Laura Knebusch (Georgia-Pacific) | The Power of Staying Unflappable

Summary

The CMO Podcast with Laura Knebusch (Georgia-Pacific) | "The Power of Staying Unflappable"

Date: November 26, 2025
Host: Jim Stengel
Guest: Laura Knebusch, SVP of CPG Marketing & Customer Experience, Georgia-Pacific
Theme: Leadership in marketing transformation, embracing change, brand building, and the value of unflappability

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jim Stengel sits down with Laura Knebusch, Senior Vice President of CPG Marketing and Customer Experience at Georgia-Pacific. The conversation, recorded live at the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing conference, explores Laura's reputation as an "unflappable" leader, her approach to leading transformation and modernizing legacy brands, the impact of AI and change in marketing organizations, the importance of brand purpose and measurement, and her commitment to representation and creativity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Unflappability as a Leadership Strength

• Reputation for Staying Calm: Laura is widely recognized as “absolutely unflappable” by her peers, a trait she credits with enabling her to lead through challenging times with empathy and focus.
  • Quote: “I'm kind of known as like the calm during the storm... I’ll take a pause in a moment and then we'll work through how to accomplish what comes next.” [06:15]
• Her Thought Process: Laura emphasizes listening, thinking about the big picture, empathy, and then developing an action plan rather than dwelling on issues.
• Maintaining Perspective: She recognizes the need to show emotion at times but sees value in separating reaction from response, and focusing on solutions.

2. The Future of Marketing Organizations & Embracing Change

• Continuous Change: Laura warns against chasing finite mastery in areas like AI, highlighting the accelerating pace of change in marketing.
  • Quote: “I don't think we're ever going to be good at AI. It is more about being good in a world that's going to constantly change.” [09:40]
• Lifelong Learning: She encourages developing teams of lifelong learners who actively seek external inspiration and embrace evolving technologies.
• Change Management: Laura’s experience emphasizes that successful transformation requires top-down leadership, a clear vision, cross-functional buy-in, and never-ending adaptation.

3. Bringing Transformation to Georgia-Pacific

• Marketing Modernization: Laura spearheaded a shift from traditional marketing to a holistic “consumer experience” model, integrating insights, analytics, martech, social, and customer affairs.
• "Living Our Brands" Program: A foundational initiative that aligns the entire organization around clear brand promises, extending ownership beyond marketing to every employee.
  • Quote: “It wasn’t just about that. It was about making sure… everyone in the organization understood they had a role. Like everybody builds the brand.” [22:47]
• Measurement & Analytics: Georgia-Pacific built an in-house data and analytics engine, enabling more frequent and consistent measurement of marketing ROI and effectiveness, even stopping tactics that weren't working.

4. Navigating AI and New Capabilities

• AI as an Enabler: Laura describes early and ongoing experimentation with AI, especially within the creative team and media buying, encouraging all team members to “play” and develop personal use cases.
  • Quote: “There's not one person on my team whose job it needs to be. Every person should be understanding how their role could change but also trying to be the architect of that change.” [31:30]
• Areas of AI Impact: Creative process, media buying, synthetic data for insights, and analytics are current focus areas.

5. Brand Building in Practice: Angel Soft and Brawny

• Angel Soft Example: The brand led the "Living Our Brands" charge, launching a simple promise of 'balance' via an engaging mascot (Angel) and bold campaigns, notably their Super Bowl "Pottytunity" ad, which also won a Cannes Lion.
  • Quote: “We launched our first super bowl ad for angelsoft to provide the audience with a potty tunity…not to watch the ad and to go to the bathroom.” [34:07]
• Brawny Example: Relaunched with product innovation (three-ply) and a refreshed Brawny Man, connecting with popular culture and reality TV audiences.

6. Driving Diversity: The SeeHer Initiative

• Representation in Media: Georgia-Pacific is a founding member of the ANA’s SeeHer initiative, committed to accurate representation of women and girls in advertising.
  • Quote: “What I love about…our story is that even household products… had some of the hardest or worst stereotypes in advertising in the past. And so we had an even bigger job…” [37:57]
• Operational Integration: SeeHer principles are embedded into creative briefs, measurement, and ongoing evaluation.

7. Personal Leadership Values

• Blend of Creativity/Data: Laura highlights her unique blend of creative vision and data-driven strategy, citing both as essential for modern marketers.
• Team Development: She views building great teams and supporting their growth as integral to both her legacy and the organization's success.
• Work-Life Balance: Values the ability to lead while having a rich family life, serving as a role model for women in business.
  • Quote: “I value the ability to be a strong leader and also…have a wonderful kind of family life...it’s important to show and demonstrate to the world today and future moms out there.” [35:52]

8. Personal Inspiration & Career Influences

• Early Brand Influence: Barbie had a deep impact on Laura, representing creativity and the idea that she could be anything—a lesson she sees continuing in how the brand evolves for young girls today. [45:45]
• Professional Mentors: Credits her father (a CEO and P&G alum) for instilling confidence and core values.
• Tennis & Rejuvenation: Uses sports, meditation, and creative discussions for personal renewal and inspiration.

9. Lessons from Award-Winning Campaigns

• Cannes Lion for Angel Soft: Goal was not to win awards but to make the mascot 'iconic.' The campaign succeeded by aligning objectives and creative ambition with business outcomes.
  • Quote: “We had a clear objective. It wasn’t to go to the super bowl and it wasn’t to win a Cannes Lion. It was to make angel iconic.” [41:51]

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Notable Quotes

• On Change:
  “Whether it's AI or something else like that is the world we're living in...we need not just very smart and creative people on our team, but they have to be lifelong learners.” — Laura Knebusch [09:49]

• On AI Adoption:
  “AI is everybody's job...every person should be understanding how their role could change but also trying to be the architect of that change.” — Laura Knebusch [31:32]

• On Brand Building:
  “Everybody builds the brand. It's not marketing's job—not the category's job. It is every person in the organization.” — Laura Knebusch [23:11]

• On Measurement:
  “By having that data we’re continuing to feed that into our choices...but we're also acting with credibility. We saw tactics that weren't working and we stopped.” — Laura Knebusch [26:11]

• On Creative Recognition:
  “It wasn’t just creative for creativity’s sake…we met all those metrics and then we won the Cannes lion...they see it as a business success.” — Laura Knebusch [41:49]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Unflappability in Leadership: [06:15] – [07:31]
• Embracing Constant Change & Change Management: [09:40] – [10:46]
• Post-Conference Debrief Practices: [10:55] – [11:20]
• AI, Transformation & Team upskilling: [29:58] – [32:18]
• Angel Soft Brand Campaigns/Cannes Lion: [34:12], [41:43]
• Brawny Innovation Example: [34:19]
• SeeHer Initiative & Diversity: [37:42] – [39:35]
• Personal Values & Legacy: [35:43] – [36:34], [44:16]
• Barbie’s Influence: [45:45] – [46:51]
• Inspiration, Energy, and Self-Care: [47:04]
• Reflecting on Brand Purpose & Measurement: [50:17]

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Memorable Moments

• The “Pottytunity” Super Bowl Ad: Turning a bathroom break into a brand statement—and winning industry acclaim for it (Cannes Lion).
• Living our Brands: Integration of brand-building into every layer—from mill workers to R&D, not just marketing.
• Unflappability at Home vs. Work: Laura candidly admits her "10-year-old" is the one opponent who can rattle her poise. [07:31]
• Championing Real Representation: Active role in SeeHer showing change starts with core process integration, not add-ons.

