Exploregonians podcast

#Society #Travel #Jordan and Katie #Oregon #Funny #Stories #International #Adventure #Shenanigans #Conversations #Comedy #Couples

28:52

Retailers are facing a rapidly evolving landscape where consumer expectations, AI advancements, and social media platforms like TikTok are redefining engagement. It feels like the holiday shopping season just ended, but when do retailers start planning for the next one, and some retailers already behind the curve for this season? Joining us today is Carey Cockrum, Director of Consulting at Cella by Randstad Digital, where she helps major brands and marketing teams optimize their strategies with data-driven insights, AI-powered content creation, and cutting-edge retail marketing trends. With the holidays just around the corner, she’s here to share what’s next for retail marketing, campaign optimization, and how brands can stay ahead in a hyper-competitive space. ABOUT CAREY COCKRUM Carey has been a part of the Creative Agency space for nearly 30 years. She has served as Designer, Creative Director, Creative Operations Lead and Agency Lead in both internal and external agencies (big and small). Carey has worked directly with C-suite stakeholders to understand organizational strategies that inform effective creative solutions. She is a bit of a data nerd and loves demonstrating results. Brands she’s supported include Fruit of the Loom, Wendy’s and Humana. In her free time, she enjoys going back to her creative roots through painting and drawing. She also spends her time improving upon the house she lives in today in Southern, MI - inside and out. RESOURCES Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Boston, August 11-14, 2025. Register now: https://bit.ly/etailboston and use code PARTNER20 for 20% off for retailers and brands Don't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company…

Exploregonians

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Trapped in a village on Thailand's tallest mountain! Kicked off an Italian train! Evacuated from Yellowstone National Park! Join couple Katie and Jordan as they recount travel stories from across four continents over the course of a decade and the mishaps they always seem to get into.

24 episodes

Exploregonians

updated 2 years ago

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24 episodes

#Society #Travel #Jordan and Katie #Oregon #Funny #Stories #International #Adventure #Shenanigans #Conversations #Comedy #Couples

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1
23. Osaka, Japan 1:12:16

2 years ago1:12:16

1:12:16

The box read “We want to go to Kyoto in your car” in Japanese, and a pair of women driving to Osaka for a One Direction concert gave the hitchhiking Katie and Jordan a ride from a roadside Starbucks. They were close to Kyoto, but toured around Osaka for a couple days, eating fried octopus balls, touring the iconic castle, and enjoying the Glico Running Man. When they returned a week later to Osaka, Katie accidentally booked a love hotel right next to the wrong airport and the duo had the best time in their extravagant, rent-by-the-hour room. Also, Jordan was fooled again by ordering what he thought was an iced latte and receiving a tall glass of milk with coffee ice cubes. Oh, Japan!…

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22. Newport, Oregon 56:55

2 years ago56:55

56:55

Ten years ago, Katie uninvited Jordan from Newport’s Seafood and Wine Festival and he still hasn’t let it go. Katie enjoys the marriage of grunge and bourgeois in Newport and Jordan declares Newport as the Capital of the Coast before talking about the first celebrity he ever met: Keiko the orca, star of Free Willy. Katie is weirded out Newport’s Ocean to Bay Trail doesn’t end at Yaquina Bay, but seemingly someone’s yard in town and once received the shirt of a barista’s back at the local Dutch Bros. Jordan tells Katie about how Newport is the western terminus for Highway 20, the longest road in the United States, and also how he was probably unaware of highway signage as a child because he was busy creating and choreographing a jukebox musical about the cast of Super Mario Bros. to the discography of Shania Twain.…

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21. Midtown Manhattan, New York 1:24:55

2 years ago1:24:55

1:24:55

Jordan won front row tickets to Hamilton in New York City, which spurred a crazy two-day planning spree. Katie and Jordan have been together almost ten years, so it's only fitting they have now seen ten shows on Broadway. When they weren’t being dazzled by theatre, they were experiencing some of the most classic buildings in Manhattan like Grand Central Terminal and the flagship building of the New York Public Library, where Katie and Jordan met the real Winnie-the-Pooh (and friends) that inspired A.A. Milne’s classic books. Katie declares her love of outdoor NYC dining and Jordan regrets not asking Seth Meyers for a writing job.…

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20. Pacific City, Oregon 1:10:22

2 years ago1:10:22

1:10:22

Because it is Valentine's Day, Jordan reads an excerpt from his memoir recounting pivotal moments in their relationship at Pacific City. Katie once drove Jordan to an interview in Pacific City and dropped him off like the good babysitter she is after they imagine the rom-com Country/City. Pacific City’s Haystack Rock is one hundred feet taller than its sibling in Cannon Beach and a mile offshore. Jordan thinks it is objectively superior and tells Katie some people refer to it as Chief Kiawanda Rock.…

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19. Budapest, Hungary 58:57

2 years ago58:57

58:57

Katie forgot a swimsuit for a European trip so went to a Budapest bathhouse in just her underwear and Jordan talks about getting his chest hair in someone's pizza. Budapest is, to Katie and Jordan's surprise, two cities named Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River! Biggest regret? Not getting a sweatshirt that read "BUDA SEXY PEST". Before Katie's birthday, the two stumbled into Budapest's original ruin bar, an enormous abandoned factory where wild art is everywhere and every nook and cranny is filled with a bar and someone mixing spirits and pouring beer. Ruin bars are the strangest, most amazing thing Katie and Jordan experienced in the city. They are basically dystopian McMenamins.…

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18. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon 1:07:02

