Acing Brand Experience with Nic Brandenberger, CMO, Mammut Sports Group AG, at the World Economic Forum Event

Summary

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Marketing Vanguard: Acing Brand Experience with Nic Brandenberger, CMO, Mammut Sports Group AG

Host: Jenny Rooney (Adweek)
Guest: Nic Brandenberger, CMO, Mammut Sports Group AG
Location: World Economic Forum, Davos
Date: February 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This special episode of Marketing Vanguard features an insightful conversation between Jenny Rooney and Nic Brandenberger, CMO of Mammut Sports Group AG, recorded at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The discussion centers on the evolution of brand experience, how heritage outdoor brand Mammut navigates global markets, the resurgence of real-world experiences, and the importance of cross-functional leadership. Brandenberger shares lessons from his career, including key takeaways from Procter & Gamble, and reflects on the vital role of CMOs in shaping integrated consumer experiences.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Unique Pulse of Davos During WEF

• Transformation of Davos: Brandenberger describes Davos not as a sleepy mountain town, but as a bustling ski resort that transforms into a global hub during the World Economic Forum.
  • “When the WEF is here, it’s not [a mountain town]. It feels more like Cannes Lions. There’s a lot going on… every hotel is booked and no one’s on the slopes.” (02:09)
• Retail Activations: Stores along the promenade become branded activations, creating both opportunities and challenges for local retailers and brands like Mammut.

2. Mammut’s Business Model & Brand Growth

• Multi-Channel Approach:

  • “We make about 60 to 65% in our B2B business… 30, 35% in direct to consumer. And it’s growing obviously very, very fast.” (04:40)
  • B2B (retail partners, wholesalers) remains vital, but the direct-to-consumer channel is increasingly central to Mammut’s growth.

• Community Engagement: Direct channels help build Mammut’s community and foster deeper brand relationships.

• U.S. Market Expansion:

  • The U.S. mountaineering community is huge and diverse; Mammut faces fierce competition but is establishing a growing footprint.
  • “We’re not really big as a European brand… but we’re growing and growing in the U.S. as well… We’re opening stores. We already have one open close to Denver. There’s more coming.” (05:46–06:45)

3. The Cultural Shift Toward Real Experiences

• Surge in Outdoor & Shared Experiences:
  • Brandenberger notes the global trend back to real-life, tangible experiences over digital-only engagement.
  • “Ultimately, our consumers are looking for real life experiences. The products are only a means to an end. The end is going up on a mountain and having an experience.” (07:19)
• Brand as Enabler:
  • “We’re just creating the gear that enables them to do that. We’re an enabler in that sense.” (07:43)

4. Personal Touch: Favorite Mountain

• Brandenberger treasures his time on Kotopaxi in Ecuador:
  • “It’s also one of the highest ones that I’ve been—5400ish… I struggled with the altitude a lot… but that was incredibly beautiful, a really, really precious experience that I carry with me forever.” (08:01)

5. Lessons from Procter & Gamble

• Foundational Marketing Wisdom:
  • “I learned all the foundations for marketing that are still true… at P&G.” (08:54)
  • Initially skeptical of the discipline, Brandenberger’s experience taught him marketing’s rigor and principle.
• Consumer-Centric Approach:
  • “You start with the consumer. Consumer is at the heart of everything you do… to really deeply understand their consumers. Not based on observations, but true and tacit insights.” (09:28)

6. The Value of WEF for Marketers

• Breaking Silos & Interdisciplinary Learning:

  • “For me, it’s a great source of inspiration and learning like you would not find anywhere else…” (10:16)
  • Unlike traditional marketing gatherings, Davos fosters interdepartmental and inter-industry dialogue.

• The CMO’s Evolving Role:

  • “The consumer doesn’t care how you are organized… All they care about is: what do you do and what’s the benefit for me?” (10:47)
  • Modern marketing demands ‘fully integrated, holistic, end-to-end experiences’—making cross-functional alignment crucial.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Consumer Expectations

  • “The consumer doesn’t care how you are organized. They don’t care what you own, like how many of the four P’s that you own as a marketer. They just simply don’t care. All they care about is: what do you do, and what’s the benefit for me?”
    — Nic Brandenberger (00:30 & 10:47)

