Opening Doors to the Chiefs Kingdom (Lara Krug’s Version)
03/20/24 • 47 min
What happens when pop culture and sports fandoms collide? Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, trailblazing Chief Marketing Officer Lara Krug offers her unique perspective on the cultural zeitgeist that welcomed a swell of Swifties into their first season as football fans. We follow Lara’s career trajectory from beauty to beer to sports and learn why she believes the most successful companies hire smart rookies.
Highlights:
01:36 Navigating New Industries
10:15 Re-envisioning an Established Brand
15:23 Making the Leap from Beauty to Beer to Sports
18:46 The Importance of Soft Skills and Continuous Learning
23:13 Expanding the Fan Base: Swifties and Beyond
34:06 Why Successful Companies Hire Smart Rookies
45:21 The Value of Rookie Experiences and Aligning Aspirations
About Our Guests:
Lara is an experienced and passionate business leader with 15+ years of experience building and growing brands across multiple industries including consumer goods, alcohol, beauty and sports in both global and U.S. roles. In 2021, Lara joined the Kansas City Chiefs as the first Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Marketing. While overseeing all aspects of marketing in the U.S. including brand strategy, fan development, content & production, events and community impact, she is also responsible for the internationalization of the club in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Mexico.
Prior to joining the Chiefs, she spent more than eight years in multiple marketing roles with Anheuser-Busch InBev, eventually taking over as Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Stella Artois. Before leading the national marketing efforts for Stella Artois, she oversaw AB Inbev’s regional brand portfolio, global experiential and sponsorship business and digital media partnerships. Those roles saw her develop and lead experiential platforms and campaigns around Super Bowl LIV, FIFA World Cup, the World Surfing League, UFC, Wimbledon, Tomorrowland and many more.
Reference:
Chiefs Defeat 49ers, 25-22, to Secure a Second-Straight World Championship
Learn how we use the Acorn to Oak Tree exercise in our human-centered design research on our tools page.
Add Your Voice to Our Final Episode!
We’re curating listener questions to include and answer in our season wrap-up. Leave us a voice memo with the biggest questions and takeaways from this season of Smart Rookie. What questions still linger for you? What do you wish we’d talked about more?
Get in touch: DM us on Instagram, or send us an email, smartrookie[at]thenucleusgroup.com.
Credits:
Chelsea Carlson, Podcast Art Designer
Ashley Bradford, Theme Music Artist
Sam Nash, Audio Engineer
Gabriela Acosta, Executive Producer
Smart Rookie is brought to you by brand and strategy collaborative, The Nucleus Group.
Please note that our show transcript is AI generated and may not be 100% accurate.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smartrookie.substack.com
What happens when pop culture and sports fandoms collide? Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, trailblazing Chief Marketing Officer Lara Krug offers her unique perspective on the cultural zeitgeist that welcomed a swell of Swifties into their first season as football fans. We follow Lara’s career trajectory from beauty to beer to sports and learn why she believes the most successful companies hire smart rookies.
Highlights:
01:36 Navigating New Industries
10:15 Re-envisioning an Established Brand
15:23 Making the Leap from Beauty to Beer to Sports
18:46 The Importance of Soft Skills and Continuous Learning
23:13 Expanding the Fan Base: Swifties and Beyond
34:06 Why Successful Companies Hire Smart Rookies
45:21 The Value of Rookie Experiences and Aligning Aspirations
About Our Guests:
Lara is an experienced and passionate business leader with 15+ years of experience building and growing brands across multiple industries including consumer goods, alcohol, beauty and sports in both global and U.S. roles. In 2021, Lara joined the Kansas City Chiefs as the first Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Marketing. While overseeing all aspects of marketing in the U.S. including brand strategy, fan development, content & production, events and community impact, she is also responsible for the internationalization of the club in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Mexico.
Prior to joining the Chiefs, she spent more than eight years in multiple marketing roles with Anheuser-Busch InBev, eventually taking over as Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Stella Artois. Before leading the national marketing efforts for Stella Artois, she oversaw AB Inbev’s regional brand portfolio, global experiential and sponsorship business and digital media partnerships. Those roles saw her develop and lead experiential platforms and campaigns around Super Bowl LIV, FIFA World Cup, the World Surfing League, UFC, Wimbledon, Tomorrowland and many more.
Reference:
Chiefs Defeat 49ers, 25-22, to Secure a Second-Straight World Championship
Learn how we use the Acorn to Oak Tree exercise in our human-centered design research on our tools page.
Add Your Voice to Our Final Episode!
We’re curating listener questions to include and answer in our season wrap-up. Leave us a voice memo with the biggest questions and takeaways from this season of Smart Rookie. What questions still linger for you? What do you wish we’d talked about more?
Get in touch: DM us on Instagram, or send us an email, smartrookie[at]thenucleusgroup.com.
