Frontier CMO Podcast by Think with Google

AI won’t fix your marketing. These seven lessons can.

In 2026 Year in Review: 7 Lessons from the Frontier, host Joshua Spanier brings together some of the biggest takeaways from a year of conversations with leading CMOs and industry thinkers at companies like Chime, Gap, Unilever, and L’Oréal to explore what it takes to grow in an AI-driven world.

How do you build a brand that stands out, make better creative, and help your team keep up with AI? These conversations dig into those questions and more.

Subscribe to Think with Google for more conversations on where marketing is headed and how to keep moving forward.

Sign up for the weekly Frontier CMO newsletter so you never miss the latest field notes from the frontier: Link

#ThinkWithGoogle #FrontierCMO #MarketingStrategy #AIMarketing

In a special crossover episode with Semafor's Mixed Signals, Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith turns the tables on Frontier CMO host Joshua Spanier, Google's VP of AI and Marketing Strategy. Together, they discuss why the predicted CMO Armageddon never happened, lessons from 200+ marketing leaders, and why human connection matters more than ever.#ThinkWithGoogle #FrontierCMO #AIMarketing #MarketingStrategy

Could your doctor's office be just a few clicks away?

In this episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro, the digital healthcare platform rethinking not only how care is delivered but how it's marketed. Will explains how Ro earns trust in one of the hardest categories to market, why the brand rejects fear-based messaging in favor of uplifting human stories, and what it took to put Serena Williams at the center of a Super Bowl campaign. He also shares how Ro erased the line between brand and performance, why clinicians sit inside the creative process, and how a little weekend AI tinkering can spark big ideas for the business.

Tune in for a master class in marketing when the product you're really selling is trust.

00:00 – Introduction: Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro

01:00 – Reinventing Healthcare Through Digital Access

03:20 – Building Trust in Healthcare Marketing

05:00 – Ro’s Challenger Brand Marketing Playbook

06:00 – Blurring the Lines Between Brand and Performance Marketing

07:30 – Bringing Medical Experts Into the Creative Process

09:20 – Designing for a Mobile-First Consumer

10:15 – How Ro Uses AI to Drive Marketing Decisions

11:50 – Redefining Growth Beyond Customer Acquisition

12:45 – Using AI to Empower Marketing Teams

15:10 – Serena Williams and the Power of Authentic Storytelling

16:05 – Measuring Super Bowl Campaign Success and Long-Term ROI

17:15 – Career Lessons from SeatGeek, Rent the Runway, and Ro

19:00 – Embracing AI as the Next Major Platform Shift

20:45 – Signal or Noise: The Future of Healthcare

21:45 – CMO Download: Podcasts, Search, and YouTube

23:05 – Three Key Takeaways for Marketers

How do you transform one of the world's most iconic telecom giants into a modern, customer-obsessed growth powerhouse?

In the latest episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier welcomes Kellyn Smith Kenny, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at AT&T, for an inside look at AT&T's multi-year reinvention. Kellyn shares how she bridged creative storytelling with financial accountability, gained unanimous C-suite buy-in to become more customer-centric, and established a sustainable competitive moat in connectivity.

Tune in for a master class about CMOs as the voice of the customer.

00:00 – Rebuilding AT&T Around the Customer

04:00 – Why Moving Faster Mattered

05:00 – The AT&T Guarantee

06:00 – Differentiating in a Commoditized Category

09:00 – Turning Customer Problems Into Loyalty

12:00 – Building a Brand Beyond Advertising

15:00 – Fixing the Story, Not the Storytelling

17:00 – AT&T’s AI Legacy and Future

18:00 – How AI Is Transforming Marketing

20:00 – The Skills Marketers Need in the AI Era

22:00 – Career Lessons From Accenture, Microsoft, Uber & More

26:00 – Signal or Noise + Three Takeaways

Gap Inc. is having a moment and Damon Berger, an SVP who leads marketing shared services across the company’s portfolio of iconic brands, is focused on turning that moment into momentum. Live from Google’s Rethink Retail event in New York, he joins Josh on stage in front of 350 retail marketers to unpack how Gap Inc. is blending entertainment, cultural relevance and AI to drive sustainable business growth.

