The CMO Podcast

More and more CMOs are ascending to the CEO role. Starbucks, Hinge, Revlon, Avon, and Brinker International are all companies that have elevated former CMOs to CEO.Joining Jim this week is a guest who joins that group. Diana Haussling is the Chief Executive Officer of hello, the bold, happy, design-forward oral care brand. Founded in 2012 by Craig Dubitsky with the goal of being a “friendly” alternative in the market, hello was acquired by Colgate in early 2020 for a reported $351 million. Today, hello products are found in over 55,000 retail stores across the U.S.Before stepping into the CEO role, Diana served for four years as Chief Marketing Officer for North America at Colgate, where she led Marketing, Digital Commerce, and Direct-to-Consumer. Her career also includes roles at three other Fortune 500 companies: Campbell’s, General Mills, and The Hershey Company.Tune in for a conversation with a leader who speaks candidly about insecurity, ambition, and why learning to talk about your strengths isn’t bragging, but necessary.—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/ccs Promo Code for $150 off ticket prices: CMOPODCCS26—This week's episode is brought to you by IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it take to build a brand that cuts through the noise in a world where most people are trying to ignore you?Jim’s guest this week is Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, Chief Marketing Officer at DoorDash, who has spent the last seven years helping transform the company from a restaurant delivery app into a multi-category commerce platform with over $14 billion in revenue and more than 3.2 billion orders in 2025. Today, DoorDash is one of the most recognizable brands in tech, with ambitions to become a “24/7 life assistant” for its customers.Kofi joined DoorDash in 2019 as VP of Marketing before being promoted to the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer in 2022. In this role, he oversees marketing across consumers, merchants, and Dashers. Born in Ghana, Kofi came to the U.S. for college in Minnesota, where, as he says, he stumbled into marketing. He began his career at Leo Burnett, then worked at Wieden+Kennedy and Publicis, before moving to the brand side with Bacardi and Facebook.After the recording, Kofi announced that he will be stepping down from his role at DoorDash in May, marking the end of an impactful chapter helping shape one of the most recognizable brands in tech and commerce.Tune in for a conversation on risk, leadership, and building work that actually gets noticed.—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/newfrontsPromo Code for free access: CMOPODNEW26*Note: promo code is exclusive for brand and agency, brand marketers and media buyers. IAB reserves the right to cancel any registrations that don’t meet this criterion. —This week's episode is brought to you by IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing and Commercial Partnerships at TikTok and longtime advertising leader, discusses building TikTok’s marketing business and leading through hypergrowth. She talks about connecting culture and creativity to business, why marketers should think like creators, managing org change, and the evolving role of CMOs in a fast-moving landscape.

To kick off Women’s History Month, Jim welcomes Lara Balazs, the Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Global Marketing at Adobe. A company at the center of creativity, transformation and technology. Founded in 1982, Adobe is a software company that is famous for its creativity, innovation, and strong employee and customer-centric culture. Their purpose is to change the world through personalized digital experiences, and their offerings include the Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Adobe Express.Lara is an experienced CMO. Before Adobe, Lara was the CMO at Intuit for six years, and oversaw a strong run, tripling revenue during her tenure. Over the course of her career, Lara has worked at Visa,  Nike, Amazon, and Gap. At Adobe, Lara is leading the charge to help shape the iconic company into its next era of growth. Just one year into the role, she’s already refreshed the company’s mission to “empower everyone to create” and is leading one of the most ambitious AI-enabled marketing transformations in the industry.Tune in for a conversation with a leader who believes we are entering the golden age of creativity…—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/ccs Promo Code for $150 off ticket prices: CMOPODCCS26—This week's episode is brought to you by IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it take to revitalize a 150-year-old company? Jim’s guest this week, Conny Kalcher, has done it twice. First at LEGO during its historic turnaround, and now at Zurich Insurance as their Group Chief Customer Officer, where she’s proving that empathy is not a soft skill but a strategic advantage. Conny spent 33 years at LEGO, where she helped navigate one of the most dramatic brand turnarounds in modern business history. Then in 2019, she joined Zurich Insurance, a company with over 200-country reach and a $100 billion market capitalization, to lead global customer loyalty and advocacy at a time when trust and humanity matter more than ever. And since joining, Conny has helped drive millions of new customers, a 35% increase in brand value, and measurable improvements in satisfaction and retention.This is a conversation about renewing legacy brands, leading cultural transformation, and proving that empathy is not just good for people, it’s good for business.—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/newfrontsPromo Code for free access: CMOPODNEW26*Note: promo code is exclusive for brand and agency, brand marketers and media buyers. IAB reserves the right to cancel any registrations that don’t meet this criterion. —This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ahmed “Meddy” Iqbal, Cadillac F1 marketing lead known for bold experiential reveals. Gail Horwood, Novartis marketing and CX chief focused on behavior-change campaigns. Gary Vaynerchuk, entrepreneur and social marketing strategist. They discuss Super Bowl activations, experiential production as content factories, celebrity use versus brand recall, social surround strategies, and turning momentary attention into lasting momentum.

