The CMO Whisperer

What if your biggest marketing advantage isn't how much you spend, but whether people actually want to pay attention?

In a world where brands can buy reach, produce endless content and rely on increasingly sophisticated targeting, many are still struggling to create something people genuinely care about.

That's what we're digging into with Nick Miaritis, EVP and Chief Brand Officer at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, overseeing iconic brands including Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho and Tomcat.

Nick has spent nearly two decades building brands and shaping creative, including leadership roles at VaynerMedia and Saatchi & Saatchi. He brings a fascinating perspective on why brands are becoming increasingly indistinguishable, why social media has evolved into something closer to interest media, and how AI is about to fundamentally change the volume and variety of creative marketing teams need to produce.

At the heart of our conversation, we ask: What if the brands that win aren't the ones that spend the most, but the ones that actually earn people's attention?

What if the biggest problem with your marketing isn't your marketing?

What if it's the layers of approval, organizational silos and risk-averse decisions standing between a great idea and actually making something happen?

That's what we're digging into with Evan Horowitz, CEO and co-founder of Movers and Shakers, a social-first creative agency helping some of the world's biggest brands connect with culture.

Evan has spent more than 20 years helping brands build buzz and market share, including experience at Samsung and Macy's. He brings a perspective on why major brands struggle to move at the speed of culture, why social needs to be more than another content channel, and how the way marketing organizations operate can become their biggest obstacle.

And here's the question at the heart of our conversation: What if the thing holding your brand back isn't the marketing strategy, but the organization responsible for executing it?

My guest today is Chris Shaw, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at NTT Research, the Silicon Valley Research Arm of NTT, one of the world's largest technology and business solutions providers. At NTT Research, Chris helps bridge the gap between foundational science and real-world impact, translating work in areas like quantum physics, cryptography, and medical informatics into stories and strategies the marketplace can understand and embrace. Chris is also a serial entrepreneur, helped lead one of the early social media-focused agencies, and is the founder of an AI marketing startup Fymmer.com

My guest today is Frank 'MF' Hamlin, former EVP and Chief Customer Officer at GameStop, where he was in the C-suite during a pandemic-era short squeeze. Before GameStop, Frank built an impressive career across retail, e-commerce, and music, holding senior leadership roles at Guitar Center and Tailored Brands after nearly a decade in Nashville with Arista Records and Sony Music Publishing. He is also the author of Skinny Dipping at Low Tide, a darkly funny novel inspired by the boardroom politics, activist investors, and sheer insanity of watching market forces reshape a company in real time.

My guest today has spent her career at the intersection of marketing, media, education, and ideas. Ruth Mortimer is the Global President at Advertising Week, where she helps shape the brand's thought leadership agenda and education business. Now, before Advertising Week, Ruth held leadership roles at Econsultancy, the Festival of Marketing, and Centaur Marketing. She's also a former editor of Marketing Week, an award-winning business columnist and has spent years creating conversations with some of the most interesting voices in business and culture.

My favorite part of Ruth's background may have absolutely nothing to do with marketing. Before all this, she was an archaeologist, specializing in the Middle East and working in Southeast Turkey. We're going to talk about marketing, but with someone who literally used to dig for a living, I'm pretty sure we can go a little deeper than the usual marketing conversation.

My guest today is Sarah Evans, partner and head of PR at Zen Media. Sarah is a true pioneer in digital communications, having helped create the hashtag JournChat in 2008, founded Sevans PR, and spent the last two decades helping brands see around the corner before the rest of the market catches up. Today she leads Zen Media's PR practice, an AI visibility strategy, and was named one of Propel's top 100 PR tech leaders worldwide in 2025.

My guest today is Nicole Rex, Vice President of Global Marketing Campaigns and Core Content at Dell Technologies. A journalist by training and a marketer by trade, Nicole has spent more than 25 years demonstrating that great storytelling isn't just creative, it's a business advantage.

During her almost 20 years at Dell, she has led the company's internal creative agency, run experiential marketing, and held roles across social impact, content marketing, brand and creative development. Today, she sits at the intersection of global campaigns, brand and creative, focused on one very big question: How do you scale world-class content without losing the craft and quality?

