Marketing Vanguard

Marketing Vanguard continues live from Cannes. Host Jenny Rooney sits down with Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages US, to break down why Cannes only works when CMOs show up with clear intention. Mark explains how AI has moved from tech hype to operational reality, why disruption cycles collapsed from five years to five months, and why honest peer debate is the only way marketing leaders stay ahead.

Mark Kirkham is Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo Beverages US, where he leads brand, category, and marketing programs across Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Starry, Bubly, and Mug. A 15-year PepsiCo veteran, Mark has held global and regional marketing leadership roles including Chief Marketing Officer, International Beverages, VP of Global Sports, Juice and Energy, and Head of Marketing & Innovation for Western Europe. His work has included Pepsi’s UEFA Champions League partnership, the global Pepsi Taste Challenge, expansion of Gatorade and Mountain Dew across international markets, and award-winning brand and innovation programs. Before PepsiCo, Mark held roles at P&G, Nielsen, and Forrester Research.

What You'll Learn:
Why AI is shifting from hype cycle to everyday marketing work
How CMOs should evaluate AI through growth, efficiency, insight, and discoverability
Why disruption now happens in months, not years
How peer learning and open debate help the entire industry move forward
Why Cannes works best when CMOs prioritize quality over quantity
How teams can learn from challenger brands and organic social-first thinking
Why the industry has a role to play in making Cannes more curated and creatively valuable

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Marketing Vanguard Cannes series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Lara Balazs, Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Global Marketing at Adobe. In this episode, Lara breaks down why enterprise AI adoption is shifting toward tangible workflow wins. She highlights how heavyweights like the NFL, Disney and L’Oréal deploy Adobe Firefly to automate manual asset scaling while protecting proprietary IP. Learn why human empathy, brand trust and strategic judgment remain irreplaceable in the age of generative AI.

Lara Balazs is Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Marketing at Adobe, where she leads global marketing and communications, drives profitable growth and helps build Adobe’s brand in the AI era. Before joining Adobe in 2024, Lara was Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager, Strategic Partner Group at Intuit, where she led marketing and communications across the company’s brands and also served as general manager of Intuit’s ProTax group. She has also held marketing leadership roles at Amazon, Visa and Nike, with experience spanning B2C, B2B and B2B2C models. Lara has been recognized on Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs list, Forbes’ Entrepreneurial CMO 50 and received Adweek’s CMO Vanguard Award.

What You'll Learn:
Why the AI conversation has moved from fear to confidence
How AI can augment human insight, empathy and brand visibility
Why real case studies matter more than speculation
How Firefly helps creative teams reduce repetitive production work
Why being a CMO now requires humility, curiosity and constant learning
How the multi-hyphenate marketer applies fundamentals across different business models
Why taste, trust and judgment still require customer empathy and human decision-making

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman

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

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 work
How joy, looseness and creative energy can unlock better ideas
Why cultural fluency matters more as paid media becomes easier to ignore
How Kraft Heinz is rebuilding brand fundamentals across a complex portfolio
Why empathy matters for both consumers and teams during organizational change
How portfolio marketing turns 70 brands into a stronger retail and consumer solution
What Cannes-winning work reveals about silliness, strategy and cultural attention

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman

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

The Cannes 2026 series of Marketing Vanguard continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Uzma Rawn Dowler, CMO & SVP, Global Corporate Partnerships at Major League Baseball. In this conversation, Uzma shares why fandom is not a behavior. It is identity. And why, for MLB, that changes the entire marketing equation. She gets into how baseball’s eight-month season creates a daily storytelling engine, why partner integration needs to feel organic to the fan experience and how MLB thinks about brand building through commercialization, culture and community.

Uzma Rawn Dowler is the CMO & SVP, Global Corporate Partnerships at Major League Baseball, where she leads marketing for one of the world’s most iconic sports leagues. After more than a decade working across sponsorships and partnerships at MLB, Uzma stepped into the CMO role with a rare dual perspective: how to protect and build the MLB brand while also helping partners solve real business problems through baseball. Her work sits at the intersection of fan identity, brand storytelling, cultural relevance and commercial growth. From player storytelling to brand partnerships with companies like Mastercard, Adobe and Mountain Dew, Uzma’s approach is rooted in making marketing feel native to the moments fans already care about.

What You'll Learn:

Why fandom should be treated as identity, not just consumer behavior
How MLB balances brand building with revenue-driving marketing
Why top-of-funnel storytelling matters if you want bottom-of-funnel conversion
How 4,200+ games create daily moments for authentic partner integration
Why MLB frames partnerships as solutions, not sponsorship assets
How player storytelling helps the league understand what will resonate with fans
Why hiring smart people and relinquishing control is essential for modern CMO leadership

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman

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

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 insight
Why younger female consumers are the brand’s fastest-growing segment
How women’s health features are expanding ŌURA’s relevance and category position
Why stress and resilience are becoming core reasons people stay with ŌURA
How ŌURA Ring 5 removes friction through smaller hardware and longer battery life
Why mission-driven brands attract leaders who want to build products with real utility
How “readiness” connects elite athletes, executives and everyday consumers

This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Cannes 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.