in a highly regulated fintech environment, Sarah shares how GigaStar is simplifying complex securities offerings, targeting the right creator profiles, and building what they call "the Wall Street of the creator economy" through both primary and secondary markets for creator-backed securities.

• Democratizing capital access for YouTube creators through revenue-sharing securities
• Building trust in a regulated fintech environment with SEC compliance
• Evaluating creator investment potential based on engagement, consistency, and revenue thresholds
• Operating lean marketing teams in complex, regulated industries
• Leveraging in-person events to build relationships in the creator ecosystem
• Developing both primary and secondary markets for creator securities
• Balancing AI efficiency with human relationship building in B2B creator marketing

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Melissa Snover, CEO and Founder of Get Nourished. After selling her vegetarian gummy candy company Goody Good Stuff to Cloetta in 2015, Melissa confronted a critical problem: traditional manufacturing's inability to innovate quickly. Minimum orders of 40-foot trucks per flavor and 2-3 year lead times for new products were killing innovation across the industry. Her solution? Teaching herself to build the world's first FDA/FSA compliant 3D food printer. What started as confectionery innovation for Universal Studios and Dubai Mall evolved into a health revolution when she realized the technology's true potential lay in personalization. Get Nourished now produces 60 billion possible nutrient combinations through proprietary 3D printing technology, powered by an AI recommendation engine analyzing over 100,000 clinical trials.

Topics Discussed:

• Building proprietary manufacturing technology to eliminate traditional production constraints
• Transitioning from confectionery innovation to health and wellness applications
• Developing AI-powered personalization engines before mainstream AI adoption
• Creating retention through dynamic product adaptation across customer lifecycles
• Executing omnichannel expansion strategies in heavily regulated markets
• Leveraging customer feedback to drive product innovation and category expansion
• Strategic location decisions for accessing specialized talent pools in advanced manufacturing

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Michelle Spiro, Co-Founder of FURI Sport. After 30 years building billion-dollar businesses at Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Donna Karan, Michelle left corporate to create a tennis brand that challenges the sport's country club exclusivity. FURI Sport is democratizing racket sports by centering their brand around authentic city tennis culture—inspired by co-founder Eric Mathalier's story of learning tennis on painted asphalt courts in Brooklyn. Through grassroots marketing, authentic storytelling, and refusal to compromise on product quality, FURI has achieved a 45% repeat customer rate and sold in 15 countries without paid marketing or traditional distribution.

• Transitioning from corporate fashion executive to startup founder
• Building authentic brand narratives rooted in founder stories
• Creating inclusive exclusivity through streetwear marketing principles
• Leveraging grassroots and word-of-mouth over paid advertising
• Developing proprietary product technology to earn market credibility
• Using coaches as primary distribution and ambassador network
• Designing content-first marketing strategies for Gen Z and Gen Alpha
• Structuring brand collaborations to create cultural worlds
• Balancing profitability with social impact mission

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Maury Rogow, CEO of RIP Media Group. With 30 years spanning high-tech sales and Hollywood scriptwriting, Maury has developed a systematic approach to transforming complex products into compelling narratives that close deals. His work has helped companies secure funding rounds up to $10 million by completely restructuring how they tell their stories. Drawing from script analysis of blockbusters like The Dark Knight and studying how Apple revolutionized product launches, Maury has codified the emotional triggers and narrative structures that move customers from confusion to conversion.

• Translating Hollywood storytelling frameworks into sales and marketing narratives
• The "STUFF" framework: Using Sexy, Touching, Unique, Funny, or Fear as emotional drivers
• Building the "Unicorn Pitch" structure that secured a $10 million funding commitment
• Moving from feature-focused messaging to transformation-focused storytelling
• The 11 core stories every company needs across the funnel
• Adapting storytelling for different funnel stages (awareness, consideration, conversion)
• Leveraging AI agents to scale personalized narrative creation

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Harry Doull, Founder and Creative Director of Keap Candles. Keap Candles is building a luxury candle brand that combines master perfumer-level scent design with radical circular design and a regenerative vision. What makes this conversation particularly compelling is Harry's counterintuitive marketing playbook: in January 2021, Keap completely abandoned social media - a decision that has strengthened rather than weakened their business. Through subscription-based customer relationships, strategic retail partnerships, and exceptional storytelling via newsletter, they've built a loyal community of "keepers" who value presence and connection over scrolling and distraction.

