Podcast Episodes

Featuring some of the best DTC players across a myriad of industries, subscribe to get the inside track on not only best practices, but the people behind these award-winning techniques and brands.

New episodes drop on Tuesdays.

LATEST EPISODE:
S02E01 (02/15)
Alexis Walsko / Lola Red PR

For our season 2 premier we've invited Alexis Walsko, founder of Lola Red Public Relations.
Alexis and Rob discuss their wildly successful collaboration with the team at Sphero, the importance of media coverage, and how to best leverage its power for your brand.
This is required listening for brands wondering not only how to get the word out, but why.

S01E21 (11/16)
Shawn Gold / Pilgrim Soul

In today's episode Rob speaks with Shawn Gold - the Founder and CEO of Pilgrim Soul, a mission-driven cannabis brand focused on optimizing human creative performance to gain a competitive edge in business and life. Shawn has been a part of the internet since it became mainstream. He was Partner and Founding Publisher of Weblogs, Inc., the CMO of MySpace, CMO of Inside Studios, Head of Brand Partnerships at Wattpad. More recently he’s been CMO of TechStyle Fashion Group, CMO of Lowell Herb Co and advised many other leading cannabis companies including MedMen and Charlotte's Web. It's a master class on the history of internet marketing and the perfect episode to listen to if you're in need of some creative inspiration.

S01E20 (10/18)
Zachary Glassmith / Miraflora

Zachary Glassmith is many things. Multi-discipline digital marketer, check. Brand whisperer, check. Director of ecommerce at hot CBD startup Miraflora, check. Awesome human being, triple check.

On our 20th episode of DTC Growth Hacking, Rob sits down with Zach to talk about everything from the effects of marketing due to the pandemic, what makes a good brand, how Miraflora is helping the American Farmer, and just how silky smooth Zach’s voice really is.

This is a great episode for those who want to connect with the human part of the marketer’s journey. Enjoy!

S01E19 (10/11)
Prairie Rose / Bit By A Fox

Prairie Rose is everyone’s favorite drinks writer, blogger, and podcaster. She’s a trained sommelier, spirits educator and her blog - Bit by a Fox is a winner of Saveur Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for Best Drinks Blog. She’s also now the commerce editor at Liquor.com. AND she has a book coming out this month, called Mixology for Beginners, that is available for pre-order on Amazon right now.

Prairie has created a niche brand in a very broad market that embodies cocktail culture and beyond. She shares her journey, what she’s gleaned along the way, and dives into the creation, marketing, and consumption of great adult beverage brands. Go ahead and give it a listen.

S01E18 (10/05)
Allis Markham / Prey Taxidermy

In this episode we talk with Ross Ingram - an award-winning technologist known for launching category-defining products and whose contributions to advancing technology and STEM in the classroom have been recognized by leaders in education, including President Barack Obama and the National Science Foundation.

Today he’s the co-founder and CEO of Maslo, a team leveraging artificial intelligence to create personalized digital companions. Previously in his career, at Sphero, he helped sell over two-million robots around the world alongside the Star Wars and Disney brands. He’s also worked at Google as part of the Advanced Technology & Projects team.

Listen as Ross and Rob discuss the ever-shifting changes in the DTC landscape, how untraditional marketing can be key to a brand’s true success, and how the power of communities can create the base in which all marketing will grow.

This conversation is especially of interest for out-of-the box thinkers, marketers, and founders.

S01E17 (09/28)
Ross Ingram / Maslo

In this episode we talk with Ross Ingram - an award-winning technologist known for launching category-defining products and whose contributions to advancing technology and STEM in the classroom have been recognized by leaders in education, including President Barack Obama and the National Science Foundation.

Today he’s the co-founder and CEO of Maslo, a team leveraging artificial intelligence to create personalized digital companions. Previously in his career, at Sphero, he helped sell over two-million robots around the world alongside the Star Wars and Disney brands. He’s also worked at Google as part of the Advanced Technology & Projects team.

Listen as Ross and Rob discuss the ever-shifting changes in the DTC landscape, how untraditional marketing can be key to a brand’s true success, and how the power of communities can create the base in which all marketing will grow.

This conversation is especially of interest for out-of-the box thinkers, marketers, and founders.

