Marketing Beyond with Alan B. Hart

How can one brand voice effectively reach audiences across the financial spectrum—from getting started to building long-term wealth?  

By not speaking to everyone in the same way. Brands build trust by adapting, personalizing and differentiating marketing campaigns to reach customers along their journey.
In this episode, Natasha Madan, head of marketing at Intuit Credit Karma, shares strategies for adapting a brand's marketing approach to appeal to and maintain loyalty with a vast audience. It starts with understanding what customers care about—their concerns, aspirations and goals—and having the agility to reshape messages around each segment's distinct needs.  

AI tools can help turn audience understanding into personalized campaigns by using past performance insights to improve future efforts and creating relevant content faster—but human judgment remains paramount.  

"Nothing goes out without that judgment layer," Natasha says. 

She shares an example of how AI helps her team synthesize psychographic data to identify nuanced audience segments in three-and-a-half weeks, a process that could typically take six months or longer. These insights help the team segment audiences based on factors such as mindset and age, reach them on preferred platforms, and tailor the message's emotional or functional tone: 

Strivers: Younger customers who are just getting started receive information from social platforms and influencers designed to help them take the next leading action in their financial journey. 

Planners: Customers focused on saving, increasing rewards and growing wealth receive functional, product-driven messaging that helps the brand stand out in a competitive market. 

Natasha emphasizes that she sees the key to meeting more customers where they are is balancing a practical, data-driven strategy with emotional storytelling. For marketing leaders, this episode highlights the value of understanding what different audiences need, where they seek guidance, and ways to make them feel seen on their financial journey. 

 
In this episode, you'll hear: 
Strategies to tailor brand experiences to customers' changing goals and priorities 

Paths to accelerate audience discovery and campaign learning with AI, guided by human judgment 

How psychographic data can help brands reach customers with the right content and channels 
 
Key highlights: 

[00:26] Introduction 

[02:04] Being a successful matchmaker 

[03:27] Natasha's path to Intuit Credit Karma 

[06:56] The scope of marketing at Intuit Credit Karma 

[10:29] A new brand campaign 

[15:49] Reaching Gen Z customers 

[17:19] AI's role at Intuit Credit Karma 

[22:40] The future of agentic finance 

[27:10] Past experience that defines you: Embracing failure 

[29:40] Advice to your younger self: Have more fun 

[30:05] A topic you're trying to learn more about: Agentic AI 


[30:28] Latest curiosities: How AI impacts education 

[31:46] Largest potential opportunity: An open mindset 
 
Resources mentioned:   

Intuit Credit Karma 

 

Follow the podcast:   

Listen on Apple Podcasts   

Listen on Amazon Music  

Listen on Audible  

Listen on iHeart Radio 

Listen on Spotify   
 

Connect with Natasha and Intuit Credit Karma: 

Natasha on LinkedIn 

Intuit Credit Karma on LinkedIn 
 

Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:    

Connect with Alan Hart on X 

Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube  


Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads

How can brands build lasting value and relevance?
As brands increasingly see fandoms not as surface-level add-ons but as part of a long-term strategy, many are building value and cultural relevance through authentic connection, thoughtful investment and meaningful engagement with fan communities.
In today's episode, Naomi McMahon, EVP of global marketing and partnerships at Universal Music Group, explains strategies that can help brands move beyond one-off projects to build authentic, mutually beneficial relationships with fan communities—and use insights to make more informed decisions about where and how to show up.
Drawing on her experience across music, technology, advertising and global organizations, Naomi explains that strong brand-artist collaborations can move beyond transactions to create meaningful, lasting connections. They can do this by:
Understanding an artist's world, fan community and broader creative ecosystem before deciding how the brand should show up
Giving artists enough creative freedom to use their authentic voice and perspective to shape the relationship
Creating authentic experiences across content, live events and other touchpoints that invite participation, not just consumption
 
Music and fandom are deeply personal, and they can offer marketers a powerful way to understand where culture and communities are heading. Naomi explains how brands can combine cultural signals and audience data with instinct and judgment to identify meaningful opportunities, take calculated risks and show up in ways that feel authentic, instead of chasing every moment.
 
