Brandweek 2025: Build-A-Bear’s CEO, Sharon Price John on Claiming Your Place, Being a CEO and More

From $0 confidence to CEO of one of the most well-known brands in the world, Sharon Price John’s story is nothing short of inspiring and we’re unpacking it on the latest episode of Marketing Vanguard. In this conversation, straight from the Brandweek 2025 stage in Atlanta, Sharon, CEO of Build-A-Bear, reveals her unconventional career journey and how that evolution directly shaped the turnaround and reimagining of an iconic experiential brand.

What You'll Learn:

• How to transition from functional expertise to CEO-level thinking
• Why CMOs must adopt a "business-first" mindset to advance
• The confidence gap that holds high-potential women back from applying for stretch roles
• How to unlock brand equity by understanding feeling over function
• The critical role of authentic leadership in driving organizational transformation
• How to pivot a single-location retail concept into an IP-driven, multi-vertical business

In an era where the marketing playbook is being rewritten daily, how can brands stay ahead? Joshua Spanier, Google’s VP of AI and Marketing Strategy, pulls back the curtain in “Frontier CMO,” his new podcast and weekly insights letter featuring the marketers, thought leaders, and industry pioneers who are reinventing marketing.

Josh previews the tough questions and unfiltered conversations featured on Frontier CMO, including:

• AI as a leadership test: exploring the "human" side of the AI revolution. As technology and tools advance the challenge becomes equipping marketing teams to leverage these technologies
• Brand relevance and connection: writing the next playbook for brand relevance by showing up as a main character in the places and spaces that connect with your audience
• Agentic Commerce: understanding the transition from "speed vs. certainty" to a world where shopping is fast and smart
• The new marketing organization: knowing where AI makes work faster and smarter and restructuring teams to keep up. Redefining agency partnerships to elevate insights and creativity in real time

Each episode of Frontier CMO features tactical, practical steps all leaders can take to navigate the future of marketing. Find it wherever you get your podcasts: YouTube | Apple | Spotify

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