Why Converse Lets Creators Break Its Own Brand Rules with Dave Dullens | #645

Why Converse Lets Creators Break Its Own Brand Rules with Dave Dullens | #645

Dave Dullens [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-dullens-20005655/] has spent 20 years keeping brands like that relevant. He's Head of Brand and Consumer at Conquest Sports [https://www.converse.com.au/], the 45-year Converse licensee for Australia and New Zealand, and his whole career has run through iconic footwear: Converse, Vans, Timberland, Dr. Martens. This isn't a creative-tactics episode, it's a masterclass in keeping an iconic brand relevant across generations. In this episode, Dave sits down with Nathan Bush to make the case for brand in a business obsessed with conversion. We get into why the algorithm understands conversion but not your brand priorities, so some messages need their own budget to find an audience. We unpack his layered creator pyramid, from nano and micro fans through to global ambassadors, and why leaning into what a creator already does well beats handing them a rigid brief.  And Dave explains what it actually takes to let go of brand control, including the dirty-sneaker video that broke all of Converse's rules and still drove sales. Plus why he thinks physical and offline is the next real resurgence, and how to measure brand so the finance team stops treating it as fluff. Brands and tools mentioned: Converse, Conquest Sports, Vans, Timberland, Dr. Martens, Nike, Jordan, Hurley, Tracksuit, Meta, TikTok, Reddit, Patten In this episode: * Why the algorithm optimises for conversion, not brand, so some messages need carved-out budget to reach new audiences * How to build a layered creator program and brief creators to their strengths instead of scripting them * How to measure brand with tracking and research so it earns budget in a numbers-driven business Connect with Dave Dullens [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-dullens-20005655/] Explore Converse [https://www.converse.com.au/] Subscribe to the Add To Cart newsletter [https://newsletter.addtocart.com.au/subscribe]  SMS us to Suggest a Guest [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521371/fan_mail/new] Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Join the Add To Cart Community  [https://community.addtocart.com.au/]

How to Get More From the Tools You Already Pay For | #644

Ecommerce has never had more tools, and it's never been less clear which one is doing what. Every new AI tool that lands overlaps with three you already run, and half of them get absorbed into something else within months. So when something in the business isn't working, the instinct is to go and buy the next thing that'll fix it. But the problem usually isn't the tools. Most operators are running a fraction of what they already pay for, and the platforms they do have aren't talking to each other. A platform you use half of, sitting in a stack that doesn't share its data, is the most expensive software you own. The brands getting this right do three things differently. In this playbook, based on a conversation with Ed Hallen, co-founder of Klaviyo, we cover three things ecommerce operators need to know about getting more from the tools they already pay for: * Put your tech budget where the money is actually made, not spread thin across the fringes * Chase the connections rather than the next tool, because the value lives in your data moving between platforms * Run your integrations at two speeds. Switch on the easy wins today and resource the deep work like the project it is Connect with Ed Hallen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edhallen/] Explore Klaviyo [https://www.klaviyo.com/au/] Subscribe to the Add To Cart newsletter [https://newsletter.addtocart.com.au/subscribe]  SMS us to Suggest a Guest [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521371/fan_mail/new] Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Join the Add To Cart Community  [https://community.addtocart.com.au/]

The Shopify App Store Is Not Dead. Martin Cox on What Has Changed | #643

Martin Cox walked away from agency life two months ago. No business plan. Four Shopify apps with animal mascots. A clear view of where the ecosystem is heading. If you've been in the Australian Shopify scene for any length of time, you've heard Martin's name. He's the guy people mean when they say "we should just ask Martin." After more than a decade agency-side, he's now co-founder of Native App Co [https://apps.nativeappco.com], a Melbourne studio building a small family of focused Shopify apps that don't feel like apps. He also co-hosts The Shopify App Show [https://au.linkedin.com/in/martincox100], so he sees the ecosystem from both inside the build and across the platform. Nathan sat down with Martin to dig into what's actually changing for merchants in the AI era: why store credit is the promotional lever most operators are sleeping on, why product data is the new SEO, and what the global Shopify catalogue means for how stores get found from here. Today, we're discussing: * Why an app's real job in 2026 is to put guardrails around AI, not just add features [05:00] * How store credit beats discount codes for spreading acquisition cost across two baskets [17:30] * The musky tobacco t-shirt rule for product data in the age of AI search [32:00] * Why Shopify Flow integration is the single strongest quality signal when evaluating an app [44:30] * Where the global catalogue could take Shopify and what merchants should do about it now [35:30] * Martin's easy in, easy out framework for choosing apps that won't burn you [44:00] Use the code ADDTOCART for three months free on any Native App Co app: nativeappco.com/addtocart [https://nativeappco.com/addtocart] Connect with Martin Cox [https://au.linkedin.com/in/martincox100] | Explore Native App Co [https://apps.nativeappco.com] | Listen to The Shopify App Show [https://au.linkedin.com/in/martincox100] Subscribe to the Add To Cart newsletter [https://newsletter.addtocart.com.au/subscribe]  SMS us to Suggest a Guest [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521371/fan_mail/new] Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Join the Add To Cart Community  [https://community.addtocart.com.au/]

