Marketing Vanguard

Podcasting live from the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Karin Timpone, CEO and Founder of ClearPrompt, unpacks how to implement AI with focused, phased approaches rather than sweeping transformations and staying in the center of business strategy. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than ever before, CMOs belong in the C-Suite. And, Sumit Virmani, CMO of Infosys, has a strong case to back this stance up. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, live from the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Sumit breaks down the necessary evolution of the CMO, what AI has to do with it, and the strategic imperative of aligning with C-suite priorities. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CMOs can drive business revenue - this is an established fact. But how can they do it better, bigger, and stronger in the age of AI? We’re unpacking this in the latest episode of Marketing Vanguard, live from the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos. Tune in as Emma Chalwin, CMO at Workday, breaks down the evolving strategic role of CMOs at major enterprises, the intersection of AI and human-centered marketing, and how chief marketing officers can become essential drivers of business growth. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI has long been thought of as a threat to creativity. But what if they’re not at odds at all? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, CMO of Adobe Enterprise, Rachel Thornton, reveals why putting human creativity at the center of marketing strategy is more critical than ever and how CMOs should be navigating this tectonic shift. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI has permeated every conversation since 2024, but CMOs have yet to use it to its full potential. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, live from the World Economic Forum at Davos, Bonnie Pelosi, CEO EMEA at Microsoft, reveals the truth about AI in marketing - what’s going right, what’s going wrong, and everything in between. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s tech-driven world, tech marketers cannot afford to lose sight of client trust. And yet, they do. On this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast, President and CMO of Salesforce, Ariel Kelman, reveals why customer success storytelling matters more than ever, how to ground AI in trusted first-party data, and the key strategies for balancing AI automation with human creativity. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does one keep a 100-year-old brand relevant in today’s turbulent times of marketing and consumption? The full picture reveals itself in this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast as Laura Knebusch, SVP of CPG Marketing and CX at Georgia-Pacific, breaks down what it takes to keep a heritage brand alive and thriving. From how century-old heritage brands like Brawny, Angel Soft, and Dixie evolve without alienating loyal consumers to how a classically trained marketer navigates AI, retail transformation, and cultural moments in real time, this conversation proves that adaptability and agility aren’t just possible; it’s crucial to the success and growth of your brand. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creative scrappiness can take brands where no one else has ever gone before - that’s BodyArmor’s story and we’re diving deep into it on the latest episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast. Tune in as the brand’s CMO, Tom Gargiulo, opens up the pages of his playbook on succeeding as a challenger brand. From how to build winning athlete partnerships and leverage unconventional media channels for outsized ROI to executing a brand rebirth that resonates with both consumers and retail partners, this conversation is packed with actionable insights on punching above your weight in the CPG space and coming out on top. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brand marketing is getting its time to shine in the latest episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast as we sit down with Caryn Wasser, Chief Brand Officer at Little Spoon. Tune in for an energizing conversation on how a brand drives growth and revenue and why its place in scaling a business should never be underestimated. Plus: exclusive insights on how she built a $150M+ brand from a windowless WeWork room to become the largest online baby and kids food company in the U.S. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast, we welcome Kirsten Spittel-Sloan, SVP, Marketing at iFit, for an eye-opening chat on what it takes to succeed in the fitness tech space today. Listen in for Kirsten’s playbook on how marketing leaders can navigate rapid technological change, build adaptive teams and balance analytical rigor with authentic brand narratives in an increasingly complex marketplace. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast, we welcome John Solomon, CMO at Therabody, for a revealing conversation on transforming a single-product company into a diversified wellness ecosystem through marketing. Listen in for John’s tried-and-tested strategic frameworks that have enabled Therabody to expand while maintaining brand integrity and consumer trust. This conversation emphasizes the importance of investing in a differentiating asset that makes your brand a stand-out in its segment. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, we sit down with Jennie Weber, Chief Marketing Officer at Best Buy to talk about all things iconic. From the non-linear approach it takes to build a legacy brand to the critical importance of adaptability and resilience in marketing teams today, Jennie breaks down the strategies that have helped her and her team at Best Buy stay ahead of the curve (and stand the test of time). Tune in for actionable insights on weathering one of retail’s most dynamic periods. