355: Brand at its Best and Focusing on Fundamentals with Heather Stern, CMO at Lippincott

03/15/23 • 41 min

355: Brand at its Best and Focusing on Fundamentals with Heather Stern, CMO at Lippincott

In this episode, Alan and Heather discuss Brand, the role of the CMO, and why focusing on the fundamentals will never go out of style. As an 80-year-old company, Lippincott has a unique perspective on how to balance the cutting edge with longevity. They have seen trends come and go and even shaped some of them along the way. Heather talks in depth about the role Brand has played historically, the huge impact it can have when viewed holistically, and why a siloed CMO is not as effective as it can be if they are given a seat at the table. She also discusses the fundamental shifts happening in the industry as things move from an institutional era of branding to a human era of branding but also stresses that the underlying fundamentals of deeply understanding your consumer and your brand are just as important now as ever before.

Heather Stern is the CMO at Lippincott and host of the podcast Icons in the Making. She wears many hats at Lippincott by managing all aspects of marketing, PR, and digital for their brand, as well as business development and sales. She oversees the entire funnel, from best-in-class brand activations to industry partnerships in collaboration with companies such as eBay, Google, IBM, Samsung, and Southwest Airlines. She has been at Lippincott for 10 years and serves as a trusted advisor to top clients across industries.

In this episode, you'll learn:

The ways Heather’s specific CMO role at Lippincott has evolved over the past 10 years.
How Lippincott stays relevant despite turning 80 this year.
What has changed in the industry and what has stayed the same.

Key Highlights

[01:40] It all started with Janet Jackson
[03:10] Heather's career path
[06:30] Why Heather’s CMO role is unique and a little meta
[08:20] How Heather's role has evolved over the past 10 years
[11:55] What has changed and what has stayed the same for CMOs overall?
[16:00] The importance of being partnership oriented
[18:10] How Lippencot is defining brand today
[21:20] How Lippincott is trying to take the “squishiness” out of branding
[21:55] How has building and managing a brand changed and stayed the same?
[25:00] It’s all about agility and experimentation
[27:10] How gymnastics and a special Barbie inspired Heather's career ambition and work ethic
[30:40] Find the joy in making mistakes and embrace the gray zone
[31:40] Experimenting with AI and how brands are focusing on sustainability
[34:40] Brands to watch
[38:20] Icons in the Making Podcast
[39:15] The risk of missing the forest for the trees

Resources Mentioned:

Heather Stern
Lippincott
Icons in the Making (podcast from Lippincott)
Brands mentioned: Depop, HousePlant (Seth Rogen founder), and Roblox

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

355: Brand at its Best and Focusing on Fundamentals with Heather Stern, CMO at Lippincott

In this episode, you'll learn:

The ways Heather’s specific CMO role at Lippincott has evolved over the past 10 years.
How Lippincott stays relevant despite turning 80 this year.
What has changed in the industry and what has stayed the same.

Key Highlights

[01:40] It all started with Janet Jackson
[03:10] Heather's career path
[06:30] Why Heather’s CMO role is unique and a little meta
[08:20] How Heather's role has evolved over the past 10 years
[11:55] What has changed and what has stayed the same for CMOs overall?
[16:00] The importance of being partnership oriented
[18:10] How Lippencot is defining brand today
[21:20] How Lippincott is trying to take the “squishiness” out of branding
[21:55] How has building and managing a brand changed and stayed the same?
[25:00] It’s all about agility and experimentation
[27:10] How gymnastics and a special Barbie inspired Heather's career ambition and work ethic
[30:40] Find the joy in making mistakes and embrace the gray zone
[31:40] Experimenting with AI and how brands are focusing on sustainability
[34:40] Brands to watch
[38:20] Icons in the Making Podcast
[39:15] The risk of missing the forest for the trees

Resources Mentioned:

Heather Stern
Lippincott
Icons in the Making (podcast from Lippincott)
Brands mentioned: Depop, HousePlant (Seth Rogen founder), and Roblox

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

354: Demand Generation and Brand Marketing with David Fossas, CMO at Restore Hyper Wellness

In this episode, Alan and David discuss the mission of Restore Hyper Wellness, the relationship between demand generation and brand marketing, and the dangers of marketers confusing being purpose-driven with being cause-driven. David talks about the siloing and diminishing of the CMO role and how concepts like "Team One" and taking a critical look at new growth titles could help remedy this.

