The Champions of Purposeful Change Podcast

We sit down with Leslie Willis, Senior Lead of Insights and Competitive Intelligence at DIRECTV. Even as the fundamentals stay the same in an industry and a category that is rapidly shifting, Leslie’s experience on the supplier-side and in client-side roles has shaped her path and led her to where she is today. Join us in welcoming Leslie Willis! Download our 2025 Insights Community Benchmarking G...

Jordan Cusner talks to us about his career journey – from music to law to the supplier side to insights leadership at big brands – and the unique wiring that enables researchers to be effective and fulfilled. Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of our podcast recordings on  YouTube Follow us: Instag...

Jennifer Avery takes us through her career journey and into her role as Senior Vice President of Strategy & Insights at Universal Destinations and Experiences. Jennifer shares her perspective on what it takes to thrive in insights, the difference between “smart” and “dumb” research, and her take on technology’s impact on insights. Join us to hear more! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benc...

Join us for a special edition episode of the Champions of Purposeful Change podcast as we host a roundtable discussion between  President Bill Gullan, Chief Insights Officer John Ferreira, and Chief Experience Officer Lauren Collier. We consider the trends we’ve seen over the past year and the necessity of approaching research, and AI in particular, with the human (consumer and employee) exp...

Join us as Nina Kentsis takes us through her career journey on the supplier side, in the client world, and into her present role as Director of Client and Market Insights at UBS Bank, US. A modern-day Renaissance woman, along the way she also became an accomplished screenwriter! Join us to hear more! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give...

Join us as Rebecca Farabaugh, from Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, takes us through her career journey and into her present role. She’ll share her passion for insights and, importantly, how stories help bring data to life. Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of our podcast recordings on  You...

Join us as Idil Cakim, SVP of Insights at Audacy, takes us through her career journey and into her present role – which blends the traditional resonance of audio with progressive formats such as podcasting. Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of our podcast recordings on  YouTube Follow us: Instagra...

Join us as Nicole Rocchio, Global News Consumer Insights Lead at Google, takes us through her career and the unique initiative she leads – which helps news organizations use insights to connect with readers. With so much going on in the world, Nicole shares the thinking behind this initiative and how she works with leading publishers. Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here I...

Join us to hear from Sonny Sethi, Senior Director of Marketing Research at Zip Co in Australia. Sonny shares stories and philosophies from his career across categories and markets – and his thoughts on where the industry is going. We hope you enjoy the show! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of ou...

We catch up with David Iudica, SVP of Research and Insights for Retail and Wealth at Citi. Join us as David walks us through his fascinating career and discusses the tools and mindsets he finds most valuable. We hope you enjoy the show! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of our podcast recordings o...

On this episode, we catch up with Elizabeth Oates, Vice President of Consumer Insights and Guest Services at ULTA Beauty. Join us as Elizabeth walks us through her career and talks about her role driving customer centricity at the largest beauty retailer in the U.S.. We hope you enjoy the show! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a...

On this episode, we catch up with Brittany Kennedy, Director of Research and Insights at SYSCO. Join us as Britt walks us through her career and talks about her role channeling the voice of the customer at the world’s global foodservice leader. We hope you enjoy the show! Download our 2024 Insights Community Benchmarking Guide  here If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now fin...

On our first episode of Champions of Purposeful Change, Matt Thell of General Mills takes us through his career journey and shares stories from along the way. Matt is part of an internal strategic consultancy that helps General Mills pursue a range of innovation opportunities – and he’s passionate about putting insights at the center of the work. You can now find videos of our podcast recordings o...

We’re evolving our podcast from Real-World Branding with Bill Gullan and relaunching as Champions of Purposeful Change with Bill Gullan. The podcast will spotlight those who are making an impact – especially those making a difference in Insights roles. We started in 2014 and have over one hundred episodes on the books. What sparked this change in direction? We have become increasingly...

On this week’s episode of Real World Branding with Bill Gullan, podcast host and President of Finch Brands, talks Socializing Insights  with Victoria Ng, Director Consumer Insights at Sodexo. Finch Brands runs a brand tracker for Sodexo and they’ve been one of our more adventurous and forward-thinking clients, asking us to help them socialize the insights gathered from their brand tracker and crea...

In this episode of Real-World Branding, our President and host, Bill Gullan takes on 3 common themes we’ve been hearing from our clients regarding the remainder of 2022. He also covers, at length, how to handle brand identity choices in the wake of M&A Activity. Check out our Rebranding Strategies for M&A blog and Download a copy of our M&A Branding Playbook . You can now find videos o...

As we frequently note, many companies have built an insights community to provide a continuous, on-demand flow of quantitative and qualitative input from customers and prospects. Yet – for a variety of reasons – these initiatives can sometimes fail to make the desired impact or can degrade over time. This blog dives into the 10 signs it might be time to switch and two of Finch Brands’ senior insig...

Research suppliers and clients alike are responsible for turning the data they collect into genuine insight with which to progress brands and businesses. In this episode of Real-World Branding, Finch Brands’ own Kate Virzi, discusses her career – brand side on the Subway marketing team and as a supplier at Nielsen’s BASES – and how researchers and clients alike can socialize insights to drive acti...

Today on Real-World Branding, we sat down with Gary Kopervas, SVP, Creative Strategy at Finch Brands. Take a listen as Gary dives into what Sprints are, how they work, and why more companies today are using sprints to accelerate key brand and business initiatives in the real-world.  If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! You can now find videos of our podcast recordings on YouTube .  ht...

Today on Real-World Branding, we sat down with Trish Wethman from Marlette Holdings (d/b/a Best Egg – a company with roots in personal loans, recent expansion into credit, and more to come). Take a listen as Trish details the fundamental power of CX to transform businesses – internally and externally. If you like the podcast, please give us a rating! For the first time, you can find a video of our...

Over the past couple weeks, we’ve broken our M&A Branding Playbook into sections – today’s episode is a full audio version of the Playbook! This represents our compendium of best practices for how to define and execute key branding choices in the wake of M&A activity. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and share with your colleagues, friends, and family. http://blog.finchbrands.com/...

Sadly, this is the final section of our M&A Branding Playbook podcasting journey. We hope you enjoyed our audio version of the Playbook and have a deeper insight into what drives M&A success from a branding perspective. If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe. http://blog.finchbrands.com/mabrandingplaybook-part3 The post M&A Branding Playbook – Part 3 appeared...

In this episode, we continue with Part 2 of the M&A Branding Playbook. This section is packed with tips and tricks for how to navigate the branding process by listening well and documenting key decisions. If you’re enjoying the Playbook and our podcast, please subscribe and give us a follow on Twitter – @finchbrands or @billgullan. http://blog.finchbrands.com/mabrandingplaybook-part2 The post...

Today we are shaking things up here at Real-World Branding – a dramatic reading of our very own M&A Branding Playbook. Broken down into three easy-to-consume episodes, please enjoy Part 1. If you like our podcast, please subscribe. https://blog.finchbrands.com/mabrandingplaybook-part1 The post M&A Branding Playbook – Part 1 appeared first on Finch Brands .

Today on Real-World Branding, we hear from Phil Rubin of Therabreath. Tune in to hear about his career journey, how the Therabreath brand got started and where it is today, and what it takes to build a brand that is disruptive yet authentic. If you like our podcast, please subscribe! blog.finchbrands.com/therabreath The post Building an Authentic Brand – Therabreath – Phil Rubin, President appeare...