John Surdakowski

Avex E-commerce

Leading eCommerce agency providing creative, development, email marketing & strategy for brands such as: Mondelez, Hugo Boss, KITH, O’Neil, HAUS, Undefeated, Marchesa, Balance Athletica, TomBoyX, Wolf & Shepherd, Badgley Mischka & Iconix Brand Group.

Founder & CEO

Agency-X Podcast

Agency X — Hosted by John Surdakowski, is a Podcast that takes a dive deep into the world of ecommerce, digital strategy, and the evolving landscape of marketing technology. From the challenges of building a brand to mastering the latest tools shaping the future of commerce, Agency X offers insights drawn from real experiences at Avex. Each week, we break down what works, what doesn’t, and the bold moves that drive growth for leading brands.

Host

Shogun

Shogun empowers brands and agencies to create unique ecommerce experiences by making it easy to build and optimize online stores. Shogun is seamlessly integrated with leading ecommerce platforms, and is trusted by over 12,000 eCommerce brands, including Leesa mattresses, MVMT watches, Gaiam yoga apparel, K-Swiss, and Chubbies shorts

Investor

GRIN

Grin is the #1 all-in-one influencer marketing platform designed to help brands own their influencer relationships. With our tools in your corner, you’ll build a pool of credible ambassadors and reap the financial and brand rewards that come with it. GRIN puts every aspect of your influencer marketing program at your fingertips, empowering you to own it every step of the way.

Inveterate, Inc

Govalo

Kinn

Consulting

Freelance creative direction, web design and development for various brands and agencies, including Google, Samsung, Havas, JWT, Campfire, USANetwork, Cinemax and Sony

Creative Contractor

Havas

Designed digital experiences such as: websites, mobile ads, video story boards and rich media campaigns.

Sr. Art Director Consultant

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

Designed and developed digital campaigns for Estee Lauder’s online creative department.

Art Director Consultant

Founder & CEO at Avex, a New York City based creative, technology and e-commerce agency for fashion & lifestyle brands. 

With 20 years of experience creating for the web, I’ve seen the digital landscape evolve. From Web 1.0 and Flash animation, to the explosion of mobile and e-commerce. I utilize my vast experience in creative, technology and business to help DTC brands achieve rapid growth. 

Throughout the years I've consulted for JWT, Havas, Estee Lauder, BBDO, NBC, MRM Worldwide, Nickelodeon, MTV Networks and many other New York based companies.

In 2015 I started growing my freelance business into a boutique digital agency, with focus on fashion, lifestyle and premium products. 

Avex has partnered with major brands such as: Hugo Boss, KITH, O’Neill, Undefeated, Simmons Serta Bedding, Marchesa, Eugenia Kim, Badgley Mishka, Ports V, Reem Acra, Iconix Brand Group, Google, PONY, Starter, Rocawear, Shutterstock, 88Rising, USANetwork, HBO, UBISoft, Sony Music and many more. 

Today, I continue to act as CEO and Founder (among other titles) of Avex. I’ve applied my experience and ability to adapt to creating a business that I am immensely passionate about. I love working with other creatives, building my team and taking on new challenges.

In 2019 Avex was invited to become a Shopify Plus Partner. Our agency focuses on helping brands navigate eCommerce.

Big announcement from Shopify during NRF. UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol), co-developed with Google, will enable selling in AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app. 

Non-shopify brands can now use Shopify Catalog to deploy products discoverable by all AI platforms, without having a shopify storefront. 

💡This is big for brands who don’t want to be on Shopify or simply want to test the waters. 

I’d liken this to commerce components. Shopify gets the transaction fee and the brand gets catalog distribution. 

Will this discourage some brands from fully migrating?

I don’t think so, because most move to Shopify for TCO and efficiency reasons. The ones who don’t need to move, wouldn’t have anyway. However, this can get a foot in the door. 

UCP will provide brands who did not plan to move to Shopify a way to utilize cutting edge AI discovery. 

In fact, I’d imagine this would allow Shopify even bigger land and expand opportunities. 

For existing Shopify brands, they now have a new channel for discovery. Outside of optimizing for search, brands can/should be optimizing for LLMs. 

Will the big brands take advantage of this or will smaller players navigate the technology to take market share? 

Shopify is definitely changing the game and things are getting exciting. 

#shopify #ai #nrf

Founder at Avex. Partnering with industry-leading brands to design, build, and optimize unified commerce experiences. Podcast Host.

Tempo

Building The AI Marketing Team for eCommerce Stores.

Analysis. 
Planning.
Copywriting. 
Design. 
Scheduling. 

Save hours of time. Save money. Do more.

Co-Founder

Founded in 2022, Kin is a new approach to native mobile apps for commerce. Kin is already trusted by great brands including Steve Madden, Chubbies, and Lashify.

Facebook

Messenger. Built a team working on gnarly carrier and content strategies to take on iMessage.

Partnerships Product Marketing Lead

Live video during the pandemic boom. Led effort to unlock monetization of live broadcasts on FB.

Partnerships Product Marketing

- In-Stream Ad Network
- Local and Retail Solutions

Launched a new ad buying objective. Built up and wound down one of the largest in-stream video ad networks. Had fun with some innovative connected TV ad targeting.

Business Product Marketing - Monetization

MOFILM

TechTrack 100 leader in crowd-sourced brand video production and distribution. Acquired by You & Mr Jones BrandTech group.

Learned more about two-sided marketplaces and nurturing community.

Lead Product Manager

Albion London

Part strategic consultancy, part ad agency. I led or supported engagements with startups and online insurance market leader comparethemarket.com. Albion is now a part of Fluxx.

Senior Product Strategist

The Cools

Responsible for product and engineering at this seed funded startup building a disruptive content-led fashion marketplace.

Learned a lot of hard lessons.

VP of Product

Animoto

Webby and Crunchie award winning SaaS video creation platform for individuals and professionals. Backed by Spectrum Equity Partners, Madrona, and Amazon.

Learned to PM.

Product Manager

Marketing Coordinator

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

Research Assistant to The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship

Building Kinn to connect brands with their customers. Ex-FB

Co-founded Kin to help eCommerce brands succeed in a more challenging marketing environment. 

Kin is a mobile app builder designed from the ground up to deliver more value:

* Lower maintenance
* Lower cost
* Better marketing features 
* Powerful social tools

Kin is trusted by great brands including Steve Madden, Chubbies, and Lashify. 

Kin is driving > 40% increases in repeat purchase rates and as much as 10% incremental (yes, incremental) top-line revenue for customers who lean into their app strategy. 

Always eager to talk shop with marketers and founders. Please reach out.

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The Battle

John Surdakowski

Colyn Montgomery

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taplio

The Battle

John Surdakowski

Colyn Montgomery

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}John Surdakowski's LinkedIn Performance

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