Podcast
Marketing Vanguard
Hosted by Adweek · EN
The word “vanguard,” is defined as “a group of people leading the way in new development or ideas.” Marketing Vanguard: the podcast, spotlights the people who are driving the industry forward. It will feature valuable, must-listen nuggets of marketing-leadership wisdom, humility, stories, strategic insights, and growth opportunities in an era of ever more complex industry pressures and realities. Together we’ll dive into what's driving the decision-makers of today to move the needle of some of the world’s most exciting brands in incremental or monumental ways.
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92episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Mastering Human Centred-Marketing in an AI-Driven World ft. Lauren Weinberg of Supergoop!
Today00:33:33Summary readyWhat if AI could bring more humanity to marketing, instead of taking away from it? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Lauren Weinberg, CMO of Supergoop! and veteran CMO at Square, Intuit and Peloton, reveals why brand authenticity matters more than ever in an AI-driven world, how CMOs should lead their teams through rapid technological transformation and the key strategies to balance budget discipline with bold creative thinking.Lauren is an accomplished Chief Marketing Officer with extensive experience leading marketing transformations at industry-leading companies including Square, Intuit and Peloton. Currently serving as the CMO of Supergoop!, Lauren brings expertise in brand strategy, growth marketing and AI integration, offering a unique perspective that bridges creative storytelling with data-driven decision-making. Her proven track record of driving growth while maintaining P&L sensibility, combined with her advisory role at Emory University's Data Science and Decision Department, makes her a trusted voice for senior marketing leaders navigating digital transformation. What You'll Learn:How to position AI as a catalyst for brand authenticity rather than automationThe strategy-first framework for saying "no" in high-intensity environmentsWhy P&L sensibility is now non-negotiable for CMO credibilityThe three C's of hiring for an AI-driven future - conviction, courage and curiosityHow to create organizational AI literacy without overburdening teamsWhy CMOs should shift from efficiency conversations to strategic AI conversations with the C-suite Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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How Keisha Taylor Starr Turned ION Into a Women's Sports Powerhouse in 24 Months
6d ago00:25:46Summary readyEVP, GM, or CMO - why pick one when you can be all 3? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Keisha Taylor Starr, EVP, CMO, and General Manager of Scripps Networks, proves that intersectionality and a diverse skill set can take your marketing game to the next level. Tune in for their discussion on how strategic repositioning can drive record-breaking audience engagement, why marketers must balance creative risk with financial rigor and the leadership moves required to shape an industry built for diverse voices. Keisha Taylor Starr is Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, and General Manager of Scripps Networks at The E.W. Scripps Company, bringing expertise in media marketing, brand strategy, and P&L management. With a career spanning agency work at BBDO, leadership roles at CNN, Turner Broadcasting, and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as experience in collegiate sports marketing, she has consistently driven innovative transformations across news, entertainment, and sports properties. Her leadership in ION's rebrand into a general entertainment network with pioneering women's sports programming has resulted in record-breaking audience engagement and Google TV's most-watched free live channel designation in 2024, demonstrating how CMOs can balance creative vision with financial accountability.What You'll Learn:How to transition from CMO to General Manager by gaining P&L ownershipWhy sports franchises are essential programming investmentsThe strategy behind rebranding a legacy network for new audiencesHow to balance creative ambition with financial rigor as a CMOThe importance of diverse representation in leadership and decision-makingHow to expand sports definition and create inclusive programming Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Tech Titans Rewriting the Rules of Growth Marketing ft. the CMOs of Meta, Instacart, and Chime
1w ago00:28:02Summary readyA new age of Super Bowl marketing has dawned upon us, and it’s time to embrace it. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, marketing leaders from Meta, Instacart, and Chime reveal how their brands are redefining Super Bowl marketing by prioritizing social-first strategies, earned media, and authentic creator partnerships over traditional metrics. Tune in to learn why the biggest marketing opportunities now live in subcultures and algorithmic feeds and how to tap into conversations happening off-screen.What You'll Learn:How to shift from awareness metrics to earned social conversation as your primary Super Bowl success measureWhy a social-first strategy is non-negotiable and why niche communities outperform monoculture campaignsHow to design ads that crack culture through hyperbole and surpriseThe strategic partnership framework beyond logo placementHow to unlock innovation by protecting brand fundamentals while experimenting relentlesslyWhy in-house creative teams, powered by AI, can deliver portfolio-defining work at a fraction of agency costsThe non-negotiable marketing-product alignment tactic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Refusing to Become Irrelevant: Victoria Lozano on her Crayola Journey
