Today I am thrilled to be sharing a full episode from my all new Conversations with CommerceNext podcast featuring Jon Mandell, Senior Vice President of Global Membership Marketing and Commerce. WW started their digital transformation long before the pandemic demanded brands to keep up with the great acceleration of eCommerce. On this episode along with my co-host Scott Silverman get an inside look at the process and people behind WW’s great leap forward and how the groundwork laid in the past is preparing them for future success.
Today I am thrilled to be sharing a full episode from my all new Conversations with CommerceNext podcast featuring Jon Mandell, Senior Vice President of Global Membership Marketing and Commerce with WW. WW started their digital transformation long before the pandemic demanded brands to keep up with the great acceleration of eCommerce, and on this episode along with my co-host Scott Silverman we get an inside look at the process and people behind WW’s great leap forward and how the groundwork laid in the past is preparing them for future success.
Jon walks us through the overall process and strategy behind the transition, and how the pandemic changed the game. We ask Jon about his career, what he looks for when building a resilient team, and advice that he would give his past self.
To discover career opportunities with WW click here.
I launched the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast with my U.S. based partners to meet the top practitioners and thought leaders in the DTC & eCommerce marketing space, and explore both their tradecraft and share the learnings from their career journeys. Let's listen in now as Scott kicks off our conversation.
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext. Please follow us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform where we’ll be sharing career advice and marketing strategies from eCommerce and digital marketing leaders at retailers and direct-to-consumer brands each and every episode. CommerceNext is a community, event series and conference for marketers at retail and direct-to-consumer brands. Through our online forums, interviews, webinars, summits and other in-person events, we harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers. Join CommerceNext events to meet other industry leaders and learn the latest ecommerce and marketing strategies. You can find upcoming events at CommerceNext.com
Jon Mandell
SVP, CXO, C-suite Leader → Brand Transformation Catalyst → Customer Engagement Strategist
Building, leading, and optimizing customer-centric organizations to drive growth and revenue has been the hallmark of my career. I leverage strategy, technology, operational excellence, and innovation to shape unique customer experiences that deliver value and engender customer engagement, loyalty, and retention. I excel in identifying business growth opportunities in organizations and developing them into impactful business drivers to increase revenue, income and previously untapped value.
My experience spans executive leadership roles (transformations, growth initiatives, M&A, turnarounds, and integrations) with leading public companies (WW & 1-800-Flowers.com), co-founder/COO/MD of 2 technology startups, operations and general management roles, and an early career with AT&T Wireless. As a leader, I am best known for expanding the vision for what is possible and forming cohesive, motivated teams to drive organizational growth boldly and systematically from the ground up.
CAREER MILESTONES
🔹 Transformed business model from transactional, subscription-based to community-based membership economy at WW. Catalyzed unprecedented incremental revenue gains. Created global retention practice.
🔹 Refocused brand USP to unlock exponential growth, revenue, market share, and CLV at 1-800-Flowers.com.
🔹 Created a business incubator and innovation lab: developed first ecommerce bot for Facebook Messenger, launched first Alexa skill to enable consumer sales via Amazon Echo, and introduced Gwyn, a gift concierge using IBM’s Watson AI platform.
🔹 Co-founded a startup with Salim Ismail (Yahoo!, Singularity U, XPRIZE, ExO); created organizational structure and led product and business development.
TRUSTED C-SUITE AND BOARD ADVISOR
CEOs, boards, VC firms, and executive teams have repeatedly sought my guidance, mentorship, and advisory services in lifting performance of customer experience ecosystems. I serve as advisor / advisory board member for leading companies such as Movable Ink, Braze, SmartGift, CommerceNext, and Zelcova Ventures.
ABOUT US:
Scott Silverman
An ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org’s scholarship fund.
Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael Leblanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with the Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:10
Today, I'm thrilled to be sharing a full episode from my all new Conversations with CommerceNext podcast featuring Jon Mendell, Senior Vice President of Global Membership Marketing and Commerce with WW.
