’Hello $FirstName’ - marketing experts discussing the topic of personalization
Ready to learn about personalization in marketing? Where first season was based on the book ’Hello $FirstName - Profiting from Personalization’ - Season 2 takes it further to explore the Content Crisis of Personalization - and the roles that the Content Layer (hint: a parallel to the Data Layer but with... well Content) and GenAI play in truly making personalization scale. The book is available in print and kindle and can be bought here: https://amzn.eu/d/7con9Ex (or your local .com, .co.uk, .se amazon...) A written abstract of the book can be downloaded here: https://agillic.com/free-ebook-hello-firstname/ All models and illustrations from the book can be downloaded here: https://www.omnichannelinstitute.com/resources?lang=en
Episodes
In this episode of Hello $Firstname, I’m joined by Nikolaj Skarbye from Scratcher.io for a deep dive into what might be the most overlooked shortcut to personalization: asking people directly - while making it fun.
At the heart of our conversation is zero-party data: the kind of willingly shared data that can include preferences, intentions, interests - even motivations. And instead of waiting for transactional behaviour to build u...
What happens when the Content Crisis meets AI creativity?
In this episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I sat down with Villads Leth, CEO and Founder at Alvas.ai, to explore what fully individualised, AI-written email content looks like in practice. And why it’s forcing marketers to rethink what content is, how it’s created, and what it means to personalise at scale.
🎯 Here’s what makes this conversation so relevant:
Villads an...
In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Chris Kjær Sørensen, CTO and co-founder of Landfolk — the curated holiday rental platform that’s redefining what it means to rent a holiday home with character.
What struck me most in this conversation is just how natural...
In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I’m joined (Again! Congrats on being the first 2nd-time guest, David) by David Mannheim — author of The Person in Personalisation, founder of MadeWithIntent.ai, avid Disney fan and all-around provocateur of personalization norms.
David and I go way back — he even wrote the foreword for Hello $Firstname — but this episode isn’t just a nostalgic reunion. It’s a bold look at how w...
Not Enough Traffic for A/B Testing?
Here’s How VodafoneZiggo Scales Personalization Anyway
📉 In B2B marketing, low traffic volume is often a CRO killer. But that hasn’t stopped VodafoneZiggo from building a smart, insight-driven personalization engine anyway.
In the latest episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Granja Baltazar, CRO Specialist at VodafoneZiggo, about how his team is reth...
🐟🍦 If we just increase the number of shark attacks, we’ll sell more ice cream! Sounds ridiculous, right? Yet, many businesses unknowingly fall into similar data traps when working with predictive analytics. While the two graphs might correlate - one is not causing the other. Could the sun be at play as the common determining factor?
The shark anecdote is one many great anecdotes Ola Lindeberg shared in the latest episode of the H...
In this special episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ronald Griffin, CEO and co-founder of SEEN.io—a trailblazer in personalized video content for marketing.
I first met Ronald at Dialogkonferansen 2024 in Sweden, where his powerful presentation on Generative AI and video creation left a lasting impression. He introduced the now-famous phrase: “That’s cute, but so what?”—a challenge to all ma...
In this special episode of the Hello $Firstname podcast, we’re doing things a little differently than normal. Having covered several episodes of season 2 and having discussed and presented the concept of the CX Layers that show how Personalization feeds from both the Data Layer AND the Content Layer, I thought it was time for a midway stop and introduce an update on the framework. This episode represents a key milestone, offering a...
In this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Zsuzsa Kecsmar, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Antavo, one of the most powerful loyalty management platforms. Together, we unpacked how loyalty programs can act as the glue between content, data and personalization, and how they’re helping brands build emotional connections with their customers.
Here are some key takeaways from our conversation:
1️⃣ The Role of L...
In this episode of The Hello $Firstname Personalization Podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Rasmus Schlosser, AI Manager at Flying Tiger Copenhagen. What really stood out was how Generative AI is solving a massive challenge they face. ✨
This episode is a little different – it doesn’t dwell much on personalization but instead explores the upstream phase of the Content Layer, where Master Content is gathered, created, and cl...
In this episode of The Hello $Firstname Personalization Podcast, Rasmus Houlind sits down with Tom Burrell, founder of Retention Coach, to explore how businesses can turn retention strategies into a powerful growth engine. Drawing on a career spanning roles at Manchester United, DAZN, and TalkTalk, Tom shares actionable insights into why retention is often undervalued—and how personalization can change the game.
💡 What you’ll lear...
In this latest episode of Hello $Firstname Season 2, I sat down with Nicole France, Chief Evangelist at Contentful, to dig into how brands can truly make personalization work at scale—and the challenges they face in making it happen.
Personalization sounds like a simple concept, right? After all, we all know the importance of getting data sorted and leveraging customer insights in order to speak to our customers in a way that feels...
In this episode of Hello $Firstname Season 2, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Julie Marie Hermann, Personalization and CX Manager at Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry brand by volume. With over 33,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries, Pandora is leading the way in scaling personalization.
The Content Crisis in Personalization and the Content Layer
In the season premiere of Hello $Firstname Season 2, I had the privilege of sitting down with my co-author, Frans Riemersma, founder of MartechTribe and a global thought leader in marketing technology.
Frans is working closely together with Scott Brin...
This is the last episode of this season of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast. It consists of an audio book chapter - well two actually - namely...
CHAPTER 22: ACHIEVING ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY FOR PERSONALIZATION - with the points:
- The glass ceilings and how to break them
- Breaking the glass ceiling between the Hack and Pack levels
- Stabilize the performance of your core platforms
- Transition your team of builders to a team of e...
In this week's episode of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast we'll be discussing chapter 21: ’GOVERNANCE.
Our special guest this week is Tina Lambert from Danish Industry. Tina is currently working as Head of CRM after many years within the political organization. Stakeholders wanting to inform all clients are many and the need for balancing priorities within CRM makes it necessary to rely on fixed processes and governance.
In the epis...
This week's episode of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast consists of an audio book chapter, namely...
CHAPTER 21: GOVERNANCE
- How does governance apply within marketing?
- What is subject to governance when it comes to personalization?
- Governance topics imposed by law
- Data processing, privacy regulations, and consent management
- Governance topics imposed by other departments IT Governance
- Procurement processes ...
In this week's episode of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast we'll be discussing chapter 20: ’MARKETING TECHNOLOGY.
Our special guest this week is Martin Wammen. Martin is the founder of the boutique Martech consulting agency Marchitechs. And he has extensive experience from both SaaS, the agency side and even from classic direct marketing and is currently working with several high end brands in the Nordics.
In the episode we cover the...
This week's episode of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast consists of an audio book chapter, namely...
CHAPTER 20: MARKETING TECHNOLOGY
- Systems of record
- Will a customer content platform (CCP) emerge?
- Atomization and aggregation
- Go for best-of-integration
- Growing your stack’s maturity
- Rightsizing your martech stack
- Using atomization and aggregation to rightsize your martech architecture
- Maturity levels for mark...
In this week's episode of the 'Hello $FirstName' podcast we'll be discussing chapter 19: ’PEOPLE AND SKILLS FOR PERSONALIZATION’.
Our special guest this week is Christian Peter. Christian has vast experience as a leader in CX from several large banks in the financial sector in Germany. He even has the award statuettes to prove his success in the field. Last year I saw Christian receive an EDDI Award from DDV, German Dialog Marketin...
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