• The decision to completely exit social media platforms in 2021
• Building a subscription-first business model for consumable luxury goods
• Using annual customer surveys as product development and marketing intelligence
• Strategic retail placement as first-touch marketing rather than mass distribution
• Creating alignment between company values and marketing channels
• Vertical integration as a competitive advantage in sustainable manufacturing
• Newsletter as primary customer relationship tool
• Avoiding vanity metrics and email list inflation tactics

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Christophe Schmidt, CEO of Gebana, a direct-to-consumer food company that's reimagining the online grocery model by prioritizing farmer livelihoods, product quality, and radical transparency over convenience. Operating across Europe with 900 employees (800 in Africa), Gebana has built a €60 million business that only sells fresh fruit when it's ripe—requiring customers to pre-order and wait until nature decides the product is ready. This counter-intuitive approach has created unexpected viral marketing loops, fierce customer loyalty, and double-digit growth year over year in a highly competitive market.

• Building a mission-driven consumer brand that prioritizes impact over instant gratification
• Using bulk purchasing (13kg minimum orders) as an accidental viral marketing driver
• Managing consumer education when your business model contradicts standard e-commerce expectations
• Balancing online performance marketing with traditional direct mail for multi-generational audiences
• Maintaining human touchpoints in customer service while exploring AI efficiency gains
• Leveraging radical transparency and admitted mistakes as a competitive advantage against greenwashing
• Scaling a vertically integrated supply chain from African farms to European doorsteps
• Creating B2B channels as a farmer-first strategy rather than a pure business decision

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Pulkit Gupta, Head of Marketing at Cloaked. Cloaked is tackling one of the most pervasive problems in modern digital life: data exposure and its consequences - spam, identity theft, and financial fraud. Operating in a space where consumers are increasingly aware of privacy issues but often lack practical solutions, Cloaked has built an all-in-one privacy platform that combines data removal, unlimited email and phone aliases, and AI-powered call screening. Through problem-first messaging, creative experiential marketing, and a lean team structure that leverages agencies strategically, Pulkit and his team have evolved from serving privacy enthusiasts to reaching mainstream Americans who are tired of spam and fearful of fraud.

• Transitioning from feature-based to problem-based messaging in a new category
• Building experiential marketing campaigns that validate the problem (hotline experience)
• Structuring a lean two-person marketing team supported by specialized agencies
• Using AI for creative testing, editing workflows, and insight generation
• Scaling micro-influencer programs with authentic product usage
• Evolving audience targeting from privacy enthusiasts to mainstream consumers
• Launching and establishing product-market fit in an emerging category

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Tom Bell, Co-Founder of SkinnyBrands and Founder of DrinkWell UK. Tom has built a data-driven alcohol marketplace that reverses traditional product development—instead of creating brands and hoping consumers follow, DrinkWell tracks millions of purchase decisions to algorithmically design products that perfectly match consumer behavior. Starting from his garage selling Canadian beer to rugby clubs, Tom has scaled DrinkWell into a 28-country distribution network while launching proprietary brands like Skinny Lager and Tracers wine that achieve 75% higher lifetime value than third-party products. His approach demonstrates how consumer feedback loops, rigorous A/B testing, and AI-driven analytics can create functional alcohol brands in a heavily regulated category where traditional health marketing is prohibited.

• Building a functional alcohol category in markets where it didn't exist
• Developing a data-driven marketplace that informs proprietary product creation
• Using algorithmic analysis of 3.5 million bottle sales to design perfect products
• Navigating advertising restrictions for functional alcohol brands
• Competing against legacy brands that fail at international market adaptation
• Leveraging AI across product development, customer acquisition, and inventory optimization
• Creating 75% higher lifetime value through algorithmically-optimized brand attributes

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres speaks with Mesh Gelman, Founder and CEO of Cumulus Coffee Company. Cumulus is pioneering the premium at-home cold coffee category with the world's first on-demand nitro cold brew system. While the coffee industry saw cold beverages explode from 35% to 75% of Starbucks orders in just six years, no premium at-home solution existed until Cumulus spent five years developing a patented system that extracts nitrogen from ambient air and delivers café-quality cold brew in under a minute. Through relentless customer dialogue and disciplined product development, Mesh built a closed-loop ecosystem that challenges consumers to rethink their entire relationship with cold coffee.

