Vineet Mehra (Walgreens) | Connecting Purpose with Commerce

Jim’s guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Jonnie Cahill, the newly appointed SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of International Foods at PepsiCo. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Jonnie stepped into this role in April 2025 after more than 12 years at Heineken, where he most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for the U.S.PepsiCo is a global food and beverage powerhouse with nearly $95 billion in sales and an iconic portfolio of brands — including Pepsi, Gatorade, Quaker, Lay’s, Cheetos, Mountain Dew, and Tostitos, to name just a few.This marks Jonnie’s third CMO role. Prior to PepsiCo and Heineken, he served as CMO of Telefónica in Dublin, and earlier spent six years at Diageo, where he had the opportunity to work on one of Ireland’s most beloved brands: Guinness.Jonnie and Jim sat down over coffee at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity to talk about his journey, leadership lessons, and the challenges of building global brands. ---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

30 Jul 48min

This week, Jim welcomes Melody Lee, the Chief Marketing Officer of Mercedes-Benz USA. Mercedes-Benz is one of the world’s most enduring luxury brands and will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.Melody’s career in marketing had an inauspicious start. She graduated from Georgia Tech with both a BS and an MS in international affairs, took a $12/hour internship at a PR firm, and never looked back. After six years in PR, Melody made the jump to the client side with a six-year stint at Cadillac. She then held senior roles at Shiseido and MillerKnoll before joining Mercedes-Benz in the summer of 2023.Recorded during the Cannes Festival of Creativity, this episode features a conversation about modernizing legacy brands and building your creative chops.---This week’s episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog. Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

23 Jul 48min

In this special roundtable episode of The CMO Podcast, recorded live at the Brand Innovators LVMH Villa, presented by Shutterstock. Jim Stengel sits down with four powerhouse marketing leaders to explore the timeless—and timely—question: What does it take to build a brand people truly love?Joining Jim are...Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnionNicole Parlapiano, Chief Marketing Officer of TubiMelissa Hobley, Chief Marketing Officer of TinderCarole Diarra, Global Vice President of Marketing for UGGTogether, they reflect on the power of going back to brand-building fundamentals, why “the fruit is in the roots,” and how kindness and care can be transformative forces in leadership. This is a conversation full of wisdom, laughter, and straight talk on how to lead brands, and teams, with heart. Whether you're a marketer, creative, or purpose-driven leader, you’ll walk away inspired to double down on what really matters.---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte, StrawberryFrog and Transunion.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

16 Jul 43min

Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Brian Irving, the Chief Marketing Officer at Lyft, the 13-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose purpose is to improve people’s lives with the world's best transportation. Lyft does business in the US and Canada, and has about $6 billion in revenueBrian has been at Lyft for about 15 months. Before that, he has worked at three of the world’s most valuable companies: Google, Meta and Apple. He has also worked at Levi Straus, Eventbrite, and AirBnB. Brian had no idea growing up in Flint, Michigan that his life would unfold this way. Recorded in person at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, tune in for a heart-to-heart conversation with Jim and Brian!---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

9 Jul 43min

Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Elizabeth Rutledge, the Chief Marketing Officer of American Express. Elizabeth is a unique CMO–she has been at AmEx for her entire career of 35 years, and she has been CMO for seven of those years. AmEx’s stock was about $4 when Elizabeth joined, and it is about $300 currently. More trivia–American Express was founded in 1850–one of the oldest brands in the world. Elizabeth graduated from Princeton, and earned her MBA from the Stern school at NYU. Recorded in person at the Deloitte Apartment at the Cannes Festival of Creativity, join the two for Jim's conversation with the CMO of a 175-year-old brand that is certainly not behaving that way.---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

2 Jul 48min

We had a whirlwind five days in Cannes last week, bringing you our first of many live, in-person episodes recorded as part of the Cannes Lions Festival. And to kick it off, Jim is diving into a topic that was a part of many conversations in the south of France…the Creator Economy. Creators and the space they’ve forged have become one of most transformative forces in marketing. It’s reshaping how brands connect with people, how content is made and consumed, and how influence is earned. Joining Jim are three guests who know this world very well: Brandon B, Creator and Founder of StudioBKim Larson, the Global Head of YouTube CreatorsKenny Gold, the Managing Director, Head of Social, Content and Influencer for Deloitte DigitalWe’re going to talk strategy, authenticity, audience building, and where this entire ecosystem is headed. With a little advice sprinkled in! So, tune in as we come to you live from the Deloitte Apartment at Cannes Lions!---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

25 Jun 40min

You have probably noticed we are getting more provocative with our episodes and their titles. A few weeks ago we released an episode titled “Is Brand Purpose Dead.” Well this week’s episode takes it up a notch: “The Day the Universe Changed: How the last five years have changed us as humans and consumers.” Jim's guests are Mike Moynihan, the SVP of Brand, Marketing, Insights and Partnerships at the Lego Group, and George Carey, the founder and CEO of Human-ology, a research company that tracks shifts in values and emotions that shape human attitudes and behaviors.mTheir clients include Google, Nike, McDonalds, and of course Lego. Mike has been at Lego for an amazing 30 years, and George founded his company about 15 years ago. George will share how the human inside the consumer has fundamentally changed over the past five years, beginning with the pandemic and then intensifying with the 2024 US elections. And Mike from Lego will talk to how this has changed how they think about their brand, and the initiatives that emanated from that.---Learn about the Human-Ology study here: https://tinyurl.com/3thz8knj---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

18 Jun 1h 2min

This week Jim's guest on The CMO Podcast is Carrie Palin, the SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of Cisco, the $55 billion by revenue tech leader, whose purpose is to leverage technology, people, and broader networks to solve society’s greatest challenges. Cisco is on quite a roll–its stock is up about 40% in the last year. Carrie never took a marketing class in school, and never even imagined she would be a top tech B2B marketer, let alone the CMO of one of the world’s great companies. But serendipity happened, and Carrie said yes to IBM coming out of TCU, and began a tech marketing career that took her to Dell, Box, Splunk, and now Cisco. Carrie has had a remarkable run in her four years as Cisco’s CMO, which we will talk about. Tune in for a conversation with a CMO, who believes some things in life are simply non-negotiable.---This week's episode is brought to you by Deloitte and StrawberryFrog.Learn more: https://strawberryfrog.com/jimSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

11 Jun 56min