CMO Moves

Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard's Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and President of the Healthcare Division, returns to CMO Moves to take us deep into the marketing business case for humanity. This topic is top of mind for all marketers today as they juggle the short-term financial pressures and long-term reputation impact from their efforts at this very moment. Raja offers up a number of great tips for all marketers in how to not be tone-deaf with consumers or their CEO and CFO, and how to enroll help from their community for credibility. Further, Raja shares more on how two and half years ago he established a Risk Management function, now led by that same CFO who co-built the marketing finance team with Raja mentioned in his first episode of CMO Moves. Find out more about how this function was designed, what it monitors, and how it prepared Mastercard to handle the current pandemic across the 210 countries it operates in today.

Monica Gil knows a few things about crisis and reputation management, having spent some time in politics on her path to CMO of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Further, not only is she the Chief Marketing Officer, with all marketing and communications responsibility, she also leads Human Resources. As we’ve all be saying these past few weeks, there is no playbook for the crisis we are currently going through, but Monica has been building one for the future through the actions she’s taken. She not only pre-planned for the crisis, but is managing through and already planning for post with a lot of tips to share. If that wasn’t enough in one podcast, hang on for the second part of this where we go deep into the Latina culture and learn a lot about this fast-growing, dynamic group reshaping American culture.

Today’s podcast is unlike any CMO Moves podcast you’ve ever heard before. With the whole world “slipping and shifting” through this global pandemic, we are heads-down on the here and now. But what’s happening in the background is an exponential advancement of technology. What does that mean? While we’re focused on today, rightfully so, I wanted to bring this forward as something not to forget about tomorrow. With that, I invited Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium and leading Futurist to share how her timeline projections has accelerated given this monumental shift. Hold onto your seats. Hold onto your minds. Hold onto your hair follicles as new receptors of the tactile internet. It’s not only coming. It’s here.

Brad Haley, CMO of IHOP (sometimes now referred to as IHOb) is no stranger to big, bold, daring campaigns. A “cereal” restaurant marketer, as reinforced by the brand's recent product extension of cereal pancakes, Brad points to his key success factors: taking risks, his team, and having best-in-class agency partners. Indeed, the IHOb campaign was remarkable. In this episode, Brad goes deep into the campaign conception, the results, and how IHOP has been on a continual upward march in building brand momentum alongside Adweek’s Agency of the Decade, Droga5. We also dive deep into Brad’s earlier roles at CKE and Jack in the Box, where he first developed his formula for success that he's been refining ever since. This includes strong agency partnerships across the full-funnel marketing activities and the importance of not losing sight of the upper funnel. And going back to the very beginning of what Brad said was key to success, “having the very best internal team you can have,” Brad shares with us what his internal organization looks like, his broad cross-functional responsibilities, and his dedication to fostering diverse and inclusive teams. As part of IHOP’s core values, Brad describes all the actions they take and what they measure to ensure they are living up to those values and how success is breeding success.

Andréa Mallard, CMO of Pinterest, and Lara Balazs, CMO of Intuit, came together for our second installment of People-powered Growth Fueled by Transformative Technology. Today’s episode is on Platform Amplification, and what better expert to have joined us than Andréa Mallard. Join us all as we dive deep into what’s working, what’s not and what's possible, including what it means to be “intellectually generous” with consumers. Both Intuit and Pinterest share similar missions, so you’ll hear what it is like to leverage platforms to deliver on purpose, inspiring and “creating the urge to act." Also, one of the coolest parts of the whole discussion for me personally, was a fascinating look at how campaigns can turn into multiple, individual sensory triggers and, hence, segmented and applied across different channels in different ways.

In looking at Alex Chang’s path to becoming CMO of the San Francisco 49ers, you could say he took a bit of a slant route (I’m slowly upping my football vocab!). His journey began when he decided to ditch his pre-med studies to explore healthcare consulting and then went on to American Express where he spent more than 13 years across various marketing functions. So what brought him to take the marketing helm at the 49ers? The opportunity to transform brand strategy, engage new audiences and rebuild the marketing organization from the ground up. And that’s exactly what Alex and his team are focused on today as they look to move away from a legacy campaign to a new, more future-focused brand positioning launching in April. Listen in to hear more about how Alex is thinking about captive engagement in today’s competitive experience economy.

I had the most fantastical experience recently, getting to ring the closing bell at Nasdaq for the 100th episode of CMO Moves. It was an honor and a privilege, I never in a million years would have thought could happen. And I couldn’t thank Jeremy Skule, CMO of Nasdaq, and his entire team more for their support of what CMO Moves is all about, which is directly in line with their mission. It’s about celebrating great leaders, great moments, great businesses, and it goes way beyond a bell. Join us in this exciting behind the scenes look at Nasdaq, and how Jeremy is shape-shifting perceptions away from just solely an exchange to a technology and analytics company.