• Creating and validating entirely new product categories in established markets
• Building a closed-loop hardware and consumables ecosystem
• Navigating the tension between perfection and speed to market in consumer hardware
• Pricing strategy when no competitive benchmarks exist
• Educating consumers about products they don't know they need
• Leveraging patents and proprietary technology as competitive moats
• Measuring product-market fit through return rates and repeat purchase behavior
• Staying curious and learning from younger generations

In this episode, Andres Figueira interviews Mark Lin, Founder and CEO of Sliimeyhoney, who scaled a pandemic hobby into $2.7 million in revenue and 1 million followers without frameworks, paid acquisition, or prior business experience. Starting at 15, Mark built a manufacturing operation from his parents' garage while maintaining UCLA academics, navigating the operational chaos of Shark Tank-driven demand spikes, and defending premium positioning in a category dominated by $5 mass-market alternatives. His approach to organic platform growth, category creation through language, and founder-led content at scale offers tactical insights for consumer brands navigating post-CAC-inflation growth strategies.

• Weaponizing organic TikTok distribution without paid media budgets
• Converting social proof into traditional media access (Shark Tank pitch process)
• Category creation through positioning language in commoditized markets
• Operational planning for 100x demand spikes from media moments
• Scaling D2C manufacturing from founder-made to team operations
• Maintaining founder voice as primary content engine at $2.7M revenue
• Managing founder motivation cycles across five-year startup lifecycle
• Strategic AI deployment for customer service automation vs. brand preservation
• Drop model mechanics for creating recurring urgency in non-essential categories
• Business model adaptation as viral product trends mature

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Deniz Kural, Director of Product Marketing at Candywriter, the Miami-based studio behind BitLife. BitLife is a text-based life simulator that has captured millions of players with its unprecedented depth, cultural relevance, and ability to let players role-play literally any life path imaginable. Seven years after launch, the game continues to dominate its category through hyper-culturalization, consistent community engagement, and innovative marketing approaches that bridge traditional entertainment marketing with mobile gaming's unique demands. Kural shares hard-won insights from his journey through consumer goods giants like Coca-Cola and Durex, to mobile gaming powerhouses like Supercell and Rovio, revealing how entertainment marketing must balance immediate ROI pressures with long-term brand building.

• Structural differences between traditional consumer marketing and mobile gaming marketing
• The tension between tactical ROI-driven marketing and strategic brand building in gaming
• Building and scaling influencer-first content strategies for text-based games
• Hyper-culturalization as a competitive moat in mobile gaming
• Community management as a cost-effective growth driver vs. paid user acquisition
• The role of product marketing in entertainment companies
• Adapting live-action video creative for games without traditional graphics
• Creating revenue-share creator programs to drive sustainable content generation

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Alicia Moore, VP of Marketing at Halfdays. Halfdays is disrupting the ski and snowboard apparel industry by creating performance fashion specifically designed for women at the intersection of outdoor functionality and contemporary fashion. Founded by Olympic skier Kylie Tinsley, fashion strategist Ariana Ferwerda, and Karel Vredenburg five years ago, the brand addresses a fundamental gap in the market: ski apparel that actually fits women's bodies and makes them feel confident on the mountain. Operating with a lean team of 30 people in Denver, Halfdays has built a thriving community of nearly 10,000 members and is expanding beyond winter sports into year-round adventure apparel while maintaining their commitment to authentic, human-centered marketing.

