The Voice of Retail Digital rock star, global keynote speaker and agency pioneer Mitch Joel helps us Decode the Future, and Vice President Marketing/eCommerce for The Kersheh Group Johnny Russo talks culture, personalization and retail tech
Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of September 2, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
He's been called the “rock star of digital media”, by Strategy Magazine and “the real deal” by Seth Godin…veteran podcaster, best selling author of two groundbreaking books and global keynote speaker Mitch Joel is my very special guest. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with Mitch for almost two decades, but we catch up after almost five years surrounded by images of the 50th anniversary of the John Lennon Bed-IN for peace at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal as Mitch helps us Decode the Future!
Next I visit a rising star of eCommerce and marketing in Canada - Johnny Russo is my guest in his offices at the Kerseh group (www.thekershegroup.com). We catch up with Johnny on his move back to Montreal from Calgary, his current role, his agile philosophy and approach to attract talent & build a team in the hyper -competitive retail & eCommerce space. Check out his blog at http://www.johnnyrusso.com/
Lastly I’ll take a look at the retail news of the week, but first, let’s listen to my interview with Mitch Joel
Thanks to Mitch and Johnny for being my guests this week, now let’s hit the highlights from Retail This Week eNewsletter, biggest retail weekly in Canada and you can subscribe on www.retailcouncil.org for free.
That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.
I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn
Until next time, have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.
Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.
Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.
Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.