Michael LeBlanc 00:20
WW started their digital transformation long before the pandemic demanded brands to keep up with the great acceleration of eCommerce. And, on this episode along with my co host, Scott Silverman, we get an inside look at the processes and people behind WW's greatly leap forward and how the groundwork laid in the past is preparing them for future success. Jon walks us through the overall process and strategy behind the transition and how the pandemic changed the game. We asked Jon about his career what he looks for when building a resilient team and advice that he would give his past self.
Michael LeBlanc 00:49
I launched the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast with my US based partners to meet the top practitioners and thought leaders in the DTC and eCommerce marketing space and explore both their trade craft and share the learnings from their career journeys.
Michael LeBlanc 01:01
Let's listen to now as Scott kicks off our conversation.
Scott Silverman 01:05
Welcome to another episode of Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, we are excited to sit down have a conversation with Jon Mandell, who is SVP of Global Membership Marketing and Commerce at WW, formerly Weight Watchers. We'll be talking about digital transformation and loyalty. Jon, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us.
Jon Mandell 01:28
Thanks Scott. Happy to be here. It's going to be fun.
Scott Silverman 01:31
And I am joined by my co-host, Michael LeBlanc. How are you today, Michael?
Michael LeBlanc 01:36
I'm great. Thank you, you know, Jon, you and I have a couple of intersection points in our careers. I was the CMO for a weight loss company here in Canada called Herbal Magic, which was not Herbalife, but Herbal Magic, which was a not dissimilar kind of format. And Mindy Grossman and I worked in the same circles, I was with Canada's version of HSN, for seven years as Head of Marketing. So, you, you and I kind of intersect in a in a roundabout way in our careers.
Jon Mandell 02:02
That's great.
Scott Silverman 02:03
So, you know, part of these podcasts is we like to get into some career information and background. So why don't we start there Jon, you have an interesting background in terms of eCommerce, because you didn't jump into a traditional eCommerce role until later in your year. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about your professional journey, how you landed at WW and what you do in your current role.
Jon Mandell 02:28
No, not kind of quote, "normal career path", if you will, but one that was very organic, and I think has certainly helped me. So, you know started out thinking I was going to be in the world of finance, you know, thinking Wall Street, etc., originally, but very early on, when I got out of college, I had a unique opportunity to start, start my first company. It was in the healthcare space in insurance, because as I was getting into finance, that was one of the early licenses that you get. And the idea was to help people, you know, obviously pre-Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, was to help people who either couldn't afford or qualify for insurance to be able to take advantage of the same discounts for healthcare that insurance companies get. It was my very first company that I started, got it off the ground, had, had a few big wins. But ultimately, like many other things, didn't work out for a number of reasons. And in this case, a lot of it had to do with different legislations and local governments, etc. But it, it really gave me that that first taste of what it was like to be an entrepreneur. This was down in Florida.
After that, I decided to move back to New York, originally from New York, to get back into finance that lasted all of about six weeks, and realized that I had that bug that entrepreneurial bug and was, was really not interested in, in kind of the world of finance and Wall Street, etc.
Jon Mandell 03:36
It was there that I met a gentleman named Salim Ismail. So, Salim serial entrepreneur, now is running ExO, worked at Yahoo, Singularity etc. And, and Salim had started a tech company called Pub/Sub, which is essentially the predecessor to Google Alerts, if you will, real time monitoring of the internet. This is back in the very early 2000s. Before certainly within New York, before there was a real big tech scene and that was a cool thing to do. And, and that kind of got me started in the technology space, helping Salim to shape what was a hardcore technology company full of really brilliant engineers into a, into a business.
Jon Mandell 04:46
Over the next few years had come to work at a number of startups. Some that I worked at, some that I started myself and was really having a great time I thought that was, that was kind of what my career was going to be. And then we hit the Great Recession in 2007. And it became increasingly difficult to raise venture capital. A lot of things weren't necessarily going the right way.
