Explore every episode of the podcast The Creative Operations Podcast 2.0
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 43 - Simplify and Scale: The Promise of One-Stop Print-On-Demand | 08 May 2024 | 00:16:15 | |
Through the lens of a fictional brand, Three Beans Coffee, on the CampaignDrive by Pica9 platform, Kevin illustrates the concept of a comprehensive one-stop shop for all marketing needs. The discussion focuses on key themes such as flexibility for users, brand control, and the plethora of options in approval, payment, and fulfillment. Topics such as organizing content by campaigns, the importance of templating, implementing approval loops, and vendor agnosticism are highlighted. The episode underscores the efficiency and efficacy of modern print-on-demand systems in empowering local entrepreneurs and driving marketing success. To learn more about CampaignDrive's print-on-demand capabilities, we recommend setting up a live product demo: https://www.pica9.com/request-demo | |||
| Episode 42 - Unveiling the Blueprint: How Northpoint Recovery Scaled Creativity | 27 Feb 2024 | 00:26:12 | |
Get in touch with Chris: Chris Foust’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjfoust/ Northpoint Recovery’s Website: https://www.northpointholdings.com/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. Click the link below to speak with a local marketing expert: | |||
| Episode 32 - ONE YEAR OF CREATIVE OPERATIONS 2.0: A Look Back at Our Journey | 01 Jun 2023 | 00:03:31 | |
Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 32 - EVOLVING CREATIVES: "Machining" the Creative Operations Process with Russ Perry | 25 May 2023 | 00:26:42 | |
Highlight Quotes "It's how do we normalize the inputs and make sure the inputs are as great for any experienced client and we found that creates such a better output. For the inexperienced client that isn't thinking about the details, our process gets all the information required every single time. Then for the experienced client, what's really nice is that it's very repeatable." RUSS: Avoid platforms or tools that have a lackluster brief process "Many of those poor experiences, when you're using other platforms, are self-inflicted. You're just not giving enough information. So whatever you're using, review the input. What signal are you communicating? Are you communicating something that's clear or are you expecting people to guess? And if it's the latter, the experience is probably going to be a little bit more work to try to get that up to speed"
Get in touch with Russ:
Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com
Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 31 - DAM 101: Metrics for Success and How to Achieve It with Kevin Groome | 27 Apr 2023 | 00:11:52 | |
Highlight Quotes KEVIN: Find the health of your DAM with transactions per session "When we see that there's at least 1 to 2 transactions per session, we know we've got a pretty good healthy DAM. If we find that our transactions are actually lower than our sessions, it usually means we need to look at either our keywording, our corporate taxonomy, our structure of categories and subcategories in the DAM, or some other aspect of the user experience." KEVIN: Pageviews indicate the efficiency of user experience "If you've got more than 10 pageviews per transaction, you've probably got a user experience problem. If you have pageviews that are 3 times the number of transactions, you're probably doing really well because a user has managed to come to the homepage, conducted a search, found the asset they're looking for, executed a transaction with it, shared it, downloaded it, transformed it, and done all of that in just 3 pageviews. That's solid." Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 30 - Creating a Unified Organization Across Multiple Locations with Christina Strong-Regan | 25 Apr 2023 | 00:20:52 | |
Highlight Quotes "I put together a lot of the campaigns and execute them across our channels, such as email, social, and events, but I love to get feedback, especially, from sales because sales reps are in the field on a day-to-day basis. I always say that sales can't work in silos and I think each group does great work when there's lots of collaboration." CHRISTINA: Project management basics and automation for efficiency "I have a well-structured project management process in place. This includes clearly-defined roles and responsibilities, timelines, deadlines, and regular updates to ensure the projects are on track. I also look for efficiencies, so if there is an opportunity for templates or automation or the implementation of a repeatable system, then I use it." Get in touch with Christina: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome| Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 29 - Focusing On Audience Personas with Matt Koyak of Regional One Health | 13 Apr 2023 | 00:21:59 | |
