🎙️Interview with Erica Groussman of TRUBAR DESCRIPTION This final Category Disruptors episode brings the series full circle in the best way. We hope you enjoyed it! In this final episode of the series spotlighting powerhouse female CEOs and founders, we’re joined by Erica Groussman, co-founder and CEO of TRUBRANDS, the company behind the fan-favorite TRUBAR and its mission to bring “Indulgent Nutrition” to the masses. It’s a high-energy, insightful conversation that captures exactly what this s...
Jul 01, 2025•20 min
DESCRIPTION The Category Disruptors Series continues! It’s time for Part 3 in our series spotlighting the female CEOs and founders behind some of the fastest-growing and most innovative brands in their categories. In this episode, we spotlight Laurel Orley, co-founder and CEO of Daily Crunch—the sprouted nut snack brand shaking up what they call the “trusty but dusty” nut category. It’s a thoughtful conversation and another strong addition to the series—tune in for the full story. "There's a lot...
Jun 24, 2025•31 min
🎙️Interview with Anouck Gotlib of Belgian Boys The Category Disruptors Series continues! We’re excited to share Part 2 in our series spotlighting the female CEOs and founders behind some of the fastest-growing and most innovative brands in their categories. This episode features Anouck Gotlib, co-founder and CEO of Belgian Boys—the company behind the high-quality, ready-to-eat Belgian waffles, pancakes, and crêpes we all know and love. Belgian Boys was recently named Instacart’s #1 Fastest-Grow...
Jun 17, 2025•28 min
🎙️Interview with Loren Castle of Sweet Loren’s DESCRIPTION The Category Disruptors Series is finally here! 🎉 We are releasing 4 parts spotlighting the female CEOs and founders behind some of the fastest-growing and most innovative brands in their respective categories. We’re thrilled to kick things off with a true trailblazer—Loren Castle, founder of the wildly popular cookie brand, Sweet Loren’s. Loren's story is as bold and inspiring as the cookies she bakes. Diagnosed with cancer at just 22...
Jun 10, 2025•29 min
🎙️News Review with Armin Alispahic and Ross Walker DESCRIPTION Welcome to another edition of The Retail Round Up: your monthly recap of the biggest headlines and developments in the retail world. We're recording at the tail end of May and we’re already halfway through 2025. But the pace of change isn't slowing down. New product launches and platform updates are coming fast, and we've got a lot to cover. As always, we’ve brought back our go-to experts: Armin Alispahic and Ross Walker. Together w...
Jun 03, 2025•21 min
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. In today’s episode, we’re diving into a topic that’s been heating up since Amazon unveiled it at Unboxed last October: using AMC audiences for Sponsored Products. It’s a conversation that’s gone from a slow simmer to a full-on boil in recent months, and we’ve brought in two of Acadia’s sharpest retail media minds to break it all down: ...
May 26, 2025•23 min
🎙️Interview with Gary Hammerschlag DESCRIPTION Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we're joined by our in-house organic strategy expert, Gary Hammerschlag. He'll walk us through the evolution of content scoring, share how top brands are approaching content audits today, and give us a sneak peek into where the industry is headed regarding organic excellence. Tune ...
May 20, 2025•20 min
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. We’re back with Part 2 of our special Prime Day series, and today we’re diving deep into Ad Strategy. Joining us today is Damiano Ciarrocchi, our Senior Retail Media Manager. With years of experience managing Prime Day ad strategies — both at Amazon and now for our clients — Damiano is a Prime Day pro who’s seen it all. Today, he’s sha...
May 13, 2025•27 min•Ep. 392
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. This is your April edition of the Retail Round-Up! In today’s episode, we dive into the latest trends shaking up the retail media landscape, from AI-driven shopping innovations and Walmart’s evolving media strategy to concerns about Prime Day restock limits and the ongoing impact of tariffs. The retail media space is moving fast, and t...
