The CMO Podcast
The CMO Podcast
vYve & Jim Stengel
Jim Stengel, former CMO of the largest marketer in the world (Procter & Gamble), and now small company entrepreneur sits down for intimate conversations with the most dynamic CMOs from all over the industry. This is not your typical marketing podcast, this is a unique look at the thought process and motivation of the CMO. Jim, who put purpose on the map gets in depth with each guest to reveal more about this pivotal role every brand seeks to fill. Through personal and revealing discussions Jim and his guests paint a picture of this demanding position that very few understand, yet affects the entire consumer experience.The CMO Podcast is sponsored by Deloitte.
How Gap Became Cool Again with Fabiola Torres | Live from the Tubi Cabana at Cannes Lions
How do you reinvent one of the world's most iconic brands without losing what made it iconic in the first place?Recorded live on the Tubi Stage at Cannes Lions, Jim sits down with Fabiola Torres, Chief Marketing Officer of Gap, to unpack one of the most compelling brand turnarounds in retail. Drawing on leadership experience at Nike, Apple, PepsiCo, and now Gap, Fabiola shares how the team rebuilt the brand by focusing on marketing fundamentals, embracing creativity, investing in culture, and reconnecting with consumers across generations.They discuss why every brand should be treated like a living persona, how partnerships with talent are built on trust rather than transactions, and why the best marketing doesn't chase relevance—it earns it.—In partnership with Tubi. Brought to you by Infillion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 17
34 min
From Murder Your Thirst to Electric Air Taxis: Creating Brand Desire // Lessons from Liquid Death, Duolingo, and Joby Aviation
Great brands do more than meet a need. They transform that need into desire. But in an increasingly crowded and fragmented media landscape, how can brands earn attention, turn that attention into affection, and ultimately inspire people to act?Recorded live at the Havas Café during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this special roundtable is the first in a three-part series exploring the many dimensions of desire. Jim is joined by three marketing leaders approaching that challenge from very different industries: Manu Orssaud, Chief Marketing Officer at Duolingo;Benoit Vatere, Chief Media and Digital Commerce Officer at Liquid Death; and Oliver Walker-Jones, who leads Marketing, Communications and Brand at Joby Aviation.Together, they explore how modern brands use media to create lasting desire. Manu shares how Duolingo combines planned cultural moments with the flexibility to build stories alongside its community. The conversation explores why fun is an underrated business advantage, how brands can move quickly without chasing every cultural moment, and where AI can strengthen a company without replacing the human creativity behind great marketing. —This week’s episode is brought to you by Havas and Infillion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 15
32 min
Marie Gulin-Merle (Google) & Anda Gansca (Knotch) | The New Era of AI-Powered Marketing
Artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing at a pace unlike anything we've seen since the birth of digital. But as today's guests remind us, the fundamentals of great marketing haven't changed.Recorded live at the Infillion Café during Cannes Lions 2026, Jim sits down with Marie Gulin-Merle, Global Vice President of Ads & Commerce Marketing at Google, and Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch.Marie has spent her career leading marketing for some of the world's most iconic brands, including L'Oréal, Calvin Klein, and PVH, before joining Google to help shape the future of advertising, commerce, and AI-powered marketing on a global scale.Anda founded Knotch more than a decade ago with a vision of making digital experiences more personalized and measurable. Today, Knotch helps many of the world's leading brands optimize content performance and customer experience, and Anda has become one of the industry's leading voices on the intersection of marketing, data, and AI.Just days before this conversation, Google and Knotch announced the launch of ACE (Agentic Content Engine), a new AI-powered experience platform built with Google Cloud, Vertex AI, and Gemini. Designed for the emerging "AI-native consumer," ACE enables brands to create dynamic, personalized digital experiences that adapt in real time to each customer's needs.Together, Jim, Marie, and Anda explore what this next era of marketing means for brands, why relevance has become the industry's most valuable currency, how AI can amplify rather than replace creativity, and why the future belongs to marketers who can unite technology, data, and human insight to create better customer experiences.—This week’s episode is brought to you by Knotch and Infillion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 8