Highlight Quotes Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 28 - Maintaining Efficiency Through Rapid Growth with Troy Sacco of Five Star Parks and Attractions | 06 Apr 2023 | 00:17:42 | |
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| Episode 27 - Coaching The Marketing Inexperienced Franchisee with Heather Reid of Franchise Marketing Gurus | 28 Mar 2023 | 00:24:08 | |
Highlight Quotes | |||
| Episode 26 - Non-negotiables for In-House Agency Teams with Amy Spears of Highmark Health | 16 Mar 2023 | 00:20:35 | |
Highlight Quotes AMY: Own the brand and row in the same direction "So when you're always focused on what the customer/member/patient experience is going to be, and we all have a common belief of what our key tenets are of our brand, which is all focused on customer experience, that allows you to have the right dialogue, the right healthy debate, the right back and forth to really get at the best experience that you're creating." AMY: Create a culture that treats external partners as team members "That really gets back to culture and setting expectations and demonstrating what that means and feels like with those external partners, no matter if it's a creative agency, a production extension of the team, even a technology plugin as needed. And that's really how we operate." Get in touch with Amy: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 25 - Creating a Center of Excellence for 14 Brands with Casey Hurbis of Rocket Central | 27 Feb 2023 | 00:21:34 | |
Highlight Quotes CASEY: Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace "DEI, that is not an and/or a plus, it is always on. It is at the forefront of everything we do whether it's Super Bowl, or down to sales materials for our partners and B2B clients, and it's a lens through which we look at all times." CASEY: Creative ideation brought by the younger workforce "I was a hand-raiser when it came to digital and social. I was like, "how can I embrace those?" What's really interesting is that when you watch the younger talent enter the workforce, you always have to step back and remind yourself that he, she, or they have known nothing different." Get in touch with Casey: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 24 - Unlocking the Power of User Management on CampaignDrive with Kevin Groome | 17 Feb 2023 | 00:14:21 | |
Highlight Quotes KEVIN: Auto approval of user accounts significantly impacts adoption "When there's a significant lag between the request of an account and the provisioning of the account, even a week is a long, long time from the user's point of view, we can see those first user adoption statistics go down significantly." KEVIN: Give users the ability to define the level of permission they need "If you can get users to define the user experience they themselves need, you have a much lower level of work for yourself in user management and you usually have a much higher degree of user satisfaction, which just leads long-term to greater ROI." Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 41 - Digital Organization Demystified: From Photo Shoots to File Structures | 15 Jan 2024 | 00:00:25 | |
Visit https://thedigitalorganizer.com/pica9 for additional resources and stay tuned for more insights on creative operations in future episodes. Get in touch with Shawn: Shawn’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnlemon/ The Digital Organizer Website: https://thedigitalorganizer.com/ The Digital Organizer’s File Organization Guide: https://thedigitalorganizer.com/pica9 Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. BOOK A DEMO NOW! | |||
| Episode 23 - A Team of 1: Innovating Post-Pandemic Marketing with Kimberly Harrison of HOUSEpitality Family | 13 Feb 2023 | 00:17:20 | |
Highlight Quotes KIMBERLY: Location is a big driver for the locations that survived "I think it has been location specific. Five of our nine restaurant locations are based near some kind of body of water. And so of course, those were the ones that tended to see people coming back more quickly. There's opportunities for outdoor dining for those who weren't quite ready to eat indoors again. Of course, the atmosphere is a big part of the experience there and that's what brought people back so quickly." KIMBERLY: One-off requests keep the fire alive for new marketing ideas "I don't discourage anyone from bringing those ideas to me anyway. And if I can do it, then I do. I find pockets of time here and there where I can create a new marketing asset for someone that they're really excited about, and I'm happy to do that just because I want to keep that fire alive for them too. If I say no to every idea, then they're gonna stop coming to me with them, and I don't want that to happen."
