In this week's partner pod, Shiny New Object, Julie Pender, UK Creative Content Manager for Havana Club at Pernod Ricard, champions community building to forge authentic connections with her brand’s audience. In an era dominated by digital reach, these human relationships are more influential than ever.

Julie Pender, currently the UK Creative Content Manager for Havana Club at Pernod Ricard, values community building as a way to create genuine connections with her brand's audience. In a world that focuses on reach and digital, those human relationships hold more power than ever.

Julie thinks that leveraging relationships with smaller boutiques and service providers is not only true to her brand ethos, it's also smart marketing. Yes, brands can have incredible reach through social media, influencers, and digital marketing. But that reach doesn't necessarily translate to sales. And, in her own words, "we sometimes forget what we're ultimately here to do. And it's, in my case, it's to sell rum, right? If I do some amazing things that show phenomenal growth, and I've delivered billions of impressions, but I did not sell one bottle of Havana Club, I didn't do my job."

On the podcast, we also talk about how insights from Automated Creative have helped Julie deliver messaging that resonates with her audience. Her key focus is how to leverage the wealth of data marketers have access to, into "something that your brand can use for profitable growth."
As she puts it:
"When I need insights that go beyond that kind of level of observation, it is your team [at Automated Creative] that I call and it's that level of insight that gives me the power to talk about messaging back into the community, because I'm looking for things I know have already resonated."

For Havana Club, sometimes that's a niche event with hip hop artists and a Canadian jeweller. Tune in to the podcast to find out more and listen to Julie give her best data driven marketing tips.