Podcasts about Personalization

AdTechGod sits down with Andrew Swinand, CEO of Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) and former CEO of Publicis Groupe Creative U.S. and Leo Burnett. Andrew shares how AI-powered content automation is helping global brands produce personalized creative at scale, reduce production costs by 50%, cut campaign timelines from 8 weeks to 2 weeks, and drive stronger marketing performance. They discuss operational AI vs generative AI, the future of agencies, creative effectiveness, personalization, and why the next decade may bring a creative renaissance instead of creative replacement. Takeaways AI-powered content automation is enabling brands to create personalized content at an unprecedented scale. ITG helps global brands localize campaigns across languages, markets, and audiences using AI. Brands are reducing production costs by roughly 50% while significantly speeding up go-to-market timelines. Operational AI delivers more immediate ROI than purely generative AI use cases. Most companies already possess valuable creative assets but struggle to find and utilize them efficiently. Effective personalization is not about one-to-one marketing but identifying "meaningful breaks" within audiences. Creative quality remains critical despite AI advancements. The future agency model will focus more on strategy, insights, and creative concepts while automation handles production. AI will eliminate repetitive production work but increase demand for higher-quality creative thinking. Andrew predicts a creative renaissance driven by the abundance of AI-generated content. Chapters00:00 Introduction & Welcome01:01 Andrew Swinand's Career Journey04:36 From Publicis & Leo Burnett to ITG06:20 What Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) Does07:43 How AI Transforms Content Production09:10 Cutting Costs, Speeding Up Campaigns & Personalization at Scale11:00 Why More Creative Variations Drive Better Performance12:42 Operational AI vs Generative AI15:18 AI-Powered Asset Organization & Content Discovery17:03 The Right Way to Personalize Advertising20:00 Why Creative Matters More Than Ever21:28 The Future of Agencies in an AI World23:28 AI Slop, Content Overload & Marketing Challenges26:36 What Marketers Are Overhyping About AI27:03 Andrew's Vision for Advertising in 5 Years28:23 Final Thoughts & Wrap-Up Guests: AdTech God Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Poll Question at Smerconish.com: Which is more valuable to you: the benefits of artificial intelligence or your privacy? Michael explores a provocative new way of thinking about artificial intelligence after reading "The Problem with Personalization" by media scholar Joseph Turow. While most AI debates focus on privacy and surveillance, this conversation examines a deeper concern: whether hyper-personalization is creating entirely different realities for each of us, weakening the shared experiences that hold communities together. Is AI's greatest cost the information it collects—or the social fabric it quietly unravels? Cast your vote on today's poll and hear why this emerging issue deserves far more attention. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we dive into how interactive visual experiences drive online sales and lower backend costs. Angelo Coletta, founder and CEO of Zakeke, shares how his plug-and-play platform helps brands stand out with 3D product customization, virtual try-ons, and brand-safe AI automation. He also reveals strategies for launching quickly without complex development cycles. Topics discussed in this episode:  How visual interaction layers improve customer loyalty.What customization tools do to lower backend operational costs.How automated club uniform ordering eliminates manual mistakes.What 3D visualization adds to enterprise sofa configuration.Why AI-driven image generation boosts catalog visual variety.How computer vision algorithms prevent costly manufacturing errors.Why brand safety guardrails prevent AI prompt hallucinations.What 3D catalogs do to reduce global sampling costs.How prompt-driven onboarding speeds up setup processes.Why flexible public APIs simplify complex stack integrations.Links & ResourcesWebsite: https://www.zakeke.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zakeke/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zakeke.official/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zakekeofficial/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZPd_oA-Hjq6CE4G1vSUM1QGet access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/3jxf4djhI'd love your feedback. Tap the the link to send me a text. ______________________________________________________LOVE THE SHOW? HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS!Follow the podcast to get every bonus episode. Tap follow now and don't miss out!   Rate & Review: Help others discover the show by rating the show on Apple Podcasts at https://tinyurl.com/ecb-apple-podcasts   Join our Free Newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommercecoffeebreak.com/   Support The Show On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EcommerceCoffeeBreak   Partner with us: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/partner-with-us/

Can you still trust an incoming phone call when AI can imitate a familiar voice, personalize the conversation and target information specifically to you? In this episode, I speak with Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, about how artificial intelligence is changing phone fraud and why the personal devices carried by employees are becoming part of the corporate attack surface. Alex explains how YouMail uses data from its consumer call-protection service to identify scam behavior, understand the type of fraud taking place and connect those patterns with the phone numbers involved. Advances in large language models have improved this analysis, but the same technology is also helping criminals build far more convincing campaigns. Generic robocalls are being replaced by personalized conversations designed to extract information, impersonate trusted people and manipulate victims. Fraudsters can use AI throughout the attack chain, from identifying targets and analyzing stolen data to generating dialogue and adapting an approach during the call. Alex argues that attackers have adopted these capabilities faster than many defenders expected because successful fraud produces an immediate financial return. The conversation also examines why voice biometrics can no longer be treated as sufficient proof of identity. As voice-cloning tools improve, companies may need to combine multiple forms of authentication and move sensitive communications into trusted applications. A call received through a banking app, for example, could give the customer greater confidence that the caller really represents their bank. For businesses, the risk extends beyond company-managed technology. Attackers can identify where someone works, learn about their role and contact them through a personal phone that may sit outside corporate monitoring. An employee's private number can therefore provide another route into the business through impersonation and social engineering. Alex also makes a persuasive case for collecting less personal data. Personalization can improve a service, but every additional piece of information becomes something an attacker might obtain during a breach. His advice is to identify the minimum information needed to deliver the intended experience rather than gathering data simply because it may prove useful later. Despite the seriousness of the threat, Alex offers evidence that coordinated action can produce results. He has seen brand-impersonation campaigns reduced from tens of millions of calls each month to around 100,000 through monitoring, disruption and cooperation between businesses and telecommunications providers. If AI is making fraudulent calls harder to recognize, should businesses stop treating the telephone network as a trusted communication channel by default? Listen to the episode and share your thoughts with me.

Healthcare in America is stuck in a "sick care" model—we wait until people are already ill, then scramble to treat them. Dr. Gloria Winters, VP of Health Innovation at the YMCA of the USA, has spent the last year building something different: a community health operating system that pulls together your wearables, your medical records, and AI-driven insights into one place, so you actually know what to do with your health data instead of just staring at numbers. In this episode, she breaks down her "house" framework for the $5.6 trillion healthcare industry, why falls cost the country more than almost anything else, how she's working directly with HHS and the MAHA movement on preventive health policy, and why personal agency—not just data—is the missing piece in helping people actually change their behavior. If you've ever felt like your Apple Watch tells you everything except what you should actually do next, this conversation is for you. Key Takeaways:

Are you leaving money on the table by ignoring AI personalization in your Amazon brand? Neil Twa dives into the missed opportunities most operators face by not using customer behavior signals. While ad spend continues to rise, conversion rates remain stagnant. Neil breaks down a real case from one of his portfolio brands in the home goods category, where traffic and conversion were decent, but repeat purchases lagged. Discover how AI personalization can transform your brand's performance by utilizing data you already have. Neil shares three actionable moves you can implement this week, regardless of your current level. Open your Brand Analytics Search Query Performance report, filter by top SKUs, and identify search terms driving impressions but not conversions. The High Voltage Business Builders Podcast is here to help sellers at every level maximize their potential. Ready to implement with us? Join the Voltage Business Builders cohort at voltagedm.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep326 See your Amazon numbers in one place and protect your margins with Caiman Data at voltagedm.com: https://voltagedm.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep326&learn_mcp=1

