This episode of The New World of Consumer Behavior features an interview with Gary Orfield, Director of Tourism Development at Visit Greater Palm Springs, Southern California’s most storied resort oasis with 300+ days of sunshine annually, mountains you can almost reach out and touch, world-renowned events, and an incredible range of accommodations, meeting spaces, venues and attractions.

Gary is also the Chair for the International Marketing Committee of Visit California, a nonprofit organization with a mission to develop and maintain marketing programs — in partnership with the state's travel industry — to keep California top-of-mind as a premier travel destination. Gary received his associates degree in hospitality from Walter State Community College in 1988.

In this episode of The New World of Consumer Behavior, Gary talks about the impact the pandemic has had on tourism trade in California, with tourism in Palm Springs having dropped by 54%. He also discusses how visitors are segmented between in-state and overseas, and how his team uses data to develop long term strategies, bringing Greater Palm Springs back to life.

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Key Quotes

“Do try to find as many sources as possible. And just on the flip side, don't rely on one or two data points. And don't analyze till you're paralyzed. I think that my biggest takeaway on using research and data is to get as clear and a bigger picture from many different angles and opinions as possible.” - Gary Orfield

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Episode Timestamps

01:52 Gary’s role

02:44 Business at Palm Springs

05:00 Top oversea markets

06:13 How the team uses data

08:12 Segment: The Data Vault

11:23 Changes in the last two years

17:21 Measuring improvements with data

18:19 Common itinerary for visitors

19:55 Long-term strategy

21:27 Data security

24:09 Competition

25:36 Advice for others in similar roles

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Links

Connect with Kat on LinkedIn

Connect with Gary on LinkedIn

This episode of The New World of Consumer Behavior features an interview with Allyn Taylor, Director of Development and Construction at Pollo Campero, a Guatemalan restaurant chain serving flavorful chicken meals.

Allyn is a results-oriented real estate professional who thrives in high pressure environments that require excellence. He has a broad-based knowledge of the United States across multiple real estate sectors with a detailed, hands-on understanding of real estate development. A creative problem solver, Allyn has strong foundational financial and analytical skills, coupled with the ability to design and implement cost effective technological solutions to leverage underlying real estate knowledge. He’s recognized as an energetic leader, strong motivator and excellent communicator. His past development efforts have successfully resulted in more than $750 million worth of capital investment.

In this episode, Allyn talks about how Pollo Campero uses data to better understand its customer base and how major shifts in consumer behavior have had a net positive impact on the success of the chain.

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Key Quotes

“We use sort of a blending application that is kind of 50% weighted on mobility, 50% on traditional progression modeling and I think it's a healthy way to do it. It kind of balances, and we're utilizing both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the mobility data. So not only are we looking at concentrations of our guests, but we're looking at the mix of those devices, essentially overlaying our customer profile over the devices to get a sense for who's there at that geography at those key day parts.” - Allyn Taylor

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Episode Timestamps

02:10 Allyn’s current role

05:45 Using data to better understand customers

11:45 Sourcing data

13:46 Consumer behavior data findings

17:27 Validating customer profiles and segmentation

18:58 Recent impacts of major shifts in consumer behavior

25:00 Future of Pollo Campero restaurants

26:19 Personalizing experiences for customers

27:23 Data dos and don’ts

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Links

Connect with Kat on LinkedIn

Connect with Allyn on LinkedIn

This episode of The New World of Consumer Behavior features an interview with Dan Richardson, Head of Data for Asia Pacific at Yahoo!, a global media and tech company that connects people to their passions and provides partners with a full-stack platform for businesses to amplify growth and drive more meaningful connections across advertising and search.

Dan is in charge of shaping the commercial data strategy and delivering effective audience engagement solutions to Yahoo’s agency, brand and publisher partners. From an industry side, Dan chaired the IAB Australia’s Data Council from 2018 to 2022, helping lead educational initiatives, and served on the IAB New Zealand Standards and Measurement Council. He previously served as a board director for the International Advertising Association and as president of the IAA's Young Professionals.

In this episode, Dan talks about the growing importance of contextual targeting in digital advertising, why investing in building first-party data strategy is more critical than ever, and how crafting a fair and equitable ad funded internet is a key step for a balanced future online.

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Key Quotes

“The key thing is to recognize that we also, as consumers and people, we all enjoy free content, add funded content. So that does require some form of identity or technology to be applied there. We really do need to find a middle ground that allows that to thrive, as well. There's great publishers out there, ourselves, but other global publishers employing journalists producing great content. Now to thrive that needs to be viable across the open web and not just housed within a particular operating system or walled garden. There needs to be room for both.” - Dan Richardson

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Episode Timestamps

02:14 Dan’s role at Yahoo!

03:47 How Dan uses data

06:38 Dan’s data sources

12:24 Contextual targeting in advertising

15:33 Next gen audiences

19:48 Consumer behavior data

22:14 Using data to solve problems

24:45 Data security

27:16 General Data Protection Regulation

33:39 Improving customer experiences

37:45 Data do’s and don'ts

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Links

Connect with Kat on LinkedIn

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn