Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders

Charisse Hughes, Chief Growth Officer at Kellanova: Evolution of the CMO

May 1, 2024

Charisse Hughes, Chief Growth Officer at Kellanova, discusses the importance of communicating marketing impact within organizations and the value of long-term brand equity. She explores the evolution of the CMO role, the differences between a CMO and Chief Growth Officer, and the challenges in proving campaign efficacy. The podcast also touches on brand valuation, career pivots, and navigating marketing roles for career growth.

48:46

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Episode guests

Charisse Hughes

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Quick takeaways

Marketers need to educate organizations on long-term brand equity and value beyond immediate results.

Stakeholder management requires balancing hard truths with optimism and understanding trade-offs in decision-making.

Deep dives

Importance of Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder management is crucial in navigating the landscape clearly and understanding what's at stake and the trade-offs involved. Making decisions at this level requires a degree of discernment and assessing risks while also weighing options. Balancing hard truths with optimism and poise under uncertainty are vital skills needed in stakeholder management.

Evolving Role of Chief Marketing Officer towards Chief Growth Officer

01:52

Balancing Career and Personal Life

01:22

Building a strong professional network is crucial for career progression

01:21

Importance of Understanding Long-Term Marketing Implications

01:29

Introduction

3min

Exploring the Evolution of Kellen Nova and Iconic Brands

2min

Evolving Role of Chief Growth Officer and Marketing Strategies

23min

Exploring Brand Valuation and Career Pivots

5min

Navigating Marketing Roles and Career Growth

5min

Navigating Decisions and Leadership Challenges

7min

Exploring Social Media's Impact and Marketing Strategies

2min

Full transcript

It doesn't matter how good your marketing is if you can't communicate its impact to the larger organization, says Charisse Hughes, senior vice president and Chief Growth Officer of Kellanova. Her firm spun off of the Kellogg Company last year to manage iconic brands like Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, as well as breakfast cereal outside of the U.S. Those have been household names for a long time, but Charisse says that across the marketing world, it's easy to lose sight of the long term.

"Marketers are missing the mark in terms of our communication strategy within the organization—as well as how we look at, measure, and think about immediate versus long-term business results or long-term brand equity," she says. "I feel like we, as a marketing community, have to get better at educating our organization, our CEOs, our CFOs, on what is the value of a click today, what is the value over the course of time, and what tradeoffs are we making here and why?"

Today on Building Better CMOs, Charisse and MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart discuss all of that, as well as how to unlock the value of brand marketing, purposeful career pivots and getting to the C-suite, balancing hard truths with optimism, and more. Plus: What makes a Chief Growth Officer different from a CMO?

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This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm.