Making Sense of Martech – Details, episodes & analysis

Are you overwhelmed by the ever-changing world of marketing technology? Searching for clarity, insight, and insider knowledge?

Welcome to Making Sense of Martech, the official podcast from The Martech Weekly, hosted by Juan Mendoza and Jacqueline Freedman.

Each week, we break down the tools, strategies, and trends shaping the future of marketing. You’ll hear candid conversations with top industry leaders in The Hot Seat, and get practical answers to real-world challenges in our Office Hours format. 

What to expect every Wednesday:

• The Hot Seat: Jacqueline interviews leaders at the forefront of Martech, surfacing unfiltered insights and deep analysis on the biggest shifts in the space.
• Office Hours: Juan and Jacqueline tackle the latest news in our industry and questions from our subscribers.

This show delivers the same trusted research and clarity you’ve come to expect from The Martech Weekly. It’s designed to cut through the noise, save you time, and help you lead with confidence.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to stay ahead of the curve—and don’t be shy. We’d love your feedback or ideas for what to cover next.

Links & Resources:

• The Martech Weekly Website: https://themartechweekly.com/
• The Martech Weekly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-martech-weekly/

From third-party to first-party: Building a better data foundation

What do you think of when I say “tech start-up?” Those words probably conjure up thoughts of a small team working out of the founder’s garage somewhere in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, or Cupertino. The reason that image springs to mind is because that is how a bunch of the biggest and most influential tech companies started out over the years. But who started this trend?

Well, it’s not a plucky start-up anymore, but the answer is Hewlett Packard. Way back in 1939, Bill Hewlett and David Packard founded HP in a one-car garage at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, which is now adorned with a plaque reading: The Birthplace of Silicon Valley. A lot has changed since then: Far from their fledgling days when they produced audio oscillators (which Disney used to test the sound equipment for the movie ‘Fantasia’!), HP is now a multinational IT mainstay.

The original HP split into two companies in 2015: Hewlett Packard Enterprise for enterprise products and services, and HP Inc for its personal computer and printer business. The split between its B2B and B2C customers was reflected in its data architecture. Like many legacy businesses, HP found itself in a situation where it had separate platforms and data stores for commercial and consumer data managed by a plethora of different stakeholders, leading to a severely siloed data landscape.

Over the last few years, HP has overcome these challenges by bringing together its fractured data landscape into a modern, composable data architecture befitting its history as the origin of the Silicon Valley mythology. To understand how HP went about this transformation, The Martech Weekly sat down with Kumar Ram, Global Head of Marketing Data Sciences, and Luis Alonzo, Head of Customer Data Strategy and Engineering. 

Kumar and Luis’s responses have been edited for clarity and congruency.

A conversation with Eric Seufert.

In this episode, I’m joined by Eric Seufert to talk about his thesis-slash-catch phrase “everything is an ad network.” Eric is a successful entrepreneur, investor and media founder who is focused on the intersection of mobile apps and Adtech.

Eric worked a number of Adtech roles in Europe which led him to founding and exiting analytics platform for mobile developers Agamemnon. He is now investing in companies in the Adtech space with Heracles Capital and runs the deeply respected and always interesting Mobile Dev Memo.

In this episode, we talk about Adtech branching out into all kinds of new commerce, retail, and platform media channels, Europe’s role in the development of mobile apps and gaming, what will happen to the web if Eric’s catchphrase “everything is an ad network” becomes a reality, privacy and the threat of walled gardens, whether or not programmatic has a future, media power laws, the 1% of ad networks and many other topics…

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Eric on LinkedIn.

A conversation with Gareth Noonan.

In this episode we’re joined by a leader in the world of B2B adtech and martech, someone whose expertise has truly left an indelible mark, Gareth Noonan.

Gareth Noonan is an accomplished General Manager at Demandbase, recognized for spearheading international cross-functional teams in Sales, CX, and Operations. With a track record of steering business units to generate over $150M in revenue, Gareth's proficiency extends to Programmatic Strategy, Operations, Sales, Business Development, and Product management. He's an expert in mobile app and desktop video, OTT, native, and display advertising across all screens.

Gareth has held prominent positions at leading industry players. He served as the General Manager for Americas at Smaato, driving impactful strategies in the Adtech landscape. As the SVP of Operations at AdFormics, Gareth contributed to their success for nearly three years, showcasing his strategic prowess. Currently, Gareth is the GM of Advertising at Demandbase.

In this episode, we discuss the journey of building Demandbase's demand-side platform and their pivotal shifts in Adtech thinking, the challenge of adapting B2C-centric Adtech to the intricate B2B landscape, the significance of a B2B-specific DSP for Account-Based Marketing strategies, the concept of the "dark funnel" in marketing and its impact on B2B campaigns and lastly, we explore the rise of Connected TV in the B2B realm.

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Gareth on LinkedIn.

In this episode, we’re joined by Bobby Tichy and Michael Burton, co-founders at Stitch. Both Bobby and Michael are well-respected within the martech industry, bringing a unique perspective to customer engagement, CX, tech stacks, and the martech industry overall.

Bobby Tichy is a veteran of two of the most well-respected brands in martech, Marketo and Salesforce, where he led and supported implementations for many big brands. After his time with those two companies, Bobby moved onto Lev, a Salesforce consultancy, before the company was acquired in 2022 by Cognizant. At that point, Bobby teamed up with Michael to co-found Stitch, a martech consultancy that focuses on Braze and MarTech architecture. Now in his role as Chief Solutions Officer, Bobby leads the company’s solutions team, and loves to talk about martech architecture, customer engagement platforms, the customer journey, and more.

Michael Burton is also a veteran of Salesforce who has worked at several other companies, including ExactTarget, which went on to be acquired by Salesforce. After leaving Salesforce, he also made his way over to Lev, where he rose up the ranks from Senior Director to SVP to CEO, the position he held when the company was acquired. Now serving as the CEO of Stitch, Michael is continuing to focus on building and scaling professional services for marketing technology. His areas of expertise include meaningful metrics, customer engagement, CX, and the martech industry as a whole.

In this conversation, we dive into going through the process of a company acquisition, implementing the right martech stack, CX strategy, Stitch’s partnership with Braze, and a look to the future of martech.

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Bobby on LinkedIn and Michael as well on LinkedIn

In this episode we have Michaela Aguilar. Michaela is the head of business partnerships and ecosystems at Acoustic, a customer engagement platform company. Most recently Michaela has been leading a new Martech course with ADMA here in Australia called the Marketing Technology Certificate. Michaela also works as a Mentor at not for profit group Women in Data, and has a long and storied career in customer experience optimisation and analytics.

In this episode, we talk about the connection between education and Martech utilization, solving some of the education problems in the Martech industry in Australia, and how marketers should be thinking about and buying tech.

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Michaela on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A conversation with Josh Manion.

In this episode we have Josh Manion joining us. Josh is the CEO of Vault JS, and previously worked as the founder of Ensighten, and the CEO Stratigent, both successful companies in the analytics, Adtech and data management space. Vault JS offers an advanced AI solution that continually scans data collection technologies in brands and alerts teams to suspicious activity, data leaks or accidental sharing with third parties. something they call “data assurance”.

In this episode we talk aboutVaultJS’ approach to building privacy-positive tech in the Martech and Adtech space, what data assurance is, data leakage horror stories, and the current state of data monitoring in the Martech industry.

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Josh on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A conversation with Alexandra Theriault.

In this episode, we have Alexandra Theriault, the chief growth officer at Adtech company Lotame. Alexandra has been working with Lotame for more than 15 years, playing several key roles in the company as it has grown into an international Adtech player.

Lotame plays a key role in advertising and increasingly in the Martech industry through its widely used cookieless Panorama ID , data marketplace and recently announced Spherical platform, a CDP accelerator. Complementary to the CDP and accelerating that into Adtech use cases.

In this episode, we talk about why Lotame has decided to step into the Martech world with the Spherical platform, the role of first-party data in a post third-party-cookie world, how identity is changing in Adtech and if we’ll start to see a divergence or paid and owned focused CDPs.

• Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• You can find Alex on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A conversation with Rajan Kumar.

In this episode, we have Rajan Kumar, CEO and cofounder of The Lumery. He’s an unusual guest because not too long ago Raj was my boss! It’s a pleasure to have Raj on to talk about their latest research entitled Stacks on Stacks on Stacks - The Voices of Martech. Raj has pioneered a unique approach to MarTech consulting, combining the optimization of tech stacks with the development of clients’ internal capabilities, processes, and data-driven cultures, ensuring lasting outcomes can be achieved. Rajan is passionate about building high-performance teams through supportive culture and loves collaborating with forward thinkers.

In this episode we talk about the “Ferrari in the garage” problem in Martech, how leaders in enterprise brands thinking about investing into Martech, coordination problems in Martech, the path to progress, and the influence of personal ambition when buying and using Martech.

Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can find Rajan on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A conversation with Shoshana Wodinsky.

In this episode, I’m joined by Shoshana Wodinsky, a technology researcher and former investigative reporter doing some of the best investigative journalism in the space of Adtech, privacy and online surveillance.

Shoshana is the investigative director for consulting firm Web X Ray. Shoshana has had her work cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She is a prolific writer, penning articles like, How Google Ruined the Internet (According to Texas), Here's How California's Prop 24 Could Better—or Break—Our Privacy for Good, Opportunism, Thy Name Is Zuckerberg to name a few.
In this episode, we talk about the problems plaguing Adtech, the challenge of consumer privacy in a world of tech giants, why Shoshana is dedicating her career to investigating tech companies from a privacy lens, and how to balance enabling free online content and services while preventing the surveillance of consumers, among many other topics.

Go here for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠show notes, links, and resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Juan Mendoza on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Listen on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠everywhere else.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can find Shoshana on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.