How to Get More From Influencers by Spending Less | #642

Influencer marketing is still a young line item, the pricing is all over the shop, and you can spend real money on a creator without ever being sure what you got back. So plenty of teams treat it with one eyebrow raised. But the problem was never influencers. Most brands treat influence as one big post, from one big name, a single moment they hope lands. The brands getting real value treat it as a relationship instead: the same credible people showing up more than once, who actually believe in the product. The brands getting this right do three things differently. In this playbook, based on a conversation with Jess Hatzis, co-founder of Frank Body and Willow & Blake, we cover three things ecommerce operators need to know about getting more from influencers for less: * Influence works on frequency, not one big post, so the same credible people need to show up for you again and again * Pick creators who already believe in your product, then treat them like partners rather than a media buy * Bring creators together in person and do it on repeat, which buys frequency, content and a real bond for about a tenth of the cost Connect with Jess Hatzis [https://au.linkedin.com/in/jessica-hatzis-strategicadvisor] Explore Willow & Blake [https://willowandblake.com/] Subscribe to the Add To Cart newsletter [https://newsletter.addtocart.com.au/subscribe]  SMS us to Suggest a Guest [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521371/fan_mail/new] Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Join the Add To Cart Community  [https://community.addtocart.com.au/]

Doesn't Cost You Anything to Do Good: Rohan McCloskey on Building GoGenerosity | #641

Rohan McCloskey refunded $350,000 in donations, gave up his salary for a year, and nearly lost everything. He's still building GoGenerosity. And he'd do it again. That kind of conviction usually comes from one of two places: delusion or proof. In Rohan's case it's the latter. One in six customers at his best-performing store donate every single time they shop. Ninety-eight percent of mystery shoppers said they were more likely to return to a brand running GoGenerosity than a competitor selling the same product. Only one merchant in his ideal customer profile has ever churned, and that was because the merchant's business hit financial difficulty, not because the product failed. Rohan is Founder and CEO of GoGenerosity [https://www.gogenerosity.com], a Shopify app that turns small customer contributions at checkout into real goods delivered to charity partners. The model is cleaner than it sounds: a customer adds a $2 or $3 donation at checkout, those donations pool, and the charity receives a gift card at full retail value redeemed in-store. One hundred percent goes through. GoGenerosity charges merchants a monthly SaaS fee on top. Before all of this, Rohan ran three restaurants in Mount Maunganui through COVID, survived, and then decided to start a tech company instead. Today, we're discussing: * How the GoGenerosity checkout model works in practice and why 100% of customer donations reach charity partners [05:03] * The Hume mystery shopping data: 98% of shoppers were more likely to return to a brand running GoGenerosity than a direct competitor [15:26] * Why one in six customers at Rohan's best-performing store donates $5 every single visit, and what two years of that data actually proves [18:07] * The no-login product philosophy: why GoGenerosity deliberately has no merchant portal and sends monthly reports by email instead [28:38] * Why raising capital too early nearly killed the business and what a two-year enterprise sales cycle actually costs a startup [47:35] * What Rohan's psychologist told him on Christmas Day 2023 and how he kept building through a serious burnout [44:16] Connect with Rohan McCloskey [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohanmccloskey/?originalSubdomain=nz] | Explore GoGenerosity [https://www.gogenerosity.com] | Connect with Rosa Willis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-clara-willis-23761066/] | Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Subscribe to the Add To Cart newsletter [https://newsletter.addtocart.com.au/subscribe]  SMS us to Suggest a Guest [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521371/fan_mail/new] Connect with Nathan Bush [https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathbush] Join the Add To Cart Community  [https://community.addtocart.com.au/]