Klarna CMO David Sandström goes in-depth on being a disruptor in the financial services space and the company’s campaign with Snoop Dogg.

Canva’s CMO Zach Kitschke joins The Current Podcast to share how the brand is innovating with AI, its journey to becoming a global giant, and why design literacy is increasingly important.

Noel Mack, Gymshark’s chief brand officer, shares the inside story of the brand’s ultra-viral Times Square ad and why community is a key tenet of the fitness brand.

Uber Global Head of Media Lee Walsh breaks down why he thinks Uber is the ultimate local product as well as advertising conditions across the globe.

Robert Lambrechts, chief creative officer at ad agency Pereira O’Dell, goes in-depth on creativity versus leadership and how AI is impacting the ad world.

Leading the company’s global marketing strategy, including how it shapes its brand identity, is Lisa Perlmutter. Perlmutter has been at Brilliant Earth since 2019 and joins The Current Podcast to break down why the brand strives to be a part of the customer journey past the point of purchase.

Ajinkya Joglekar, Sling’s SVP of marketing, breaks down fragmentation in streaming measurement and why giving customers flexibility is paramount.

Edward Jones, the Fortune 500 financial services firm that serves over 8 million clients, celebrated 100 years in business in 2022. The company began with the mission of giving Midwesterners access to financial markets, even though they were thousands of miles from Wall Street. Edward Jones’ Chief Experience and Marketing Officer Tim Rea, who has a wealth of experience from roles at Office Depot, The Hershey Company, and Proctor and Gamble, shares his advice to young marketers on The Current Podcast.

Retail media is on the tip of every marketer’s tongue this year. Cara Pratt, Kroger’s SVP of retail media, launched the Kroger Precision Marketing media network in 2017, pioneering the use of retail media. Pratt joins The Current Podcast to talk about how her team of data scientists can tap in to purchase data from 60 million households to create more personal experiences for shoppers.

After seeking Chapter 11 protection in January 2021, Cici’s Pizza needed an injection of life. That’s where new owners and a new CMO came in. Stephanie Hoppe joined as CMO of the pizza brand in February 2022, focused on getting Cici’s back to its roots. The company, which opened in 1985 and has over 300 restaurants in 30 states, strives to be family oriented while providing great value with its unlimited pizza buffet. Hoppe says dialing back in on those key ingredients set the table for success.  “People were ready to come back in,” Hoppe says on the season 5 premiere of The Current Podcast. “There’s so much nostalgia with this brand. People remember taking their kids. Kids remember, and now they have children whom they want to take to the Cicis experience.” Those brand marketing efforts showed instant success, with Cici’s seeing double-digit increases in sales the past two years. Now, just two years after the bankruptcy filing, Hoppe says the company’s next big step is opening more locations to keep giving people the pizza experience they want.

Zulily marketing exec Denise Jaeschke discusses the evolution of the Zulily brand, growing its network of mom influencers, and how the brand’s mission ties into her childhood in Ecuador.

Haleon U.S. CMO Katie Williams talks about building the brand after GSK split its consumer health care business into Haleon, which includes brands like Advil, Theraflu, and ChapStick.

Mint Mobile’s CMO Aron North hops on The Current Podcast to share the secrets of how the wireless provider has been able to burst on the scene, working with Ryan Reynolds, and why North thinks risk and failure are necessary for success.

Hyundai CMO Angela Zepeda shares her story of being the first female C-suite executive for the South Korean company, how the brand is attracting a younger audience, and how she is marketing Hyundai’s impressive fleet of electric vehicles.

REI’s Chief Marketer Vivienne Long breaks down the importance of providing shoppers with an experience in physical stores that they can’t get by solely shopping online, and how the brand’s strong values inspire and drive its marketing strategy.

T-Mobile’s VP of media Kari Marshall explains why marketing in the telecommunications space is like Game of Thrones, how the company went from being nearly bought by another company to becoming the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. after acquiring Sprint, and why the brand has its own in-house agency.

Johnson and Johnson marketing exec Nate Notwell joins hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing to share why the company’s marketing strategy is based on trust, how he is leaning into technologies that make the consumer journey easier, and the company’s “digital-first ambition.”