From viral YouTube campaigns with KATSEYE, Young Miko, Mr Beast and more, to pioneering employee-creator programs, discover how one of retail's most loved brands is transforming relevance into revenue.

👇 Key moments in this episode:

00:00 - Introduction & Gap’s growth

02:15 - "Relevance is Revenue" — Differentiating Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, & Athleta

05:10 - Why "Brand vs. Performance" is the wrong question to ask

07:45 - Building best friends with Finance (and why ROAS is a long game)

09:15 - Product at the center: The formula behind Cardi B, Young Miko, and KATSEYE

11:15 - Inside the innovative Employee Creator Program & Creator Affiliate launch

13:15 - Career journeys: From Disney to Barbie's turnaround at Mattel

16:30 - Marketing "Avatar" without showing the blue people 🤫

17:00 - The future of Agentic Commerce & AI Virtual Try-Ons

22:30 - Why AI will never understand the emotional choice of getting dressed

24:30 - Signal or noise

#FrontierCMO #GapInc #RetailMarketing #BrandStrategy #YoungMiko #CardiB #Katseye #MrBeast #MarketingTransformation #AIinRetail #AgenticCommerce

Jo Malone. MAC. La Mer. Tom Ford. Clinique. The Ordinary. These are just a few of the powerhouse brands behind The Estée Lauder Companies. For more than 80 years, the beauty giant has reinvented itself with every era – from the department store counter to the digital storefront. Now it’s making its biggest leap yet: AI.

In the season 3 premiere of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Aude Gandon to explore how one of the world’s most iconic beauty companies is using AI to personalize consumer experiences, reimagine creativity, and build brands that endure.

✨ What you’ll learn in this episode:

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How Estée Lauder overhauled its marketing operating model and consolidated global media to react at the speed of culture.

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Why your CFO is your most crucial ally and how to prove marketing is an investment, not a cost center.

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Navigating C-suite influence, knowing when to compromise, and leading with strategic courage.

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Why the AI era demands a return to fundamental brand differentiation and emotional connection.

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How Jo Malone and Google built a conversational Scent Finder to personalize fragrance discovery online.

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What AI revealed about why MAC’s Ruby Woo and NASA-inspired Crème de la Mer both became timeless icons.

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Why 90% hard work beats 10% talent

⏱️ Episode Chapters:

00:00 - Teaser: "Show Me the Money" & CFO Alliances

00:34 - Welcome to Frontier CMO Season 3

01:25 - Change Management & "Beauty Reimagined" at Estée Lauder

02:49 - Restructuring the Global Operating Model & Media Strategy

04:58 - Marketing as a Growth Engine: Getting Buy-In from Finance

07:08 - The CMO as Chief Diplomatic Officer

10:14 - Brand Building vs. Lower-Funnel Performance Marketing

11:42 - Conversational AI in Action: Jo Malone’s Scent Finder

13:43 - Luxury on Scaled Platforms: Short-form Video & Creators

16:23 - Breaking Brand Silos: Creating Global Marketing Communities

18:24 - Feeding 80 Years of Brand Data into AI: MAC vs. La Mer

22:28 - Career Advice: "Just 'Cause You Don't Fit Doesn't Mean You Don't Belong"

23:10 - Estée Lauder’s Legacy: The Pink Ribbon Campaign

24:48 - The 90/10 Rule of Career Success

25:53 - The CMO Download

29:57 - Josh Spanier’s 3 Key Takeaways

👤 About the Guest:

Aude Gandon is the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at The Estée Lauder Companies, leading global digital transformation, consumer intelligence, media, and marketing strategy across the company's prestigious portfolio of skincare, makeup, and fragrance brands.