May 06, 2025•28 min•Ep. 391
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today kicks off a special two-part series designed to get you fully prepared for Prime Day. In this first episode, we’re diving deep into the operational, promotional, and organic strategies you should focus on as the big shopping days approach. We’re excited to be joined by Joanna Otto, an Account Manager on Acadia’s Retail team. With...
Apr 29, 2025•28 min•Ep. 390
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re thrilled to welcome two fantastic guests: Lauren Livak Gilbert, Executive Director of the Digital Shelf Institute, and Jon Harding, SVP and Global CIO at Conair. They’re here to share insights from a recent report they released in partnership with MikMak—a practical guide to managing technology change across the business, ...
Apr 22, 2025•28 min•Ep. 389
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today we’re bringing back our very own Director of Retail Marketplace Strategy, Pat Petriello, to discuss how the savviest brands are balancing the needs of brand vs. performance marketing, how to avoid a life sentence in ROAS Jail, and the all-important 95/5 rule. Tune in to find out more! KEY TAKEAWAYS In this episode, Julie, Jordan,...
Apr 15, 2025•33 min•Ep. 388
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re joined by two of the sharpest minds at Acadia—experts who live and breathe Amazon. Whether it’s diving deep into AI advancements, crafting and optimizing product listings, or navigating the ever-evolving customer journey, these two are on the front lines, ensuring our brands are set up for long-term organic success. First ...
Apr 08, 2025•28 min•Ep. 387
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. It’s time for another episode of the Retail Round-Up, March edition! From a new fee structure on promotions to a longer Prime Day event and expanded advertising capabilities, these updates could reshape how brands approach pricing, marketing, and overall strategy. Joining us today are resident experts Ross Walker, Director of Retail Me...
Apr 01, 2025•21 min•Ep. 386
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re excited to welcome back a familiar voice on the show—operations expert Armin Alispahic. Armin is here to bring us up to speed on a recent phenomenon in the Vendor space — the availability of true channel P&L analysis. We’ll explore why this trend is only showing up now and what it means for how brands assess their busi...
Mar 25, 2025•16 min•Ep. 385
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we're catching up with Ross Walker, Director of Retail Media, to discuss his recent workshop at the Commerce Media Brand Summit in Atlanta. Ross led an in-depth session on all things bottom-of-the-funnel—what's evolving, why it matters, and how brands can maximize this critical stage. Tune in to find out more! KEY TAKEAWAYS In t...
Mar 18, 2025•22 min•Ep. 384
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Robert Estill, Head of Global Amazon and Marketplaces for all Beauty at The Hut Group. With extensive experience leading E-commerce teams at powerhouse brands like Unilever, Prestige, Coty, and Versace, Robert offers invaluable insights into the ever-evolving world of online retail. Having collaborated ...
Mar 11, 2025•27 min•Ep. 383
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. It’s time for another episode of the Retail Round-Up, February edition! Major shifts are happening in the world of e-commerce, and this episode explores the cutting-edge developments, innovations, and the impact they are having on brands, retailers, and customers alike. Joining us today are resident experts Ross Walker, Director of Ret...
Mar 04, 2025•23 min•Ep. 382
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re thrilled to welcome back Mike Black, former CMO and current Chief Growth Officer at Profitero. We’ll be diving into key insights from Profitero’s latest reports, exploring the ROI of improving search placement and the vital role that ratings and reviews play in driving success. Make sure you tune in to find out more! KEY T...
Feb 25, 2025•29 min•Ep. 381
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re excited to welcome back our Director of Retail Media, Ross Walker, who will be sharing surprising insights from his work with a major beauty brand. We’ll dive into a compelling case study on full-funnel advertising, exploring the evolving role of Streaming TV in the retail media landscape. We’re also thrilled to welcome a ...
Feb 18, 2025•31 min•Ep. 380
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Today, we’re excited to welcome Ana Laura Zain, CMO of the retail media ad tech platform Pentaleap, and her colleague Emma Helsloot, Pentaleap’s Director of Sales. Ana and Emma are also the co-founders of the newly launched Women in Retail Media Collective. In this episode, we’ll dive into their vision for this dynamic new organization...
