September 10, 2025 • 15 mins
Rikki Marler, Vice President of Client Development at Pēq, joins Women of Influence to share how she helps brands move beyond surface-level metrics to understand the true incremental impact of their campaigns. With a background in shopper marketing and lessons learned from early mentors, Rikki talks about why today’s marketers need real-time insights, how transparency has guided her career, and the importance of staying curious when navigating change.
Episode Highlights:
- The shift from proof of performance to proof of value in marketing.
- Why in-flight optimization is essential as budgets tighten.
- Lessons in transparency from early career mentorship under Walmart’s first COO.
- Staying curious and using an “advisory board” to navigate career twists.
- Influence as making people feel seen, heard, and empowered.
Links and Resources
Connect with Rikki Marler on LinkedIn
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I love being a thought partner, not just a
provider.
Whether we're navigating atough challenge or planning a
new campaign together, it'sreally the trust and
collaboration that we buildalong the way that makes this
work meaningful to me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome back for another episode of the she
Speaks Women of Influencepodcast.
I am really excited to sharethis episode with you today.
I love when I get the chance totalk with people from companies
who we get to work with here atshe Speaks she speaks, and one
(00:46):
of the things that isincreasingly important in the
marketing space and theinfluencer marketing space is
making sure that you can alwaysreally measure and track the
success of what you've done andhow a campaign is working with
influencers or anything you'redoing in marketing, but, in our
example, with influencers.
So today I have the wonderfulRikki Marler with me.
(01:07):
She is the Vice President ofClient Development at Peak, and
Peak is a marketing measurementcompany that helps brands
understand what the realincremental impact is of the
campaigns that they do whenthey're spending advertising and
marketing dollars.
And that's really looking at itfrom a retail media standpoint.
(01:29):
So for you know how they'redriving sales that maybe are
specific to a retail location,as well as digital ads and
in-store promotions and onsocial media.
Ricky gives us some reallygreat insight into how marketing
measurement is changing andevolving, so how companies can
really understand the impact oftheir marketing dollars and what
(01:52):
they're doing for them and why.
Basically looking at optimizingand really understanding how
things are working and how tomake it better as you're going,
when you're doing marketingactivities, is just more
important than ever.
I love this conversation that Ihad with Rikki.
She also talks about thingsthat have really guided her and
(02:15):
her career.
It's a really good listen formarketers and brand leaders and
anyone who's navigating thechanging world of measurement
and influence.
So with that, I'm going to letyou hear my great conversation
with Rikki Marder.
Rikki, welcome to the show.
(02:36):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Well, I'm excited to talk withyou because I have known you now
for a bit.
We've been in some businessmeetings together but I'm
excited to have you on the showbecause I love the work that you
and your team do in analyticsand measurement such an
important part of what anymarketing professional thinks
(03:01):
about.
I'm looking forward to hearingmore about that and maybe we can
start with what you'recurrently doing your role at
Peak.
You're the vice president ofclient development.
What does Peak do, and tell usa little bit about your role.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well, thank you for having me on and it's always
good to see you.
So, peak, we're a marketingmeasurement company.
We help brands to understandthe true incremental impact of
their campaigns.
So, whether that's retail media, digital ads, in-store
promotions or, especiallyorganic social or social media,
(03:38):
we isolate what's truly drivingnet new sales so that marketers
can optimize with confidence.
In my role, I work very closelywith brands, agencies and
retailers to ensure that theirmeasurement strategies are set
up for success.
To me, that means aligning onKPIs, designing smarter tests,
(04:02):
making sure that insights areactionable, not just interesting
or nice to have.
But within that, I do want tocall out my very favorite part
and you led into this isbuilding relationships.
So I love being a thoughtpartner, not just a provider.
Whether we're navigating atough challenge or planning a
(04:23):
new campaign together, it'sreally the trust and
collaboration that we buildalong the way that makes this
work meaningful to me.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, I love that.
You know it's interestingbecause I started my career
basically as a brand managerback in the day.
I remember going into marketingand thinking, oh, I get to do
all the fun, the advertising,the creative, all these fun
things.
Things Like you do a televisioncommercial, you do a direct
(05:00):
mail back I know I'm agingmyself here, but you do anything
, any kind of marketing activity, and if you don't understand
how, whether that had an impact,like what kind of impact did it
have?
It almost makes the marketingand the advertising part of your
job less fun because you don'tknow if you're good or not.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Does that make sense?
That completely resonates withme.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How has measurement changed over the last, let's say
maybe over the last 18 monthsor two years.
How has it changed?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Or even in the last month because, we're in a time
warp, right now.
Oh, okay, yeah, so what's?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
new.
What is new that we should know?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
about.
Overall.
There's been a major shift fromjust this idea of proof of
performance shifting to proof ofvalue.
Brands are no longer justsatisfied with the KPI of
impressions or just generaloverall ROAS.
What they really want to trulyknow is what was incremental?
(06:00):
Did this campaign drive newdemand or would those sales have
happened without this marketinganyway?
We're always seeing moreurgency around in-flight
optimization.
Marketers, now more than everneed insights while the
campaigns are still alive.
Budgets are under pressure andthe stakes are higher, and you
(06:23):
really can't wait until thecampaign ends to adjust.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I love that explanation, so clear in terms
of why measurement and why nowit's so critical.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow you got started in your
career?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Absolutely.
I'll take us way back to theearly 2000s and, you know, later
2000s when I feel like.
I went to grad school forshopper marketing and I was very
fortunate enough to get afellowship from Don Sodaquist
who built a leadership andethics center.
(07:01):
It's now called MilestoneLeadership.
Don was the right-hand man ofSam Walton.
He was the very first COO ofWalmart and very good friends
with Sam.
So I was so fortunate I got toride around on his jet and get
to hear all the stories abouthow he and Sam built this
(07:23):
culture.
You know, very intentionally,transparency was a huge part of
it.
And again to when Don later inhis life was so passionate about
doing business with the idea ofethics and leadership in mind,
he built this center to go outand train other organizations
(07:43):
how to think that way, and soagain, that was my very, very
beginning.
And then later on I wasactually in a role at Reckitt as
a shopper marketing manager.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So for people who may not be familiar with Reckitt,
what brands would they know fromReckitt?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh boy, across the board Mucinex, Lysol, Mega Red,
Airwick, many, many, many more.
Finish dish detergent.
There's a whole lot of them andI carried a lot of the
learnings that I got to gleanfrom Don early, early on in my
career through with me as Istepped into that role and every
(08:23):
role I've stepped into.
At Reckitt I managed all ofWalmart and Sam's Club.
That's a tall order, like wesaid, a lot of a lot of brands,
lot of brands, and I just didn'tfeel like I had a guiding
source for making myyear-over-year decisions.
(08:43):
You know planning when finalresults would come in.
It would be the KPI ofimpressions.
You know that I talked aboutbefore.
I just didn't really have agrasp of what was working and
what wasn't, or even if I wasdoing a good job as a marketer.
You and I talked about thatbefore.
I believe that the starsusually align for things and
there's connectedness.
So, starting from Dawn andunderstanding that transparency,
(09:07):
like I said, has followed me asan idea and concept and value
throughout my career and Ireally didn't like that feeling
of not having that transparency.
So that's really what led meinto the passion that I have for
measurement and being able togive brands, equip brands with
that insight, with the abilityto make decisions based on sales
(09:31):
and what's actually working andnot working.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I love that Well, and so you've had a career
basically in this part of themarketing world which is the
shopper marketing Right.
We all have kind of thesetwists and turns in our career,
and one of the things we love tokind of have our audiences hear
from our guests is any adviceyou have for how you manage
(10:01):
different twists and turns thathave happened within your career
, any advice for people.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, I've never had any.
No, no, completely kidding.
So yeah, I've been thinkingabout this because of course,
there's been twists and turnsand maybe I wasn't as smart in
the beginning of my career orwise in this, but I am finding
as I look back what has workedfor me is just getting curious
(10:28):
again, really digging in, askmyself what am I no longer
learning?
Why do I feel either stagnantor why has this major shift
happened in my career that Ididn't expect?
Also, feeling stuck can looklike just your job becoming
automatic right, and so thatcuriosity can help bring you out
of that.
(10:49):
I also lean so heavily on mytrusted group of a circle I
actually call them my advisoryboard and they know I have
specific people I can calldifferent things, and often,
when you're feeling stuck, justtalking through those messy
thoughts with your trustedadvisors or your close circle
(11:12):
out loud can help you see thingsa little more clearly.