My guest today is Carly Crittenden, Chief Revenue Officer at Vidmob, where she leads the company's global revenue organization and go-to-market strategy, helping brands and agencies drive stronger business outcomes through AI-powered creative data. With nearly two decades of experience across advertising technology and SaaS, Carly has held senior leadership roles at Black Crow AI, Oracle, Moat, and Google, building and scaling high-performing sales organizations and leading global go-to-market initiatives.

She's known for combining strategic vision with a people-first leadership style and is passionate about helping organizations grow, building diverse teams, and advancing the role of AI in marketing.

My guest today is Aniket Deosthali, CEO and co-founder of Envive AI. Before launching Envive, Aniket led Conversational Commerce at Walmart, where he helped build AI-powered shopping experiences at a massive scale and worked at the intersection of AI, commerce, and customer experience.

Today, he's focused on helping brands move beyond the AI hype and use intelligent agents to drive real business outcomes. If you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you know I am less interested in asking whether AI is coming. That ship sailed a long time ago. What I am interested in is where it's actually creating value, where it's falling short, and what business leaders need to understand before they start chasing.

My guest today is Michael Stich, partner at CourtAvenue. Michael has spent more than 25 years helping some of the world's biggest brands navigate innovation, digital transformation, customer experience, AI, commerce, and just about every major shift marketing has faced over the last two decades. Today at CourtAvenue, he works with organizations including Kia, Epson, General Mills, Dell, and the US Air Force to solve complex business and marketing challenges.

Before that, he held leadership roles at WPP, VML, Rockfish, Bridge Worldwide, Texas Instruments, McKinsey, and Dell, giving him a front-row seat to the evolution of modern marketing. And along the way, he's advised Fortune 50 companies, invested in startups, helped launch groundbreaking products, and built businesses that have transformed how brands connect with customers. He's also been recognized as a Cincinnati marketing legend by the AMA and has earned multiple industry honors for his leadership.

My guest today is Dave Neville, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Johnnie-O, where he oversees brand strategy, digital marketing, creative, CRM, and partnerships for one of the fastest-growing premium lifestyle apparel brands in the market. Dave's career has taken him from serving as a captain in the US Air Force to advising global companies as a strategy consultant at Oliver Wyman and into leadership roles with iconic brands like Callaway Golf and Titleist.

Along the way, he's built a reputation for combining sharp strategic thinking with creative brand building and a relentless focus on growth. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, with an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Dave is passionate about developing high-performing teams, building enduring brands, and proving that the best marketing happens when creativity and data work hand in hand.

My guest today is Philip Auerbach, Chief Marketing Officer at Custom Ink. Phil has built an impressive career leading marketing and commercial strategy for some incredibly well-known brands. Before joining Custom Ink, he led executive leadership roles at Bumble, Dunkin', Linblad Expeditions, and Caesars Entertainment, helping each of them navigate growth, digital transformation, and changing customer expectations.

One of the many things I find most interesting about Phil's career is its range. He's marketed everything from dating apps and donuts to travel experiences, gaming, and now custom apparel. There are not many marketing leaders who can say that. Get to know Phil's perspective on what he's learned along the way, what separates good marketing from great marketing, and how the role of the CMO continues to evolve.

My guest today is Will Leach, founder of Mindstate Group and a leading expert in behavioral science and decision-making. Will previously led PepsiCo's behavioral science lab and has worked with brands including PepsiCo, Disney, Mars, Capital One, and 7-Eleven to better understand why customers choose and how leaders can make smarter decisions.

He's also the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates, and advises executive teams on behavioral science, AI-powered insights, and growth strategy.

My guest today is Liz Crisafi, a transformational marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience building iconic brands, accelerating growth, and creating customer experiences that drive loyalty and business results. Over the course of her career, she's held leadership roles at IHG Hotels and Resorts, Hornblower Group, Discovery Communications, Eastman Kodak, Kimberly-Clark, and Ogilvy.

With experience spanning hospitality, travel, media, entertainment, consumer products, and franchise businesses, Liz believes great marketing starts with hospitality by understanding people, anticipating their needs, creating memorable experiences, and building relationships that last. It's a philosophy that has guided her career and helped brands create moments customers remember, and most importantly, come back for.

Today, I welcome two guests to the show, Alma Derricks and Eliza VanCort, the co-creators of Ignite, a leadership experience built around a simple but incredibly timely idea. As technology and AI continue to reshape the workplace, the human skills that drive great leadership have never been more important.

