The CMO Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Lynn Teo (Northwestern Mutual) | The Power of Time When Building a Financial Plan Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

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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Tim McDougal & Leah Yousif (Deloitte Digital) | The Transformation of Customer Contact Centers Sep 06, 2023

Show notes

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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Ciara Anfield (Sam's Club) | A Masterclass in Arriving to Purpose Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

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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Sejal Shah Miller (Converse) | Bringing Creativity and Curiosity to a Legacy Brand Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

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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Soyoung Kang (eos) | The Best Inspiration Can Be Found Very Close to Home Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

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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Craig Brommers (AEO) | A Lesson in Marketing to Generation Z Aug 09, 2023

Show notes

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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Lisa McKnight | Bringing Barbie to the Silver Screen Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

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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Drew Panayiotou (Pfizer) | How to run one of the largest pitches in history with speed, inclusion and transparency Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

Today's guest on The CMO Podcast is Drew Panayiotou, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Pfizer, the $100 billion by sales bio-pharmaceutical giant. Pfizer was founded in 1949 in Brooklyn, NY by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, and has since become one of the most important global healthcare companies. Case in point–Pfizer and its CEO Albert Bourla became household names during the pandemic as they rolled out COVID-19 vaccines with unprecedented speed and scale.

Our guest, Drew, is no stranger to brands. He has worked with some of the world’s best brand builders: CocaCola, The Walt Disney Company, Hershey’s, Johnson & Johnson and Google. He also had a three-year stint as an ad agency President and CEO at BBDO Atlanta. Drew emigrated to the U.S. as a child from Paphos Cyprus–the mythical home of the goddess Aphrodite. Fittingly, we recorded this episode on the Mediterranean sea, at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Tune in for a conversation about identity, creativity and innovation!

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Michael Johnson | Consistency is the key to excellence and Olympic medals Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

For this Creative Collisions episode, Jim Stengel welcomes Michael Johnson, the best 200/400m sprinter in the history of the sport. He was the first man to win both events at an Olympic Games and the first man to win consecutive gold medals in the 400m.

After retiring in 2000, with 12 Olympic and World Championship gold medals, Michael has taken the philosophy of success and applied it to various business ventures. He has established himself as a leading keynote speaker and received widespread acclaim as a commentator and analyst.

Recorded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Michael joins Jim to talk about how athletes can build their unique brand during and after their sports career. Tune in for a different kind of conversation, as the two chat about how creativity can truly shine through the strongest of partnerships.

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Chidiebere Ibe and Shamel Washington | Two of the Leaders behind Illustrate Change Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

On this special Creative Collisions episode, Jim Stengel chats with Chidiebere Ibe and Shamel Washington, two leaders of an initiative called Illustrate Change.

Chidiebere is a Nigerian medical illustrator, medical student, and aspiring pediatric neurosurgeon. In the summer of 2020, Chidiebere's image of a black fetus medical illustration went viral around the world. It sparked a groundswell about representation in medical imagery: less than 5% of medical imagery shows dark skin.

Joining Chidiebere is Shamel Washington, an Associate Creative Director at Deloitte Digital, focusing on life sciences and healthcare. Shamel is the lead creative director on the Illustrate Change initiative, working alongside Chidiebere and the initiatives' partners, Deloitte and Johnson & Johnson.

Recorded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the two join Jim to talk about Illustrate Change, their hope for what it can accomplish, and what we can all do to support initiatives like this.

You can learn more about the initiative at IllustrateChange.com.

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