2 years ago1:07:02

1:07:02

Wizard Island! Old Man of the Lake! Phantom Ship! Jordan thinks Crater Lake National Park is the GOAT of naming things. Katie accuses Jordan of not liking lakes and suggests he is backwoods, being raised on rivers and fed crawdads, just like all the nonnative fish that have been stocked in Crater Lake from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mount Mazama blew 7,700 years ago and its caldera was filled over time to make Crater Lake the deepest in the United States, yet only the ninth in the world. What gives? Jordan also says, "What gives?" about Oregon being home to only one national park and Katie thinks it's just enough.…

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17. Doi Inthanon Village, Thailand Part 2: The School 1:06:39

2 years ago1:06:39

1:06:39

Katie and Jordan are off to school! Without any teaching credentials, the Inthanon school headmaster begrudgingly allows the honeymooners to assist the local English teacher, who quickly became Jordan’s favorite person in all his travels. Katie and Jordan are whisked away to help at “English Camp” which isn’t nearly as fun as it sounds. To get there, they load up the buses, which are truck beds piled high with fifteen children each and Jordan is threatened during the ride by a village boy who looks suspiciously similar to Jaden Smith. Katie talks about her favorite nugget of wisdom from English Camp: Florio can get some drinks.…

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16. Bend, Oregon 1:02:26

2 years ago1:02:26

1:02:26

Thick clouds dumped an inch of snow an hour for 15 hours straight during Katie and Jordan's second wedding anniversary, marooning them in Downtown Bend an extra night and leaving the whole city seemingly abandoned for themselves to explore. Katie learns a hard lesson about drinking lots of beer before trying on fancy jeans and Jordan experiences some intense self-inflicted-manbun-induced body dysmorphia looking at frumpy pictures of himself from that trip. A barista gave Katie and Jordan gummy worms on their coffee lids and wrote her phone number down under them and Jordan recalls his favorite voicemail of all time, which came from Katie a few months before they started dating.…

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15. Doi Inthanon Village, Thailand 1:01:13

2 years ago1:01:13

1:01:13

Katie and Jordan get the ol’ Chiang Mai Shanghai in this week’s adventure. What started as a trip to teach English turns out to be ten days in a village atop Doi Inthanon, the highest peak in Thailand where Catholicism rules and the priest is a demi-god. On the first day, Katie and Jordan are welcomed to a house blessing as guests of honor where they eat the spiciest food of their life and pound rice whiskey for the ceremony. Jordan has a mental breakdown attempting to use a poorly installed squat toilet and Katie realizes she’s technically been to the Himalayas.…

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14. Manzanita, Oregon 1:09:40

2 years ago1:09:40

1:09:40

A tornado (or waterspout, depending on who you ask) tore through downtown Manzanita; Katie and Jordan rushed to cover it for the local newspaper, without really considering how storm-chasing would go in the town Katie used to call home. Jordan talks about the 16th Century treasure supposedly buried somewhere on Neahkahnie Mountain and Katie reminds everyone about the catastrophe of a movie that was inspired by the legend. The coast of Manzanita was home to a pair of shipwrecks and Jordan talks about how the mythical galleon of the "Beeswax Wreck" was recently discovered. Then, of course, Jordan goes on a tirade about the formation of Led Zeppelin.…

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13. Yellowstone National Park 1:02:50

2 years ago1:02:50

1:02:50

Katie and Jordan were evacuated out of Yellowstone National Park and need to tell you all about it. As the snow started to dump, it made the bison look even more magnificent and somehow made the duo think that coyotes were wolves and a single cow elk was somehow a moose. The night before the evacuation out of the world's first national park, the pair watched a man in their lodge make a huge mess cutting a cork out of a wine bottle with some scissors and helped a woman who slipped on the grate because it was, "slicker than owl shit", put her on a luggage cart and rolled her back to her room.…

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12. New York City 1:28:29

2 years ago1:28:29

1:28:29

December 13 is Katie and Jordan's wedding anniversary, and to celebrate, the duo reminisce on one of their most treasured anniversary adventures to New York City! Jordan finally sees his first proper Broadway musical with a revival of "Hello, Dolly!" featuring Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce and Katie regrets not accepting free tickets from a Radio City employee to see the Rockettes. Jordan will always remember seeing the First Century Roman bust that bears an uncanny resemblance to Ralph Fiennes as Tom "I am Lord Voldemort" Riddle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Katie launches into a second edition of her Christmas quiz and blows Jordan's mind with the revelation that Santa Claus is red because of a Coca-Cola rebrand.…

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11. Christmastime in Oregon 1:08:55

2 years ago1:08:55

1:08:55

When the weather outside is frightful, Oregon is always delightful! The month of December has Katie and Jordan reminiscing on tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago! Jordan tells his wife about his first experience to ZooLights that ended before it began in a shipping container full of toilets for a catostrophic trip to the "bathroom" and Katie quizzes Jordan on everything from the exact number of gifts given in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song to which country celebrates the holiday with the traditional bucket of KFC.…

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10. Victoria, British Columbia 1:04:50

2 years ago1:04:50

1:04:50

Sorry, Vancouver, but Victoria is, apparently, the capital of British Columbia! Katie and Jordan visit the city on the world's 43rd largest island (a fun fact Katie says may be a little too obscure to be fun) and Jordan talks about donating his DNA to the Mormon Church. Yay! Victoria is home to North America's second oldest Chinatown, which leads to Jordan going on a tirade about Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996). On a birthday trip to Victoria, the duo discuss having high tea, walking parallel to a mobile rave, and seeing the late, great Aaron Carter, live in concert. Let's go to Canada, eh?…

1
9. Salem, Oregon 56:35

2 years ago56:35