The CMO Podcast

To kick off Women's History Month, Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Lara Abrash, the Chair of Deloitte US. In June 2023, Lara was promoted to the Chair role, where she runs the largest professional services firm in the US, with about 170,000 people in her organization.

Lara has worked at Deloitte for about 18 years, beginning as an audit partner in 2005. She earned her Bachelors in Economics at SUNY Albany, and her MBA in Accounting from Baruch College. Jim welcomes Lara on the podcast to talk about how she has approached leading the largest professional services firm in the US. Then, the show takes an interesting turn. Lara is an unabashed believer in the power of sports in building future women leaders, and the enormous economic opportunity for brands in the still massively underdeveloped area of women’s sports.

Tune in for a conversation with an athlete herself–Lara still plays competitive softball–and learn how she looks to develop the next generation of women leaders through sports.

Check out the "The real MVPs of business": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5XqZ4PlQCg

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This week, The CMO Podcast celebrates Black History Month with a special episode centered on the incredibly fast start-up of an organization called BECA–the Black Executive CMO Alliance. BECA is the 3-year-old brainchild of founder & CEO Jerri DeVard, the former CMO of Verizon, ADT and Office Depot.

BECA is the only alliance created and composed of Black CMOs and CXOs to address the persistent diversity problems in America’s C-Suites and boardrooms. It has gained momentum in the short three years since its founding; its membership represents a collective market cap of $800 billion.

Jim is joined by three leaders whose lives have been impacted by BECA:

-Gail Petersen: Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President, Global Marketing & Communications at Ecolab, a global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions

-DeLu Jackson: Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for the home-security company ADT

-Christina Marshall-Valdez: Director of Commercialization, Southeast Asia, SC Johnson–the large, privately held consumer products company. Christina is a BECA Future Leader who has recently graduated as part of the first cohort of The BECA Playbook.

Learn more about BECA at https://blackexec.com/

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Just in time for the month of love, this week's guest on The CMO Podcast is Michelle Crossan-Matos, the Chief Marketing Officer for Ulta Beauty. Founded in 1990, Ulta Beauty is the largest beauty retailer in the US, with sales in the $11 billion range, and growing. It offers a wide range of beauty products and salon services: 25,000 products online and across their nearly 1400 stores, from 500 well established AND emerging brands.

Ulta Beauty is not just big; the company is highly innovative in how they think about their store associates, their retail media, their loyalty program, and how they work with brand partners. 

Michelle was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde Business School before joining P&G in Europe. After 16 years at P&G, Michelle held CMO roles at Vertu, the luxury tech brand, and Samsung US. Michelle joined Ulta about one year ago. She has two middle-school-aged children, and splits her time between Puerto Rico and the Chicago area, where Ulta Beauty is based. 

Of special note: Jim had the previous CMO of Ulta Beauty, Shelley Haus, on the show in October 2020. Shelley was one of the brightest stars in the industry, and sadly passed away in the summer of 2022. So, it is with poignancy that Jim welcomes her successor.

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Tune in this week for The CMO Podcast's fifth annual Super Bowl Roundtable Discussion! Important marketers provide insight into how they created their Super Bowl ads and share their thoughts on the biggest marketing day of the year.

Jim welcomes special co-host, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX & CEO at VaynerMedia. 

Joining this year's conversation:

Brett O'Brien (CMO of PepsiCo Foods North America)

Kory Marchisotto (CMO of e.l.f. Beauty and President at Keys Soulcare)

Russell Wager (VP Marketing for KIA America)

Gabrielle Wesley (CMO of Mars Wrigley North America)

Andrea Zaretsky (CMO of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management)

Michelle Deignan (VP of Marketing & GM of OREO)

Adam Kornblum (SVP & Global Head of Digital Marketing at CeraVe)

David Corns (CMO of Open Door)

Eric Edge (Managing Director, Marketing & Advertising for Alaska Air)

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This week's guest on The CMO Podcast is Vineet Mehra, the Chief Marketing Officer of Chime. The 12-year-old fintech company was founded by Chris Britt and Ryan King as an alternative to traditional banking. Interesting marketing trivia: many believe the official launch of the company was in April 2014, when Chime was featured on "Dr. Phil."

Chime is a private company, with a mission to bring financial peace of mind to its customers. It has raised more than $2 billion in funding from a Who’s Who in venture capital. Revenue is estimated to be about $1 billion, with more than 20 million customers.