These two came to this work from very different directions. Alma has spent more than three decades building businesses, launching brands, and leading commercial strategy for organizations including Deloitte, HBO, Paramount, and Cirque du Soleil. Today she's the founder and managing partner of REV, where she helps organizations navigate moments of growth, reinvention, and transformation. On the other hand, Eliza is a best-selling author, communication strategist, Cornell University Fellow, TED speaker and former acting instructor whose work has helped executives and leadership teams become more confident, influential communicators in the moments that matter most.

What started as a conversation became a collaboration, and that collaboration became Ignite. We spend less time talking about the program itself and spend more time talking about why it exists. What are they seeing inside executive teams? Why do communication and influence seem harder than ever? And most importantly, what human skills are becoming more valuable because of AI, not despite it?

My guest today is Jake Nishimura, Vice President of Marketing at Kiswe, a company that's quietly changing the way some of the biggest names in sports, music, and entertainment connect with fans around the world. Jake's career started on the live event side of the business, promoting concerts for artists like Tara Swift and Ed Sheeran before making the jump into streaming, where he's helped bring live experiences to audiences for everyone from Queen and the Rolling Stones to Jack Harlow.

He's also been instrumental in helping Kiswe expand into the creator economy, working with bands like Smosh, Rhett and Link, and the Try Guys. Today, his role goes beyond partner marketing as he now leads Kiswe's broader B2B marketing efforts, giving him a unique perspective on where technology, content, community, and brand are all headed.

My guest today is Marie Bahl, Chief Marketing Officer at Uptempo. A few weeks ago, Marie published an article called Martech Built Empires—Now It Needs Bridges. More recently, she shared a manifesto with me that expanded on many of those ideas. Marie argues that marketers have spent years becoming data janitors, spreadsheet detectives, and professional explainers of their own value.

Instead of building brands, driving growth, and shaping business strategy, too many marketing teams are trapped by trying to prove they deserve a seat at the table. She also believes that AI won't fix that problem. In fact, if we don't address the underlying issues first, AI may simply help us fail faster. We're going to talk about why marketing finds itself in that position, what leaders are getting wrong about AI, and what it'll take for marketing to reclaim its role as a true growth engine.

My guest today is Andrea Eaton, Chief Revenue Officer at Ataccama. Andrea is a growth-focused executive with more than 20 years of experience helping tech companies scale revenue, transform go-to-market strategies, and navigate periods of rapid growth. Her career spans leadership roles across sales, marketing, revenue operations, and product marketing, giving her a truly unique perspective on what it takes to drive sustainable business results.

Now, before joining Ataccama, Andrea led global marketing at OutSystems, where she helped advance the company's AI-powered vision and integrated AI into marketing and sales development workflows. She's also served as Chief Revenue Officer at Bluefin Payment Systems and held senior leadership roles at several high-growth software and fintech companies.

My guest today is Mike Lane, CEO and co-founder of Fluency, the digital advertising operating system helping agencies scale paid media campaigns across every major digital ad channel.

Fluency manages more than 250,000 campaigns monthly and nearly $3 billion in annual media spend, giving Mike a unique lens into where advertising, automation, and AI are all headed. The company recently raised a $40 million Series A to accelerate its growing agentic AI capabilities. And today we're going to dig into what all that actually means for CMOs, marketing teams, and the future of advertising operations.

Before Fluency, Mike was COO and co-founder of Dealer.com, which became the automotive retail industry's largest marketing and advertising platform. And finally, he's also an active angel investor, board advisor, and serves on several nonprofit boards.

This episode is recorded live at BrandSmart, the longest-running brand marketing conference in the U.S. BrandSmart brings together noteworthy speakers and future-forward marketers — a who’s who of decision-makers and influencers — to share proven tools, smart ideas and inspiring stories.

Joining the CMO Whisperer today is Christine Buck, CMO of MiniTab and AMA board member, as well as the 2024 AMA Chicago Marketer of the Year. Christine brings deep global experience and a sharp data-driven perspective to the table. She is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. Christine leads the planning and development of global marketing strategy across all products, channels and regions. Christine’s experience is broad and uniquely global with almost 27 years of B2B sales and marketing expertise from roles held in financial services, software and consulting industries. Christine has built and led teams globally across brand management, creative, product marketing, research, pricing and analyst relations for leading firms Hootsuite, Morningstar, Huron Consulting, Accenture, Bank of America and Microsoft.