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Llibert Argerich, Chief Marketing Officer at Thumbtack, joins this week’s episode of Marketing Vanguard to rewrite the narrative of the marketing function - from cost centre to profit driver. Tune in to explore ROI-driven strategies that marketers can and must use, why local market strategy outperforms national campaigns for fragmented industries, and how AI is transforming customer-to-pro matching at scale. Backed by rich experience, Llibert offers actionable frameworks for driving measurable growth without breaking the bank. If you’re looking to do more with less and transform your marketing team into a business enabler, this conversation is for you. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kristen Lauria, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Wheels Up, joins this episode of Marketing Vanguard to explore the evolution of luxury travel marketing and brand transformation. From her unique journey from aerospace engineering to marketing leadership, Kristen shares insights on pivoting brands toward growth, building trust with high-net-worth clients, and creating exceptional customer experiences. As it stands, Wheels Up is revolutionizing private aviation through innovative membership models, strategic partnerships, and its marketing team has everything to do with it. This conversation serves as a critical reminder of a good marketer’s core responsibility: translating complex business ideas into powerful customer value. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sumit Virmani, Global CMO of Infosys, joins this episode of Marketing Vanguard to explore the evolving landscape of B2B marketing, the transformative impact of AI, and the delicate balance between art and science in modern marketing. As an “accidental marketer”, he brings unique strategic insights on building emotional connections in B2B, responsible AI adoption, and staying ahead of technological disruption. In this conversation, he shines a light on Infosys’ journey to becoming a $19B global tech brand and what the marketing team has to do with growth. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Unlock the full potential of influencer marketing. Visit awin.link/adweek to start building high-impact partnerships today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast. Today, Jenny Rooney speaks with Ethan Braden, Chief Marketing Officer at Texas A&M University, about building one of America’s most consequential higher-education brands. Ethan shares how his journey from Eli Lilly to Purdue University to Texas A&M shaped his approach to leadership, storytelling, and reputation management in complex institutions. He discusses how to balance tradition and innovation, why universities must think like modern brands, and how collaborations, from NASCAR to Dude Perfect, can open new doors for engagement and national relevance. This conversation is a masterclass in brand building that applies far beyond academia. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast. Today, Jenny Rooney speaks with Doug Zarkin, CMO of Take 5 Oil Change and author of "Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone." In this compelling conversation, Doug shares how he's transforming a commodity category into an emotional brand experience through people-first leadership. Doug's career spans from the agency world at Saatchi & Saatchi and Grey to client-side roles at Avon Products and Victoria's Secret PINK. Most notably, he spent eleven years as CMO at Pearle Vision, an unusually long tenure, where he led a complete brand transformation that resulted in the company topping Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. Now, as the first-ever CMO for Take Five Oil Change, Doug is applying his proven "people, process, progress, profitability" framework to elevate a challenger brand in the oil change category. What You'll Learn: Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alon Rivel, CMO of Feast & Fettle, discusses the Northeast meal delivery company's contrarian approach to growth with Marketing Vanguard’s host Jenny Rooney. With his unconventional background spanning TV media buying, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and B2C tech startups, he brings a unique perspective to building authentic brands. The conversation explores how Feast & Fettle differentiates by focusing on time as currency rather than trendy diets or speed. Their approach combines locally-sourced ingredients with hospitality-first service and community building. What You'll Learn: Alon Rivel serves as the first CMO at Feast & Fettle, where he's spent just over a year transforming their marketing approach. Previously, he worked across TV media buying, digital marketing for B2C apps, and various tech startups. He brings experience from The New York Times, Bloomberg, and multiple venture-backed companies in the dating and on-demand service sectors. Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? Awin helps brands harness this potential with tailored influencer management solutions that drive measurable results. Whether you're looking to grow your creator roster, foster long-term relationships, or track full-funnel performance, Awin’s expertise and platform integrations make it easy to scale campaigns and optimize impact. With partnerships across CreatorIQ, LTK, ShopMy, and more, brands gain access to powerful discovery tools and seamless tracking capabilities, ensuring transparency and efficiency at every stage. Here’s how brands can maximize their influencer marketing: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast. Today, Jenny Rooney speaks with Marisa Thalberg, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Catalyst Brands, in a candid conversation about leadership, risk-taking, and brand transformation in retail marketing. Marisa discusses her career journey across diverse industries - from Estée Lauder and Taco Bell to Lowe's, SeaWorld, and now JCPenney. She opens up about learning from failures, dealing with short tenures, and why marketers must take calculated risks. The conversation explores her current role transforming JCPenney and the broader Catalyst Brands portfolio, which includes Brooks Brothers, Aeropostale, Lucky Brand, Nautica, and Eddie Bauer. What You'll Learn: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.