And so, and usually in thatconversation, the next step is
typically hiding the answer toit within that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So, yeah, I love that and it's such great advice.
I think that we need to valuemore the opportunity to talk
things through with someone else, to write them out too.
I have found that, even justjournaling, writing things out I
had a guest on, I remember, whosaid to me I was talking about
(11:46):
journaling and she said Ifrequently don't know what I
think until I write it, and it'ssuch a true thing that you
start to write something downand then you look at it and you
go, oh my God, wait, that's whatI think and it just it has a
way.
There's something.
There is something and I havehad conversations with people
(12:07):
who are experts in how the brainfunctions that there is
something that happens with theelement of writing that triggers
your brain in a way that youdon't have if you're speaking or
if you're just thinking, justnot different things.
When we speak, certain thingshappen.
(12:28):
When we write, certain thingshappen.
When we exercise, certainthings happen.
But it's so interesting that alot of women tell me they
journal because it really helpsthem think something out that
(12:52):
they didn't necessarily.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, and connect the dots right when they're all in
there, but maybe just not.
The pieces are being together.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I love that.
So this podcast is called Womenof Influence.
Can you talk about whatinfluence means to you?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, To me influence is about how you make people
feel.
And I know that might be justreally not giving the word the
bigness that it deserves, butit's about.
It's not about having theloudest voice or even the most
polished answer, it's aboutshowing up in a way.
(13:31):
I believe that makes othersfeel seen, heard and empowered.
And sometimes that can looklike asking a hard question in a
meeting or other times it couldlook like advocating for
somebody behind closed doors.
But I believe that influenceshows up in the big or small
(13:52):
moments, and really I believeit's a collection of a lot of
small moments that really matterthe most.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I love that.
Yeah, is it Maya Angelou thatsaid people don't remember what
you said or what you did.
They remember how you make themfeel.
And I love that.
I think about that all the time.
I tell my daughters that allthe time, about that idea,
because I think, especially aswomen, we can get so caught up
(14:24):
in the words and wanting to beearnest and saying the right
things and doing all the rightthings.
And it's really important, Ithink, to take that perspective
of taking a step back and saying, okay, let me worry about how
(14:44):
I'm making somebody feel, moreso than what I'm saying, how I'm
saying it.
There's more to it than that.
I love that.
Well, rikki, thank you so muchfor spending this time with us.
I am grateful.
Lots of very interesting thingsthat I think people are going
(15:05):
to get from this episode.
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, thank you, I'll come back anytime.
I love being a thought partner, not just a
provider.
Whether we're navigating atough challenge or planning a
new campaign together, it'sreally the trust and
collaboration that we buildalong the way that makes this
work meaningful to me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome back for another episode of the she
Speaks Women of Influencepodcast.
I am really excited to sharethis episode with you today.
I love when I get the chance totalk with people from companies
who we get to work with here atshe Speaks she speaks, and one
(00:46):
of the things that isincreasingly important in the
marketing space and theinfluencer marketing space is
making sure that you can alwaysreally measure and track the
success of what you've done andhow a campaign is working with
influencers or anything you'redoing in marketing, but, in our
example, with influencers.
So today I have the wonderfulRikki Marler with me.
(01:07):
She is the Vice President ofClient Development at Peak, and
Peak is a marketing measurementcompany that helps brands
understand what the realincremental impact is of the
campaigns that they do whenthey're spending advertising and
marketing dollars.
And that's really looking at itfrom a retail media standpoint.
(01:29):
So for you know how they'redriving sales that maybe are
specific to a retail location,as well as digital ads and
in-store promotions and onsocial media.
Ricky gives us some reallygreat insight into how marketing
measurement is changing andevolving, so how companies can
really understand the impact oftheir marketing dollars and what
(01:52):
they're doing for them and why.
Basically looking at optimizingand really understanding how
things are working and how tomake it better as you're going,
when you're doing marketingactivities, is just more
important than ever.
I love this conversation that Ihad with Rikki.
She also talks about thingsthat have really guided her and
(02:15):
her career.
It's a really good listen formarketers and brand leaders and
anyone who's navigating thechanging world of measurement
and influence.
So with that, I'm going to letyou hear my great conversation
with Rikki Marder.
Rikki, welcome to the show.