summary In this episode, James Stephan-Usypchuk, AI deal architect and founder of Solutions, shares insights on how AI is transforming deal sourcing, growth strategies, and the importance of creativity in AI development. Discover how AI can be leveraged ethically to drive strategic growth and innovation. key topics AI-driven deal origination and sourcing Growth engine systems and strategic scaling Ethical considerations in AI development Personalization and automation in sales and marketing Future trends in AI and entrepreneurship takeaways AI can originate thousands of off-market deals in a short period. Personalization in AI messaging enhances engagement and response rates. Ethical AI development is crucial to maintain trust and privacy. AI can be a magnet for the right opportunities when tuned properly. Creativity and innovation are essential for AI to solve new problems. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Guest Background 01:16 Solutions' History and Focus 02:01 Evolution of AI in Business 03:15 AI in Deal Sourcing and Growth 04:18 How Ecliptica Uses AI for Growth 05:51 Investment and Capital Strategies 07:14 Success Stories in AI Deal Origination 10:02 Targeting the Right Opportunities 12:55 Balancing Automation and Personalization 15:41 The Role of Human Touch in AI 18:20 AI in Investor and Market Analysis 20:57 Advice for Future AI Innovators The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth. Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We're breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.In this episode, Elena and Rob explore what triggers the personalization backfire effect and why the same ad can feel helpful one day and invasive the next. Topics covered:[01:20] "Triggering the Personalization Backfire Effect: The Moderating Role of Situational Privacy Concern"[02:45] How the study tested three levels of ad personalization[04:27] When more personal data actually hurts performance[06:10] Privacy sensitivity isn't a fixed personality trait[07:10] Contextual targeting vs. identity-based targetingTo learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.Resources: Kim, H., & Han, S. (2025). Triggering the personalization backfire effect: The moderating role of situational privacy concern. Behavioral Sciences.Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tune in the latest Suite Spot episode as special guests, Dave Jacoby, Founder/Owner of Hotel Lucine and Kaleigh Wiese, Founder and CEO of Ode Places, take a moment to discuss the independent and boutique hotel landscape and the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami in this episode for the Suite Spot Independent Hotel Show Series. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot podcast. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here with another episode of our Independent Hotel Show series. This is season two. We’ve done quite a number of these independent hotel show series episodes, but this is the first one where we’ve got multiple guests. So I’m excited to bring them both in today. First with me, Dave Jacoby, founder and owner of Hotel Lucine, and Kaleigh Weise, founder and CEO of Ode Places. Dave, Kaleigh, thank you so much for being with me today. Dave Jacoby: So excited. Thanks for having us. Kaleigh Weise: What a way to kick off the independent hotel show. Dave and I got to share the stage last year. Dave Jacoby: We did. Kaleigh Weise: And I feel like we could have talked for a million more hours. And we’re friends, but also we’ve worked together, so I feel like I’m excited to be on together. Ryan Embree: Alright, well this is awesome. I’m excited. We’ll, we won’t be able to speak for a million hours, but we’ll definitely have some time today. And I’m excited, but as tradition here in the Suite Spot, one of the wonderful things about our industry and hospitality is people come from all different walks of life to get into our industry. Sometimes you fall into it with a summer job, sometimes you start as a bellman. Like myself, we love to hear these stories. We live and breathe these stories in hospitality and share them with others. So let’s start by just a proper introduction and maybe your hospitality journeys that led you to your respective positions. Kaleigh, let’s start with you. Kaleigh Weise: Yeah. Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. So if you see me at the show, come find me. I have been self-employed by whole entire career, and I have always been obsessed with the form and function of business. Like, how do you have a brand that really resonates despite, you know, I see your brand is like a lighthouse, right? Like, how are you attracting the right people? But also at the end of the day, like that business has to be incredibly healthy. And then you layer on a hotel, which is a 24/7 breathing company. And so how do you make sure that you have the longevity with systems and processes and you have a brand that continues to resonate as the years develop. And so I got my start serving in essentially helping brand and position and help with coaching for hospitality and service-based businesses. And then that naturally led into places where people slept, right? So I actually was working with event venues for a long time and when we got into the lodging conversation, I was like, now this is fascinating, a one time event versus like, keeping this up 24/7, what does that look like? And so we, I started out places essentially in 2018 after being in Northern California in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, we got to support a property out there. And I was like, the resonance that I got to feel to plant seeds of purpose into the land there of those 80 acres and understanding the choices we made would affect short-term and long-term generations really put me on a trajectory where that’s where I’ve committed my work so far. Ryan Embree: Really cool origin story there. And a lot of parallels from the event industry to hospitality and lodging. So, Dave, what about you? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, thanks. So I’m born and raised in Philadelphia, but somehow I ended up in Galveston, Texas, so I did not have that on my bingo card growing up. But here I am, out of college, worked in some finance and kind of hotel development related positions. First in New York City, then went to graduate school, then moved to Las Vegas and actually was in the casino space. But throughout that whole kind of portion of my journey was developing projects that were other people’s ideas and kind of on behalf of others, even though, you know, in Vegas, for example, I led development and opening up a resort there, moved to Galveston, where my wife is from. And my family’s now based in 2016. And just felt like I fell in love with Galveston, but felt like Galveston needed a slightly different hospitality experience here. Something with a little more soul that matched the soul that this whole town has. But the hospitality offerings that I didn’t feel like harnessed that soul really well, yet found an old kind of out of favor motel on the beach and figured out a way to acquire it and came up with a brand and a design and a team that we put together. And it’s been a labor of love and, you know, blood, sweat and tears sometimes, but a lot of smiles and happiness too. And we’re going on three years open, so, okay, that’s kind of how I got here. Ryan Embree: That’s like the America, the hotel American dream, what you’re doing right now. And listen, I went to school for hospitality and I think just this conversation already between the event management, hospitality, the gaming that you’ve included. I mean, this is like hospitality management 101 through the experiences, but certainly a familiar one where you’re bouncing around. But it sounds like you found your home there in Galveston. I was really excited about this conversation because it’s very rare I get to talk to two guests that have kind of built their brands from the ground up, right? And I think this is a challenge and a task that especially independent hoteliers have to kind of face and building their story and building a brand that resonates with travelers, especially today. So how important is branding and storytelling to connect with guests? Because I think that is what independent hotels strive to do is create this connection that might be missing right now and, you know, really hopefully leads to loyalty in the future. And what maybe advice would you share from your own personal kind of branding journeys? Dave, we’ll start with you and then go to Kaleigh. Dave Jacoby: The brand is so central to what we’re doing. We sort of started with that brand identity, and I use the term identity not as like a business jargon term, but it really is an identity. We personified our brand and there are still decisions that we’ll make where we have this fictitious Aunt Lucine that we will use as a muse for decisions we make around property. And it’s sort of a guiding light for us. But, I think the concept of kind of personifying your brand really helps make it make sense, at least for me. So, I look at how do we connect with our guests? I really look at how we connect with our local community and use that as the window in to our guests with the kind of overriding assumption that if our whole town and local surrounding population considers us part of the fabric of that neighborhood, that the outsiders will, that authenticity will come through. Outsiders will see that that’s where they’ll want to stay. So then, back to the personification of it, just like in your personal life, if you are friends with a group of people, you need to add something to that group and you need to then take something back from that group. So I sort of look at Galveston as the environment here is like a play. And instead of us coming in and saying, well, what is everyone else doing, we’ll do that too. So that we fit in saying, well, how do we add a new main character to the cast here? And I sort of look at it that way. And so what are we adding that’s different, but how does it fit into and, and be complimentary with everything around it? And that’s, that’s kind of how we, we looked at how we fit in and what we offer to our guests both, as, you know, overnight hotel guests and local community that might eat, drink, hang out with us. Ryan Embree: Kaleigh? Kaleigh Weise: Well, I wanna also compliment Dave and Keith have done such a phenomenal job at Hotel Lucine that they have a brand bible, if you will. And I think that it is a testament to how the vision casting of Aunt Lucine infiltrates, the purchases that they make for design, the plants, the employees, the uniforms, how they want them to talk and walk, and all of that alignment I think resonates really well with attracting the right talent, but also attracting the right guests. And so I think having intentionality, I always say, your brand is what other people say it is. So we have to remember that we have control over how we position our brands and what we want. So I think intentionality is first, which I think Hotel Stein does. On the flip side of that, I think we have to be realistic about who is traveling and who is coming to the hotel or who is also the consumer. Obviously on the B2B side, I usually like to pick three to five different personas, and I think that that helps shape making decisions. We have a property we’re working with right now that is on 12 acres. There’s 43 cabins. It’s primarily outside, right? It’s like, okay, who is the ideal person who’s looking for a property like this? And I think the clearer that you can get with that, it helps you understand where your revenue programming is gonna come for, like, come from. It helps you understand like where you should put costs. Like do they care about the amenities? Do they care about the soap? Do they want a robe in the room? And I think sometimes we make decisions that are too close to maybe how we would like to travel or what we think is best, and we forget what our guests might be looking for, which then leads to greater revenue opportunities and better residents that leads to people wanting to come back because they feel like they belong there, right? Like that was created for them. So that’s kind of the flip side of I think knowing who you are, but knowing who your guest is is equally as important. Ryan Embree: Yeah, a hundred percent. And there’s, I mean, guests are leaving us clues constantly on who they are based on online feedback, social media posts, reviews, there’s so many things. Even just a day-to-day conversations, you would be surprised, a tip that everyone gets, you know, you wanna know, you wanna learn about what guests think about you, just hang out in your lobby for a couple minutes during breakfast and just hear the conversations about what people are saying about their stay. But Dave, I loved your point there about talking about being embedded in the local community because you think about people that really prioritize a unique experience in the independent hotel space, which they’re independent hotels are so positioned to do, if you don’t become a part of your community, they’re looking for that unique kind of experience that only an independent hotel can provide them. If you’re really embracing your local community and sharing those same kind of aspects of it’s gonna hopefully resonate with that traveler. And then hopefully they amplify that story a little bit in some of the ways that I was talking about. But one of the things we’re gonna talk about the independent hotel show in a second in September, very excited about that. But one of the things that I love about that show is sometimes as independent hotels, you might feel a little bit like you’re on an island because you don’t have that big brand behind you, right? So getting a bunch of independent hoteliers together, you hear about some of the challenges that are going on right now. And unfortunately right now there’s a lot of noise in our industry. Economic shift, geopolitical factors, rising operational costs and margins are very thin, can be challenging for independent hoteliers. Where do you guys see opportunity right now? Because independent hotels are always looking for that little bit of edge. Where do you see opportunity right now in the state of this industry and maybe where do you see some shared challenges that we have to kind of battle as an industry for independent hotelilers? Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then maybe Dave you could zoom in maybe a little bit more on your property and market. Kaleigh Weise: I think the biggest thing that I’m seeing is, I talk about all these revenue drivers as like little dials. We get to tweak and twist, right? And I think that through some of the impacts that we’re having that are things that are outside of our control, right? There’s only so much we can do with some of these things. There are a few things that you actually can kind of take control over. And I think that investing more in the community and finding opportunities to drive revenue with the people who are in your local area who maybe aren’t traveling for the summer or fall or Christmas or whatever that might be through that event programming, it is not uncommon for us to go into a independent hotel and they haven’t really ever thought about events, especially if they’re under, let’s say 60 keys. Even 20 to 40 or 80 is a great number because you have an opportunity to having a full buyout, or you can have 40th birthday parties or a wedding or something like that. And that can be a huge revenue driver. And so I think as we look at shifts that are happening with, you know, the average event or wedding right now is booking a hundred or event is booking 120 days out. I think the average wedding is booking somewhere between nine and and 14 months out. You can start forecasting revenue a little bit more in control and then focusing on your rooms and your distribution in shorter term pickup opportunities. And so I think understanding where are all of your revenue drivers? What do you have control over? What do you not have control over? And where are, maybe there are opportunities that will be very low lift to you to be able to fill dates and have revenue coming in ways that haven’t been the pickup that you anticipated. Ryan Embree: yeah, and food and beverage, huge opportunity and doesn’t, you’re absolutely right, Kaleigh. It doesn’t necessarily need to be travelers from outside of your market all the time. The hotel restaurant, I feel like has got a bad rap for the last decade or so, but it is turning around, right? And it’s a place where people want to be. It’s a social setting where when people come, you might be hosting people and for the holidays or what have you, and you might find yourself at a hotel restaurant even if they’re not staying there. So it’s certainly a shift in what’s happening right now, but especially for independent hotels. Dave, what about you? What have you kind of seen in your market and maybe any creative solutions for some of these challenges right now? Dave Jacoby: I mean, I’ll sort of piggyback off of what Kaleigh said a little bit there, but it’s events and Kaleigh has sort of focused on booking events from, you know, outside groups. I’ll sort of look at it more as your internal event programming I think is also really important. And, and that’s, and it’s our kind of best way that we use to connect with our local community. And what that event programming is can be so many different things. It sort of depends who you are, who is in your community, and how do you fit into your community, what do you offer? So kind of when I talked about earlier, need to offer something back to your community that you’re in, for us that means a lot of live music. We’re very plugged into the local live music scene and we have a great curated music program every weekend night, all year long. And then in the summer we have a series called Sunset and Sounds, which is sort of larger bands that are touring. Some are touring the U.S. Some are based in Austin or elsewhere in Texas, and they come down to hotel scene and we put on free shows for hotel guests, the community, whoever wants to go. We do wellness events and that might be cold plunges or sound baths. We’ll partner with local organizations that wanna do fundraisers or other events. And it’s just a way to activate the space. It’s a way for people that are not from your town to have a experience where they feel like they’re integrated into what’s happening in that community. It’s a little more interesting for them as a visitor. And if you’re staying at a large chain hotel down the street or in another market, they just can’t deliver that. They don’t have the people, enough people with decision making power that are in the community that are focused on that. It’s just not the way they’re built. So that’s really the advantage I think independents do have over the larger chain hotels. We might not have the distribution systems and some of the other marketing spend, but we do have the ability to deliver on a day-to-day basis and experience that’s just different than what those larger hotels can. Kaleigh Weise: And I would like to comment that, you know, we’re seeing data around three hour drives being really hot, right? So I think sometimes you think you’re marketing to the next nearest city or, you know, looking for that destination destination visitor. I think really thinking about who are those markets that are within a three hour drive that are easy pickup for you once they know that you exist and you’ve again pointed your lighthouse of your marketing and branding in their direction, I think that’s a wonderful way to pick up opportunities for guests and community and events and things like that. Ryan Embree: Hey, I am the father of a 5 and a 3-year-old. And let me tell you, I’m a huge proponent of the three hour trip because that’s about as far as I can get before all of us go a little crazy. So you, you can bet I’m definitely looking for those opportunities to get out there and have that type of experience that Dave, you know, it’s around this time of year when we’re I’m talking to independent hotels that I get so inspired because the freedom of having an independent hotel and the activations and programming that you can put on, I think sometimes independent hotels, because they see some of these big branded hotels not doing some of this programming. They think should I be doing it? And it’s maybe because they have so much red tape in their branding, they have to get approval from, legal or their brand to actually run these things that they’re just not doing it. So it’s such an opportunity, and again, I get so inspired to kind of see that because the way the ingenuity that these independent hoteliers have is just, it’s second to none in our industry. It’s really creating a very cool experience, which is now being showcased and highlighted easier than ever via social media and reviews. So as we talk about industry trends, I wanna see, Kaleigh, you were talking about the three hour trip, right? Wellness is a big one, f &b, what are some of these maybe traveler trends that you’re starting to see bubble up and emerge right now? And how can independent hotels capitalize on these trends and over maybe branded competitors? Dave, you want to start maybe any trends that you’re noticing in your market in Galveston? Dave Jacoby: I’d say one might be the, and to use a buzzword here, the bleisure trends or the business leisure trends. So we will find, sometimes we’ll get small groups, maybe it’s a board or a small creative agency or something like that, that will come and have an offsite with us. And it’s partially meant to be used as a brainstorming session or some obvious business function to their meeting. But it’s also a time to hang out. Some of these groups might bring spouses with them or there might be a business component and then they’ll stay for the weekend and then it’s a little more freeform or social at that point. Or I’ll sort of see this bleisure happen from the other direction where someone will say, Hey, I want to come for a weekend and be at the beach, but why not come on Wednesday night and I’ll stay and I’ll just, I work from home anyway. That’s become so much more acceptable for all or part of the week for so many people. What does it matter if I work from home, from home home or from a hotel or a hotel lobby where I’ve got coffee? And it can be tended to. So we sort of see leisure trips happen in both those directions where the, the work kind of lends a little more leisure and the leisure lends a little more work. Kaleigh Weise: We also have a great living room for people to work and hang out and stay and enjoy beachside. Dave Jacoby: We do, we do. I sit in there often and you’re, and you’re right that it is when I overhear what people are saying about the hotel, I do my work, but I also eave drop and pop in on people and help out with things. Ryan Embree: It’s funny ’cause you know, modern day design for hotels now are accommodating for that. They know that the flexible workspace and they’re building lobby common areas a little bit larger or maybe even not so siloed so that people can mingle, interact, but also have some spaces to work from. So certainly a trend there. Kaylee, what are you seeing maybe from, as you zoom out? Kaleigh Weise: I mean I think experiences and add-ons are something that I continue to be surprised by. So if I’m the North American Ambassador for Muse, so I of course love Muse, but also cloud beds and stay in touch and all of, like, they all offer these add-on options where a guest during checkout or pre-arrival, they can add that early check-in. I’m blown away by the amount of people who opt into that $35 pre-check in or wanna add a bottle of wine to the room. Like those little details, it’s so helpful when they’re coming to have that reminder that we can make this a more customized stay for you. And so I think the sweet spot is no more than seven upsell opportunities. But I think that that even bleeds into, I know when we were helping with Hotel Lucine I’d ideate on some of these things, it’s like they ended up doing pop-up dinners on the balconies of their rooms and adding, I forget, a couple hundred dollars right? Or picnic baskets that people could take offsite. And I think people are hungry for having that almost like travel agent like experience where if the property can customize an itinerary for them or enhancements for their stay, I think they’re very excited and eager to be able to take advantage of that. So I think that’s a trend that’s happening and desirable, but something that I see a lot of independent hoteliers are stuck in the day to day and maybe not adding the attention that they could that will see the revenue that really is low hanging fruit out there. Dave Jacoby: Kaleigh’s so good at that. I mean she helped us with that as she mentioned, but she’s got this ability to kind of come in and just see what’s going on every day and she’s not seeing anything you don’t see immediately. But then she also sees these other opportunities of ways to personalize the guest experience in a way that you’re happy to do and isn’t a heavy lift for you and the guest is happy to pay for. And it’s just such a win-win. It’s almost like you get the surprise and delight moment right outta the gates and the guest pays for it too. It’s a great, it’s a great combo. Kaleigh Weise: Just a matter of training the staff and getting in on the website. Ryan Embree: That’s right. Very important. Get the buy-in from the staff. But you mentioned that word personalized. I mean that’s what we’ve been striving for in this industry for a long time. Personalization and with the rise of technology and AI like I put here, it’s not a podcast in 2026 if we don’t use those words. I don’t think I anybody would listen if we don’t talk about that or that buzzword. But I do wanna talk about it because I think especially with independent hotels, they might be more excited than most because it could figure out a way they could use AI and technology to maybe shrink the difference or find that edge against a branded competitor and maybe not feel so, you know, just David versus Goliath in that sense. So Kaleigh, have you kind of seen any competitive or creative uses of technology and AI in the industry, especially with independent hotels? And then maybe Dave you could share a little bit of your thoughts as well. Kaleigh Weise: I definitely see us being in a bit of a purgatory and as I’m talking about this, I’m thinking fast forward a year from now and I think agentic agents are at our fingertips for having access to supportive administrative help. And I see what Muse is working on behind the scenes and it’s like we’re gonna be living in a very different operational world. In I think all the best ways. And when I think about the future of an org chart at a small independent property where you have to get stuck in the day-to-day right now planning and preparing for guests and double checking things like being able to be synced in when Uber’s about to when Uber’s about to drop off your guest. And being able to be prepared with that timing. I think we’re gonna see our front desk admin become hosts for the first time and really have the time and empowerment to be able to greet them with the level of detail and customization. I also think the automations, I think we’re gonna snap that into being just such a helpful tool to ask the right questions or personalize the spaces. So I think currently it’s very challenging, let’s say for an independent hotel to offer a pillow menu, if you will, for the right pillows that that guest is gonna want. But I think in the future we’re gonna be able to have the opportunity for putting a time and attention into creating experiences that guest deserves that’s customized based on various preferences or interactions. And so I think it’s a really exciting time for actually hospitality to take back the spotlight. And that’s why people join this industry, right? Is they love hosting people and giving people experiences. And I think sometimes the admin takes away from that, you know? And I think that it’s gonna allow us to be more competitive when it comes to distribution. All of us didn’t go to school to be revenue managers, right? And I think that is a, that is a calculated game that to be able to have tools that can help support us and making sure that we’re optimizing the proper ADR and and pickup cost to be able to book our occupancy moving forward. I think it’s a really exciting time. I think we’re just in the purgatory of it right now. It’s like at our fingertips, but we’re not quite there. But I think about a year from now, things are gonna feel like it’s restabilizing in a really exciting way. Ryan Embree: So Dave, from an owner’s per perspective, you’ve, you just talked about how carefully you’ve kind of curated and built this incredible experience at Hotel Lucine. What is your thoughts on when you think about implementing technology or, or some sort of new AI initiative into the guest experience and how you make sure that doesn’t impact your brand too much? Dave Jacoby: I like the term Kaleigh used about purgatory. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. If you look at the amount of, certainly in the independent space, useful applications of AI in the day-to-day life versus the amount of words in print publications about AI, it’s a massive imbalance there. To me, the right ways that AI can be implemented are ways that are invisible to the guests. So the example Kaleigh was using is one that we’re, I’m rolling out actually now in kind of bits and pieces is how do you use AI to improve your day-to-day workflow? And for me, if it’s, I can unleash it on my Google drive and have it pull a bunch of information and synthesize it and put report together for that I can then give to our team. We’ve got better data and that would’ve taken me three hours, but I let it run in the background for 10 minutes and it’s done. You know, things like that to get better insights on your business, that can be done. Now, to the extent we can use AI to free up front desk agents, I’m working through a specific protocol on that now, just to get all the, what’s your pet policy, what time is check? And we just get so many emails that are repetitive in nature to answer. And the front desk agent isn’t always on top of it. Sometimes they’re doing other things, and I’d rather they be eyeball to eyeball with a guest acting as a host or hostess to the people that come in and providing person to person hospitality and not in the computer. We can free that up. You can do that now. So it’s a matter of just setting the systems up and taking the time to do it. And you can set it up with as much automation or oversight as you want to do, but it’s a matter of taking the time to actually do it so that you can free up those personal interactions. Because that’s where we as independent hotels, I think are, that’s what we people come to us for, is for that personalized touch and feeling like they’re having a human interaction and they’re not at a big corporate commoditized hotel. So we wanna give them that as much as we can. Kaleigh Weise: And I mean, I think human-centric is so important. I think we can, we can still remain to have a human-centric business with these tools. I hear all the time people feel like they’re so behind with using AI. And I guess even for those listeners today, I think you can relinquish the shame because the speed in which AI is gonna continue to grow is gonna continue to grow. And I think the application of that, depending on what market you’re in, what tools you’re using, I think if you can focus on one implementation thing that’s gonna actually help you serve your guests better, you’re not behind. It’s really just pacing that is right for your team, for your guests, and what’s gonna be right for you. But also don’t be afraid of it. Like, I think that there’s a lot of exciting things and tools that are only gonna be able to support us as an industry. Ryan Embree: My big bold prediction is that I think the GM of the next couple years is actually gonna look a lot more like maybe the GM of 20, 30 years ago before all of that kind of work that what we traditionally thought a GM had to do with reports and all of these things that actually some of those desk jockeying kind of tasks, AI can, agentic AI could potentially take care of for you. And then you get back to kind of doing what both of you described as, you know, that face-to-face human interaction. So what I’m hoping is that, you know, a lot of this technology actually kind of causes more of our service driven people and hospitality professionals to kind of rise to the top and create some really cool, memorable experiences and maybe just get that service back to where it was. Because it just feels like there’s some aspects of it in some hotels where it just, we completely missed the mark. So that’s my, maybe that’s me being a litte too, but that’s, that’s my 2 cents and what I hope happens. Dave Jacoby: No, no, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I thought of one other great application for independent hoteliers for AI. We don’t have an in-house IT guy. We don’t have an in-house like maintenance tech. We’re just not big enough to carry those positions. But you can go to your, claude, chatGPT, whatever it is, and say, why did my TV turn on three times in the middle of the night by itself in room 212 last night? True story, this happened and the guest was upset. And then I explained what my systems are and how they work and what they can, you give it a little bit of input information, it’ll help you diagnose. I haven’t yet tried the recommendation ’cause I’m on here talking to you guys. But there are all kinds of solutions you can ask for help for and they might not be right, but before you’re spending money to call out an HVAC technician, find somebody who can handle whatever this one specific system you have is and can service that you can troubleshoot a lot of these things and 60, 70% of these things you can fix on your own because it’ll walk you through it. It’s really a helpful way to save money. And that also helps guests experience, right? Because now if that TV’s not turning on three times middle of the night for that guest tomorrow night, she’ll be happy. Ryan Embree: Love it. Yeah. There we go. Just claude gonna be employee of the, of the week over there at Hotel Lucine every week If we get that figured out. But I do wanna shift our attention to the reason we, you know, started this series, the Independent Hotel Show this year happening September 16th and 17th in Miami Beach. We could not be more excited. And for our Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Dave, you’re on the advisory board and Kaleigh, you’re a brand ambassador like myself. We were on a call talking about the show just the other day. I wanna get your thoughts on what inspired you to get involved with this event and maybe some of your personal favorite aspects of the show. So Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then Dave, you can answer. Kaleigh Weise: I have been an active conference goer my whole career, right? Like a little bit of hustling, a little bit of gorilla marketing. And when I look back at the growth and success in my career, it really comes down to the thin threads and the people that I meet. And I think to have an opportunity to pull up a seat at the table for independent hoteliers who do feel very isolated most of the time, right? They don’t have any other friends who have independent hotels to call. They feel like they’re stuck in the day to day. This will be the fourth year. And I’ve been able to be a part all four years. And I think it’s really exciting to even meet back up every year and hear about the growth that each person is experiencing, but also what’s working in their market and not, and just because you’re in Boston or you’re in Galveston or you’re in Monterey, California, you’re gonna find that you have more the same than different when it comes to the day-to-day challenges of operating a business or being able to get in front of the right guests that you know that you deserve, that are paying the price point that you want. And so to have an opportunity to hear what’s relevant in terms of content, but also talk with other people is just invaluable. And so I continue to be really excited about the niche of, you know, the subsegment. The industry is so large in lodging and we really haven’t had a place until the Independent Hotel Show that gathers this segment of people who are doing it. Owner operated and small with a passion. Ryan Embree: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. Passion is is a word we hear a lot at that show. Because you can just see, I mean these are, you guys are both founders like I mentioned before. I mean the passion behind your brand, the storytelling makes such a huge difference. And to have that much energy and a place Miami Beach of all places, right? One of the independent hotel capital of the world, to see and hear all of that is a truly a memorable experience. Dave what about yourself? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, so unlike Kaleigh, I do not go to a lot of conferences. It’s not generally my thing, but I’ve been into this show and really loved it. I loved how we mentioned earlier how a lot of independent hoteliers haven’t really had a lot of places to congregate and kind of coalesce their thoughts together. I found the panels awesome, even the ones that I was like, well that’s doesn’t really touch what I do in my day to day, but I’m here so I’ll listen. All of them. I found really interesting. More than that, it was just the people that were there, these other independent hotel helped hoteliers who had done gone on their own journeys to get wherever they got. And they had all figured it out. Ghere was not a lot of resources in front of them telling them how to do what they needed to do. They just, they needed to pay their mortgage, they just did the next right thing and got there. So hearing the stories of how people solved whatever the issues were that were in front of them and sharing my own stories and finding the commonalities of maybe the setting was different or the problem was different, but really the approach was very the same. Or getting inspiration from people who have figured out things I hadn’t figured out yet and learning from them. So I really like just the being able to learn so much kind of one-on-one from people and in and in some of the sessions. Kaleigh Weise: I also think they do a great job of pulling together vendors and resources. It is not uncommon for an independent hotelier to go to Costco for some of their… Or order on, you know, Walmart.com or Amazon. And I feel like there really are great resources out there that are made for independent hoteliers and to bring them into the room to have a conversation around cost savings or ability to be able to elevate the amenities that they have on site. I’m really excited ’cause I think of the show floor this year is gonna be bigger and better than ever from what we were hearing in preparation. And so I think it’s a wonderful opportunity that people should allow time to walk the floor in addition to hearing the sessions because those vendors can really change their bottom line quite significantly with implementation. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s so cool to see the eclecticness of the independent hoteliers there from, Dave, you’re a great example coming from Galveston, Texas. You could be coast to coast anywhere from like a little five room air bnb rather to a giant independent hotel in a major market. So just everything in between, all different shapes and sizes when it comes to independent hotels, independent hotels. That’s why we love them so much. That’s why we like hearing the stories and why it’s such a unique space and hospitality. And to be able to spend those couple days putting the spotlight on sometimes, this really, really unique segment, it’s such a privilege. We’ve had the opportunity to cover the show for four years as well. So we’re very excited and hope our Suite Spot listeners will join us in Miami Beach this September. So as we wrap up, I do like to just kind of give the opportunity for any final thoughts as we wrap up today. I want to thank both of you for taking the time to join me today. Kaleigh, any final thoughts before we wrap up? Kaleigh Weise: Yeah, I feel like the, the topic I wanna touch on is a lot of hoteliers in the making are interested in the show and I feel like there’s a little bit of intimidation showing up, not really having background or knowledge or even knowing what they’re getting themselves into. And so I guess from an affirmation perspective, this is a wonderful show if this is an industry that you’re curious about or you wanna learn more about or you wanna have the conversations around. And so we look forward to hopefully welcoming you in September. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, I will echo that. And kind of say there are a lot of people at this show that are interested in the space and maybe are there to learn and they’ll find that people are there like myself or other people who have kind of gone through the process and developed their hotel. I would just say to all of them here, what I’ll say to you at the show is, I didn’t know what I was doing either when I started and a lot of us don’t. And there’s no playbook. There’s not gonna be a playbook. You’re not gonna find one that’s gonna tell you what to do at all steps. You just surround yourself with smart people. You need to know what you can and cannot do and where your limits are and kind of take the plunge and figure it out as you go. And your decision making in the moment is really gonna be what’s gonna drive the process. And if you’re always waiting to have the full roadmap, you’re never gonna have that roadmap. Ryan Embree: Maybe that’ll be our next endeavor as the independent hoteliers playbook and we can publish that as a couple authors. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, a long book. Ryan Embree: Yes. Take a lot I’m sure. Kaleigh Weise: Variation A, B, C, D. Ryan Embree: Exactly. Ryan Embree: Well, Kaleigh, Dave, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time, sharing your stories today. We cannot wait for September at the Independent Hotel Show. And thank you all for listening to the Suite Spot. We will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this episode, Logan is joined by guest co-host Lee Gimpel and guest Vinnu Deshetty, the Event ROI Coach, for a conversation about one of the most misunderstood topics in the events industry right now: data. Vinnu breaks down what clean data actually means, where AI is genuinely helping event professionals versus where the hype is outpacing the reality, and what real personalization looks like versus what just looks like it. If you've ever felt intimidated by data or unsure where to start, Vinnu makes it feel human, practical, and worth your attention.SHOW NOTES:Purchase our on-demand How to Start an Event Planning Business Workshop: https://bettereventspod.com/workshopConnect with Vinnu Deshetty:Website: https://www.eventroicoach.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinnudeshetty/Connect with guest co-host Lee Gimpel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-gimpel/Learn more about the pod, Better Events Conference and more: https://bettereventspod.com/the-latestWant our updated free run of show template? Download it here: https://bettereventspod.com/templates/p/run-of-show-template-freeTHANKS FOR THE LOVE! Love this podcast? Please share with your event friends, tag us, and leave a review!——FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM:@bettereventspod@loganstrategygroup_events (Logan)@epeventsllc (Mary)