🎙️ About Frontier CMO:

Hosted by Josh Spanier (VP of Marketing and AI Strategy at Google), Frontier CMO features candid conversations with the world’s most forward-thinking marketing leaders who are navigating platform shifts, AI innovation, and modern brand building.

🔗 Explore more marketing insights, research, and tools: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com

#FrontierCMO #EsteeLauder #MarketingStrategy #ArtificialIntelligence #CMO #BrandBuilding #LuxuryMarketing #DigitalTransformation #JoshSpanier #AudeGandon

The future of content and websites isn't about chasing vanity impressions—it’s about driving true digital retention.

Recorded live at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Knotch CEO and co-founder Anda Gansca joins Frontier CMO host Josh Spanier to unpack how the brand website is evolving in an AI-first world.

In this episode, we uncover the hidden trap of "corrosive content" driving 80% of web traffic to bounce instantly, and outline a strategic playbook for modern marketing leaders.

Because the website remains the definitive front door for customer discovery and high-stakes decision-making, mastering the next era of web content is more than just site refresh;it is a critical growth imperative for today’s CMO.

00:00 Why Most Brand Content Fails

02:00 Cutting Through the AI Hype

05:00 How Brands Can Win in the AI Era

08:00 Impressions vs. Real Relevance

10:00 Rethinking the Website Experience

12:00 What CMOs Need to Learn About AI

16:00 Building a Culture of AI Experimentation

19:00 Getting Your Data AI-Ready

21:00 AI Slop vs. Great Marketing

23:00 How AI Is Changing Agencies

25:00 AI, Jobs & the MarTech Stack

26:30 Signal or Noise + Final Takeaways

Marketing is moving fast, but are we moving in the right direction?

In this episode, legendary strategist Rishad Tobaccowala (former Chief Growth & Strategy Officer of Publicis Group) drops by to deliver some seriously spicy thinking on the state of the marketing industry.

Spoiler alert: He thinks we’ve lost the plot.

Instead of obsessing over technology and optimization, Rishad breaks down why the future actually belongs to talent, human insight, and deep curiosity. We dive into his blueprint for navigating "tectonic times," why you need to stop writing an "AI strategy," and how thinking like an underdog is the ultimate superpower for staying relevant.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

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6 keys to organizational change

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Why true innovation happens when you step outside your category

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Rishad's daily routine: How he uses 66 different resources to learn and stay ahead

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The "Company of One" framework and how to articulate your unique craft vs. skill

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Rapid-fire "Signal or Noise" on remote work, side hustles, and the future of work

Few marketing leaders have navigated as much change as Google’s Chief Marketing Officer Lorraine Twohill. She’s one of the industry’s longest-tenured CMOs who’s led Google’s marketing through massive product and platform shifts, from Search and Chrome, to mobile, YouTube, and now AI.

Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026, Frontier CMO host Josh Spanier sits down with Lorraine to unpack how she’s built one of the world’s most influential marketing organizations, why marketers belong in the room with engineers, and why agility is the ultimate competitive advantage.

00:00 Intro

01:00 Google's Startup Days

03:45 Why Local Marketing Wins

05:45 Becoming Google's CMO

08:00 Marketing in a Product-First Company

09:30 The Chrome Growth Playbook

12:10 Human-Centered Brand Storytelling

13:00 What Creators Teach Marketers

14:20 Defining the Frontier CMO

16:15 Marketing Mistakes & Lessons Learned

18:10 Hiring Great Marketers

20:20 Career Advice for the AI Era

22:30 Google's AI Transformation

25:00 AI Productivity & NotebookLM

26:30 Leadership, Resilience & Cancer

29:20 Health, Sleep & Longevity

30:25 Signal or Noise?

32:20 Three Lessons for Every CMO

In today’s creator economy, the audience is in charge. Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry explain what this means for CMOs trying to build brands people actually chose to spend time with, not just marketing they scroll past.