40 min
Kelly Mahoney (Ulta Beauty) | Trust, Creativity, and the Superpowers of Beauty
Just days before Supergirl hit theaters—and as Ulta Beauty launched its ambitious partnership with Warner Bros. to bring the film to life through an immersive, 360-degree campaign—Kelly Mahoney sat down with Jim Stengel to discuss one of the biggest transformations happening in marketing today.Kelly is the Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta Beauty, the nation's largest beauty retailer, with more than 1,400 stores, over $11 billion in annual revenue, and a loyalty program serving more than 47 million members. After more than a decade helping build Ulta's growth strategy and industry-leading loyalty ecosystem, she's now leading the brand into its next chapter.In this conversation, Kelly shares how Ulta is creating deeper emotional connections with consumers through purpose, creativity, AI-powered personalization, and culture-defining partnerships. She also discusses her unconventional path to the CMO role, what she learned from the late Shelley Haus, how she's building a high-performing marketing culture, and why the future of beauty is rooted in trust, wellness, and human connection.Recorded during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this conversation took place aboard a yacht in the sunny South of France, thanks to our partners at Beanstalk and AppLovin.—Episode brought to you by Infillion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 1
46 min
Grace Kao (Snap) | The Truth About Gen Z and Why Marketers Keep Getting It Wrong
This week, Jim welcomes Grace Kao, Chief Marketing Officer of Snap Inc. Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, Snap has grown from a simple idea about visual communication into a global platform reaching more than 940 million monthly active users and generating nearly $6 billion in annual revenue.Grace joined Snap in late 2024 and was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer just months later. Before Snap, she held senior marketing leadership roles at Spotify and Instagram, helping some of the world's most influential platforms connect with creators, businesses, and consumers.Tune in as Grace shares what marketers still misunderstand about Gen Z, why creativity remains the defining skill of the next generation, and how brands can earn relevance by becoming part of the group chat rather than interrupting it. Whether you're leading a global brand, building a startup, or simply trying to understand where culture is headed next, this episode offers a thoughtful look at the future of marketing, creativity, and human connection.---We'll be at Cannes Lions from June 22nd to the 26th, hopping up along the Croisette all week. Let us know if you'll be attending too! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jun 17
52 min
Omer Waysman (Michelin) | Trust at 70 Miles Per Hour - Tires, Dining, and 24 Hours of Le Mans
For 24 straight hours every June, the world's greatest endurance race pushes drivers, machines, and engineers to their limits at Le Mans. For Michelin, it's more than a race, it's a proving ground for innovation, performance, and one of the most enduring brands in the world.This week, Jim welcomes Omer Waysman, Vice President of B2C Marketing for North America at Michelin. Founded in France in 1889, Michelin has grown into a global company with nearly $30 billion in annual revenue. While best known for its tires, Michelin's business extends far beyond the road, spanning brands including BFGoodrich and Uniroyal, the world-famous Michelin Guide, and innovations in fields ranging from aeronautics and healthcare to advanced materials and construction.Omer's career has taken him from France to South Carolina, where he now leads marketing, brand strategy, and go-to-market execution for Michelin in North America. Before Michelin, he held senior leadership roles at Danone and Microsoft, helping drive digital growth, e-commerce, and transformation initiatives around the world.Tune in for a conversation exploring one of marketing's most interesting challenges: how do you build trust, relevance, and long-term loyalty in a category where consumers only make a purchase every three to five years? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jun 10
58 min
Melissa Grady Dias (Measured Wellness) | From CMO to CEO: Using AI and Human Connection to Transform Health