Jon Mandell 05:12
And I was presented with an opportunity at 1-800-Flowers. So, 1-800-Flowers had been a company that after they had gone public had been very aggressive in acquiring businesses. So, they owned a Fannie May Chocolates and The Popcorn Factory and Cheryl's Cookies, etc. But they hadn't done as much in building companies from scratch.
And as their leadership there actually Jim McCann was looking at what was happening within the, the landscape of the eurotech community, wanted to see how we can start building some businesses. And essentially, that's, that's kind of what I came in to do was to help create some companies from kind of the ground up, which involved different teams, different organizations, etc. So, that was kind of the first half of my career at 1-800-Flowers. I think, when I went in there, my expectation was I'll probably work here for about a year economy will turnaround, and I'll go back to the startup space.
Fast forward, I spent nine incredible years at 1-800-Flowers. So, the first half was in this area of helping them build out businesses and essentially running a skunkworks for them.
Jon Mandell 06:21
And the second half was really helping to reshape the company's unique selling proposition around multi-brand customers. And that's where I really made that bigger pivot into eCommerce and customer experience, right was that idea of saying, ‘Hey, we're not just going to take products that we sell you for an occasion, but we are going to fully understand the entire member journey and understand as a gifting company, what is it that you're looking to buy a gift for? Who is that person? What's the reason? What do they like?’, with the opportunity to then expose people to the entire collection of brands that were under the 1-800-Flowers umbrella.
And you'll see a lot of that live today, if you go to any of their websites, you'll see all the brands at the top of the page, there's joint loyalty programs, joint free shipping programs, etc. So, building out this kind of multi-brand organization was something that, that certainly I was really proud of, but really got me focused on loyalty, got me focused on eCommerce, and certainly customer experience.
Jon Mandell 07:21
Just to quickly move things around, I decided to leave 1-800-Flowers after about nine years there wound up joining one of the leading CEO advisory firms called Teneo, to help do this work for other companies, specifically within the Fortune 100 and 200, and had a really great time doing that, and helped a lot of really cool brands. And that was when WW became a client of mine. And from Mindy Grossman, Gail Tifford and the entire leadership there that I got to work with knew that this was an incredible place with incredible purpose doing really, really great things that I just wanted to be a part of.
Jon Mandell 07:58
So, I transitioned over from Teneo into WW, you know, have kind of grown up there a little bit over the last three to four years. But, but, most recently, I'm responsible for the membership business. So, everything that it means from being a member to, from member success, to engagement, to loyalty, retention, certainly all the way through to the products that we create for those consumer products, and in our eCommerce business.
Scott Silverman 08:25
You know, eCommerce loves entrepreneurs and the innovation and the new ideas that they bring. So, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I always find it so interesting, the backgrounds of people in this space, I mean, from former lawyers to chemical engineers, people from Wall Street, and so on. So, and I think it's, it's an instructive for anyone, no matter where you are, I think you can find a way where you can contribute and add value in the eCommerce.
So, so now you're at WW and, WW had this pretty well-known digital transformation that started pre-COVID. And, you know, maybe you could talk about what would that was like, Where, where, where the transformation was when you joined? And then what does it look like, you know, in terms of you know, from your point of view on, you know, from a product and an eCommerce standpoint?
Jon Mandell 09:22
Sure so, certainly the digital transformation of the company started, you know, certainly before I got there with really the launch of the WW app and start building out of the infrastructure on how to do that right. WW has been around for almost 60 years, which started out as an in-person meeting business. So, it was it was a pretty big transformation that they had been going on to a business now right, with millions and millions of members who overwhelmingly are, are digital.
But when I joined, we were getting ready to go through the brand transformation, which was shutting the Weight Watchers' name and moving into WW. And all of what that meant, right. And, and for us, it was certainly, we're never going to give up our, our spot is kind of the, the number one leader in weight loss and weight management. But we could be so much more as people were focused on health and wellness in ways that they hadn't been before.
