Frontier CMO Podcast by Think with Google

AI won’t fix your marketing. These seven lessons can.

In 2026 Year in Review: 7 Lessons from the Frontier, host Joshua Spanier brings together some of the biggest takeaways from a year of conversations with leading CMOs and industry thinkers at companies like Chime, Gap, Unilever, and L’Oréal to explore what it takes to grow in an AI-driven world.

How do you build a brand that stands out, make better creative, and help your team keep up with AI? These conversations dig into those questions and more.

Subscribe to Think with Google for more conversations on where marketing is headed and how to keep moving forward.

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#ThinkWithGoogle #FrontierCMO #MarketingStrategy #AIMarketing

In a special crossover episode with Semafor's Mixed Signals, Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith turns the tables on Frontier CMO host Joshua Spanier, Google's VP of AI and Marketing Strategy. Together, they discuss why the predicted CMO Armageddon never happened, lessons from 200+ marketing leaders, and why human connection matters more than ever.#ThinkWithGoogle #FrontierCMO #AIMarketing #MarketingStrategy

Could your doctor's office be just a few clicks away?

In this episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro, the digital healthcare platform rethinking not only how care is delivered but how it's marketed. Will explains how Ro earns trust in one of the hardest categories to market, why the brand rejects fear-based messaging in favor of uplifting human stories, and what it took to put Serena Williams at the center of a Super Bowl campaign. He also shares how Ro erased the line between brand and performance, why clinicians sit inside the creative process, and how a little weekend AI tinkering can spark big ideas for the business.

Tune in for a master class in marketing when the product you're really selling is trust.

00:00 – Introduction: Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro

01:00 – Reinventing Healthcare Through Digital Access

03:20 – Building Trust in Healthcare Marketing

05:00 – Ro’s Challenger Brand Marketing Playbook

06:00 – Blurring the Lines Between Brand and Performance Marketing

07:30 – Bringing Medical Experts Into the Creative Process

09:20 – Designing for a Mobile-First Consumer

10:15 – How Ro Uses AI to Drive Marketing Decisions

11:50 – Redefining Growth Beyond Customer Acquisition

12:45 – Using AI to Empower Marketing Teams

15:10 – Serena Williams and the Power of Authentic Storytelling

16:05 – Measuring Super Bowl Campaign Success and Long-Term ROI

17:15 – Career Lessons from SeatGeek, Rent the Runway, and Ro

19:00 – Embracing AI as the Next Major Platform Shift

20:45 – Signal or Noise: The Future of Healthcare

21:45 – CMO Download: Podcasts, Search, and YouTube

23:05 – Three Key Takeaways for Marketers

How do you transform one of the world's most iconic telecom giants into a modern, customer-obsessed growth powerhouse?

In the latest episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier welcomes Kellyn Smith Kenny, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at AT&T, for an inside look at AT&T's multi-year reinvention. Kellyn shares how she bridged creative storytelling with financial accountability, gained unanimous C-suite buy-in to become more customer-centric, and established a sustainable competitive moat in connectivity.

Tune in for a master class about CMOs as the voice of the customer.

00:00 – Rebuilding AT&T Around the Customer

04:00 – Why Moving Faster Mattered

05:00 – The AT&T Guarantee

06:00 – Differentiating in a Commoditized Category

09:00 – Turning Customer Problems Into Loyalty

12:00 – Building a Brand Beyond Advertising

15:00 – Fixing the Story, Not the Storytelling

17:00 – AT&T’s AI Legacy and Future

18:00 – How AI Is Transforming Marketing

20:00 – The Skills Marketers Need in the AI Era

22:00 – Career Lessons From Accenture, Microsoft, Uber & More

26:00 – Signal or Noise + Three Takeaways

Gap Inc. is having a moment and Damon Berger, an SVP who leads marketing shared services across the company’s portfolio of iconic brands, is focused on turning that moment into momentum. Live from Google’s Rethink Retail event in New York, he joins Josh on stage in front of 350 retail marketers to unpack how Gap Inc. is blending entertainment, cultural relevance and AI to drive sustainable business growth.

From viral YouTube campaigns with KATSEYE, Young Miko, Mr Beast and more, to pioneering employee-creator programs, discover how one of retail's most loved brands is transforming relevance into revenue.

👇 Key moments in this episode:

00:00 - Introduction & Gap’s growth

02:15 - "Relevance is Revenue" — Differentiating Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, & Athleta

05:10 - Why "Brand vs. Performance" is the wrong question to ask

07:45 - Building best friends with Finance (and why ROAS is a long game)

09:15 - Product at the center: The formula behind Cardi B, Young Miko, and KATSEYE

11:15 - Inside the innovative Employee Creator Program & Creator Affiliate launch

13:15 - Career journeys: From Disney to Barbie's turnaround at Mattel

16:30 - Marketing "Avatar" without showing the blue people 🤫

17:00 - The future of Agentic Commerce & AI Virtual Try-Ons

22:30 - Why AI will never understand the emotional choice of getting dressed

24:30 - Signal or noise

#FrontierCMO #GapInc #RetailMarketing #BrandStrategy #YoungMiko #CardiB #Katseye #MrBeast #MarketingTransformation #AIinRetail #AgenticCommerce