Brave New Digital World

Andy Carvell (Phiture)

Welcome to Brave New Digital World – the podcast where we explore the future of growth marketing, mobile, and AI with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Episodes

  1. Winning With a Data-Fluent Creative Team: Sharon Romang, VP of Creative at Front Row

    07/28/2025

    Winning With a Data-Fluent Creative Team: Sharon Romang, VP of Creative at Front Row

    In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Sharon Romang — VP of Creative at Front Row and former Smartly.io lead — joins Andy Carvell to explore how today’s most effective marketers blend storytelling, performance, and tech. From building agency-owned tools to navigating AI rollouts (and Duolingo’s recent misstep), Sharon shares battle-tested insights on where creative work is headed — and why the future belongs to the data-fluent. Find and connect with Sharon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonromang/ Resources Sharon recommends: Christine Göös on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegoos/House of Content podcast: SpotifyEmily Sundberg: https://www.emilyemilyemilyemily.com/helloFeed Me on Substack: https://www.readfeedme.com/Julian Cole, Strategy Finishing School: https://strategyfinishingschool.com/Ashwinn (@shwinnabego) on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shwinnabego Chapters (00:00) Intro (00:51) Introducing Sharon Romang: Creative Strategist with a Performance Edge (01:53) The Future Is Already Here—Just Not Evenly Distributed (05:09) Scalable Creative: From Smartly’s Image Templates to Figma Buzz (09:19) Should Agencies Be Building Their Own Tech? (13:03) Sharon’s Shift to Data-Driven Design (17:27) Why Creatives Must Learn to Speak Performance (19:44) AI Integration: How to Do It Without Losing the Human Touch (22:59) The Duolingo Case: When “AI-First” Backfires (24:05) Figma’s AI Rollout: A Masterclass in User-Centric Innovation (26:22) Why Agencies Must Stay Ahead of Their Clients in AI (27:22) What’s Expired: One-Channel Thinking and Creative Overproduction (30:55) What’s Wired: Commerce, Creators & the Future of Shopping (32:44) Behavioral Convergence Across Generations and Markets (35:28) Sharon’s Dream: A Unified Creative Intelligence Stack (38:33) Sharon’s Recommendations for Resources

    43 min
  2. UA-Driven Product Development, iOS Marketing, and More: Roi Nam, Founder & CEO at Airbridge

    07/14/2025

    UA-Driven Product Development, iOS Marketing, and More: Roi Nam, Founder & CEO at Airbridge

    In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy sits down with Roi Nam, CEO and founder of Airbridge and AB180, to unpack seismic shifts in mobile marketing, measurement, and AI-powered growth. Roi shares how leading teams are flipping the script — launching products after testing UA performance, scaling AI-generated creatives by the millions, and navigating the post-ATT iOS landscape with modeled conversions and web-to-app strategies. It’s a fast-paced, insight-rich conversation for marketers ready to embrace the brave new world of growth. Resouces recommended: Book: The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon, Brent AdamsonRoi Nam on LinkedIn Chapters (00:00) Introduction and Roi's Background (02:15) The Future Is Already Here: Roi on William Gibson’s Quote (04:11) What a Dating App Taught Roi About Performance Marketing (06:03) Why Subscription Apps Lead in UA (07:49) Post-ATT Landscape: Complexity as the New Normal (09:28) iOS Marketing: No More Silver Bullets (10:53) UA-Driven Product Development (13:02) Beyond Soft Launch: Building Multiple MVPs Concurrently (15:57) ASO First, App Second (16:32) AI Coding and the Rise of "Vibe Coding" (18:25) The Future of iOS Measurement: Web-to-App and Modeled Conversions (23:24) Advice for CMOs Entering Mobile: Start with ASO and Web-to-App (26:06) AI-Generated Creatives at Scale (29:49) By 2025: Live Ops and Monetization Fully AI-Driven in Gaming (31:49) Hyper-Personalization vs. Shared Experience (33:17) If Budget Were No Limit: Becoming an AI-Native Organization (35:30) Getting Comfortable with AI: Talk to It Like a Human (37:26) Roi’s Favorite Book (38:33) One Thing to Stop Doing: Manual Note Taking (39:27) Closing Thoughts

    41 min
  3. Building Cash App's Growth Engine: Dyan Khor's Playbook for Mobile Marketing

    05/30/2025

    Building Cash App's Growth Engine: Dyan Khor's Playbook for Mobile Marketing

    In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy Carvell sits down with Dyan Khor -- growth marketing leader, ex-Cash App, and advisor to scaling startups -- for a deep dive into modern growth strategy. Dyan shares how she built Cash App’s marketing engine from scratch, managed over $500M in ad spend, and why she believes proactive hiring beats traditional recruiting. The conversation spans the evolution of measurement post-iOS 14, media mix modeling, and why the line between brand and performance marketing is fading fast. We also explore the rising challenges of AI-fueled competition, the importance of creative novelty, and Dyan’s perspective on when not to spend a dollar. Whether you’re scaling a startup or optimizing at enterprise level, this episode is packed with honest insights, bold predictions, and practical frameworks. Links & Resources: Uber ad fraud story: https://www.marketingtodaypodcast.com/194-historic-ad-fraud-at-uber-with-kevin-frisch/John Egan's blog: https://jwegan.com/Dyan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dyankhor/Dyan's website: https://dyankhor.com MMM / Incrementality solutions Dyan recommended: Recast - https://getrecast.com/Paramark - https://paramark.com/Analytic Partners - https://analyticpartners.com/ Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (00:41) - Introducing Dyan and Her Background (08:11) - Lessons from working at gaming companies (11:02) - Applying learnings from large-scale companies to early-stage startups (14:06) - Measurement past iOS 14 (19:15) - MMM infrastructure: Build or buy? (23:13) - The (controversial) role of fingerprinting today (25:52) - Performance vs. Brand Marketing is a false dichotomy (29:27) - AI is leading to more competition, there's a need for novelty to be successful (31:45) - What's Wired, Tired, or Expired in Digital Marketing? (36:46) - If you had no limits to your ambition... (38:59) - Resource recommendations (41:33) - One thing companies need to stop doing. (44:37) - Outro

    45 min

About

Welcome to Brave New Digital World – the podcast where we explore the future of growth marketing, mobile, and AI with some of the brightest minds in the industry.