S01E16 (09/21)
Ezequiel Abramzon / Lalo

Ezequiel Abramzon is an artist, executive, marketer, and brand strategist. A 20+ year Disney veteran who, after running digital for LATAM and later overseeing global creative out of the UK, landed in Spain where he has spent the last year developing an extensive program for companies who want to better understand the power of a brand - and how to master it.

In this episode Ezequiel and Rob discuss how companies can build true brand value, the difference between branding and marketing (hint: strategy vs tactics), and how invaluable insights into the process that Ezequiel’s agency, Lalo, leverages to help leaders build great brands that can drive business decisions and more importantly — build and nurture customer relationships. If you’ve ever wondered where the idea of a brand fits into DTC, this one is definitely for you.

S01E15 (09/14)
Jonny Grant / Department Studios

Jonny Grant is a gentleman marketing magician. He’s clearly a showman, as was witnessed with his Lexus immersive experience that put journalists literally in the life of a celebrity, in nothing seen outside of the David Fincher masterpiece “The Game”, prior.
A commercial director by trade, and all things theatrical by experience, Jonny brings immersive experiences to life, and has been part of a growing movement dedicated to these unbelievable first-person ultra-reality showcases.

Here’s where it gets interesting for the DTC marketer. Listen to Jonny reflect on seeing just how powerful immersive theatre could be, how he started to bring brands into the fold. This hybrid form of immersive marketing is highly powerful for creating lifelong relationships between products and consumers in part due to the overwhelmingly emotional connection they end up sharing after an immersive experience.

Jonny and Rob dive into the history of immersive theatre, how it’s been used by brands to date, and how Jonny is looking to break new ground with his Department Studios — of which Jonny is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer.

If you’re interested in where things are going in the world of live events and brands, this one's for you.

S01E14 (09/07)
Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen / DigiFresh

Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen is the co-founder and CEO of DigiFresh — who have created tools that allow for the merger of traceability and accountability with marketing and storytelling — in a way that feels organic to the brand and entertaining to the customer.

After a career for building amazing partnerships between brands and technology organizations like Revver, YouTube, and Google, Sarah has now turned her focus to helping consumer brands tell their stories, and ultimately, witness them gain more trust and grow their customer relationships.

If you’re interested in how the origin stories of goods are becoming more important for driving consumer decisions, what future awaits us, and how “good” is always the side to be on, then dive in and listen. She and Rob will take you there.

This episode is guaranteed to paint a picture of a marketplace lush with accountability.

S01E13 (08/31)
Dr. Aimée Gould Shunney / Doctor of integrative and naturopathic medicine

Dr. Aimée Shunney is a top-rated naturopathic physician practicing in Santa Cruz, California. She’s been providing medical services for the last two decades, launched her own cleanse product into the market, and has been a spokesperson for a number of top supplement and CBD companies.

In this episode Rob and Dr. Shunney dive into what it’s like to be a doctor in today’s DTC landscape where doctors have become brands and the rules aren’t absolutely clear.

S01E12 (08/24)
Jay Huffschmidt / Porsche DTLA

Jay Huffschmidt has been a master of DTC long before it was called DTC, and he’s built himself an amazing reputation as being one of most innovative marketers in the automobile industry.

If you’re in Los Angeles, and you’re into Porsche or other fine German automobiles, you’ve probably encountered Jay.

In this episode we get into his best practices, broadcast vs community-building, how social media has impacted the way we engage with our customers, and how the way we buy cars is changing.

S01E11 (08/17)
Yohei Nakajima / Untapped Capital

Inside baseball or just a friendly chat? Listeners, you be the judge.

Yohei Nakajima is a second generation venture capitalist and co-founder, along with Jessica Jackley, of Untapped Capital - a recently announced venture firm focused mainly on outbound founder discovery. Yohei and Rob discuss everything from their time in accelerators to the best way to build up a public company persona.

This episode is especially of interest to anyone a part of or considering joining the startupland ecosystem and/or wondering how venture capital firms must market themselves to both their investors and investments.

S01E10 (08/10)
Our Favorite Moments from Season 1

Over the past 9 weeks we've been honored to have on some of the top players in the DTC space on to talk about how they grew their eCommerce brands, and their personal experiences with DTC. We've loved every second we've got with these guys but some moments realy stood out, so this week we decided to something a little different and highlight them.

Each of this week's segments reveals something particularly insightful, or personal, or visionary. We hope this will inspire you to check out all of our guest's episodes if you haven't, or revisit them if you have and consider all the wisdom on tap here on DTC Growth Hacking.