Daniel Shin Un Kang, Expedia’s head of organic and agentic search, helping reshape AI-powered travel discovery. James Cadwallader, CEO of Profound, building tools for brands to compete in AI-driven search. They discuss AI answer engines, measuring visibility for machines, marketing for bots, persona prompting, and how CMOs should prepare for AI-led search and generative ads.

In the first month of 2026, many leaders are recommitting to being more consumer-centric and more human — inside their organizations and in the market. This episode of The CMO Podcast is designed to help you do exactly that.Jim Stengel hosts a roundtable discussion around the book The Consumer Insights Revolution: Transforming Market Research for Competitive Advantage, which chronicles PepsiCo’s multi-year transformation of its insights and analytics function.Joined by Steve Phillips (Zappi), Nataly Kelly (Zappi CMO), Katherine Melchior Ray (brand leader at Nike, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hyatt, and more), and Stephan Gans (Chief Consumer Insights & Analytics Officer, PepsiCo), this conversation explores how organizations move from slow, fragmented research to connected learning systems that drive faster, smarter decisions.---Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/alm Promo Code for $500 of ticket prices: ALMCMOPOD26---The CMO Podcast is a vYve Production.This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and the IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the NFL season in full swing and the Super Bowl just weeks away, Jim sits down with Tim Ellis, Chief Marketing Officer of the National Football League, for a timely conversation about leading one of the most powerful brands in the world. Recorded live at the ANA Masters of Marketing in Orlando, this episode explores how the NFL continues to evolve beyond the game itself into a cultural force that brings people together. Since joining the league in 2018, Tim has helped reshape how the NFL shows up — making it more human, more inclusive, and more connected to fans across generations and communities.Tune in for a conversation around creativity, courage, and what it takes to steward a brand that means so much to so many.---Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/almPromo Code for $500 of ticket prices: ALMCMOPOD26---The CMO Podcast is a vYve Production.This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte, TransUnion and the IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The auto industry is changing faster than ever, yet cars remain deeply personal, symbols of freedom, connection, and possibility. Few companies embody that spirit like General Motors, a brand that has shaped culture for more than a century and is now leading the charge toward an electric and connected future.Jim’s guest this week is Norm de Greve, Chief Growth Officer of General Motors. GM is, of course, home to iconic brands like Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. It is a $77 billion revenue powerhouse driving innovation across combustion, electric, and autonomous vehicles.Norm brings a rare combination of creativity, purpose, and business discipline to one of the world’s most iconic companies. Before joining GM in 2023, he spent nearly a decade as CMO of CVS Health, helping transform the company into a purpose-driven healthcare leader.So buckle up and tune in for a conversation with a marketing leader who believes in leading with high expectations and kindness.Captured live at the ANA Masters of Marketing, in partnership with TransUnion.---Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/almPromo Code for $500 of ticket prices: ALMCMOPOD26---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte, TransUnion and the IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.