(02:36):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Well, I'm excited to talk withyou because I have known you now
for a bit.
We've been in some businessmeetings together but I'm
excited to have you on the showbecause I love the work that you
and your team do in analyticsand measurement such an
important part of what anymarketing professional thinks
(03:01):
about.
I'm looking forward to hearingmore about that and maybe we can
start with what you'recurrently doing your role at
Peak.
You're the vice president ofclient development.
What does Peak do, and tell usa little bit about your role.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well, thank you for having me on and it's always
good to see you.
So, peak, we're a marketingmeasurement company.
We help brands to understandthe true incremental impact of
their campaigns.
So, whether that's retail media, digital ads, in-store
promotions or, especiallyorganic social or social media,
(03:38):
we isolate what's truly drivingnet new sales so that marketers
can optimize with confidence.
In my role, I work very closelywith brands, agencies and
retailers to ensure that theirmeasurement strategies are set
up for success.
To me, that means aligning onKPIs, designing smarter tests,
(04:02):
making sure that insights areactionable, not just interesting
or nice to have.
But within that, I do want tocall out my very favorite part
and you led into this isbuilding relationships.
So I love being a thoughtpartner, not just a provider.
Whether we're navigating atough challenge or planning a
(04:23):
new campaign together, it'sreally the trust and
collaboration that we buildalong the way that makes this
work meaningful to me.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, I love that.
You know it's interestingbecause I started my career
basically as a brand managerback in the day.
I remember going into marketingand thinking, oh, I get to do
all the fun, the advertising,the creative, all these fun
things.
Things Like you do a televisioncommercial, you do a direct
(05:00):
mail back I know I'm agingmyself here, but you do anything
, any kind of marketing activity, and if you don't understand
how, whether that had an impact,like what kind of impact did it
have?
It almost makes the marketingand the advertising part of your
job less fun because you don'tknow if you're good or not.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Does that make sense?
That completely resonates withme.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How has measurement changed over the last, let's say
maybe over the last 18 monthsor two years.
How has it changed?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Or even in the last month because, we're in a time
warp, right now.
Oh, okay, yeah, so what's?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
new.
What is new that we should know?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
about.
Overall.
There's been a major shift fromjust this idea of proof of
performance shifting to proof ofvalue.
Brands are no longer justsatisfied with the KPI of
impressions or just generaloverall ROAS.
What they really want to trulyknow is what was incremental?
(06:00):
Did this campaign drive newdemand or would those sales have
happened without this marketinganyway?
We're always seeing moreurgency around in-flight
optimization.
Marketers, now more than everneed insights while the
campaigns are still alive.
Budgets are under pressure andthe stakes are higher, and you
(06:23):
really can't wait until thecampaign ends to adjust.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I love that explanation, so clear in terms
of why measurement and why nowit's so critical.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow you got started in your
career?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Absolutely.
I'll take us way back to theearly 2000s and, you know, later
2000s when I feel like.
I went to grad school forshopper marketing and I was very
fortunate enough to get afellowship from Don Sodaquist
who built a leadership andethics center.
(07:01):
It's now called MilestoneLeadership.
Don was the right-hand man ofSam Walton.
He was the very first COO ofWalmart and very good friends
with Sam.
So I was so fortunate I got toride around on his jet and get
to hear all the stories abouthow he and Sam built this
(07:23):
culture.
You know, very intentionally,transparency was a huge part of
it.
And again to when Don later inhis life was so passionate about
doing business with the idea ofethics and leadership in mind,
he built this center to go outand train other organizations
(07:43):
how to think that way, and soagain, that was my very, very
beginning.
And then later on I wasactually in a role at Reckitt as
a shopper marketing manager.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So for people who may not be familiar with Reckitt,
what brands would they know fromReckitt?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh boy, across the board Mucinex, Lysol, Mega Red,
Airwick, many, many, many more.
Finish dish detergent.
There's a whole lot of them andI carried a lot of the
learnings that I got to gleanfrom Don early, early on in my
career through with me as Istepped into that role and every
(08:23):
role I've stepped into.
At Reckitt I managed all ofWalmart and Sam's Club.
That's a tall order, like wesaid, a lot of a lot of brands,
lot of brands, and I just didn'tfeel like I had a guiding
source for making myyear-over-year decisions.
