Frontier CMO Podcast by Think with Google

Presented by Think with Google

In the AI era, marketing should be unstoppable, and its future is being written in real time. Frontier CMO talks to the leaders shaping it. Join Joshua Spanier, Google's VP of AI and Marketing Strategy, in his deep-dives with the leaders, marketers, technologists who are rewriting the playbook. Welcome to the Frontier.

We’re asking the questions other won’t: How do marketing leaders prove ROI to executives? What does a modern marketing strategy look like when AI and analytics are reshaping the rules every day? Each episode of Frontier CMO explores the real-world playbooks leaders are using to navigate the AI-powered landscape. From marketing trends and branding breakthroughs to advancements in digital marketing, social media, content marketing, and B2B marketing, Frontier CMO breaks down what’s working and what’s not to help you navigate this new landscape.

Subscribe to Frontier CMO on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to get alerted when the first episode drops in January.

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Yesterday · 28 min
Growth, CFO Alliances & Brand Power: Inside Estée Lauder's AI Makeover
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: How Estée Lauder overhauled its marketing operating model and consolidated global media to react at the speed of culture. Why your CFO is your most crucial ally and how to prove marketing is an investment, not a cost center. Navigating C-suite influence, knowing when to compromise, and leading with strategic courage. Why the AI era demands a return to fundamental brand differentiation and emotional connection. How Jo Malone and Google built a conversational Scent Finder to personalize fragrance discovery online. What AI revealed about why MAC’s Ruby Woo and NASA-inspired Crème de la Mer both became timeless icons. 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
August 20 · 28 min
Your Content Is Corrosive: Anda Gansca on the Future of Websites in the AI Era
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
August 6 · 26 min
Rishad Tobaccowala on Relevance and Reinvention in the Age of AI
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: 6 keys to organizational change Why true innovation happens when you step outside your category Rishad's daily routine: How he uses 66 different resources to learn and stay ahead The "Company of One" framework and how to articulate your unique craft vs. skill Rapid-fire "Signal or Noise" on remote work, side hustles, and the future of work
July 30 · 33 min
Google’s CMO Lorraine Twohill on Leading the Frontier
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
July 23 · 40 min
Best of Frontier CMO: Colin and Samir on the CMO’s Guide to the New Creator Economy
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: Why brands must stop acting like "bad party guests" and start adding real value to creator narratives How to transition your brand from a background logo to an active "character" in a creator’s universe. How to look past superficial views and vanity metrics to measure genuine audience trust and brand ROI. Why modern creator content looks more like high-production television, community-building, and culture than traditional social media. 🔗 Resources & Links: 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
July 9 · 39 min
Lightning in a Can: Liquid Death’s Killer Creative
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
June 25 · 25 min
In the Driver’s Seat: McLaren’s Race to the Top
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
June 18 · 33 min
‘Desire at Scale’ with Unilever’s CMO Leandro Barreto
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
June 4 · 42 min
Mark Ritson on Why the Fundamentals Still Win
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
May 21 · 28 min
Inside Google’s Creative Frontier with Josh Woodward & Robert Wong
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
May 7 · 35 min
Beyond the Pitch: Inside Arsenal’s Global Fandom Playbook
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
April 23 · 41 min
Asmita Dubey on AI, Fragmentation, and the Future of Marketing
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
April 9 · 45 min
Emma Grede on Operationalizing Culture, Speed, and AI
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.
March 26 · 42 min
Carla Hassan on Trust, AI, and Leading Under Pressure
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
March 12 · 41 min
Sir Martin Sorrell on AI and Agency Reinvention
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
February 26 · 41 min
Vineet Mehra on Marketing in the Agentic Era and How to speak the Love Language of the CFO
In this episode of Frontier CMO, Vineet Mehra, Chief Growth Officer at Chime, joins Josh Spanier to unpack what it takes to lead marketing through the next platform shift. Drawing on a career that spans Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Silicon Valley, Vineet shares how CMOs must evolve from brand managers into capital allocators who drive growth by effectively managing where dollars are deployed. To do this successfully, they must become "balance sheet literate" and learn to speak the "love language" of the CFO—specifically focusing on unit economics, payback periods, and the marginal return on every incremental dollar spent. Vineet breaks down how Chime has restructured marketing around AI-enabled teams, in-housed creative and production, and redesigned customer support - turning automation into speed, savings into reinvestment, and execution into a competitive advantage. His thesis: perfect execution is table stakes; growth comes from strategy, taste, and how you design the system. Whether you’re navigating the pressure of AI adoption, balancing brand with direct response, or trying to stay relevant as automation accelerates, this episode offers a practical framework for building durable growth in a world where leadership, not technology, is the real differentiator. 00:00:00 — CFO + marketing: CAC, payback, unit economics 00:01:00 — Intro: the CMO role is changing 00:02:00 — What marketers must change for the next era 00:04:00 — What stays the same: brand story + taste00:05:30 — In-housing creative with top talent 00:08:00 — AI makes creative faster (from boards to near-finished) 00:10:30 — Biggest benefits: speed, savings, bigger ideas00:12:00 — “Chief Growth Officer” and owning the full funnel 00:15:00 — Full-stack marketer + systems architect 00:19:00 — Using AI agents at Chime (customer support example)00:25:00 — How to build an AI-ready culture 00:29:00 — Advice to traditional companies 00:30:00 — Fun: AI + pizza00:33:00 — Brand vs performance = one system 00:35:00 — Handling end-of-quarter CFO pressure00:38:00 — Signal vs noise + wrap-up takeaways
February 13 · 29 min
Vidhya Srinivasan on Agentic Commerce and the AI Rewiring of Marketing
Marketing is being rebuilt from the infrastructure up. Search is changing. Commerce is becoming agent-driven. Measurement is being redefined in real time. And the line between engineering and marketing is disappearing. In this episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with Vidhya Srinivasan, Head of Ads and Commerce at Google. As the leader responsible for Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Shopping, Merchant Center, Gemini integrations, and payments, Vidhya is helping architect how the modern marketplace actually works. The conversation explores what “agentic commerce” really means, why the Universal Commerce Protocol could reshape how brands interface with AI systems, and how Gemini is already rewiring performance, creative, and intent matching across the ad stack. Vidhya explains why CMOs don’t need to code — but must become technologically fluent — and outlines a five-part leadership blueprint for navigating AI transformation with optimism, speed, and accountability. 00:00 – The Vision: Reducing the “Commute Cost” from Desire to Purchase 00:28 – Engineering Meets Marketing: Why the Worlds Are Merging 01:31 – Inside Google Ads & Commerce: The Scale of the Role 03:13 – Agentic Commerce & the Universal Commerce Protocol Explained 04:29 – AI Search, Longer Queries & Reimagining Ads 05:05 – YouTube Creators, Culture & the Creator Partnership Hub 06:18 – How Gemini Powers Google’s Ad Systems 07:06 – Why Trust Is the Foundation of AI Advertising 07:51 – What CMOs Must Understand in the AI Era 14:19 – Measurement, First-Party Data & Cracking Attribution 21:38 – Leading AI Transformation: A 5-Point Playbook 25:32 – The Holy Grail: The Right Ad, Right Person, Right Moment
February 12 · 40 min
Colin & Samir on the CMO’s Guide to the New Creator Economy
Marketing is colliding with a creator economy that looks more like television, community, and culture, rather than what we used to think of when we think of social media. In this episode of Frontier CMO, Josh Spanier, VP of AI & Marketing Strategy at Google, sits down with Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry, creators and hosts of Colin & Samir, to unpack how the creator landscape has fundamentally changed, and what CMOs can do to get creator partnerships right. They explore why attention without connection is a dead end, how creators have become the arbiters of taste, and why brands must stop treating creator partnerships like performance ads and start building long-term, value-aligned relationships. A practical, forward-looking discussion on creators, community, and the shift from attention to connection.
January 29 · 33 min
Gary Vaynerchuk on Why Creative, Not Media, Is the Real Growth Engine
Brands are currently caught between two realities: the pretty strategy deck and the real world where attention is the currency. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia joins Josh Spanier, VP of AI & Marketing Strategy at Google to discuss why traditional brand models are failing and which channels remain the C-suite’s most misunderstood growth levers. Gary argues the bottleneck isn’t media—it’s creative slowed by excessive approvals and organizations built for campaigns rather than culture. To win, brands must collapse the walls between media and production, treating social as a daily operating system. This is a candid conversation for any leader ready to bridge the gap between boardroom theory and real-world business results. 00:00 — Creative vs. Media: What Actually Drives Results 01:38 — Practicing in the Trenches, Not the Decks 02:38 — The Real Role of the CMO in 2025–2026 03:51 — Performance vs. Brand CMOs: Why Both Miss the Mark 05:13 — “Day Trading Attention” and Measuring Real Outcomes 07:28 — Creative Is the Variable of Success 09:49 — LinkedIn Is the B2B World’s TikTok 11:21 — Relevance at Scale Beats “Matching Luggage” 13:49 — Why Production, Creative & Media Must Merge 15:05 — Who Wins in an AI-Powered Marketing World 18:42 — Rebuilding an Agency for the AI Era 21:06 — Brand Means Different Things to Different People 26:07 — How to Pitch Marketing to the CFO 30:41 — Rapid-Fire: Metrics, Media & Buzzwords 32:05 — Field Notes from the Frontier
January 15 · 36 min
Norm de Greve on Growth, Reinvention, and Leading Through Relentless Change
Today’s CMO is being asked to deliver growth in a landscape defined by radical uncertainty and AI disruption. In this episode of Frontier CMO, Norm de Greve, Chief Growth Officer at General Motors, joins Josh to explore what it takes to drive reinvention inside one of the world’s most complex legacy brands. Norm uses his experience making high-stakes decisions that have defined his career— walking away from $2 billion in tobacco revenue at CVS to steering GM’s resurgence—and turns it into actionable tactics for modern leaders. His thesis: Own the entire business engine, not just the brand. Learn how to move at the speed of change, without losing your creative soul. Whether you are navigating the anxiety of the AI era or managing the tension between short-term performance and long-term brand building, this episode offers a masterclass in building sustainable systems for growth. 00:00 – Creative Still Matters in the Age of AI 00:24 – Welcome to Frontier CMO & Norm De Greve’s Journey 01:22 – Inside GM’s Turnaround and Reinvention 02:26 – Why Automotive Is One of the Most Powerful Brand Businesses 05:01 – Bankruptcy as the Catalyst for Change 06:11 – EVs, Profit Pressure, and a New Marketing Model 08:38 – Leading Teams Through Constant Change and AI Anxiety 10:11 – From CMO to Chief Growth Officer 13:48 – Short-Term Sales vs Long-Term Brand Building 23:48 – Rebuilding GM’s Agency Model with MediaMonks and Metropolis 31:34 – Why Brand and Human Taste Matter More in an AI World 34:24 – Field Notes from the Frontier: Growth, Change, and the Human Soul Learn more at Think with Google: https://business.google.com/us/think/frontier-cmo/ You can also find us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontier-cmo-podcast-by-think-with-google/id1860114911 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2frcKgPI191iwfmVMHGfgY Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f0b58c08-3ce3-418d-9dad-bd0635141ff4/frontier-cmo-podcast-by-think-with-google

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