The holiday season is in full swing, so this week Jim is paying a visit to one of the most loved retailers in the world. The guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Joe Cano, the Chief Marketing, Merchandising and Growth Officer for Zappos, the e-commerce company famous for its customer-obsessed culture. Zappos was founded in 1999 by Tony Hsieh, and sold to Amazon in 2009 for about $1.2 billion in an all-stock deal. Today, Zappos sells shoes of course, but also handbags, clothing, and accessories....
Dec 04, 2024•56 min•Ep. 320
Many of you listeners here in the US are right now planning your Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and the centerpiece for most of you is a beautiful turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Thursday. Well today–to get you in the spirit–Jim welcomes two special guests on The CMO Podcast: Kyle Lock, the VP of Marketing for the Butterball Company, and Christa Leupen, the Director of Purpose and Consumer Communication for Butterball. Butterball is of course the best known and most loved turkey brand in the US. Th...
Nov 20, 2024•54 min•Ep. 319
The growth and popularity of Formula 1 racing is one of the great marketing stories of the past five years, and on this week's episode Jim is going behind the scenes to understand why. His guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Louise McEwen, the Chief Marketing Officer of McLaren Racing, the global leader in high-performance supercar production, and elite motorsports. Founded in 1963 by racer, engineer and entrepreneur Bruce McLaren, the company is formed of McLaren Automotive, which hand-builds...
Nov 13, 2024•51 min•Ep. 318
This week Jim is joined on The CMO Podcast by Greg Lyons, the Chief Marketing Officer for Pepsico Beverages North America. Greg looks over about $28 billion in revenue, with 10 Billion dollar brands, including Pepsi-Cola, Gatorade, Mountain Dew and Bubly. PepsiCo Beverages North America is part of PepsiCo, a $91 billion food and beverage global powerhouse. Greg has been with PepsiCo for over 25 years, and CMO since 2017. He was a guest on the show in May 2020–in the early days of the pandemic. S...
Nov 06, 2024•51 min•Ep. 317
With the holidays nearly upon us, this episode of The CMO Podcast offers some insight and perspective on this year’s holiday season. Joining Jim this week is Claudine Cheever, the VP and Global Head of Brand and Marketing at Amazon. Since its founding in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, Amazon has profoundly changed life and business. Thirty years later–Amazon’s revenue is nearly $600 billion, with a market cap of about $2 trillion. It's among the few brands that people just cannot imagine living without. Cl...
Oct 30, 2024•51 min•Ep. 316
It’s election season in the U.S., with some brands taking on a special responsibility and role at this time. Among them is The Wall Street Journal, and this week Jim speaks to Sherry Weiss, the Chief Marketing Officer of Dow Jones–the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily, and a portfolio of business intelligence assets, including Factiva. Sherry has worked as CMO of Dow Jones for about two years, following a career path seemingly built for h...
Oct 23, 2024•51 min•Ep. 315
It's the spookiest time of the year! For this Halloween-themed episode of The CMO Podcast, Jim welcomes Gabrielle Dallas Wesley, the Chief Marketing Officer of Mars Wrigley North America. Privately held since its founding in 1911, Mars Wrigley is a giant in the consumer goods industry. The company boasts about $50 billion in sales and includes famous brands like M&Ms, Snickers, Orbit, Pedigree, Whiskas, Ben’s Original, and MasterFoods. In August 2024, Mars Wrigley announced the purchase of K...
Oct 16, 2024•54 min•Ep. 314
This week's guest on The CMO Podcast is one of the foremost experts in the world of Artificial Intelligence and marketing, Professor Jim Lecinski. Jim is the Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing at Northwestern Kellogg. We use the term “Renaissance man or woman” too loosely these days, but in this case it's an appropriate moniker. Consider these highlights from Professor Lecinski's curriculum vitae: Studied German and Government at Notre Dame, MBA from Illinois. Teaches seminars and blogs a...
Oct 09, 2024•59 min•Ep. 313
Today's guest on The CMO Podcast is Emily Silver, the SVP and Chief Marketing & Athlete Experience Officer at Dick’s Sporting Goods, the $13 billion-by-revenue retailer. Dick’s was founded by Dick Stack in 1948 with his first product line, a bait and tackle. Today, Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods has more than 850 stores and a variety of other experience centers and platforms, all focused on sports. Think Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, Moosejaw, and others. Emily has worked at Dick’s for ...
Oct 02, 2024•50 min•Ep. 312
The guest today on The CMO Podcast is Emily Ketchen, the Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Intelligent Devices Group and International Markets for Lenovo. The Intelligent Devices Group–as you might expect–is Lenovo’s division with Personal Computers, Smartphones, and AR/VR solutions. Lenovo is a $57 billion global technology company–the largest PC company–with business in 180 countries. It also markets infrastructure, software, solutions and services. Emily has worked at Lenovo since September 2...