S01E09 (08/03)
C.C. Boyce / Boyce Studio

In this episode Rob checks in with woodworker C.C. Boyce to discuss the success she’s found with her latest creation, the Planturn. Their conversation focuses on what it is really like for a grassroots brand to make it in today’s DTC world, and the roles that advertising and marketing can play to elevate great products and ensure that customers know about them.

This episode is especially of interest to those taking the small business DTC journey, and how hard work and marketing prowess can help achieve the success makers are hoping for.

S01E08 (07/20)
Colin Godsby / UBCO Bikes

Colin Godby is out to change the world by changing how we think about mobility. He’s the Chief Product Officer at UBCO Bikes, the New Zealand-based manufacturers of the 2x2 line of electric utility bikes. In this episode he and Rob discuss the increasingly rapid transition from ICE to EV the world is witnessing, and how UBCO thinks differently about product lifetime, sustainability, and fun factor.

Especially of interest to those wondering how brand, mission, and responsibility play a part in developing and marketing new products. Sit back and listen as Colin paints the future of electric accountability.

S01E07 (07/13)
Thomas Wadsworth / Struum

Meet Thomas Wadsworth — co-founder at Struum — a new video platform that allows its subscribers to access shows and movies from a myriad of video services using a groundbreaking credit-based viewing model.

Today he stops by the podcast to discuss what it is like building a great service from the ground up, the state of the streaming wars, how this is a great time to be a consumer, and what to expect in the future from DTC streaming brands beyond the big three.

S01E06 (07/05)
Brandon Schauer / Rare.org

Brandon Schauer is the SVP of US Climate Change at Rare.org - an organization committed to leveraging behavior science to change the way we think about climate change and provide practical steps every human can take to ensure that the earth does not become inhabitable for future generations.

If that sounds intense, it’s because it is, but Brandon - who has had a long and successful career helping brands establish themselves through multiple touchpoint user experiences - shares his optimism for how we can utilize marketing to communicate the mission to help get folks onboard and involved.

Super important pod to listen to for anyone who lives on the planet.

S01E05 (06/29)
Beau Schmidt / Sunday Scaries

Beau knows scaries, the anxiety we all face as we prepare ourselves for the onslaught of stress each week has in store for us.

Coming from the world of hospitality, Beau Schmidt and his co-founder Mike Sill, know how to create a product and environment that keeps people coming back. In the world of CBD, where a new brand launches every day, this is key.

Learn about what makes Beau, and Sunday Scaries, different from the pump and dump brands hitting the market, great tips for anyone who wants to create a brand built on values and customer satisfaction.

S01E04 (06/22)
Alex Black / Grindr

What happens when a brand is so embedded in its community that its hard to know where one starts and the other begins?

Alex Black, the director of marketing at Grindr, discusses with Rob how Grindr became the mainstay dating app of the LGBT community, what that relationship is like, and how Grindr has evolved over time into something beyond dating.

This pod is especially of interest for folks wondering about the pros and cons of making products synonymous with their customer-base, how exclusivity and inclusivity can co-exist.

S01E03 (06/15)
Leanna Creel / Vuse

Leanna Creel has been a fixture in the LA media scene as long as she can remember. With a rich history in front of and behind the camera - as an actor, filmmaker, and production company founder - she’s seen it all.

Now she’s taking her experience to put the video in Vuse, a new platform co-founded with former Sotheby’s International COO Julie Leonhardt, designed to help realtors get the most out of the media tools contained in their smart phones.

S01E02 (06/08)
Lior Root and Sophia Trunzo / Paradigm Media

Lior Root and Sophia Trunzo are the dynamic co-founders of Paradigm Media, a power agency built from the ground up specifically to help CBD brands maneuver the ever-changing-playing field of internet advertising. Hear about the challenges these companies face and how platform policy is defining how, and where, brands can engage with consumers. Especially of interest for those in the CBD space as well as marketers who someday dream of having their own shop.

S01E01 (Pilot)
Peter Luttrell / FieldTest

Peter Luttrell is the co-founder of FieldTest and one of the technologists who helped define the ad space over the course of his 20+ year career. He and Rob discuss the realities of internet advertising, untangle some deep-rooted myths, and dive into FieldTest’s mission to democratize the open web.

A great starting point for listeners looking to better understand of programmatic advertising and how the open web differs from closed social networks - and what that means for building customer base.