So, for us it was using technology to really help empower that. So, to make sure that, in addition to weight loss and tracking, which is a big part of what WW is about, we were able to add in sleep, activity, mindset, content and tools around it specifically for, for our consumer products and our eCommerce business, it meant shedding a lot of the products that we were in before that were essentially diet food that we were selling. And as a, as a health and wellness company, that wasn't the business that we wanted to be in.
So, either got out of or reformulated all of our food products, we removed all the artificial ingredients, we went for things that were more nutrient dense, we went into new products, uplifted the quality of our products through thoughtful co-brands that we could do in areas where we wanted to leverage someone else's expertise and credibility.
But what it enabled was, you know, so much more that, that the app could do that a digital company could do. And, and if you look back to the commerce space, that even allowed us to then get into having our own marketplace, because of the idea that, that our brand was so much more than, than just about weight loss, that there were other areas we could play other products that we could bring to market. Everything we've always done is always been science based and science backed, it still continues to be. But now we're just able to bring those experiences to life in different ways. So.
Michael LeBlanc 11:43
It's such, it's such a wholesale change, because it's not we're not just talking a brand change or an identity change. We're talking effectively a, a brand-based business model, modification and transformation, right. I mean, the full realization of, of the ambition of, of Weight Watchers as it, as it was initially conceived and WW as it exists today, yeah.
Jon Mandell 12:04
Yeah, I mean, I think it it's certainly a huge transformation there. But there's so, so many things that from day one are still absolutely core, right. So, certainly the program itself and the idea of our points and understanding.
Michael LeBlanc 12:18
Right.
Jon Mandell 12:19
The foods that you're eating to make healthier choices, certainly that sense of community, whether you're getting that community in a physical room with people, or you're getting it in the app within our internal social network, and certainly that, that's science backing. So, I think there's a lot of stuff but, but like many other things, you know, we've had to evolve and, and kind of meet customers where they are. And, and that's what we do now.
Scott Silverman 12:38
So, I mean it's fun to talk about, you know, talk to you about this digital transformation, you, you know we're able to actually get this started before COVID. A lot of companies you know started it during COVID. I'm interested to hear how you prioritize what you focus on, and the experiences that you're bringing to your customers, the products that you're bringing the customers. I would imagine, for a lot of folks listening, there's a lot of shiny objects that you can get drawn into. And I'm interested to hear, like, how do you go about setting those priorities? How do you know what your customers, what's going to resonate with them? How do you and, and do you think about getting a little bit ahead of where they were versus just being where they are now?
Jon Mandell 13:28
Yeah, so, so, great questions. And yes, certainly we were, we were on that digital transformation path, but COVID accelerated it, right. We had to pivot the entire meeting business or workshop business, if you will, within six days. You know, it wasn't our primary business. But we still had to do that, because it certainly was not able to have people, you know, are paying money every single month to get together to talk about their weight loss journey. And, and they weren't able to do that.
So, I would say I think, while we started early COVID probably accelerated it. And we probably, you know, jumped three years in the future in a matter of months. But I think that's not too dissimilar from many other companies.
But for us, when we're looking at all the priorities and the strategies, you know, it it's a tough balance. It really is. Certainly, you know, we're a publicly traded company, there are business goals that we are trying to achieve. There's market share we're trying to capture. I think one of the biggest wholesale changes that I've seen at the company, in regard to this has really actually been our focus on retention.
Michael LeBlanc 13:43
Wow.
Jon Mandell 14:30
Historically, we had been overly focused on just acquisition. And what we've built up is really a retention practice within the business to say, hey, as we're continuing to feed the top of the funnel, how are we making sure that people aren't falling out the bottom? And that's helped a lot for us. That's where the rewards program came from. That's where a lot of our member journey work has come from and how we focus on that entire lifecycle.
