Future of Consumer Marketing

In this episode, host Andres Figueira interviews Taras Rybak, Partner at Fusion Asset Management. Fusion operates in the UK wealth management sector with three complementary businesses: acquiring independent financial advisory firms, managing investment portfolios for private clients, and operating Justify Technology—a unified platform that consolidates the fragmented tech stack financial advisors use daily. Managing £2 billion in assets across 13 UK offices, Fusion is navigating the intersection of traditional relationship-driven financial services and emerging technology capabilities, including strategic implementations of AI and automation in a heavily regulated industry.
Topics Discussed:
Marketing B2B services in niche, relationship-driven professional communities
Solving capacity constraints through technology rather than acquisition-focused growth
Building distribution channels before product completion
Navigating marketing constraints in heavily regulated industries
Implementing AI and automation in compliance-heavy environments
The hybrid model: augmenting human expertise with technology rather than replacement

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Lisa Tan, Chief Marketing Officer at Reverie. Reverie is transforming the sleep technology market by repositioning adjustable bases and customizable mattresses from medical devices for the elderly into personalized wellness tools for health-conscious consumers. Over her 12-year journey from a "three-to-six month project" to CMO, Lisa has pioneered a direct-to-consumer strategy that emphasizes education over aspiration, turning sleep from a commodity purchase into a considered investment in longevity and performance.
Topics Discussed:
Shifting premium sleep products from aspirational lifestyle marketing to personal, gritty storytelling
Building personalized customer experiences through quiz-based product discovery
Leveraging existing customers as authentic influencers versus traditional influencer seeding
Integrating customer experience, service, and sales data to inform marketing strategy
Implementing AI agents for customer service and moving from SEO to AEO content strategy
Operating lean marketing teams through in-house technical expertise and strategic partnerships

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Tien Ho, Head of Marketing at MOUZ, one of esports' oldest and most successful organizations. MOUZ is pioneering a radical shift in esports marketing by bringing a digital-first industry back to physical reality. While other esports organizations chase global audiences online, MOUZ is building a 22-year legacy brand through hyper-local community engagement, treating their Hamburg headquarters as both a performance facility and a marketing platform. With their team consistently ranking in the top 3-4 globally in Counter-Strike, Tien shares how they're converting the product of winning into sustainable fan loyalty while solving esports' biggest challenge: making parents believe this is a legitimate career path for their children.
Topics Discussed:
Building physical headquarters as a marketing strategy in a digital industry
Converting players into viewers in the esports funnel
Creating hyper-local brand loyalty in a global competitive landscape
Designing facilities to combat gaming stereotypes and prejudice
Leveraging prime real estate for organic brand awareness
Developing talent pipelines through youth camps and community programs
Transitioning from franchise league systems to tournament circuits
Executing guerrilla marketing tactics with limited resources

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Filip Strömsten, Co-founder and COO of Chapter Two. Chapter Two is solving one of the music industry's most foundational problems: royalty data is completely broken. While catalog acquisitions from artists like Justin Bieber and Bob Dylan make headlines, the underlying infrastructure for understanding music earnings remains opaque and fragmented. Chapter Two is building the data infrastructure that will enable proper valuation of music catalogs, starting with a transaction platform that has already facilitated sales for legendary producers like Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston) and Bankabooom (Blackpink's main producer). By cleaning and standardizing earnings data across hundreds of different royalty statement formats, they're creating transparency in an industry where creators literally don't know where their money comes from.
Topics Discussed:
Building AI-powered data infrastructure to clean fragmented music royalty data across hundreds of formats
Facilitating music catalog transactions for creators seeking liquidity on their life's work
Navigating the challenge of explaining complex B2B infrastructure problems to non-industry audiences
Using AI to understand and standardize non-logical data structures before applying advanced analytics
Managing the tension between financial valuation and cultural/emotional value in music assets
Pivoting from a marketplace model to solving foundational data problems first
The impossibility of predicting music virality and the randomness of TikTok-driven breakout hits
Why blockchain doesn't work for music rights without fully decentralized consumption platforms

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Kimberly Kanary, a strategic marketing consultant at Kuno Creative with deep experience spanning CPG, retail, e-commerce, jewelry, and home improvement. Kimberly brings a unique perspective having navigated the full spectrum of marketing—from PR and crisis communications to advanced analytics and programmatic advertising. Her approach centers on the intersection of art and science in marketing, with an uncompromising focus on tying every marketing dollar to measurable business outcomes. Throughout the conversation, she shares specific tactical examples from her time at Signet Jewelers and reveals why she's betting heavily on programmatic advertising paired with CTV as the next frontier for performance marketing.
Topics Discussed:
Programmatic advertising paired with CTV (Connected TV) for full-funnel marketing
The evolution from the "rule of seven" to 10-20 touches in today's saturated digital environment
Building measurement frameworks that prove marketing drives revenue, not just vanity metrics
Testing digitally-native influencer content vs. repurposed TV creative in digital channels
Leveraging conversion lift studies to measure incrementality, not just attribution
Context-specific content adaptation across different platforms and consumer mindsets
Using AI as an enabler for efficiency while maintaining the human touch for brand storytelling
Building diverse marketing teams with cross-industry experience to drive innovation
Analytics maturity curves: from basic ROAS to media mix modeling and multi-touch attribution