Sep 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 311
Fall means it's time for your annual flu and Covid shots! So, this week on The CMO Podcast, Jim welcomes Kate Cronin, the Chief Brand Officer for Moderna, the 14-year-old pioneering biotech company. Moderna achieved nearly instant awareness and fame in 2020, when it received the CDC recommendation for its COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s name combines the words "modified" and "RNA" to signal the core essence of the company: to introduce a new category of medicines using messenger RNA, “the software o...
Sep 18, 2024•54 min•Ep. 310
This week on The CMO Podcast, Jim welcomes Ramon Soto, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Northwell Health, Based in New York, Northwell Health is one of the largest health-care providers in the US, with 21 hospitals, 900 outpatient facilities, 12,000 affiliated physicians, 87,000 employees, and 2 million patients a year. The Wall Street Journal recently featured the nonprofit company for its radically different approach to marketing their brand. Spoiler alert: it includes partnership...
Sep 11, 2024•55 min•Ep. 309
The guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Maya Wasserman, the Head of Marketing for Personal Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Brand Marketing for Sony Electronics. Maya oversees a large scope of products–from TVs, soundbars, headphones, and more. Founded in Japan in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, Sony has been a fixture in popular culture for the better part of eight decades–think WalkMan, Playstation, and Watchman. Today, Sony does about $90 billion in revenue globally, with 109,000...
Sep 04, 2024•45 min•Ep. 308
We're entering the beginning of a new school year and the American College Football season begins this weekend! For the first time in this podcast's history, Jim welcomes a CMO of sorts from a large University: Pedro Ribeiro, the VP of Public Affairs and Communications for the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. When it comes to strong University brands, Notre Dame represents one of the best. Notre Dame was founded in 1842 by Reverend Edward Sorin, a priest of the Congregation of th...
Aug 28, 2024•51 min•Ep. 307
For this week’s episode, The CMO Podcast returns to Penn State University–Jim's MBA alma mater–for a live panel discussion on authentic leadership. This panel wrapped up another successful annual Alumni Leadership Connections Conference in Happy Valley. Joining Jim on stage for the Authentic Leadership panel are three fellow alumnae: Dana H. Born, Faculty Chair of Harvard Kennedy School & a Retired Brigadier General of the US Air Force Wanda Bryant Hope, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusi...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 306
This week, Jim welcomes Isabelle Sakai–the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Vancouver-based Mark Anthony Brands–to The CMO Podcast. The company was founded in 1972 by Anthony von Mandl. Mr. von Mandl’s is a classic entrepreneurial story; at 22, he began selling imported wines out of his car, and now the company–which is still private–is estimated at about $4 billion in revenue. Mark Anthony Brands is best known for its top selling consumer brands, White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, but they h...
Aug 14, 2024•49 min•Ep. 305
This week on The CMO Podcast, Jim brings you a packed bonus episode, featuring eight guests he spoke with earlier this Summer during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This recording is part of a special episode of Vayner’s Marketing for the Now series. Each guest joined Jim in the much-desired air conditioning to chat about creativity, leadership, what’s inspiring them, and the central theme of Gary Vaynerchuk's new book: the importance and challenge of attracting attention ...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 304
With the Olympics off to an incredible start, Jim welcomes a guest on The CMO Podcast who's in the middle of all the excitement–Gene Foca, the Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer at Getty Images. Founded in London in 1995 by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, Getty Images is a global visual content creator and marketplace, with annual sales approaching $1 billion. Getty has an enormous library of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music; each year they cover more than 160,000 news, spor...
Jul 31, 2024•52 min•Ep. 303
With the Paris Olympics upon us, Jim can think of no better guest to preview the big event–from a marketing perspective–than Andrea Fairchild, the SVP, Global Sponsorship Strategy for Visa. Visa has been a major sponsor of the Olympics since 1986, and became the first global partner of the International ParaOlympic Committee in 2003. Sponsorship is a major pillar of Visa's marketing strategy; they are also partners with the NFL, FIFA, and Formula 1, to name a few. The global payment platform str...
Jul 24, 2024•49 min•Ep. 302
Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Lisa Caputo, the EVP, Chief Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience Officer at Travelers, the 165-year-old diversified insurance company. You know, the company with the red umbrella, which they first used in an ad in 1870. Travelers is one of the largest insurance companies in the world, with revenue of $41 billion, 30,000 employees and 13,500 independent agents and brokers. Travelers operates in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland. Lisa has e...