• Disrupting the "shrink it and pink it" mentality in women's outdoor apparel
• Building authentic community through monthly meetups and brand ambassadors
• Leveraging Slack as an unexpected community platform for 10,000 members
• Scaling a small marketing team (9 people) to compete against legacy brands with massive budgets
• Developing insight-driven creative campaigns around emotional themes like "girls trips"
• Balancing paid media experimentation with community-first brand building
• Strategic use of AI tools while maintaining human authenticity in customer experience and creative
• Expanding from seasonal ski wear into year-round adventure apparel

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Curtis Schlaufman, VP of Marketing and Communications at DeFi Technologies. Curtis shares his journey from crypto skeptic to marketing leader at a publicly traded digital asset company that nearly went bankrupt during the 2022 bear market. DeFi Technologies survived by maintaining an aligned management team willing to make extreme personal sacrifices—including going without pay for six months, selling homes, and taking out second mortgages. Today, the company manages the most diverse array of regulated crypto products globally, marketing to both traditional investors seeking regulated crypto exposure and equity investors looking for broad industry exposure. Curtis reveals how to build trust and credibility in a highly volatile, fast-moving industry while managing multiple business lines, subsidiaries, and constant evolution.

• Surviving a near-bankruptcy during the crypto bear market through management alignment and personal sacrifice
• Marketing a dual mandate: products to consumers and equity to investors simultaneously
• Building trust and credibility as the foundation of all marketing in financial services
• Evolving brand narrative while rapidly scaling from one to six+ business lines
• Coordinating marketing across multiple subsidiaries with different names and identities
• Navigating the unique challenges of public company marketing in crypto
• Executing integrated news releases across multiple channels and stakeholder groups
• Identifying and avoiding scammers in the crypto marketing vendor ecosystem

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Joshua Cabrera, Marketing Director at Hakuro.io, a new game publisher building a proprietary AI-powered engine that analyzes gaming sentiment across Reddit, Discord, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, and other platforms. By scraping and correlating community data, Hakuro provides developers with actionable insights directly from gamers—informing both game design decisions and go-to-market strategies. Currently emerging from stealth mode and seeking their first published title, Hakuro is taking a contrarian position in a post-COVID gaming market still facing widespread layoffs and reduced investment, actively funding indie developers while larger studios pull back.

• Building a B2B platform go-to-market strategy during industry contraction
• Using AI for sentiment analysis and data correlation across gaming communities
• The failure modes of marketing automation in creative B2B markets
• Conference-led distribution strategy for early-stage technical products
• Structuring qualifiers and KPIs to filter partnership opportunities
• Navigating global developer outreach with a seven-person remote team
• Maintaining capital-efficient growth with aggressive ROAS targets

In this episode, host Andrés Figueira interviews Ian Wishingrad, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Three Wishes Cereal, a high-protein, low-sugar, grain-free breakfast cereal brand. Unlike typical CPG startups that burn venture capital pursuing rapid market share, Three Wishes has built a profitable, growing brand now in 15,000 stores across North America through disciplined expansion and creative marketing. Ian shares how his background running a creative agency informed his approach to brand building, why he treats AI as a "creative sidekick," and how the brand capitalizes on cultural moments—like being the first to put a college athlete on a cereal box when NIL rules changed. The conversation reveals a methodical approach to growth that prioritizes profitability over vanity metrics while still executing disruptive marketing tactics.

• Building a CPG brand while maintaining profitability and avoiding the typical VC-funded burn model
• Threading the needle between novel ingredients and familiar formats in legacy categories
• Leveraging cultural and regulatory shifts for marketing opportunities (NIL rules, MAHA movement)
• Using AI as a creative collaboration tool rather than replacement
• Managing influencer marketing with algorithmic evaluation and creative freedom
• Scaling from zero to 15,000 retail doors while staying operationally lean
• Balancing in-house creative capabilities with strategic external partnerships
• Testing marketing ideas through internal team validation rather than expensive external research

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing & Content Officer at Udemy. Murphy leads a 140-person team managing both B2B and consumer marketing while overseeing a community of 85,000 instructors who create content for the platform. She shares how Udemy is navigating the shift from paid channel dependency to organic growth, adapting to the AI-driven search landscape, and building authentic experiences in an increasingly noisy market. With a background in product management before moving into marketing leadership, Murphy brings a business-first perspective to marketing strategy, emphasizing execution speed, customer impact, and the critical balance between brand and performance marketing.