Get in touch with Kimberly: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 22 - Making Sure Your Message is Delivered, Executed, and Activated with Melissa Merrifield of DMOS Orthopedic Centers | 02 Feb 2023 | 00:25:12 | |
Highlight Quotes MELISSA: Use software to hone in on customer experience "Once you have the data to back that standing that you are the experts in the industry and you are doing the things, it kind of changes the story, just a little bit." MELISSA: Making smart decisions even with limited resources "Data is the foundation of understanding your customer, your client. There are so many great resources out there, including Google. Once you understand how to leverage those free resources and help you make smart decisions to truly take that data to tell the story and drive with content experiences."
Get in touch with Melissa: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 21 - Defining Success For Creative Operation Teams and Creating a Culture of Trust and Confidence with Stephen Gates | 25 Jan 2023 | 00:23:58 | |
Highlight Quotes STEPHEN: Overcome anxiety that operations leaders must have all the answers "The biggest thing you need is a plan, not necessarily the answer because I think a lot of leaders in that place, feel like I need to have it all figured out. I need to be able to understand what this is. That's not the way we solve problems." STEPHEN: Connecting operations concerns with the bigger picture "You're always going to have two very different perspectives. Upstream executives, marketing, things like that, they're going to care about the bigger picture, the bigger brand, they want consistency, they want whenever I go into a social media platform and I type in our brand and I see all of those distributed different locations, that this all looks like one company." "But I think the downstream, whenever I talk to an automotive dealer, a hotel, they have very immediate, very close in problems. And so I think one is definitely making sure you're doing education with the downstream with those sort of markets so that they're sure that they understand what the impact is, why this matters, that there's a bigger picture." Get in touch with Stephen: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 20 - Breaking Down the True Cost of One-Off Design Requests | 27 Dec 2022 | 00:14:40 | |
Highlight Quotes KEVIN: Disruption, turnaround time, brand consistency, staff churn, and local market loyalty are below the waterline costs of one-off requests "Below the waterline, there are all kinds of costs that are imposed on the organization by one-off design requests that aren't so easy to measure as minutes that can be translated into dollars." KEVIN: A simple creative services intake form "As an in-house agency, it would be extremely useful to develop a simple form crafted in the language that a local marketer can understand and that's designed specifically for those simple one-off requests." Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Marketing Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisee and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 19 - Chatting With 2021 In-House Agency of The Year, Scott Schmidt of PwC | 02 Dec 2022 | 00:22:11 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: SCOTT: The importance of having a single platform for work and records “We know they're not all gonna work the same, but to be able to have everything in a single place in our system of record. And that was the most important thing is that it could not only have the team work together or work separately, when appropriate, but also to gather the metrics for our leadership, that show that we can prove that we are. One of the things is very important for an in-house agency is proving your value.” SCOTT: Importance of team bonding and cohesion “Make sure people are happy and able to work efficiently and collaboratively. I'm sure being in-person at times would be great and when we can do it, when we can come into in-person collaborate, it does happen. We do try and get together when possible. But it's something that we've been very fortunate that we were already in a position where we were ready to work virtually.”
Connect with Scott and find out more about his work: Scott Schmidt | PwC | PwC.com Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Empower your brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 18 - Blending Franchise Brand Integrity and Local Flair With Ashley Mitchell | 18 Nov 2022 | 00:20:08 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: ASHLEY: Maintaining the balance of brand integrity and local flair “The biggest thing is making sure that everyone understands that they're responsible for the experience in their market, and they're responsible for understanding their market and what will resonate. But then what are those things that are inside that brand box that they can do with, though, we try to be very cognizant and all of our messaging and all of our materials to have multiple options so that people can decide. ASHLEY: How to get the franchisees to live the brand “The biggest way to do it is to really, it starts with training, and then empowering your people to do what needs to be done to really execute on your brand in that market. And maybe that comes from the Disney in me of you know, when I worked for Disney, everyone knows what Disney stands for. And everybody knows, there are a lot of guidelines and a lot of red tapes sometimes. But the reason behind it is because Disney is Disney.”
