After three inspiring days at Braze Forge 2024 in Las Vegas, Billie sits down with Mitch Walden, Senior Director of Digital & Loyalty at Scooter's Coffee, to discuss the company's remarkable digital transformation journey.
Scooter’s Coffee, one of the nation’s fastest-growing drive-thru coffee franchise companies, partnered with WillowTree to assist their rapid expansion. In just nine months, Scooter’s completely overhauled their app, loyalty program, and overall technology stack.
Billie and Mitch discuss how the company's strategic shift from national promotions to a more personalized, data-driven approach has had a profound impact, deepening franchise/brand collaboration and powering game-changing loyalty campaigns. Their conversation also highlights the importance of a seamless integration of technology platforms, like Braze, for achieving real-time customer engagement and driving revenue growth.
Mitch walks Billie through helpful examples of how these new digital tools have leveled up his team’s creativity and generated significant incremental revenue for Scooter’s. Plus, he shares insights on ensuring a brand’s digital experience upholds its brand promise. In the case of Scooter’s Coffee, that’s “Amazing People, Amazing Drinks…Amazingly Fast.”
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In this episode of Room for Growth, Billie sits down with accomplished CMO Pauline Reader. With a career that includes CMO and SVP marketing leadership positions with renowned brands such as eBay, Minted, and Stitch Fix, and most recently Podium, a communication SaaS platform for SMBs and larger enterprises. Pauline now runs Reader Consulting, where she offers fractional CMO and consulting services, and in this episode, she brings valuable insights into the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in B2C and B2B marketing strategies.
Pauline isn’t new to AI — for years she’s been actively leveraging traditional data science methodologies to enhance customer experiences (e.g., providing personalized clothing recommendations) and improve business operations. She shares pragmatic and tangible examples of interpreting data-driven insights and combining human judgment with technology for the most effective results.
Throughout the discussion, Billie and Pauline explore topics including data collection, personalization strategies, maintaining customer privacy, decision-making in technology investments, and finding a balance between short-term goals and long-term AI strategy.
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In this episode of Room for Growth, Billie is joined by two WillowTree colleagues, Kate Gallaher (Partner & VP, Head of Financial Services) and Caitlin Watson (Partner, Marketing Services), as they delve into global loyalty in financial services. Focusing on credit card payment processors and retail banks, they explore the complexities of building brand loyalty in a regulated market, discuss the impact of digitization on customer behavior, and share insights into the most effective loyalty programs in today's digital age, competing with digitally-native FinTech upstarts.
Billie, Kate, and Caitlin also unpack our recent research study, authored by WillowTree Senior Product Researcher Rachel Vanderbilt, PhD. The study explores the nuances in credit card loyalty programs across five global markets — North America, South America, Europe, Middle East–Africa, and Asia–Pacific — and underscores the dangers of adopting a US-first mindset on the global stage.
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On the heels of Adobe Summit, we’re joined by Brightline Chief Technology and Digital Innovation Officer Kevin McAuliffe as he and Billie dive deep into brand loyalty, building trust, technology innovation, and what it means to be a leader today.
Brightline partnered with WillowTree to achieve its vision of fully modernizing train travel. Tapping into our end-to-end suite of capabilities, WillowTree teams delivered a revamped website, native apps (iOS and Android), kiosks, digital signage, and a digital marketing engine fueled by Adobe Experience Cloud.
By prioritizing guest experience and agility, the high-speed private rail service is delighting travelers with a best-in-class, omnichannel digital experience worthy of Brightline’s premium brand. Our host and guest explore some of the integrated experiences that have launched across Brightline’s digital platforms, improving travel experiences at every step of the journey — from pre-booking to post-arrival.
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We are just days away from Adobe Summit: our bags are packed and we are bringing an all-star crew to Las Vegas. But before we head out to one of the largest MarTech conferences in the world, we’re connecting with Mike Kellner, TELUS Director - AI Data & Analytics. Mike shares win stories from the leading global telecommunications providers’ recent innovations, driven by Adobe Customer Journey Analytics.