• Transitioning from paid marketing dependency to organic channel dominance
• Navigating the shift from traditional SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AI-powered search
• Building and managing a global marketing team of 140 across B2B and consumer functions
• Leveraging third-party agencies strategically to elevate internal team capabilities
• Managing a creator community of 85,000 instructors as a marketing asset
• Structuring marketing around method, message, and execution
• Implementing hyper-localized marketing strategies across global markets
• Balancing AI adoption with human expertise in marketing operations

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Llibert Argerich, Chief Marketing Officer at Thumbtack. Thumbtack is a two-sided marketplace connecting homeowners with home service professionals, competing primarily against word-of-mouth referrals in an extremely fragmented market. Over the past two years, Llibert has transformed Thumbtack's marketing from a concentrated SEM strategy into a sophisticated 11-channel growth engine that balances national profit maximization with aggressive local market penetration. His approach treats marketing as a P&L driver rather than a cost center, combining performance marketing rigor with brand building to create sustainable, scalable growth in a category where frequency is low but intent and trust are everything.

• Evolving from SEM-dependent marketing to an 11-channel diversified media mix
• Building local market penetration strategies that operate at calculated losses for long-term market share gains
• Creating profit maximization frameworks that determine exact incrementality points for media spend
• Positioning against word-of-mouth as the primary competitor in home services
• Leveraging AI and LLMs for content strategy, personalization, and agentic marketing systems
• Managing marketing team productivity and efficiency without headcount expansion
• Balancing performance marketing with brand building in low-frequency, high-stakes categories
• Optimizing for emerging search behaviors including AI Overviews and LLM-based queries

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Michelle Nadeau, Head of Marketing & Communications at Martie. Martie is transforming the surplus grocery market by connecting brands with excess inventory directly to consumers through a deal discovery platform that delivers savings of up to 70-80% off retail prices. Operating as a digital-first marketplace with over 4,000 brand partnerships and 1,500 active SKUs at any given time, Martie has solved a critical problem for CPG brands while preventing food waste and making premium products accessible to price-conscious consumers. Through AI-powered logistics, personalized customer experiences, and a no-subscription business model, Martie is carving out a distinct position in the grocery e-commerce landscape—not as a 15-minute delivery service, but as a deal discovery platform that makes shopping fun while saving customers money.

• Building a surplus grocery marketplace that prevents food waste before it happens
• Repositioning overstock from liquidation to brand opportunity
• Creating trust in a discounted product marketplace through customer service excellence
• Leveraging AI for logistics management and operational speed
• Developing personalized shopping experiences through data-driven customer insights
• Operating a lean, distributed team across multiple time zones
• Differentiating from instant grocery delivery services
• Implementing free sampling programs for brand discovery

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Ankit Patel, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer at Obvi. Obvi is disrupting the supplement industry by transforming collagen from a clinical product into a consumer lifestyle brand. Starting six years ago in a market dominated by medicinal-looking white and gray packaging, Obvi created a colorful, cereal-aisle-inspired brand that appealed to consumers who wanted premium supplements without the clinical feel. Through a combination of superior formulation (multi-source collagen with added ingredients), competitive pricing, bold branding, and community-driven marketing, Obvi has grown from a direct-to-consumer startup to a brand available in 20,000 retail doors nationwide, including Walmart, Sprouts, and Vitamin Shoppe.

• Transforming supplement branding from clinical to consumer-friendly
• Building and scaling a 150,000-member Facebook community as a product development tool
• Transitioning from direct-to-consumer to omnichannel retail strategy
• Using data-driven design testing to optimize retail packaging
• Leveraging emerging ad platforms like mobile gaming for customer acquisition
• Implementing AI for product development and competitive analysis
• Managing brand positioning when target demographics shift unexpectedly

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Ryan Reese, Marketing Director at Mechanical One, a home repair and maintenance company serving Central Florida. Mechanical One launched their residential division in 2021 after establishing themselves in new construction, and Ryan was brought on to build their consumer-facing marketing from the ground up. In a hyper-competitive local services market where customer trust is paramount and competition is fierce, Ryan shares how they've differentiated through celebrity partnerships, hyper-local targeting, AI-powered customer data analysis, and an obsessive focus on customer experience that has generated over 2,500 five-star Google reviews.

