Marketing Vanguard

Brand or performance? That’s the wrong question for marketers to ask, according to Nick Fairbairn.Live from the Marketing Vanguard stage at Brandweek 2026, Jenny Rooney sits down with Chime’s SVP of Growth to unpack why brand lift and direct-response accountability belong in the same system, why buying an AI tool does not amount to AI transformation and why scrappy creative may do more brand-building work than marketers want to admit.Nick also gets into TV’s messy shift from linear to streaming, executive conversations around brand investment and why creators should perhaps be a part of every channel. Nick Fairbairn is Senior Vice President of Growth at Chime, where he leads a broad growth organization spanning paid media, organic growth, go-to-market, lifecycle, product, engineering and onboarding.His career started in media buying, including television and radio, before he moved into agency entrepreneurship and then brand-side marketing. Along the way, he’s worked at ProFlowers, helped build acquisition at Dollar Shave Club during the DTC era, led startup growth and later joined Chime to build its product marketing capabilities before moving into his current growth role.What You'll Learn:Why AI adoption needs active leadership instead of waiting for teams to figure it out themselvesWhy buying another AI tool rarely changes how a marketing organization actually worksHow Nick measures TV with the rigor of a performance channelWhy brand lift and direct-response accountability should sit in the same conversationHow data can turn a defensive budget discussion into a stronger case for brand investmentWhy lower-production testimonial creative can still move brand equity and considerationWhy Nick thinks creators should eventually become part of every marketing channelThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Brandweek 2026 and presented in partnership with Tatari.

When every company starts looking like a tech company, a media company and an entertainment company at the same time, brand clarity becomes mission critical. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Grace Kao, CMO of Snap, to talk about what it takes to build a brand people actually understand and want to spend time with. Plus: a breakdown of Snap’s push toward chat, real-world connection and why marketers should be asking the question, “How do we actually add something?” Grace Kao is Chief Marketing Officer of Snap, where she leads marketing across Snapchat and the company’s broader brand portfolio.Her career began almost by accident after she stepped away from graduate school and joined BBDO as an executive assistant on the Apple account. From there, she built a career across agency and brand roles spanning PlayStation, Yahoo, Pandora, Instagram, Spotify, and Snap.Across those chapters, Grace has consistently gravitated toward brands with strong identities, youth audiences, and clear points of view. At Snap, she is focused on keeping the brand rooted in friendship, creativity, and real connection while exploring new ways for brands, creators, and communities to participate on the platform.What You'll Learn:Why brand clarity becomes more valuable as businesses stretch across categoriesHow relationships and people can shape a career more than a perfect planWhy challenger brands and youth culture have more pull How Snapchat is moving beyond passive consumption toward active participationWhy brand marketing has to match the creative standard of the communityHow chat, Maps, and IRL experiences can create new roles for brandsWhy unexpected partnerships can make audiences see a brand differently

CMOs are being asked to do something increasingly absurd: deliver more growth, with less budget, while marketing gets more complex and more expensive.In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Jessica Apotheker, CMO of Boston Consulting Group, to unpack what it actually takes to survive and matter in the modern C-suite.Jessica Apotheker is Chief Marketing Officer of Boston Consulting Group, where she leads the BCG brand while continuing to work directly with clients on marketing, digital transformation, and growth. Before joining BCG, Jessica worked in product marketing at L’Oréal. Her approach is grounded in one principle: strategy only matters if it survives execution. Whether she is advising clients or leading BCG’s own marketing agenda, Jessica focuses on measurable impact, stronger capabilities, and making sure marketing earns its place as a growth driver.What You'll Learn:Why granular execution is what turns strategy into actual impactHow to think about marketing through orchestration, art, and scienceWhy BCG increasingly sees itself as a force multiplier, not just a consultancyHow the impact, asset, and muscle model creates measurable client valueWhy CFO and CIO relationships can determine whether a CMO succeedsWhat makes the CMO role uniquely vulnerable in the C-suiteWhy AI should be positioned as a growth lever, not just an efficiency play