We explore how Mike’s team at TELUS taps into Customer Journey Analytics’ powerful capabilities to optimize critical moments in the customer journey, like onboarding, billing, and opportunities to cross-sell or upsell products and services. What’s unique about Customer Journey Analytics are its analytics and business intelligence capabilities: through the platform, TELUS has connected offline data from call centers and retail interactions with online data from its app, websites, chatbots, and other digital channels to create more holistic, omnichannel customer experiences.
TELUS prides itself on providing a truly personalized customer care experience when and where customers need it most — whether online, by phone, or across its retail footprint. Now, other business units at TELUS are utilizing Customer Journey Analytics to enable similar use cases and, with WillowTree’s help, ensure that using the platform is as cost-effective, collaborative, and efficient as possible.
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Fresh off her whirlwind experience at Forge 23, Braze’s annual customer conference for marketers and their tech partners, Billie highlights some of the biggest brands there, her favorite moments, and the most exciting predictions for 2024. Spoiler alert: It’s an exciting time for marketing, and you’ll want to listen before deep-diving into strategy season.
But before diving into her key takeaways, Billie takes a moment to share some big WillowTree news: our CEO Tobias Dengel’s new book is available now and already a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller. She also encourages listeners to check out Episode 4 of WillowTree’s docuseries 2 Weeks To Better, which details our recent collaboration with Braze.
Speaking of Braze, Billie gives a preview of the new ways marketers can save time and communicate more effectively using the engagement platform’s upcoming product innovations. She also recaps lessons from the Forge panel she hosted, featuring media experts and marketing leaders like Eric Vander Voort from Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and Allyson Kurth from Braze. Their fresh approaches to seasonal content strategy, newsletters, user preferences, and geolocation inspired lively discussion.
Overall, the trends, expertise, and discoveries shared at Forge this year reinforced the importance of implementing best practices (especially with advancements in AI), optimizing personalization, and increasing efficiency.
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Digital sports media offers many immersive options for fans, whether they’re streaming pre-game analysis, attending games live at the stadium, or interacting with player content during their commute. But with all that noise, it can be challenging for sports media brands to break through, especially with so many gaps and roadblocks in the fan experience. Some find it challenging to locate and access online streaming options. Other segments feel ignored or receive irrelevant messages. How can sports franchises and digital networks tap fan loyalty during the off-season?
Working with our tech partners at Braze, WillowTree’s Growth Marketing experts (and in-house sports fans) explored these questions and many more in Episode 4 of the WillowTree docuseries, 2 Weeks To Better. Throughout a two-week sprint, our team built solutions that enhance personalization across all forms of fandom, from dormant to die-hard.
On today’s episode, Billie goes behind the scenes with three members of the team — Alyssa Baker, Rebecca O’Connor, and Teresa Ceballos — who share their ideas for driving business value as well as user value in the sports media landscape. Their concepts for the fictional “WillowTree Sports Network” digital experience include a robust and nuanced onboarding experience, differentiated in-stadium and at-home experiences, a streamlined approach to live event ticketing, and data capture and delivery processes that help marketers make informed decisions about relevant content. Lastly, the team shares their favorite aspects of the Braze platform, including the automation, integration, and new AI features that supercharge their marketing workflow.
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It’s a bittersweet 50th episode of Room For Growth as Billy Fischer announces his departure from the podcast and from WillowTree. In this, their last episode as co-hosts of Room For Growth, Billy and Billie discuss their top 5 reflections, their favorite projects, and other rewarding experiences they’ve shared working together over the past 12 years developing WillowTree’s Growth Marketing practice. They touch on their appreciation for the rich client and partner relationships they’ve built and the priceless insights and friendships they’ve gained while cultivating an enriching work life.
As we wish Billy Fischer a fond farewell, our co-hosts acknowledge the exciting future of the martech landscape.
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The days of companies announcing core values and automatically earning public trust are over. Authenticity and proof through action are crucial, and in designing loyalty programs and growth campaigns for clients, WillowTree’s Design practice works with clients to leverage more than technology and data as growth drivers — they’re leveraging the brand itself.
