Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Executive Spotlight: Tim Glomb, Wunderkind
In this Executive Spotlight, Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson speaks with Tim Glomb, Head of Operational AI at Wunderkind. Glomb’s unconventional journey—from touring the world with platinum-selling rock bands to producing for MTV and now leading AI operations at a marketing technology powerhouse—offers a fresh, candid view on the future of customer loyalty. With decades of experience on both the brand and tech sides of the fence, Glomb shares his no-nonsense take on brand integration, data activation, AI education, and why mentorship and community matter more than ever.
Good afternoon, good morning. This is Mark Johnson from Loyalty360. I want to welcome everyone back to our new interview series, the Loyalty360 Executive Spotlight. It's part of our leaders in customer loyalty series. In this series, we have the privilege of speaking, with conversations and talking with some of the most enlightened minds in the customer loyalty and customer experience field. They are running programs, but they're also bringing great advice to the brands and marketers out there that need that. All of them are members of Loyalty360, and these are a more personal interview with the individual who's running the program about where they are, how they got to where they are and maybe some life lessons they've learned along the way.
Speaker 1:And today we have the pleasure to speak with Tim Glom. He is the Vice President of Digital Content and AI at Wunderkin. How are we today, tim Great, mark, good to see you again. Great, always having a chance to connect with you. First off, for those who don't know you or know kind of about your unique background, it would be great to let the audience know a little bit more about you. You found obviously a way into the space, but you have a very unique and rich background on the brand side and we'd love to hear a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a little bit of a pinball machine when getting up to here. So, former brand marketer good 10, 15 years on the brand marketing side, b2c space, working for the likes of Mark Cuban and some private equity firms. So I've spent a lot of time on the brand marketing side Now for the last 10 years, plus a little over 10 years I've been on the technology side, so in the MarTech space specifically to build relationships and technologies that actually meet the goals of the marketer. So I feel like I have a pretty good feel of both sides of that fence the goals of the marketer. So I feel like I have a pretty good feel of both sides of that fence. And then, you know, way, way, way back in the 20, 30 year plus was sports entertainment, music, capital, records that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:So entertainment into brand marketing, now into technology who knew? Excellent. When you look at customer loyalty, you know, is there a trend that you're excited about and what is it? And and uh, how is wondering, preparing for, uh, the trend?
Speaker 2:yeah, so, for me, I love loyalty. I'm a I'm a huge fan of certain brands, um, for different reasons, that I connect to them and use them repeatedly, united airlines being one that I love. Yeah, um, for me, it's about the democratization of all of this information, including loyalty information. So, when you can really you in today's day and age, with AI and just the advancements in server technology, there's more we can do right now, through all my emails, through my onsite experience even if I'm not logged in because I just want to do a quick hit with Patagonia or United, you know, being able to unlock that loyalty data, make me me on your website or my experience, I think that's what I'm most excited about today.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So, tim, you have a very unique background. You mentioned the brand experience you have with sports entertainment. You've obviously done a significant amount of collaboration in the past. Now, when you look at kind of the state of customer loyalty, the marketing experience you have, if you could collaborate with any brand or industry to create a groundbreaking customer experience or customer loyalty program, who would it be and why?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, what comes to mind for me is Patagonia. I'm a big outdoor person. I love the brand, I love that. You know they turned the brand over to the globe. It's all about saving the globe and I think that's a. I think that's a bold move from a company standpoint. Secondly, patagonia is all about experience. I just got their recent catalog in the mail, which I don't normally look at print mail that comes through, but it's a book, it's a story, it's a journey. It's not selling me waders or a UV fishing shirt. Sure, I can do that inside, but the experience is great. So, I think, bringing Patagonia into my life everywhere I go. I just got back from London yesterday. I'm going to be on another trip later this week.
Speaker 2:That's where I think brands need to live, the ones that really truly connect with our customers. You know there's commodity-based brands. Yeah, of course I need toilet paper, I need these other things. I don't know that I'm going to build a big loyalty you know momentum with my toilet paper brand, but the brands that I live and feel. I think now, with technology, ai, what's available, what consumers have in their hands, they have like a limitless potential for weaving themselves into everyday experiences. That doesn't mean you know they're trying to sell me constantly. I'm just living the brand, I'm evangelizing the brand and look, I'm talking about patagonia. So that's what I'm talking about the brands that you know and love, that you always think about when you have your spare time and you're having those good moments. That's a brand I'd love to work with.
Speaker 1:Excellent. When you look at customer experience, it's a very relevant topic. You and I have had numerous discussions about it over the years. When you look at the industry, you know what's the single biggest factor that influences a great customer experience and unlocking the data that's available on a given consumer.