Dollar General CMO Chad Fox joins The Current Podcast to talk about how growing up in a small town prepared him to lead the Dollar General brand, why it’s customer base largely focused on the rural shopper makes its retail media network special, and how it’s an “83-year-old company in growth mode.”

On the season four debut of The Current Podcast, Microsoft's Chief Brand Officer Kathleen Hall describes the emotional connection people have with brands, the biggest challenges for the brand since she started 14 years ago, Microsoft's partnership with Netflix and more.

Andrea Brimmer is now nearly 15 years into a career change she says she never expected. Brimmer — who made the move from an advertising agency to Ally Financial in 2008 and has spent the last seven years as the company’s chief marketing and PR officer — says her perspective on getting into the financial sector shifted after this realization: “The three most important things in your life are your family, your health, and your money,” Brimmer says on The Current Podcast. “And we all work so hard for our money, so if you could be a brand in this space that really puts the customer at the center of everything you do, and really finds ways to get people to think about saving their money in ways that are meaningful to them, that is a really cool opportunity. It’s been more rewarding for me on a personal level than I ever thought it would be.” Brimmer shares how important it was for Ally Financial to recast the brand with a digital mindset just as the first iPhone launched, how the company differentiates itself from the competition, and the creativity it takes to compete with brands that have more ad dollars to spend. “When you’re going up against Goliaths from a spend standpoint, and you’re a David, you’ve got to really figure out how to be differentiated. And I think our point of differentiation has come by leaning into the name and the promise of the brand, which is to do it right,” Brimmer says. “We have always adopted this idea of kind of ‘outwit, outlast, outplay,’ and find creative ways to get people to interact with their money.”

Once taboo, sports betting is now thriving. The ever-growing list of states legalizing sports betting is a big reason for that shift in perception, with companies like DraftKings gaining popularity over the past decade. As one of DraftKings’ first 15 employees, Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Sherman has seen that transformation happen firsthand. “It has been quite the journey over the last nearly 10 years,” Sherman says on The Current Podcast. “I have been doing a lot of reflecting in general on our journey as an organization — where we’ve been and where we aspire to go over the coming years. From those early days certainly a lot of things have remained the same, but as we’ve scaled over the years there’s new, fun marketing challenges to solve.” Sherman breaks down DraftKings’ marketing strategy, as betting legislation is being drafted on both a state and federal level; why its core business is tech, analytics, and data; as well as the main messaging it wants to send its potential players. “What we think about in our marketing campaigns and what we really want to show up with and bring to life for our players is that fun,” Sherman says, “and that excitement [of] putting something on the line, of having skin in the game.”

Dating app OkCupid views itself as the feisty underdog that is comfortable causing a stir. The brand did just that last year with its “Every Single Person” campaign, which they doubled down on after it sent waves through the advertising industry, social media, and the New York City subway. The leader behind OkCupid’s overall branding is Melissa Hobley, the company’s first-ever chief marketing officer. Hobley left OkCupid in August to step in as the CMO of Tinder, both of which are owned by parent company Match Group. Before she moved roles, Hobley went on The Current Podcast to talk about why OkCupid is so at ease taking big swings with its branding. “We have to do this in an interesting, provocative way. Partly because it’s real,” she says, “and partly because when you don’t have those giant budgets and you don’t have tons of star power but your product is better and you really believe that, you feel like you have the permission to be aggressive and loud and make people uncomfortable.” Jason Harris, president and CEO of Mekanism, the brand’s agency of record, also joined Hobley to discuss creation of the “Every Single Person” campaign, standing out through the crowd in the dating app space, and why they worked so well as partners. “When you don’t have that core or the soul of the brand and what it stands for, you’re kind of inventing things to make the brand create hits,” Harris says. “I think what’s great about OkCupid is they have a real platform that you can run with for a while.”

To David Cohen, an industry veteran who now serves as the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s chief executive officer, the media landscape is clear. “The future of video will be streamed,” Cohen says on The Current Podcast. “There is no doubt in my mind that it is going to happen. The main question is how much the industry needs to evolve from now until then.” Cohen breaks down the biggest challenges around being at the center of the digital advertising industry, Netflix starting up an ad-supported tier, the Great Resignation, and why he believes the upfronts and NewFronts will merge in this episode. “This is going to be one video market,” he says. “There is no need for the time and effort of separating them. It is a fallacy today and it will certainly be a fallacy in the future.”