Connect with Ashley and find out more about her work: Ashley Mitchell | Streamline Brands | StreamlineBrands.com Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Empower your brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 17 - BRINGING FRANCHISE BRANDS TO LIFE: A Conversation With Northeast Color, Derrick Ableman | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:35:29 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Kevin: What scaling in franchising really means “In the franchising world scale means not just automating and creating or, you know, building the kind of network and muscles as you describe it, the machines that you have, but giving a franchisee a voice in the creation of that and making that experience unique at the individual location level.” Derrick: What makes an effective digital signage "Whenever you see a Planet Fitness, McDonald's, Jersey Mikes, or any sort of, um, franchise; it is definitely a national brand, but you are looking at a small business that is a member of your community, right? And that alone is why someone is going to have that level of dedication and investment that you felt upon entering that space. We can put all of the wall covering we want. We can make all of the cool signage, but if the spirit isn't there, you will know. And so I think that that is something that is one of those better kept secrets of franchising is that it really is someone's life, right?" Connect with Derrick and find out more about his work: Derrick Ableman | Northeast Color | NortheastColor.com Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 16 - User Training: A Super Power in Creative Operations | 17 Oct 2022 | 00:29:11 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Kevin: The impact of training on the system “As our knowledge base has grown, as our training has become more systematized, we've seen a kind of a corresponding decrease in support tickets, just overall volume across systems. I wouldn't say anything scientifically. But generally, as a trend, the training, and the upfront orientation have improved. We've seen the systems themselves start to operate on a greater scale, and with less moment-to-moment or day-to-day intervention. Jessica: Being proactive, instead of reactive “I think it gets back to people want to self serve. They wanna feel like they can either understand the system intuitively or they can find the answer really quickly. And it just goes to show, system administrators, and we've seen this within Pica9 itself as well, is that people wanna be proactive. They don't wanna be reactive. They wanna think, you know, within what am I reasonably going to get and how can I not get pecked to death with like one-off questions of, you know, 'hey, um, I don't understand this.'” Connect with Jessica and find out more about her work: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 14 - MOVING FROM CHAOS TO CONFIDENCE: A Crash Course On Local Marketing Chaos | 19 Sep 2022 | 00:15:22 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Kevin - Defining Local Marketing chaos: “A world in which folks are operating often without much of a plan, working with vendors of many different kinds, from local agencies to local media, to printers, and vendors. and all of this often happening without any clear feedback mechanism to show the team back at brand” Kevin - Effects of Local Marketing Chaos: “You find yourself without sufficient information about what's actually going on in the field in the first place, and because you can't see what's going on, you cannot justify what has gone on, and that means you can't justify your agency budgets. So you end up with fewer resources the next year than you actually need.” Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 13 - 5 QUESTIONS TO ASK TO SEE IF TEMPLATING IS RIGHT FOR YOU | 09 Sep 2022 | 00:26:32 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Kevin - A brief view of templating: “Templating systems have kind of become all the rage because so many different marketing departments are trying to find ways to operate at scale, without increasing headcount. And without endangering brand integrity.” Kevin - Ensuring that the creatives are on the same boat: “Don't just carry on forward with a templating system, when that commitment isn't really there. Here's why, the creatives are key to the success of the system. If they do not share your vision of how templates can empower local users without endangering the brand. If they're not on board with that mission, you're going to find it difficult to load the system with content. And new content is the number one driver of user adoption.” Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Scale your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Marketing Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchise and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 40 - Agile in Action: Humana's In-House Agency Approach to Creative Operations | 18 Dec 2023 | 00:24:57 | |
Get in touch with Laurie: Laurie’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lschiada/ Humana Website: https://www.humana.com/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 Website: Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. BOOK A DEMO NOW! | |||
