’Hello $FirstName’ - marketing experts discussing the topic of personalization

In Chapter 14 of Hello $Firstname, Rasmus Houlind reads ‘Tying It All Up in the Bowtie of Personalization’. Rasmus Houlind is the author of Hello $Firstname and narrates this chapter himself because it brings Part Two together. The chapter revisits all four corners of the Bowtie of Personalization and shows how they come together across campaigns, marketing automation, and inbound platforms. The c...

In Chapter 13 of Hello $Firstname, Mark Robertson reads ‘Personalization on Inbound Platforms’. Mark Robertson is Partnerships Director at Mastercard Dynamic Yield and has spent around 25 years working across marketing, technology, sales, partnerships, and tools for both outbound and inbound marketing. In this chapter, he reads about personalization on websites, apps, and other inbound platforms....

In Chapter 12 of Hello $Firstname, Maria Moreau reads ‘Content, Part 2: Content Feeds’. Maria Moreau is CRM Director at Boozt.com, where she works with CRM for millions of users. In this chapter, she reads about the second content corner of the Bowtie of Personalization: content feeds. The chapter opens with HBO Max and the challenge of personalizing which movies, series, and episodes are shown to...

In Chapter 11 of Hello $Firstname, Jordie van Rijn reads ‘Personalization in Marketing Automation’. Jordie van Rijn is an email marketing and martech specialist who guides businesses in selecting marketing software through emailvendorselection.com. In this chapter, he reads about personalization in marketing automation and customer lifecycle communication. The chapter explains why marketing automa...

In Chapter 10 of Hello $Firstname, Morten Suhr Hansen reads ‘Insights, Part 2: Moments of Truth’. Morten Suhr Hansen is founder and senior partner at Subscrybe, where he works extensively with subscription businesses. In this chapter, he reads about the second insight corner of the Bowtie of Personalization: moments of truth. The chapter opens with FT.com and a usage digest designed to reduce chur...

In Chapter 9 of Hello $Firstname, Peter Anders Franch reads ‘Personalization in Campaigns’. Peter Anders Franch is Head of CRM, CLV, and Customer Insight at Matas in Denmark, where he works with Club Matas, one of Scandinavia’s largest loyalty programs. In this chapter, he reads about how personalization creates value in campaigns. The chapter defines what a campaign is and distinguishes campaign...

In Chapter 8 of Hello $Firstname, Ana Mourão reads ‘Content, Part 1: Messages’. Ana Mourão is a global martech and customer data leader, originally from Brazil and now based in the Miami area. In this chapter, she reads about the first content corner of the Bowtie of Personalization: messages. The chapter opens with FC Copenhagen and its season pass renewal campaign. It shows how a brand can use c...

In Chapter 7 of Hello $Firstname, Jens Hård reads ‘Insights, Part 1: Segments’. Jens Hård has around 20 years of experience in data-driven marketing and is CEO of Root Digital Group. In this chapter, he reads about the first insight corner of the Bowtie of Personalization: customer segments. The chapter uses the Canadian bank Groupe Desjardins as its opening case and explores how segments can help...

In Chapter 6 of Hello $Firstname, Tom Peace reads ‘The Bowtie of Personalization’. Tom Peace is CEO and founder of Sway Outcomes, a global customer strategy consultancy focused on loyalty and CRM. In this chapter, he introduces the central model of Part Two: the Bowtie of Personalization. The chapter explains how meaningful personalization is created by combining two kinds of customer insight, seg...

In Chapter 5 of Hello $Firstname, Kim Jong Andersen reads ‘Marketing Without Personalisation’. Kim Jong Andersen is Managing Partner at the Danish agency WDP. In this chapter, he reads a deliberately difficult exploration of what marketing would look like if we removed personalisation from the equation. The answer helps clarify what personalisation can and cannot do. Personalisation is a powerful...

In Chapter 4 of Hello $Firstname, Dr Matt Johnson reads ‘Why Does Personalisation Work?’ Matt is the author of Blindsight and Branding That Means Business, and he hosts the blog neuroscienceof.com. In this chapter, he brings the listener into the psychology behind personalisation. Why do people respond better to messages and content that feel relevant to them? The answer is connected to evolutiona...

