Some guests don’t just raise the bar–they launch it into space. Erin Levzow is one of those forces. The minute she stepped onto The ADOTAT Show, we knew we were in for something extraordinary. A marketer with the passion of a storyteller and the strategic mind of a tactician, Erin combines brilliance, humility, humor, and heart. You don’t just hear Erin–you feel her.
From revolutionary mango flavors to revolutionary leadership perspectives, Erin doesn’t just sell—she rewrites the script. Let’s dissect the bold, brilliant energy she brought to the show.
???? The Mango Habanero Movement: A Case Study in Cult-Brand Building
Wingstop had no idea what hit them when they retired their mango habanero sauce. Fans revolted, all right—but also organized, going so far as to create a Change.org petition. As Erin quipped, “That’s like save the whales, but for sauce.”
Rather than just bringing the flavor back quietly, Erin and the team did something else: turn the anger into participation. “We thought, let’s not just give it back. Let’s do something for the people yelling the loudest,” she recalled.
They created a sneaky, guerilla-marketing campaign that sent influencer packs—Viva la Revolución-stamped—to 125 superfans who’d voted to resurrect the sauce. The packages, filled with t-shirts, stickers, and a masked stranger, never uttered the word “Wingstop” once—but everyone knew whose prints were on it.
The result? Social reach exploded by 1,000% overnight. Fans promoted for them. And when the sauce came back, it wasn’t just about flavor—it was about belonging, loyalty, and community.
???? Making Data Dance: When Analytics Meets Emotion
To Erin, marketing is not a matter of numbers—it’s about significance. “Data without a story is just noise,” she said. The secret? Bringing emotional intelligence and emotional technology together—that is, using data not only to see when and how to interact with customers, but why they care.
Whether unscreaming viral trends or navigating strategy, Erin treats data as a musical piece—and her story is the song. “You can look at impressions and clicks all day, but unless you can sew those together into a narrative, they’re just digits on a spreadsheet.”
That’s how she turned a sauce recall into a cultural sensation: by grasping the why of customer passion—not just the what.
???? The Ballroom Principle: Bouncing Back with Poise
Erin’s not just a marketing guru—she’s also a competitive ballroom dancer. And one unforgettable mistake on the dance floor—a moment when her partner nearly deposited her on top of her own head—appeared to serve as a metaphor for her entire philosophy: not perfection. Just bouncing back.
“We navigated the routine like we had a choreographed dance,” she laughed. And that was about as close to describing what it’s like to be resilient as you can get: campaigns don’t work, strategies fail, but it’s how you respond.
???? Rick Ross > Buzzwords
Sick of buzzword bingo in marketing? You’ll love Erin’s filterlessness. “A person asked me why impressions were lower but revenue was higher,” she recalled. “I said, who cares? Your revenue’s higher!
Drop the omnichannel hype—Erin gets it done. Like substituting Rick Ross for Troy Aikman as a Wingstop brand ambassador because Ross actually resonated with their demo. “He was already a franchisee and made sense for our demo,” Erin said. That’s disrupting convention with clarity.
And those Super Bowl QR-code ads? “Creative? Maybe. Annoying? Slightly. But they worked.”
???? Radical Candor in action
Erin’s leadership style is as authentic as her advertising. Grounded in empathy and tough honesty, she practices “radical candor”—being honest with love and intention. “If I like you, I’ll tell you the truth. But I’ll hug you on the way too,” she said.
She considers the “fix your flaws” attitude garbage and instead prefers to help people develop what they are already great at. “Michael Jordan wasn’t good at baseball—why fix him?” she joked. She does not require her team to be perfect but is instead trained to be amazing.
???? Real Life, Real Strength
Behind Erin’s brilliance is a story of profound resilience. Her husband’s close brush with death and recovery from a traumatic brain injury changed her outlook. “Doctors gave us less than a one-percent chance,” she said. And yet, he lived.
But the journey was brutal. “People kept saying to me, ‘You’re so strong,’ but I didn’t feel strong,” Erin said. “Some days the objective was just to sit up in bed. Baby steps.”
She blogged their journey on CaringBridge, unwittingly constructing a global support community. Over 42,000 followed along. “People said that my blog gave them hope,” she said, still in awe. “I was just trying not to fall apart.”
Erin’s story isn’t sanitized inspiration—it’s gritty, honest, and deeply human. “Resilience is not about never breaking,” she said. “It’s about falling, and still choosing to get back up.”
???? Why Erin Levzow Is One of Our Best Guests Ever
Erin Levzow didn’t join us aboard—she shook the room. With her fearless storytelling, hyper-flow tactics, and real-world smarts, she reminded us that amazing marketing isn’t about playing it safe. It’s about being fearless, being honest, and staying fundamentally grounded in why we do what we do.
If you have not listened yet, pause and listen now. Erin inspired us, yes, but she redefined what it takes to lead, to market, and to climb.