(08:43):
You know planning when finalresults would come in.
It would be the KPI ofimpressions.
You know that I talked aboutbefore.
I just didn't really have agrasp of what was working and
what wasn't, or even if I wasdoing a good job as a marketer.
You and I talked about thatbefore.
I believe that the starsusually align for things and
there's connectedness.
So, starting from Dawn andunderstanding that transparency,
(09:07):
like I said, has followed me asan idea and concept and value
throughout my career and Ireally didn't like that feeling
of not having that transparency.
So that's really what led meinto the passion that I have for
measurement and being able togive brands, equip brands with
that insight, with the abilityto make decisions based on sales
(09:31):
and what's actually working andnot working.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I love that Well, and so you've had a career
basically in this part of themarketing world which is the
shopper marketing Right.
We all have kind of thesetwists and turns in our career,
and one of the things we love tokind of have our audiences hear
from our guests is any adviceyou have for how you manage
(10:01):
different twists and turns thathave happened within your career
, any advice for people.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, I've never had any.
No, no, completely kidding.
So yeah, I've been thinkingabout this because of course,
there's been twists and turnsand maybe I wasn't as smart in
the beginning of my career orwise in this, but I am finding
as I look back what has workedfor me is just getting curious
(10:28):
again, really digging in, askmyself what am I no longer
learning?
Why do I feel either stagnantor why has this major shift
happened in my career that Ididn't expect?
Also, feeling stuck can looklike just your job becoming
automatic right, and so thatcuriosity can help bring you out
of that.
(10:49):
I also lean so heavily on mytrusted group of a circle I
actually call them my advisoryboard and they know I have
specific people I can calldifferent things, and often,
when you're feeling stuck, justtalking through those messy
thoughts with your trustedadvisors or your close circle
(11:12):
out loud can help you see thingsa little more clearly.
And so, and usually in thatconversation, the next step is
typically hiding the answer toit within that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So, yeah, I love that and it's such great advice.
I think that we need to valuemore the opportunity to talk
things through with someone else, to write them out too.
I have found that, even justjournaling, writing things out I
had a guest on, I remember, whosaid to me I was talking about
(11:46):
journaling and she said Ifrequently don't know what I
think until I write it, and it'ssuch a true thing that you
start to write something downand then you look at it and you
go, oh my God, wait, that's whatI think and it just it has a
way.
There's something.
There is something and I havehad conversations with people
(12:07):
who are experts in how the brainfunctions that there is
something that happens with theelement of writing that triggers
your brain in a way that youdon't have if you're speaking or
if you're just thinking, justnot different things.
When we speak, certain thingshappen.
(12:28):
When we write, certain thingshappen.
When we exercise, certainthings happen.
But it's so interesting that alot of women tell me they
journal because it really helpsthem think something out that
(12:52):
they didn't necessarily.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, and connect the dots right when they're all in
there, but maybe just not.
The pieces are being together.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I love that.
So this podcast is called Womenof Influence.
Can you talk about whatinfluence means to you?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, To me influence is about how you make people
feel.
And I know that might be justreally not giving the word the
bigness that it deserves, butit's about.
It's not about having theloudest voice or even the most
polished answer, it's aboutshowing up in a way.
(13:31):
I believe that makes othersfeel seen, heard and empowered.
And sometimes that can looklike asking a hard question in a
meeting or other times it couldlook like advocating for
somebody behind closed doors.
But I believe that influenceshows up in the big or small
(13:52):
moments, and really I believeit's a collection of a lot of
small moments that really matterthe most.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I love that.
Yeah, is it Maya Angelou thatsaid people don't remember what
you said or what you did.
They remember how you make themfeel.
And I love that.
I think about that all the time.
I tell my daughters that allthe time, about that idea,
because I think, especially aswomen, we can get so caught up
(14:24):
in the words and wanting to beearnest and saying the right
things and doing all the rightthings.
And it's really important, Ithink, to take that perspective
of taking a step back and saying, okay, let me worry about how
(14:44):
I'm making somebody feel, moreso than what I'm saying, how I'm
saying it.
There's more to it than that.
I love that.
Well, rikki, thank you so muchfor spending this time with us.
I am grateful.
Lots of very interesting thingsthat I think people are going
(15:05):
to get from this episode.
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, thank you, I'll come back anytime.
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