Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders

Full transcript Helping families navigate senior care at A Place for Mom requires constant cross-functional alignment. For marketing veteran Chris Milone, leadership extends far beyond his own department. "You have to be a thought partner to the CEO," says the CMO. That philosophy was forged the hard way during his first stint as a chief marketer, when his boss pulled him aside to express disappointment. "He said, 'When I hired you, I didn't hire someone to run the marketing department. That's table stakes, that's a given,'" Chris says. "'I barely hear from you in our leadership meetings. I don't know if you even care about what's going on in the rest of the company.'" Today on Building Better CMOs, Chris and Greg talk about working with CEOs who used to be the CMO; why AI makes everyone think they’re an expert; and how to balance what your customer wants with what the business needs. Plus: Why new executives have to "talk to every single person in their organization." 00:00 Introduction 01:22 What A Place for Mom Does 04:51 The CMO Onboarding Playbook 10:46 Some Bad Marketing Advice 16:02 Becoming a Four-Time CMO 20:31 When Your CEO is a Former CMO 23:10 Performance, Teams, and Go-To-Market Strategies 31:17 Brand Building in the AI Search Era 35:25 Being a Thought Partner to the CEO 40:45 Why Marketers Must Prove ROI 44:57 Incrementality Testing and Measurement 50:35 Defending Marketing Decisions Against AI Chris' LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Full transcript⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Watch this interview on YouTube⁠⁠⁠ — “Sometimes when you get to a fork in the road and you have to decide, am I going to stay in this job or take this new job? … It can feel like the weight of the world on your shoulders to make that decision,” says Noha Abdalla, CMO of Choice Hotels. “[But] each path is going to lead you somewhere else and you're going to learn something new. And so take the burden off a little bit or the weight of that decision off and pick something and learn from it.” That philosophy has carried Noha from consulting to the American Red Cross, from Animal Planet to Hilton, and now to leading marketing across 22 brands and millions of room nights at Choice. Along the way, she’s seen firsthand how marketing builds trust, not just bookings, and how AI is transforming the creative process. Today on Building Better CMOs, Noha talks with MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart about the challenges of hospitality marketing, the decision to bring in Keegan-Michael Key as brand ambassador, and her team’s experiments with agentic AI to personalize at scale. They also discuss the role of mentorship, lessons from running a franchise business, and why marketers must champion emotional connection and trust at every step of the customer journey. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate & review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Noha's LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Greg's LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

Full transcript⁠ ⁠Watch this interview on YouTube⁠ — "You have to blend innovation with empathy, and effectively combine data-driven insights and creative storytelling," says Lisa Caputo, the Chief Marketing, Communication and Customer Experience Officer at Travelers. "To me, that's a magic combination." And there's one more ingredient missing from the recipe, which Lisa has learned over a career spanning broadcast journalism, the White House, and corporate America: The willingness to stay curious and embrace change. Today on Building Better CMOs, she shares insights on transforming customer experience at Travelers, the four-legged stool of "Big M marketing," and the critical role of leadership in driving organizational change. She and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also discuss the value of measurement in demonstrating impact, what she learned from working for Bill & Hillary Clinton, and how to foster an environment of empathy. Correction: Travelers is 170 years old, not 161. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠LightningPod.fm⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate & review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lisa's LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Greg's LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

Watch this interview on YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Full transcript⁠⁠⁠ — It's easy to see every glass as half-empty in today's world, says Virat Khullar, head of marketing for Hyundai India. But focusing on the negative will imperil your leadership, while choosing optimism will help you structure things better. "Perpetual optimism for me is a force multiplier," he says. "You will motivate people around you. You will gather the right teams, you will list down things that will make you ultimately achieve the objective." Today on Building Better CMOs — recorded live at MMA's Impact India event near New Delhi — Khullar and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart talk about the importance of understanding consumer behavior through ethnographic research; the challenges and opportunities in the Indian marketing landscape; and the surprisingly significant role daughters play in car purchase decisions. They also discuss Hyundai's full-funnel marketing strategy and how AI is transforming creative production and personalization. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod.fm⁠. ⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Rate & review the podcast⁠⁠⁠ Links: ⁠⁠⁠Virat's LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Greg's LinkedIn⁠⁠

Watch this interview on YouTube⁠ ⁠Full transcript⁠ — "I've always sort of been in marketing, but by way of psychology," says Charlotte Blank, the U.S. CMO of Jaguar Land Rover North America. Only by applying concepts from neuroscience and behavioral science, she says, can we truly understand what consumers want & how they think. "The whole creative process is inherently scientific," Charlotte says. "And any creative will tell you that a good tight brief with tight boundaries is helpful for the creative process." Today on Building Better CMOs, Charlotte and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also talk about JLR's "house of brands" strategy, why entrepreneurs are more likely to buy Range Rovers, and the value of experimentation and data-driven testing. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠ ⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠ ⁠Rate & review the podcast⁠ Links: ⁠Charlotte's LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Greg's LinkedIn⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod.fm⁠.

Marketing is not really a profession. There is no one body of knowledge that CMOs and other marketing leaders all share. We can’t even agree on what the role of a CMO is. On Building Better CMOs, MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart speaks with the very best marketing leaders about what CMOs get wrong and how they overcome the challenges they face. Plus: How are they responding to the evolution of AI? Where do they stand on the brand vs. performance debate? How is the definition of CMO "changing?" Above all: What does it take to drive growth today? When you listen to the podcast or watch it on YouTube, you’ll get expert advice from the CMOs of companies like Lyft, Zillow, Nissan, GE, AT&T, Adobe, Uber, Salesforce, Coca-Cola, and more. Building Better CMOs is available on all major podcasting apps, as well as YouTube. New episodes come out every two weeks.

Watch this interview on YouTube Full transcript — "As marketers, we can't just respond to the bottom line," says TIAA CMO Micky Onvural. "We can't just say, 'Well give me a million dollars and I will give you this many customers or this many clicks, and if I do the right kind of mathematics, I'll give you this kind of lifetime value that's going to deliver you this to the bottom line.' I think you actually have to connect further upstream with the CFO." Today on Building Better CMOs, Micky explains what connecting further upstream looks like in practice, the retirement crisis in America, and the importance of vulnerability, humility, and curiosity in leadership. She and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart also discuss the importance of customer experience, Micky's years as the CEO of Bonobos, and how returning to the CMO role compares. Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app Rate & review the podcast Links: Micky's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm. Note: "Retirement check" refers to the annuity income received in retirement. Guarantees of fixed monthly payments are only associated with TIAA's fixed annuities.