Business
Corinne Crockett, CMO at Hiya - Reimagining Children's Health, joins Austin Willman to break down why she keeps her internal marketing team intentionally small while working with nearly 20 external agencies.
She explains the "brain trust in-house, execution externalized" model, how she runs quality control across multiple agency partners, and why company headcount can be a vanity metric for startups.
Corinne dives into Haya's core values of pragmatism, no politics, and bringing genuine joy into a category that can feel heavy for parents.
She unpacks her philosophy that data tells you where to look while creativity tells you how to solve the problem, and shares how Haya uses AI to accelerate creative testing and market research without replacing real customer connection.
The conversation also covers subscription commerce, including how Haya thinks about price versus perceived value, what actually drives retention, and why forcing a subscription model onto the wrong product backfires.
Corinne shares how Hiya developed kid-friendly product flavors through extensive testing, what she looks for when hiring marketing talent, and how a successful exit to USANA has shaped the next phase of her career.
Topics covered include agency management, marketing team structure, AI in marketing, subscription retention strategy, product development with customer feedback, and building a strong hiring culture.
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In this episode, we discuss:
00:00 - 01:00: Introduction
01:00 - 03:00: Brain Trust In-House, Execution Outsourced
03:00 - 05:15: How to Onboard Agencies for Better Results
05:15 - 07:30: Hiya's Core Values and Team Culture
07:30 - 09:15: Marketing Humor and the Parenting Brand Voice
09:15 - 11:05: Data Is the Where, Creativity Is the How
11:05 - 13:30: Overseeing the Full Commercial Loop
13:30 - 15:55: Why Subscription Models Work (and When They Don't)
15:55 - 17:25: How AI Is Accelerating Creative Testing at Haya
17:25 - 19:30: Off-the-Wall Campaigns and Strong IP Partnerships
19:30 - 21:55: Developing Kid-Approved Products Without Sugar
21:55 - 24:45: Hiring Only A-Players on a Lean Team
24:45 - 27:05: Maintaining High Standards Without Being Cutthroat
27:05 - 29:45: Why Corinne Is All In on Everything She Does
29:45 - 32:10: From Fractional CMO to Full-Time at Haya
32:10 - 35:30: The Hiya Exit, USANA, and What Came Next
35:30 - 37:29: Where to Find Corinne and Final Thoughts
Connect with Corinne Crockett
https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinnecrockett/
hiyahealth.com
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