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Closing Reflection & Takeaways

Jim Stengel closes with three leadership lessons:

1. Staying Unflappable: Channel emotion into clarity, not reactivity.
2. Embracing Change: Adaptability and continuous learning are more important than expertise in any single domain.
3. Learning & Celebration: Inspire teams by sharing knowledge and celebrating progress, not just pushing forward.

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a blueprint for leading transformation in established organizations by blending empathy, measurement discipline, creativity, and inclusive leadership—while never losing sight of the human side of both brands and teams. Laura Knebusch’s perspective illustrates that true marketing leadership is as much about guiding people through change as it is about driving business results.

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This summary focuses solely on the content of the conversation, omitting ads, promos, and outros.

Transcript

[Jim Stengel]

Hi everyone, it's Jim. I'm here with Matt Spiegel, EVP of True Audience Growth Strategy at TransUnion. Matt, you've spent your career helping marketers understand people through data. And that's harder and more important now than ever.

[Matt Spiegel]

It really is, Jim. There's really just so much information out there and unfortunately it's often disconnected. Marketers typically see fragments, you know, maybe a purchase here or a click there, but what they really need is clarity. True full picture of who their customers are and ultimately how to reach them.

[Jim Stengel]

Well, tell me how your solution strategy.

[Interviewer/Host]

Comes in and helps CMOs and their teams provide bring clarity to chaos.

[Matt Spiegel]

Well, Jim, we ultimately do that with a 360 view of the customer. And so it's about ultimately combining data, truly trusted data, identity resolution, which is a deep analytical problem, and measurement that actually helps understand performance. So ultimately we work hard to help marketers move faster, to deepen their insights, and to ultimately make every dollar work harder. We believe strongly that when you truly understand your audience, you can build a real brand and real relationships with customers that last.

[Interviewer/Host]

Where were you when I was a cmo? I don't know how to answer that.

[Jim Stengel]

Learn [e-mail] clarity that's transunion.com clarity hi everyone, it's Jim. I have Matt Spiegel of TransUnion with me.

[Interviewer/Host]

Matt, I want to start with what do you love about your job?

[Matt Spiegel]

Yeah, it's a great question, Jim.

[Jim Stengel]

You know what?

[Matt Spiegel]

I love the fact that I get to be out at events and conferences and working with clients to really think about how marketers solve problems that matter at scale. The job of a marketer is as challenging as ever and we get to do some interesting things to make their job easier.

[Interviewer/Host]

When you work with a client, where do you get the most satisfaction?

[Matt Spiegel]

You know what I think seeing ideas come to reality. We ultimately are an enable of great marketing. So we don't do creative, we don't do media planning. We provide the data, the identity insights, the measurement tools that make great marketing possible. So when we get to see the end product, sometimes later, it's really cool to see.

[Interviewer/Host]

Well, super to have you here, super to be a partner. Thanks for joining us today.

[Matt Spiegel]

Thank you, Jim.

[Jim Stengel]

So if you want to turn data into understanding and understanding into growth, visit transunion.com clarity what if the smartest marketing play is not to move forward, but to zoom out? Deloitte believes the most powerful move a CMO can make is to look beyond the next step and see the broader perspective that's what the Deloitte CMO program is for. A place to gain fresh perspective and connect with leaders who've stood where you stand together. Deloitte will help you see the bigger picture. So your next move isn't just fast, but right. Learn more about the CMO [e-mail] Hey, everyone. Jim here. And I've got some exciting news. The CMO Podcast is now on YouTube. You can now watch our conversations, not just listen. See the expressions, the energy, and the insights that happen when we sit down.

[Interviewer/Host]

With the world's top marketing leaders.

[Jim Stengel]

Head over to YouTube and subscribe to our channel, the CMO Podcast. So you never miss an episode and.

[Interviewer/Host]

Be part of the community.

[Jim Stengel]

So please check it out, subscribe and join the conversation.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl.

[Laura Neebusch]

I love this question. And I immediately went to Barbie, so I was definitely a Barbie fanatic. I mean, I had a room and it was filled with Barbies, and I'd close the door and I would just play for hours. And that's what I remember. The play, the imagination, the you can be whatever you want to be. It made such an impact on me that I've loved so much watching continue to come to life for my daughter and for current generations and how they're continuing to try and do it in a way that really, again, represents what girls need today.

[Jim Stengel]

Hi, I'm Jim Stengel. I've helped hundreds of major brands discover and activate their purpose. Because when a brand's purpose is clear, compelling and authentic, profit naturally follows. Each week, I welcome the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of your favorite brands, to speak to how their job is so much more than marketing. These leaders share their inspiration and challenges along with how they try to build a full, healthy, and happy life in.

[Interviewer/Host]

And out of the office.

[Jim Stengel]

And it's that energy that reaches everyone they touch. And we're glad you're here to feel that energy and to learn from these remarkable leaders.

[Interviewer/Host]

So here we go. When you think of some of America's.

[Jim Stengel]

Most recognizable household brands. Brawny, Angelsoft, Dixie, Quilted Northern. There's one company behind them all. It's Georgia Pacific. And at the helm of marketing for that incredible portfolio is my guest today, Laura Nebusch, the senior vice president of CPG marketing and customer experience. Georgia Pacific is nearly 100 years old and privately held, so revenues are not publicly available. Laura is a seasoned marketing leader and transformation champion who has spent the past 15 years at Georgia Pacific. She has been the head of marketing for the past two plus years and has been focused on modernizing one of the most iconic CPG companies in the world. Lara has led a sweeping evolution of Georgia Pacific's marketing organization, bringing content analytics and media buying in house, building full funnel marketing capabilities and elevating creativity with technology and data. Under her leadership, Georgia Pacific has become an early mover in retail media and a shining example of how legacy brands can stay relevant in the digital age. Before joining Georgia Pacific, Laura began her career as I did at Procter and Gamble, where she developed her grounding in consumer insight and brand discipline. Today, she's applying that same rigor to to a new era in marketing, one that's faster, more digital and more unpredictable than ever before. Here's my in person conversation with Laura Neebusch recorded live at the A and A Masters of Marketing in Orlando, powered by TransUnion.

[Interviewer/Host]

Here we go.

[Jim Stengel]

Laura, welcome to the CMO Podcast.

[Interviewer/Host]

You're our first guest at the ANA Masters of Marketing. First in person guest. So thank you for joining us, getting us going. How's the meeting going so far for you?

