MarTech Outlook: Specials Magazine
My journey started in 2010 when I joined Tribune Media Services, the television listings branch of the Chicago Tribune, as a sports editor. Tribune later acquired Gracenote, internationally known for music cataloging and entertainment data, rebranding into a media and television data powerhouse. A few years later, Nielsen, then a client of Gracenote, acquired the business, pairing its advertising and television research with Gracenote’s depth and breadth of metadata. Over 16 years, I moved from sports editor to technical customer support, then into managing teams of 10 to 20 people responsible for data schedules, channel lineups, movie showtimes and the first-ever images on television guides including a major project for a major satellite company. As streaming took a stronger hold in the competition with linear I moved into a partnerships manager role, bringing content providers’ data into the ecosystem globally. Later I shifted to Audience Measurement, leading the national training organization for advertisers, agencies, telcos and electronics manufacturers. Today, as Director of Customer Experience and Operations, I oversee operational foundations, vendor management and program support. Principles Grounded in Practice My leadership philosophy has been refined around four primary aspects. Transparency is first. Sharing goals, vision, direction and the realities of the marketplace openly helps quell concerns and gives people something to rely on. Second is the ability to say no and permit my team to do the same. With AI augmenting more functions, people often carry diverse and multi-faceted roles. Giving them room to say they are overburdened and reshuffle priorities is essential for a healthy work environment. Third is work-life balance. Everyone in my orbit knows their health, families and personal lives come first, because if that is not the case, they will not be able to show up for the business. And finally, trust. I set expectations at one m
Technology and Software
Most people have played the childhood game of telephone: one person whispers a message to another, and by the time it reaches the last player, the phrase has changed beyond recognition. It is funny on a playground but costly in marketing. That same distortion occurs when campaigns move from research to planning, activation, and measurement. Each handoff introduces room for error, causing audience definitions to shift and strategies to lose focus. The result is wasted spend, weaker outcomes, and growing pressure on marketers to prove ROI. To overcome this, brands need one reliable source of audience truth that carries through every stage of the process. Bright Mountain tackles this challenge by working with enterprise and mid-market B2C companies across diverse industries. Its integrated marketing services platform is designed to preserve audience fidelity from the very beginning, ensuring the original strategy flows through research, planning, activation, measurement, and optimization without distortion. This approach creates stronger connections and delivers consistent results. Research and insights form the foundation for product development and marketing strategy, because every effective business decision begins with understanding the consumer. Preserving Audience Truth from Start to Finish Bright Mountain identifies fragmentation as the biggest obstacle for brands today. With so many technology vendors and data sources in play, marketing workflows are filled with handoffs that distort the original strategy. The company calls this loss of fidelity, likening it to the game of telephone where each stage alters the original intent. To solve this, Bright Mountain developed Audience Intelligence, a proprietary planning tool that protects audience definitions end to end. The platform reflects a research-first approach: audience profiles are built through primary research and converted into segments that flow into the tool. Audience Intelligence displays attributes, values, behaviors, purchase intent, purchase activity, and media consumption patterns. Armed with these insights, clients can design media and creative plans rooted in the original research. Campaigns are then activated through paid media targeting those same audiences, with built-in measurement for optimization. By avoiding proxies, the platform eliminates the signal loss that often starts the telephone game. Housing research, planning, activation, and measurement in one system keeps the strategy intact.
Omnichannel Marketing and CRM Solutions
Think back to the last time you tried to reach a business. Maybe you started with a call, switched to a text and finally checked your email for confirmation. This is how customers prefer communicating today by moving seamlessly between channels, expecting every interaction to feel immediate and connected. Yet, for many businesses, those channels still live in separate silos. Calls happen in one system, texts in another, emails somewhere else entirely. The result is disjointed communication, slower response times and frustrated customers. That’s the gap VVPUSA bridges by unifying all communication channels in one platform. As an omnichannel CRM solutions provider, the company connects SMS, voice and email, creating a seamless, streamlined experience for customer engagement. From financial services and healthcare to property management, marketing, and politics, VVPUSA empowers industries constrained by complex regulations to move faster and more efficiently. Its AI-driven tools simplify registration, campaign approvals, and ongoing communication, turning once-complicated processes into new standards for business agility and responsiveness. “We educate our clients on how messaging and compliance work, so they can interact with their audience smoothly within industry regulations,” says Bill Beard, CEO and president. “By providing tools to automate, organize and scale communication, we enable businesses to meet today’s consumer expectations while reducing friction and unlocking growth.” One of VVPUSA's standout innovations is RingSMS that text-enables existing business phone numbers, turning a single contact line into a powerful tool for both voice and SMS. This solution allows seamless management of all messages, whether through calls or texts, boosting sales, responsiveness and customer satisfaction. The built-in CRM also tracks data from calls, texts and emails, enabling businesses to tag contacts, analyze data and trigger automated, personalized campaigns across SMS, email or voice.
Marketing Attribution and Consulting
Strategic Leadership in Marketing Growth
Katherine Ellwein, Assistant Vice President Marketing, Amerit Fleet Solutions
Digital Marketing
Analytics-Driven Digital Engagement in Healthcare
Rachael Wipf, Director, Digital Marketing & Analytics, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield
UFC, Social Media and the Nature of Adaptation
Juan Cardenas, Senior Director, Social Media, Ultimate Fighting Championship
IN MY OPINION
Leading Events Through Growth and Change
Carleen Doan, Event Director, Simplicity Group
LAST WORD
Account Based Marketing
Evolving Seasonal Marketing
Whitney Knight, Director, Brand Management Homewood Suites, Hilton
IN FOCUS
Connecting with Customers in a Personal Way: The New Face of UGC with AI
AI-driven UGC marketing trends are reshaping content creation, personalization, audience engagement, and digital campaign efficiency.
Marketing Evolution: Email Marketing Platform Delivers Smarter Outreach
Modern email marketing strategies prioritize automation, personalization and analytics, helping businesses build stronger customer relationships while improving campaign performance.
EDITORIAL
Elevating Customer Experience Through Meaningful Engagement
Our cover story recognizes Zachary Zabella of Nielsen as the Director of Customer Experience of the Year 2026. His leadership reflects a practical approach to making customer experience part of everyday operations through transparency, trust and the 3E framework of Education, Enablement and Efficiency. By listening closely to customers, adopting AI thoughtfully and improving processes continuously, he is helping build stronger relationships and deliver better business outcomes.
Also featured in this edition, Kristin Keys of Baseball Lifestyle 101 is recognized among the Top 10 Directors of Customer Experience 2026. Her approach focuses on understanding what customers value most and using their feedback to improve every interaction. By strengthening community connections and creating experiences that feel personal and consistent, she demonstrates how customer experience can support loyalty, retention and long-term relationships.
Customer relationships are built through every interaction a brand creates. Carleen Doan, Event Director at Simplicity Group, highlights how thoughtfully designed live experiences help brands connect with people in more memorable ways. She emphasizes that strong communication, reliable execution and the ability to adapt are key to creating trusted experiences. Juan Cardenas, Senior Director, Social Media at the Ultimate Fighting Championship, shares how creativity and authenticity help brands connect with digital audiences. He also highlights the need to balance data insights with human judgment while protecting the identity that makes a brand unique.
Together, the leaders featured in this edition demonstrate that exceptional customer experience begins with people, purposeful leadership and continuous learning. We invite you to explore their stories and discover insights that are shaping stronger brands, deeper customer relationships and the future of customer experience.