David Fossas calls himself "The Accidental Marketer," but is actually an accomplished marketer who has worked with over 35 brands, including General Motors, Verizon, HP, Visa, and Philips Health. He is currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for Restore Hyper Wellness, where he oversees consumer experience, marketing communications, and revenue operations to drive business growth and brand value. David emphasizes taking an adaptive approach to being a CMO and the importance of acting as a thought partner to the CEO and CFO. He also touches on topics such as the untapped potential of marketing, the true purpose of purpose-driven companies, and the impact of ongoing digital transformation.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why David sees demand generation and brand marketing as dependent on each other
What is leading to the CMO’s influence over "the 4 Ps of Marketing" diminishing and ideas to reverse course
The reasons why not every brand's mission and purpose need to align with a social cause

Key Highlights

[01:45] Meeting Jean Claude Van Damme
[03:30] From Hollywood aspiration to CMO
[06:30] What is Restore Hyper Wellness
[09:30] The potential of marketing and the role of CMO
[13:25] Importance of partnerships with other players in the C-suit
[15:15] New growth titles and the specialization of the CMO role
[19:00] The relationship between demand generation and brand marketing
[22:15] The challenge of identifying upper funnel activity that drives conversion
[23:30] Purpose and how it relates to marketing
[27:35] Finding financial freedom and leveraging an entrepreneurial spirit
[29:25] Focus on understanding business early on in your career
[31:00] The importance of developing a holistic view of marketing
[32:40] Brands to watch
[34:50] Losing your influence is losing your impact

Resources Mentioned:

David Fossas
Restore Hyper Wellness
Jean Claude Van Damme
Tim Ferriss (podcast host)
Marketing Today episode with Norm Yustin
Jim Stengel (former P&G executive) and The CMO Podcast
Brands Mentioned: Merlin, Ten Thousand

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

356: Normalizing Car-Sharing and Focusing on User Experience with Andrew Mok, CMO at Turo

In this episode, Alan and Andrew discuss Turo’s mission, how marketing helps them achieve it, and how he views the CMO role today. Andrew outlines the challenges Turo faced early on, how they got around them, and how a shift to focusing on improving the host experience has been one of their most effective marketing assets. They go into the details of Turo’s most recent "Open Doors" brand campaign and how they are riding the web3 craze by subverting it and encouraging new experiences in reality. As a CMO, Andrew feels like his role is more than just advertising and performance marketing. It's about solving a problem for the customers. His approach is rooted in holistic thinking and understanding how you are providing value to the world.

Andrew Mok never thought he would be in marketing because he was more left-brained, but in 2012, when analytics became a large part of marketing, he found his path. When Andrew joined Turo in 2012, there were 54,000 users being served in just two cities. In 2017, at age 29, Andrew was promoted to CMO and has advanced the company to over 10,000 cities serving 7 million users. Today, Turo is the largest global peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace, and their revenue has grown over 250X since he joined. As an Asian American, Andrew always felt different growing up but sees now that differences are to be celebrated. That is the approach he takes to marketing by showcasing Turo's unique value propositions and living out their brand values of being expressive and grounded. It’s all about celebrating uniqueness and seeing the person first.

In this episode, you'll learn:

The unique challenges Turo faced early on and how they overcame them.
How embracing uniqueness is a personal value for Andrew and how that shows up in his approach to marketing.
Why a holistic view of marketing yields better results than a siloed one.

Key Highlights