Credits:
Chelsea Carlson, Podcast Art Designer
Ashley Bradford, Theme Music Artist
Sam Nash, Audio Engineer
Gabriela Acosta, Executive Producer
Smart Rookie is brought to you by brand and strategy collaborative, The Nucleus Group.
Please note that our show transcript is AI generated and may not be 100% accurate.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smartrookie.substack.com
Previous Episode
Find the Courage to Build the Life You Want with Debbie Millman
Design maven Debbie Millman shares her pursuit to courageously build a life filled with endless possibilities. Debbie reminds us to ask ourselves, “if not now, then when?” From mastering new languages, undertaking physical challenges, to navigating tough career choices, she takes us on a journey of self-discovery amid evolving aspirations and capabilities.
Highlights:
10:46 Keep Growing and Challenging Oneself
22:01 Balancing Multiple Pursuits
26:40 Navigating Life's Trapeze: Decisions and Potential
36:52 The Pursuit of Potential and Possibilities
36:58 Desire for More Freedom and Experimentation
44:15 Emerging Rookie Styles: The Reluctant and the Dive-In
47:41 Success and the Pursuit Of Endless Possibilities
About Our Guests:
Debbie Millman is host of the Webby award-winning podcast Design Matters, one of the first and longest running podcasts in the world; Chair of the first-ever Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts, Co-owner and Editorial Director of PrintMag.com, and the author of seven books on design and branding. She has worked on the design and strategy of over 200 of the world’s largest brands. Debbie is the recipient of a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and a Lifetime Achievement award from AIGA, the Professional Association for Design.
Reference:
Learn how we use the Acorn to Oak Tree exercise in our human-centered design research on our tools page.
A Remarkable Life Deck: A Ten-Year Plan For Achieving Your Dreams
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People
School of Visual Arts Masters In Branding
Listen to Debbie’s Seven Wonders Playlist on Spotify.
Add Your Voice to Our Final Episode!
We’re curating listener questions to include and answer in our season wrap-up. Leave us a voice memo with the biggest questions and takeaways from this season of Smart Rookie. What questions still linger for you? What do you wish we’d talked about more?
Get in touch: DM us on Instagram, or send us an email, smartrookie[at]thenucleusgroup.com.
Credits:
Chelsea Carlson, Podcast Art Designer
Ashley Bradford, Theme Music Artist
Sam Nash, Audio Engineer
Gabriela Acosta, Executive Producer
Smart Rookie is brought to you by brand and strategy collaborative, The Nucleus Group.
Please note that our show transcript is AI generated and may not be 100% accurate.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smartrookie.substack.com
Next Episode
Promise to Wear a New Hat with Abbi Waxman
Delve into the world of Abbi Waxman, a former advertising copywriter turned bestselling novelist. Abbi discusses the vitality of staying curious, humble, and fearless, whether in crafting compelling stories or navigating the twists and turns of life. She shares her personal and professional metamorphoses, highlighting the importance of collaboration, altruism, and creativity. Listeners will also get a unique behind-the-scenes look at Abbi's writing process and insights about her transition into the mystery genre.
Highlights:
01:04 The Origin Story: How a Bold Question Sparked a Career Pivot
21:03 Exploring New Genres: Advertising, Novels and Mysteries
25:07 A Perennial Rookie: Embracing New Beginnings
27:29 The Beauty of Altruism
29:07 Asking for Help and the Joy of Giving
47:34 Reflections on Rookie Adventures and Future Endeavors
50:07 The Value of Ideas and the Power of Patience
About Our Guests:
Abbi Waxman is an acclaimed author of contemporary, light-hearted fiction, with her sixth novel set to grace bookshelves in April. Born in England, she began her career working as a copywriter and then a creative director at various advertising agencies in London and New York, including an agency she founded with Smart Rookie co-host, Elizabeth Talerman. Eventually she quit advertising, had three kids and started writing books. Abbi is deeply interested in people, and in the gap between our outsides and our insides. She believes that space is where novels live, after all.
Reference:
Pre-order Abbi’s upcoming book, “Christa Comes Out of Her Shell.”
Download Abbi’s Book Club Kits.
Learn how we use the Acorn to Oak Tree exercise in our human-centered design research on our tools page.
We want to hear from you!
We'd love to hear what you observed in this episode. What did this episode leave you wondering about? What did you observe and what was said or left unsaid? Leave us a voice memo, DM us on Instagram, or send us an email, smartrookie[at]thenucleusgroup.com.
Credits:
Chelsea Carlson, Podcast Art Designer
Ashley Bradford, Theme Music Artist
Sam Nash, Audio Engineer
Gabriela Acosta, Executive Producer
Smart Rookie is brought to you by brand and strategy collaborative, The Nucleus Group.
Please note that our show transcript is AI generated and may not be 100% accurate.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smartrookie.substack.com
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