The CMO Podcast

Looking to the skies, Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Maggie Schmerin, the Chief Advertising Officer at United Airlines. Although the company boasts nearly 100 years in business with roughly $45 billion in revenue, United does not behave like an "old" brand. From a new brand campaign–Good Leads the Way–to clever, viral social media, like naming Oscar the Grouch as its new "Chief Trash Officer," Maggie and the United team are leading a renewal of their brand and culture.  

Maggie, like Jim, graduated from Penn State, where she studied PR and American Studies. She also studied abroad and was awarded a coveted internship at Manchester City Football Club. After school, Maggie worked about six years with Edelman, where she developed her keen skills in social media, before joining United in 2017 as a Public Relations Director. She was promoted to Chief Advertising Officer in June 2023.  

Tune in as Jim welcomes a CMO who continues to drive her team to reach the top of All-Brands-Peak, one campaign and social post at a time.

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Tune in as Jim joins Ken Favaro and Cait Lamberton on The WARC Podcast to talk about their article in the Harvard Business Review.

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Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Molly Battin, the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at The Home Depot, the iconic orange-branded home improvement retail company. Since the first store opened in the Atlanta suburbs in 1978, Home Depot has become one of the largest retailers in the United States, with almost 500,000 employees and more than $151 billion in revenue.

Molly is no stranger to managing large brands. Her career journey so far has taken her through brand giants like Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, and Warner Media (where she spent 19 years) before donning the bright orange apron in 2022 as Home Depot’s new CMO. 

We kick off this episode early in the football season, which is only appropriate: Home Depot’s signature sponsorship of ESPN’s College Game Day is one of the longest running brand partnerships. Recorded at the Next Gen CMO Academy at Deloitte University in Dallas, Texas, The CMO Podcast happily welcomes Home Depot’s Marketing Quarterback, Molly Battin!

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We're headed outside–well, almost–as Jim welcomes the Chief Marketing Officer of Autocamp, the 10-year-old red-hot hospitality company. AutoCamp is sometimes called the Airstream Hotel, as it offers overnight lodging and accommodations in modern Airstream suites and luxurious tents at locations such as Cape Cod, Yosemite National Park, the Russian River Valley, and Joshua Tree National Park.

Julie has worked as CMO at Autocamp for about 18 months. This is Julie’s third CMO role, after stints at Graduate Hotels and the Ace Hotel group. Like Jim, Julie is a Penn Stater, where she studied French Language & Literature before earning a Masters in Art History at Christie’s. She joins Jim to talk about building unique brands within the hospitality industry and how she found her way to Autocamp. She also shares some of the incredible lessons she's learned from listening to her customers.

So, lace up your hiking boots and join Jim as he welcomes a CMO who loves to run–and of course, “glamp” at just about any Autocamp.

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Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Lynn Teo, Chief Marketing Officer for Northwestern Mutual, one of the perennially most-admired companies in the world. Founded 166 years ago, Northwestern Mutual is a growing $35 billion company today. The company strives to free people from financial anxiety; its products and services include life insurance, disability income, long-term care insurance, and a range of other financial planning services.

Lynn has an unorthodox background for a CMO: she earned her Bachelors at the National University of Singapore, specializing in English Language, Linguistics and Geography, before earning her Masters at Carnegie Mellon in Professional and Technical Writing and Interaction Design. She has worked for a host of companies on both the client and agency side, including AKQA and McCann on the agency side, and Thomson Reuters, CA Technologies and Wolters Kluwer on the client side.

With a year as the CMO of Northwestern Mutual under her belt, Lynn joins Jim to talk about her career so far. She shares what her "superpower" is and how hiking brings a refreshing outlook to her path.

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For a special Office Hours episode, Jim welcomes Tim McDougal and Leah Yousif to the CMO Podcast. Tim is a Managing Director of Strategy & Operations at Deloitte Consulting and Leah is a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting. They are both experts in the area of omnichannel customer engagement and contact center operations.