Mary Yee, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sony Interactive Entertainment, started her career in accounting, not marketing. And, yet here she is. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Mary to unpack how a career that moved from finance to Clorox to PlayStation to the CEO seat at Tatcha (and back to PlayStation) shaped her view of what great brand building actually requires.Mary Yee is Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment, where she oversees the PlayStation brand globally across hardware, peripherals, network services, subscriptions, digital retail, and games.Her career began in public accounting before she moved into brand marketing at Clorox. She later joined PlayStation during the PS4 era, helping build the brand through a major period of category growth and digital transformation. In 2021, she became CEO of Tatcha, where she helped expand the luxury skincare brand across channels and into 34 countries before returning to Sony Interactive Entertainment.Across gaming, beauty, and CPG, Mary’s approach is rooted in the same core idea: understand the business, understand the consumer, and build brands around real human connection.What You'll Learn:Why financial literacy can make marketers stronger brand buildersHow analytics and creativity should work together, not against each otherHow Tatcha used communities, creators, and retail to fuel growthWhy Mary defines herself, first and foremost, as a brand builderHow cross-media IP expands reach beyond a brand’s core audienceWhy PlayStation anchors products, games, and IP under one master brandHow curiosity helps leaders move successfully across categories and roles

What happens when consumers love the idea of your product but freeze when it is time to choose?In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Andy Lopez, CMO of Behr Paint, to unpack how Behr is turning consumer friction into brand opportunity. Andy shares why “color paralysis” is one of the biggest pain points in the paint journey, how Behr uses insight to build confidence at the point of decision and why the strongest marketing ideas start by solving something real.Sparks President and Chief Client Officer Melissa Levy also joins Jenny for a mid-episode sidebar discussion on trust, measurement, and the future of experiential marketing. Sponsored by Sparks.Andy Lopez is Chief Marketing Officer of Behr Paint, where he leads an integrated marketing organization spanning brand, product marketing and commercialization. He began his career agency-side, including at Saatchi in Los Angeles working on Toyota, before moving to Behr more than nine years ago.At Behr, Andy has expanded across brand marketing, product and broader marketing leadership, bringing together consumer insights, innovation and go-to-market strategy. His perspective is shaped by experience on both sides of the agency-brand relationship, as well as Behr’s long-standing exclusive partnership with Home Depot.What You'll Learn:Why the best agency partners behave like extensions of the brand teamWhat AI still cannot replace in strategic marketing relationshipsHow to use AI to create capacity instead of simply cutting costsWhy consumer confidence matters as much as consumer inspirationHow Behr identifies and solves “color paralysis”How exclusive retail partnerships work when both brands plan togetherHow Behr’s Color of the Year connects trend forecasting to actual consumer behavior

What do agency leaders need right now? According to Ross Martin, maybe “a sanity check and a lobotomy.” Funny, yes. Also not entirely wrong.In this special episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney spotlights the launch of Adweek’s Agencies Vanguard program with three founding members: Jessica Henrichs, CEO of DonerColle Partners; Ross Martin, President of Known; and Chioma Aduba, President of Droga5. Together, they unpack why agency leadership has become one of the most complex jobs in business, why competitors need spaces for radical honesty, and why the future of agencies cannot be solved in isolation.Jessica Henrichs is the CEO of DonerColle Partners and one of the founding members of Adweek’s Agencies Vanguard program. In this episode, she brings a clear perspective on adaptive leadership, the value of peer support and why agency leaders need to build belief through change rather than pretend they have every answer.Ross Martin is the President of Known and a founding member of Agencies Vanguard. Known for his candid take on the agency industry, Ross brings a sharp view on the structural challenges facing agencies today, from outdated business models to the bigger question of what the industry wants to stand for next.Chioma Aduba is the President of Droga5 and a founding member of Agencies Vanguard. In this conversation, she speaks to the value of transparency, cross-agency community and creating an industry that feels like it is in good hands for the next generation of creative talent.What You'll Learn:Why agency leaders need perspective, not just certaintyHow leaders can build organizations that adapt through changeWhy agency executives need safe spaces for honest conversationHow competitors can collaborate on shared industry challengesWhy agency business models are facing structural pressureWhat diverse agency models can learn from one anotherWhy the industry needs to decide what agencies should be known for next