Future of Consumer Marketing

From Product to Psychology: How Second Nature Reframed Weight Loss

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Chris Edson, CEO and Co-Founder of Second Nature, a digital behavioral change program for sustainable weight loss. Founded a decade ago, Second Nature has evolved from an NHS healthcare service to a consumer brand that's raised over $40 million in funding. The company stands out in the notoriously low-trust weight loss industry by focusing on behavioral science, offering personalized coaching, and publishing clinical evidence showing sustained results over five years. As the weight loss landscape shifts with the introduction of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Second Nature continues to evolve its approach while maintaining its focus on building sustainable habits.
Topics Discussed:
Building a science-based brand in the low-trust weight loss industry
Transitioning from a B2B healthcare provider to a consumer brand
Using behavioral science to create sustainable habit change
Implementing human coaching and community support for accountability
Applying "Jobs to be Done" framework to understand customer motivations
Leveraging NHS certification as a trust signal in marketing
Adapting to the rise of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic
Solving the retention paradox in weight loss programs
User research strategies across different customer lifecycles

AI Content Creation: How Spread Group Cut Costs While Scaling

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Nora Staudt, who leads marketing for Spread Group, a €200+ million revenue print-on-demand pioneer based in Leipzig. After joining Spread Group two years ago, Nora has been driving a significant marketing transformation, shifting the company from an almost exclusive focus on Google ads to a diverse, multi-channel strategy with a stronger emphasis on branding and retention. Through her journey, she reveals how established e-commerce businesses can evolve their marketing approach while balancing innovation with customer needs in the personalized apparel space.
Topics Discussed:
Transforming marketing at a 20-year-old e-commerce company
Diversifying from Google-centric marketing to social and other channels
Balancing marketplace curation with personalization for 100+ million design combinations
Navigating the shift from occasion-based to everyday fashion use cases
Creating authentic, less polished content that resonates on social media
Managing marketing across multiple brands and global markets
Implementing AI for content creation while preserving authentic creativity

Brett Wigdortz: Turning Child Minders into Successful Entrepreneurs

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Brett Wigdortz, CEO and Founder of Tiney, a company transforming early childhood education in the UK. After 15 years leading Teach First, which became the largest graduate recruiter in the UK, Brett recognized the critical importance of early years education and founded Tiney to address the shortage of quality childcare. By applying "war for talent" principles to childminding, Tiney is creating a new marketplace that empowers individuals to build their own childcare businesses while maintaining high standards through technology, data, and regulatory oversight. Despite launching during COVID, Tiney has raised over $50 million and is addressing a severely supply-constrained market where quality and trust are paramount.
Topics Discussed:
Applying corporate talent recruitment strategies to the early childhood education sector
The science behind early childhood development and its undervalued importance in education systems
Building a for-profit business in a highly regulated childcare market
Creating a marketplace model for independent childminders with regulatory oversight
Using technology and data to ensure quality and safety in home-based childcare
Marketing strategies in a supply-constrained marketplace environment

How Ida Tin Built Clue into a $60M Femtech Pioneer

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Ida Tin, founder of Clue, who pioneered the femtech vertical and has raised over $60 million in funding. Ida shares her journey of creating a scientifically-grounded, globally relevant product in a category that was initially dismissed as "niche" despite serving half the world's population. Through building a trusted brand in the sensitive space of menstrual health tracking, Clue has navigated complex cultural taboos, regulatory challenges, and skeptical investors to create a product with extraordinary user loyalty—attracting 10,000 brand ambassadors overnight. Ida offers profound insights on creating purpose-driven companies that challenge traditional metrics of success and finding marketing opportunities in newly visible cultural conversations.
Topics Discussed:
Pioneering the femtech vertical and creating a new product category
Building a scientifically sound, globally trusted brand in a sensitive health space
Navigating investor skepticism when creating products for underserved markets
Developing user-centered products through deep listening and research
Creating and maintaining company culture centered on genuine purpose
Leveraging cultural shifts to drive marketing effectiveness
Balancing global reach with limited localization resources
Moving beyond traditional growth metrics to create resilient companies

How Circle Health Turned Practitioner Content into 1M+ Reach

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Peter Malmqvist, Co-Founder of Circle Health. After scaling Frontier Car Group to a €150M+ exit with 4,000 employees across 10 markets in 2019, Peter made an unconventional pivot to healthcare following his own frustrating experiences with traditional medicine. Despite being told his eczema was an incurable chronic condition, Peter found complete symptom relief through holistic approaches—inspiring him to build Circle Health's hybrid care model that bridges the gap between conventional healthcare's time constraints and alternative medicine's fragmentation.
Topics Discussed:
Transferring operational excellence from physical retail (used cars) to healthcare delivery
Positioning as the solution for the 90% of patients left unsatisfied by traditional healthcare's brief consultations
Building a multi-city expansion model through practitioner career development
Creating a healthcare brand with credibility in an inherently skeptical market
Developing digital infrastructure for remote care while maintaining high-touch relationships
Building partnership ecosystems with insurance providers, testing labs, and product resellers
Leveraging first-party data from in-clinic diagnostics to develop evidence-based supplements

