Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Sejal Shah Miller, the Chief Marketing Officer of Converse. A 115-year old brand, Converse was founded by Marquis Converse in Massachusetts. Since Nike purchased the company in 2003, sales have grown to more than $2 billion. 

Today Converse is a creativity fueled brand–with an aspiration to be a platform and champion for youth creativity. And for that, they seem to have found the perfect CMO. Sejal Shah Miller has worked at some of the world’s most creative companies: L’Oreal, Mattel, Estee Lauder Companies, and now Converse, where she's been CMO for nearly two years.

Her mission is simple: to future-proof Converse and leave it in a stronger position than when she found it. She is a diversity, equity and inclusion champion who fosters a culture of collaboration while delivering breakthrough work in fast-paced, highly competitive marketplaces. 

This episode was recorded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity–the perfect setting for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity and leadership. Tune in for a chat with a CMO who believes her brand will be just fine if it focuses on relevance, resonance, utility, and–you guessed it–creativity.  

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Sejal Shah Miller (Converse) | Bringing Creativity and Curiosity to a Legacy Brand

Jim Stengel, former&nbsp;CMO&nbsp;of the largest marketer in the world (Procter &amp; Gamble), and now small company entrepreneur sits down for intimate conversations with the most dynamic CMOs from all over the industry.&nbsp;This is not your typical marketing&nbsp;podcast, this is a unique look at the thought process and motivation of the&nbsp;CMO. Jim, who put purpose on the map gets in depth with each guest to reveal more about this pivotal role every brand seeks to fill. Through personal and revealing discussions Jim and his guests paint a picture of this demanding position that very few understand, yet affects the entire consumer experience. The CMO Podcast is sponsored by Deloitte and Webflow.

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! This week on The CMO Podcast, Jim welcomes the leader behind the explosion of avocado consumption: Alvaro Luque, the President and CEO of Avocados From Mexico. This 11-year-old non-profit organization was founded by the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association and the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico. As a result of the efforts from Avocados From Mexico, the avocado market has doubled since 2013, and 80% of avocados purchased in the US are from Mexico.

Alvaro has worked as CEO of Avocados From Mexico since nearly the beginning. He graduated from the University of Costa Rica and began his career in CPG marketing at the Scott Paper Company. Alvaro spent nearly eight years at Gruma, a market leader in branded corn and flour tortillas, working in Costa Rica, Venezuela and the United States. Tune in for a conversation with a leader who has built a brand in a brand-less category, while massively growing the industry.

For your celebrations this week, try Alvaro's recipe for guacamole: along with fresh Avocados From Mexico, mix in pistachios, dried cranberries, cotija cheese and roasted jalapeños.

Plus check out their GuacAImole experience for Cinco de Mayo: https://avocadosfrommexico.com/cincodemayo/

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Alvaro Luque (Avocados from Mexico) | Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a Lesson on How to Leverage a New Brand

To celebrate Earth Week, Jim Stengel welcomes Brad Hiranaga to The CMO Podcast. Brad works as the Chief Brand Officer of Cotopaxi, the colorful outdoorsy brand you likely see around on streets, in airports, and of course, in the great outdoors. It’s a fast growing brand; it has just about doubled its size every year for the past three years. Cotopaxi’s products include backpacks, hip packs, jackets, and other outdoor products and experiences.

Inspired by his time living in Latin America, Davis Smith founded Cotopaxi about 10 years ago in Salt Lake City. Cotopaxi is named after a volcano in Ecuador–where Davis lived–and the brand icon is a llama, for the quirky herd animals of the high Andes.

Brad is a returning guest on this show. Jim chatted with Brad back in December 2020, when he was the Chief Marketing Officer for General Mills. Brad worked at General Mills for over 16 years (four as CMO). He briefly worked as interim CMO for Beyond Meat after leaving General Mills, and he joined Cotopaxi in September 2022 as its first Chief Brand Officer. Tune in to learn why Brad chose purpose as this stop on his career and how Cotopaxi is looking forward as a sustainable brand. 

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Brad Hiranaga (Cotopaxi) | Celebrate Earth Week Through Community, Colors and Purpose

With women's sports on the mind, Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Shelley Zalis, the Founder and CEO of The Female Quotient, or FQ, the ten-year-old company that curates experiences, media, and solutions that advance gender equality. The FQ is famous for its Equality Lounges at some of the most important global gatherings–like Davos, CES, SXSW, and the Cannes Creativity Festival.

One of Shelley’s mantras is “to conquer imposter syndrome you must believe in yourself," and she has vividly exemplified that conviction throughout her career. Shelley began her career in consumer research, and eventually founded a company in 2000 called OTX, a pioneer in the then-emerging field of online research. Then in 2010, Shelley sold OTX to research giant Ipsos and left in 2015 to found The Female Quotient.

Shelley is also the co-founder of #SeeHer, a movement led by the Association of National Advertisers to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in advertising and media. Shelley is a supreme connector, a tireless advocate, and a great storyteller.

Follow Shelley and her travels: https://www.instagram.com/shelleyzalis/

and learn more about the Female Quotient: https://www.thefemalequotient.com/

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Shelley Zalis (Female Quotient) | Activate Your Purpose Through Equity and Impact

Joining Jim this week on The CMO Podcast is Mauro Porcini, the SVP and Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo, the $91 billion company by revenue. Pepsi’s founding dates back to 1893 with the invention of Pepsi-Cola in a small town in North Carolina. In 1965, the Pepsi company combined with Frito-lay to become PepsiCo, and has become one of the most admired food and beverage companies in the world, with brands that range from Cheetos to Mountain Dew to Gatorade to SodaStream to Quaker. 

Mauro is the first Chief Design Officer to appear on the podcast. And speaking of firsts–Mauro was the first ever Global Chief Design Officer at 3M (where he spent 10 years) and PepsiCo, where he has thrived for the past 12 years. Mauro was born and raised outside Milan, Italy, studied at the National College of Art and Design, and earned a Masters at the Politecnico di Milano. Mauro is an evangelist for human-centric design and has an unrivaled artistic capacity and energy level. Not to mention, he’s stylish—with GQ Italy naming him one of the best dressed people in Italy. Tune in for a conversation with one of the top design thought leaders in the world.

Follow Mauro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauroporcini/

And pick up a copy of his recent book "The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714051/the-human-side-of-innovation-by-mauro-porcini/

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Mauro Porcini (PepsiCo) | How to Lead with a Kind and Human-Centric Approach Through Design

The guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Michelle Froah, the Global Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer at The Educational Testing Service, or ETS. ETS is the largest private educational assessment organization in the world, serving 50 million people a year in 200 countries.  You probably know them better for their products, which includes the GRE admission tests for graduate and professional school, and the TOEFL tests which prepare students for university study and immigration. ETS was founded in 1947 with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.

Michelle is a veteran brand builder. She began her career in the 1990's in Manufacturing with Procter & Gamble, and then switched over to Brand Management at P&G, where she worked in beauty care. She left P&G after almost 18 years to work for Kimberly Clark in Asia, then returned to the US to work in senior marketing roles at Samsung and MetLife. About one year ago Michelle moved to the nonprofit sector, with ETS, where she has joined the executive team to help bring about a significant brand relaunch. Jim welcomes her to discuss this new ETS refresh, his own time at the company in the 1980's and how she looks to bring her good energy to each new project.

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Sejal Shah Miller (Converse) | Bringing Creativity and Curiosity to a Legacy Brand

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