Soul & Science: Fast Forward Your Marketing Mind

CAULIPOWER, the first to-market, cauliflower-crust frozen pizza is a major player in the growing “good for you” food category. Chief Marketing and Growth Officer Stuart Smith joined the nascent company in 2019, which was founded by his wife, Gail Becker. After baking countless cauliflower pizzas from scratch for their children, Gail noticed the need for a quality frozen cauliflower pizza. The bran...

Tero Isokauppila grew up in a fairy-tale setting on land his ancestors settled on 13 generations ago in Finland. The family farm forms the roots of his company, Four Sigmatic, a highly functional foods business that helps people focus, gain energy and relax. But this Finnish nomad strayed far from home to build it. Through careers in consulting and online marketing, across continents, Isokauppila...

Shira Feuer is the CMO of Trinny London, the social-media driven beauty brand founded by entrepreneur, CEO, and style icon Trinny Woodall that generated $72m by December 2021. For the last four years, Feuer has helped build the global brand and its passionate following, the Trinny Tribe, overseeing revenue growth, customer acquisition and retention, brand and product marketing and prolific, highly...

In a special live recording from New York’s Advertising Week, the week’s episode features Shake Shack CMO Jay Livingston. Livingston, who has held top marketing roles at Bank of America and BarkBox, is emulating Shake Shack’s foundational, high-low strategy of elevating basic fare and democratizing fine dining on a national and global scale. It was a pattern set by founder, New York City restaurat...

There’s an alchemy to relationships, including the ones between co-founders. David Lester, co-founder at good-for-you-soda company, OLIPOP, first heard about his future business partner, Ben Goodwin, while he was quitting his 10-year job at global beverage giant Diageo. His then boss thought they’d work well together. The first meeting between entrepreneurs was memorable as Ben showed up with a ba...

Shoestring marketing budgets are common at startups and create an environment of innovation. Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at the water brand Liquid Death jokes he was given a $0 initial ad budget to launch. He knew the name, along with the arresting skull-festooned cans, would have to do most of the talking. When the marketing money began to flow, Liquid Death bought Tony Hawk’s blood and his soul...

Everette Taylor, the CMO of the online art-collector’s marketplace, Artsy, is “just a kid from the hood,” which is not the typical profile of a global art dealer. His fast-track career is not based on connections but on something far more valuable–inner drive, creative risk-taking and listening to mom. Taylor grew up in a neighborhood where many were trapped by a cycle of street life, drugs and pr...

The creator economy has been valued at $100 billion, so it is easy to forget that a decade ago, it was dismissed by many as people listening to themselves talk on YouTube. Jim Louderback recognized what video technology and expression could become. He helped build VidCon, the professional conference and fan fest, into global preeminence and now chronicles it all through his weekly newsletter, Insi...

Is Selena Gomez the next beauty billionaire, gliding along a path set by Rihanna, Kim and Kylie? That’s what Skinnygirl mogul turned TikTok beauty influencer, Bethenny Frankel, believes. Katie Welch, CMO at Gomez’s Rare Beauty, is helping build the brand along a purpose-driven platform that welcomes all and supports good mental health. Welch, who has marketed Bliss, Burt’s Bees and Hourglass Cosme...

As CMO of Proximo Spirits, Lander Otegui markets a host of spirits, including Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Boodles British Gin. But the most renowned brand under Otegui’s watch, legendarily comes from Mexico. Jose Cuervo is the world’s No. 1 tequila, and the first tequila brand on Earth. Now, it’s also the first tequila distillery in the metaverse. It’s one way Cuervo remains relevant with consumer...

New Balance is not only “the shoe brand of choice for film stars, athletes and supermodels,” according to Urban Journal, it’s the brand for “the biggest, hype-inducing names on the street right now.” As CMO of the hotly resurgent brand, which was born in 1906, Chris Davis applies a risk/innovation model which puts 50% of the marketing budget into proven, demand-creation tactics, 30% into calculate...

Growing up, Ricky Engelberg loved both computers and playing baseball. While your basic 1990s high schooler would say the two sit on opposite sides of the cafeteria, it was the perfect mix for Nike, where Engelberg worked for almost 20 years after college. There at the dawn of the internet era, Engelberg helped Nike create digital products for athletes and sneakerheads alike, including Nike Plus R...