• On Outdoor Experiences

  • “There’s a lot of adrenaline… but it’s also like, extremely beautiful to wake up on a mountain peak. Blue hour, 4:00 a.m. in the morning… Those are the experiences our consumers long for. And we’re basically just a conduit.”
    — Nic Brandenberger (07:19)

• On WEF’s Value for Leaders

  • “There’s a lot of cutting edge thinking here… The knowledge exchange… is just being inspired by great leaders, hearing what they do, how they’re using new technologies, how they’re building systems inside their companies… For me, it’s a great source of inspiration and learning like you would not find anywhere else.”
    — Nic Brandenberger (10:16)

• On the Importance of Cross-Functional Relationships

  • “The connectivity with other leaders—CEOs, Chief Product Officers, Chief Finance Officers— is absolutely critical. And so that’s what you get here: this interdisciplinary approach which is so valuable.”
    — Nic Brandenberger (11:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Brand Philosophy — [00:30]
• Davos During WEF — [01:47]
• Retail Presence & Brand Channels — [04:40]
• U.S. Market Strategy — [05:46]
• Outdoor Experience Trends — [07:00]
• Personal Outdoor Experiences — [08:01]
• Lessons from Procter & Gamble — [08:30]
• The Case for CMOs at WEF — [09:47]
• The CMO’s Evolving Role & Leadership Integration — [10:16, 10:47]
• Conclusion/Takeaway — [11:46]

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Final Takeaway

Nic Brandenberger emphasizes that, in today’s marketplace, truly impactful brands put the consumer first and embrace cross-functional leadership to create seamless, holistic experiences. Real-world engagement is resurging, and Mammut’s mission is to enable those powerful life experiences. Events like WEF are critical—not just for marketers, but for all leaders seeking to break out of silos and learn from the world’s best.

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Transcript

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[Nick Brandenburger]

The consumer doesn't care how you are organized. They don't care, like, what you own, like, how many of the four P's that you own as a marketer. They just simply don't care. All they care about is, like, what do you do? And what's the benefit for me?

[Jenny Rooney]

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Marketing Vanguard podcast. I'm Jenny Rooney with adweek, and I'm excited to be here in Davos. We're doing a special series of the podcast interviews here from Davos. This has been an incredibly interesting week. We had our inaugural Marketing Vanguard inspiration excursion here in Davos, and I'm joined now by Nick Brandenburger. He's one of the CMOs who have participated with us during these two days of programming here in Davos. Nick, welcome.

[Nick Brandenburger]

Thank you so much.

[Jenny Rooney]

You're the CMO of Mammut, if I'm correct in pronouncing that, but you can correct me where I'm wrong.

[Nick Brandenburger]

That's perfect. Well done.

[Jenny Rooney]

But Mammut is an incredibly interesting company in that you make mountaineering wear. Is that correct?

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, it's 164 years old company, so lots of heritage in making mountaineering gear. We started off with ropes, which is one of the most important products that a mountaineer can operate with. Yeah. Carabiners, harnesses, but also apparel, footwear. So we do everything to keep people safe and warm out there in the mountains. And, yeah, it's an exciting time to be here, especially in Davos, which is kind of sort of also my second home.

[Jenny Rooney]

I know. I love that, actually. So you live in Zurich, correct?

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, that's right.

[Jenny Rooney]

And Davos is really a sleepy ski town when the World Economic Forum isn't here. But talk a little bit about that, actually, I think that would be interesting for you to share that perspective. Living in Zurich, living quite close to Davos, and understanding sort of the phenomenon that is Davos, how does somebody who live here actually regard it?

[Nick Brandenburger]

It's a really good question. I mean, for me, I've been here many times skiing. It's one of the bigger resorts in Switzerland, one of the more well known resorts in Switzerland as well. And I've been here dozens of times. It's not exactly sleepy. It's one of the bigger resorts. As I said, it's almost like a city compared to some of the other mountain resorts, which are a little bit smaller. But it's very rich in the offering. There's different types of ski resorts and lots of different slopes, lots of cable cars, et cetera. So really, really interesting. But it is a mountain town. And when the WEF is here, it's not. It's like, it feels more like Cannes lions, you know, it's. There's a lot going on. You know, every hotel is booked and no one's on the slopes. So it's kind of interesting also for the locals here. But yeah, it's a huge event. So much going on and people here are not used to this kind of vibe, to this kind of pace, so they're kind of learning to get along with this. It's been here for like, I don't know how many years, more than a decade. For sure. The original format was when it first originated.

