Dig In

Adam Faulkner is a pretty interesting guy; whether it’s his background as a creative at agencies, his biketrip from London to Tokyo, or the seemingly endless catalogue of music references he can speak to at the drop of a hat.  This week, we brought him onto Dig In to talk about his company, CreativeAF, and the power of sonic branding. CreativeAF builds music videos for brands of all shapes and siz...

Hilton Barbour, seasoned marketer and perhaps the most eloquent guy we’ve ever spoken to, is back for our first episode of Dig In in 2022. This 30-minute episode is a transparent and honest look at what positive corporate culture should mean for today’s workforce. Tune in to hear Hilton and Ian discuss: - How to show genuine empathy to employees in our new working reality - How to turn what used t...

Ajit Ghuman is the author of bestselling book, Price to Scale, and currently leads Product Marketing at Narvar. We brought him on to pick his brain on how technology companies should approach building their SaaS pricing. It's a fascinating episode. Tune in to learn: Who should be involved in crafting SaaS pricing How to assess which pricing strategy makes sense for your business How and when produ...

We chatted to Sam this week about his current business and his experience as an entrepreneur. Tune in to learn: how goodmorning.com is fixing the "suboptimal" experience of mattress shopping how Sam's team creates customer personas based on their specific jobs to be done what it was like to be in the DTC mattress game in 2017 - where 2 competitors were entering the industry each week ('Peak mattre...

We invited one of our briliant clients Eric Chue, Director of Research & Industry Insights at Interac, onto the podcast this week to learn about it all. We chat changes in shopper behaviour, how to merge transactional and human insights, and ultimately how to succeed in an industry that's so heavily impacted by adjacent industries. Tune in to learn: Tactics that Eric's team uses to add a human...

This episode of Dig In is a beauty. Anie Rouleau's founder's story is particularly compelling because she knew what her mission was before she knew how she'd make it happen. Fast forward 10 years and she's built one of the fastest growing businesses in the country, as recognized by the Globe & Mail's Report on Business. Tune in to learn: the good and the bad of being single-minded about the bu...

In this week's Founder's Spotlight, Ian sat down with Mark Baltazar, the Co-Founder of Peak MultiFamily Investments. Mark has had an interesting career, spending the last couple decades as a brand researcher before flexing his entrepreneurial muscles as a Co-Founder of a residential business. Mark will speak to the opportunity he couldn't pass up in real estate, how his background in research and...

Adam is a President and CEO, board member, best-selling author, and Forbes Business Council member. Through his experience executing a buy-and-build strategy, he has bought and sold more than 100 companies ranging in size from $1M to $1B. Not to mention his private equity cult classics - both of which are #1 Amazon Best Sellers. In this week's episode of Dig In, Ian sits down with Adam to demystif...

Thigh Society's founder Marnie Rabinovitch Consky is sort of obsessed with thighs. And over the last decade or so, she's made it her mission to perfect a breathable, comfortable, anti-chafing shorts line. Not for nothing: Thigh Society was recognized as one of Canada's fastest growing companies by the Globe & Mail this year, and they've got a cult-like customer base that can't get enough of wh...

Risa Duesing is the VP of Consumer Insights, Analytics, and Sensory at Tyson Foods. Tune in to learn: why getting an MBA helped her be a better research the ways in which Risa fosters creative and strategic thinking in her team members how she trains her team to be better storytellers how to effectively choose a research methodology through risk assessment the ways she's attempting to 'predict' th...

John, Co-Founder of Civil Pours, is back again to update us on his entrepreneurial journey.  Tune in to learn: -  how he's leveraging Upsiide to build a strong business case for distributors - how they're leveraging the Civil Liberties brand in their new venture - the way he and his partner are differentiating amongst a crowded market - what next steps look like for the brand

Clodagh Forde, Senior Manager of Human Insights at Coca-Cola was a delight to have on the podcast. Meagan chats to Clodagh about: How she ended up in research, and then innovation, and then research again Why she's a better researcher because of her time spent working in creativity and innovation How she brought design thinking to her research practices The impact of a few key mentors on her caree...