• Building trust in a category where strangers enter customers' homes
• Leveraging celebrity endorsements (NFL's Scott Hansen, Lily Estefan) for local brand credibility
• Using AI to analyze customer data and predict seasonal demand patterns
• Creating authentic Spanish-language campaigns for Hispanic markets
• Transforming technicians into brand ambassadors through review-focused performance metrics
• Avoiding vanity metrics on social platforms in favor of high-intent marketing channels
• Competing in a commoditized market through elevated customer experience

In this episode, host Andres Figueira interviews Taras Rybak, Partner at Fusion Asset Management. Fusion operates in the UK wealth management sector with three complementary businesses: acquiring independent financial advisory firms, managing investment portfolios for private clients, and operating Justify Technology—a unified platform that consolidates the fragmented tech stack financial advisors use daily. Managing £2 billion in assets across 13 UK offices, Fusion is navigating the intersection of traditional relationship-driven financial services and emerging technology capabilities, including strategic implementations of AI and automation in a heavily regulated industry.

• Marketing B2B services in niche, relationship-driven professional communities
• Solving capacity constraints through technology rather than acquisition-focused growth
• Building distribution channels before product completion
• Navigating marketing constraints in heavily regulated industries
• Implementing AI and automation in compliance-heavy environments
• The hybrid model: augmenting human expertise with technology rather than replacement

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Lisa Tan, Chief Marketing Officer at Reverie. Reverie is transforming the sleep technology market by repositioning adjustable bases and customizable mattresses from medical devices for the elderly into personalized wellness tools for health-conscious consumers. Over her 12-year journey from a "three-to-six month project" to CMO, Lisa has pioneered a direct-to-consumer strategy that emphasizes education over aspiration, turning sleep from a commodity purchase into a considered investment in longevity and performance.

• Shifting premium sleep products from aspirational lifestyle marketing to personal, gritty storytelling
• Building personalized customer experiences through quiz-based product discovery
• Leveraging existing customers as authentic influencers versus traditional influencer seeding
• Integrating customer experience, service, and sales data to inform marketing strategy
• Implementing AI agents for customer service and moving from SEO to AEO content strategy
• Operating lean marketing teams through in-house technical expertise and strategic partnerships

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Tien Ho, Head of Marketing at MOUZ, one of esports' oldest and most successful organizations. MOUZ is pioneering a radical shift in esports marketing by bringing a digital-first industry back to physical reality. While other esports organizations chase global audiences online, MOUZ is building a 22-year legacy brand through hyper-local community engagement, treating their Hamburg headquarters as both a performance facility and a marketing platform. With their team consistently ranking in the top 3-4 globally in Counter-Strike, Tien shares how they're converting the product of winning into sustainable fan loyalty while solving esports' biggest challenge: making parents believe this is a legitimate career path for their children.

• Building physical headquarters as a marketing strategy in a digital industry
• Converting players into viewers in the esports funnel
• Creating hyper-local brand loyalty in a global competitive landscape
• Designing facilities to combat gaming stereotypes and prejudice
• Leveraging prime real estate for organic brand awareness
• Developing talent pipelines through youth camps and community programs
• Transitioning from franchise league systems to tournament circuits
• Executing guerrilla marketing tactics with limited resources

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Filip Strömsten, Co-founder and COO of Chapter Two. Chapter Two is solving one of the music industry's most foundational problems: royalty data is completely broken. While catalog acquisitions from artists like Justin Bieber and Bob Dylan make headlines, the underlying infrastructure for understanding music earnings remains opaque and fragmented. Chapter Two is building the data infrastructure that will enable proper valuation of music catalogs, starting with a transaction platform that has already facilitated sales for legendary producers like Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston) and Bankabooom (Blackpink's main producer). By cleaning and standardizing earnings data across hundreds of different royalty statement formats, they're creating transparency in an industry where creators literally don't know where their money comes from.