Feb 11, 2025•21 min•Ep. 379
We officially closed the book on the first month of 2025 and it’s the perfect time to introduce a fresh new format we’re calling the Retail Roundup. For this inaugural edition, we’ve brought in two of our go-to experts to break down what’s really happening in the industry. Joining us today are Ross Walker, Director of Retail Media at Acadia, and Armin Alipahic, Operations Team Lead — and a walking, talking encyclopedia of Amazon knowledge since the days Bezos sold his first book. KEY TAKEAWAYS I...
Feb 04, 2025•24 min•Ep. 378
Today, we’re thrilled to have two of Acadia’s brightest minds in organic optimization join us. First, we have Brittany Flanagan, Head of CRO at Acadia, with over 15 years of growth marketing experience across brands and agencies. Joining her is Julian Galindo, Senior Account Manager on our Retail Team and a recognized expert in driving organic growth on Amazon. Together, they delve into the intricate world of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and its implications for both Amazon and D2C marketp...
Jan 28, 2025•28 min•Ep. 377
Today, we’re thrilled to welcome two exceptional guests. Tim Wilson, the Chief Revenue Officer at ProductWind — a cutting-edge retail influencer marketing platform designed to help products launch and thrive organically online. Joining him is Ken Beemer, Director of Client Growth at Acadia, where he drives partnerships that fuel business growth for our clients. Together, they’ll share insights on the evolution of ProductWind, why it’s a game-changer for retail readiness and actionable strategies...
Jan 21, 2025•24 min•Ep. 376
Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. Joining us today is none other than Chris Perry of firstmovr — a frequent guest and the industry’s go-to “CPG whisperer.” Chris is here to introduce The ENDCAPS, his innovative new industry award that debuted just a few months ago. We’ll explore key insights from the recently announced grocery category winners and get a sneak peek at ...
Jan 14, 2025•36 min•Ep. 375
Thank you for an incredible 2024! 🎉 We are grateful for such an engaged community of listeners. To celebrate, we’re re-releasing 2 of our most popular episodes of the year. This week we’re bringing back “Building For A Multichannel Future“ with Paul Sonneveld of MerchantSpring. We hope you enjoy it! --- Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear. Today, we are joined by two special guests: Paul Sonneveld, CE...
Jan 07, 2025•34 min•Ep. 374
Thank you for an incredible 2024! We are grateful for such an engaged community of listeners. To celebrate, we’re re-releasing 2 of our most popular episodes of the year. This week we’re bringing back “Escape from Retail Island“ with Jared Belsky. We hope you enjoy it! --- Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear. Today we’re joined by Acadia’s CEO, Jared Belsky! This episode is all about the concept of "Re...
Dec 31, 2024•22 min•Ep. 373
Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley. This will be our very last episode of 2024 and we are closing out the year with a bang. We reached out to all our podcast guests from 2024 and asked them two thought-provoking questions: What’s been the most impactful change/development in our industry from this year and why? What’s something in our industry that exci...
Dec 17, 2024•41 min•Ep. 372
Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley. Today, we’re excited to welcome two of Acadia’s top experts in organic optimization for Google and Amazon. Scott Walldren, Head of SEO with over 15 years of experience, and Julian Galindo, Senior Account Manager, and Amazon organic growth expert, join us to tackle a key industry debate: does Amazon’s advertising and SEO strategy follow Google’s past playbook? We’ll explore where...
Dec 10, 2024•37 min•Ep. 371
Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley. Today, we're bringing together some of Acadia's brightest minds from our retail media, account management, and strategy teams for a roundtable discussion. They'll share their initial insights into what set this Black Friday and Cyber Monday apart for Amazon and the brands we support. Joining us are Ross Walker, leader of our retail paid media team; Joanna Otto, account manager f...
Dec 04, 2024•24 min•Ep. 370
