The Right Braincast

At a time when technology was exploding and young people were being lured to exciting new careers in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs around the country, Eric Poses had a very different vision. Rather than connecting people through hardware and software, Eric’s passion was to bring people together, face-to-face in the same place at the same time, for shared experiences that would deepen their connections. 

And those shared experiences would focus on the board games he created. When Eric finished college, he hit to road to sell his new game, Loaded Questions, out of the trunk of his car. Twenty-five years later, Loaded Questions is still going strong, one of several successful games Eric has created.

Ken Sadowsky is as close as you come to being a clairvoyant when it comes to beverages. Coming from a family that owned a distribution company just outside Boston, Ken started his career as a local salesman for a small, California-based start-up before coming home to work in the family business, where he eventually took over new division with about $50,000 in annual sales, growing it to over $16 million.  

The major milestone in his career to date was his role on the Board of Directors for a new drink called vitaminwater, a brand that was eventually sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. But he didn't stop there. With boundless energy, curiosity, optimism and what anyone who knows him would describe as great personal warmth,  Ken has continued to discover and nurture brands that have made their way into the spotlight.

Ricardo Marques is the talented and charismatic marketer leading the charge to refresh the Budweiser brand. You might say the opening salvo in the campaign was fired two years ago in the 2017 Super Bowl when Budweiser told the story of Adolphus Busch, an immigrant whose passion, courage and vision allowed him to overcome hardship and discrimination to bring Budweiser to market and establish an enduring a beer empire.

Ricardo dropped in to The Right Braincast to  share his personal journey, the story behind this year's Budweiser Super Bowl ad and more.

As Chief Marketing Officer at The United Way Worldwide, Lisa Bowman is a major player in the world of NGO’s, leading the organization's global marketing team and working with more than 1,800 local United Ways in 41 countries and territories. While typical enterprise marketing professionals might need to focus on a single target or a limited number of targets, Lisa needs to inspire an incredibly wide range of people for a wide range of diverse programs, including corporate and individual donors, advocates and volunteers.

 Lisa stopped by to talk about her work at United Way and a career that's transformed her from a for-profit marketer to a die-hard advocate of helping people transform their own lives. 

Jill Cress has already been honored twice this year for her marketing leadership. Forbes chose her for its "CMO Next 2018" list, a select group of "marketing chiefs who are redefining the role and shaping the future." If that weren't enough, Jill was also named by Business Insider as one of 2018's "25 Most Innovative CMOs."

There's much more to Jill than her success in revitalizing a venerable brand. She’s also on a mission to raise awareness of vital issues and change consumer behavior for the purpose, literally, of making the world a better place. 

After spending 20 years at Mastercard convincing consumers to carry that brand of plastic in their wallets, she’s now fighting to reduce the plastic pollution choking our oceans, helping veterans recover from PTSD, and for other important causes in her role as Chief Marketing Officer at National Geographic Partners.