Relying solely on programmatic CTV auctions locks brands out of premium live sports and high-value cultural moments while racking up heavy middleware fees. This deep dive reveals how direct-to-ad-server tech and large language models are restructuring streaming media execution to protect brand safety, automate delivery, and enforce flawless frequency capping. Key Highlights

Not all work happens in writing. Teams that work with photos, videos, and audio need AI that works for them too. This is why, with Dropbox, you can search within multimedia content for key moments and important information—not just text. In this episode, we talk with Appu Shaji and Hicham Badri, two Dropbox machine learning engineers who are part of the team that makes all of this possible. They explain how multimodal search works—from understanding the context of the initial query, to identifying objects and actions in complex scenes—and how they ensure those models work fast, even at Dropbox-scale. ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck.  Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

When you order coffee on your phone, you're experiencing the most successful app pattern in retail: the Starbucks flywheel. Skip the line, earn points, get personalized suggestions, repeat. Rob Tedesco has spent years helping restaurant brands replicate this formula at Dutch Bros, Shake Shack, Carl's Jr, and dozens more. But here's what surprised him: not every restaurant actually needs all four pieces of that engine.Join hosts Nick Paladino and Chuck Moxley as they explore why passwordless login is suddenly the number one priority for QSR apps everywhere. We also unpack a counterintuitive truth: robots are better at upselling than humans. A cashier forgets to ask about fries. An app never does. That algorithmic upsell catches sales humans miss.We dig into how Dutch Bros turned stickers into a collectible experience that hit number one in the App Store, and why the app had to feel as fun as the brand itself. Plus the uncomfortable truth about app security in QSR: these businesses are targets for credential stuffing attacks, and that affects how seriously they take authentication.Key Actionable Takeaways:Passwordless login removes the biggest friction point - Six-digit passcodes beat magic links and device fingerprinting because they're what customers already knowBuild for your frequency, not Starbucks' frequency - Texas Roadhouse doesn't need loyalty programs because they compete on value and hospitality, not habitsAlgorithmic personalization beats human memory every time - Let machines handle upsells; your employees will forget anywayWant more tips and strategies about creating frictionless digital experiences? Subscribe to our newsletter!https://www.thefrictionlessexperience.com/frictionless/Download the Five Step Site Speed Target Playbook: http://bluetriangle.com/playbookRob Tedesco's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcharlestedesco/ Nick Paladino's LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/npaladino Chuck Moxley's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckmoxley/Chapters:(00:00) Introduction(02:20) The QSR flywheel explained (05:00) Starbucks blueprint vs Texas Roadhouse (08:55) App fatigue and Amazon exception(11:00) Passwordless login becoming standard(13:20) Device fingerprinting explained(14:30) Security threats in QSR(16:00) Why restaurants have apps(16:54) Dutch Bros sticker strategy(19:30) 10-second app design(20:00) Legacy POS complexity(22:00) Conclusion

AI is reshaping how websites build trust and drive conversions. Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch, builds AI-powered content intelligence that shows how digital content influences buyers across the path to purchase. We debate whether personalization, trust, or traffic matters most as AI reduces website visits, why LLM-driven personalization risks repeating the "creepy factor" of early automation, and why human judgment still determines whether personalization builds trust or breaks it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI is reshaping how websites build trust and drive conversions. Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch, builds AI-powered content intelligence that shows how digital content influences buyers across the path to purchase. We debate whether personalization, trust, or traffic matters most as AI reduces website visits, why LLM-driven personalization risks repeating the "creepy factor" of early automation, and why human judgment still determines whether personalization builds trust or breaks it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI can optimize every impression. It can personalize every message. It can tell you exactly what's working. So why is trust getting harder to earn? In this episode, McKinsey joins us to unpack a tradeoff at the heart of modern advertising: the more precisely you target, the more fragile your brand can become. We examine how personalization, performance and brand consistency are being reshaped in an AI-fueled market, and what leaders must rethink to scale impact without losing control.Featured experts  Craig Macdonald, Partner, Media and Advertising at McKinsey & Company Richie Naylor, Partner, Kyndryl Consult, Kyndryl  

"Fee-for-service has led to transactional primary care where providers have 10 or 15 minutes to code as much as they can just to keep the doors open. We've moved away from the idea of primary care as the quarterback of the entire health ecosystem."My guest this week is Matt Taylor, VP of Sales at Castlight. Having spent his career navigating the complex landscape of health plans, telehealth, and enterprise analytics, Matt has a unique vantage point on why our current approach to "sick care" is failing both employers and employees.We have spent decades trying to patch a system that treats health insurance and healthcare as the same thing. In reality, our current model is fundamentally incomplete - it's built to diagnose, treat, and triage symptoms, not to keep us well.In this episode, explore the shift back toward primary care as the foundation of the health plan. We discuss why point solution fatigue is killing engagement, how "benefits-aware" primary care can finally steer members toward high-quality, lower-cost providers, and how one app - acting as a centralized "front door" - can remove the administrative bloat that is currently crushing our physicians and confusing our members. We also dive into the future of healthcare navigation, moving beyond basic search tools and into personalized, next-best-action guidance that manages patient risk before it becomes a catastrophic claim.If you are an HR leader or consultant looking to move beyond the commodity trap of traditional benefit offerings and rebuild your health plan from the ground up, tune in.Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Chapters:(00:00:00) Intro: The "Nintendo Cartridge" Healthcare Reset (00:01:21) Meet Matt Taylor: From Optum to Telehealth IPOs (00:06:50) The Telehealth Boom and the "Ashes" of COVID (00:09:44) Why the Current Primary Care Model is Transactional (00:13:30) Specialization vs. The "Quarterback" Model of Care (00:17:05) Point Solution Fatigue: Why Engagement Strategies Are Failing (00:23:08) How to Create a Centralized "Front Door" for Benefits (00:29:44) The Value of Personalization and AI-Driven Navigation (00:36:20) Understanding Acuity and Frequency in Healthcare Choices (00:40:48) The Seismic Shift: Investing in Primary Care Foundations (00:44:34) Redefining the Employer's Role in Whole-Person Health (00:49:12) The Promise (and Limitations) of AI in Healthcare Administration(00:53:18) Aligning Incentives for Independent Physicians (00:56:26) Scaling On-Site Success to Mid-Market Employers (01:00:10) Future Predictions: Transparency and the End of the "Sick Care" EraKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/

"Fee-for-service has led to transactional primary care where providers have 10 or 15 minutes to code as much as they can just to keep the doors open. We've moved away from the idea of primary care as the quarterback of the entire health ecosystem."My guest this week is Matt Taylor, VP of Sales at Castlight. Having spent his career navigating the complex landscape of health plans, telehealth, and enterprise analytics, Matt has a unique vantage point on why our current approach to "sick care" is failing both employers and employees.We have spent decades trying to patch a system that treats health insurance and healthcare as the same thing. In reality, our current model is fundamentally incomplete - it's built to diagnose, treat, and triage symptoms, not to keep us well.In this episode, explore the shift back toward primary care as the foundation of the health plan. We discuss why point solution fatigue is killing engagement, how "benefits-aware" primary care can finally steer members toward high-quality, lower-cost providers, and how one app - acting as a centralized "front door" - can remove the administrative bloat that is currently crushing our physicians and confusing our members. We also dive into the future of healthcare navigation, moving beyond basic search tools and into personalized, next-best-action guidance that manages patient risk before it becomes a catastrophic claim.If you are an HR leader or consultant looking to move beyond the commodity trap of traditional benefit offerings and rebuild your health plan from the ground up, tune in.Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Chapters:(00:00:00) Intro: The "Nintendo Cartridge" Healthcare Reset (00:01:21) Meet Matt Taylor: From Optum to Telehealth IPOs (00:06:50) The Telehealth Boom and the "Ashes" of COVID (00:09:44) Why the Current Primary Care Model is Transactional (00:13:30) Specialization vs. The "Quarterback" Model of Care (00:17:05) Point Solution Fatigue: Why Engagement Strategies Are Failing (00:23:08) How to Create a Centralized "Front Door" for Benefits (00:29:44) The Value of Personalization and AI-Driven Navigation (00:36:20) Understanding Acuity and Frequency in Healthcare Choices (00:40:48) The Seismic Shift: Investing in Primary Care Foundations (00:44:34) Redefining the Employer's Role in Whole-Person Health (00:49:12) The Promise (and Limitations) of AI in Healthcare Administration(00:53:18) Aligning Incentives for Independent Physicians (00:56:26) Scaling On-Site Success to Mid-Market Employers (01:00:10) Future Predictions: Transparency and the End of the "Sick Care" EraKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/

In this episode, Cydni Tetro—President of MNTP™ and Advisory Board Member for Swire Coca-Cola—breaks down what it truly means to create transformative products that place the consumer at the center of a brand's narrative. Cydni tracks her career from early B2B enterprise roots to her time as the head of technology commercialization for Disney. She pulls back the curtain on working with Disney Imagineers to turn passive observers into active story participants—developing infrared "glow with the show" Mickey ear hats and building 3D magic mirrors for princess dresses through a meticulous validation process called "play testing". She also recounts her wild entrepreneurial ride with 3D Plus Me, detailing a legendary 60-day sprint where her team rapidly deployed custom scanning infrastructure and retrofitted action figures to launch personalized Marvel and Star Wars merchandise across Walmarts nationwide. Finally, Cydni touches on her corporate turnarounds, explaining how she scaled Brandless from a pre-startup asset to $100 million in revenue over three years and how she currently uses AI as a corporate force multiplier to handle modern industry disruption.  

From personalized décor to immersive reception ideas, couples are reimagining every part of the wedding celebration

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the pandemic years saw the office become a 'blank space', the hybrid era gradually witnessed that space fill up again through return-to-office mandates. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Rob Baker joins us to continue our 'Eras Tour'. We discuss: how the pandemic created an opportunity for 'job crafting', and what's changed since we've come out of lockdown whether job crafting has lost relevance since the pandemic, or just gotten harder to realize what new research tells us about the impact of job crafting on performance and wellbeing. You can find out more about the work Rob does at tailoredthinking.co.uk. See also: Tailored Thinking's series of articles on Work and Job Design (including AI crafting): Building Better Work by Design Rob's book, Personalization at Work: Personalization at Work In 'What I Learned This Week', Rob discussed the art of subtraction, including the Lego experiment explored in this video. Ross G referenced an article in People Management on the challenge we may experience fulfilling AI roles in the future. Like the show? You'll love our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch now. And if you want to work with us, please do visit mindtools-kineo.com or find us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Dickie Ross Garner Rob Baker

On this episode... WE'RE BACK!After almost a year, we're back and better than ever. 00:19 Return of ZacCast05:20 The Impact of AI on Business Operations29:39 AI in Local Government: Challenges and Opportunities32:57 Navigating Data Center Regulations37:45 The Impact of AI on Urban Infrastructure46:58 Automation and the Delivery Experience54:34 The Future of Personalization in ServicesAI for Cities (ZacTax blog)What is a Context Window (ZacTax blog)

When AI is at its best, the conversations can feel uncanny—almost magical in their accuracy, relevance, and speed. For that you can thank the AI agents that work together behind the scenes to search, reason, and sift through all your content to get you what you need to do your job. We talk with Jongmin Baek and Marta Mendez, two Dropbox machine learning engineers, about building conversational AI that's helpful, useful, and grounded in your team's shared context, so you can spend more time on the work that really matters. ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck.  Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

