Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders

Watch this interview on YouTube⁠ ⁠Full transcript⁠ — "I've always sort of been in marketing, but by way of psychology," says Charlotte Blank, the U.S. CMO of Jaguar Land Rover North America. Only by applying concepts from neuroscience and behavioral science, she says, can we truly understand what consumers want & how they think. "The whole creative process is inherently scientific," Charlotte says. "And any creative will tell you that a good tight brief with tight boundaries is helpful for the creative process." Today on Building Better CMOs, Charlotte and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also talk about JLR's "house of brands" strategy, why entrepreneurs are more likely to buy Range Rovers, and the value of experimentation and data-driven testing. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠ ⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠ ⁠Rate & review the podcast⁠ Links: ⁠Charlotte's LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Greg's LinkedIn⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod.fm⁠.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — Media consumption habits are changing rapidly, which means marketers have to thread the needle between "chasing the shiny new object" and embracing emerging platforms strategically. For Bob Sherwin, the chief marketing & commercial officer of Zoe, the solution is to frame new media initiatives as a test. "The test is that you're going to either win and find something new, or you're going to learn," Bob says. "As long as you set it up as a test and you're going to learn something, it's a win no matter what. Because we're going to either be way smarter about something, or we're going to find a new breakthrough." Today on Building Better CMOs, he and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart discuss the role of CMOs in shaping customer experience; aligning marketing efforts with business outcomes; and the need for clear communication with the C-suite to maximize marketing's impact. They also talk about Zoe's personalized approach to nutrition and the challenges of marketing measurement and attribution. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Subscribe on YouTube Rate & review the podcast Links: Bob's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — "If you want to get to the next level, you need to understand what motivates you," says Alex Craddock, Chief Marketing and Content Officer at Citi. "As you get more senior ... your role does change. And if you want to continue to grow, you need to be able to find a reward in it beyond just the joy that you have in marketing as a discipline." Today on Building Better CMOs, Alex talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about the need for a strategic approach to content creation, the evolving role of CMOs in driving business growth, and how to articulate marketing's value in business terms that resonate with other executives, ensuring that marketing is seen as a strategic driver rather than mere sales support. They also discuss career development, risk-taking in corporate environments, and how AI can amplify human capabilities and accelerate marketing impact. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Subscribe on YouTube Rate & review the podcast Links: Alex's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — "As marketers, we can't just respond to the bottom line," says TIAA CMO Micky Onvural. "We can't just say, 'Well give me a million dollars and I will give you this many customers or this many clicks, and if I do the right kind of mathematics, I'll give you this kind of lifetime value that's going to deliver you this to the bottom line.' I think you actually have to connect further upstream with the CFO." Today on Building Better CMOs, Micky explains what connecting further upstream looks like in practice, the retirement crisis in America, and the importance of vulnerability, humility, and curiosity in leadership. She and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also discuss the importance of customer experience, Micky's years as the CEO of Bonobos, and how returning to the CMO role compares. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Rate & review the podcast Links: Micky's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm. Note: "Retirement check" refers to the annuity income received in retirement. Guarantees of fixed monthly payments are only associated with TIAA's fixed annuities.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — "Business and humanity can actually not only live together, but I think that they can thrive together," says Brian Irving, CMO of Lyft. That sort of philosophy has informed his work at companies like Apple, Airbnb, and the agency Rapp, and today at Lyft he's applying it to everything from autonomous vehicles to city bikes. Today on Building Better CMOs, Brian discusses how marketing strategies can align with broader business goals to demonstrate real impact, moving beyond traditional metrics. He and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also discuss the future of rideshare and autonomous vehicles, the role of AI in marketing, and maintaining a human touch in the tech industry. — Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Rate & review the podcast Links: Brian's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — "Our grand purpose is to make home a reality for more and more people," says Ravi Kandikonda, SVP of Marketing at Zillow. Today on Building Better CMOs, he and Greg Stuart discuss the significance of empathy in brand messaging, and