3w ago00:15:43Summary readySurely a legacy brand like Crayola has done all it could to grow, right? Wrong. In this episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast, recorded live at Brandweek in Atlanta in November 2025, Victoria Lozano, former CMO of Crayola, proves that the growth work of even the most iconic brands can and should never stop. From how nostalgia can be leveraged to the advantage of expanding into unexpected categories, this conversation covers it all. Victoria Lozano, former Chief Marketing Officer of Crayola, is renowned for her expertise in brand strategy, category expansion and omnichannel marketing across iconic consumer brands. With a career spanning Fortune 500 CPG companies including HBC, beverages and confectionery, she has built a diverse track record in product innovation, location-based entertainment, and educational strategy. Her work at Crayola demonstrates how legacy brands can evolve, redefine brand categories, unlock new consumer segments and build enduring marketing strategies that transcend traditional product boundaries, all while maintaining emotional resonance. What You'll Learn:How to merge nostalgia with future-forward relevanceWhy a CMO's role with high-awareness brands requires category expansionThe framework for segmented messaging across stakeholder groupsHow to unlock hidden revenue streams in plain sight, like recognizing that 57% of Crayola purchases are made by adults without childrenThe power of branded sensory identity as a defensible competitive advantageWhy ecosystem thinking matters more than individual business unit performance Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Benoit Vatere's Case for Keeping Liquid Death Dangerous at Scale
4w ago00:19:14Summary readyHow can you sell water in a can successfully, without making it a gimmick? In this live episode of Marketing Vanguard from Brandweek Atlanta, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Benoit Vatere, Chief Media Officer at Liquid Death, to explore how he, as a non-traditional entrepreneur with an engineering background, is scaling a cult beverage brand through unconventional media strategy, retail partnerships and aggressive upper-funnel investment while protecting the brand's core mystique.Benoit Vatere is Chief Media Officer at Liquid Death, where he drives growth strategy and media planning for one of the most distinctive brands in the beverage industry. With a background as an entrepreneur and engineer who spent 25 years building ad tech products in Los Angeles, Benoit brings unique expertise in bridging creator marketing, retail commerce and consumer conversion. His work at Liquid Death demonstrates how data-driven media strategy, disciplined creative positioning and deep retailer partnerships can scale challenger brands into category leaders while maintaining distinctive brand equityWhat You'll Learn:How to shift from DTC obsession to retail-first strategyThe frequency-over-reach principle for mental availabilityHow to build a tech stack that bridges awareness to retail conversionWhy a CEO-CMO creates organizational competitive advantageThe conquest strategy in competitive categoriesHow to maintain brand mystique while scaling Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Art of Making Fintech Cool with Catherine Ferdon of Coinbase
Apr 900:32:04Summary readyTaking risks and having them pay off in an industry as regulated as fintech can seem like an impossible task. But Coinbase’s success in bold and unique marketing proves it isn’t. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Coinbase CMO, Catherine Ferdon, reveals why bold creativity matters when it comes to marketing intangibles, how to build financial brands that don't feel sterile and the key strategies behind Coinbase's high-profile Super Bowl and Oscars campaigns.Catherine Ferdon is the Chief Marketing Officer at Coinbase, bringing nearly fifteen years of fintech expertise to one of crypto's most established brands. With a background spanning Square, Cash App and Afterpay, she has built her career giving voice to complex financial products through bold, unconventional creativity. Her work exemplifies how CMOs can translate intangible, complex products into compelling narratives that drive mainstream adoption - a critical lesson for marketers navigating emerging technologies and regulatory constraints.What You'll Learn:Why understanding intangible products in depth is the key to marketing them successfullyThe risk-taking framework for breakthrough creativityWhy educational complexity requires participatory, not didactic marketingHow to design media moments for their environmentThe leadership principle of strong opinions, softly heldWhy AI amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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How Atlanta Became the Hub of Marketing in the US ft. Alex Gonzalez
