Politely Pushy with Eric Chemi

Today’s guest is Lisa Bankston, an award-winning global strategist who works with companies to market products so that the messaging around them fits into cultural norms. This means she may modify imagery and branding, provide translation services, source vendors and materials, and all other things that help to create the marketing and market expansion plan for products in respective international markets. Lisa discusses how other countries’ tastes may be different than ours - quite literally giving the example of certain cookies being too sweet for Japanese taste buds. She will have you questioning the American palate and the whole way of marketing a company that translates to the English-speaking American audience but does not necessarily land overseas! Lisa also has a math mind and a way of making anything related to finance much more intriguing due to her experience as a banking intern. Do you want to learn some surprising things about international consumers you never knew? Tune in to this special episode.

Today we welcome Larissa (“Larz”) May to the podcast. Larz is the founder of #HalfTheStory, which began as a grassroots movement and led to a larger initiative and speaking opportunities about emotional well-being and the importance of self-care in an age of social media and an obsession with posting on platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok. Larz was named a “digital wellness activist” by major news outlets like Time, Forbes, Refinery29, Good Morning America, and NBC. Her community-building initiatives led to the world-renowned “Global Day of Unplugging,” an annual event held on August 6. Larz discusses own her mental health journey with our host and how it was the brainchild of #HalfTheStory. She talks about the thrills, the highs, and the lows of social media, and how all of it can feel just like jonesing for psychedelics and coming down from a beautiful place only to realize one’s dependence on the vapidness and superficiality that a false sense of security that Instagram “likes” creates. #HalfTheStory is now a more significant movement devoted to people sharing their stories, helping them unplug, and acknowledging that there’s more to life than social media acceptance and addiction. And that they can employ social media in productive rather than wasteful ways. Tune in to find out more about what that means! 

In this episode, we are joined by Karen Cage, the strategic marketing and partnership mastermind behind KLD Consulting. Karen focuses on helping organizations implement partnership strategies in a way that brings reciprocal value to them. She hails from Hewlett Packard where she served as the global lead in strategic brand partnerships, and she recently connected with our host when assisting Bospar Public Relations as the firm prepared to attend the Cannes Lions Festival in May. Karen explains to us what the world of strategic marketing partnerships entails and the difference between strategic partnerships and branding packages. Her day to day involves reputational partnership development and strategy, matching organizations with common values and complementary activities, and creating opportunities for organizations to share their stories and inspire other organizations. What exactly are reputational partnerships? And why are they so important in business? Tune in to be enlightened by today’s guest. 

Today’s guests are the powerhouses behind the full-service PR, marketing and social media agency Bospar’s exemplary and award-winning social media offerings. It’s not about reaching hundreds of thousands of people but about impacting a hundred of the right people! And Mega and Ruben explain what that means. Engaging with one’s audience is key to what catches on via social media, and these two experts are excellent strategists when it comes to producing content that captures eyeballs. How important are posts on Twitter and LinkedIn? What can we learn about the mistakes of Elon Musk that make us better social media strategists? What does the current chaos at Twitter show us about the power of social media platforms and how can we salvage them? Because bottom line: we do need them, as our guests explain. You might be underestimating just how effective these social media mediums are for business audiences to understand a brand, place their trust in it, and believe the spokespeople behind it. Mega Jewell and Ruben Ramirez explain this concept, the “quality over quantity” aspect of social media posts, and how creativity must result in engagement for a social media campaign to be effective for any B-to-B company. The duo address budget, optimizing spending based on platforms yielding the best ROI, testing different platforms to identify what is best for companies and their brands...and more.

A lack of transparency has always existed among airlines. It certainly is helpful to know which airline has a history of losing baggage or what the average delay for an airline is. That is why Dwight Harris, Jr. founded DataScalp and serves as its CEO - to get feedback from travelers on their experiences, amass that information and obtain inferential data about the various airline companies. After receiving the consumer feedback, DataScalp ranks the airlines in a performance dashboard, giving frequent fliers insight so they can have an overall better experience flying the friendly skies. Dwight discusses why he made this transparency his mission and how DataScalp provides an essential voice for consumers.