Michael LeBlanc 14:54
If you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure and hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss another great episode. We'll be right back with our interview with Jon Mandell from WW right after these important messages.
Michael LeBlanc 15:06
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Jon Mandell 15:48
But I think for us it's, it's you know, okay. So, what are the 10X ideas that we can have, right. This year, for the for the first time, we've come out with a, a brand-new program that now has a track for people with diabetes, right? There's a lot of people in the country, certainly in the world with diabetes, how can we help them?
So, those are kind of the real, the, the big ideas that we get to focus on and, and they're probably further and few between that we get to do those. And then there's the ones that are just more in the weeds, but that can really make an impact on a member’s life. So, it's not just important to get them to join. But it's important to make sure they're successful. So, how do we put and prioritize things around how do we onboard a member and make sure they're successful? How do we focus on the other parts of the journey where we're able to give them that recognition, that motivation, that support? And then how are we focusing, you know, our, our attention on them, even when they're looking to leave? And while we never want anyone to leave, a lot of folks come back to WW time and time again, because the program works so well. So, we are making sure that that's a good experience for them as well. And that's usually where a lot of these decisions get made and the priorities get focused, are, are kind of in that balance there.
Scott Silverman 16:55
Right. So, so speaking of retention, and getting members to come back, I mean, your initial role at WW is focused on loyalty and rewards, I mean, this has been a huge buzzword in the industry, I think for a lot of retail they saw an influx of new customers come in during COVID. And the goal was, well, we'll how do you retain them? And because that's going to be the key to growing business, along with other external issues that are going on that's making retention, or excuse me, acquisition more expensive. I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I mean, you've been spending a lot of time on loyalty and is there a, like a definition that you have, or that the company is adopted, that is kind of a North Star for thinking about retention and loyalty?
Jon Mandell 17:46
You know, you know, I think for us, it, it, it's been a, it it's been a trajectory that we've been on, right. From, you know, a subscription business to at least what we've been referring to now as a membership business. And I think even in those words, carries a lot of meaning as to how you treat the folks that are, are paying you every single month and the value they're getting out of it.
Jon Mandell 18:07
So, for us yeah, the first thing I did at WW was help the company build and launch a rewards program. Which was kind of the first step on our loyalty journey, if you will. But for us, the rewards program is here to help incentivize and reward people for building healthy habits. It's not a rewards program that's focused on how long you've been a member, it's not one that's focused on how much money you spend with us, right. So, immediately that was really just a shift in the, the thought behind it of saying, hey we're here to reward and incentivize you to do things that ultimately are going to make you healthier and build those healthy habits.
Jon Mandell 18:43
But for us, our view of loyalty is really just coming from the value that you're getting, for the money that you're paying, and the sense of belonging and the sense of community that you have in, in the pride that you've taken on your weight loss journey and how you feel, and how you've helped other people and how other people have helped you within our community. Those are hugely important, the bonds you form with your coaches. The behaviors that we are helping you build for life. It's those type of things that build that fanatical engagement that ultimately leads to real loyalty.
I think that customer experience is hugely important, right? We're all being graded on whatever the last best experience we have. That's no different for us at WW, but ours is really layered in that idea of member success. The more we can help make you successful at building those healthy habits, then the more loyal you're going to be and the longer you're going to stay with us.
Michael LeBlanc 19:37
Okay, congratulations on building an innovative loyalty program because your business is a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, right? The intrinsic reward of, of achieving your objectives, and extrinsically the community award and these other awards.
Now let's shift gears for a little bit. Let's talk about careers, you manage careers and the people you hire. You manage what a team of 40 plus people, you know, when you, when you look at new people, what kind of criteria what kind of lens are you looking at, we had a recent interview with a CMO talked about medium skill high will, you know, this, this idea of potential versus education. What lens do you put on when, when people are in front of you, and you're hiring for roles in your team?