| Episode 12 - THE BRAND TO AGENCY CONNECTION: All Things Partnership With Marci Kleinsasser And Angelique Mcmillan of Handyman Connection | 25 Aug 2022 | 00:23:58 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Angelique - The community goal of Handyman Connection: “We're really working with our local owners to get buy in and community engagement to showcase everything we can do to help better the local community improve local households.” Angelique - The Handyman franchising structure: “The beauty of franchising is that you get this custom turnkey marketing program, especially with Handyman Connection, where we have trusted and vetted vendor partners that work with our local offices that have proven success.” Marci- Franchisee marketing support: "As you know, franchisees come into the business to operate the model of the franchise, not necessarily to be expert marketers. So as Angelique mentioned, we provide them a turnkey marketing program and plan, and we wanna make sure that our partners can be a support to that plan." Angelique - Accountability of the franchise: “It's a two way street and holding our partners accountable, but also holding our franchisees accountable in the way they partner with our vendor partners.” Angelique - Handyman’s role to its franchisees: “As a home office, we operate more as a coach to our franchisees guiding them towards best practice and continued success based on proven forms of advertising and proven technologies that work well to help them achieve their business goals.” Connect with our guests Marci and Angelique and find out more about their work: Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Marketing Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 11 - DAM 101: The Top 3 Questions to Consider When Choosing a DAM | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:32:24 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: The problems that a DAM solves: “Duplication of assets, more and more time spent hunting and pecking for assets. Those are the kinds of problems that usually lead a creative operations team to look for a DAM.” The different case uses of DAM: “Depending on the complexity of your needs, as you evaluate it, you'll be able to ask your DAM vendors to show you those different use cases. So think inside and outside and think simple and complex.” Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 10 - FROM PRE-PRESS TO POST PANDEMIC: A Fly-By History of Creative-Production Technologies with Gary Ritkes | 18 Jul 2022 | 00:29:38 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: What Gary sees in technology today: “So much has progressed in technology, and believe it or not, the consumers, the people that are buying services from you and the outputs the print that might be associated with it, it's not so much about that individual piece and the quality of that piece or the entire job.” Gary on the rise of digital representation: “I think we've come to an age where a digital representation on the screen uses workflow and collaboration tools to create these assets, and then to prove these assets are becoming the norm of everything that we want to work on.” Gary on the alignment of creative operations and technology: “It was great to see how we could help these creative operations evolve, and there were so many folks in the ad agencies and within these creative departments that were so interested in technology, but the technology needed to catch up to where they wanted it to be.” Gary on how to handle a shiny object problem: “It comes back to a strong team, understanding budget, understanding where you want to get to, and then looking at what is going to satisfy what you need.”
Connect with Gary and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 9 - THE "RESPONSIVE AGENCY": A Conversation with Ben Prager, CEO of Prager Creative | 14 Jul 2022 | 00:26:07 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: What Kevin sees in clients nowadays: “The client, these days, at least, what we hear a lot, is the client is starting to clamp down on budgets and creating tighter and tighter boxes into which that creative product has to fit.” Ben on the scalability of the agency model: “When you have an agency model like this, and that relationship is good, and you're delivering quality and delivering on your promise, when people invest or companies invest in one type of marketing that generally naturally expands.” How Ben picks the right talent: “I always try it what is what seems I would say, comes across as great talent or who could be, is usually someone with a diverse background, who has done multiple things at multiple different agencies.” How important is brand consistency according to Ben: “Brand consistency is, I would say, more critical than ever, but what has to be considered and it's a big consideration and should be thought about all the time. How do you keep that fresh and adaptable for all those places that your brand has to be consistent in?” Connect with Ben and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 8 - It’s been a DAM Journey! Frank DeCarlo On DAM Champions, DAM Investments, And DAM Best Practices | 02 Jul 2022 | 00:23:00 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Frank: “DAM is never finished, right. It's a living, breathing thing that changes, as companies change and evolve.” Frank: “There certainly are out of the box functionality that work really well. It has everything that you