Marketing With Purpose Kit: Bringing Purpose and Empathy into Marketing
Julie Green, Vice President of Marketing at Heights Wellness Retreat, joins The Bliss Business Podcast's Marketing With Purpose Kit to explain franchise rebranding with empathy: how purpose, data, and intuition shaped the Massage Heights rebrand, and why alignment and psychological safety matter.
Franchise rebranding with empathy is the test of whether a marketing leader’s values hold up under real pressure. In this Marketing With Purpose Kit conversation on The Bliss Business Podcast, host Mike Liwski sits down with Julie Green, Vice President of Marketing at Heights Wellness Retreat, who led the rebrand from Massage Heights and shares how purpose and empathy shape her leadership, her campaigns, and her team.
In this episode we explore:
• Why empathy is a leadership tool, not a luxury, when a rebrand tests your values
• How to keep short-term demand and long-term brand equity pointed at the same goal
• Shaping the why before the what so sales, operations, marketing, and training stay aligned
• How market data confirmed the founder’s intuition behind the Heights Wellness Retreat rebrand
• Building a marketing team on clarity, autonomy, and psychological safety
• Why empathy becomes a competitive advantage as automation grows
🎙️ Hosted by Mike Liwski
🎧 Produced by Martha Huerta
Julie opens with a simple claim: there is no work Julie and home Julie. Empathy is the through line in how she leads and parents, and she holds her campaigns to the same standard. The rebrand of Massage Heights, a 20-year-old company, set out to promote a way to live better, not just a service.
The rebrand paired market trends, member surveys, and focus groups with founder Shane Evans’ early conviction that the brand needed to be more inclusive, holistic, and emotionally connected. Hear Shane in The Role of Empathy in Leadership with Shane Evans.
Julie argues that alignment starts early: sales, operations, marketing, and training shape the why before the what. She also ties every campaign to an outcome from lead to appointment to member, not vanity metrics.
With her team, she builds psychological safety so creatives bring forward crazy ideas and learn to fail forward.
Tying campaigns to measurable outcomes while keeping the audience experience human is the balance Zero Company works toward in its own paid media and brand work.
Key Takeaways
• (2:36) On showing up as one person: “I don't have a work, Julie, and a home, Julie. I am the same person across every room.”
• (7:27) On empathy during a rebrand: “it's not a luxury. I think it's completely a leadership tool.”
• (10:20) On early alignment: “you have to bring sales, operations, marketing, training even into the room when you're shaping the why. Not just the what, but the why.”
• (14:14) On blending instinct and evidence: “great marketing and great leadership live at that intersection where the intuition can shape the experience and then the data is informing the direction.”
• (20:48) On psychological safety for creatives: “it's not if you make a mistake, it's when.”
• (24:35) On empathy in an automated world: “you can automate a process, but you can't automate a person or a presence.”
FAQ
How do you bring empathy into a franchise rebrand?
Julie Green, VP of Marketing at Heights Wellness Retreat, says to slow down and ask what the audience needs, then pair market data, member surveys, and focus groups with leadership intuition so the new brand promotes a way to live better, not just a service.
How can marketing stay aligned with sales and operations?
Julie Green says to bring sales, operations, marketing, and training into the same room early to shape the why before the what. Clear handoffs and a shared narrative mean fewer gaps to fill later.
How does marketing prove it drives revenue instead of cost?
Julie Green connects every campaign to a measurable outcome, from lead to appointment to member, and shows leaders and franchisees how each dollar connects to acquisition, retention, and lifetime value rather than clicks and impressions.
Great marketing does not just sell, it serves. Learn more about Julie Green and Heights Wellness Retreat at heightswellnessretreat.com. See her guest profile, watch the video, read the companion post The Brands That Heal Are Built from the Inside Out, or explore more Marketing With Purpose Kit conversations.
VP of Marketing
As Vice President of Marketing for Heights Wellness Retreat, Julie Green leads the brand’s strategic evolution, bringing a fresh, modern approach to holistic wellness and self-care. She played a pivotal role in rebranding Massage Heights to Heights Wellness Retreat, ensuring the brand resonates with today’s wellness-conscious consumers while expanding its reach to younger, experience-driven demographics.
With over 15 years of experience in franchising and a background in home services, Julie combines data-driven strategy with compelling storytelling to create marketing campaigns that drive brand loyalty and franchise growth. Under her leadership, Heights Wellness Retreat has embraced cutting-edge digital marketing, influencer partnerships, and national campaigns that elevate brand awareness and guest engagement.
Julie’s expertise extends beyond consumer marketing—she is also dedicated to franchise success, equipping owners with the tools and strategies they need to build strong local communities. Her passion for authentic brand experiences and high-impact marketing ensures that Heights Wellness Retreat remains a leader in the next generation of wellness innovation.