Jul 17, 2024•46 min•Ep. 301
Jim is celebrating the 300th episode of The CMO Podcast with a bang! He welcomes back three of his very first guests on the show from 2019: Kristin Lemkau, the Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management at JPMorgan Chase, Lilian Tomovich, the Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Barclays, and Dean Aragón, Group Brand Officer and CEO & Vice-Chairman of Shell Brands International AG. In a way, they co-created this podcast, helping Jim find those initial footsteps and direc...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 300
This week on The CMO Podcast, Jim continues his conversation with Jonathan Mildenhall. He hands over his hosting duties and shares his own career & life journey. If you haven’t already, make sure to listen to part one before heading into this one. Last week, the episode ended with Jim bringing P&G to the Cannes Lions festival for the first time; little did he expect that five years later the company would be honored as Creative Marketer of the Year. Jonathan picks up their conversation w...
Jul 03, 2024•50 min•Ep. 299
As the podcast approaches its 300th episode, Jim is switching things up (literally) as he welcomes guest host and friend, Jonathan Mildenhall, to interview him. Why Jonathan? For starters, he is one of the most gifted and generous leaders in the brand-building industry, and as you'll learn during the conversation, a sort of brother to Jim. Not in the obvious ways; Jonathan is black, gay, English, and was raised by his mother in the projects of north Leeds. Jim is white, one of six children, born...
Jun 26, 2024•43 min•Ep. 298
There is no city like New York City! This week Jim welcomes the Chief Marketing Officer of New York City Tourism and Conventions, Nancy Mammana. Just before joining Jim for the recording, Nancy was also named the Interim CEO of the company. Nancy’s organization is a private, non-profit entity, earning about half of its funding from the city of New York through a contract, and the other half from membership fees, sponsorships, and ad revenue on its digital properties. NYC Tourism and Conventions ...
Jun 19, 2024•54 min•Ep. 297
This Friday, June 14 is National Bourbon Day in the United States! Naturally, Jim has invited a real expert: Matias Bentel, the EVP and Chief Brand Officer at Brown-Forman. This 150-year-old Louisville-based company holds brand icons like Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester and Herradura. An industry leader, Brown-Forman boasts about $4 billion in sales across 170 countries, 40 brands, and about 6,000 employees worldwide. Matias has worked as the Chief Brands Officer at Brown Forman and...
Jun 12, 2024•53 min•Ep. 296
Did you know the consumer research industry has a whopping $75 billion in revenue in the US alone? Then, why in the world do we have such trouble discovering insights that can change or reframe how someone feels about a brand or a company? On this week's episode, Jim will shine some light on this massive opportunity! Jim's guests on The CMO Podcast are Gunny Scarfo and Lindsey Wehking of Nonfiction Research, a six-year-old company with this purpose: to create uncensored, emotional research studi...
Jun 05, 2024•58 min•Ep. 295
This week, Jim provides a different kind of episode of The CMO Podcast, featuring two executives from different companies who work together in a client partnership relationship. Jim's first guest is Clayton Ruebensaal, the SVP and Chief Creative Officer of Comcast, the $122 billion by revenue media, entertainment and technology company. Comcast’s portfolio includes the NBCUniversal brands, Universal Studios, Xfinity, and the Sky brands. Also joining Clayton and Jim is Sam Hornsby, the founder an...
May 29, 2024•51 min•Ep. 294
The guest today on The CMO Podcast is Eshan Ponnadurai, the Vice President of Consumer Marketing at META, the 1.2 trillion dollar company by market cap, with a brand portfolio that includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads, and Messenger. Eshan is a man of many interests, with a voracious curiosity. He was born in Sri Lanka, and moved to Australia when he was four years old. He now lives in New York City with his wife and two boys. Eshan began his professional career at Procter & Gambl...
May 22, 2024•51 min•Ep. 293
The guest today on The CMO Podcast is Shane Murphy-Reuter, the Chief Marketing Officer of Webflow, the 11-year-old company that is disrupting the business of building websites and other digital experiences. Webflow empowers people to design, build and launch websites…without coding. Webflow is well beyond unicorn status; its valuation is north of $4 billion, with revenue trending toward $150 million. It is well funded–$335 million to date–with a global staff of 600. And here’s a smart choice the...
May 15, 2024•54 min•Ep. 292
This week's guest on The CMO Podcast is Melissa Hobley, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Tinder–you know: swipe right, swipe left. Seriously, Tinder is a behemoth; it's the #1 dating app in the world with 2 billion swipes a day, 20 million matches a day, and a presence in 190 countries. And with revenue in the $2 billion range, Tinder is the largest name in the Match Group’s portfolio of 40 brands. Melissa has worked as the global marketing officer for Tinder since August 2022; she was prev...
May 08, 2024•54 min•Ep. 291