the importance of integrating product knowledge, customer experience, and business outcomes to effectively connect with audiences. Ravi emphasizes that marketers should actively shape solutions, not just identify pain points, and explains how Zillow views AI as a tool for more effective marketing. — Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Rate & review the podcast Links: Ravi's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Getting the right health insurance is serious business; it's the number one reason for bankruptcy in America, says eHealth Insurance CRO Michelle Barbeau. But when she joined eHealth — which helps consumers compare and select providers — she realized that scaring people into action was not a winning strategy. "What we found was, it's all about transparency," says Michelle, who initially served as eHealth's CMO, and is now a CRO who also oversees marketing. "We had just never told the story. And so that's where our campaign was born. Our strategy was 'Your remarkably transparent advisor.'" Today on Building Better CMOs, Michelle and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart talk about her transition from CMO to CRO, the importance of stepping out of one's comfort zone, and the role of marketers as change agents. They also discuss brand-building from scratch, consumer research, and how unifying marketing efforts can lead to significant growth. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Michelle's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Marketing measurement is a complex puzzle—especially when it comes to balancing long-term brand-building efforts with short-term performance metrics that will please stakeholders. Tailored Brands CMO Carolyn Pollock acknowledges that CFOs may be skeptical of matched market testing and other tools for measuring brand-building impact, but that long-term may have an edge. "The consistency and the continuity of showing up with a message over time, you think back to almost every brand example," Carolyn says. "The ones that are really strong and bring long-term brand value, they've delivered something very consistently for a reasonably extended period of time. And I think what happens nowadays is people don't have that same level of patience or tolerance, and our attention spans are shorter, and we feel the need to be constantly changing things up." Today on Building Better CMOs, Carolyn and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart talk about the complexities of building a modern marketing technology stack, the exciting potential of AI, and operating effectively inside of a private equity company. Carolyn also talks about why even subject matter experts need to gain a holistic understanding of their whole organization. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Carolyn's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript It's easy to say you want your decisions to be data-driven. But as Salesforce CMO Ariel Kelman has learned, hard data doesn't tell the full story. Often, you also need to consider the qualitative. "Let's say you go and do some executive event series, where you have 30 people come to each event," he says. "It's not like if we want to go draw conclusions from, let's say, Dreamforce, we had 45,000 people. You've got a lot of data to work with there." Ariel previously led worldwide marketing for Amazon's cloud services business, AWS; his boss at the time, Andy Jassy, recommended that he call up a sampling of the participants in a niche program to determine its value to the company. "Of the 300 people in this program over the year, we went and called up 20 of them and we got pretty consistent information: This part of what you're doing is super impactful to getting us to do more. This part [is] irrelevant, waste of time. This part, I don't care ... When there's areas of your business that you can't measure precisely, if you come up with three different imprecise, imperfect measurement techniques that are very different, then you can see it can actually end up being useful. If they're all aligning, your chances of them being statistically flawed in exactly the same way are pretty low." Today on Building Better CMOs, Ariel talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about the transformative role of AI in modern marketing and Salesforce's innovative Agentforce platform. They also discuss prioritizing customer experience, the challenges of adopting deep learning models, and misconceptions in marketing measurement. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Ariel's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Automotive marketing is fiercely competitive, and even though she's excited about the potential of AI, Nissan's Global CMO Allyson Witherspoon says an over-reliance on technology could be dangerous. She believes the safer bet is to continue to embrace creativity and a strong brand identity, even in an era dominated by AI and data-driven tools. "If everyone is using AI and the data set is the same for everyone, then what's going to be differentiated?" she asks. Today on Building Better CMOs, Allyson talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about how she adapted her leadership style for a Japanese team, the art of impactful messaging, and the importance of flexibility in the workplace. They also explore how marketers can better communicate their value within organizations and why listening is a crucial and sometimes difficult skill to develop. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Allyson's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Manolo Arroyo, EVP and global CMO of the Coca-Cola Company, believes there are three types of leaders: One type lacks confidence in themselves and frequently changes the strategy; another buys time for themselves by changing the team around them; and the third decides to commit to the strategy and the team and get the work done. "[They] roll up their sleeves, having the confidence that the strategy is the right one," he says. "The team fundamentally is the same. It might not be perfect, but they're willing to roll up their sleeves and build the capabilities together and go through whatever it takes to learn every day and continue to encourage and inspire the teams to go faster." Today on Building Better CMOs, Manolo talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about leveraging AI for brand innovation and the importance of personal well-being for peak performance. He shares insights on the evolving landscape of marketing measurement, and highlights Coca-Cola's enduring Olympic partnership, aligning with the brand's values and global reach. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Manolo's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Today on Building Better CMOs: Andy Rebhun, the chief experience officer at the fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava, talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about the importance of consistent authenticity, how to thrive in the C-Suite, and "bringing the weather" for everyone — including Uber Eats drivers. "We welcome everyone to our table," he says. "It should never be that DoorDash or Uber Eats driver is anything different from one of our other customers. Because again, if we do a good job with a handoff, they're likely going to do a good job with the handoff to the customer." Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Andy's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript GE has changed a whole lot since Global CMO Linda Boff started working there, more than 20 years ago. It was once a sprawling portfolio company that made everything from microwaves to television shows; recently, it spun off its healthcare, energy, and aerospace divisions into three distinct public companies, and executives like Linda take these core areas of focus very seriously. "We are a company, I like to say a capital-P Purpose company," she says. "A third of the world has power because of GE. Planes with our engines take off every two seconds. So as you and I are talking, there are probably, give or take 900,000 people in the sky right now with our engines under wing. And our health care equipment, MRIs and CTs and so much more, touches 2 billion patients a year." Today on Building Better CMOs, Linda and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart discuss how to punch above your weight with a smaller marketing team, why B2B businesses don't have to be boring, the importance of communicating to the rest of the C-Suite in their language, and more. Plus: Why you need to separate stories from facts. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Linda's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript It doesn't matter how good your marketing is if you can't communicate its impact to the larger organization, says Charisse Hughes, senior vice president and Chief Growth Officer of Kellanova. Her firm spun off of the Kellogg Company last year to manage iconic brands like Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, as well as breakfast cereal outside of the U.S. Those have been household names for a long time, but Charisse says that across the marketing world, it's easy to lose sight of the long term. "Marketers are missing the mark in terms of our communication strategy within the organization—as well as how we look at, measure, and think about immediate versus long-term business results or long-term brand equity," she says. "I feel like we, as a marketing community, have to get better at educating our organization, our CEOs, our CFOs, on what is the value of a click today, what is the value over the course of time, and what tradeoffs are we making here and why?" Today on Building Better CMOs, Charisse and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart discuss all of that, as well as how to unlock the value of brand marketing, purposeful career pivots and getting to the C-suite, balancing hard truths with optimism, and more. Plus: What makes a Chief Growth Officer different from a CMO? Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Charisse's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Some marketers think of themselves as operators and some see themselves as visionaries. But only the great ones, says Ulta Beauty CMO Michelle Crossan-Matos, understand that they have to be both. Just before the POSSIBLE conference in Miami, where she spoke to MMA CEO Greg Stuart, she was in Orlando, working to inspire 3000 leaders from Ulta's massive retail operations. "But when I get in the office tomorrow, it is about how are my sales doing? How can I pivot? How can I get even more this Friday?," she says. "So ask yourself deeply right now, how comfortable do you feel between that toggle? And if you don't enjoy that, that's okay. How can you learn to enjoy it?" In this special live episode of Building Better CMOs, Michelle and Greg also talk about her unusual path to the C-Suite, managing a gigantic loyalty program, creating your own framework, preparing for every scenario, why every marketer should take a stint in retail, and more. Plus: How business leaders can prepare for unexpected scenarios like COVID. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Michelle's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript Marketing is both an art and a science, but unless the science is sound, the rest of the company won't believe that you're driving results. So says Morgan Stanley Wealth Management CMO Andrea Zaretsky, who has devoted her entire marketing career — starting at American Express in 2003, with stops at Sephora and Toys-R-Us in between — to improving measurement. "From the beginning, it's been really important for me to understand how to use analytics," Andrea says. "How to make sure that we're setting up the right test and control, how do we ensure that we're getting learnings and cascading them, and then how do we scale wins to truly drive growth for the company?" Today on Building Better CMOs, Andrea talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about the three things companies can do to measure better, how to work with non-native marketers, and why the Super Bowl really matters. They also discuss the underrated importance of customer experience to business results and — most importantly — how E*TRADE makes those talking baby ads. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Andrea's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript "At the end of the day," says Impossible Foods CMO and Chief Creative Officer Leslie Sims, "we're helping save the planet, we're helping the environment, but people don't necessarily want to hear that when they're eating a cheeseburger." The arrival of the plant-based meat industry came in the form of a scientific breakthrough: Foods made from plants that behave like meat when cooked, which have been steadily added to restaurant menus around the world; in the case of Impossible's chicken nuggets, many critics have declared them "better than the real thing." But our emotional attachment to the foods we eat means that, if Impossible wants people to make different decisions in the grocery store, Leslie and her team have their work cut out for them. Today on Building Better CMOs, she and MMA CEO Greg Stuart talk about her background working at ad agencies, the disconnect between CMOs and CFOs, and her guiding philosophy that marketers must always remember the human on the other end of their work. Plus: The danger of over-reliance on data, and the enduring power of the Super Bowl. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Leslie's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

If you like Building Better CMOs, we think you'll also like "Stories and Strategies For Public Relations and Marketing," hosted by Doug Downs. In this episode, originally released in May 2021, Doug interviews Ogilvy UK vice chairman Rory Sutherland about nudge theory — the behavioral science concept popularized by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler's book "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness." We'll be back in two weeks with a new episode of Building Better CMOs!

Full transcript By her own admission, First Command Financial Services exec Kellie Richter's official title is a mouthful. It's "EVP, Chief Marketing and Client Experience Officer" — but those aren't empty words to her. The clients who First Command cares about are military service members, veterans, and their families; even more than a regular financial services customer, Kellie says, "they do their research ... they're protective of their services and they should be." Having Client Experience in her title gives Kellie an added layer of accountability, and serves as an invitation to anyone researching the privately-owned firm to reach out about their experiences, good or bad. "A lot of times, it's not about getting a one or a five star," she says. "It's about, are you listening? Are you paying attention to the feedback? And are you responding to that? And that's what people want to see." Today on Building Better CMOs, Kellie talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about how First Command's mission motivates its employees, why marketing can't fix a broken client experience, and why she believes some of the best marketers in the business are at Trader Joe's. Plus: What happens to military families during a government shutdown? Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Kellie's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.

Full transcript To connect with their customers, companies have to understand them. But current approaches just don't work, says Anywhere Real Estate CMO Esther-Mireya Tejeda. Breaking those customers into demographic groups obscures important differences, and psychographic profiles are not easily targetable. The missing link is an emerging neuroscience-backed framework called emographics, which explains why people do what they do. "The majority of human behavior upwards of 95 percent is actually emotionally driven by the unconscious," Tejeda says. "The closer we get to actually understanding that unconscious persona — and we marry that data set with the demographics and the psychographics — now we're talking about a truly 360 robust understanding of that person. Now we can understand what makes that person tick. Now we can start building personalized, targeted, precise campaigns." Today on Building Better CMOs, Esther-Mireya talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about why no one is "just" a marketer, the irreplaceable human element in real estate, and why the era of "one size fits all" marketing is over. Plus: How technology is simplifying the home-buying experience, and how brands can respond to an era of widespread distrust. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Esther-Mireya's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.