Vineet was last on The CMO Podcast in May 2020, when he was the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Customer Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Vineet, like Jim, began his career at P&G. Following nine years at P&G, Vineet worked at General Mills, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and Ancestry. Last time Jim and Vineet spoke, he had dreams of starting a pizzeria–so tune in for an update on that, plus a whole lot more.

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Jim's guests on The CMO Podcast are entrepreneurs Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston, founders of 80 Acres Farms. Mike is the CEO of 80 Acre Farms and Tisha is the CEO of Infinite Acres, a subsidiary of 80 Acres and the tech platform that powers the company.

Listeners are likely not familiar with this company, but should be. The nine-year old startup has raised more than $250 Million and revolutionized farming. 80 Acres is a pioneer in indoor, vertical farming. Imagine a farm that does not need sun, soil or favorable weather. It also does not use pesticides, and instead utilizes 100% renewable energy and 97% less water than a traditional farm, making it 300x more productive. 80 Acres Farms produce now appears in Kroger, Whole Foods, and other select retailers.

Mike and Tisha met while working together at Pierre Foods. Both had backgrounds in supply chain management before becoming partners and founding 80 Acres in 2015. Tune in for a conversation with a new breed of farmers, who have a true sense of conviction to help make a better world.

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Before we get too far into 2024, let's look back at the five major business themes from the 50-plus CMO Podcasts recorded last year. To apply these lessons to our work this year, we have invited three previous CMO Podcast guests to join us for a fruitful discussion.

First, Jim welcomes Julius Robinson, the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer for the US and Canada for Marriott International. Second, Samatha Maltin, Chief Marketing Officer for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, one of the best-loved brands in the world. And the third guest is Jay Livingston, the Chief Marketing Officer at Shake Shack. 

Tune in for an ambitious episode–to reveal the five themes from CMOs in 2023, and to invite our guests to share their insights and advice on each theme. 

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Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Jessica Correa, the Chief Marketing Officer of Unleashed Brands, the most interesting company you have probably not heard of. It is a portfolio company of brands that focus on youth development, including Urban Air Adventure Parks, Little Gym, Snapology, and Premier Martial Arts. The business model of Unleashed Brands is similar to a franchise model–they partner with founders and help them scale with support in human resources, technology, finance, marketing, legal and insurance. Systemwide revenue is in the $800 million range.

Jessica is an experienced marketer. After a BA from University of Tennessee in business and French, and an MBA from Emerson, Jessica spent nearly 13 years at Royal Caribbean. Jessica then took on CMO-like roles at Carpet One Floor & Home, Planet Fitness, and Urban Air Adventure Parks, before getting promoted to CMO of all Unleashed Brands. Tune in for a conversation with a CMO who thinks a lot about how kids learn, play and grow.

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We're still feeling that party energy of the holidays as Jim welcomes Taylor Berry, the VP of Brand Marketing at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, to The CMO Podcast. Austin-based Tito’s may be handmade, but it is no small brand. Tito’s is the number 1 best-selling vodka brand in the US, with revenue in the $2 billion range. Its story is a classic American Dream saga. Bert “Tito” Beveridge–yes Beveridge is his real last name–founded the brand in 1995 after failed ventures in the oil and drilling industry, and in mortgage lending. 

Taylor has worked at Tito’s about 5 and a half years, with four years as the head of brand marketing. An LA native and graduate of USC, Taylor now makes Austin his home. Interestingly, Tito’s is Taylor’s first time on the client side; he spent the first several years of his career on the agency side, working with the creative powerhouses TBWA/Media Arts, Droga 5, and SS+K. So, pour yourself a Tito’s cocktail, and listen up as Taylor takes us behind the scenes of one of the great brand stories of our times. Plus, he announces the “With Tito’s” brand platform and the Tito's Spokescart.

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Ring in the new year with the CMO Podcast as Jim welcomes Jonathan Knight, the SVP, Head of Games for The New York Times. The Times Games include the famous New York Times Crossword Puzzle, The Mini Crossword, Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, and Tiles. Founded in 1851, The New York Times is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the world, with nearly 10 million subscribers.

Jonathan knows a lot about building brands with high and lasting consumer engagement and loyalty. He has worked in the gaming industry for nearly 30 years, holding roles at Activision in the early days, then Electronic Arts as the senior leader on the Sims franchise. Jonathan then moved to Zynga and Warner Brothers Games before joining the New York Times Games in the fall of 2020.

Tune in for a thoughtful conversation about how brands can learn from the high-growth gaming category, and what leaders at large could learn from popular and lasting game brands.

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