Today, we are celebrating. It’s the 100th episode of CMO Moves and I couldn’t be more excited to share this moment with you. I recently put out a call on social and through our newsletter to find out which episodes most resonated with our listeners and why–and in this special episode, we recap the 99 episodes to-date through listeners’ favorite moments. This was no easy feat, as almost every episode has touched so many people in different ways, but I did my best to bring you some of the most special moments and a few behind-the-scenes stories of my own. For more from this episode and the latest from the series, visit adweek.com/cmomoves

Fresh off her GRAMMY week hosting musical artists in the Citi Sound Vault at the Hollywood Palladium, Jennifer Breithaupt, Global Consumer CMO of Citi, and I got a chance to talk about her role and the exciting things she’s working on across the industry. As a global leader, Jennifer has the opportunity and responsibility to have a global impact. Last March, Jennifer teamed up with the ANA to launch #SeeHerHearHer that brings together other global brands and leading artists to provide opportunities for women across the music industry. Join us in this fascinating deep dive behind the scenes of the music industry and how Jennifer leads her team at Citi. Hear her tips on how to hire and her recipe for leadership. Plus, find out what Jennifer doesn’t do because she’s “seen the end of that movie.” For more from this episode and the latest from the series, visit adweek.com/cmomoves

When I sat down with Vineet Mehra at Brandweek last year, we dove into the changing role of the CMO. In particular, Vineet shared with us “The 5 Mantras for the Modern CMO” that he’s been working on since he took on his new role as Global CMO of Walgreens Boots Alliance one year ago, having previously served as CMO of Ancestry.com. Join us in this deeper dive into Vineet’s current world, leading global marketing for a $130 billion business with more than 440,000 employees, nearly 19,000 stores across 11 countries and a wholesale business that distributes to more than 240,000 pharmacies. Find out what these five mantras are and how Vineet and his team of four CMOs are redesigning the future of marketing and what it means to be a modern CMO. For highlights from this episode and the latest from the series, visit adweek.com/cmomoves

To kick off my new year, I took a little trip south of San Francisco to visit with Taj Alavi, Global Head of Brand at Uber and former Head of Brand for Instagram and Intuit. What was supposed to be an hour breakfast turned into a three-hour fascinating journey with Taj. We talked about everything from how she got to lead Global Brand for one of the biggest companies in the world to how she juggled her full family life to her tips for balancing being direct and being nice. We also touched on the impact of her Iranian culture in how she approached her role as a business leader, and what she had to change to finally “own her informed voice” unapologetically. Tune in to hear Taj’s incredible journey and how her life motto of “build, not break” reminds us all that we are part of a bigger story.

Have you ever wondered how a certain someone gets on the cover of a major publication? Or how speakers are selected for events? Or what a hot newsroom decides to focus in on? Well, today we dive deep with Adweek's editorial co-leaders, Lisa Granatstein and Stephanie Paterik, to hear what they found truly unique this year and what they are looking forward to in 2020. Tune in to hear about some of the most notable moments of 2019, including Chrissy Teigen’s Brand Genius Award, a private home tour with Swizz Beatz, what’s happening with Privacy Laws and Customer Experience. And don’t miss what’s on everyone’s mind for 2020 with the shifting trends and possible death of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC). Wait, what?

Bozoma (Boz) Saint John, CMO of Endeavor (aka @badassboz) has had an exciting career leading brands like Uber, Apple Music, Pepsi and now Endeavor. In this episode, we dive deep into her unique superpowers– which sit squarely amidst the magic of pop culture– and how she added skills along the way to help her do “the full job.” Despite creativity being her leading strength, Boz has leaned into “the math” to underscore her achievements. A skill, she says, she was criticized for not mastering early on in her career. Find out what Boz is up to now at Endeavor from movie stars to athletes to brands to Miss Universe and Professional Bull Riders. This episode is filled with heart, excitement and great life advice. As Boz shares her experience of losing her husband at such a young age, she reminds us all to live life urgently. She describes her own life as a campfire, where you need lots of different kinds of logs to really make the fire blaze. There is no denying, she’s on fire in the best way.

Deborah Wahl, Global CMO of General Motors, has always been paving new roads in every role she has ever taken on - Ford, Mazda, Toyota, Chrysler, McDonald's. In her latest role as Global CMO of GM, Deborah shares how she and CEO, Mary Barra, are pursuing a vision of “a world of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.” As an expert CMO who has led so many exciting companies, Deborah and I dive deep into the role of the CMO and the confusion in the industry around the role. Unequivocally, Deborah notes, the role of the CMO is to drive growth. Despite the rapidly changing landscape, Deborah goes on to discuss how the objectives of marketing haven’t changed, but how you get there has. And in her mind, it is time to bust some myths around the aptitude of marketers everywhere. Tune in to hear more from Deborah on these essential topics.

Musa Tariq. What can I say about him that most of you don’t already know? He’s wicked smart, super creative and incredibly thoughtful in his role and as a mentor to many. Oh, yes - and he wears awesome shoes as evidenced by the countless tweets and posts on his fire kicks from the Brandweek mainstage. In his last episode of CMO Moves in June 2018, Musa was on a mission to find his personal North Star, leaving Ford as the youngest Chief Brand Officer ever. In this episode, we dive into his inspiring career journey, what he learned from his prior roles that refined his thinking and the advice he has to marketers everywhere. See more, including Musa's cant-miss playbook from this episode at www.adweek.com/cmomoves