Back by popular demand, this Frontier CMO conversation unpacks the creator landscape and why attention without connection is a dead end. Whether you’re building a creator strategy for the first time or rethinking how your brand shows up online, this episode offers a practical playbook for building lasting creator partnerships, earning audience trust, and staying ahead of where marketing is going.

🔔 Subscribe for more insights from marketing's frontier: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3qH-T0AZE7DJPq-x2ppu2Jq

💡 What you'll learn in this episode:

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Why brands must stop acting like "bad party guests" and start adding real value to creator narratives

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How to transition your brand from a background logo to an active "character" in a creator’s universe.

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How to look past superficial views and vanity metrics to measure genuine audience trust and brand ROI.

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Why modern creator content looks more like high-production television, community-building, and culture than traditional social media.

🔗 Resources & Links:

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Connect with Josh Spanier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-spanier-4576b5/

•

Subscribe to the Frontier CMO newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/frontier-cmo-7414735485358788608/

#FrontierCMO #CreatorEconomy #MarketingStrategy #ColinAndSamir #CMO

What does it take to “win the internet for a day”?

What happens when a billion-dollar beverage company throws out the traditional marketing playbook and rises to the top without a brand book, ad agencies or creative briefs?

Recorded live at Cannes Lions 2026, Frontier CMO host Josh Spanier joins Liquid Death’s Chief Media & Digital Commerce Officer Benoit Vatere for a refreshing conversation on the ‘method behind the madness’ of one of the most talked-about brands in marketing.

From its outrageous creativity of “doing the unexpected” to its masterclass ability of turning awareness into sales, Benoit cracks open the can on how Liquid Death built a category-defining brand and why the company – less than a decade in, is only just getting started.

00:00 Liquid Death's Marketing Playbook

02:30 Why the Best Ideas Start Dumb

05:00 No Briefs. No Agencies. Just Comedy.

08:00 How Viral Campaigns Are Created

11:10 Winning the Internet vs. Driving Sales

15:10 Building a Billion-Dollar Challenger Brand

19:00 Why Liquid Death Has No Brand Guidelines

22:15 The Metrics That Actually Matter

27:00 Marketing Lessons Any Brand Can Use

28:15 Why AI Can't Replace Great Creativity

34:00 The Future of Digital Commerce

37:35 Three Takeaways for Every CMO

What do CMOs and Formula One champions have in common?

They're expected to perform under pressure, make split-second decisions, and keep showing up when the odds aren't in their favor.

Recorded live at Cannes Lions 2026, Frontier CMO host Josh Spanier sits down with McLaren Chief Marketing Officer Louise McEwen and Formula One World Champion Lando Norris to explore how they're winning on and off the racetrack.

In a world where most Formula One fans will never attend a race, they reveal how McLaren creates connections beyond race day and builds a brand that performs 365 days a year.

Buckle up. This is McLaren's race to the top.

00:00:00 — Introduction & The Elite World Champion Group

00:01:00 — F1 Meets Cannes: Why McLaren Focuses on Creativity

00:02:20 — The Quest to the Front: How Putting Fans First Saved McLaren

00:04:30 — Taking Creative Risks: The Story of the Gulf Livery

00:05:15 — The "Drive to Survive" Effect & Media Value

00:06:45 — Engaging the 99%: Live Fan Events from London to Miami

00:08:35 — Brand vs. Athlete: Balancing Team Identity with Star Drivers

00:09:35 — Marketing the Narrative When the Team Isn't Winning

00:11:45 — The Rise of Female Fandom & High-Fashion Collabs

00:13:00 — Choosing the Right Global Partners & Activating Tech

00:14:05 — Making History: Lou McEwen’s Podium Moment

00:15:35 — Lando Norris Joins the Show: Life as the Face of McLaren

00:16:35 — Sinking In: "I'm Freaking World Champion"

00:19:30 — Developing the Mental Resilience to Handle Tough Moments

00:21:10 — Naps & Twitch: Lando's Unconventional Pre-Race Routine

00:22:00 — Rapid Fire Game: Signal or Noise?