need and still some still need or require things to be customized. You need to, I guess, pick your poison. You pay for it one way or the other, whether it's in costs, right? Time or level of effort, right? You're gonna be married to this DAM system hopefully for a while.” Frank: “You can have the best DAM system on the planet. But if you still can't find what you're looking for, because the person is searching for it in a different jargon or a different way, and that's not encompassed in the schema or sitting down and figuring out what's important for that company, then it's useless.” Frank: “The system is a platform for realizing the decisions that they've made about how to organize and how to provide access to the assets.” Connect with Frank and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 7 - The Ins and Outs of Marketing Hubs: A Conversation with We Are Acuity’s Peter Cronin | 23 Jun 2022 | 00:23:12 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Peter: "The savvy brands are winning, but the danger is that those that take their eye off this ball are gonna get left behind." Peter: “I think that in the world that we live in, the brands are key, and they are the ones that do the big above-the-line brand building sort of messaging and get the interest in the products.” Peter: “I think equally you know, the local store has a really important part to play in building that local relationship, helping the customer to discover products, interact with them and feel them.” Peter: “I think the days of seeing local and national as distinctly separate things really is gone and you've got to make sure that you know, all of those multiple touchpoints that the customer has with your brand are consistent.” Connect with Peter and find out more about his work: Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 6 - LET'S GET CREATIVE: Templates, Fonts, and More With Karen Gress | 18 Jun 2022 | 00:22:44 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Karen: “Think of a template as something that can be used over and over again. So it lessens the one-off manual labor for administrators. It streamlines the campaign to market for marketers.” Karen: “There are very few downsides to making something a template if you have a template workflow accessible to you.” Karen: “Inconsistencies can arise and begin to creep in, right? Templates help with brand consistency, as well. So it's not just about getting work done faster. It's getting work done better.” Karen: “I personally in my own work, and my from my own creative perspective, love templating if I can set something up perfectly one time, and I can go back and use that perfect setup again and again and again.” Karen: “I think it's very important for marketing teams and brand designers of any company, to work with their agencies and talk with their creative agencies, whether they're internal or external, about font usage.” Get connected with Karen Gress and learn more about her work with the link below:
Empower your brand with CampaignDrive by Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 5 - COLOR ME MINE: DeBow Padgett’s Colorful and Artistic Journey In Franchising | 09 Jun 2022 | 00:18:59 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: DeBow: “Marketing has changed tremendously into digital with social media kind of coming into being the front runner of everything marketing, but every year is different as well.” DeBow: “Our guests are our best resource too, our user-generated content is just incredible. You know, because like I said, they are those movie producers with a camera in their pocket.” DeBow: "Luckily, our franchisees, while they come from all walks of life, all have one thing in common and that's that they love creativity. You kind of have to love it, right? In order to own paint rooms, pottery studio, but we try and get the burden off in every aspect of marketing." DeBow: “I think it's the tools that allow me to scale. You know, before, when I would work in other more complex design platforms, you know, you would sort of artboard out a specific, sort of maybe a social square, or you know, an email banner, and then you would have to sort of recreating it piece by piece.” Get connected with DeBow Padgett and learn more about her work with the link below:
Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 4 - THROUGH FRANCHISING AND BEYOND! Understanding Franchising In This Ever-Changing World with Emily George | 02 Jun 2022 | 00:19:33 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Emily: “We were connecting with brand partners and folks who weren't even working with us yet to see how we could help them gather feedback from their systems and immediately start getting input into what franchisees needed most what was happening in the system, how franchisors could respond to that.” Emily: “You can't deny a digital-first existence anymore. You know, any brand that is trying to say that, that you just don't have to have a website, you know, I don't know where you're living, or where people will find you if you just don't think you have to have a website at all.” Emily: “It is as much a great resignation as it is a realization that it's not a resignation issue. It's a retention issue. And brands have not built strategically to retain long term.” Emily: “You're not just you're not buying a business when you invest in a franchise. You are making an investment with a cold selective whole of other people in that system.” Get connected with Emily George and learn more about her work with the link below:
Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower their franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 3 - HOT DAM! Let’s Talk Digital Asset Management With Preston Anderson of Marriott International | 27 May 2022 | 00:20:36 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Preston: “I'll go back to really looking at our brand marketing our continent marketing teams, and having the DAM set up, so it helps them solve business problems. That's really where I want to focus.” Preston: "What we want to do is help people do their jobs. And as soon as you start making it hard, they start to back off from your system. They start to not trust the system and that could lead to other negative consequences." Preston: “I'd say a really big challenge is really making sure you understand the data when you're trying to migrate assets from one system to another. Those assets are coming with their own specific set of data points.” Preston: “You need to make sure you know what each data point means some of these data points were created years ago, and maybe before the folks managing the systems were around, and you're not sure what the data points mean.” Get connected with Preston and learn more about his work with the link below: Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 39: Mastering Creative Operations: Organizing Your Digital House with The Digital Organizer | 29 Sep 2023 | 00:25:45 | |
Get in touch with Shawn: Shawn’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnlemon/ The Digital Organizer Website: https://thedigitalorganizer.com/ The Digital Organizer’s File Organization Guide: https://thedigitalorganizer.com/pica9 Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. BOOK A DEMO NOW! | |||
| Episode 2 - FRANCHISING AND BEYOND: Michele Whaley On The Roles Of Brands And Creatives In Supporting Franchisees | 19 May 2022 | 00:14:37 | |
Show Highlights:
Quotes: Michele: “I think it's really tailoring your communication to who you're talking to, and working with, in making sure that they understand what the brand has to offer.” Michele: “I think the more that you can communicate, communicate, communicate and over-communicate, whether it be a podcast like we're doing now, or whether it be a webinar that you're having weekly or monthly, the online training classes that you have, just making sure that you are communicating with the franchisees.” Michele: “The consumer wants to trust, they want reliability. So that makes me say that brands and the essence of the brand and what consumers know and love about a brand are at the forefront, it needs to be at the forefront.” Michele: “At this particular point in time, I think it's most important for the franchisees and corporate in the franchise to be aligned. Because the franchise is here to support the franchisee, especially in difficult times like this.” Michele: “I think that the biggest words of wisdom advice that I could be is don't try to make or force franchisees to do something because you think it's the right thing.” Get connected with Michele and learn more about her work with the link below:
Empower your brand with Pica9, the Brand-to-Local Platform that helps world-class distributed brands empower your franchisees and dealer networks. | |||
| Episode 1 - Get to know your host, Kevin Groome | 06 May 2022 | 00:16:03 | |
Welcome to this inaugural episode of The Creative Operations Podcast. Your guest host Chris Decker interviews Kevin Groome, CEO of Pica9 about the vision for the podcast and what to expect from coming episodes. Kevin Groome is an expert in distributed marketing platforms and their impact on brand equity and brand integrity. He is a published author and speaker on issues in brand management, SaaS, digital asset management and creative operations. As a creative director and bootstrap entrepreneur, Kevin has built both a high-tech marketing agency and a SaaS company. Kevin has deep expertise in driving brand awareness at the local level for multi-location enterprises, including Marriott, Polaris, Liberty Mutual, Royal Bank of Canada, Volkswagen, Marvin Windows & Doors, Apple, Palm, HP, among many others. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kgroome/ Kevin is currently the founder of Pica9 - the distributed marketing platform that helps world-class brands empower franchisees, dealers and agents to win the local marketing battle. learn more at https://www.pica9.com/ | |||
| Behind the MarTech Curtain: A Conversation with Adam Bartimmo | 14 Sep 2023 | 00:22:00 | |
Get in touch with Adam: Adam’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abartimmo/ Wray Ward Website: https://www.wrayward.com/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. BOOK A DEMO NOW! | |||
| Episode 37 - From Fear to Loyalty: Transforming Patient Journeys with Paul Gruensfelder of Select Dental Management | 24 Aug 2023 | 00:24:01 | |