Today’s guest is Mye Hoang, the documentary filmmaker behind Cat Daddies, now in theaters. Cat Daddies follows nine men who discovered an unabashed pure, paternal love for their feline children, something that society doesn’t celebrate enough. In her film, Mye examines the underexplored relationship between man and cat and the surprising effect cats can have on men. We typically think of women as “cat mommas,” but Mye’s documentary and her discussion on today’s podcast help dispel the stereotype that guys just aren’t into cats. Her film highlights why cats can also be “man’s best friend,” illuminating aspects of their personalities that are important for the modern world to see. Mye explains how this topic hits close to home, making it vital to spotlight this relationship that she believes brings the best out of men. You will want to tune into this discussion to find out more.

Today’s episode is a milestone one as we welcome two CEOs to the podcast for the first time. Our guests are Wendy Greenland of Openforce and Mark Warnquist of InShare. It’s particularly appropriate that they’re “sharing” the spotlight as they are both devoted to professionals who work for share platforms - i.e., Uber, Lyft - and companies that employ independent contractors. Openforce is a technology-driven services firm that reduces the operating cost and compliance risk for companies using independent contractors, and Inshare delivers insurance solutions for the sharing (“gig”) economy platform. The two CEOs partnered out of a passion for meeting and serving the needs of independent workers and are continually thinking of ways to work together.  They discuss their commitment to helping contractors who wish to stay independent, what the logistical and legal challenges are, how Covid affected gig workers, how their companies jointly ensure that independent contractors are protected, and how technology solves these challenges.

We are joined by Professor Luis Almeida today, who says it’s totally fine if we call him “Luis” as his students do. This is the congenial style and collegiate type of banter that Luis has with the future PR and marketing professionals he educates. Now at Claflin University, Luis has enjoyed learning from students of different backgrounds and cultures by teaching at universities around the country. His LinkedIn handle is “The Cool Prof” and that is reflected in the opinions of those he’s had the pleasure of teaching. He discusses his hands-on approach to immersing students in real-life marketing and PR scenarios, finding out what creative media and film endeavors they are involved with, and generally figuring out how he can provide guidance. Luis talks to our host about many topics relating to being a “cool professor” in the PR and marketing space. From the escalating expense of tuition to tapping into different talents of students and teaching to the individual, Luis helps our audience understand how enriching this type of education can be for future communications professionals today.

Yuval Boger, AKA "The Qubit Guy," joins us for today's podcast. He makes quantum computing understandable to the masses and hosts "The Qubit Guy's Podcast," drawing on his expansive knowledge in this area and his prior work as CMO of Classiq. Quantum computing is essential in many areas, including manufacturing data and knowing why a product fails through incidents in the assemblage process. In addition, he discusses how quantum computing shows up in unexpected industries like music production and its importance to the Suez Canal. The field is incredibly far-reaching, yet not out of reach; listen to how he describes how everyday people can fire up a quantum computer today. The misconception is that quantum computing is "futuristic," but Yuval explains that it is essential and very much in use today. 

Today, Professor Mark Congdon joins us - and that’s “Mark” to his students as the world has changed since the person writing this podcast description attended college a century ago. Mark is an assistant professor of communication studies at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Many public relations professionals didn’t necessarily attend college with a major in the communications field historically, but this is Mark’s teaching focus, and forte and his students, who are there to study PR, are learning a tremendous amount. As a former special education teacher, he taps into how different students learn and the insightful and creative activities that engage them individually. He incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion and is mindful of what appeals to different generations of students in every lesson plan. Mark discusses how Covid changed the industry and how the remote approach to PR requires a shift in thinking for students. Finally, he clues us in on some innovative research he’s been working on that will help shape the future of PR, including focusing on financial literacy. Tune in to learn more about how this ongoing research relates to PR and how students are afforded an incredible, hands-on, experiential syllabus in the PR field today through Mark’s unique teaching methods.