00:23:10 — Summary & Field Notes: 3 Takeaways for Frontier CMOs

Chances are, one of the 400 household brands today’s guest oversees is sitting somewhere in your home right now. Maybe it’s Dove in the shower, Vaseline in the drawer, or Hellmann’s mayo in the fridge. Leandro Barreto is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Unilever, a nearly 100-year-old company behind brands used by billions of people around the world.

From the award-winning “Vaseline Verified” campaign to creator-led marketing strategies and partnerships with Arsenal Football Club, this episode of Frontier CMO unpacks what it’s like to be a CMO leading through an AI transformation aimed at building “desire at scale.”

Want to know what the future of marketing actually looks like inside one of the biggest consumer brands in the world? This one’s for you.

00:00 Can AI Create Human Insight?

01:01 Meet Unilever’s Global CMO

03:00 The Power of Purpose-Led Brands

05:00 Why Creativity Is Still Human

07:00 The Vaseline Love Story

09:00 Marketing’s Evolution at Unilever

11:00 Dove and Cultural Relevance

13:00 How Unilever Tracks Culture

15:45 The Vaseline Verified Phenomenon

19:30 Social Commerce & New Growth

20:00 The Biggest Brand Mistake

22:00 AI and the Future of Marketing

26:00 Big Ideas + Content at Scale

27:45 Leading AI Transformation

29:00 Signal vs. Noise

31:30 Three Marketing Lessons to Remember

Teams are moving faster than ever, producing more content, running more campaigns, and optimizing everything. But without strategy, it’s mostly noise.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh travels to London to sit down with Mark Ritson, brand strategist, former marketing professor, and advisor to companies like LVMH, Sephora, and Donna Karan, to talk about the state of marketing, which frankly is a mess.

Based on new global research, Ritson argues that most marketers don’t actually understand the fundamentals of marketing. In an AI-driven world, that’s about to matter a lot more.

Drawing on examples from brands like Apple, Nike, Target and Walmart, Ritson shares his hot takes on who’s getting it right, who’s getting it wrong, and why brand building is still one of the most misunderstood and undervalued parts of marketing.

They also get into what’s coming next and how to position yourself to stand out in an AI-driven marketing world.

No matter where you are in your career, this is what it takes to not get left behind.

00:00 – The Marketing Knowledge Crisis

04:09 – Has America Lost Its Marketing Edge?

05:31 – Why Creators and Brand Ads Work Together

09:24 – The Most Important Job of a CMO

10:13 – Strategy Before Tactics

13:08 – The Skills Marketers Need in the AI Era

15:43 – AI as a Marketing Superpower

18:10 – Walmart, Target & Great Positioning

21:25 – How to Build a Strong Brand Positioning

24:00 – What Founders Teach Us About Branding

27:19 – Mark Ritson's Biggest Marketing Mistake

37:18 – AI Clones, Digital Twins & The Future of Marketing

On this special episode of the Frontier CMO podcast, host Josh Spanier, VP of AI and Marketing Strategy at Google, sits down with two of the driving forces shaping the future of AI and creative: Robert Wong, head of Google’s Creative Lab, and Josh Woodward, head of Google Labs, Gemini, & AI Studio.

Together, they tell the story of how their teams of engineers and marketers came together to create Flow, a groundbreaking AI tool that is unlocking creativity and storytelling in marketing, Hollywood and beyond.

Taped at Google Marketing Live, Google’s biggest marketing event of the year, this conversation offers a rare look at how Google is reimagining creativity in the age of AI.

0:00 – AI’s Creative Breakthrough Moment

2:05 – Mind-Blowing AI Projects & Experiences

4:15 – Building Gemini & What’s “Almost Possible”

6:15 – Bringing Soul & Humanity Into AI

7:20 – Staying Ahead in the AI Era

10:05 – Lowering Fear to Unlock Creativity

12:05 – The Frustrations & Limits of AI

15:05 – Why AI Still Needs Human Creativity

16:00 – Building Flow for Creative Professionals

20:05 – The Future of Personalized AI Tools

22:00 – The Best Google AI Tools to Try Now

25:05 – Why Great Creative Still Matters

26:00 – The AI Creative Renaissance Ahead

Most football clubs are built around matchday but not Arsenal. As it enters its 140th year, the team in a lot of ways, is only just getting started.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh travels to London to meet Juliet Slot, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal Football Club, on home turf to go inside the playbook behind one of the most engaged global fanbases in sports.

