Welcome back to the last episode of Talking Marketing, season 2025-26.  We close this year on a high with Bryan Fikes. 20 years in marketing. Multiple startups built. And a new AI agent named Bodhi. What happens when two decades of grit meets ultimate personal clarity and cutting-edge tech? You reinvent the entire entrepreneurial playbook. In this conversation with Bryan, we skip the surface-level AI hype and get into the real mechanics of modern business building. He has scaled the massive, multi-million-dollar traditional agencies of the past, but today, he's building something much more potent: a lean, automated, hyper-focused future. We dive deep into: The 20-Year Perspective: What remains true about building a startup when the tech stack changes every six months. The Power of Focus: How marking one year of sobriety unlocked a new level of operational velocity. Meet Bodhi: Why AI agents (not just tools) are redefining the solo founder journey and replacing heavy agency overhead. If you're an entrepreneur trying to scale without drowning in operational noise, this conversation is a masterclass in modern leverage.

Welcome back to Talking Marketing! 🎙️ In Episode 68, I sit down with Jeff Porter, marketer at EventPipe and hip-hop artist — to explore why success doesn't have to fit into a single box. From working with children with autism to spending seven years at one company, becoming the only marketer in the room, navigating competing opinions, and balancing a creative career in music, Jeff shares the lessons that shaped his unique path. In this episode, we discuss: What the classroom taught him before marketing ever could The value of staying and growing within one organization What day one really looks like when you're building marketing from scratch How to protect your strategy when everyone has an opinion Why making music makes him a better marketer If you've ever been told to "pick a lane," this conversation is for you. Sometimes the most rewarding careers are built by following more than one path. 🎧 Listen now and join the conversation.

Two years. One million doughnut samples. And a masterclass in brand stewardship. For National Donut Day, the Talking Marketing podcast goes behind the scenes of one of the most anticipated sweet-treat collaborations in recent history. In this exclusive episode, we sit down with Charlie Hodges(Krispy Kreme) and Shannon Salzano (Milk Bar) to unpack the strategic, messy, and brilliant realities of bringing two iconic culinary giants into the same room. From non-traditional career pivots to the intense operational pressure of a global rollout, this conversation moves past the standard marketing playbook to look at the real tension between creative nuance and massive scale. What you'll learn from this episode: The Non-Linear Path to Brand Love: How Charlie's journey (Chick-fil-A, J&J, Krispy Kreme) and Shannon's path (Editor to Milk Bar Creative Director) shaped their philosophies on building consumer devotion.   The Anatomy of a 2-Year Collaboration: A candid look at where the partnership nearly fell apart, who blinked first, and the unexpected lessons learned from managing high-stakes brand equity.

Welcome to Talking Marketing, Episode: 66 Neil Cohen - The Marketing Therapist. Most brands think they have a marketing problem. Neil Cohen has spent 40 years proving they have a listening problem. From the boardrooms of Hilton, Arby's, and Sega to over 300 companies advised across three continents — the pattern never changed. Brands that struggled weren't out-spent or out-creative'd. They were out of touch with the very people they were trying to reach. Neil calls it therapy. Because that's what it is. The diagnosis is usually simpler than anyone wants to admit — and fixing it costs far less than ignoring it. In this episode, Neil breaks down why listening is the most underrated skill in marketing, what decades inside big brands taught him about the ones that got it right, and why the most expensive mistake a company can make is assuming they already know the answer. For every marketer who's ever built a campaign — this one hits different.

Welcome back to Talking Marketing - Episode 65 - The Hard Truths About Building Boston's Design Community. This week I sat down with Catherine Headen-Carlucci — designer, consultant, and President of AIGA Boston — for one of the most honest conversations I've had about what it really takes to build a design community from the inside. We went deep on: — The gap between what designers are trained to believe design is, and what it actually is in practice — What AIGA Boston is doing that most designers don't know exists — Why Boston loses its talent to other cities and who's responsible for changing that — What the next version of Boston's design community needs to look like. This is not a surface conversation. Catherine doesn't hold back — and that's exactly why you should listen.

Hello and welcome back to Talking Marketing, Episode 64 — Agile Marketing: Beyond the Buzzword. In this episode, we sit down with Kamal Hans, an Enterprise Agile Coach and SAFe-certified practitioner based in Boston, who has spent his career helping global organizations — including Ericsson, Bose, Kronos, and Vistaprint — build more adaptive, collaborative, and effective ways of working.  In this conversation, Kamal breaks down what Agile Marketing really means beyond the jargon, how marketing teams can deliver value earlier and learn faster, why feedback loops matter more than ever in modern marketing, and what organizations get wrong when they try to make the shift. Whether you're new to Agile or looking to strengthen how your team works, this episode is packed with practical perspective and hard-won lessons from the field.

Welcome back to Talking Marketing, Episode 63 - The Business of Being Human In this episode, I sit down with Bob Cargill - former AMA Boston president, educator, and the mind behind upcoming "The Bob Cargill Marketing Roadshow".  We explored a tension every marketer is quietly dealing with right now: Why "being authentic" suddenly became a marketing tactic What AI is actually changing about marketing careers Why trust is getting harder to build (even when brands try) And why the most human brands often feel the least "polished" If you're working in marketing right now, this conversation will likely make you rethink a few things.

Hello and welcome back to Talking Marketing, Episode 62 - When Experience Becomes Authority - The Making of a Marketing Leader Not every marketer gets to see the industry from this many angles. Luxury retail. Consumer electronics. FMCG. Broadcast media. B2B. Across some of the world's most demanding markets. On the latest episode of Talking Marketing, we're joined by Amrita Datta, someone who has a perspective on marketing leadership that could only come from a career built the way hers has been.  We talk about owning outcomes, leading cross-functional teams, building credibility in new markets, and what the marketing industry looks like when you've operated at the highest levels of it across very different worlds. The kind of conversation that reminds you how much there still is to learn.

In Episode 61 of Talking Marketing, we explore how data and artificial intelligence are reshaping the modern marketing playbook. We sit down with Nick Stamoulis, President - Brick Marketing, a Boston-based digital agency with over two decades of experience helping brands navigate the evolving digital landscape. Together, they discuss how marketers can move beyond hype and build strategies grounded in data, long-term brand equity, and measurable revenue impact. In this episode, we explore: How agencies evaluate new AI tools and separate real value from industry noise Why first-party data and stronger tracking infrastructure are becoming essential The risks of AI-generated marketing at scale — and how to protect brand equity The future of marketing measurement beyond traditional CPA and ROAS Whether you're a marketing professional, agency leader, or student entering the field, this conversation offers practical insights into building marketing systems that deliver sustainable growth.

Hello! Welcome to Episode 60: Experience-Driven Branding in a Digital World. In this episode, Lana and Aishwarya sit down with Magic Promotions founder Sue Wei. Most brands underestimate gifting. In reality, it's one of the most underutilized tools in the brand-building arsenal. In this episode, Sue shares her journey from hospitality to leading Magic Promotions - a global partner helping organizations create meaningful relationships through strategic business gifting and experiential marketing across markets. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to our Platinum Sponsors, Brick Marketing, for their generous support.  Your partnership is truly appreciated and instrumental to our success! For more information, click here.