Mike Stevens joins our CEO Paul to chat about the trends their seeing across the research, analytics, and data industries (or is it 'industry'?). They'll discuss key acquisitions and what they signal, how buyers are becoming suppliers (and why that might be), and the importance of behavioural research right now. Ipsos acquires InfoTools and elects a new CEO (congrats Ben Page!). Pepsi launches Pep...

In today's episode you'll learn: How Walid is planning for success in 2022 The importance of integrating observational data into research strategy Why Coca-Cola rebranded their research function to 'human insights' why Walid believes we're seeing a resurrection of retail, and what other industries can learn from it His predictions for the future of in-store shopping

In this week's episode, you'll learn: why Ron believes brands need to operate like media properties the challenge of futureproofing the name of your agency when it makes sense to fire a client, and how to share that news with your team how perspective on governance can shift when you're responsible for the bottom line why agencies should operate like teams, not families

Joe chats to our Marketing Director, Meagan, about how he's leveraged his 2-decades of experience in CPG research to build his own coaching business. You'll learn how he's approaching coaching in a unique way, the social enterprise that sits at the backbone of his company, and the trends impacting CPG.

This week we've brought Liza Amlani in, Founder at Retail Strategy Group, to chat all things sustainability in retail fashion. Liza has two decades of experience in retail, bringing experience from Ralph Lauren and Accenture to her practice. Amongst her impressive roster of accomplishments is the fact that she's a regular contributor to RetailWire and an industry contributor for Forbes. Needless t...

We've got another industry news episode this week. Our CEO Paul chats to Tom, EVP & Managing Director Americas @ Dynata. The two cover all things high quality research, how Dynata is working with their partners and clients to consistently deliver high quality insights, and what other research companies need to do to keep pace in an industry who’s addressable market seems ever-expanding.

This week we're joined by Ed, Category & Business Insights Manager @ Olipop, about what it's like to work at a fast-growing brand that's pioneering a brand new category. We discuss how Olipop is approaching distribution strategically, the way they select the next great flavour innovation, who they're stealing market share from and how, along with much more.

A truly relevant throwback from 2020. Hilton Barbour, Vice President of Marketing @ Kognitiv, chats to Ian about how to keep employees happy and motivated during a time of crisis. They touch on what transparency means in this context, which brands business leaders should draw inspiration from, the real reason that tone deaf communications arise, and more.

In this week's episode of Dig In, we go deep with Justin Pray, Senior Consumer Insights Manager @ Aurora Cannabis .  Justin chats all things cannabis, walking us through his approach to consumer insights in a category with limited 'sources of truth', the challenges of building brand affinity and equity within the space, building the right research tech stack, and more. Enjoy!

In this week's episode of Dig In, John Williamson and Nick Kennedy talk to Ian about how they're taking the concept behind iconic cocktail bar Civil Liberties and creating a brand new ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail category. Tune in to hear these two entrepreneurs discuss the importance of trust and chemistry when founding a business, the unique approach they're bringing to branding and packaging f...

In this week's Episode of Dig In, Upsiide 's President Ian Ash chats with Inkblot 's VP of Clinical Services Rachel Toledano about how the pandemic has impacted Canadians' mental health. They touch on stigma associated with vaccinations, the impact of being consistently anxious for a year, the fallout of pandemic life across generations, and more. It is, quite possibly, the most of-the-moment inte...

Dig's CEO Paul chats to Sima, Founder of Infinity Squared Ventures and Lexia, Director at Cannacord Genuity. Both Sima and Lexia are insanely knowledgeable about product and investment trends in the insight & analytics space.  Tune in to learn about current market dynamics and what that means for research and technology providers, predictions for the next 12-24 months, and honest opinions on r...

Dig's Marketing Director Meagan is joined by Focus Lab 's Chief Growth Officer & Partner Will Straughn to talk all things building a brand that lasts. They discuss why the best brands are consistent, which brands are doing brand marketing incredibly well, and why the hardest part of re-branding is managing change within the organization (and how to do it!).