We’ve had a blast talking to some of the marketing world’s most brilliant minds here on Soul & Science. Instead of a new episode this week, we’ve compiled some of our favorite Soul & Science insights from the last 14 weeks. Thank you to all of the insightful guests for sharing your knowledge with us. We have a lot more exciting interviews coming up. Listen to Soul & Science, and fast forward your...

Is success as seemingly simple as putting one foot in front of the other? Sam Parr, founder of The Hustle, one of the fastest-growing media companies, focusing on millennials, tech and culture, fueled his rise by curiosity, action and googling. Segueing from helping “American Pickers” Mike Wolfe set up a Nashville store to running a hot dog stand to feed the fans, Sam googled how to start an inter...

Bonin Bough’s first flare of marketing genius came at the age of 12, when the executive who would later set the pace for big brands entering online and social channels, launched a magazine in the NYC Public Schools. In college, the physics major built websites for brands, and one millennium-era internet party later, he joked, the vodka fountain and shrimp boat steered him into a marketing career....

My guest on the pod this week, Josh Taekman is the Founder & CEO of the functional wellness brand, EBOOST. Inspired by hip-hop, Josh’s career started in the mailroom at Bad Boy Entertainment where he learned that you “eat what you kill” and hustled to start his own agency. Eventually, he saw a space for a functional wellness product that spoke to the pop culture audience. EBOOST, was born as a wel...

My guest on the pod this week, Jeff Jenkins, is CMO of Carter’s. He has one of those serendipitous career journeys that started when he was a 16-year-old tennis player coming home from a trip to Europe obsessed with this band, Ace of Base. As a young actor in New York, appearing on “Star Trek '' and in soap operas, he tempted in between at MTV and this sync with popular culture led to a stellar ca...

Water with a hint of flavor but not of sugar was the simple but genius concept behind Hint Water. Founder Kara Goldin joins the pod today to tell us about a 17-year entrepreneur’s journey that has had her staring down category captains at retail, telling DTC brand stories and making the correlation between larger bottle openings and sales. Her acumen has brought accolades from Fortune–she’s both a...

As a former senior executive at Starbucks, Aimee Johnson knows a thing or two about customer experience. While waiting in line was part of the community experience for some, the Starbucks’ app was also a critical timesaver for others. Aimee had to convince leaders at the democratized brand that tech could also have heart. In her most recent role as CMO of the Zillow Group, Aimee juggled how to bui...

GE CMO Linda Boff joins the pod this week to tell us about achieving success through reinvention. Through her career, including 18 years at GE, Linda has continually revitalized both career and company through practicing a restart mindset, knowing the difference between being recognized and being relevant and tapping into the innovation and marketing chops of Thomas Edison. Linda has one of the bi...

World 50 CEO David Wilkie joins the pod this week to share insights on his exclusive company, discuss the power of peer networks, and how alignment of purpose, trust, curiosity, and diversity of thought promote growth. As CEO of World 50, David is responsible for the strategic direction, growth and development of the company. David joined the company 17 years ago, and has been CEO of World 50 for...

LendingTree Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer Shiv Singh joins Jason this week to discuss how he's harnessing the power of trust in our post-trust world. Shiv joined LendingTree in January 2022 from The Expedia Group, where he served as SVP and General Manager for the world-class travel brand, charged with driving brand loyalty and long-term customer value amid the coronavirus pandemic...

Comic Relief CEO Alison Moore joins Jason this week to discuss how she moved from a profession to a purpose, how she effectively markets a mission, and how Comic Relief is using entertainment to make positive change in the world. Alison Moore is a media and tech industry veteran who is bridging the worlds of entertainment, social change, storytelling, and fundraising to break the cycles that perpe...

eos CMO Soyoung Kang joins Jason this week to discuss how taking calculated risks can increase ROI.Soyoung Kang is the Chief Marketing Officer at eos Products, the iconic beauty brand that has sold nearly a billion lip balms worldwide. Since joining eos as CMO, Soyoung has completed a total reboot of the brand identity, from resetting creative and strategic vision, to dramatically expanding the ca...

Indeed CMO Jessica Jensen comes on the pod to discuss the future of work, the importance of change and adaptation, and how Indeed is reframing "The Great Resignation" as "The Great Realization."As the Chief Marketing Officer at Indeed, Jessica Jensen is responsible for Brand, Communication, Product, Acquisition, and Experience Marketing globally. Jessica has led high-performance teams at the world...