Jon Mandell 20:19
Yeah, you know, it, it, it obviously depends on the role. But, but first and foremost, I'm looking for someone that can help make me smarter. I think that's always important. I also look for people that can help round out other experiences that are on the team, we do our best work, when we are together as a team, we're moving as one where we could all then make ourselves smarter. So, that's the first thing that, that I really look for and then someone who understands what it's like to be part of a team.
Jon Mandell 20:45
From there, you know, certainly I'm looking for people who have certain experiences, but those that are hungry and are looking to gain, those experiences probably carry a little bit more weight with me.
Michael LeBlanc 20:56
Interesting.
Jon Mandell 20:56
I will say when I'm interviewing folks, I tend to get a lot more out of the interview from the questions that I'm being asked, rather than the answers to the questions that I'm asking them. I can really see where people's interests lie, where there's a brain at work, and kind of by the questions they would ask how they would kind of make the position theirs. So for me, those are some of the really important pieces.
Michael LeBlanc 21:19
It's, it's so interesting, because it it's the beginning part of your evaluation, it's like a portfolio strategy. How do I make sure that I have the right team members to balance the portfolio of skills that you need in your team?
So, in your career you've had a wonderful journey in different directions. You know, at one point, your thought you'd be a lifelong entrepreneur startup, and then you wound up in, in larger corporate environments. Is there anything you as you look back and reflect, would you do anything different? Is there you know, you kind of choose the paths or sometimes you're pointed in the direction of surpass when economic challenges happen, COVID? Anything you do differently? Would you, would you have gotten into this, these types of roles earlier, or any thoughts on that?
Jon Mandell 22:05
Probably not, I don't know that there's anything I would of have done differently. I do think everything happens for a reason. I do think you have to make the most of, of the things that that come up. I do think that that's something for other folks, when you're when you're thrown, you know, either a curveball or a unique opportunity, is to, to really just seize it. Because you don't know where, where things will go.
I would say that all of the things in my career that have seemingly happened outside of the plan have been the most fruitful, they have helped make me the most well rounded that I can be and, and really have that kind of peripheral vision for what's happening throughout an organization. It's those silos and those blinders that can be debilitating, as you're trying to, to grow within an organization or to grow in organization. So, I, I would just, you know, for me, nothing I would want to kind of do over, doesn't mean everything was perfect or great, right? I just think it happens for a reason.
Michael LeBlanc 23:10
Well, it's interesting, because the journey is, is grab the opportunity, whatever they are, and follow it up and see what happens, right? As you said, you didn't imagine you'd be at 1-800-Flowers for nine years. But that's, but it sounds like you did fascinating, interesting work that was still at the core of what you loved to do, right? Create innovation and, and an opportunity.
Alright, let's now put you five years in the future, we asked this question less about what your organization is going to look like in five years, and more about the role of a CMO in five years. So, you know, are you just, you know, are CMOs and five years just working algorithms? Are they you know, are they so steeped in the data that brand takes a second step? How do you envision the role of a CMO from your perspective, in five years?
Jon Mandell 23:57
You know I, I think some things are going to be different, and some things will still be the same. I think the power of brand is, is probably more important than it's ever been, given how low a lot of the barriers to entry are for, for, for new, new players to get into almost any space and how disrupted so many industries have been. So, I think having a powerful brand is important.
We're increasingly seeing the value of being a purpose driven organization. I'm really proud that I worked at one before I worked at one that was not something that was even on my radar.
Michael LeBlanc 24:32
Right.
Jon Mandell 24:32
And now I can't imagine working out at, at one that wasn't purpose driven. I do think with all the ways that we're going to get smarter when it comes to data and personalization and, and targeting and sophistication is also constantly being met with curveballs being thrown in our way from whether it's regulators or, or Privacy Acts or things like that, that, you know, you seemingly take two steps forward and one step back in that area. And, and sometimes those are good things, sometimes they're bad, right? If you look at, you know, what's probably the right thing for society as a whole.