In this episode of Mission Admissions, host Jeremy Tiers has a conversation with Lauran Hundshamer, VP of Admissions and Marketing at St. Kate's. Lauran shares how her team leverages personalization to boost the campus visit experience, engagement, and enrollment. Guest Name: Lauran Hundshamer, Vice President of Admissions and Marketing, St. Catherine University  Guest Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauran-hundshamer-rott/ Guest Bio: Lauran Hundshamer is a seasoned marketing and enrollment professional with over two decades of experience in higher education, EdTech, and private business. She joined St. Catherine University in 2022, and her passion for the institution is rooted in personal experience. A proud Saint Paul native, Lauran's family legacy includes three generations of St. Kate's alumnae.  - - - -Connect With Our Host:Jeremy Tiershttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremytiers/https://twitter.com/CoachTiersAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:Mission Admissions is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too!Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jared Sanders https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredtsanders/ joins Mike Brewer https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebrewer/ to explore managed Wi-Fi being leveraged as a powerful intelligence platform to enhance resident retention, operational efficiency, and asset value in multifamily properties. It's an interesting evolution of managed WiFi: moving beyond simply providing internet access to becoming a source of operational intelligence.Companies like CBX Connect are helping bring this concept to multifamily by turning existing WiFi infrastructure into actionable insights that can help operators improve resident satisfaction, make smarter capital decisions, and uncover opportunities to drive NOI.In this episode:- Managed Wi-Fi as an under-leveraged asset- Behavioral data and resident insights- Operational efficiency through real-time analytics- Data-driven property development and leasing- Privacy and anonymization in behavioral data- Market-specific Wi-Fi usage patterns- Future vision of a behavioral intelligence platformChapters00:00 Introduction and Context Setting03:03 The Under-Leveraged Asset of Managed Wi-Fi06:16 Operational Intelligence in Property Management08:56 Data Insights from Q1 Analysis12:02 Impact on Development and Leasing Strategies15:08 The Role of Privacy in Data Management17:52 Vision for the Future of CBX20:59 The Importance of Personalization in Marketing24:06 Conclusion and Call to ActionLearn more about CBX Connect: https://www.cbxconnect.com/

Online marketing is changing every day. Are you keeping up with it? Amy Porterfield is an online marketing expert, consultant, and podcast host. Dedicated to helping people scale through email marketing, content creation, and even entrepreneurship, Amy has been in the biz for almost two decades... It's changed a LOT.  The key to keeping up? Personalization strategies. It may seem simple, but it's super effective: it drives customer loyalty and creates trust. Creating a personalized experience at any touchpoint makes customers feel like you know exactly what they need.  Also, having a large following doesn't always equate to large sales. There's a lot of noise on the internet, and it's getting even noisier. How can you turn those followers into paying customers?  And, podcasting is the backbone of Amy's business. When you create a podcast, you have the opportunity to integrate it with your other platforms. It's a huge asset to building your brand.  If you're a marketer who wants to scale BIG this year, this is the episode for you.  Follow Amy: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyporterfield/⁠ Follow Daniel: YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@themarketingmillennials/featured⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://www.twitter.com/Dmurr68⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing⁠ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: ⁠www.workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials⁠ Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: ⁠www.workweek.com

This week Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis sit down with Liz Reid, VP and Head of Google Search, for a wide-ranging conversation about AI's transformation of the search product billions of people use every day. Liz makes the case that personalization could actually help small publishers find their exact audience rather than making them invisible, explains what the "ignore" bug revealed about how AI Overviews work under the hood, and talks about why users are adapting to natural language search faster than Google expected.Also in this episode: how preferred sources and subscriptions fit into AI search, Jeff challenges Liz on filter bubbles, and Liz's take on whether "search" is even the right word anymore. New episodes every Wednesday at aiinside.show. Note: Time codes subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Start 0:09:41 - Personalization is something no one else is asking about 0:21:56 - Publisher concerns 0:26:31 - How do publishers verify that personalization is finding them the right audience? 0:28:33 - Filter bubbles 0:32:04 - Searching with Agents: is there a new verb for search? 0:35:57 - Liz's jobs, metrics, success, failure 0:40:13 - Where were you when you found out that searching the word ‘ignore' broke AI Overviews, and what was your first reaction? Hosts: Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis Guest: Liz Reid  Download and subscribe to AI Inside in audio and video: https://aiinside.show/  Support the podcast on Patreon for special perks: https://www.patreon.com/aiinsideshow. You'll get ad-free episodes, members-only Discord, T-shirts and stickers you love, and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This milestone 400th—and final—episode of SaaS Fuel brings clarity to what's broken with outbound, why most companies blend into the noise, and how founders can actually futureproof their pipeline. Jeff Mains is joined by Mohan Muthoo, founder of Spring Drive—a go-to-market lab for B2B teams in fiercely competitive markets. Together, they break down why more signals, tools, and AI aren't solving real outbound problems (and might be quietly killing your reply rates). Mohan shares a hard-hitting playbook for rethinking outbound, segmenting intelligently, and crafting messaging with genuine resonance. If you're still spray-and-praying, this episode hands you the megaphone—with exactly what to say.Jeff Mains also announces the evolution of SaaS Fuel into Futureproof Founder, a show dedicated to helping founder-led companies build and last in a changing world.Key Takeaways00:00 Podcast journey and personal growth04:14 Understanding Sustainable Company Growth06:44 Starting the Spring Drive agency11:26 Differentiating and refining campaign strategy15:21 Thinking About AI Personalization18:07 Building trust in outbound marketing20:53 The pitfalls of personalization marketing23:12 Understanding Messaging in Sales Funnels27:07 Importance of message market fit32:18 Optimizing marketing and sales offers33:45 Email testing best practices37:38 Rethinking market segmentation40:24 Understanding Email Deliverability44:13 Conveying product simplicity48:42 Evaluating Messaging and Offers52:26 Show wrap-up and special announcement53:54 Podcast format and episode topicsTweetable Quotes“If your outbound message looks like everyone else's, expect nothing but silence.”“Real personalization means offering what they truly want—not just what you found on LinkedIn.”“The tools don't cook the meal, you do. Don't skip learning the recipe.”“Your prospects don't care about your tech—until you solve a pain they feel today.”“Message-market fit trumps product-market fit in the cold pipeline. Don't confuse the two.”“Creativity and simplicity beat automation and volume—every time.”SaaS Leadership LessonsAdd Value or Get IgnoredThe modern buyer doesn't want sales—they want substance. If you're just pitching, you're already tuned out.Be Relentlessly DifferentiatedGood isn't good enough. If your message looks like your competitors, expect silence.Personalization without Relevance is NoiseThe best info in the world about a prospect is useless if you're not addressing their actual desire or pain.Test Like a Scientist, Act Like a ChefYou don't just need more tools—you need a repeatable process and creativity to refine your “recipe.”Don't Assume What Works Inbound Will Convert OutboundCold prospects aren't thinking the same way as warm leads or inbound demos. Tailor accordingly.Volume Matters—But So Does Smart VolumeIf you aren't sending enough, you'll never get statistical significance. But blind volume without segmentation and message fit is wasted effort.Guest Resourcesmohan@spring-drive.comspringdrive.cohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mohankm1/Episode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

Recorded live from HITEC, Steve Carran sits down with the Alliant leadership team—CEO Tristan Gadsby, SVP of Customer Experience Andrew Pirret, and CRO Alberto Santana—to explore how technology is transforming the guest experience while keeping hospitality at its human core.The conversation dives into Alliant's collaboration with Les Clefs d'Or, where concierge professionals are embracing AI and modern technology to enhance personalized service. Tristan shares how technology can make hospitality professionals "superhuman" by automating routine tasks and allowing them to focus on meaningful guest interactions.Alberto discusses the untapped opportunity hotels have to better understand why guests are traveling, using a compelling World Cup travel scenario to illustrate how hotels can move beyond generic upsells and create memorable, emotionally connected experiences. The team also explores the importance of recognizing every guest on a reservation—not just the primary booker—and how doing so unlocks deeper personalization and increased revenue opportunities.Andrew explains why digital wallets and contactless check-in technology have reached a tipping point, making travel smoother for guests while helping hotels overcome staffing and operational challenges. The discussion also highlights how Apple Wallet integrations are changing the way travelers manage their stays and interact with hotel brands.Finally, Tristan shares how Alliant is leveraging agentic AI, guest data, and contextual intelligence to create smarter recommendations for guests and more efficient workflows for hotel teams. From AI-powered morning briefing agents to hyper-personalized guest engagement, the future of hospitality is becoming more connected, intelligent, and guest-centric than ever before.In this episode, you'll learn:How concierge teams are embracing AI without losing the human touchWhy understanding a guest's reason for travel matters more than everThe hidden revenue opportunities in identifying all guests on a reservationHow digital wallets are reshaping the hotel guest journeyThe role of agentic AI in delivering personalized hospitality at scaleWhy data quality is the foundation of successful AI initiativesWatch the FULL EPISODE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pREGBac4jyALinks:Tristan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristangadsby/Alberto on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsantana/Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pirret/Alliants: https://www.alliants.com/For full show notes head to: https://themodernhotelier.com/episode/293Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-..Join the conversation on today's episode on The Modern Hotelier LinkedIn pageConnect with Steve and David:Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E...David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mil.

Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine offer a different way to understand the body, especially when it comes to chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, stress, digestion, anxiety, inflammation, nervous system dysregulation, and unexplained symptoms.In this episode of hol+, Dr. Taz sits down with  Dr. Jordan Barber, clinician, educator, published researcher, licensed acupuncturist, and author of Thinking in Chinese Medicine: A Patient's Guide to Acupuncture, Herbs, and Healing, for a grounded conversation about what Chinese medicine actually is, why it has been misunderstood in the West, and how it can help us see chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, stress, symptoms, and whole-body health through a more connected lens.Together, they explore why Chinese medicine is not just acupuncture, herbs, or “energy work,” but a way of thinking. Dr. Barber explains how Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the whole person, including sleep, digestion, emotions, stress, relationships, movement, pain patterns, and the way someone experiences life. He also breaks down how the word qi became simplified into “energy,” why that translation can be misleading, and why Chinese medicine is often more practical, physiological, and science-informed than many people realize.Dr. Barber shares his own path into Chinese medicine after working in IT, living through 9/11 in New York City, and experiencing chronic health issues that conventional care did not resolve. After trying acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and dietary changes, he saw a major improvement in his recurring sinus issues and began to understand health through a completely different framework.If you're listening to this and thinking, “My symptoms feel connected, but no one is helping me connect the dots,” join the Circle here:

Personalization at scale remains one of marketing's biggest technical challenges. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, brings over 15 years of SaaS marketing experience and expertise in AI-powered ecommerce platforms. Cole discusses how AI has evolved beyond buzzword status to become fundamental marketing infrastructure, comparing effective personalization strategies to precision baking where timing and ingredient ratios determine success. She outlines practical frameworks for unifying customer and product data across marketing channels and explains how real-time individualization drives measurable commerce growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the coauthor of the book Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI, Mark Abraham. In this episode, we explore the rise of personalization through digital tools and AI, and how companies and organizations are leveraging it to build connections and engage with their customers. We discuss companies that excel in this area, such as Starbucks with its personalization engine, and Spotify with its tailored music recommendations. Personalization is not just about data; it's also about responding effectively to customer insights, enhancing customer experiences, and driving growth. Mark Abraham is a senior partner at BCG and the founder of the firm's Personalization business, which he has built into a global team of more than 1,000 agile marketers, data scientists, engineers, and martech experts. He and his team have accelerated the personalization efforts of more than a hundred iconic brands (including Starbucks, The Home Depot, and Google) and built some of BCG's largest ventures and AI platforms, including Fabriq by BCG for personalization. Currently, Mark leads BCG's North American Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice and is reenergizing the growth and development of talent in what is one of the firm's largest regional practices. Get Mark's book here: https://shorturl.at/Qj6Ys Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

Tired of paying for “more clicks” and getting zero real cases? In this episode, you'll hear how strategic market research, real social proof, and case-study-driven content can turn a law firm website into a revenue engine instead of a digital brochure.   In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Cooper Saunders discuss: The real goal of digital marketing for law firms (revenue, not clicks) Market research and choosing markets you can dominate Building targeted content around real client cases and questions Personalization, video, and human connection on law firm websites Social proof, reviews, and the “Dream 100” referral strategy   Key Takeaways: Marketing success for law firms starts with showing up where people are already searching for the exact services you provide, instead of broadcasting to everyone and hoping for the best.  Smart lawyers look for markets they can dominate, choosing niches and geographies with solid demand but manageable competition rather than jumping into oversaturated metro battles by default. Case-based content that walks through “this client, this problem, this solution, this outcome” is far more powerful than generic articles that could apply to anyone and no one at the same time. Prospects convert at a higher rate when they can see and hear the attorney: simple, honest video on an About page often beats polished but faceless branding. Social proof, including reviews, testimonials, and concrete case studies, is no longer optional; it's the proof skeptical clients need before deciding you're the right firm to trust.   "I think the market research goes into identifying a pond you can dominate, rather than being a minnow in an ocean or fighting an 800-pound gorilla." —  Cooper Saunders   Check out my new show, Be That Lawyer Coaches Corner, and get the strategies I use with my clients to win more business and love your career again.   Join the Be That Lawyer Community and connect with ambitious lawyers who are serious about growing their book of business, strengthening their brand, and becoming confident, consistent rainmakers.   Ready to go from good to GOAT in your legal marketing game? Don't miss PIMCON—where the brightest minds in professional services gather to share what really works. Lock in your spot now: https://www.pimcon.org/   Thank you to our Sponsor! LEX Reception: https://www.lexreception.com/partners/bethatlawyer Rankings.io: https://rankings.io/ Lawyer.com: https://www.lawyer.com/   Ready to grow your law practice without selling or chasing? Book your free 30-minute strategy session now—let's make this your breakout year: https://fretzin.com/   About Cooper Saunders: Cooper Saunders is the owner and founder of WiseGuys Digital Marketing, a Kansas City, Missouri-based agency specializing in SEO and Google Ads. Recognized as a business growth expert, he has authored three national bestselling books—including Quit Competing Start Dominating and Marketing Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy—and hosts The Growth Secrets Podcast. Under his leadership, WiseGuys Digital Marketing operates without year-long contracts and was named a Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Small Business Superstar for three consecutive years from 2021 through 2023.   Connect with Cooper Saunders:   Website: https://wiseguysdm.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coopersaunders/   Connect with Steve Fretzin: LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin Twitter: @stevefretzin Instagram: @fretzinsteve Facebook: Fretzin, Inc. Website: Fretzin.com Email: Steve@Fretzin.com Book: Legal Business Development Isn't Rocket Science and more! YouTube: Steve Fretzin Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911   Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Personalization at scale remains one of marketing's biggest technical challenges. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, brings over 15 years of SaaS marketing experience and expertise in AI-powered ecommerce platforms. Cole discusses how AI has evolved beyond buzzword status to become fundamental marketing infrastructure, comparing effective personalization strategies to precision baking where timing and ingredient ratios determine success. She outlines practical frameworks for unifying customer and product data across marketing channels and explains how real-time individualization drives measurable commerce growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we unpack the consolidation of private practices and the growing influence of Dental Support Organizations. While many independent dentists view consolidation as a threat, Peter and Craig argue it may actually create one of the greatest opportunities the profession has ever seen. They explore the economic forces driving DSO growth, including insurance arbitrage, private equity investment, rising operating costs, and changing ownership models. But beyond the numbers, the conversation focuses on something much more important: what independent dentists can offer that large organizations often cannot. Peter, Craig, and Ian discuss why personalized care, strong patient relationships, community, and entrepreneurial freedom remain powerful competitive advantages. They challenge the idea that independent practice is becoming obsolete and explain why dentists who embrace leadership, innovation, and business education may be better positioned than ever before. The discussion also explores AI, technology, customer experience, insurance dynamics, and the future of practice ownership. As dentistry becomes increasingly consolidated, the question isn't whether the industry is changing. It's whether practice owners are willing to evolve with it. The golden era of dentistry isn't behind us. It belongs to the dentists willing to build it. If you've ever wondered what the future holds for independent practice ownership, this episode is for you. DESCRIPTION The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 445 HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh In this episode, Peter Boulden, Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh explore the rise of DSOs, the accelerating consolidation of dentistry, and what these trends mean for independent practice owners. The conversation examines the economic realities driving consolidation, the advantages and challenges of private practice ownership, and why community, leadership, technology, and patient experience may become the defining factors separating thriving practices from struggling ones in the years ahead. TAKEAWAYS DSO consolidation continues to reshape the dental industry Insurance arbitrage remains a major driver of acquisitions Independent practices still possess significant competitive advantages Personalized patient care is difficult to replicate at scale Community creates resilience during periods of industry change Leadership and business education matter more than ever Technology and AI will accelerate practice evolution Customer experience can become a powerful differentiator The future belongs to adaptable practice owners Consolidation creates both risks and opportunities Dentists must actively choose their path rather than react to industry trends The golden era of dentistry is still available to those willing to build it TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome 00:00:43 - Discussion on DSOs 00:01:34 - Statistics on DSO Growth 00:03:07 - Impact of Interest Rates on DSOs 00:04:21 - Historical Perspective on DSOs 00:05:15 - Comparison with Dermatology and Veterinary Practices 00:07:05 - Relationship-Based Nature of Dentistry 00:08:33 - Business Coaching in Dentistry 00:10:02 - Pause in DSO Consolidation 00:10:17 - Example of DSO Unwinding 00:12:09 - Financial Distress in DSOs 00:13:01 - Rollover Equity in DSO Sales 00:14:47 - Importance of Upfront Cash in DSO Deals 00:16:00 - Independent Dentists Thriving 00:18:20 - Personalization of Care 00:18:49 - Example of Personalized Service 00:20:52 - Customer Service in Dentistry 00:22:46 - DSO vs. Independent Practice Quality 00:24:02 - SOPs in DSOs 00:26:06 - Moats for Independent Practices 00:28:28 - ADA Statistics on DSO Affiliation 00:29:01 - Macro Factors Affecting Consolidation 00:31:14 - Insurance Arbitrage in DSOs 00:33:01 - AI and Service Businesses 00:34:27 - Future of Independent Dentistry 00:36:09 - Importance of Community 00:37:03 - Power in Numbers for Independent Dentists 00:37:34 - Personal Experience with DSO Sale 00:39:09 - Paycheck Advance Analogy 00:40:15 - Summary and Closing Remarks 00:42:27 - Outro and Call to Action

In this episode of Mission Matters, ⁠Adam Torres⁠ interviews Cori Omundson, Founder & CEO of Rising Wines Collective. Cori shares how her entrepreneurial background inspired her mission to help small wine producers grow through personalized wine discovery, technology, and direct-to-consumer experiences. Based on the provided transcript and episode details. Interested in meeting Cori Omundson and other leaders in the consumer products industry? Join us at the CPG Convergence Conference, where growth, capital, and innovation come together. Get your tickets here: ⁠https://luma.com/rmoecmqx⁠ Follow Adam on Instagram at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/⁠ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: ⁠https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/⁠ Visit our website: ⁠https://missionmatters.com/⁠ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most people are already asking AI about their health. Almost none of them believe the answers. Around 40% use it to make wellness choices, but fewer than 5% trust what it says. Matt Watson and Josh Anthony, CEO of Nlumn, dig into why.Josh has spent 25 years in food and nutrition, and his take is blunt: trust drops fast as the question gets serious, from a recipe to a diagnosis, and the fix isn't a smarter chatbot. It's pairing the data with a human people actually trust. They cover what's real right now too. The protein obsession. Beans having a moment. GLP-1s and why weight loss is now about saving muscle, not just dropping fat. Why people are building their own messy personalization stacks because no single company does it well.Matt also explains why he flat out ignores his doctors on cholesterol, and he and Josh go a few rounds on whether ultra-processed food is the problem or a missed opportunity.If you build or invest in health products, listen now. And if you want help with personalized nutrition, reach Josh@nlumn.com or info@nlumn.com.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:28 Introduction to Health Tech and AI03:36 Trust in AI for Health and Nutrition06:29 Personalization in Health and Nutrition09:26 Emerging Trends in Health Tech12:23 The Role of GLP-1 in Weight Management15:29 Challenges in the Food Industry18:37 Innovative Products in Health and NutritionLinks & ResourcesConnect with Joshua Anthony on LinkedInNlumn Website - https://www.nlumn.com/Email - mailto: info@nlumn.comWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you're trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.