[Laura Neebusch]

So far it's been great. I've joined the CMO Growth Council and it's such a crossroads for marketing right now. That is such a good time to connect with the other CMOs and just talk about what's the roadmap moving forward and what do we need to be focused on as an industry. It's also fun just to see everybody and connect with peers and continue to hear stories and inspiration around what we can do better.

[Interviewer/Host]

Well, I was in that meeting with you this morning. I saw you sitting at the front, I was at the back. I ran into two of your former colleagues at Georgia Pacific. They're now at Piedmont. And I said I'm having Laura on the show later. So I said what should I ask her? What would be something that would be hit her unexpectedly? They both looked at each other and they said she is absolutely unflappable. So what's your reaction to that?

[Laura Neebusch]

It is true. I'm kind of known as like the calm during the storm and it's something that I've heard throughout my career of you could tell me anything and I'll take a pause in a moment and then we'll work through how to accomplish what comes next. And I do think it's been one of my leadership traits that has been very helpful. Sometimes it's important to show emotion and I almost have to make sure I don't let it seem like I don't care. But I do think it's something that's always allowed me just to stay focused on what's important.

[Interviewer/Host]

So how do you remain unflappable? Do you have a thought process or do you take a breath? Do you not make a decision on the spot?

[Laura Neebusch]

I think it's all of those. I tend to be more of a quiet leader overall, and so I'm always wanting to listen first before I jump in. I'm not the person who's going to jump into a room and just start yelling my thoughts and opinions. And so I think taking that breath again, thinking about the big picture. What are we really trying to accomplish? Why is this happening? Why is somebody saying this or kind of throwing up a roadblock and trying to think about it through their lens? And then I'm all about having a path forward. I'm a planner, so my next step is always then, all right, what do we go do versus let's dwell in what's happening right now.

[Interviewer/Host]

So kind of listening, empathy, and then a plan. So have you ever been not unflappable? Has there been ever something that just like knocked you down?

[Laura Neebusch]

You know, every time I get an argument with my 10 year old.

[Interviewer/Host]

Oh, okay, yeah, well, right.

[Laura Neebusch]

We'll stay out of that. You know, it's hard to say that there's ever been something that's been truly unflappable where I haven't been. But there's certainly times where I've had to react, I think, in bigger ways where we've had business challenges. But I do think it's always it's got to come down to what are we trying to accomplish and how do we get there.

[Interviewer/Host]

Now, let's talk about the ana. Is this an annual trip for you?

[Laura Neebusch]

It is. I try and come every year, both the CMO Growth Council and when I can stay for Master's of Marketing. I do find it to be just one of the industry's best collection of knowledge, resources, and honestly, inspirational stories. I always come away with some speakers who I want the rest of my team to hear at some point or I want them to go watch the video because I just think they have vision and clarity of what they're doing. That's really helpful for the rest of us to apply.

[Interviewer/Host]

I know it's early in the week. You're the first guest. Has there been anything that's happened this week? A speaker or a conversation or a person or a topic that made you think?

[Laura Neebusch]

I've spent some time yesterday with the Talent and marketing organization Group and I think that's been something that's very much top of mind for me right now is really thinking about what is the marketing organization of the future, how do we start preparing ourselves for that and then how do we start preparing our teams to be successful that future world and make sure we can continue to deliver best in class marketing, no matter what that looks like. And so I think that's been a lot still to be discussed and determined and I think capabilities that ANA is going to try and provide. But that to me is a critical topic right now.

[Interviewer/Host]

I should for our audience. The ANA is this large organization. They have a ANA CMO Growth Council which is a lot of top CMOs. They have an agenda and priorities and they work on those throughout the year. And this is sort of a summit to report on progress and one of the initiatives is training and talent. I heard you make a comment in that session this morning about obviously everyone's talking about AI and the impact of that and organization. We will talk about that in a few minutes. But you made the comment that it's about change management and it's about doing that really well and realizing it's never over. So you raised your hand, you got the microphone, you made that comment with a large group this morning. Could you talk more about why that's important for you and why you raised that?

[Laura Neebusch]

Absolutely. You know, I think we're talking a lot about AI and a lot about skills and how do we get good at AI. And the point I was trying to make is I don't think we're ever going to be good at AI. It is more about being good in a world that's going to constantly change. Because whether it's AI or something else like that is the world we're living in. Particularly I think since coming out of COVID that was this great period of change, but it hasn't stopped. It is continuing to accelerate and transform. And that means marketing's role is going to continue to accelerate and transform. And so we need not just very smart and creative people on our team, but they have to be lifelong learners. They have to be looking for how to take advantage of the next opportunity. And they have to be comfortable with change and not just comfortable with it, but want to embrace it to get to how we create more value.

[Interviewer/Host]

How do you do that yourself? Because obviously we have to role model that, right?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes. Well, part of it is coming to events like this. It's like, how do you continue to stay in touch with what's happening in the world around You. So that's experts, that's peers, that's knowledge networks. Today, I think there's so many different resources, but it's finding a few and then making sure that you're continuing to look externally and not get so focused internally on your company.

[Interviewer/Host]

When you go back from a conference like this or can or ces, what do you do with your team? I mean, are you intentional about debriefing and sharing?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, we do. Anytime anybody goes to a conference, we ask them to come back and have kind of what are the key takeaways? And not just the key takeaways, but like, what are the actual go dos for the organization? Is this something you just want people to be aware of and to know, or is there actually something we need to do differently because of it? So, you know, I was at Advertising Week two weeks ago. I had to, you know, send out my key takeaways from that and I'll do the same thing after this week. So I'll send them to my team and then you. Normally we get together and have some discussions around what that means.

[Interviewer/Host]

What do you think you'll write down this year from this?

[Laura Neebusch]

I'm definitely going to continue to talk about the. Org organization. I'm going to talk about also some great discussions today with BCG just on continuing to connect the value of brand and the value of marketing with your C suite and your cfo. And I think that's important, you know, not just at the. At my level, but all the way down to the junior levels of my team. So as they're talking to anybody within the business in the category, they can talk in a language that's going to connect with them.

[Interviewer/Host]

What do you think the Zeitgeist is here this year? I mean, it's a crazy time, right? Politically, socially, economically. So what do you feel is in the air here? What are people talking about, buzzing about?

[Laura Neebusch]

I think AI will continue to be it. And I know that's such a broad topic and it's. We've been saying that for a year or two now, but because it continues to change and evolve and we're moving just from use cases that can be beneficial into just completely different ways that we are going to operate as marketers. I think that will continue to be a key conversation. I think there's a lot of conversation right now authenticity and brand authenticity and how that's coming to life, whether it's through social or through creators or through other experiences. You know, that seems to be another really popular area as we think about how do Brands connect with consumers in different way and connect through culture will continue to be really important. And then obviously, I think measurement of all of it.

[Interviewer/Host]

I mean, I've been coming to these meetings for probably 25 years and we've been talking about measurement for every one of those 25 years. Someday we'll get a breakthrough.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Host]

Now you and I have something in common. Do you know what that is?

