Johanna Wahlroos, VP of Marketing Global Strategy and Planning at DoubleVerify, on how living across four countries and three continents built a customer-centric marketing philosophy, what Finnish cultural modesty taught her about the necessity of storytelling in American business culture, and why AI must be a tool steered by humans rather than a replacement for human insight.
"In Finland, modesty is valued. In New York, you have to tell the story of your team's accomplishments."
How living across four countries built a customer-centric marketing philosophy and why AI is the tool humans must steer
Johanna Wahlroos has lived and worked in marketing in Chile, Germany, Finland, and for the past decade in New York, where she now leads global marketing strategy and planning at DoubleVerify. She spent over ten years at Google before making the transition to DoubleVerify, and the cultural agility developed across four countries is at the core of how she thinks about customers and markets.
In this conversation Wahlroos describes the profound professional shift that moving from Finnish modesty culture to New York business culture required, why customer centricity must include openness to change not just knowledge of current customer behaviour, and why in the current era of abundant data and AI tools, it is human curiosity and human steering that determines the quality of insight.
My international background, it is who I am. It is part of my DNA. I have lived across three continents, four countries. I have worked in marketing in Chile, Germany, Finland, and for the past 10 years in New York. That has shaped a lot who I am, how I think, and what I take into consideration when I think about customers.
Experience of difference is the foundation of genuine customer centricity.
In Finland, modesty is valued. There are proverbs around not trying to reach too high. When I moved to New York in 2015, I quickly realised that mindset just does not work. I have to not only do good work but actually verbalise and tell the stories of what my accomplishments are. As a leader, you have to be comfortable speaking about your team's success.
A genuine cultural adaptation rather than a superficial one.
Being customer centric also means that you are open to new developments. I have seen brands say, I know my competitors, I know my consumers, but that knowledge was 12 years old. And sure enough, the competitive set is very different now. Consumers are pivoting fast. There are new ways people make purchase decisions. Curiosity is what keeps you genuinely customer centric.
Customer centricity as an ongoing discipline, not a fixed knowledge state.
There is no shortage of data we can gather. The balance has to come where humans are steering the research journey and deciding what really matters. AI is the tool. Humans are the ones who steer it. That is how I see it.
Clear positioning of AI as instrumental, human judgement as primary.
It all starts with putting yourself in the shoes of the customer and being open and curious. In today's world, more than ever, consumers pivot fast and there are new things and new evolutions. Staying close to the consumer and staying curious: that is what lets you build strategies that actually work rather than strategies that worked once.
A philosophy of perpetual openness rather than accumulated expertise.
"Being customer centric means being open to new developments. Consumers are pivoting fast."
Host Tell us about your career journey.
Wahlroos I have lived across three continents, four countries. Worked in marketing in Chile, Germany, Finland, and New York for the last ten years, now at DoubleVerify as VP of Marketing Global Strategy and Planning. International background is who I am.
Host What did the move from Finland to New York teach you?
Wahlroos In Finland, modesty is valued. In New York I quickly realised I had to verbalise accomplishments and tell the story of my team's success. A genuine mindset shift. Being customer centric also means being open to new developments. Consumers pivot fast. AI is the tool. Humans are the ones who steer the research journey.
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