Campbell Soup Company is synonymous with memories of Mom making soup. Nowadays, the 153-year-old company still wants to hold on to that authentic branding, but to do so in the modern age. Campbell has been refining its data-driven strategies with Marci Raible, vice president of integrated marketing, at the helm. “It’s really easy to ask for a lot of data, but having the strategy for the data you need and how you are going to execute is critically important,” Raible says on The Current Podcast. “Otherwise, you can get paralyzed.” Retail media is also a key data driver for Campbell. On the podcast, Raible discusses how retail media has become a catch-all umbrella term, the innovations she would like to see with advertising on streaming platforms, and how to find new ways to connect with consumers who have been surrounded by the Campbell’s brand since they were kids. “How are we evolving with them as their lifestyle has changed? It’s really easy to just say, ‘We want to change. We’re going to be whatever, you know, is happening today.’ And to me, that just doesn't work,” she says. “We must be authentically Campbell. It’s understanding who we are as a brand, but then doing it with a modern twist. That is really the difference.”

U.S. politicians across the aisle, from ultra-Libertarian to extreme Republican, have used digital advertising to fuel their presidential campaigns. With the 2022 midterms and 2024 presidential election fast approaching, the time is ripe for new strategies. On the latest episode of The Current Podcast, meet two men who sit — Wizard of Oz style — behind the curtain of political advertising: Billy McBeath and Mike Schneider. McBeath is the digital director and senior advisor at the Senate Leadership Fund — a Republican super PAC that specializes in getting conservatives elected to the Senate. Schneider, on the other hand, sits on the liberal side of the political spectrum. He worked on President Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020 as a partner and head of BPI Labs for Bully Pulpit Interactive. “What we’re really buying for is impact and outcomes,” Schneider says on The Current Podcast. “Where can we deliver a persuasive video message to a voter to get them to shift their opinion?” “It’s all about how can you measure how your message is received, not how many times it was viewed,” McBeath adds. The next upcoming elections also align around the expected deprecation of third-party cookies, which McBeath is awaiting. “We’re basically going to be rebuilding the airplane while we’re flying it next cycle,” McBeath says. “It’s going to be fun, but also really challenging.” McBeath and Schneider also discuss the fast nature of a political marketer’s job, why connected TV will be the way forward for all future elections, and how important identity will become as we get closer to the deprecation of third-party cookies.

Fifteen years into his celebrated career as chief creative officer at BBDO, Greg Hahn — like millions of other people — lost his job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months later, however, he launched Mischief @ No Fixed Address, which found immediate success and recently was crowned Ad Age’s Agency of the Year. “That’s kind of mind-blowing,” Hahn, who also acts as chief creative officer of the agency, says on The Current Podcast. “But if you surround yourself with the right kind of people and everybody knows why they’re there, the results are endless.” Ironically, Mischief has developed a reputation true to its name, creating campaigns for Jay-Z’s cannabis brand, Monogram, that challenge marijuana regulation by comparing it to state laws of incest and bestiality. Another example: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese asked people to “send noods.” For Hahn, the riskiest idea is “the one no one pays attention to.” In this episode, Hahn goes into how he discovered his co-founder at Mischief, what he looks for when he hires new employees, and the benefits of taking risks with campaigns. “That’s been our guiding force,” Hahn says. “How do you remain pure to your vision and grow at the same time? And I think it can be done.”

Not too many people can say they’ve gone from working as a chemical engineer to chief marketing officer, though that’s exactly what Discover CMO Kate Manfred has done. In our latest episode of The Current Podcast, Manfred discusses her unconventional career path from working as an engineer and then consultant to her current role as CMO of Discover. “To make good, robust decisions, you really need to embrace the math and data that every consumer leaves as they’re clicking around the internet,” Manfred says on the podcast. Manfred’s scientific background equips her with a marketing skill set that allows her to thrive as a data-driven CMO. Despite her unique background, Manfred knows she can’t do everything on her own. “No one can do this job alone. A CMO can never be successful by himself or herself,” Manfred says. “It really comes down to the strength and quality of the team that you build both internally and externally.”