[Laura Neebusch]

We worked at P and G. Yeah, there you go.

[Interviewer/Host]

Easy question, setup question. And we both did it early in our careers. You know, I stayed there a bit longer than you did. So take us back to when you joined P and G, which I think was about 2003.

[Laura Neebusch]

It was 2003. Yes. I was an ABM during your tenure as CMO. So you actually had a really big impact on me as an early young marketer. And I did. I joined out of business school from Duke and I worked in personal healthcare on some really fun brands like nyquil, Dayquil, Pepto, Bismol, Thermacare. So healthcare was an interesting place to be just because it was a very. It is a very heavy, heavily regulated category. But these were still brands that I felt like they weren't limited by regulation. They truly had great brand equity, brand tones, brand voice. So they were a lot of fun to work on.

[Interviewer/Host]

I mean, those brands don't get all the publicity that a lot of other P and G brands get. But they are great brands and P and GS held onto them as they've divested a lot of other things. But great brand equities, great product and great campaigns, over time they've stayed true.

[Jim Stengel]

To who they are.

[Interviewer/Host]

So why did you decide on P and g back in 2003?

[Laura Neebusch]

I knew I wanted to go into brand marketing. I had done some marketing prior to going to business school and I knew I really wanted to go more of a traditional brand management path. And I felt like there was no other place to do that than P and G, or there was no place I was going to learn as much and get the framework and the foundation that I wanted. And so I joined and that's exactly the experience I had. You know, I learned so much while I was there.

[Interviewer/Host]

How do you think you evolved as a person and a leader in those five years?

[Laura Neebusch]

I built foundational, I'd say marketing skills, but really I think P and G also helps you learn your leadership style, how to work in an environment where you need to get a lot of, you know, it's the cross functional environment, the center of the wheel, getting a lot of people to do, to follow the path. And I think from a very early age, having to be that leader really helps set you up for success in the long run.

[Interviewer/Host]

Was there a leader there that made an especially big impact on you, someone you worked with, worked for?

[Laura Neebusch]

I had a lot of. I mean, I loved all of my managers. I mean, I think everyone. I learned so much. Yvonne Andrew, Tara Staley, Jose Luis Basura. I mean, like, so I had a lot of Mauricio Trancoso. Like, I could talk about them all. Karen Schlossler. I mean, we had everyone. I think I learned something different and that's what was so valuable. But they were all wonderful advocates for me as well.

[Interviewer/Host]

So when you left in 2008, which I did as well, we left the same year, was that hard? Was it a tough decision?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes and no. I knew it was. It was a good time for me to make a move both kind of personally and professionally. But it was hard because I'd put in, I could see what my future would be at P and G, and I knew that there was a career for me there. So it was hard to leave something that I was comfortable with. And I was learning a lot. But I was excited for a new adventure.

[Jim Stengel]

Now, I've seen you quote on how.

[Interviewer/Host]

Much you enjoy working on everyday household brands, and this is your voice.

[Jim Stengel]

It's fun to work on brands consumers need and appreciate.

[Interviewer/Host]

Each day is like a new day, Very positive, sunny, beautiful.

[Andrea Sullivan]

Quote.

[Interviewer/Host]

So when did you sort of have that aha moment that this was the right kind of business and the right kind of categories for you?

[Laura Neebusch]

When I joined Georgia Pacific, I had the option to go into a different direction outside of consumer packaged goods. And I wanted to stay.

[Interviewer/Host]

They have a lot of different business units.

[Jim Stengel]

People don't realize that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes. And so I wanted to stay within consumer packaged goods because I did one, fundamentally believe in the brands that they had and then two, the categories. I mean, while I know these are everyday essential categories, it's very easy to kind of laugh and say, I work on toilet paper and I work on paper towels. But these are things that people use every day. They are in everybody's home. And so you realize that these have much greater connection than I think we give them credit for. You know, I get a lot of comments around, oh, commodity categories or low interest categories. They are. Until you think about COVID and what happened and the fact that all of a sudden toilet paper, it wasn't bread, it wasn't water, it was. Toilet paper was what people could not live without. And it just speaks to the security and the comfort of these every items.

[Jim Stengel]

Everyone seems to be chasing the next big thing, the fastest answer, the quickest win. But great CMOs believe the real power isn't in the speed. It's in stepping back to see the bigger picture. That's why everything Deloitte does in their CMO program, from their industry leading capabilities to their connected network of CMOs, is designed to help you zoom out and gain fresh perspective. Deloitte will help you see the bigger picture together. Learn more about the CMO [e-mail].

[Interviewer/Host]

You'Ve had quite a career ladder at Georgia Pacific 15 years and as I count them, about eight different roles before this one, which we'll talk about. So of that career journey you had at Georgia Pacific over the last 15 years, which of those roles do you find was most defining for you? Most stretching, most challenging?

[Laura Neebusch]

I will call out two roles. The first one was when I joined Georgia Pacific. I joined as a brand manager on Brawny. I worked up to the brand director, so I would say a very traditional brand management track. At that point I was asked to move into the marketing capability and take over shopper marketing. I had never done shopper marketing and at the time was was really worried that that might take me off a career track that I thought I wanted to be on. But I was asked to do it because they felt like my leadership would be helpful in redefining the vision for that team and how to create value with that team. And so for me it was a stretch. Really walked in not knowing exactly what I was doing. But it grew me, I think, more than any other role had at that time. And it allowed me to demonstrate and stretch myself as both someone who could develop a vision, drive the organization's connection to that vision, but then also lead the execution of that vision in a way that drove value for the organization. So that was a pretty big, a big one for me just in really stretching out of my comfort zone.

[Interviewer/Host]

Before you move to the second one, what did you do to get started on that? Because shopper marketing, I mean it's a P and G is good at it, right? It's understanding marketing at the point of purchase, at the point of decision. So did you go out and benchmark? Did you talk to colleagues? Did you talk to who's the person who was in the role before? How'd you get your feet on the ground?

[Laura Neebusch]

All of it. I started to partner at the time with Path to Purchase Institute. So kind of again, what Are the industry resources partnered? You know, found peer networks, really spoke to just also the stakeholders, like some our sales partners, our retail partners, internally trying to understand kind of where there were disconnects. So I needed to do all of that. So very much the first couple months were a learning for me and then, you know, starting to put in path, a crawl walk run. We weren't going to get there all in a day, but a crawl walk run that it felt like we could move on to, you know, build the internal capability but also external credibility, particularly with retailers.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah. So what was the second assignment that was stretching?

[Laura Neebusch]

The second one was I then had a really nice successful career in my marketing capability. Expanding responsibility and a role opened up as a general manager on one of our categories on napkins, which was actually a smaller category. And I wanted to challenge Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair, exactly.

[Interviewer/Host]

Great product, by the way.