Apr 200:20:15Summary readyAtlanta, a paradise for CMOs with 70% of Fortune 500 companies, thousands of startups, and immense talent, is often underestimated. Live from Brandweek, Alex Gonzalez, Metro Atlanta Chamber's Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, explains why Atlanta is a top marketing hub and how brand positioning can shape a city's economic future on this episode of Marketing Vanguard.Alex Gonzales is the Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, leading efforts to brand Atlanta as a premier destination for talent, business and innovation. With a background spanning finance, business development and corporate marketing at industry leaders like GE, Chubb Insurance and Equifax, Alex brings deep expertise in transforming marketing strategies for Fortune 500 organizations and emerging tech ecosystems. His work establishing the "Atlanta Where You Belong" brand and fostering the Atlanta Growth Collective has positioned the region as a model for regional marketing and innovation ecosystems. What You'll Learn:How to leverage a CMO advisory council to build authentic city branding by assembling chief marketersWhy "place branding" requires defining emotional belonging, not just economic benefitsThe talent flywheel strategy and making the most of the city’s academic ecosystemHow to position B2B companies as part of your city's DNAWhy the startup ecosystem infrastructure (Atlanta Tech Village, Russell Innovation Center, South Downtown development) should be central to city marketingThe multi-geography branding challenge and how to solve it Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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John Brockelman’s Unconventional Playbook for Financial Marketing Success
Mar 2600:32:56Summary readyFinancial services marketing is one of the hardest kinds of marketing to crack. But John Brockelman and his team at State Street Investment Management have proven, campaign after campaign, that it can be done well and done right. Tune in for his playbook on how financial services marketers can drive growth, connection and culture.What You'll Learn:How to align marketing with sales and business objectivesThe importance of simplifying brand architecture for market expansionHow to build intentional talent strategies by mixing specialized and generalist expertiseWhy guerrilla marketing and experiential activations outperform traditional advertising in regulated industriesHow to use strategic partnerships to reach new audiencesHow to scale AI adoption across marketing operations without replacing human creativity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Why the Super Bowl Still Matters ft. Leading CMOs from the SF 49ers, Mars, Comcast & Liquid I.V.
Mar 2000:28:16Summary readyThe Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world - not just for the game and its players, but for marketers too. So, how do you make sure you win the game? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, four industry-leading CMOs - Gabrielle Wesley (Mars Wrigley), Stephanie Rogers (San Francisco 49ers), John Gieselman (Comcast) and Stacy Andrade-Wells (Liquid I.V.), reveal their personal playbooks on making the most of the Super Bowl opportunity, cutting through the hype and executing at the highest level. What You'll Learn:How to build a solid business case for Super Bowl marketing investmentWhy you should capitalize on the intersection of creative disruption and brand strategyHow to activate beyond the 30 or 60-second spot through ecosystem thinkingWhy simplicity and cultural relevance are your competitive advantagesThe "uncomfortable gut reaction" test for evaluating creative readinessHow to measure impact across different time horizons without becoming paralyzed by metrics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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How Archer Roose Is Flipping the Wine Industry on Its Head with CMO, Conley Downing
Mar 1200:19:26Summary readyWine was a gatekept category, suffering from the dreaded perception of being "boring." That is, until Archer Roose, the canned wine company, redefined the category and made it fun for Gen Z. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, CMO of the brand, Conley Downing, unpacks how they leveraged “fun” marketing (instead of educational marketing) to make wine accessible and interesting again. What You'll Learn:How to reposition a legacy category by identifying and eliminating barriers to entryWhy product format innovation creates distribution and occasion expansion beyond traditional compete setsThe strategic value of celebrity partnerships rooted in authentic brand alignment and commercial acumenHow to build sustainable growth through data ownership and omnichannel funnel strategyWhy founder-led startups must balance rapid scaling with long-term positioning and acquisition readinessHow transparency and ingredient clarity are becoming table stakes in beverage marketing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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