• Building AI-powered data infrastructure to clean fragmented music royalty data across hundreds of formats
• Facilitating music catalog transactions for creators seeking liquidity on their life's work
• Navigating the challenge of explaining complex B2B infrastructure problems to non-industry audiences
• Using AI to understand and standardize non-logical data structures before applying advanced analytics
• Managing the tension between financial valuation and cultural/emotional value in music assets
• Pivoting from a marketplace model to solving foundational data problems first
• The impossibility of predicting music virality and the randomness of TikTok-driven breakout hits
• Why blockchain doesn't work for music rights without fully decentralized consumption platforms

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Kimberly Kanary, a strategic marketing consultant at Kuno Creative with deep experience spanning CPG, retail, e-commerce, jewelry, and home improvement. Kimberly brings a unique perspective having navigated the full spectrum of marketing—from PR and crisis communications to advanced analytics and programmatic advertising. Her approach centers on the intersection of art and science in marketing, with an uncompromising focus on tying every marketing dollar to measurable business outcomes. Throughout the conversation, she shares specific tactical examples from her time at Signet Jewelers and reveals why she's betting heavily on programmatic advertising paired with CTV as the next frontier for performance marketing.

• Programmatic advertising paired with CTV (Connected TV) for full-funnel marketing
• The evolution from the "rule of seven" to 10-20 touches in today's saturated digital environment
• Building measurement frameworks that prove marketing drives revenue, not just vanity metrics
• Testing digitally-native influencer content vs. repurposed TV creative in digital channels
• Leveraging conversion lift studies to measure incrementality, not just attribution
• Context-specific content adaptation across different platforms and consumer mindsets
• Using AI as an enabler for efficiency while maintaining the human touch for brand storytelling
• Building diverse marketing teams with cross-industry experience to drive innovation
• Analytics maturity curves: from basic ROAS to media mix modeling and multi-touch attribution

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres interviews Greta Mayr, Head of Marketing and Communications at GridX. GridX provides an energy management system that connects distributed energy resources—solar systems, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps—to optimize energy flows and reduce costs for end users. Operating in 15 European countries with over 180,000 connected assets, GridX works through a B2B2C model, partnering with major energy retailers like E.ON who white-label their technology. As pioneers in a nascent category, GridX has navigated the challenge of educating an entire market while scaling from 35 to over 200 employees in just a few years.

• Marketing highly technical B2B products in emerging categories
• Shifting from education-focused to differentiation-focused marketing strategies
• Building multi-channel B2B marketing funnels with extended sales cycles
• Leveraging organic content and thought leadership for lead generation
• Creating relatable content in technical industries through memes and storytelling
• Using AI for content efficiency and product optimization
• Targeting different personas across multiple platforms (LinkedIn, WhatsApp, YouTube)
• Measuring marketing success through quality over quantity in B2B contexts

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Advika Aggarwal, former Senior Director of Marketing & E-Commerce at Paravel. Paravel is a sustainable travel brand that revolutionized how DTC brands approach product ecosystems, email marketing, and influencer partnerships. Through her experience scaling Paravel from brand marketing to overseeing the full commercial operation, Advika shares tactical insights on transforming underutilized marketing channels, building authentic creator networks, and balancing data-driven decision making with brand storytelling. Her journey across Coach, Gap, and Paravel provided her with a unique perspective on how digitally-native brands can punch above their weight through strategic constraint and focused execution.

• Reframing sustainability as table stakes rather than a marketing angle
• Building product ecosystems that naturally drive sequential purchases
• Transforming transactional email flows into storytelling opportunities
• Pivoting from scale-driven influencer marketing to niche creator communities
• Balancing brand-building investments with performance marketing ROI
• Managing frequency and creative variation across paid acquisition funnels
• Leveraging qualitative customer research alongside quantitative metrics
• Strategic trade-offs between in-house teams and agency partnerships
• Using AI as an efficiency tool while maintaining brand voice integrity

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Elly Simpson, Director of Marketing at the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. As the organization's first-ever Director of Marketing, Simpson is rebuilding the team's marketing infrastructure from the ground up, shifting from traditional advertising approaches to sophisticated digital segmentation while maintaining the multi-generational appeal that makes Minor League Baseball unique. Operating in a medium-sized market with deep baseball roots, Simpson demonstrates how hyperlocal sports properties can leverage customer journey mapping, intelligent segmentation, and behind-the-scenes storytelling to drive ticket sales and build lasting fan relationships.