The episode offers a practical perspective on how brands can move artist collaborations beyond short-term attention to create lasting relationships with audiences and unlock brand value.
 
In this episode, you'll hear:
Ways to build brand collaborations around shared value, instead of one-off exposure
Why authenticity is important for long-term audience connections
Strategies to use cultural signals and fan insights to make better marketing decisions
 
Key highlights
 [00:00] Introduction
·         [00:00] Concert-going as a teen
·         [00:00] Naomi's path to Universal Music Group
·         [00:00] How UMG helps to shape culture
·         [00:00] Matching artists with the right brands
·         [00:00] Using music to connect brands with the culture at large
·         [00:00] Blending art and science
·         [00:00] Past experience that defines you: Living in Ireland and New York
·         [00:00] Advice to your younger self: Don't wait for permission
·         [00:00] A topic you're trying to learn more about: Longevity
·         [00:00] Latest curiosities: International music trends
·         [00:00] Largest potential opportunity: Leveraging culture on a smaller, local level
·         [00:00] Largest potential threat: Chasing attention instead of lasting relevance
 
Resources mentioned:  
·         Universal Music Group
 
Follow the podcast:  
●        Listen on Apple Podcasts  
●        Listen on Amazon Music 
●        Listen on Audible 
●        Listen on iHeart Radio
●        Listen on Spotify  
 
Connect with Naomi and UMG:
·         Naomi on LinkedIn
·         UMG on LinkedIn
 
Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:   
●         Connect with Alan Hart on X
●         Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn 
●         Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn 
●         Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram 
●         Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube
           Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads

What happens when a retailer builds its omnichannel marketing and retail media strategy in reverse?  

In this episode, Tony Rogers, SVP and CMO at Dollar General, shares how the company took an outside-in path to omnichannel growth—building its retail media network offsite and audience-first, before launching an e-commerce business. 

Tony explains how an innovative approach that integrates marketing, digital commerce and retail media can help retailers better connect customer needs, advertiser investment and enterprise priorities around shared business goals. He notes how that thinking can also enable teams to respond more quickly to advertiser feedback and advance technology priorities. 

He emphasizes that challenging conventional assumptions about how retail media networks should be built can drive incremental reach, business growth and customer loyalty. For marketing and retail leaders, this episode offers a practical case study in rethinking the usual playbook: starting with audience and purpose, organizing around the customer journey, and harnessing the powerful collaboration of marketing and retail media to enable channel growth and deepen loyalty. 
 
In this episode, you'll hear:
How uniting marketing, digital, and retail media can accelerate decisions and align teams around the customer 
The value of an offsite-first marketing approach to capture incremental reach and strengthen customer loyalty 
Strategies for integrating app, website and delivery experiences that can turn retail media into a growth engine 
 
Key highlights: 

[00:38] Introduction 

[01:55] A recent golfing snafu 

[03:05] Tony's path to Dollar General 

[07:50] Dollar General's delivery launch 

[10:55] Scaling e-commerce operations  

[13:25] A different kind of retail media network 

[16:45] Past experience that defines you: An impactful family funeral 

[19:10] Advice to your younger self: Do less people-pleasing 

[21:00] A topic you're trying to learn more about: AI-driven personalization 

[24:11] Latest curiosities: Overcoming divisiveness 

[26:33] Largest potential threat: Only focusing on marketing in the short-term 

[28:30] What AI cannot do: Human empathy 
 

Resources mentioned:   

Dollar General 

 

Follow the podcast:   

Listen on Apple Podcasts   

Listen on Amazon Music  

Listen on Audible  

Listen on iHeart Radio 


Listen on Spotify   

 
Connect with Tony and Dollar General: 

Tony on LinkedIn 

Dollar General on LinkedIn 

 
Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:    

Connect with Alan Hart on X 

Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads

What separates a good idea from good creative work? 