[Laura Neebusch]

It is, it is. And it's still we make sure we use napkins at every meal. I think it's very important, even though we also use a lot of paper towels. But for me, that was the chance to go back, move back into a business, show that I could run a business and I and drive forward again. And what was actually a really challenging category because as paper towel usage was increasing, napkin usage was decreasing. So it was not walking into an easy kind of category or brand situation. And that was also, again, I learned a lot. I grew as a leader. I then expanded my responsibility responsibilities to add on paper towels and so just another way to challenge myself and kind of show kind of my versatility and what I can do as a business leader.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you enjoy general manager?

[Laura Neebusch]

I do enjoy it. I enjoy. Part of what I really enjoy is big picture thinking and identifying all the different POVs that are going on and developing those strategies. So I enjoy it, but I love marketing, which is why when the most recent role became an opportunity, I wanted to move back there.

[Interviewer/Host]

So you're now the senior VP of CPG Marketing for a little more than two years and you have marketing capability overlooking the brands, et cetera, et cetera.

[Jim Stengel]

But you're really what I see you.

[Interviewer/Host]

Focusing on, maybe I'm wrong. Is this transformation or modernization of your marketing organization. Now we're here at the ana, we're talking a lot about transformation. We'll have case studies of successful ones and not so successful. Yours seems to be working. It seems to be clicking. So I'd love you to sort of take us back to when you came into this role two plus years ago. Why was this your choice to Focus on why was this the company's choice to get behind you and where did you start?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, a lot of very good questions. So when I think about when I took on this role and I started to move into this actually during COVID and then kind of expanded as I got into the role and that was such, again, a transformational time for everybody, companies, consumers, shopping. But again, I think it reset a little bit what, what the role of paper products could be. And I think internally it also helped the business identify that this is our chance to really make sure our brands stand for something and are going to be here for the long run. I mean, we obviously have a lot of great competition in this category, so we have to be at the top of our game with what we're doing if we really truly want these brands to be successful in the long run. And so what I first did was just kind of reimagine moving out of just the marketing capability into what we call consumer experience, which is the fact that consumers are now experiencing our brand in so many different ways. And so we really needed to think less about how do we tell our message to consumers, but more how do we make sure every interaction a consumer has with the brand is building on that brand equity. And so that meant building a slightly different organization in some ways a very different organization we'd had previously. We added in insights and analytics to my team. I added in, I built out a marketing technology team, we brought in social and consumer affairs into my team, all to really try and get more of that full kind of integrated look at consumers and, and that experience. But then there's probably two, I'd say key initiatives that I advocated for that I think have been most important in changing how we've gone to market. The first is something I call living our brands, which honestly is the fundamentals of brand building. It is who is our target, how do our brands uniquely deliver a benefit to that target? And then how do we make sure that benefit is distinctly. We're telling that benefit in a distinct and consistent way time and time again. But it wasn't just about that. It was about making sure the organ is everywhere. Everyone in the organization understood they had a role. Like everybody builds the brand. It's not marketing's job, it's not the category's job. It is every person in the organization has a role in building our brand, whether that's manufacturing or quality or sales or supply chain. And that, you know, while I would say the brand building strategy piece of it wasn't new, I think that was the part that was really transformative for the organization that everybody was getting behind that clear vision for each of our brands.

[Interviewer/Host]

Tell us about this Living our Brands. I love the title. How did you launch it? I mean, it sounds like it's a company thing, not a marketing thing. And what changed in the company because of it?

[Laura Neebusch]

You know, it started with saying we knew we wanted to be better than we were, we knew we could be better and we could set our brands up for more success in the future if we operated differently. We started externally looking at who do we think really does this well and how do we benchmark that and what are some of those key principles of really successful brand building organizations. And then we brought back that back in to the leadership team. You know, it wasn't to marketing, it was to the business leadership team and had some really tough conversations around, all right, is this something we're committed to and do we want to move forward? And then once we had lined up on that vision, then it was about actually implementing it in a way that was sustainable. So training the organization. And again, not just marketing, not just the category. Sales is trained, R and D is trained, you know, finance is trained so that we're all speaking the same language and then making sure we had kind of the processes along the way to continue to live it and to build the inspiration. And so once a year we just finished it. We do a living. Our brand summit, we bring in great external thought leaders, but we also celebrate internally and we celebrate some of the great case studies we're seeing. Again, not just great marketing, but the story of an our mill where someone on the angelsoft line saw a quality issue and stopped and stopped the line because they know for the angelsoft consumer, they don't have a lot of money to spend and if they get a bad quality product, that might be it for them for the month. And so that recognition is just as exciting for me as the great marketing that's happening right now as well and really bringing it to life.

[Interviewer/Host]

We talked this morning in the A and A about proving the value of marketing to your CEO cfo, having those discussions with them. It's an age old issue. We talked about it a lot this morning. It sounds like at Georgia Pacific you have conviction at the top of the company that brand building is important. It needs to be funded, it needs to be measured. Of course, you need to be consistent year in and year out. So if you agree with that, what do you think you have done at the company over time to instill that.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, and that's probably the second key thing that we focused on because when we had to have that vision and we had to have the path of how we thought our brands could get there, but we are still, you know, at the end of the day, we're looking for how we are not just driving value, not just for the consumer, but for the company. And what does that look like? And so we also build out basically a data engine internally. We brought in in house analytics group, we brought in an in house media group who does digital, who does social, who does search. But particularly with the analytics, we started to do our own MMMs internally which meant we could meas. Measure, get alignment to what metrics we were measuring. Measure more market mix modeling for our audience. Yeah, sorry, market mix modeling. Measure more frequently and measure it consistently. And so the organization can truly see over time how our performance is improving, whether it's contribution, effectiveness or the efficiency of investment. And by having that data then obviously we're continuing. It's the cycle. We're continuing to feed that into our choices, which is helping us make better choices. But we're also asking with credibility or acting with credibility. We saw stuff that are tactics that weren't working and we stopped. And so it was truly living. We're going to lean in where it's working, but also we're also going to help the organization make the tough choices. And that I think continuous, the vision of what the better state could be, plus the continuous metrics and measurement helped continue to build that credibility and trust within the organization. So the conversation today is very different than it was three years ago.

[Interviewer/Host]

This organization sounds very different from what it was three years ago ago. And I heard you in the meeting this morning talk about the importance of change management. And we have to never take our eyes off that. And that's an art and a science. So take us through how you have led with your team, this transformation of your marketing group where you have new jobs, different jobs, different capabilities, new departments. How did you lead that? To bring people along, to want to be part of this versus dragging their feet.

[Laura Neebusch]

I'm lucky to have an amazing team. So I would say it starts with building a team around you that has that same belief, of course. And then with them, we work on our vision together. So this isn't a Lars vision and everyone else just needs to leave it. This is a. Our leadership team has put together this vision. We try and look at it every year to make sure we think we're on the right path. This year we really challenged ourselves to say, not what's the right vision for this year, but what's the right vision for 2028? And then are we thinking about the right capabilities to get us to 2028? And so each capability leader on my team then worked on their kind of their three year roadmap. What did they hope would happen in 2025, 26 and 27 to get us to where we think we need to be in 2028? So I think it's having that collaborative visioning process and getting that buy in from the team, but having a team that's willing to lean in and drive that change with me. And so I feel lucky to be enabled with such a team that's helping me drive that transformation.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's a huge theme on the show, by the way, and we've done seven years of shows and if you do AI to analyze the themes, the successful CMOs build a great team and they never get complacent about that.