As Director of Brand & Content Strategy at WillowTree, Adam Nemett shares how positive brand reputation and personal, substantial storytelling can have powerful business implications in engaging internal and external audiences. Adam speaks about the importance of retaining ownership of your brand story while producing original content showcasing the real human challenges and triumphs within an organization. He and Billie also discuss the benefits of AI in streamlining workflow and the pitfalls of allowing AI to create a sea of homogenous, vanilla content. This episode ultimately explores how branding transcends traditional logos, taglines, and visual identity and delves into what truly connects a brand with the market — authenticity, personality, and relatable human experience.
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Earning a competitive edge through customer experience is vital to building consumer trust and loyalty. But often this responsibility is shared across multiple departments with different motivations and communication styles. Another challenge many companies face is adapting to emerging trends in the MarTech landscape, including AI, personalization at scale, and changing customer needs.
Adobe Experience Cloud expert and WillowTree Senior Growth Director Tony Ferreira worked in diverse industries and roles — including marketing, data analytics, web development, eCommerce, and UX design — before making a name for himself in the Adobe space. He shares his philosophy on where Adobe is a good fit and the key factors to consider, including affordability, team capabilities, systems integration, and adopting Adobe Real-Time CDP and Adobe Journey Optimizer for automation and engagement. Though the Adobe ecosystem may not work for every organization, Tony shares this robust solution's strategic imperatives and potential tradeoffs.
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Preparing for the future of AI is a top priority for startups and Fortune 500 companies alike. Where’s the best place to start? When it comes to brand messaging in digital marketing, how will AI impact the ‘era of authenticity’? How will increasingly ubiquitous AI chatbots affect customer engagement as they become another competitor for attention and information retrieval?
Bret Kinsella, Founder, CEO, and Research Director of Voicebot.ai, explores these challenges and offers solutions to effectively leverage generative AI’s transformative potential. His insight on the future of AI takes cues from the lessons of pre-generative AI applications: he doesn’t believe content creation should blindly increase simply because AI offers efficiency. Marketers need to act differently.
In this far-reaching conversation, Bret leads us through the path of AI production and implementation, where ethical quandaries surrounding policy and data governance loom. As a leading voice in artificial intelligence, Bret dives into best practices, keeping in mind the changes in customer expectations, the trend towards more polished marketing productions, and the future of online monetization. This episode is essential listening for longtime AI enthusiasts as well as new initiates grappling with AI adoption.
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Fashion retail is notoriously competitive and constantly evolving, creating many unique challenges for marketers. With the largely forgotten in-store experience taking a backseat to its digital counterpart, how do we bridge that gap? Ultimately, in today’s climate, success comes down to effectively using technology to gain customer insight.
For Sara Griffin, Chief Marketing and Analytics Officer at Saks OFF 5TH, data-driven decisions and personalized customer experiences reign supreme. Sara calls customer-centric marketing her “North Star,” as evinced by the loyalty program she launched a year ago, amassing 2.7 million members. As a leader in marketing and analytics, Sara dives deep into the company’s move from segmentation to personalization and the robust customer research behind this evolution that have earned Saks OFF 5TH a competitive edge in the dynamic fashion retail industry.
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We’re back with Season 3 of Room For Growth, taking a deep dive into the financial services industry with Chris O’Brien from M&T Bank.
With artificial intelligence proliferating in more and more industries, many financial marketers are in a test-and-learn phase to discover AI use cases with truly impactful business outcomes. In contrast, large banks have begun leveraging AI to tailor messaging based on customer behavior. In turn, there may be a major opportunity to maximize the use of business intelligence tools and the resulting data analytics to further optimize targeted segmentation efforts.
Chris O'Brien, Senior Product Manager at M&T Bank, is optimistic about AI’s future in this space, especially with use cases like content generation and experimentation as drivers for operational efficiency and growth. As a MarTech strategist, he directly addresses the challenges of balancing centralized control and agility while maintaining trust and making investment decisions in a limited-budget environment. With the financial industry’s increased capacity to collect and analyze behavioral data, firms will have to decide on the importance they place on segmentation versus one-to-one personalization. Ultimately, Chris believes aligning MarTech strategy with business goals and customer needs is paramount.
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