Michael LeBlanc 25:03
Yeah.
Jon Mandell 25:03
But I think that it will still definitely be about having a quality product and a quality experience. And whether that experience starts all the way from the very first time you're exposed to the brand, till you're consuming the product itself, whether that's a physical one or a digital one. How that makes you feel the entire experience is still going to be really, really, really key. As we look at other things, I think the technologies will come and go and they'll evolve. But ultimately, it's, it's how it makes you feel and how you identify with the, the thing.
Michael LeBlanc 25:35
So, so in five years, it's fair to say your role will be overseeing that, that brand experience as I guess, as it is today, everything else kind of moves around, but that core remains the same, in fact, it gets even, even more prominent, even more important, yeah?
Jon Mandell 25:50
Yeah, I think it does, it becomes even more important, and, and it's really, is how do you even extract more value out of it, right? What are the things in it that's right for you? If you were to look at WW right. People come for the weight loss, but they stay for the wellness. Well, what does that.
Michael LeBlanc 26:04
Right.
Jon Mandell 26:04
Look like in the future? What are the other things that are going to make them stay? How else can we then help them? Because certainly, we're just scratching the surface.
Michael LeBlanc 26:14
Well, all of what you've achieved and what you plan to achieve takes great people. So, we wanted to offer you this opportunity. We have lots of listeners, lots of people in the industry, if you got any open roles that you wanted to, to share, encourage people to join WW on your journey. The floor is yours. Anything, anything anyone you're looking for right now and talk about that for a bit.
Jon Mandell 26:34
Yeah, certainly, within our product and tech organizations, we are always hiring great folks, talented folks who are, are building some really cool things. Within our eCommerce business, we're always looking for top talent. And within, within marketing overall, as well as even, you know, more in the grassroots, we're, we're always hiring more coaches to help our members.
But I would say for anyone who is looking to, to be part of a purpose driven company where you can really change people's lives, WW is one of them. And it's just the people that are here that are a big part of the reason why I come to work every day.
Before I worked here, it, it was almost a bit of a cliche to me to say that, oh, well, I just, you know, I want to work somewhere because of the people that are there. And then you have the experience.
Michael LeBlanc 27:22
Yeah.
Jon Mandell 27:22
To work with some of the people that I get to work with every single day, and you realize actually how important that is. So, I just it's a, it's a fantastic team, with a really great culture that's really making an impact on people's lives. And we get to see each and every day. So, if that's something you want to be a part of certainly send along your resume.
Scott Silverman 27:41
Well, Jon thank you so much for taking some time, sharing your career journey from entrepreneur to you know, marketing and eCommerce leader. In some big companies telling us a little bit about the way WW is looking at loyalty. I think it's really interesting that you're focused on the benefit and the outcome rather than just selling people more stuff. I think that's a really unique approach to it. Thank you so much for being a part of this. Thanks, Michael, for co-hosting with me again as well.
Michael LeBlanc 28:12
Yeah, it was really great to be here. Jon, great to meet you and, and hear you discuss the journey. It, it was a wonderful discussion. And, again, I will put a link in the show notes to where folks can join you along that journey to help people develop those healthy habits and, and, and really change people. people's lives.
Jon Mandell 28:28
Awesome. Michael, Scott, thank you both so much.
Michael LeBlanc 28:31
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext, please follow us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform, where we'll be sharing career advice and marketing strategies from eCommerce and digital marketing leaders at retailers and direct-to-consumer brands each and every episode.
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Have a fantastic week everyone.
Michael LeBlanc 28:31
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure and follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news and insights.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review as it really helps us grow so that we continue to get amazing guests onto the show.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Until next time, stay safe. Have a great week.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
company, people, brand, ww, building, loyalty, e commerce, career, products, commerce, journey, podcast, important, retention, helped, business, years, cmo, role, member