From MIT Project to 200,000 Customers: Sam Shames' Embr Labs Journey

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, we speak with Sam Shames, Co-founder and COO of Embr Labs, the wearable thermal technology company that has raised over $60 million in funding. Embr Labs has pioneered a "personal thermostat" wearable that applies temperature sensations to the wrist to control overall body comfort. Sam shares the 12-year journey from MIT student project to category-creating consumer technology company with over 200,000 customers in more than 100 countries. Through iterative product development, science-backed messaging, and smart distribution strategies, Embr Labs has built a unique position in the wearable market by focusing on thermal comfort as a pathway to better health.
Topics Discussed:
Creating a new wearable category focused on temperature regulation
The science behind how temperature affects the nervous system
Transitioning from student project to venture-backed startup
Building consumer trust in breakthrough technology
Evolving marketing messaging for different audiences
Developing direct-to-consumer vs. retail distribution strategies
Innovative business models including subscription-based hardware
 

How Kimberly Breuer Built a Mental Health Platform with 4x Industry-Standard Engagement

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Kimberly Breuer, psychologist and founder of LikeMinded, which recently merged with competitor Nilo Health to become the DACH market leader in B2B mental health solutions. After pivoting from B2C to B2B during the pandemic, Kimberly shares how they've built a scalable mental health platform that achieves remarkable engagement rates and successfully positions clinical expertise in corporate environments. Her insights reveal the nuanced marketing strategies required when selling wellness solutions in an emerging category where awareness varies dramatically by region.
Topics Discussed:
Market-driven pivot from B2C to B2B mental health services within three weeks
Regional disparities in mental health adoption (Germany at awareness stage vs. US 10 years ahead)
Contrasting buyer motives: sick days ROI vs. employer branding benefits
Achieving 40% activation rates in a category where 3-10% is typical
Strategic rebranding following competitor merger
Repositioning clinical expertise for corporate palatability
Personal brand leverage as a lead generation mechanism

Scaling Zumper to 78M Annual Visitors w/ Anthemos Georgiades

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, Brett speaks with Anthemos Georgiades, CEO and founder of Zumper, a rental platform that has raised over $180 million and transformed the way people find apartments. With roots in London and now fully American, Georgiades shares the gritty journey of building a marketplace startup in the competitive rental tech space, revealing candid insights about marketing, survival, and the evolving landscape of consumer acquisition.
Key Topics Discussed
Building a two-sided marketplace in the rental industry
Organic vs. paid marketing strategies
Surviving startup challenges during the 2021-2022 market downturn
The future of marketing in the age of generative AI
Content marketing as a growth strategy
Startup resilience and founder psychology
00:00 - Intro and Company Background 02:00 - Early Days of Zumper 06:30 - Navigating the 2021-2022 Startup Challenges 11:15 - AI's Impact on Marketing and SEO 16:20 - Organic vs. Paid Marketing Strategies 22:40 - Viral Marketing Tactics 30:10 - Investor Relations and Company Growth 37:50 - The Importance of Startup Creativity 42:30 - Social Media and Content Marketing 45:55 - Insights on Hiring CMOs 47:00 - The Future of Consumer Marketing

"We Want Fans, Not Customers": WeRoad's Tribal Marketing Success

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Fabio Bin, CMO of WeRoad, one of Italy's fastest-growing travel startups. WeRoad organizes group trips for millennials who don't know each other, creating a unique solution to modern social isolation while revolutionizing travel experiences. Fabio shares how WeRoad grew from 250 travelers to 100,000 annually by building a distinctive brand personality, leveraging content-first marketing strategies, and creating authentic offline communities. The conversation reveals how WeRoad has built a passionate fan base by solving deeper socialization needs rather than just travel logistics, and demonstrates how authentic brand storytelling can drive organic growth across European markets.
Topics Discussed:
Building a travel brand focused on millennial socialization needs
Scaling from 250 to 100,000 annual travelers while maintaining experience quality
Leveraging Instagram as a publisher rather than traditional brand
Creating self-sustaining local communities through events and travel coordinators
Developing a distinctive brand voice that breaks industry conventions
Balancing product standardization with experience quality at scale
Driving organic growth through authentic storytelling and fan creation

From 0 to 2M Users: Fable's Creator-First Growth Story

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, Cory Maran shares how Fable evolved from a book club platform to a comprehensive social reading app with 2 million users and 70,000 book clubs. By focusing on measurement, activation metrics, and creator partnerships, Fable has built a sustainable growth engine that cuts through the noise of mega social platforms to create meaningful community engagement around reading.
Topics Discussed:
Building and scaling a holistic growth marketing strategy beyond traditional user acquisition
Implementing mobile measurement partners (MMPs) to optimize user acquisition costs and targeting
Evolving from a pure community-driven growth model to a hybrid approach incorporating paid channels
Leveraging creator partnerships to generate authentic content and build engaged reading communities
Optimizing for deep product activation metrics instead of surface-level installation metrics
Developing technical infrastructure to support sophisticated growth experiments