Dave Burnett: CEO at AOK Marketing
Mon Jan 12 2026
In this episode of Retain Grow Thrive, Joe Fox sits down with Dave Burnett—entrepreneur, digital marketing pioneer, and co-founder of Achievers—for a wide-ranging conversation that spans resilience, loyalty, and the future of ecommerce. From Dave’s early days as a hockey enforcer to building one of the first B2B online rewards platforms (later acquired for $110M), the discussion dives deep into what truly drives loyalty beyond discounts and points. Dave also unpacks the rapid shift from traditional SEO to AI-driven discovery, explaining entity authority, knowledge graphs, LLM optimization, and why “getting found in AI” is the next major battleground for brands. The episode closes with bold predictions on agentic commerce and how AI will soon become the primary interface for online shopping.
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In this episode of Retain Grow Thrive, Joe Fox sits down with Dave Burnett—entrepreneur, digital marketing pioneer, and co-founder of Achievers—for a wide-ranging conversation that spans resilience, loyalty, and the future of ecommerce. From Dave’s early days as a hockey enforcer to building one of the first B2B online rewards platforms (later acquired for $110M), the discussion dives deep into what truly drives loyalty beyond discounts and points. Dave also unpacks the rapid shift from traditional SEO to AI-driven discovery, explaining entity authority, knowledge graphs, LLM optimization, and why “getting found in AI” is the next major battleground for brands. The episode closes with bold predictions on agentic commerce and how AI will soon become the primary interface for online shopping.