The Amazon for CMOs Series: Discussion With John Denny, Vice President of ECommerce and Digital Marketing at CAVU Venture Partners - Episode 161

BY KIRI MASTERS AND MARK POWER 

DESCRIPTION

In this episode, we talked with John Denny, VP eCommerce & Digital Marketing at CAVU Venture Partners. John is talking about his experiences in advertising, the power of the brand, and how it creates a movement, advertising technology, difficulties brands have to face when they underestimate Amazon as a sales channel.

Tune in and find out more about brand building from John Denny.

John has been involved in advertising marketing for 30 years. He started at Chiat/Day agency, which was responsible for building brands like Apple and Nike. It was all about building brands with purpose. In 2013 he started working at Bai, where he led the strategy and team that built the brand on Amazon from a niche product to the #1 selling beverage on the platform. Currently, he is leading the eCommerce & Digital Marketing practice at CAVU.

“Ultimately, to win on Amazon you’ve gotta have a cohesive person who owns it and sees it across multiple disciplines.”
— John Denny

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Are Amazon’s private label brands a threat to other brands?

  • Brands who wait to start selling on Amazon experience various difficulties with 3P sellers.

  • The distributor takes over the account and the brand, which often leads to negative customer experience - it can take a year to gain back control over the account and the brand.

  • Amazon influences all sales channels, it can’t be ignored.

  • John explains what is the difference between working with new and established brands.

  • Is focusing on ROAS a wrong strategy?

  • Large CPG companies believe in marketing mix modeling and its results.

  • Consumers look for the brand’s real story on Amazon.

  • The biggest change to come is moving to OTT and streaming.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Season 3Kiri MastersComment