In Chapter 3 of Hello $Firstname, Mhari Coxon reads ‘Defining Personalisation’. Mhari is a marketer from the United Kingdom, and in this chapter she takes the listener into one of the book’s central missions: creating a practical definition of personalisation that marketers can actually use. The chapter distinguishes personalisation from customisation, actual personalisation from perceived persona...

In Chapter 2 of Hello $Firstname, Dr Jason Pallant reads ‘What Is the Problem with Personalisation?’ Jason is Director of the Marketing Technology Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He has also used some of the frameworks from Hello $Firstname in the marketing technology curriculum at RMIT. This chapter explores why personalisation is such a difficult topic to align around. Marketers...

In Chapter 1 of Hello $Firstname, Kim Motroen reads ‘The Hype of Personalisation’. Kim is one of the founders of Publicis Foundry and has spent more than 20 years working with marketing, technology, and customer experience.  This chapter traces the roots of personalisation hype back to The One to One Future by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, and explores why the idea of individualised communication...

Welcome to the audiobook edition of Hello $Firstname, the AI edition. In this opening episode, Rasmus Houlind reads the introduction to the updated edition of the book and explains why personalisation has changed so dramatically since the first edition. Generative AI has made the content challenge easier to solve, but it has also made the need for clear frameworks, shared language, and practical e...

What has actually changed in personalization now that generative AI is everywhere? In this digital launch recording for the AI Edition of Hello $Firstname, Rasmus Houlind is joined by co-author Frans Riemersma and Maria Moreau from Boozt. Together, they explore how AI affects personalization, why the Content Layer has become increasingly important, how the Bowtie of Personalization still helps mar...

In this episode of Hello $Firstname, I’m joined by Nikolaj Skarbye from Scratcher.io for a deep dive into what might be the most overlooked shortcut to personalization: asking people directly - while making it fun. At the heart of our conversation is zero-party data: the kind of willingly shared data that can include preferences, intentions, interests - even motivations. And instead of waiting for...

What happens when the Content Crisis meets AI creativity? In this episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I sat down with Villads Leth, CEO and Founder at Alvas.ai, to explore what fully individualised, AI-written email content looks like in practice. And why it’s forcing marketers to rethink what content is, how it’s created, and what it means to personalise at scale. 🎯 Here’s what makes this c...

In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Chris Kjær Sørensen , CTO and co-founder of Landfolk — the curated holiday rental platform that’s redefining what it means to rent a holiday home with character. What struck me most in this conversation is just how naturally Landfolk operates in alignment with the Content Layer of the CX Layers framework. Not...

In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I’m joined (Again! Congrats on being the first 2nd-time guest, David) by David Mannheim — author of The Person in Personalisation, founder of MadeWithIntent.ai, avid Disney fan and all-around provocateur of personalization norms. David and I go way back — he even wrote the foreword for Hello $Firstname — but this episode isn’t just a nostalgic...

Not Enough Traffic for A/B Testing? Here’s How VodafoneZiggo Scales Personalization Anyway 📉 In B2B marketing, low traffic volume is often a CRO killer. But that hasn’t stopped VodafoneZiggo from building a smart, insight-driven personalization engine anyway. In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Granja Baltazar, CRO Specialist at Vodafo...

🐟🍦 If we just increase the number of shark attacks, we’ll sell more ice cream! Sounds ridiculous, right? Yet, many businesses unknowingly fall into similar data traps when working with predictive analytics. While the two graphs might correlate - one is not causing the other. Could the sun be at play as the common determining factor? The shark anecdote is one many great anecdotes Ola Lindeberg sh...

In this special episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ronald Griffin, CEO and co-founder of SEEN.io—a trailblazer in personalized video content for marketing. I first met Ronald at Dialogkonferansen 2024 in Sweden, where his powerful presentation on Generative AI and video creation left a lasting impression. He introduced the now-famous phrase: “That’s cute,...

In this special episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, we’re doing things a little differently than normal. Having covered several episodes of season 2 and having discussed and presented the concept of the CX Layers that show how Personalization feeds from both the Data Layer AND the Content Layer, I thought it was time for a midway stop and introduce an update on the framework. This episode rep...

In this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Zsuzsa Kecsmar, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Antavo, one of the most powerful loyalty management platforms. Together, we unpacked how loyalty programs can act as the glue between content, data and personalization, and how they’re helping brands build emotional connections with their customers. Here are some key takeaways from...