In this episode, Kevin engages in a dynamic discussion with Paul Gruensfelder, Vice President of Marketing at Select Dental Management. Paul expands upon a distinctive approach that underpins Select Dental's success: the PRS framework. This acronym encapsulates the core principles of predictability, replicability, and scalability, which guide their strategies across the board. As they operate dental practices in a multitude of locations, including eight states, the challenge lies in preserving a unified and high-quality experience for every patient. What emerges is a remarkable tale of collaboration and customization. Paul articulates the importance of working in tandem with practitioners to align messaging, ensuring that each practice maintains its individual brand identity while adhering to standardized systems that optimize patient engagement. This balance between personalization and efficiency is central to Select Dental's operational ethos. The episode also unveils an intriguing insight into how Select Dental tackles the intricate landscape of patient journeys. Addressing common patient concerns—such as fear, cost, and convenience—through well-crafted communication strategies forms the cornerstone of their approach. By nurturing a dynamic and engaging patient journey, they not only alleviate reservations but also nurture patient loyalty, ultimately driving growth. Get in touch with Paul: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgruensfelder/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome |Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. BOOK A DEMO NOW! https://www.pica9.com/request-demo
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| Episode 36 - The People Factor: How In-house Agencies Thrive with Yari Ising | 21 Jul 2023 | 00:26:24 | |
Highlight Quotes “If you have all these duct taped solutions put together because you're kind of building as your team grows without thinking bigger picture. One, you're not getting the cost savings that you think that you're getting. And two, you're also not thinking about the future team members that you're going to be overwhelming.” YARI - The need for empathy and understanding. “I think, for me, it comes down to over-communication and documentation. I am very vocal with folks and encourage my teams to be very vocal and transparent about, hey, if you're asking for this, this is how long it's going to take.” Get in touch with Yari: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yari-ising/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome |Pica9 | Pica9.com Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that provides consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 35 - Achieving Growth and Innovation in Creative Operations with Melanie Draheim | 29 Jun 2023 | 00:21:52 | |
HIGHLIGHT QUOTES “Having a streamlined and defined process for how requests come in. Having that overall strategy and those goals we're working toward, annual planning, and knowing that things will come up because they always do, but being able to track and vet those requests.” MELANIE - Strategic Integration: Leveraging Technology for Creative Operations Success. “Being strategic and always starting with strategy first and then researching tools and technology to meet those goals. Versus, hearing about a tool, “Oh, this is really cool”, and then trying to figure out how to use it. Our information technology team really does a great job of this by collaborating with business owners, like marketing, on their goals and their business needs to create a roadmap versus the other way around.” Get in touch with Melanie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-draheim/ Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: Kevin Groome | Pica9 | Pica9.com
Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||
| Episode 34 - Calculating the Cost of One-Off Design Requests | 22 Jun 2023 | 00:16:23 | |
In this episode, Kevin Groome provides a detailed breakdown of the cost of one-off design requests and emphasizes the importance of considering the visible costs of these requests. He highlights the impact of these requests on employee burnout and the need to prioritize strategic and creative tasks. He also discusses the benefits of streamlining the design request process and encourages clear communication and expectations between the local marketer making requests and the creative operations team. Kevin notes the importance of keeping an eye on employee churn that might be caused by high billable hours availability and a high efficiency rate devoted to one-off design requests. Finally, he recommends understanding an organization's specific needs when implementing a self-service approach to design requests to reduce costs and improve efficiency. To calculate the impact of what one-off design requests are costing your team: https://airtable.com/shrrRK3WwUxDbJ0s6
Highlight Quotes "I called it the shocking cost of one off design request. Because for me, almost always the notion that something that only takes a couple of minutes actually consumes an hour or more of professional time is always." KEVIN: Taking a second round of design revision "Almost always in the first round, our customers discover something that they didn't think about when they first submitted the task. Something emerges. I always allow a little bit of time for that and I'm going to allow ten minutes there." Connect with Kevin and find out more about his work: | | Manage and scale your distributed brand with Pica9, the brand-to-local marketing platform that helps by providing consistent branding and localized experiences across every location. | |||