From the rapid rise of the women’s league to the clubs’ staying power of “cool,” Juliet shares why serving your fanbase is better than trying to sell them.

This conversation lands at a historic moment with the club reaching its first UEFA Champions League Final in 20 years and is within reach from capturing the Premier League title. As FIFA tournaments kick off around the globe, this is your front row ticket to exploring how one of the world’s biggest clubs is making its mark across platforms, geographies, and generations.

00:00 Arsenal’s Global Brand Philosophy

02:00 Serving Fans Beyond Match Day

04:10 Building a Modern Global Football Brand

06:00 Fashion, Culture & the Arsenal Identity

07:30 Personalization, Content & AI Strategy

09:40 Understanding Different Types of Fans

10:45 Measuring Real Fan Engagement

12:30 The Viral Women’s Football Dating Campaign

14:00 Fans as Co-Creators of the Arsenal Brand

16:30 Authentic Marketing vs. Over-Selling

18:40 Growing Arsenal Women Into a Global Business

22:45 Choosing the Right Brand Partnerships

24:20 Purpose-Driven Campaigns & “No More Red”

25:45 Creating One Unified Club Culture

27:00 Winning Beyond Trophies

29:20 The Future of Sports, Tech & Virtual Viewing

32:00 Why Arsenal Resonates Around the World

34:00 Final Lessons on Community & Long-Term Growth

Marketing is entering its most complex era yet. AI is accelerating everything—but the real challenge is making sense of a system that is fragmenting faster than ever.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh Spanier sits down with Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L’Oréal Groupe, who leads digital transformation across the world’s largest beauty company. With more than 90,000 employees and dozens of global brands, Asmita is responsible for navigating how AI, data, and creativity reshape marketing at enterprise scale.

The conversation explores why fragmentation defines modern marketing—from the consumer journey to the marketing organization itself—and how leaders must respond by building systems that scale learning. Asmita shares how L’Oréal has operationalized transformation through massive upskilling, AI-powered content creation, and a culture built around what she calls the “dual muscle” of math and magic: the balance of technology, creativity, speed, and brand building.

For CMOs and founders navigating a moment where AI is reshaping every layer of marketing—from insight to creation to commerce—this conversation offers a practical blueprint for leading transformation while protecting the creative heart of the brand.

00:00 – The Marketer’s Dilemma: Fragmentation in the AI Era

01:00 – Meet Asmita Dubey & L’Oréal’s “Math + Magic” Philosophy

02:00 – A Global Career & How Background Shapes Leadership

03:30 – Growing Up in a Family of Teachers & Lifelong Learning

04:45 – Leading Through Influence in a Complex Organization

06:00 – Inside L’Oréal’s Massive Marketing Ecosystem

07:30 – Stakeholders Then vs. Now: The Expanding Marketing Universe

09:00 – Marketing Meets Engineering: The Rise of Beauty Tech

10:30 – Staying Ahead: Culture, Curiosity & Continuous Reinvention

11:45 – Building an Entrepreneurial Culture at Scale

13:00 – Upskilling 30,000+ Marketers & Skill-Based Organizations

15:00 – L’Oréal’s Digital Transformation: From 5% to 30% E-Commerce

17:00 – Changing Consumer Behavior & New Operating Models

19:00 – Measurement Matters: Balancing Short-Term ROI & Brand Equity

21:00 – Lessons from China: Speed, Scale & Consumer-First Thinking

23:30 – Agentic Commerce & the Future of Beauty Shopping

26:00 – Why Fragmentation Is the Biggest Marketing Challenge

29:00 – AI’s Role in Rebundling Marketing & Breaking Silos

31:00 – AI-Powered Consumer & Marketer Journeys Explained

33:00 – Inside L’Oréal’s AI Tools: Creaitech & Content at Scale

35:00 – What’s Next: The Future of Marketing in the AI Era

37:00 – Rapid Fire: Signal vs. Noise (AI, Influencers, Innovation)

