Marketing Today with Alan Hart

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Bill Beck , vice president of brand marketing at Whirlpool . In this podcast, they discuss the “Care Counts” campaign. In his conversation with Hart, Beck touches on the factors that combined to create Whirlpool's successful “Care Counts” campaign, but he also talked about...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, I spoke with Angela Gusse , marketing director for Pop-Tarts at The Kellogg Company. In this podcast, we discuss the “Pop-Tarts Soda-Mazing” campaign. During the conversation, Gusse talks about her definition of marketing success, which she breaks down quite simply: “For me, marketing is effective wh...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with George Felix , director of brand communications at KFC . In this podcast, they discuss KFC's “The Return of Colonel Sanders” campaign. Felix describes the North Star of the campaign as a return to what the brand stood for when it was great: Finger lickin' good chicken, red-and-white bu...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Jeff Wurtzel, senior brand manager at Mars/Wrigley, who oversees the Extra Gum brand. They discuss Extra Gum's “Unwrapping A Love Story” campaign — everything from the key insight, music choice, and the steps and surprises Wurtzel's team faced along the way. In the course of the...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Kristina Duncan who, as vice president for global marketing communications at Mattel, oversees all global branding, advertising, retail merchandising and digital creative for the Barbie brand. Duncan and Hart discuss the “Imagine the Possibilities” campaign, an effort that aimed to acc...

As Adobe 's head of travel and hospitality strategy, Julie Hoffmann leaves no stone — and certainly no piece of data — unturned. After spending 18 years in the Las Vegas trenches working for the likes of MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, Hoffmann now spends her time at Adobe elevating brands like Marriott, Southwest and Hyatt. Hoffmann possesses an unswerving belief...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Ryan Davis, global marketing communications director for Overwatch, a first-person shooter game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. In this podcast, Davis discusses the thinking behind the launch of Overwatch, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful game that debuted in May of last y...

As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Pete Carter who, as marketing director at Procter & Gamble, heads up the Pantene business. Carter talks in detail about Pantene's “#DadDo” campaign. The 2016 campaign was unveiled, somewhat unconventionally, leading up to and during Super Bowl 50 (the league eschewed the use of a R...

Kathleen Dunlop is global marketing director for the Unilever brand, Vaseline . In this week's “Marketing Today” podcast, she talks about “The Vaseline Healing Project,” a social-mission initiative created and developed in collaboration with BBH and the nonprofit organization, Direct Relief. That effort was recognized with a 2017 Effie Award in the Personal Care category.&n...

When it comes to CPG, Mike Senackerib 's marketing career has literally run the gamut from soup to nuts. After getting his start working on the Cool Whip brand, he worked on numerous soups and snack brands for Kraft General Foods, Campbell's Soup, and Nabisco. Later, he took a spin as CMO at Hertz before returning to Campbell's as their CMO.  But now he's made the leap: a startup. He's the co...

Joe Fullman has taken a self-described “eclectic” route to become head of marketing for The Onion and its other properties, including ClickHole and The A.V. Club, and overseeing other enterprises like the Onion Reach Network and Onion Labs. But perhaps most interestingly, it was his failure to get a job selling children's shoes that led to him where he is today. In talking about the su...

When Craig Rowley moved over to REI after 25 years on the agency side at creative shops like Carmichael Lynch, Borders Perrin Norrander, and Saatchi & Saatchi, he was already pretty familiar with them — he credits classes he took at REI with helping him summit Mount Rainier. For him, REI is the perfect fit: a purpose-driven brand that isn't all about the transaction. “Any company t...

Phil Clement is the global CMO for Aon, the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource solutions. He's a rare breed: he's been CMO at Aon for more than 12 years — a position with an average tenure of only 23 months. He attributes his longevity to utilizing a consultant's approach in getting people to buy in on ideas and projects and un...

From time to time, we'll be taking a step back to revisit some of our more interesting “Marketing Today” conversations. In this podcast, we hear from Steven Handmaker , CMO for Assurance , one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in the U.S.    Handmaker provides interesting and insightful takes on company culture, technology, and talent. And for him, culture is pa...

Clay Hausmann is the CMO for Aktana , a San Francisco-based company that uses data-driven insights to support life-science sales and marketing teams in providing physicians with the information they need.  Of great interest is Hausmann's marketing approach, which employs screenplay-writing concepts and methodologies to more effectively tell brand stories and develop brand strategies. It's an...

Josh London is the chief marketing officer for IDG , the world's largest tech media, data, and marketing services provider. In this podcast, he discusses what it takes to unify the brand for a worldwide company that reaches tech audiences in 97 countries, what he learned at an early internet startup in the ‘90s as well as during his time studying in Italy, and how authenticity is key when bu...

It makes all the sense in the world that U.S. Census Bureau CMO Jeff Meisel hails from the American heartland, part of a rural community of ranchers and farmers who count on being counted. More than that, Meisel exhibits a genuine affinity for and attachment to not only our country but data science, too. Which makes him a natural for his role as marketer-in-chief for the Census Bureau. Meisel star...

Mark Ritson is an adjunct professor at the Melbourne Business School in Australia, a columnist for Marketing Week, and a brand expert who has served as consultant for brands ranging from PepsiCo, Subaru, and Johnson & Johnson to Sephora, De Beers, and Donna Karan. In this podcast, Ritson discusses the decision by Adidas to pursue a digital-only strategy with their advertising, his take on prog...

Ryan Leslie is a Harvard graduate, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, a record producer, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of SuperPhone . The startup (still in beta development) allows artists, writers, marketers or entrepreneurs — anyone, really — to connect with their friends, followers or fans directly and independently in a completely new way. Leslie discusses just one facet of...

Carolyn Tisch Blodgett began her career working with established brands like American Express, Mountain Dew and the New York Giants before joining category — categories, really — disruptor Peloton , where she is the head of brand marketing. And she is quick to delineate how Peloton's hybrid nature creates an appeal that spans categories. “It's a beautifully designed piece of hard...

  Jan-Benedict (J.B.) Steenkamp is the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Professor and Area Chair of Marketing at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. A highly regarded expert in his field, he specializes in global marketing, branding, and emerging markets and strategy. In addition, he is the author of three books, the latest of which is titled “ Global Brand Strategy: World-wise Marketing...

Richard Socarides has been around the block: A partner with a New York City law firm. A White House special assistant during the Clinton administration, concentrating on civil rights, LGBT rights, criminal justice, and education. Media communications and marketing for Time Warner Inc., including a stint at New Line Cinema. And now, head of public affairs — which includes global marketing, co...

Andy Donkin joined Under Armour as CMO in August of 2016 after a five-year stint in brand and mass marketing at Amazon. In this podcast, Donkin touches on authenticity and how important it is for brands and marketers, especially in capturing the hearts and minds of younger consumers: “When you talk to kids who actually wear the brand, there's this belief that they can do anything. And we fue...

Diana O'Brien is the first-ever CMO at Deloitte . In that role, she believes she's lucky because she's been given responsibility for everything from traditional brand elements to clients, markets, sales, thought leadership, policy, and corporate citizenship, among other things. Basically, everything she “…needs to be successful.” She touches on many topics in the conversation, b...

Bob Hoffman is an “Ad Contrarian,” which is also the name of his popular and influential blog , and he's a best-selling author , advisor and sought-after speaker on advertising and marketing. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of two independent advertising agencies. So, needless to say, he knows his way around the block. In this podcast, Hoffman discusses his perspective on all things...