The CMO Podcast

This week, Jim welcomes a guest who gave him some very good advice. When Reagan Greene met Jim at the Kellogg Marketing Leadership Summit last May, she told him, “You need more healthcare leaders on the podcast.” So, naturally, he invited her on. Reagan is Vice President of Marketing and Experience at Blue Cross of Idaho, the state’s largest health insurer and an independent member of the Blue Cro...

What happens when the very definition of “workplace” changes almost overnight? This week, Jim sits down with Benji Baer, Chief Marketing Officer of CBRE, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate and investment services companies. Operating in more than 100 countries, CBRE helps companies and investors buy, sell, lease, finance and manage everything from office towers and logistics centers...

What turns a celebrity endorsement into genuine advocacy? Jim is joined by Daymond John, founder and CEO of FUBU, founder of The Shark Group, and one of the original investors on ABC's Shark Tank, alongside Karen Spaeth, Chief Marketing Officer of Starkey. Karen has spent more than 16 years at Starkey, leading across events, communications, customer experience, and global marketing before becoming...

How do you take a brand that inspires extraordinary loyalty on the inside and make the rest of the world understand why it matters? That’s the challenge Ethan Braden took on when he became Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Texas A&M University three years ago. Texas A&M was already one of the largest and most influential universities in the country, with gene...

What happens when technology moves faster than our ability to understand its impact? Our final episode captured during the Cannes Festival, Jim sits down with Jacqueline Corbelli, Founder and CEO of BrightLine, for a conversation that begins with the future of connected television and expands into a much broader discussion about AI, leadership, purpose, and human wisdom. Jacqueline is one of the e...

What does it take to market some of the world's most iconic brands? Recorded live during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Jim sits down with Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo Beverages U.S., to explore how one of the world's largest marketers continues to reinvent brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Starbucks Ready-to-Drink, Lipton, and poppi in an era d...

As people take greater ownership of their health, the role of brands is changing. Recorded live at the Havas Café during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this conversation explores how marketing can help people live healthier, longer, and more fulfilling lives. Jim is joined by: Yvonne Bryant, Hemoglobinopathies Commercialization Head at Novo Nordisk, whose career has spanned...

What makes someone fall in love with a brand? Recorded during the Cannes Lions Festival, Jim brings together three leaders who are redefining what it means to build brands people genuinely want to be part of. Joining the conversation are… Kelly Mahoney, Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta Beauty Mitchell Halliday, founder of Made by Mitchell; Durana Elmi, Founder, Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Exp...

"Creativity is all about creating desire." So what makes people truly desire a brand? This week, we're back at the Havas Café for the second of our three-part series exploring Creating Desire. This conversation focuses on one of the most powerful drivers of all: creativity. Jim is joined by: Ryan Dullea, Chief Growth Officer at Reckitt Jennie Weber, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Best Buy Matth...

F resh off one of the biggest sporting events in the world, Sean Summers, our guest this week, joins Jim after experiencing the FIFA World Cup from two unique perspectives: as a lifelong football fan from Argentina and as the Chief Marketing Officer of Mercado Libre, an official tournament partner.  Mercado Libre has grown from an online marketplace into Latin America's leading ecommerce and...

Six Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles racing around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It may sound like a publicity stunt, but for Todd Kaplan, it was something much bigger: a reminder that great marketing should surprise people, spark conversation, and create joy. This week, Jim welcomes Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer of Kraft Heinz North America. Since joining Kraft Heinz in 2024 after nearly two d...

Some marketing ideas capture attention for a moment. The very best ones become part of culture. And you could say...that's priceless. Recorded live at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Jim sits down with Jill Kramer, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, to discuss what it's like to lead one of the world's most iconic brands. Mastercard, known globally for...

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 rebuil...

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 e...

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 o...

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 tha...

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 lat...

  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 Franc...

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 enter...

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 co...

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...

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 Creati...

What does it take to transform a legacy brand and yourself as a leader at the same time? To celebrate the launch of the streaming series on Hulu, Designed to Last, Jim welcomes Sherina Smith, Enterprise Chief Marketing Officer at American Family Insurance. Founded nearly a century ago in Madison, Wisconsin, American Family, or AMFAM, has grown into one of the largest mutual insurers in the United...

This week, about 5.5 thousand marketers from 44 countries and 800 brands are convening in Miami for one of the fastest rising gatherings in our industry, and Jim’s guest is the entrepreneur behind it all. Jim welcomes Christian Muche, Global President and Co-Founder of POSSIBLE. Christian began his career as an accountant before discovering marketing, with time at early internet pioneers AOL and Y...

What does it take to turn a simple drink into a global cultural phenomenon? This week Jim welcomes Allison Varone, the Head of Marketing at Campari America, to unpack the strategy behind one of the most impressive modern brand growth stories. From the rise of Aperol Spritz to the expansion of non-alcoholic options, the Campari Group has become one of the world’s leading spirits companies, with a p...