Forbes guide to being an influential CMO - Seth Matlins
Seth Matlins is the Managing Director of the Forbes Forbes CMO Network, where he oversees the annual Forbes World's Most Influential CMOs List, the Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO 50 List, the Forbes CMO Summit, the Forbes European CMO Summit, and an expanding marketing content portfolio. Seth is an award-winning marketer, who has spent a career in and advising the C-suite of dozens of the 100 most valuable brands globally.Timestamps00:00 - Intro00:45 - Seth’s new podcast02:58 - Why are there not enough CMOs becoming CEOs05:28 - Marketing needs much better marketing07:36 - Seth’s career history08:00 - Working jobs that have never existed before11:41 - Scars from being a failed entrepreneur13:24 - Making unexpected connections between fields18:23 - Why organisations need to trust their marketers20:26 - What makes a CMO influential26:29 - Everyone is a brand manager28:35 - How CMOs can be more influential35:13 - The world’s most entrepreneurial CMOs41:12 - What makes a CMO entrepreneurial46:22 - Doing a lot with little47:02 - What is changing for CMOs in 2025
Today Jon talks with Eugenia Zalis, CMO for one of the most iconic sweet brands in the world, Oreo. We talk about their "stay playful" positioning, incredible brand collaborations (with the likes of Coca-Cola and Post Malone) and some of the interesting innovations the brand has worked on.Timestamps00:00 - Intro00:46 - Eugenia’s marketing journey01:33 - What can we learn from the Unilever approach to marketing?02:27 - How Dove turned into the brand it is today05:42 - How Eugenia started with Oreo06:33 - The “stay playful” positioning09:49 - The best way to eat an Oreo cookie11:08 - Managing a 110 year old brand12:14 - The Oreo playbook for marketing in different regions15:18 - Oreo’s collab with Coca-Cola18:49 - Oreo’s approach to innovation21:14 - System1 testing on Oreo innovations23:40 - Innovations from around the world25:23 - The surprising Coca-Cola collaboration25:52 - Oreo’s SuperBowl ad in 202428:34 - Winning a Cannes Lion for a tweet30:34 - Why is humour not used more35:37 - Oreo x Post Malone collab38:07 - Creative process for collabs39:02 - How to lead a $4.5b organisation43:57 - Advice to aspiring CMOs
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Cadillac’s re-launch of an iconic car brand for a new era
Cadillac is an iconic American brand who are navigating the shift to electrification in the automotive industry and have partnered up with 72andSunny to launch their brand new campaign “Let’s Take the Cadillac. So today, Melissa Grady Dias, CMO of Cadillac, and Marianne Malina, President of 72andSunny join Jon to talk about working with a new agency and launching their first campaign together.Timestamps00:00 - Intro03:53 - Marianne’s background06:49 - How to manage a brand like Cadillac08:34 - How EV’s are changing the industry13:53 - How do you change your marketing for EVs15:08 - Insights and inception of “Let’s Take the Cadillac”17:56 - Developing the “Let’s Take the Cadillac” campaign21:41 - How to launch a new car23:39 - Building the campaign for different formats25:42 - 72andSunny and Cadillac’s first campaign together28:11 - Challenging the conformity in car advertising30:48 - Why brand is so important for car purchasing32:31 - Leading the marketing agenda inside a big org like General Motors34:24 - In car Cadillac Car-aoke35:22 - Melissa’s song36:13 - Coolest feature about Escalade IQ38:37 - Creating a luxury experience39:27 - Choosing your car as CMO of Cadillac40:57 - Creating a premium vehicle42:53 - Thoughts on the Escalade IQ
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Rob Mayhew on the untapped creator opportunity in B2B, London vs New York and using social media as a brand
Rob Mayhew joins Jon for bonus episode, talking about his big move to New York City, becoming a full-time content creator and how brands can work with creators like him effectively.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:39 - Why Rob moved to NYC04:20 - Rob’s new YouTube show05:47 - London vs New York for marketers08:00 - Rob’s approach to content in 202511:00 - Rob’s view on the future of the social platforms14:17 - How System1’s ad testing works17:27 - Rob’s funniest posts on LinkedIn18:46 - Rob’s process for making content20:16 - Any trends that are different in the US than UK21:43 - Thoughts on the creator economy23:09 - The Poppi vending machine backlash24:22 - How does Rob plan his content?25:18 - Different audiences for TikTok and LinkedIn25:38 - Rory Sutherland’s TikTok26:48 - Power of B2B content creation
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Rare Beauty: the story behind the success of Selena Gomez’s make up brand - Katie Welch
Rare Beauty is a brand built on the inclusive approach to beauty set by their celebrity founder, Selena Gomez. They've taken the US market by storm and so I'm speaking to their CMO, Katie Welch, about how they've done it. From strong positioning and making a difference in mental health across their customer base to growing a strong presence on social media (with a little help from their founder with over 400m Instagram followers), Rare Beauty is a wonderful success story of a challenger brand.Timestamps00:00 - Intro00:50 - Katie’s career background07:46 - How Katie joined Rare Beauty11:09 - The challenges of launching a startup beauty brand14:19 - The positioning of Rare Beauty16:21 - New guest host interruption16:58 - Being true to the brand positioning19:48 - Being a purpose led brand22:47 - Addressing the pressures of social media26:27 - Building the Rare Beauty brand on social media28:22 - How involved does Selena Gomez get in the Rare Beauty brand29:57 - The secret to a successful product launch for Rare Beauty33:00 - Dealing with the growth challenges of a scale up40:36 - Evolving the Rare Beauty community42:24 - What’s next for the Rare Beauty brand?42:47 - Being an entreprenuer in a startup45:09 - Katie growing her own social accounts