[Jim Stengel]

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[Interviewer/Host]

Now I run into the Adobe CMO at the meeting here, Laura, and we're both talking about what's on the minds of everyone. 1 and we both agreed that we hear a lot of people asking about how do you build an organization today where AI is built into our capabilities? AI is redefining so much work. So could you speak a bit about and this is very live. Everyone's experimenting, trying it. It's and so it's changing very, very quickly. But how have you thought about AI as you've done all the transformation work you've done at Georgia Pacific.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, well, AI is, can be a little scary. I'm also so excited about the potential that it can bring again, not just from an efficiency but from an effectiveness standpoint. I do think it will be a huge enabler for us. There's a lot to learn over the next couple years or maybe again we'll never be done learning. But I'm excited about the opportunities it presents. And so we actually leaned in pretty early, starting with use cases. Very experimental kind of. What are some of the key use cases? A lot of them were within the creative team and our in house agency but really doing some just fast experimentation and kind of seeing what was driving value and what wasn't. So I felt good that we were starting to drive some use cases early but that's still not, I think the level of change that we need. And so that's been more of the focus this year which is similar to living our brands. AI is everybody's job. There's not one person on my team whose job it needs to be. Every person should be understanding how their role could change but also trying to be the architect of that change. So it's not just happening to them, they're really embracing it. And so some of the things we've been doing is trying to give people a little bit more time, time just to play because I think that's a huge enabler is just getting out there and playing and understand, you know, even myself learning. You know, I developed my first video last week and that was very exciting. So I think it's so important to actually get in and do it and to encourage them to use it, you know, for product. You know, start with the productivity tools before you even get into the marketing tools. Just transform how you're doing your day to day job and how you can be save time during leveraging some of those tools. Getting in and playing, finding what personal use cases you're excited about. You know, I've, you know, I love to travel and so that's, you know, I go home and play on it as I plan lots of trips that I want to take one day. And so just trying to, you know, make it more of a part of everybody's every day I think has been a key piece of it. But also setting the expectations that everybody needs to be doing it. This isn't a nice to have anymore.

[Interviewer/Host]

Where do you think you're seeing the most interesting early results with AI? Is it in the creative process?

[Laura Neebusch]

I would say the creative process is where we're using it. Most regularly still figuring out how to make sure look across the entire process. I think we found use cases but how really to maximize the entire process. The other place we've seen it is in media buying where we've seen some pretty effects results leveraging AI so future use cases certainly insights and analytics. We started to do some experiments with synthetic data which is pretty exciting. And then on the measurement front as well as we think about the in.

[Interviewer/Host]

House analytics now living our brands. When you think about I know it's a company initiative and you told the story about the angelsoft engineer. Is there one team or brand that you feel like really has leaned into this? I know everyone is, but is there one that really stands out out as really embracing it, being early adopters kind of setting the tone for everyone else?

[Laura Neebusch]

There's actually two brands but I'll pick one. We'll start with angelsoft and I will start with angelsoft just because I think they were the first one not just to do the work but to come to market with the work, both from a product positioning and packaging standpoint. And part of what they were trying to do is bring to life their very, very simple promise of balance. You know, again in a, in a toilet paper category, a lot of times you're choosing soft and strong and you know, the angelsoft consumer can't afford to choose and so they need it all at the right. Angelsoft is about that simple choice, that balance and then bringing that to life though in a very, very engaging and distinctive campaign, which is an animated campaign. It features a great new mascot called Angel. Engaging, fun. We then extended that to packaging. And then this year we made a pretty bold move for Georgia Pacific, which we're excited about. We really wanted to take angel to the next level and so we launched an activation to address one of the biggest trade offs, you know, out in the world, which is the trade off at the super bowl of not wanting to go to the bathroom when you want to watch the ads or the game or the halftime show. And so we launched our first super bowl ad for angelsoft to provide the audience with a potty tunity and give and basically tell them not to watch the ad and to go to the bathroom.

[Interviewer/Host]

And you want a Cannes line for.

[Laura Neebusch]

That and we want a Cannes.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah. Congratulations.

[Laura Neebusch]

Thank you.

[Interviewer/Host]

The other team that you think is really leaning into it, Brawny.

[Laura Neebusch]

The brawny brand. And the only reason I say that it's them second is because they just, they've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes but this year they Launched in the paper towel category, a very big innovation, a three ply paper towel. But not just just as an add on. They relaunched the entire line and made a very bold move to truly make sure that they were living up to their equity around kind of strength and dependability. But with that they also brought to life a new brawny man and I think have really been taking some risks with how they're connecting him and culture that are paying off in a big way.

[Interviewer/Host]

I'm sure P and G is watching all of this. No comment. Now listen, I went through your LinkedIn posts and you're pretty active on it over the last several and I kind of deduced what you value and I just want to lay those out as a leader and get your reaction to that. Certainly creativity. We just talked about angelsoft, teamwork, seeing the enjoyment in work, external inspiration, mentorship, being a great mom. So is that a fair read of what you value?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes. The one I'm surprised didn't pop up though is data and analytics. Because that I think has been my unique value driver in this role is not just bringing the strategy and creativity, but really trying to marry that with kind of the data and technology underneath it that I think is helping to power brands. Not just helping, but it's going to be required to power brands today.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah. So of all that add data and analytics to it, is there anything you would really underscore as something that you're really leaning into now in terms of a value or a strength?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes. Well, hopefully I'm always leaning into being a good mom.

[Interviewer/Host]

I'm sure you are.

[Laura Neebusch]

But I do very much value the ability to be a strong leader and also to be, you know, have a wonderful kind of family life and to be a mom and have, have both, both of those personalities. So. And I think that's important to be able to show and demonstrate to the world today and future moms out there. I would say the other thing that we're, I'm really looking forward to this year, going back to creativity is I think we're really starting to push on our creativity and to drive more breakthrough creativity and really starting to think more about how do we do that in culture. And again, when you think about people saying do I really want to talk about a toilet paper brand? Do I really want to talk about a paper towel brand? Well, the answer is yes, if you find the right conversations to be part of and that's exciting is suddenly be part of not just telling people my message, but really having people want to be part of that conversation, how did.

[Interviewer/Host]

You start that again?