Speaker 2:We live in an age, you know, I worked for Scott McNeely, you know, founder of Sun Microsystem, who famously in the 90s went in front of Congress and said privacy's dead, get over it. I agree with that. I think most brands are in the business of using privacy for good, to enhance an experience, enhance your life. That's why they exist. You know, I think most consumers, especially younger consumers that we talk about and we survey a lot, don't really worry about nefarious use of their data. So if we're accepting that, that brands have access to me and my data because I cruise around the web and I do things unleashing and unlocking it, I think that's the real potential. I think if brands are looking at partners who can help both collect, obtain and use that data for a better experience, that's where the future is. I mean, that's where we are today with some brands. But that's what I'm extremely excited to see brands is unlock the data they have on consumers to make a better experience.
Speaker 1:So, tim, when you look at being able to understand, unlock data, access the different data points to increase the efficacy of the customer experience efforts, how should brands be focusing on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, number one, don't try and do all this yourself. You're very good at being your brand, whether you make widgets or experiences or hotels selling airline flights. Do what you do and do it well. There are a million, literally. I feel like there's about a million companies out there that have data and can manipulate data to make your experience better with your customers. So lean on those companies.
Speaker 2:Don't try and build an identity graph. Don't try and build some giant thing that detracts you from what you do really well, which is keep your brand and then also just keep compliance in mind. Look at who else is using those vendors that have access to data and then, lastly, are they flexible and adaptable? The things that they do well, like at Wunderkin? We're an identity graph. Can they actually integrate that in a meaningful way to quickly, seamlessly, easily and cost-effectively enhance your consumer experience? Then that's what you should be looking at, but don't. The one recommendation I'd have is don't try and be everything to everyone. Just be your brand and go find the right partners that can execute, you know, a better customer experience with you.
Speaker 1:Okay, where did you attend college?
Speaker 2:I went to Westchester University and I did not graduate. I couldn't take it, and this is a time where I feel bad for kids right now deciding what they're going to do and I have one who has to make a decision for this September. Do you go laden yourself with further education and a giant bill at the end of it Hopefully you get grand or something or do you actually go out into the real world and just see how things operate? And for me that was the best path. It was getting straight in. So I left college early, went right into the road in the music business and the rest is history. I feel like I've learned more from real world hands on experience getting my hands dirty than any textbook or not to belittle it, but some teacher who's locked in a classroom teaching the same curriculum year over year. I just it wasn't for me.
Speaker 1:That makes perfect sense, so you kind of started to allude to it. You know what was your first job after college?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I got wrapped up into the music world. It was a fun one. I ended up touring the globe with bands like Motley Crue. I helped manage a band, everclear. It was a huge platinum-selling artist in the early 90s and that quickly evolved through music as music changed and became digitized and selling a CD wasn't really a thing anymore into television. So I moved over to television producing the Jackass Guys, a ton of stuff for MTV. That's where brand marketing, brand inclusion came in and moved on into the brand world with large agencies and doing branded content. I feel like content's been my common thread Entertainment and content's been my thread for the last 30 years.
Speaker 1:Okay, when you look at your first job, what was something you learned in that role and how has that translated to your success in marketing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I learned a harsh lesson one day when we were doing a Saturday Night Live with the band Everclear. We got cut. John Goodman was the host. It was his, I think, seventh or eighth appearance. He was the person who had hosted the most and they gave him an extra segment in real time. They made a decision right on the fly. They were going to give him one more segment which cut a song.
Speaker 2:You know most bands play two songs on saturday night live usually play your hit first, that everyone knows, and then you play your new one to get people jazzed at least. Back then and they cut us and I said, oh yeah, I understand, it's john goodman, sarah, this and that, and uh, in hindsight should have never done that, should never let them do that, and we should have been uh, more aggressive and saying no, this is why we're here, this is what we need to do. That. And we should have been more aggressive in saying no, this is why we're here, this is what we need to do. You told us we could play two songs. So it was a moment in time in a live television event, but the ramifications of that were endless and it taught me very quickly fight for what your brand needs. Fight for what you need to do within your brand and take advantage of everything that's been afforded you and clearly promised, so fight.
Speaker 1:Don't roll over.
Speaker 2:Don't take no for an answer.
Speaker 1:There you go, so kind of building off that what's the best work advice you've ever been given.
Speaker 2:Best work advice. Mark Cuban is always big into reading manuals. We can call it software technology. You're buying, you know, access to some technology. He literally he would read everything that his companies were using.
Speaker 2:That was part of my job is go find the right technologies to bring in and scale across 150 brands in the Mark Cuban company's organization. Knowing what the things you're investing in can do and what they should do is far different than just listening to a salesperson say, oh yeah, it'll do X, y and Z Cool. Sign the deal. You should know somebody in your organization should be an expert. They should actually be better at the tools you're investing in than the company who's actually serving you the tools. I really like it when our clients lean forward and know as much or have ideas beyond what we think our technologies can do. So that's the one thing I've always learned is digging hard. I know you like to read, you like to get into the weeds and understand. I think that's a great trait that everybody should really consider. And even if you don't have the bandwidth to do it, find someone on your team who's dedicated to becoming the expert of all the tools that you use to bring your brand to life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. When you look at your day job great, very successful what's a passion outside of work that you enjoy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a big outdoorsman. I'm outside. I live at 10,000 feet on top of a mountain. Today I'm in my Denver office, but I'm outside. I don't own a TV in my house. We don't look at TVs, we look at these grand views of the mountains and then I wait for three, four o'clock to come Most of my team's in Europe and UK, so I'm early schedule. I get out there, I get into it, I go fishing. Right now it's spring Great time to go out and get some tight lines on some trout and just be outside, get that sunshine.
