Anatomy of a Strategy

This week, Tara and Stef speak to Nate Nichols. Nate is the founder of Palette Group, a commercial creative agency that focuses on community, which he runs with his life partner. He's also the co-founder and creative director of Allyship & Action, a collective that works with vendors and agencies to actively promote diversity within the industry. 

For Nate, everything he’s passionate about is deeply rooted in empathy and th...

This week on the podcast, Tara and Stef sit down with Danica S. Nelson, Senior Product Marketing Communications Manager and travel enthusiast. But Danica does multiple jobs with her organization. She not only has a senior marketing role, she also works on the DEI (diversity equity and inclusion) initiatives. She balances all of these with ease...but found herself burning out last year and took an extended leave to recharge. Unfortu...

Tara has known Ian for well over a decade and she's never had a conversation on race with him. This isn't because of a lack of opportunity. They've shared many a deep conversation, but never about race.

This is a problem. It's one of the biggest problems that White people have, in fact. You may have heard "your silence is violence" and this episode is all about unpacking that.

We also talk about data portabi...

"How can we say that politics shouldn't be a conversation on a business platform when it is the politics, the lobbyists, the things that are happening behind the scenes that govern how business operates?"

Indeed! In this episode, Stefani and Tara speak with the epigrammatic Cher Jones, a social media and brand development expert, and LinkedIn influencer, about many eye-opening subjects. However, the core of the conversa...

For the past few months, between COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, we've opted to put a pause on AoaS to create space for other conversations (with the exception of the episodes with Laura Fitton and Joe Jackman, which we thought were relevant to the COVID-19 discussion).

Now, we see that our silence on the topic of Black Lives Matter was akin to saying, "This is not our problem." This was wrong and it took ...

All the way back in February, Stefani and Tara sat down to speak with Joe Jackman, founder of Jackman Reinvents and author of The Reinventionist Mindset, about the need for retail to reinvent itself if it was going to keep engaging a very digital-minded consumer.

Oh boy, did that escalate quickly! Though they spoke with Jackman in February, he has covered this topic a bit since, so they discuss what reinvention looks like now as op...

This episode was recorded pre-COVID-19 crisis, but Tara and Stef found a few parallels between the outbreak and the climate crisis.

We’ve got a brand new format that will give you a much clearer insight into digital strategies from here on out!

Our guest this week is Laura Fitton, who is the Principal and Founder of The enough company. Her aim was to explain and evangelize market-driven shifts that can bring speed and scale to the ...

If you’re new to this podcast, AOAS is a marketing podcast that explores the hidden psychology and behaviors that drive marketing strategies. It’s not about marketing per se.

We aren’t here to celebrate and rehash case studies as much as we are here to dissect the culture in and around the successes and failures of marketing. We want to ask, “What was going on in the world that helped that message succeed and that other one fail?”

...

We’ve got a very special episode, this week…Introducing our new co-host on the podcast, Stefani Forster! Find out what's happening! Where's Carlos gone? What's going down? 

Stefani is the Creative Director at Truly and a content strategist with experience at some of Canada's top agencies and publications.

She worked at Touché! Media and PHD Canada on various national brand campaigns before moving to the content side...

This week we welcome Charlene Li on the Anatomy of a Strategy podcast.

Charlene is in the business of helping brands predict the future. The founder of Altimeter (now under the Prophet Company umbrella) - a company that helps companies to leverage disruptive tech by providing research and advice.

She’s the author of 6 books, most recently “The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Businesses Transform While Others Fail”. 

Charlene is also a...

We’ve got a big guest, this week! Say hello to Vicki Saunders.

Vicki is the multi-award-winning Founder of SheEO, the worldwide ecosystem that supports, finances, and celebrates female innovators using ‘Activators’ as well as hosting summits, events, and much,  much more!

To name just SOME of her accolades - on top of being named as 1 of 30 “World-Changing Women in Conscious Business”, she’s also been listed as one of “100 Most Inf...

This week we’re joined by Ron Tite. Ron is the award-winning Founder and CEO of Toronto-based agency, Church & State. 

He’s worked with massive brands such as Evian, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Hershey, and many more. Ron has been recognized by The London International Marketing Awards, The Canadian Marketing Association, The Marketing Awards, and far too many others to list here.

Ron stopped by the studio to chat with us...

This time around we’re joined by Karima-Catherine Goundiam, whose credentials are so vast, we’d struggle to fit them all here!

Karima is the award-winning CEO of Red Dot Digital, a strategy & insights led agency based right here in Toronto and around the world. Karima has now ventured into the B2B matchmaking world, with her latest project, B2BeeMatch - hot off the press.

She’s also the Vice President and Board Member of The Br...

In our final episode of 2019, we look to the future!

Earlier in the year, we were joined by the fantastic Strata Insights Co-Founder, Tracy Chong. Now, to close off the year, we’re joined by the fellow Co-Founder of Strata Insights, Mark Radha. As a brand economist, he’s here to give us a glimpse into what brand trends we’ll see in 2020 and beyond.

After working as a Lead Analyst and a Strategy Director, Mark became Co-Founder, CE...

This episode, we’re joined by Katelyn Bourgoin!

Katelyn is a self-confessed growth geek. She’s founded multiple companies (one of which - Vendeve, was called "the next LinkedIn" by Inc.) She also offers her strategic, customer-focused advice to large companies such as Target and Holiday Inn to find their “best fit” customers. Even the likes of Forbes has recognized her in their “Influencing Styles” list.

She’s currently run...

Alex Hillman joins us on this week's AOAS show!

Alex has been carrying the coworking torch since the very beginnings of the movement. After founding Indy Hall (the world’s oldest fully independent coworking community) in Philidephia in 2006, Alex has gone on to teach those with creative skills to grow their business with Stacking the Bricks (with Amy Hoy) and their self-titled podcast.

He joins us to talk about shipping product...

April Dunford is a positioning consultant, entrepreneur, board member, angel investor, and advisor. Her expertise is built on 25 years as an executive in a series of 7 successful technology startups and 3 global tech giants. She’s launched 16 products as an executive and consulted on dozens more. 

She is also an international keynote speaker on the topics of Positioning, Market Strategy and New Product Introduction. Her goal is to ...

This week we're joined on the show by Christopher S. Penn. He considered an authority on analytics, digital marketing, and marketing technology. As well as publishing over a dozen books, he is also recognized as a keynote speaker and thought leader. He is a 2019 IBM Champion in IBM Analytics, a Brand24 Top 100 Digital Marketer, and co-founder of the PodCamp Conference.

Penn is the Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at Trust In...

Galit Ariel AKA The AR girl is a techno futurist, digital hippie & AR aficionado, TED speaker and author of Augmenting Alice – The Future of Identity, Experience & Reality.

If you didn't guess it yet she is passionate about a future of AR and the potential it has to be integrated technology into our everyday lives, but not control it.

She joins Tara and Carlos to talk about the future of life without screens, is AR righ...