[Laura Neebusch]

I would say some of it might have even have been as inspiration here. You know, it's having the vision, seeing how other great brands are doing it, understanding your consumer and where they are and what they're passionate about and then again, knowing your brand story. So I mentioned Brawny. We've done a lot this year and trying to connect the brawny man in unique and kind of unexpected situations where his strength and dependability can come to life and very fun way. And we know the brawny target loves reality TV and there's no end to the messy situations that occur in reality tv. And so we've had a lot of really fun collabs and partnerships where we're inserting the brawny man and he's coming in to kind of clean up the mess. And so it's completely on the story, but it's unexpected and it's something that targets our consumer's passionate about. And I think when you bring those things together, that's when you find some of the magic that can happen.

[Interviewer/Host]

Do you use external and internal resources to do that?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, yes, we do leverage kind of strategic, both PR and creative agencies. But we've got the in house creative. We have in house social, we have in house media, which all allows us to act with agility. And once we have the good ideas, kind of take those and really run with them.

[Interviewer/Host]

Let's come Back to the ANA. There's an update on the SeeHer initiative this morning. I know you're committed to that. You're very passionate about it. Could you tell our audience a bit about what that is, that initiative and why you are so passionate about it?

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, I would love to. So see her is kind of the ANA initiative around improving the accurate representation of women and girls and advertising and media really behind the idea which I love of if you can see her, you can be her. And wanting to make sure that what girls, women everybody is seeing is truly representative of who we are out there today. So Georgia Pacific was actually one of the founding partners in 2016. So it's hard to believe it's almost been a decade because we understood our consumer expects more of the brands that she partners with. And I think that's those expectations have only gotten higher and she was not seeing herself represented out there in the world today. And so what I love about again our story is that even household products, like I would say some of our categories, had some of the hardest or worst stereotypes in our advertising in the past. And so we had an even bigger job to make sure we were bringing our brand stories to life in a way that our consumer was connecting with. And not just connecting with, but saw herself and felt aspirational when she saw it. And so that's something that we have made a priority in the organization. We have integrated it into our creative processes, we have integrated it into measurement, we've integrated it into media. And you know, I was actually just speaking at the see her meeting last week talking about the fact that we can now show year over year how our results have improved because we are able to benchmark back to 2016. It's important to me as a woman, it's important to me as a female leader trying to make sure we're really helping the organization think about all of our consumers. It's important to me as a mom that I'm trying to do the right thing for my daughter and her friends as they're growing up.

[Interviewer/Host]

What was the key to operationalize that? Because it's very impressive what you just wrapped up. You know, you really built it into.

[Laura Neebusch]

How you work and that was it. It couldn't be an and it had to be one. I think there had to be leadership, commitment. Again, that this is important. This isn't just a nice to have. This is something we're saying is going to drive business and so it's going to be important. So it had to be top down and we had to have the right steps to be able to get there. And again, in partnering with the ANA and see her, we were able to partner on a lot of their tools and again, not make it a you now have to go do this as well. But it is something that we've built into our creative brief. It's within our creative evaluation criteria, it's within our measurement. We're able to assess how we're doing along the way. And I think that's what's been critical is it's just part of the process. And then we try and celebrate wins, you know, whenever we can.

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[Interviewer/Host]

I want to move to the creative brief, and the first question is, you want a gold lion? We talked about it with angelsoft at Cannes this year for the Super Bowl Bulwark. Tell us the biggest lesson you had in that process. I mean, did you. Was that a goal of yours or was it. Because that's, you know, not many brands like that win gold Lions and it's a. It's emblematic of the path you're on. But tell me the lesson you had in leading or watching or guiding that team toward that outcome.

[Laura Neebusch]

It's certainly such an honor for the team. And I would say just as important whenever we talk about it is, but it also met its objectives. So we didn't just. It wasn't just creative for creativity's sake. It was something we wanted to launch the AngelSoft mascot, Angel. We wanted to grow her awareness, we wanted to grow awareness of the brand. We wanted to, you know, make sure we were improving relevance. And so what made it so important was that we met all those metrics and then we won the Cannes lion, which was a great representation of it. But because all of those came together, I think the business now sees this. You know, it's not. They see it as a business success. It wasn't just a good creative campaign. It was truly a business success. But I think what was most important as we started it was we had a clear objective. It wasn't to go to the super bowl and it wasn't to win a Cannes Lion. It was to make angel iconic. And we all lined up against that. And then when the idea came, we bought the idea we thought would best do that. And then buying into that idea then led to, I think, just tremendous work that ended up winning an award. Now I'm thrilled to win a Cannes Lion. I mean, that's absolutely. I think any marketer would be excited about that. But at the end of the day, seeing what it did for the business business and then winning the can line is what truly makes it successful.

[Interviewer/Host]

But it was a great brief. Right. You started with, how do we make this iconic? Right. And iconic brands typically are big brands and winning brands. Now, who or how did that idea emerge. I mean, you want to build an iconic brand, you want to establish the angel, then all of a sudden you're at the Super Bowl. How did that. Did it come from your agency inside?

[Laura Neebusch]

So it was a combination of a really strong brand building team on angelsoft who developed this really clear, brief and challenged our agency. We work with Gray for Angel and they came back with a tremendous idea. And then once we all bought into the idea, you know, we really challenged, does it have to be done at the Super Bowl? The thought was, if we are truly going to make angel iconic, then yes, we want to do this at the Super Bowl. There's no better occasion for this. And then as an organization, everybody lined up against making this happen in the best way possible. It was a learning experience being the first super bowl ad. If I had any advice, it'd be to start earlier than we did. Yeah, we could have used another three months, but we leaned into both our external and our internal partners to get it done and we look back and just are really happy with the results.

[Interviewer/Host]

Will you be at the super bowl this year?

[Laura Neebusch]

We will not be at the super bowl this year, but I would continue to look out for potty tunities.

[Interviewer/Host]

Okay, all right, all right. You heard it here first. Now, what do you hope your legacy will be at Georgia Pacific? You've already made quite a mark. Obviously, this interview has been a statement of that probably.

[Laura Neebusch]

Two things when I think about living our brands, I truly believe, because that it's. It's not just about developing a great campaign or having a year's success. It's about fundamentally building something into the organization that I think will transform how our brands can. Can operate in the future and can win. And we can continue to train new marketers as we're going on. So it can live far beyond when I'm there. So I'm very proud of that. I think the other one is my team again. I'm. I've got a great team. I'm supported by a lot of very smart and entrepreneurs who love what they're doing and are exc to come to work every day. And my other legacy is just how they continue to develop in their careers.

[Interviewer/Host]

What do you consider your greatest leadership strength? I know you probably hate to answer a question like that, but we heard unflappable early in this and we certainly heard empathy.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yes, I certainly think the ability to like this idea of big picture, to understand multiple points of view, it kind of takes in both of these, of being able to understand all the points of View around you, thinking through, with empathy, thinking through what your stakeholders need, but then driving a clear vision and driving a clear path to get there. And then as a leader, making sure you're knocking down the barriers for your team and that you are enabling them every step of the way, not doing the work for them, empowering them, and enabling them every step of the way.

[Interviewer/Host]

What are you working on as a leader?