Speaker 1:That's excellent no-transcript.
Speaker 2:You know, bringing innovation. Right now I'm head of operational AI at Wunderkind, which Wunderkind is a great AI-driven team product that does amazing things with AI. But inside, operationally how we operate from business to finance, to HR, to legal, to everything, you know there's still a learning curve. Ai is still fairly new in an operational and enterprise environment. So I'm really, really excited at the innovation we're bringing, the efficiencies that we're bringing into an organization. It's what I've been doing, you know, at past places like Cheetah Digital and then Marigold, et cetera, and I'm really excited to do it here with the advent of AI and the scalability of AI inside of the Wunderkin org.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you could bring one great change to the workforce, what would that be and why?
Speaker 2:I think it would be accelerating what AI can do the education to your entire organization. Everyone from you know we have great staff in our World Trade Center office and they bring in the lunches and they keep the office going and it's awesome. Ai can help them right. And they aren't always thinking about that because they do physical things and ordering food and setting up tables and chairs. But the education opportunity for any organization I don't care what industry you're in, I don't care where you are in the globe AI can come in and make your people more efficient and not more efficient just from like a numbers and revenue perspective, but more efficient as human beings.
Speaker 2:I've actually I've seen the light bulb turn on and some of my younger employees here at Wunderkind when they start to see what's possible with AI. And I've had somebody you know recently come to me when I was in the World Trade Center recently and they said, tim, I applied what I learned here you were showing me for for work with AI to my own personal finances and you know I'm more educated now and I have some better outcomes. So I think AI is going to absolutely change the game. I think it's going to take five to 10 years for full adoption, but much like cell phones, you know, our kids, younger generations it's in their hand from day one. I think AI is going to be a game changer, so I love the opportunity to educate people on what it can do and then also learn learn to myself as well.
Speaker 1:Excellent. You know you were very active within the Loaty360 community. You know what are a couple of things you like about the community and maybe what would you like to see more of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, it's great. I've been a huge proponent here. I've been at multiple companies where I've mandated hey, we have to be a vendor in the program. We have to be a vendor in the program, we have to be a partner in some way. I think the people that are inside the organization your brand clients, your brand associates they're always leaning forward, they always want to know more and it goes back to that education, that thirst for knowledge.
Speaker 2:So I think Loyalty360 has built a great organization where people can come in, they can feel safe, they can ask stupid questions, but at the end of the day, there are no dumb questions, right, we just want to learn, we just want to help each other, we want to increase our value. And then also, I've seen relationships being built there where people move from organization to organization. But this kind of becomes one of our common anchor communities that we can keep coming back to. As I mentioned, I think I'm on my fourth company that's been involved with Loyalty360, but I still see some of the same brands and or people that I've been working with and met here over the years. They might be at different brands now but they're still in it because they see the value and they see the community aspect.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Last question. We like to end these with some words of wisdom for marketers, customer loyalty professionals, who may be new to developing effective customer loyalty strategies best be new to developing effective customer loyalty strategies, best marketing practices and elevating customer experience. What's a piece of advice that you can offer them that could be very helpful?
Speaker 2:Yeah, look at mentorship and even if it's not a formal mentorship, with one or two people that you can identify, that have the time to help you. But, just like I said about Loyalty360, get into those organizations, lean in, make the time. I know we're all busy, you know activating our jobs at work and we've got our to-dos, but look at the opportunity you have for education and even if you think you have a great idea or if you have a challenge that you're not sure how to tackle, somebody has already done this. I mean, no one's reinventing the wheel for the most part. So lean in, go find somebody, go ask a question. Ask Mark, you know, ask the loyalty 360 org. Hey, we're thinking about X, Y and Z.
Speaker 2:Do you know anybody that's already gone through these hurdles and these hoops, made some missteps and hopefully we don't step in those potholes. I would say just find time to find resources. There are people out there. I'm one of them. I'd love to talk to people and explain my experience if we can help them in any given way. Find somebody that's going to help you navigate new territory for you, because it'll be much easier to get advice and experience from someone else who's already done what you're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1:Well, excellent, tim. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today on the Executive Spotlight episode. It was great speaking with you, as it always is. I think you obviously always have the passion that you exude, but kind of a non-traditional path to success is great to hear, and you always seem to the companies you worked for in the past have a very unique passion and interest to grow and expand your horizon. So it's great and I think that listeners can definitely learn from that.
Speaker 2:Great Mark. I always appreciate the opportunity. It's always been good talking to you about any of these things, so again, just appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you everyone for taking the time to join us today on our Executive Spotlight. Please make sure to join us every Saturday for a new edition of the podcast and look forward to having you back every week. Until then, have a wonderful day.