Brand InnerActions with Jon Gaul

The final episode of our inaugural season of the Brand InnerActions podcast will not disappoint.  We are pleased to finish Season 1 with guest Lisa P. Oswald of Travelzoo. Lisa is the Senior Vice President of Global Customer Service, in support of Travelzoo’s members and clients worldwide. She is a customer strategy and operations executive responsible for leading Travelzoo’s customer service efforts and nurturing a company-wide commitment to customer satisfaction and quality.   Lisa promotes a high-performance culture by harnessing the power of her people to push the brand forward. The Brand InnerActions Podcast is brought to you by InnerView Group and hosted by Jon Gaul.  To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com.  Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.         P

On this installment of the Brand InnerActions Podcast, Jon sits down with Luke Peters, Founder and CEO of NewAir, a compact appliances brand in North America. NewAir has humble beginnings running a side hustle out of his garage over 15 years ago to building a multi-million dollar brand with over 50 employees. Today we’re going to hear from Luke about where he draws inspiration, how he uses inspiration, how he rally's his internal teams around the brand and product and some of his greatest achievements along the way. A serial entrepreneur, Luke is the Founder of five companies and host of his own podcast, Page 1. He is skilled at taking a product from concept to high-volume sales at Home Depot, Lowes, Wayfair, Walmart, and Amazon.  Luke is extremely proud of the team he has built at NewAir and attributes much of the success of the company to the dedicated people that represent the brand each and every day.  The Brand InnerActions Podcast is brought to you by InnerView Group and hosted by Jon Gaul.  To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com.  Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.  

In our latest episode, Jon sits back down with our President and Co-Founder, Chris Wallace, to see what's changed since their last conversation. They discuss why a gap still exists between marketing strategy and frontline teams. It is in large part due to the high expectations of customers across all industries that organizations are just not able to keep up. This trend is forcing companies to adapt and presents a big opportunity for how they engage their internal teams.  Jon and Chris also do a status check on the state of the podcast. Chris turns the mic over to Jon to find out what he’s learned since launching the show. To put it simply - A LOT! The good news is by taking a pause and identifying what we've learned, we've also been able to determine where we can improve. Stay tuned for a new format coming soon. We will continue to feature leaders who are turning marketing on its head, but it is our goal to get to know these change agents on a much more personal level. We can't wait to unveil our next episode soon! Chris Wallace is the President and Co-Founder of InnerView, a marketing consulting firm that helps companies transfer their brand messages to their customer-facing employees and partners. InnerView ensures the people who represent your brand have the tools and strategies to tell your company story confidently and consistently. Chris has more than 15 years of sales, marketing, and corporate leadership experience.  You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn. The Brand InnerActions Podcast is brought to you by InnerView Group and hosted by me, Jon Gaul. To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com. Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.  

The following conversation is with a true pioneer, Rafael Fantauzzi, Country Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer for IKEA US.  This episode highlights the important work he and his company are doing to create a fully inclusive work environment, contributing to a positive change in all areas of its business and in society. We discuss their limited edition rainbow shopping bag that celebrates LGBT Pride month with all proceeds benefitting the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Rafael is a true change agent, who believes the most important step in creating positive change must start internally, with your most critical audience – the people that represent your brand. We believe IKEA’s continued commitment to human rights and the way they lead the industry with inclusive benefits for their employees and their families is work all brands can learn from and start implementing. Rafael has held positions with iconic brands such as American Airlines, Coors Brewing Company and  the National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC) over the course of his career.  He held a variety of roles in sales, sales support and analytics early in his career before being promoted to management roles such as  Manager for U.S. Hispanic National Organizations/Promotions, Director of the Corporate Relations and President and Chief Executive Officer, where he was responsible for developing and integrating high impact diversity and inclusion strategic initiatives. In July 2017, Rafael accepted the new position of Country Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer at IKEA U.S. In his new role, he is responsible for anchoring the IKEA Global D&I Approach, build organizational competency, develop workplace inclusion alliances, and assist 50 retail units, 10 Distribution Centers, and 2 corporate offices with all People & Culture needs. In addition, he is part of the INGKA Global ED&I Network which includes representatives from all IKEA countries. Rafael has served as a Founding Member of the News Corporation Diversity Advisory Council, Board Member at the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), and Board Member for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). To learn more about IKEA, visit ikea.com. To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com. Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.

We are excited to be back with a true scholar of innovation, Zoe Dowling, Ph.D. Zoe recently co-authored the research study, Have Your Story Straight? – Why Brand Dilution Hurts in the Experience Economy, with our President, Chris Wallace. The study asked marketing, product and customer experience executives if their customers were hearing the same brand story at every touch point. The results were eye opening! Zoe will share the findings as well as insights on what the impact means for companies. Zoe is an eclectic blend of researcher, technologist, sociologist and marketer with a rich background across functions, industries and countries. Zoe has specialized in the online world since the late 1990s. She specializes in respondent engagement for web and mobile surveys, as well as qualitative approaches related to online communities and interview techniques. She actively combines traditional and out-of-the-box research approaches to adapt effective methodologies to a changing world. Zoe recently authored the new MRII University of Georgia online course, Emerging Methods and the Future of Market Research, and serves on the MRII Board of Directors. She is a regular speaker at webinars and industry conferences including ESOMAR, IIeX, MRMW and Quirks on topics relating to consumer insights, new technologies, and storytelling. To learn more about FocusVision, visit www.focusvision.com.  To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com. Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.

In episode 3, Jon sits down with Liz Vanzura.   Liz is a passionate & award-winning leader in hospitality and lifestyle marketing and has served in both client-side as well as agency-side C-suite marketing roles.  Currently Liz is developing a new concept for a leading Burmese restaurant chain and catering operation, Rangoon Ruby Restaurants.  Liz helps us navigate the challenge of getting your marketing messages from the leadership level down to the frontlines.  Liz’s specialties are in content marketing, public relations & new product/business development. From Superbowl spots to social media content, Liz has collaborated with top creative & strategic minds to help launch or grow iconic brands including Wahlburgers, Truly Sparked & Sparkling, Cadillac, VW and HUMMER to name a few! Liz earned a Cannes Grand Prix, Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year and was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Achievement. Her accomplishments include the successful worldwide launch of the VW New Beetle & HUMMER brands as well as the renaissance of the Cadillac brand. To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, please go to innerviewgroup.com. Make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.

We are thrilled to officially launch our podcast with a true innovator in the customer conversation space - Rob Simek. Rob is the Executive Director of Customer Experience at Xfinity Mobile and has been an integral part of helping shape the customer experience at the Media and Technology Leader. In his current role, Rob was able to design the customer experience for mobile from the ground up. Rob believes one of the company’s best assets in achieving this goal is their front-line teams.  Prior to helping launch Xfinity Mobile in 2017, Rob led numerous customer experience, marketing and sales operations programs within Comcast since 2004. Before Comcast, Rob managed a broad portfolio of client relationships for several marketing communications agencies. To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, good to innerviewgroup.com. Please make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.  

There is much more to a brand than just a series of commercials and digital banner ads. A brand is about the connections between a company and its customers. In this podcast, we'll look at the moment of truth for brands - the customer conversation. We journey inside the minds of the brand architects to learn how companies are rethinking human-to-human interactions and mobilizing their employees to make sure the brand promise matches the brand experience. In our debut episode Jon sits down with the President and Co-Founder of InnerView, Chris Wallace. We learn the motivation behind the name Brand InnerActions and the reason he feels so strongly that “Everyone is in Marketing” inside a company. To learn more about InnerView or to obtain a transcript, good to innerviewgroup.com. Please make sure you subscribe to get the latest episodes.