Marketing Vanguard

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer of North America at Kraft Heinz. In this conversation, Todd makes a sharp case for something the industry has almost talked itself out of - marketing is supposed to be fun. He shares why the best work often comes when teams are loose, curious and plugged into culture, not buried under PowerPoints and over-serious process.Todd Kaplan is Chief Marketing Officer, North America at The Kraft Heinz Company, where he leads marketing across a $25B food and beverage portfolio spanning more than 70 brands and 50 categories. His remit includes creative, strategy, innovation, media, digital, insights, sports and entertainment partnerships, portfolio marketing and Kraft Heinz’s in-house creative content studio, The Kitchen. Before Kraft Heinz, Todd served as Chief Marketing Officer of Pepsi, where he helped bring the brand back into the cultural zeitgeist through platforms like the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, innovations such as Nitro Pepsi and Pepsi x Peeps, and the creation of a new Pepsi logo and visual identity system. His work has earned Cannes Lions recognition, and he has been named to Forbes’ “World’s Most Influential CMOs” list, Business Insider’s “Top 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World” and Adweek’s “Brand Genius” and “Marketing Vanguard” honors.What You'll Learn:Why marketing has become too serious and what that does to creative workHow joy, looseness and creative energy can unlock better ideasWhy cultural fluency matters more as paid media becomes easier to ignoreHow Kraft Heinz is rebuilding brand fundamentals across a complex portfolioWhy empathy matters for both consumers and teams during organizational changeHow portfolio marketing turns 70 brands into a stronger retail and consumer solutionWhat Cannes-winning work reveals about silliness, strategy and cultural attentionThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman 

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Doug Sweeny, CMO of ŌURA. In this conversation, Doug shares how ŌURA has evolved from a sleep-focused wearable into a broader health and readiness platform, helping people understand what is happening inside their bodies before it shows up in their day. He gets into how ŌURA’s mission-led positioning, hardware innovation, and partnership ecosystem are helping the brand define what the next phase of wearable health looks like.Doug Sweeny is the Chief Marketing Officer at ŌURA, a leading smart ring and wearable health technology company. With 15 years of agency experience and leadership roles across brands like Levi’s, Nest and One Medical, Doug has built a career around mission-driven companies that combine technology, usefulness and real-world impact. At ŌURA, Doug leads marketing for a brand that has moved beyond sleep tracking into a wider health platform spanning stress, resilience, cardiovascular health, metabolic health and women’s health. His work focuses on positioning ŌURA not just as a device, but as a way for people to better understand their bodies, build readiness and make smarter decisions about their wellbeing.What You'll Learn:How ŌURA evolved from sleep tracking into stress, resilience, and broader health insightWhy younger female consumers are the brand’s fastest-growing segmentHow women’s health features are expanding ŌURA’s relevance and category positionWhy stress and resilience are becoming core reasons people stay with ŌURAHow ŌURA Ring 5 removes friction through smaller hardware and longer battery lifeWhy mission-driven brands attract leaders who want to build products with real utilityHow “readiness” connects elite athletes, executives and everyday consumersThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman. 

If you think the story behind AI is a productivity-led one, you’re wrong. Our series from Cannes 2026 continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Rafa Flores, Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI. In this one, Rafa cuts through the noise around AI adoption and AI-selling and gets into the real issue CMOs are facing: teams are not just unsure about AI; they are scared of what it could mean for their roles. He reveals how forcing AI adoption from the top can backfire, royally and why real AI success should be measured through revenue and conversion impact. Rafa Flores is the Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI, where he brings nearly two decades of experience across product development, engineering, growth strategy and partnerships. With an engineering background and a deeply practical view of how enterprise teams adopt technology, Rafa works at the intersection of AI, product-led growth and human-centered transformation. At Treasure AI, Rafa helps global brands rethink how AI can be adopted without creating fear, confusion or organizational resistance. His perspective is especially valuable for CMOs navigating pressure from boards, teams and vendors at the same time. What You'll Learn:Why fear of AI is real and should not be ignored by marketing leadersHow to measure AI success through revenue, conversions and churn mitigationWhy forcing AI adoption creates anxiety and resistance inside teamsHow CMOs can set guardrails that protect the business while empowering teamsWhy modern tech buyers expect to try products, not just sit through demosHow product-led growth changes the customer journey in an AI-first marketWhy creativity in the AI era means orchestrating systems, agents and human judgmentThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman 

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Jill Kramer, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard. In this conversation, Jill reveals the false binaries marketing keeps boxing itself into: AI vs. creativity, brand vs. performance, strategy vs. execution, “what’s in” vs. what’s "dead." Her point is clear: the strongest marketing does not live at the extremes. It lives in the gray area where accountability, emotion, creativity, and business outcomes all have to work together.Jill Kramer is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, bringing deep experience across brand strategy, creative leadership and enterprise marketing transformation. Before joining Mastercard, she held senior leadership roles at Accenture, where she progressed from Head of Advertising, then brand, and finally, to Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Earlier, she also built her foundation on the agency side at BBDO. At Mastercard, Jill brings a perspective shaped by both sides of the table: the agency instinct for creative craft and the brand-side understanding of business complexity, accountability, and internal alignment. Her leadership is rooted in balance: brand and performance, creativity and AI, strategic vision and hands-on involvement.What You'll Learn:Why AI should sharpen creative focus, not replace the human craftHow brand and performance marketing became a false choiceWhy the best marketing happens in the “soft emotional middle”How prioritization can become a creative act for a new CMOWhy leaders now need to go high and deep at the same timeHow to shift from doing everything yourself to enabling the teamWhy the industry needs to stop arguing in extremes and talk more about the workThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman 