Personalization is one of hospitality's most important goals, but is it really a technology problem? In this episode, hospitality advisor and former hotel general manager Martin Soler explains why guest preferences are far more contextual and dynamic than many systems assume. Drawing on examples from both hospitality and everyday consumer technology, Martin explores the limits of hyper-personalization and why the most memorable guest experiences often come from observation, empathy, and human judgment. Hospitality leaders will gain a practical perspective on balancing data, technology, and the art of service. A few more resources:If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestionsIf you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Ross Hudgens sits down with Tom Critchlow, founder of AI Search Leaders (the evolution of his SEO MBA community), for a candid conversation about what GEO actually is in 2026 and why nobody has fully cracked it yet.  Tom makes the case that AI search measurement looks far more like brand measurement than classic SEO: less about prompt monitoring and keyword ranking, more about share of model, awareness, and how LLMs describe you (not just whether they cite you).  Along the way they dig into the "yes" stance SEOs need to take with executives, why brand, PR, and product teams, not SEO teams, tend to own the outcomes that move GEO, the real career risk facing SEOs, technical SEO in the age of model distillation, NavBoost and clicks as a trust signal, and the personalized, push-not-pull future of search.   Show Notes 0:00 – Why SEOs can't afford to be defensive 2:35 – How do you measure GEO? 6:24 – Measuring GEO like a brand 15:04 – Who really owns GEO? 23:26 – Technical SEO in the AI age 30:36 – Stop chasing tactics 37:09 – Selling GEO amid uncertainty 41:21 – NavBoost, clicks as trust 51:39 – Personalization, privacy and the future of search   Show Links AI Search Leaders: https://www.searchleaders.ai/   Your Inbox Might be the Next AI Search Signal: https://ipullrank.com/google-personal-intelligence-experiment   Why Every AI Search Platform Is Now Agentic and What That Means for Your Content: https://ipullrank.com/agentic-rag   Subscribe for weekly episodes: https://bit.ly/3dBM61f   Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/content-and-conversation-seo-tips-from-siege-media/id1289467174   Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kiaFGXO5UcT2qXVRuXjsM   Follow Ross on X: https://twitter.com/rosshudgens   Follow Siege Media on X: https://twitter.com/siegemedia   Subscribe today for weekly tips: https://bit.ly/3dBM61f Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/content-and-conversation-seo-tips-from-siege-media/id1289467174 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kiaFGXO5UcT2qXVRuXjsM Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9jT3NjUkdLeA Follow Siege on Twitter: http://twitter.com/siegemedia Follow Ross on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rosshudgens Directed by Cara Brown: https://twitter.com/cararbrown Email Ross: ross@siegemedia.com #seo | #contentmarketing

Show Notes In this episode of Be a Smarter Homeowner, host Beth Dodson talks with Christopher Seman from N-Hance, a company helping homeowners rethink kitchen and cabinet updates. Instead of assuming every outdated kitchen requires a full demolition, Chris explains how cabinet renewal, refinishing, resurfacing, and replacement door fronts can create a dramatic transformation with less cost, less disruption, and a much faster turnaround. Beth and Chris discuss why cabinets are often the first thing people notice in a kitchen, how open floor plans have made kitchen style even more important, and why homeowners should think carefully about whether they are updating for themselves or preparing a home for resale. They also cover current cabinet trends, including the return of natural wood, warmer creams and beiges, bold colors like deep blues and charcoal, and even retro-inspired tones like avocado green and buttery yellow. Chris explains how N-Hance can help homeowners refresh cabinets in as little as three to five days once the project begins, compared to the eight to twelve weeks often required for a full kitchen remodel. They also discuss how cabinet updates can be a smart option for new homeowners, rental property owners, senior living communities, and anyone who wants a high-impact update without committing to a major renovation. Episode Summary Updating a kitchen does not always mean tearing everything out and starting from scratch. In this episode, Beth Dodson speaks with Christopher Seman of N-Hance about smarter, faster, and more affordable ways to update cabinets and transform the look of a kitchen. Chris explains that many homeowners already have functional cabinet boxes and layouts, which means they may not need a full remodel. Instead, changing cabinet color, renewing wood, updating door fronts, replacing hardware, or adding soft-close hinges can create the feeling of a new kitchen without the cost and disruption of a complete renovation. The conversation explores how kitchen trends are shifting away from all-white spaces and toward more personality, natural wood, warmer neutrals, and bold colors. Beth and Chris also talk about the emotional and practical side of remodeling, including how disruption affects family life and why speed matters. For homeowners planning to sell, Chris explains that smaller cabinet updates may offer stronger return-on-investment potential than large luxury remodels. For those planning to stay, he encourages people to have fun, personalize their kitchen, and make choices that fit how they actually want to live. Key Takeaways Cabinet updates can dramatically change the look of a kitchen without requiring a full remodel. A full kitchen remodel may take eight to twelve weeks, while many cabinet renewal projects can be completed in three to five days. Cabinets matter because they take up a large visual portion of the kitchen and often define the style of the space. Homeowners should first decide whether they are updating for personal enjoyment or resale value. Natural wood, creams, beiges, deep blues, charcoal, and retro-inspired colors are gaining popularity. Lighter cabinet colors can help make a kitchen feel larger. Cabinet renewal can be especially helpful for new homeowners trying to prioritize multiple projects. Rental property owners may benefit from fast cabinet refreshes because speed reduces vacancy time. Senior living communities and high-use spaces may also benefit from durable cabinet coatings. A kitchen update does not have to be permanent; cabinet colors can be changed again later at a lower cost than a full remodel.  Chapters 00:40 Introduction to Kitchen Upgrades 03:40 The Importance of Cabinets in Kitchen Design 06:25 Speed and Efficiency of Cabinet Resurfacing 09:32 Current Trends in Kitchen Cabinet Design 12:35 Cost Comparison: Resurfacing vs. Full Remodel 15:32 Return on Investment for Kitchen Updates 18:43 Enhance's Solutions for Rental Properties 21:40 Personalization and Flexibility in Kitchen Design 24:40 Conclusion and Resources for Homeowners    

How do you build AI that actually understands you and the work you do? It all starts with having the right context.  We talk with Dropbox staff product manager Noorain Noorani and principal engineer Sean-Michael Lewis about the art of context engineering and how Dropbox connects to all the tools your team needs for work—so you get AI that works wherever you do.  ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck. Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

What if the future of marketing isn't about creating better campaigns, but about designing intelligent agents that render campaigns obsolete?Agility requires not just adapting to new technologies, but fundamentally re-architecting our operating models to harness their potential. Today, we're going to talk about the move from personalization to agentic experiences and what that means for enterprise marketing.We'll cover:- How “agentic experiences” are moving beyond simple personalization to fundamentally change the economics of customer acquisition and retention.- The shift in talent and technology required, moving from managing campaigns to orchestrating AI agents across the customer journey.- The practical first steps for building an “agentic foundation” within a complex enterprise environment, focusing on governance and core systems.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Kathleen Managing Director of Marketing and Anuj Mathur, Managing Director of CX Transformation at BrillioAbout Kathleen Ulrich Kathleen Ulrich is Managing Director of Marketing at Brillio, where she leads the company's global marketing strategy and brand growth. She oversees brand, content, digital marketing, social media, corporate communications, analyst and media relations, research, and insights. Known for her multifaceted leadership, she brings together cross-functional teams around a unified vision, driving measurable impact across a rapidly evolving marketplace. Kathleen Ulrich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kulri/ ---------- Resources ---------- Brillio: https://www.brillio.com This episode is brought to you by Brillio. Founded in 2014 as a full-service digital transformation services and consulting firm, we apply our expertise in customer experience transformation, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), platform and product engineering, cloud infrastructure, and security to help customers quickly innovate for growth, create digital products, build service platforms, and drive smarter, data-driven performance. We strive to provide not only what the customers want, but also what they need. To us, success means leading our customers to better outcomes, and aligning our priorities so that we win when they win. We ensure that every individual is fully invested in the success of our customers. We're proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fDon't miss We Make Future - the International Festival of Innovation in AI, Tech, and Digital Marketing, June 24-26 in Bologna. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c80991afff416bb2The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marketing leaders are being asked to drive more growth with less budget, fewer resources, tighter timelines, and more pressure from every direction while AI is being treated like the shortcut to replace entire marketing teams. But AI will not fix bad strategy, weak alignment, poor customer understanding, or broken marketing fundamentals. In part two of this master class conversation with Matt Hummel, CMO of Pipeline360, the focus moves into what it really takes to become the kind of CMO AI cannot replace. Not by chasing every new tool, adding more MarTech, or hiding behind automation, but by understanding the business as a whole, building trust across departments, speaking the language of revenue, and creating alignment between marketing, sales, product, leadership, and the customer. To lead marketing in a volatile market where expectations keep rising and the old playbook is no longer enough, you need to know how to: • Make sales an ally instead of your bitter rival • Build shared pipeline ownership across marketing and sales  • Communicate risk without becoming defensive • Connect marketing decisions to the larger goals of the business • Set clearer expectations with your team and leadership • Understand resource constraints without using them as excuses • Stay close to customers while leading strategy • Create momentum without pretending there is an easy button The best marketing leaders are not just managing campaigns, tools, reports, and dashboards. They are translating complexity into strategy the business can trust. The reminder is clear: AI will not fix bad strategy. More MarTech will not fix bad marketing. The CMO AI cannot replace is the one who understands the business, earns trust, aligns with sales, leads the team, knows the customer, and gets back to real marketing when everyone else is hiding behind tools. (P.S. If you haven't, listen to Ep. 149 for part one of this masterclass episode) Beyond The Episode Gems: Connect With Matt Hummel on LinkedIn Listen To Troy On Matt's Podcast, Pipeline Brew: The Evolving Role of CMOs & Community Building Visit Pipeline360 website to learn more about how they solve B2B marketers' biggest headaches Buy Troy's Book, Strategize Up: The Blueprint To Scale Your Business StrategizeUpBook.com Discover All Podcasts On The HubSpot Podcast Network Get Free HubSpot Marketing Tools To Help You Grow Your Business Grow Your Business Faster Using HubSpot's CRM Platform Support The Podcast & Connect With Troy:  Rate & Review iDigress: iDigress.fm/Reviews Follow Troy's Socials @FindTroy: LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, TikTok Subscribe to Troy's YouTube Channel For Strategy Videos & See Masterclass Episodes Need Growth Strategy, A Keynote Speaker, Or Want To Sponsor The Podcast? Go To FindTroy.com