[Jenny Rooney]

Yeah.

[Nick Brandenburger]

But now it's becoming bigger and bigger as a whole marketing community shows up here because it's a relevant context for us.

[Jenny Rooney]

So.

[Nick Brandenburger]

So it's. Yeah, it's definitely something new and different and it gets crazier and crazier every year.

[Jenny Rooney]

Yeah, I mean, not unlike can, Right. I mean, I think historically we've seen that happen over the years. Difference being that CAN is obviously very much a marketer and agency community event.

[Nick Brandenburger]

That's right.

[Jenny Rooney]

Indeed global. But here you get such a broader swath of executives, cultural leaders, innovators, country leaders. I mean, this is really an incredible cross section. So that's a really distinctive difference. And I think that's why we, we felt compelled and as others have too over the years to get CMOs here, because I think there's a huge opportunity for them to learn when they're in this environment. I'm going to get back to that in a second. But just to finish on the Davos transformation, if you will, during wef, there's retailers who line the promenade and literally the activations come in and they basically buy out the retail space. So what would otherwise be storefronts are transformed into sponsor activations and things like that. That leads me to ask the question, what is your retail presence? You know, how do you show up? Is your Product online only. Are you working through retailers? How much is the direct relationship with your customers and E commerce a vital conduit versus other ways you show up and make yourselves accessible to your consumer base?

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, it's a great question for Mammut. We make about 60 to 65% in our B2B business. So we work with wholesalers, retailers. So that's a lot. Obviously also in Switzerland we have many, many partners, including here in Davos, which are selling our product. And so for them giving away their store for an event like this for, you know, material for you. Yeah, it's an impact that they can feel. Right. So definitely something that we have to, that we have to deal with in the conversations with the retailers, et cetera. In the global scheme of things, it may be not that big of a dent in our business, but it's definitely something that we can see in the numbers we do accordingly. 30, 35% in direct to consumer. And it's growing obviously very, very fast. And that's also for our community in Switzerland. It's a great channel to get to learn about our products, buy our products and engage with us as a brand. So that's definitely also a really big factor. Getting bigger and bigger every year.

[Jenny Rooney]

Talk a little bit about your inroads in the US market. I'm curious about the niche communities that you're engaging in or with. How big is the mountaineering community in the us?

[Nick Brandenburger]

It's very big. It's a really interesting market. Also just a beautiful country that has massive, massive mountain ranges. I lived in the States for 10 years and I've been around the national parks. I haven't done all of them. So there's, you know, Glacier national park more to be done. Yeah, Glacier national park all the way at the top. I've done some of the bigger, other ones and obviously there's plenty of opportunity to climb, to ski, to trail, run, to hike. So the community is huge. And accordingly the market is also huge. There's many, many different place players. East coast, not the same as West Coast. It's a complex market. We're not really big as a European brand because there's so many formidable players also in the US that are obviously established there and more well known. But we're growing and growing in the US as well, which is great to see. And also from a marketing perspective, we're cutting through as well through the clutter, which is great for a mid sized European brand to get a foothold in the markets. And we're also increasing our, our retail Footprint. We're opening stores. We already have one open close to Denver. There's more coming. We have a distribution center that we're evaluating in North America, a new one. So, yeah, lots of growth. And obviously with that comes a lot of opportunity for us as well.

[Jenny Rooney]

I love it. And I mean, I was. I've been talking with other CMOs. You know, there's so many things happening just culturally, I mean, all around the world, obviously in the US as well, but just this resurgence back to shared experiences, live experiences, doing things that are not online, not digital. And you're kind of right in that sweet spot of that cultural trend, if you will.

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, ultimately, our consumers are looking for real life experiences. The products are only like a means to an end. The end is going up on a mountain having an experience, you know, seeing of doing it. Exactly. The rush of doing things. There's a lot of adrenaline, you know, adrenaline junkies kind of doing stuff. It's just also like, extremely beautiful to wake up on a mountain peak. Blue hour, you know, 4:00am in the morning, and then climbing on. It's like incredibly beautiful. And those are the experiences that our consumers want and long for. And we're basically just a conduit. Like, we're just creating the gear that enables them to do that. We're an enabler. Yeah. In that sense.

[Jenny Rooney]

What's your favorite mountain that you've woken up on?

[Nick Brandenburger]

I would say Kotopaxi.

[Jenny Rooney]

Oh, awesome.

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, it's like. It's also one of the highest ones that I've been 5400ish, something like that. It's been a while. And I also struggled with the altitude a lot. And I'm not a climber. I'm more like a hiker. Yeah. I leave the climbing to the ones that are, you know, to the crazy ones. But that was incredibly beautiful, is a really, really precious experience that I. That I carry with me forever.

[Jenny Rooney]

I love that. Speaking of experience, you spent time at P and G, correct?

[Nick Brandenburger]

That's right, yeah.

[Jenny Rooney]

What do you learn there? You know, what were you overseeing? What was your role? And how have you carried that into your role at Mammut?

[Nick Brandenburger]

I mean, I was in marketing at Procter and Gamble, which is kind of like the core function. And you own the PNL as that. So, you know, as you go through the ranks as an assistant brand manager, a brand manager, et cetera, et cetera.

[Jenny Rooney]

So.

[Nick Brandenburger]

And I've been there for almost 10 years, and it's an incredible school.

[Jenny Rooney]

Absolutely is.

[Nick Brandenburger]

And I wouldn't want to miss it for anything. I think I learned all the foundations for marketing that are still true and, you know, tested and true. Today at P and G, I actually didn't want to get into marketing. You know, as I finished university, I felt like marketing is a squishy thing. It's not an exact science. And I felt like everyone can write a book with a couple of graphs and some frameworks, but there doesn't seem to be like a unified, true and tested approach to anything in marketing, which makes sense because every business is different, every brand is different, has different consumers, different needs, different.

[Jenny Rooney]

Malleable by design.

[Nick Brandenburger]

Exactly. Yeah. You know, I think the most important thing that I carried away from Proctor and Gamble is that you start with the consumer. Consumer is at the heart of everything you do. And I think that was and still is the edge of Procter and Gamble to really, really deeply understand their consumers. Not based on observations, but true and tacit insights.

[Jenny Rooney]

I'm going to circle back to, as I promised, the why of being here. You know, you've been coming here. Obviously it's much more accessible for you to come to Davos, given where you live now. But why do you think it's so important for CMOs to come? And what would you tell others who aren't here but that would love to better understand if they're thinking about making a choice of coming here, you know, why do you think this is a vital opportunity for them? And why is connectivity to awareness of CEO agendas and global issues so important?

[Nick Brandenburger]

On the first part of the question, I think this is an incredible fertile ground. Right? Like, there's a lot of cutting edge thinking here. There's a lot of really talented, really smart people, you know, at WEF here. And I think the knowledge exchange, for me, it's like a large part of it is just being inspired by great leaders, hearing what they do, how they're using new technologies, you know, how they're building systems inside their companies, how they're working with other leaders. So for me, it's a great source of inspiration and learning like you would not find anywhere else, as you said. Right. Like, for example, Cannes Lions is more of a marketing event or creative. There's agencies there, obviously. Right. But it's almost like you're within a silo of sorts and here you're breaking through the silos and the conversations that you have are that much more relevant. And that gets to the second part of your question. Why is it so important to connect with other leaders in the C suite? The consumer doesn't care how you are organized. Right? They don't care like what you own, like how many of the four P's that you own as a marketer. They just simply don't care. All they care about is like what do you do and what's the benefit for me, right? And so it gets more and more important to create fully integrated, holistic, end to end experiences for the consumer and not just the marketing campaign. The connectivity with other leaders, CEOs, Chief Product Officers, chief finance officers is absolutely critical. And so that's what you get here, this interdisciplinary approach which is so valuable.

[Jenny Rooney]

So well said, Nick. And I'm going to end on that note because it is such an insight. Right? The consumer doesn't care. They need to just know how it's going to affect them in their worlds. And ultimately that's what you all as C Suite partners want to have happen. So absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's a pleasure. I've loved getting to know you and the brand and the business and I look forward to additional conversations.

[Nick Brandenburger]

Yeah, thank you so much. Pleasure to be here. Thank you for listening to Marketing Vanguard, part of the Adweek Podcast Network and Acast Creator Network. You can listen and subscribe to all of Adweek's podcast by visiting adweek.com podcasts. Stay updated on all things Adweek Podcast Network by following us on Twitter Dweek Podcast. And if you have a question or suggestion for the show, send us an [e-mail] thanks for listening.

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