Tim and Leah are part of a team at Deloitte that recently released a large global study on the transformation of customer-contact centers. Nearly every business has some process for customer contacts. Few areas in business are facing more disruption, with the move to remote work, the rise of AI, and the rising and different expectations customers have for interactions with companies. Managing great customer experiences is fundamental to building great brands.

Join Jim as he chats with Tim and Leah about the most interesting findings from the study and the implications for anyone working to make their customers happier and more loyal.

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Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Ciara Anfield, the Senior Vice President and Chief Membership & Marketing Officer at Sam’s Club. Sam’s has a special place in Jim's heart–the first store opened in 1983, the same year that Jim and his wife got married and he started at Procter & Gamble. Now 40 years later, Sam’s revenue is about the size of P&G’s, $80 billion give or take.

As you likely know, Sam’s is a membership warehouse club store model, offering bulk items at an exceptional value. Sam’s Club has about 600 locations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as in Mexico, Brazil and China. Sam’s is owned and operated by Walmart, which once again topped the Fortune 500 with revenue of more than $600 billion.  

Ciara worked at Walmart for 12 years in multiple roles, before moving to Sam’s Club in 2020. Now a year into her role as CMO, she joins Jim on the podcast to discuss the lessons she's learned: from understanding the power of empathy, to the journey of helping a brand (and a team) discover their purpose. We recorded this show at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in the middle of a very energetic week, so please welcome Ciara to the podcast!

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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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Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Soyoung Kang, the Chief Marketing Officer of eos Products, the beauty brand famous for its colorful spherical packaging and enthusiastic fan base. "eos"–an acronym for Evolution of Smooth–is privately held, and was founded by Jonathan Teller, Sanjiv Mehra and Craig Dubitsky in 2006. Key product categories include lip balm, skin care, and shaving cream.

Soyoung joined eos in 2018; she previously worked at Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, and the Boston Consulting Group. She is currently serving on the board of directors at Bob’s Discount Furniture. Soyoung is a highly awarded CMO–she has been named an Adweek Brand Genius, Forbes Most Entrepreneurial CMO, and a Business Insider Most Innovative CMO.

Soyoung was born in Korea and her parents emigrated to the US when she was two years old. She went on to study architecture at MIT before earning an MBA at Wharton, where she was a Fulbright scholar. Tune in for a conversation with a CMO who believes marketing should be like talking to a friend.

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Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Craig Brommers, the Chief Marketing Officer at American Eagle Outfitters, the ubiquitous, youth-focused clothing and accessories retailer. American Eagle Outfitters, AEO for short, has about 1,000 stores globally and about 40,000 associates. The company was founded in 1977 in Pittsburgh by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman, and has since grown to about $5 billion in sales.

Craig is incredibly experienced in fashion retailing; he worked at Speedo, Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Gap, before joining AEO about three years ago. Recorded earlier this summer at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, this episode features a conversation with a CMO who has a lot to say about marketing to Generation Z–from lessons learned to letting go of control.

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This week we're all wearing pink to welcome the most in-demand CMO in the world–Lisa McKnight, Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of Mattel, the iconic toy company. Yes, Jim and Lisa talk about the Barbie movie, but they also discuss the decades-long transformation of the Barbie brand that made the movie possible. With a revenue of about $5.3 billion, Mattel was founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Matt Matson and Eliott and Ruth Handler. In 1959 Mattel introduced Barbie, the brainchild of Ruth Handler.

Lisa has worked for Mattel nearly 25 years, with "Barbie" in her job title for 11 of those years. A graduate of Denison University, Lisa is on the Boards of the Toy Industry Association and MAKERS women, and has generously shared her knowledge at a range of industry events over the years. Today, as the Barbie movie breaks worldwide records and holds more than 100 partnerships, Lisa shares her experience over the last decade–leading Barbie from a potential crisis to the biggest phenomenon of the summer.

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