Building Connected Brands & Teams with Alyse Schwartz of Digitas

In this episode we’re joined by Alyse Schwartz, Executive Vice President and Head of Account Management for Digitas, a full-service digital agency for connected brands.  Alyse has worked with some of the most recognizable accounts in the world, including Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, L'Oreal, Verizon Wireless, BlackRock and FIS.  Alyse is also a certified executive coach and has deep experience building powerful leadership teams.Highlights from our discussion:Right now many agency clients are thinking about how to use their data more effectively to create more addressable relationships and maximize performance.As Head of Account Management, Alyse is thinking a lot about how to mentor and train the next generation of leaders for Digitas.  In 2018 and 2019, Alyse worked with an executive coach. During the pandemic, she realized that she wanted to stay engaged with coaching and become trained as an executive coach herself.  According to Alyse, the key to the process is becoming more aware of your weaknesses and focusing in on addressing a core growth area over time. Through the process, Alyse has found coaching has enabled her to form deeper, more honest relationships with clients and c-suite leaders.For Alyse, great marketing leadership is about building great teams that can unlock powerful moments for clients across the customer journey. Modern marketing creates networked experiences that are seamless across moments, channels and experiences to drive deeper brand love and loyalty.Connected brands drive growth by aligning to relevance across culture, key moments, channels, and journeys. They leverage data to track signals around what’s gaining positive feedback from customers and prospects.Connected creative commerce is a huge trend right now that was on full display at Cannes 2023.  Mrs. Maisel, Emily in Paris, Barbie and so many other iconic shows have blurred the lines between great entertainment experiences and seamless shopping experiences. Sometimes the hardest learning moments are the best personal growth moments. For Alyse, being fully transparent and owning up to when you can do better is a way to strengthen relationships and reinforce forward looking partnerships.For Alyse, a powerful moment of pivoting was during the pandemic, when she had to find ways for 30 team members who were mostly focused on travel to remain billable with other clients.  This was a catalyst to transform her office in Atlanta into one of the more connected groups across the whole of Digitas, working across a variety of clients, in a fully virtual manner before virtual work really was a thing.It was energizing to connect with Alyse in this growth conversation.  She sets a great example as an executive marketing leader who champions a growth mindset for herself, her teams and her clients. We will be sure to keep the discussion going on LinkedIn.Pod and article originally published here.Subscribe to this podcast for new episodes every 1-2 weeks.