Twelve years into his career, Mike Law took a self-described “sabbatical” from advertising holding company Dentsu when he moved client side to be Director of Media at Pfizer. In the third season of The Current Podcast, Law describes how he’s using the lessons he learned at Pfizer in his second go-around with Dentsu, where he now serves as CEO of the award-winning agency, Carat U.S. Law also touches on the recent work he’s most proud of (hint: it has to do with the Covid-19 pandemic), why former college student-athletes can thrive in advertising even if they don’t have any experience, the value of working for an agency today, and why he loves working in advertising. “Everything that happens in the world, whether it be Hollywood or real geopolitical issues, has an impact on us and for us,” Law says. “We watch TV kind of cautiously, because we are like, okay, whatever happens next I'm going to have to think about what that means for my clients and my brands, but it also makes it a really exciting business.”

To L’Oréal executive Shenan Reed, advertising is part art and part science. Reed went from working with the beauty brand on the agency side to taking over as L’Oréal’s senior VP and head of media in 2020. During that time, she has emphasized approaching customers as people instead of targets and making sure the consumer experience is the best it can be.  “It’s inspiring to be inside and understand how an organization like ours is dedicated to the science and to the quality of the products we put forward,” Reed says in our debut episode of the third season of The Current Podcast. “I absolutely love being in the position to help make the decisions on the media side.” Reed, who previously served as president and chief client officer at Publicis Groupe, discusses how L’Oréal has deep roots in technology, why marketing across a variety of channels is critical to scale messaging, and why she thinks the advertising industry will be better without third-party cookies. Since 2020, Reed has been bringing her unique vision to the timeless L’Oréal brand. The 112-year-old French personal care company, which owns brands like Lancôme, Maybelline, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and CeraVe, is evolving by offering skin diagnostics and more sustainable product options. This shift led to record sales last year. “The opportunity for us to lean into technology allows us to help create products that bring the experience of the products to life on behalf of the consumer,” she says. “It’s definitely a very proud part of our heritage.”

Parents with children over ten will likely know Roblox as a gaming platform, which bills itself as the ultimate virtual universe that allows create and share experiences with friends. But as the concept of the metaverse has gone mainstream, Roblox is already positioned as a metaverse — a universe of millions of immersive experiences that attracts over 47 million users a day — half of which are now older than 13 years old. Within Roblox, people interact as avatars and purchase in-game currency called Roblox to acquire digital items that they then collect or dress up their avatars. The marketing opportunities of this new space are not lost on major brands like Warner Bros., Gucci, Netflix and others who have partnered with Roblox to bring virtual experiences, concerts, and launch parties to its users. Joining us on The Current Podcast is Christina Wootton, vice president of global brand partnerships at Roblox, who discusses the power of the metaverse, how the platform is on the frontlines innovating and driving its development, and how brands can interact on the platform.

Dubbing itself “the world’s most global bank,” Citi is evolving its approach to be on the frontlines of marketing, as it strives to set the brand apart from others in the competitive financial services category. Leading with a sharp, data-driven digital marketing strategy, Citi relies on its brand efforts to connect with customers and differentiate the banking experience. In this episode, we speak with Mike Venables, the head of media, managing director at Citi — a longtime agency leader who recently made the switch to his first client-side gig — to understand his media strategy and how his background of leading media efforts across clients like AT&T, IBM and Merck is helping him drive better outcomes and accelerate growth during a moment of transformation for this iconic brand.

Marriott is synonymous with travel. With its extensive portfolio of hotel brands and styles and services that suit every type of traveler, it’s no wonder it is leading the way in reengaging travelers. In this episode, we speak with Nicolette Harper, VP of Media at Marriott to hear how the company planned its global relaunch after more than a year of travel restrictions. As wanderlust builds amongst consumers around the world — even as travel remains in flux because of the pandemic — we dive deep into how Marriott is inspiring travelers to book their next trip. We also learn about an exciting future Marriott destination — the world’s first metaverse hotel.