The role of the CMO is evolving. Increasingly, it is becoming a pathway to the CEO's office.Jim's guest this week, Melissa Grady Dias, first joined the show in 2020 as Global Chief Marketing Officer of Cadillac, where she helped transform one of America's most iconic brands into the leading luxury EV brand while navigating a global pandemic and unprecedented industry disruption.Now she has entered an entirely new chapter. Melissa recently became CEO of Measured Wellness, a healthcare company focused on preventative care, wearable technology, AI powered health insights, and what she calls "care between appointments." It is a model built around the 99 percent of health that happens outside the doctor's office. The company was founded in San Diego by Dr. Michael Kurisu, who specializes in Family and Integrative Medicine.Melissa is a leader who thrives when navigating transformation, and she simply likes building things. Those are her words. At Cadillac, that meant helping consumers rethink mobility, luxury, and electrification. At Measured Wellness, it means helping people rethink healthcare itself by moving from reactive care to proactive wellness, from occasional doctor visits to continuous engagement, and from treating illness to creating the conditions for long term health.Tune in for a conversation about leadership, reinvention, wellness, and the growing influence of marketers in shaping the future of business. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jun 3
51 min
Leadership Lessons from AT&T and e.l.f. Beauty | Kellogg School of Management Marketing Leadership Summit
What does growth leadership actually look like in 2026?Recorded live at the Kellogg School of Management Marketing Leadership Summit, this week’s episode features two standout conversations with leaders building some of the most talked-about brands in business today. First Jim sits down with AT&T’s Chief Marketing and Growth Officer Kellyn Smith Kenny to chat about how a 150-year-old company is transforming itself through customer obsession, operational accountability, and AI-enabled personalization. Then, e.l.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin and President Kory Marchisotto share the culture, creativity, and community-first mindset behind one of the fastest-growing brands in the industry, and why they believe “zero distance” from consumers changes everything.Across both conversations, there’s a shared theme: the brands winning today are the ones willing to stay curious, move quickly, listen deeply to customers, and build cultures where people can do the best work of their lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
May 27
54 min
Reclaiming Hope with Samantha Maltin (St. Jude) and George Carey (Human-ology)
Are you a hopeful leader? Is your brand a hopeful brand? What does hopeful even mean anymore? And in a moment defined by uncertainty, anxiety, and rapid change, one emotion is emerging as a powerful force for brands and leaders alike: hope.Jim’s guests this week as both return guests, as he sits down with Samantha Maltin, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and George Carey, CEO and founder of Human-ology, for a deeply human conversation about why hope matters now more than ever. Together, they explore groundbreaking research on the emotional drivers of hope, why consumers are craving emotional safety and optimism, and how brands can authentically create deeper relevance by helping people feel more hopeful in their everyday lives. Samantha shares how St. Jude’s mission is built around helping families “afford hope,” while George explains why hope is not “glittery,” but grounded in grit, resilience, and meaningful human connection.This episode could not be more timely. There is a war on hope and people are fighting it on every front. But don’t despair: what follows will help you understand hope today, and what you can do to integrate this learning into your brand platform and into how you lead.—Learn more about Human-Ology’s insights around Hope: https://www.human-ology.com/human-insights See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
May 20
48 min
The Future Legacy and Leadership Roundtable with Havas and NFL | Celebrating the AAF Hall of Fame
A few weeks ago at Havas’ Hudson Street headquarters in New York City, industry leaders gathered on the eve of the Advertising Hall of Fame induction ceremony for a candid conversation about leadership, legacy, creativity, and courage. For this special episode, Jim joins NFL Chief Marketing Officer Tim Ellis in conversation moderated by Maggie Connors, Chief Marketing Officer of Havas Creative Network. Together, they reflect on the defining decisions that shape a career, especially the ones that didn’t feel obvious at the time.From transforming Pampers into a purpose-led brand to rebuilding trust and culture at the NFL, the conversation explores what it really means to lead: building teams, earning trust, listening deeply, and creating environments where people can thrive.This is more than a discussion about marketing, it’s a conversation about humanity, mentorship, and the lasting impact leaders leave on the people around them.—This week’s episode is in partnership with Havas. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
May 13
48 min
Load more