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres interviews Greta Mayr, Head of Marketing and Communications at GridX. GridX provides an energy management system that connects distributed energy resources—solar systems, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps—to optimize energy flows and reduce costs for end users. Operating in 15 European countries with over 180,000 connected assets, GridX works through a B2B2C model, partnering with major energy retailers like E.ON who white-label their technology. As pioneers in a nascent category, GridX has navigated the challenge of educating an entire market while scaling from 35 to over 200 employees in just a few years.
Topics Discussed:
Marketing highly technical B2B products in emerging categories
Shifting from education-focused to differentiation-focused marketing strategies
Building multi-channel B2B marketing funnels with extended sales cycles
Leveraging organic content and thought leadership for lead generation
Creating relatable content in technical industries through memes and storytelling
Using AI for content efficiency and product optimization
Targeting different personas across multiple platforms (LinkedIn, WhatsApp, YouTube)
Measuring marketing success through quality over quantity in B2B contexts

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Advika Aggarwal, former Senior Director of Marketing & E-Commerce at Paravel. Paravel is a sustainable travel brand that revolutionized how DTC brands approach product ecosystems, email marketing, and influencer partnerships. Through her experience scaling Paravel from brand marketing to overseeing the full commercial operation, Advika shares tactical insights on transforming underutilized marketing channels, building authentic creator networks, and balancing data-driven decision making with brand storytelling. Her journey across Coach, Gap, and Paravel provided her with a unique perspective on how digitally-native brands can punch above their weight through strategic constraint and focused execution.
Topics Discussed:
Reframing sustainability as table stakes rather than a marketing angle
Building product ecosystems that naturally drive sequential purchases
Transforming transactional email flows into storytelling opportunities
Pivoting from scale-driven influencer marketing to niche creator communities
Balancing brand-building investments with performance marketing ROI
Managing frequency and creative variation across paid acquisition funnels
Leveraging qualitative customer research alongside quantitative metrics
Strategic trade-offs between in-house teams and agency partnerships
Using AI as an efficiency tool while maintaining brand voice integrity

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Elly Simpson, Director of Marketing at the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. As the organization's first-ever Director of Marketing, Simpson is rebuilding the team's marketing infrastructure from the ground up, shifting from traditional advertising approaches to sophisticated digital segmentation while maintaining the multi-generational appeal that makes Minor League Baseball unique. Operating in a medium-sized market with deep baseball roots, Simpson demonstrates how hyperlocal sports properties can leverage customer journey mapping, intelligent segmentation, and behind-the-scenes storytelling to drive ticket sales and build lasting fan relationships.
Topics Discussed
Transitioning from traditional media-heavy budgets to digital-first marketing in sports
Building sophisticated customer segmentation for multi-generational audiences
Implementing the "Netflix approach" to ticket recommendations and upselling
Leveraging SMS for hyper-targeted promotional campaigns
Testing new digital channels (LinkedIn, X) for B2B catering business
Creating content strategies that balance die-hard fans with Gen Z newcomers
Structuring lean marketing teams for live event production
Using fan experience as the primary success metric beyond win-loss records
Navigating MLB/MiLB technology constraints and brand autonomy
The reliability challenges of AI in real-time sports information

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Samuel Goodman, Co-Founder of Cheeky, a sleep and wellness company disrupting the dental care industry. Cheeky pioneered the direct-to-consumer night guard market by leveraging 3D printing technology to create custom dental devices at a fraction of traditional dentist prices—turning what was an $800-1,000 purchase into an affordable subscription service. Starting with zero dental industry knowledge and a cheap 3D printer purchased at a convention, the three co-founders have scaled to a seven-plus figure business serving hundreds of thousands of customers while maintaining a lean team of just four people in-house, supported by specialized external agencies.
Topics Discussed:
Entering and dominating an untapped D2C market with no industry background
Scaling a hardware subscription business with 3D printing technology
Building credibility through dentist partnerships in a trust-heavy category
Navigating the evolution of Meta advertising from 2018 to today
Managing 2-3x increases in customer acquisition costs while maintaining profitability
Expanding from D2C to major retail (Walmart) and dealing with legacy brand competition
Operating a seven-figure business with a four-person core team plus external agencies
Using direct mail marketing for customer retention and reactivation
Leveraging AI for operations and finance while keeping creative production human

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Shae Biron, Marketing Director at Candy Digital. Shae shares how she's building community-first Web3 experiences for DC Comics collectibles without any marketing budget—relying entirely on organic reach and cultural momentum. From creating the first AI-powered DC supervillain through community voting to launching multi-layered campaign experiences tied to major film releases, Shae reveals the tactical playbook for marketing in the participation economy. Her approach demonstrates how Web3 enables fans to transition from passive consumers to active co-creators, fundamentally changing the relationship between brands and their audiences.
Topics Discussed:
Building zero-budget marketing strategies through organic community engagement
Creating layered campaign experiences tied to cultural tentpole moments
Designing collectibles that unlock exclusive content and evolving narratives
Balancing education for Web3 natives versus newcomers in content strategy
Implementing community-driven product development through voting mechanisms
Measuring success through sentiment and cultural stickiness vs. vanity metrics
Leveraging AI as an amplifier for human connection and community responsiveness
Architecting cross-platform digital identity and asset portability