As a top-five automaker, and recently ranked #1 in the U.S. by Reputation, Nissan is no stranger to staying ahead of opportunities around the bend. This is especially true under the leadership of U.S. CMO, Allyson Witherspoon. Whether it’s debuting a new e-commerce platform to meet customer demand during a time when dealership visits were impossible, or reimagining launches for 10 new models this year, Allyson leads Nissan’s marketing efforts with creativity and compassion. In this episode, we get a chance to learn how she navigated a transformative year for auto, from semiconductor chip shortages affecting inventory to a massive industry shift toward electrification, all while maintaining a sharp focus on what drives her: building life-long bonds with customers.

At more than 160 years old, Anheuser-Busch — parent company to more than 100 brands including international linchpins like Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois— has a sizable hold on the beer market and yet still innovates, building out its e-commerce initiatives and brand portfolio in recent years into categories like craft beer, seltzer, and canned wines. The company’s adaptability to the ever-changing market and consumer trends extends to its advertising strategy. This week, we speak with Paolo Provinciali, VP of media and data at Anheuser-Busch, about reaching new consumers through digital channels like connected TV and how the brand is prioritizing data to connect with the consumer in relevant ways.

About 450 million people visit Pinterest every month to be inspired by pinners’ boards of images and videos featuring everything from wedding dresses to making quick meals. The 11-year-old visual discovery engine has grown its e-commerce capabilities, brand partnerships and continues to add ad formats and features for its expanding creator community. Pinterest's large female user base and its approach to e-commerce have inspired marketers to invest in the creator culture. Jon Kaplan, Pinterest's former chief revenue officer and an ex-Googler, joins the podcast to discuss how the brand is evolving as an important channel for marketers.

There are a lot of water brands on the market. In fact, the market for bottled water in the United States is estimated to be around $20 billion. And yet, the founders of Liquid Death Mountain Water found an innovative way to enter this market with an in-your-face brand — in a can with a skull on it — that blows away all preconceptions about how to market water. In just four short years, the startup has amassed more Instagram followers than any other brand on the market. The company has a simple but brilliant marketing strategy that has nothing to do with the traditional playbook. For a start, its tag line is “murder your thirst.” It’s a very punk rock way to sell water. We sit down with Hamid Saify, the VP of E-Commerce for Liquid Death to crack open a tall boy of water and talk about how the brand achieved success.

As one of the world’s largest producers of electronics, it’s no surprise Samsung’s own mobile marketing is setting the bar. Whether it’s launching its new innovative take on the flip phone with bold new creative, or showcasing its products on reality shows, or digging into data to understand how to best speak to consumers, Samsung’s mobile marketing is on the frontlines of creativity. In this episode, we speak with Janet Lee, VP/CMO, Mobile Experience at Samsung Electronics America, to hear how she’s leading with interesting creative and data-led strategies. As mobile use continues to grow worldwide, we dive deep into how Samsung is building lifelong relationships with its consumers.

Visible is an all-digital wireless carrier owned by Verizon, marketed to customers who want a more flexible phone plan that won’t break the bank. It was recently named the “Best Telecom Brand” by Adweek. Since the pandemic, the company has cultivated and expanded its younger, tech-savvy customer base thanks to the marketing leadership of Minjae Ormes, the former Visible CMO who is now at LinkedIn. In this edition of The Current podcast, Ormes reflects on how her company’s values of economic and racial equity were reaffirmed during a turbulent year, and why that is crucial to the brand’s identity.

In this edition of The Current podcast, we hear from Josh Brandau, the CMO at the Los Angeles Times. Brandau, who comes from the agency world, recently took on the title, and he’s tasked with growing the celebrated publication’s digital subscribers from 400,000 to 1 million in a world where newsprint is declining. With publications caught between subscriptions and digital ads, Brandau offers his insights into how the LA Times is navigating the choppy waters of change with a fresh marketing strategy that sees California as the center of gravity.

Spotify started podcast wars. And before it was the podcasting behemoth it is today, it built its name and reputation as a music streaming service. From a small start-up in Sweden, the company has grown to become the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with over 365 million users, including 165 million subscribers, across 178 markets. In this edition of The Current podcast, we hear from Jay Richman, the VP, head of global advertising and platforms, to find out why the company is betting big on podcasts (with over 2.6 million on the platform, plus this one) and how the company is thinking about improving the advertiser experience for listeners.