[Laura Neebusch]

Well, right now, obviously, technology and continuing to continue, even for myself, like, how do I transform? How do I leverage AI faster? How do I continue to demonstrate my leadership of what I'm asking of my team?

[Interviewer/Host]

You know, this question's coming. What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl?

[Laura Neebusch]

I love this question. And I immediately went, so I was definitely a Barbie fanatic. I mean, I had a room and it was filled with Barbies, and I'd close the door and I would just play for hours. And that's what I remember. The play, the imagination, the. You can be whatever you want to be. I was a hairdresser, I was a fashion designer. I was, you know, a pilot, you know, all of these things. I was a vet. Veterinarian, you know, and it made such an impact on me that I've loved so much watching kind of it continue to come to life for my daughter and for current generations and how they're continuing to drive and do it in a way that really, again, represents what girls need today.

[Interviewer/Host]

How do you feel about how they've managed the brand the last couple years?

[Laura Neebusch]

You know, I think it's been. When I go back to the movie, I thought they had such a great zeitgeist moment. I would love to see them continue to bring it to the market at that level. I feel like it's gone a little bit quiet since then, and I think it does have this important role to play with women and with girls. And they started such a great. I think they opened up such a great dialogue and message with that, and I'd love to see them continue to use that, be even more vocal about the role that Barbie can play and the role of girls and women as their developing.

[Interviewer/Host]

How do you. You get a lot of external inspiration. You go to these meetings, you. You leverage your team. Are there any other hacks you have for keeping yourself creative and fresh, invigorated and energetic?

[Laura Neebusch]

Well, I try and make sure I take some breaks. I. I mean, I'm a active tennis player, you know, Pilates, meditation, like, trying to make sure you've got the time off to Allow your brain to kind of rest and recharge. I love good creative and even though I'm not in all, I'm usually not in a lot of the creative meetings today at the beginning, I love to still sit in the. And I promise not to talk too much at the beginning because I do really want to hear what the team has to say. But I still love to be part of those conversations and meeting with the agencies and just continuing to kind of see the creative develop. I love watching the super bowl and continuing to think through what impacted me, what was good advertising, what do I think is going to drive business. So always playing the marketer.

[Interviewer/Host]

Where did your love of tennis begin?

[Laura Neebusch]

I started playing as a child with my parents and played my entire. I've played and taught my entire life. So it just became. It started with it's a family sport and then was of my competitive sport in high school. And I enjoy such a great sport plus strategy.

[Interviewer/Host]

Who's been the most inspiring person in your life?

[Laura Neebusch]

So many people. When I think about my career today, I go to my dad. He was actually the CEO of a company, but at a very early age was always very present for my sister and I and was always even. We're talking in the 70s, 80s, very encouraging of us being whatever we could be. He actually also started out at P and G many, many, many years ago in marketing, sales. He gave me, I think, the confidence as I went into the business world. You know, there's never a doubt in my mind that I couldn't be what I wanted to be and that I couldn't be successful in what I was doing.

[Interviewer/Host]

How did he integrate things in his life? What was his secret?

[Laura Neebusch]

You know, I think he had a strong, I mean, strong core values and family was absolutely a core value. And so he was very successful at what he was doing. He had a. When he retired, you know, going back to what I want to leave as a leader, so many people talked about the legacy he was leaving. Again, not at all as, even as a business person, but as a leader and as a person. And that's, you know, I hope my legacy is more about that than just the kind of the business results I delivered. But I think it all came down to just really, really strong core values.

[Interviewer/Host]

I'm going to end this with a question. Bob Liodes, the CEO of the ana, always asks after people go on stage here at the big meeting, his last question to them because he gets on stage, asks a few questions. Last one's always, what are you going to do when you get back to the office after this meeting. So I want to twist that a little bit with you. What did this conversation make you think about that you may share with your team when you go back to the office?

[Laura Neebusch]

It's a great question and I want to make sure with my team one I bring, I continue to bring back the learning and knowledge and inspiration. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day. These meetings are great because they allow you to take that step back and to see the bigger picture and to be inspired. And so I want to be able to bring back some inspiration for my team to take forward. But I also sit in these meetings and it does continue to make me feel like we are doing a good job. Like I feel really good about the progress we've made and some of the work wins we've had. And so I also want to celebrate with the team to say we are really positioning these brands well for success and we've had some really exciting content and campaigns and just innovation happening in market and we should celebrate that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Laura, this was a great kickoff to the ANA for me. Thank you for joining us in the studio. Anything that we did not talk about that you'd like to talk about? Anything you want to ask me before we end it.

[Laura Neebusch]

So what are you taking away from this meeting?

[Interviewer/Host]

Running through a lot of friends. That's always great and it's one reason I love coming to these meetings. It's a real reason connection. The one I took away is how pressing and urgent the issue of proving marketing's importance is still something that we're talking about in the first 10 minutes of this meeting. And I think we've done so much work on that, but we have so much more to do. So it makes me think where's the breakthrough on that and why is that such a pressing issue? Your company has conviction in it. P and G has conviction, but it isn't how most companies I think are operating. And if you have a, if you're in a company, in a job, but there's not conviction that your work matters, that's making a difference for the company, that's a big deal. So it was once again present to me and thinking, well, how can I help this? What's our barrier? Why is it still up here 25 years later in terms of the agenda, the ANA. So that's what I'm thinking about. But early I'll have a lot more to say, I think by Thursday afternoon and I'll do a few more interviews. But this has been very inspirational, inspiring, and thank you for this.

[Laura Neebusch]

Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. It's been an honor to be here.

[Jim Stengel]

That was my conversation with Laura Neebusch. Three takeaways from this one for your business, brand and life. Number one, the power of Staying unflappable. Laura is described by her colleagues as absolutely unflappable, a quality she sees as essential to leadership. Here's Laura you can tell me anything and I'll take a pause in a moment and then we'll work through how to accomplish what comes next. Her calm ground mindset allows her to lead through uncertainty with empathy and focus, proof that real leadership poise isn't about hiding emotion, but channeling it into clarity and confidence. Second takeaway Embrace change as a constant. Lara believes adaptability, not mastery, is the true superpower in today's marketing world. We're never going to be good at AI, she said. It's about being good in a world that's going to constantly change. Her philosophy is rooted in curiosity, curiosity and continuous learning, a reminder to not chase perfection, but build the muscle to evolve. And third takeaway Lead with reflection and celebration. When asked what she planned to bring back to her team after this conference, Laura said she wanted to bring back learning and inspiration, but also to celebrate with the team. This closing sentiment highlights a powerful leadership practice, balancing ambition with gratitude. It shows her awareness of transformation isn't only about pushing forward, it's also about pausing to acknowledge growth, reinforce confidence, and keep teams energized. That's it for this week's episode of the CMO Podcast. As always, I would be grateful if you shared our show with your friends.

[Interviewer/Host]

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[Jim Stengel]

On Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. The CMO Podcast is a Vibe original production. The views and opinions expressed by podcast.

[Interviewer/Host]

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[Jim Stengel]

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[Interviewer/Host]

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