• Transitioning from traditional media-heavy budgets to digital-first marketing in sports
• Building sophisticated customer segmentation for multi-generational audiences
• Implementing the "Netflix approach" to ticket recommendations and upselling
• Leveraging SMS for hyper-targeted promotional campaigns
• Testing new digital channels (LinkedIn, X) for B2B catering business
• Creating content strategies that balance die-hard fans with Gen Z newcomers
• Structuring lean marketing teams for live event production
• Using fan experience as the primary success metric beyond win-loss records
• Navigating MLB/MiLB technology constraints and brand autonomy
• The reliability challenges of AI in real-time sports information

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Samuel Goodman, Co-Founder of Cheeky, a sleep and wellness company disrupting the dental care industry. Cheeky pioneered the direct-to-consumer night guard market by leveraging 3D printing technology to create custom dental devices at a fraction of traditional dentist prices—turning what was an $800-1,000 purchase into an affordable subscription service. Starting with zero dental industry knowledge and a cheap 3D printer purchased at a convention, the three co-founders have scaled to a seven-plus figure business serving hundreds of thousands of customers while maintaining a lean team of just four people in-house, supported by specialized external agencies.

• Entering and dominating an untapped D2C market with no industry background
• Scaling a hardware subscription business with 3D printing technology
• Building credibility through dentist partnerships in a trust-heavy category
• Navigating the evolution of Meta advertising from 2018 to today
• Managing 2-3x increases in customer acquisition costs while maintaining profitability
• Expanding from D2C to major retail (Walmart) and dealing with legacy brand competition
• Operating a seven-figure business with a four-person core team plus external agencies
• Using direct mail marketing for customer retention and reactivation
• Leveraging AI for operations and finance while keeping creative production human

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Shae Biron, Marketing Director at Candy Digital. Shae shares how she's building community-first Web3 experiences for DC Comics collectibles without any marketing budget—relying entirely on organic reach and cultural momentum. From creating the first AI-powered DC supervillain through community voting to launching multi-layered campaign experiences tied to major film releases, Shae reveals the tactical playbook for marketing in the participation economy. Her approach demonstrates how Web3 enables fans to transition from passive consumers to active co-creators, fundamentally changing the relationship between brands and their audiences.

• Building zero-budget marketing strategies through organic community engagement
• Creating layered campaign experiences tied to cultural tentpole moments
• Designing collectibles that unlock exclusive content and evolving narratives
• Balancing education for Web3 natives versus newcomers in content strategy
• Implementing community-driven product development through voting mechanisms
• Measuring success through sentiment and cultural stickiness vs. vanity metrics
• Leveraging AI as an amplifier for human connection and community responsiveness
• Architecting cross-platform digital identity and asset portability

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Adit Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Leena AI. Leena AI has built WorkLM, a proprietary large language model designed specifically for enterprise environments, helping Fortune 500 companies like Coca-Cola, Sony, Puma, Vodafone, and Nestlé eliminate 10-12% of their total costs over three years by automating back-office operations. What started as Chatteron—a horizontal chatbot platform that attracted 30,000 users but only 20 paying customers—pivoted dramatically when the founders identified a specific, high-value use case in enterprise IT, HR, and finance support. The company now deploys AI agents that go live in 24 hours, replacing journeys that previously took enterprises 1-2 years and teams of 50+ people to build internally.

• Pivoting from horizontal platform to vertical enterprise solution after catastrophic product-market fit
• Deploying enterprise AI solutions in 24 hours vs. 2-year internal development cycles
• Building proprietary language models fine-tuned for enterprise workflows
• Managing organizational change when AI demonstrably eliminates entire job categories
• Scaling from 6 to 200+ AI colleagues within an organization's structure
• Creating citizen developer programs where employees build their own AI agents
• Integrating across 1,000+ enterprise applications for cross-platform workflow automation