For Jo Shoesmith, chief creative officer at Amazon, it's curiosity—the willingness to look again, to find the idea within the idea and recognize potential hiding in plain sight. 

In this episode, Jo draws on her agency experience and her current role leading Amazon's creative organization to explain how leaders can operate as both builders and curators—building systems that can help a global brand move with speed and continuity, then applying judgment and taste to determine which ideas best represent the brand and which stories are worth telling. This balance can give teams room to experiment while preserving brand continuity. 

Jo's instinct to look past the obvious and find what resonates comes through in her work on Amazon's iconic 2023 "Joy Ride" advertisement. Her team recognized genuine chemistry among its three stars and trusted their unscripted joy to carry a story with no spoken dialogue. The result was a simple, emotionally resonant portrayal of friendship and aging that connected with people far beyond its intended audience. 

To help bring other great ideas to life, AI can help curious creatives remove friction, but acting on every idea isn't the goal. Human judgment and taste still determine which ideas to pursue, and which will resonate. 

For creative and marketing leaders, Jo's lesson is clear: Curiosity is key to identifying an idea's potential, building systems that help it grow and knowing when it is right for the brand. As AI makes it possible to explore and execute more possibilities, those human capabilities become even more important. 
 
In this episode, you'll hear: 
How curiosity can help creative leaders recognize potential and build on areas others might overlook  

Ways marketing teams can use AI to expand creative possibilities without replacing human judgment and taste 

Strategies to build and curate brands that move fast, feel human and make a lasting emotional impact 

 
Key highlights: 

[00:20] Introduction 

[01:50] Growing up in rural Australia 

[03:00] Jo's path to Amazon 

[06:30] The scope of the CCO role at Amazon 

[07:35] Being both a builder and a curator 

[09:25] Embracing AI as a creative 

[12:50] Making Amazon's iconic 2023 "Joy Ride" ad 

[15:35] Past experience that defines you: Growing up with a strong single mother 

[16:50] Advice to your younger self: Become a builder 

[18:05] A topic you're trying to learn more about: Role expansion to media and production 


[18:40] Latest curiosities: Identifying small, simple ideas for new creations 

[19:35] Largest potential opportunity: Everyone is a business owner 

[20:50] What AI cannot replicate: Strong internal company culture 
 
Resources mentioned:   

Amazon 

 

Follow the podcast:   

Listen on Apple Podcasts   

Listen on Amazon Music  

Listen on Audible  

Listen on iHeart Radio 

Listen on Spotify   

 
Connect with Jo and Amazon: 

Jo on LinkedIn 

Amazon on LinkedIn
 
Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:    

Connect with Alan Hart on X 

Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram  


Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube  

Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads

How can brands preserve what sets them apart as AI transformation brings more speed and scale to marketing content production, The answer starts with smart parameters and guardrails that keep human insight and creativity at the center. 

In this episode, Meghan Gendelman, chief marketing officer (CMO) of business-to-business (B2B) at Canva, explores how marketing teams can use AI while prioritizing and protecting what technology cannot create: authenticity. Human marketers bring a genuine understanding of what their customers know, feel and believe about a brand. Meghan emphasizes that by first establishing clear, human-led guardrails and parameters such as brand systems, kits and templates, teams can harness AI more effectively to deploy creative, engaging marketing content at scale. 

Meghan further shares how Canva's B2B offerings help businesses put this authenticity-first approach into practice. By making it easier to adapt, localize and customize content at scale, Canva allows marketing teams more freedom to focus on customer relevance and brand expression. Meghan also discusses how leaders can help teams adapt as AI changes marketing work by: 

Challenging existing processes and rethinking how work gets done 


Testing new possibilities with a beginner's mindset 


Turning innovative ideas into action with practical boundaries 


By balancing freedom and discipline when using AI, your brand can stay authentic while meeting growing content demands.