The “Marketing Vanguard at Cannes” series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Julia Goldin, Chief Marketing and Product Officer at LEGO. In this conversation, Julia shares how LEGO has grown from a children’s toy company into a global experience brand loved by kids, teens and adults, without losing the creative system that made it iconic in the first place. She offers insights into the discipline behind that growth: knowing what to say no to, protecting authenticity, taking calculated risks and treating mistakes as part of the work. Julia Goldin is the Chief Marketing and Product Officer at LEGO, where she has spent 11 years helping shape the brand into a multi-generational creative experience. Under her leadership, LEGO has grown across children, teens and adults, while expanding its connection with girls and women builders. From LEGO SmartPlay to high-profile partnerships with Formula 1 and World Cup campaigns, she has helped LEGO push into new spaces while staying grounded in authenticity, trust and the limitless possibilities of the LEGO system in play. Her leadership philosophy is clear: creativity grows when teams are curious, willing to make mistakes and disciplined enough to protect what the brand stands for.What You'll Learn:How LEGO expanded from a toy brand into a multi-generational creative experienceWhy saying no is one of the most important brand-building decisions a CMO can makeHow to balance innovation risk with consumer trust and brand authenticityWhy mistakes are essential to learning, unlearning and relearningHow LEGO SmartPlay uses technology to enhance physical play without adding more screensWhy human creativity is the real competitive advantage in the age of tech How partnerships like Formula 1 and World Cup campaigns become bigger than product launchesThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman 

This episode of Marketing Vanguard comes straight from Cannes 2026 as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Marketing and Brand Experiences Officer at Virgin Voyages. They discuss why the best and most real marketing happens when a customer is telling their friends the story of what they experienced, how Virgin Voyages turns crew culture into customer loyalty, and why repeat rate should sit much closer to the center of marketing strategy.Nathan Rosenberg is the Chief Marketing and Brand Experiences Officer at Virgin Voyages, where he has spent 14 years building one of the most distinctive experience-led brands in travel. With 26 years across the Virgin organization, Nathan brings a deeply human-centered approach to marketing, culture, and brand strategy. At Virgin Voyages, his work spans far beyond campaigns. He champions the full experience of the brand, from how guests feel when they step onto a ship to how crew members are supported to deliver memorable service. His philosophy is simple but demanding: if you take care of your people, they take care of your customers, and customers take care of the outcomes.What You'll Learn:Why marketing is irrelevant if the experience does not hold upHow repeat customers can lower acquisition costs and change the growth equationWhy crew experience directly shapes customer experience and brand memoryHow Virgin Voyages turned an adults-only cruise model into its clearest differentiatorWhy marketers need to stop drowning in reports they will never act onHow AI can amplify creative teams instead of replacing themWhy soft skills like empathy, vulnerability and listening are now the hardest leadership skillsThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman

Consumer electronics marketing has a bad habit: it talks too much about the product and not enough about the person buying it. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Sarah Larsen, CMO at Hisense USA, joins Jenny Rooney to unpack why she’s throwing tech-speak out the window and rebuilding marketing around sell-out, consumer behavior, and real-life relevance. As Hisense’s first overarching CMO, Sarah shares how she’s reinforcing one sharp mandate: marketing needs to move product.Sarah Larsen is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hisense USA, where she is the first leader to hold the company’s newly created overarching CMO role. With 30 years of experience across PR, earned media, social, digital, paid media, sponsorships, and consumer electronics, Sarah brings a nontraditional path to modern marketing leadership. Before joining Hisense, Sarah built deep category expertise through roles connected to brands like LG, Samsung, and Motorola. At Hisense, she now leads a broad remit spanning product marketing, product management, retail, insights, communications, and go-to-market strategy, with one clear goal: marketing that drives sellout.What You'll Learn:Why consumer electronics brands need to stop leading with tech specsHow Sarah defines marketing success through sellout, not vanity metricsWhy CMOs should act as the great unifiers across product, retail, sales and consumer insightHow to turn global sponsorships like FIFA World Cup into real consumer connectionWhy research needs to be continuous, not a one-time path-to-purchase studyHow future-proofing your brand means investing in the buyers who are not yet your core demographic

This episode of Marketing Vanguard comes straight from Cannes 2026. Join us as host Jenny Rooney catches up with Dara Treseder, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Autodesk. Together, they explore why this AI era is also the “golden era” for creatives, why human ingenuity still runs the game while AI raises the floor and why trust is the one thing that isn’t up for debate. She raises a valid point: knowing what not to do with AI is just as important as knowing what to do with it. Dara Treseder is Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Autodesk, renowned for her expertise in B2B brand storytelling and AI-integrated marketing strategy. With a background in transforming major enterprise organizations including GE and Carbon, she has pioneered approaches that balance human creativity with technological innovation. Her leadership in establishing Autodesk as the official design and make platform for the LA 2028 Olympics and her commitment to a $350 million initiative for AI workforce credentialing demonstrate her ability to align business growth with meaningful societal impact - a model of particular relevance for enterprise marketing leaders seeking to drive both profitability and purpose. What You'll Learn:How to balance AI integration with authentic brand storytellingThe "Facts and Feelings" framework for B2B marketing that moves beyond boring product specsWhy hands-on AI fluency as a CMO is non-negotiable for strategic vision and system designHow to operationalize workforce development as a competitive advantage by investing in AI knowledge transfer The time-optimization secret weapon: using AI-powered calendar analytics and briefing tools to reclaim hours dailyHow to execute big strategic swings like Autodesk's sports marketing partnerships with LA28 Olympics and NFL teamsThis episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman