Behind the Campaign

84% of CEOs see marketing as a support function, not a growth driver. Richard O'Connor, CEO of Propolis and B2B Marketing, explains how his team struggled with publishing that number and why his team did it anyway. Hear how they designed research for CEOs, chose the "blind spot" label, and earned coverage in 30+ outlets, plus what marketers can do with the time AI gives back to help alleviate this gap.To download the CEO Blindspot, visit: https://www.b2bmarketing.net/reports/the-ceo-blind-spot-how-b2b-marketers-prove-protect-and-grow-their-commercial-impact/To learn more about Propolis, visit: https://www.b2bmarketing.net/propolis/Follow Behind the Campaign and leave a review to catch every episode.

What does it take to market three major industry events as one? Amie Cangelosi, Marketing Director at the Content Marketing Institute, joins Andi Robinson to explain how the CMI team is promoting Content Marketing World alongside TMRE and Cannes Lions programming in 2026. Amie breaks down how CMI builds different messaging for first-time, lapsed, and returning attendees, why community referrals drive roughly 40 percent of registrations, and how a five-person team balances celebrity keynotes with educational content. She also shares how CMI keeps a long-running conference feeling fresh year after year.

How do you convince a company to reinvent itself? For Optimizely, it started with a creative director who kept pitching until leadership said yes. Gregory Heinz, Senior Director of Brand and Digital Experience, and Dan Reid, Creative Director, join Andi Robinson to share how Optimizely went from a collection of acquired products to one bold brand, repositioned as the AI platform for marketing. They cover the years of internal persuasion behind the rebrand, why they flipped the traditional B2B playbook, how a character named Mark Eting became the face of it all, and why human creativity anchors their AI story. Follow Behind the Campaign wherever you listen so you never miss an episode.

What if your customers were also your best investors — and your investors became your most loyal customers? Jason Fishman, CEO of Digital Niche Agency (DNA), has spent years cracking the code on a marketing niche most agencies never touch: digital campaigns that raise capital. In this episode, Jason breaks down how equity crowdfunding marketing actually works, why half of all campaigns fail, and what the top 10% of issuers do differently. He shares the behind-the-scenes story of Avidane Graphene, a campaign that went from slow starts to $5 million raised in 43 days.If you're a marketer who wants to think differently about audience strategy, funnel optimization, and what "conversion" can really mean — this one's for you. Subscribe to Behind the Campaign for more episodes just like this.

What does it take for a B2B startup to go from "we sponsored a car" to an activation the next year that included 53 billboards across central Indiana? In this episode, I'm talking with Sterling Curran, COO, and Troy Purdue, Director of Marketing at SalesAI — an AI messaging and voice agent platform based right here in Indianapolis. They break down how they turned an IndyCar sponsorship into a full city-wide brand awareness campaign, why they built interactive AI agents into their billboards, and what they're doing differently in year two. If you've ever wondered how small teams pull off big activations, this one's for you. Subscribe and leave a review so more marketers can find us.

What happens when a 41-year-old luxury accessories brand shoots a real campaign in Miami — and an AI-generated one featuring the south of Italy — at the same time? Dario Markovic, CEO of Eric Javits, joins Andi to break down exactly that. He shares how his team built an AI creative workflow from scratch (mood boards, storyboards, Figma, and all), the surprisingly hard part about getting AI to render a high-quality product accurately, and what Meta's hook rate data is telling them so far. For more information on Eric Javits, visit https://ericjavits.com/. If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave a review.

What does it take to get a fidget jewelry brand onto the Paris Fashion Week runway — with no apparel experience and a team of dancers as stylists? In this episode, Andi talks with Tammy Nelson, founder and CEO of CONQUERing, about the brand's "Facets" campaign and how a goal written in a Wonder Woman journal became one of the most talked-about brand moments for this small business. They cover how Tammy and her team developed the campaign concept, why community was central to every decision, what Tammy would do differently, and why one very specific turtle prototype ended up walking the runway. For more information about CONQUERing, visit https://myconquering.com/ (use code ANDI10 to save 10% off your order)For more information about CONQUERing’s Paris Fashion Week looks, visit https://myconquering.com/pages/paris-fashion-weekFor more information about Hijinx Marketing, visit https://hijinxmarketing.com/Subscribe and leave a review to help more marketers find Behind the Campaign.

What happens when a social enterprise decides to grow in front of everyone — publicly setting a goal of 100 new clients in 12 weeks? Andy Choi, founder and CEO of DoGood, joins Andi to break down exactly that. Andy shares how a "build in public" campaign became more of an awareness play than a sales push, why most people don't actually need a 501(c3), and what he'd do differently if he ran it again. If you're rethinking your go-to-market strategy or trying to find product-market fit, this one's worth your time. For more information on Do Good, visit them at https://www.dogoodpoints.com/Want to see the video version? Check out the Behind the Campaign playlist on YouTube. For more about Hijinx Marketing, visit our website. Subscribe and leave a review so more marketers can find us.

What if the most valuable content you create all year comes from your biggest event — and you're only using it once? In this episode, Andi Robinson talks with Caroline Kite, Marketing Manager at Swoogo, about a content marketing campaign designed to help event and field marketing teams get more out of their flagship corporate event. Caroline breaks down how they built an anchor guide, ran a virtual roundtable with Purple Cork, extended the campaign across multiple channels, and kept it running for months. They also discuss the challenge of internal alignment and why long-game, always-on campaigns often outperform short-term tactics. Tune in, subscribe, and leave a review if you found this helpful.For more about Swoogo, visit https://swoogo.events/For more about Hijinx Marketing, visit https://hijinxmarketing.com/

What does it look like when an artist says goodbye on their own terms?In this episode of Behind the Campaign, Andi Robinson talks with Darryl Sharp Jr., a senior motion designer who worked on the creative campaign behind Childish Gambino’s final album. From animated Apple Music cover art to the larger film-and-music rollout, Darryl shares how subtle motion design helped tell a bigger story about legacy, apocalypse themes, and artistic closure. They also discuss experiential marketing, creative direction in music, and how AI fits into modern design workflows.To watch the trailer for Bando Stone & The New World, visit https://youtu.be/V44EenldJQs?si=BxMdIF9cPoLIa0qZFor see Darryl's work, visit https://www.darrylsharp.com/works/grid-viewWant to see the video version? Check out the Behind the Campaign playlist on YouTube. For more about Hijinx Marketing, visit our website.