Mili Laddha, Senior Director of Marketing for Chips Ahoy! at Mondelez, joins us to share how the team found the sweet spot between nostalgia and now and why making legacy feel fresh just might be the ultimate superpower.

It’s one thing to tell a great story.

It’s another to build and sustain an entire brand universe around it.

What began with The Elf on the Shelf has evolved into a fully realized Santaverse that spans books, TV, games,music, and more.

Now, Christa Pitts and Chanda Bell, co-founders and co-CEOs of The Lumistella Company, are writing the next chapterwith their first YA novel, The Rise of Nicholas the Noble, reengaging fans who grew up with the magic but are aging out.

This week, we sat down with Christa and Chanda to talk about worldbuilding, fandom, and how storytelling and brand building can become one and the same.

Saks Global CMO talks strategy, psychographics, and team synergy 

A new standard has been set in luxury retail – and brand identity is leading the charge. Saks Global CMO Kristin Maa goes 1:1 with Kate Terhune to take us behind the scenes of their newly unified house of brands—Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman—and dives deep into how each one is championing its own brand identity, right in time for the holidays.

The TL;DR? Psychographics beat demographics, exclusivity and experience are the new notes of luxury, and the classics are back to take center stage this holiday season. 

This week, Doug Parks sits down with Matt Heizman to talk about the role of education in driving category awareness and how emerging technologies across AR and smart homes are improving access fire safety.

Ryan Sullivan isn’t your typical CMO. A computer science major turned marketing leader, he’s built one of the most data-literate—and creatively fearless—teams in healthcare. In this conversation, Ryan sits down with Kate Terhune to unpack how GoodRx is redefining what performance marketing looks like in a post-dashboard world. From econometric modeling to cinematic storytelling in the Savings Wrangler campaign, Ryan reveals how to lead with both heart and data—and why “the art of the science” might just be the future of marketing leadership.

Earn memories, not just media.

In this episode of Brand Insider: 1:1, host Kate Terhune goes behind the bar—and behind the brand—with Allison Varone, Head of Marketing at Campari America, the powerhouse behind some of the world’s most iconic spirits: Aperol, Campari, Espolòn Tequila, Courvoisier, Grand Marnier, Skyy Vodka, and Wild Turkey.

Allison’s story begins in the heyday of Martha Stewart Living, where she learned how lifestyle brands connect to emotion, ritual, and aspiration. That foundation shaped her philosophy today: build from culture, not campaigns. From the aperitifs that define Italian summer to the bourbons that anchor American tradition, she’s helping Campari America bridge heritage and modern relevance across wildly different categories.

In this conversation, Allison and Kate explore:

• How to create brand experiences that earn memories and emotional connection

• The balance between splashy, buzz-driving campaigns and on-the-ground consumer reality

• What it takes to scale an irreverent brand like Espolòn without losing its grit

• The storytelling power behind Aperol at Coachella and Courvoisier’s “Bring Your Own” campaign

• How insights, data, and cultural cues guide everything from creative testing to portfolio-level strategy

• Why the future of spritz culture—and the rise of non-alcoholic offerings like Crodino—isn’t just a trend but a shift in lifestyle

Allison shares how her team at Campari America combines intelligence, creativity, and instinct to grow iconic brands in a world where consumers crave connection over consumption.

Whether you’re a marketer, a strategist, or just someone who loves a good cocktail, this episode serves up a refreshing look at the future of luxury, lifestyle, and the stories we sip on.

This week, we sat down with Maria Hokanson, EVP of Marketing at Dairy Queen, to talk about how the team activates across planned and spontaneous moments to stay relevant in the cultural conversation.

In an industry that has such high brand loyalty, how do you change someone's mind? This week, we sat down with Lindsay Smelser, GM of Lexus Marketing at Toyota North America, to hear how she's tackling that at Lexus.

How do you take a single ingredient and turn it into a global lifestyle brand? And how do you balance an aspirational message while still being accessible to the mainstream?

In this week’s Brand Insider, Erin Everhart goes 1:1 with Bruno Cardinali, Global CMO for Oakberry, to see what’s all the buzz about this little berry.

Behind Dr Pepper’s Fansville Gameplan with Ben Sylvan

No brand collaboration is as synonymous with college football as Dr Pepper, and that’s by no mistake. Now in its eight season, the leaders behind Fansville’s effervescent brand story are running all new plays.

In this episode of Brand Insider, Kate Terhune goes 1:1 with Ben Sylvan, SVP of Connected Media at Keurig Dr Pepper, to unpack how he’s retooling a modern CPG media engine around one interconnected strategy.

Fresh from The Trade Desk, Ben walks through why KDP moved from a “Chipotle assembly line” of channel owners to a true PESO formation—one integrated lead tackles everything from the biggest screen to the IRL interaction at point of sale. He talks team structures that empower success and measurement playbooks that allow for real time refinements.

Ben’s north star is simple: growth. The gameplan? Precision, personalization, and partnerships—from Jerry Jones in an “away game” cameo to RC Cola’s legacy with the Chicago Bears. 

If you’re building connected media for outcomes—not org charts—this conversation is your playbook.