40:00 – Final Takeaways: Fragmentation, Learning Systems & Dual Muscle

Marketing is no longer downstream from product. It is the operating system.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh Spanier sits down with Emma Grede, founding partner and Chief Product Officer at SKIMS, Co Founder & CEO of Good American, and Co Founder of Off Season, to unpack what it really takes to build durable brands in a culture obsessed with moments. Emma shares why product discipline matters more than hype, how to operationalize cultural relevance, and why speed is the ultimate competitive advantage.

The conversation explores AI adoption inside fast-scaling companies, where automation should power the business, and where it should never touch creative. Emma also reflects on talent partnerships, decision velocity, resilience, and why the best leaders aren’t the ones who make perfect decisions, but the ones who make more of them.

For founders and CMOs navigating growth where culture, commerce, and AI collide, this is a blueprint for building brands that last.

Marketing leadership today is defined by pressure: AI disruption, declining trust in institutions, cultural fragmentation, and relentless growth expectations.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh Spanier sits down with Carla Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer of JPMorganChase, who leads more than 3,000 marketers across one of the world’s most recognized financial brands. From her early life shaped by displacement to stewarding a 200+ year-old institution, Carla shares how resilience and clarity shape her leadership.

The conversation explores why “you don’t build trust with a tagline,” how trust is earned locally at scale, and what it really takes to modernize a marketing organization. Carla unpacks how AI is transforming roles from writers to editors, why layering AI onto broken processes fails, and how CMOs must rethink org design, workflows, and decision rights.

For leaders navigating complexity inside large systems, this episode is a candid look at transformation, operational discipline, and building durable brands in uncertain times.

00:00 – Training Teams in the AI Era

01:00 – The Pressure of Being a Modern CMO

02:00 – Carla Hassan’s Journey & Resilience

04:30 – Global vs Local Marketing: Getting It Right

06:30 – Why Brand Consistency is Non-Negotiable

08:30 – Cultural Differences in Money & Messaging

10:30 – Building a Purpose-Driven Global Brand

11:30 – Trust, Transparency & Big Institutions

13:30 – What Modern Marketing Looks Like Today

17:00 – How AI is Reshaping Marketing Teams

20:30 – Speed, Testing & Real-Time Content Feedback

40:30 – Final Takeaways: Trust, AI & Local Relevance

Marketing is being reshaped by forces far bigger than any single campaign: AI, geopolitical fragmentation, economic pressure, and collapsing agency business models.

In this episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with a legend of the advertising world: Sir Martin Sorrell. As an architect of the industry over the last 50 years, Sir Martin shares his unvarnished perspective on where marketing power is shifting now and what CMOs must do to stay relevant.

The conversation breaks down why traditional agency holding companies are struggling, why AI adoption is being driven more by CFOs than CMOs, and where true transformation is already happening at scale.

00:00 – The Power of Branding in a Changing World

01:19 – “Two Drunks and a Lamppost”: On Agency Consolidation

03:34 – What CMOs Can Learn from Ogilvy & the Saatchis

07:42 – Who’s Building the New Marketing Paradigm?

10:13 – Why Agencies Are Falling Behind in the AI Era

13:41 – Why the CFO Is Driving AI Adoption

16:53 – Creativity’s AI Golden Age?

18:45 – The GM Model: AI at Scale in Action

22:43 – The Skills the Next CMO Must Master

28:53 – Is the Long-Term Brand Era Over?

35:00 – Rapid Fire: AI, Agencies & Overcapacity

37:44 – The Most Exciting Market in the World Right Now