Kelly Mahoney (Ulta Beauty) | Trust, Creativity, and the Superpowers of Beauty

Speaker A: Before we dive into today's episode, we would very much appreciate a moment from you to make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, along with optioning to auto download the episodes. It really is the best way to never miss an episode. Along with supporting the show and the amazing team that helps me bring it to you. And while you're there, leave us a rating or review. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the show and helps us learn. And of course share this episode with a friend or colleague who might enjoy it. We wouldn't be here six years later and still going so strong without you all our community. So thank you for being part of it. Now, onto the show. What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl?

Speaker B: It's Fisher Price. Because I fell in love with the Chipmunks and they were releasing a little 45, uh, for Christmas. I got that 45 plus the Fisher Price record player.

Speaker A: Oh yeah.

Speaker B: And I mean, it was my favorite toy ever, but I remember the brand. I don't just remember the toy.

Speaker A: Yeah. Deep impression. Hi, I'm Jim Stengel. I've helped hundreds of major brands discover and activate their purpose. Because when a brand's purpose is clear, compelling and authentic, profit naturally follows. Each week, I welcome the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of your favorite brands, to speak to how their job is so much more than marketing. These leaders share their inspiration and challenges along with how they try to build a full, healthy, and happy life in and out of the office. And it's that energy that reaches everyone they touch. And we're glad you're here to feel that energy and to learn from these remarkable leaders. So here we go. We are back from an incredible week at the Cannes Lions International Festival Creativity, where one theme seemed to come up in almost every conversation. How brands create meaningful connections with consumers in a world being reshaped by AI creators and sports culture. Few marketers are navigating this moment more thoughtfully than my guest today, Kelly Mahoney, chief marketing officer of Ulta Beauty. With more than 1,400 stores, Ulta is the largest beauty retailer in the United states, with over $11 billion in annual revenue and one of the most powerful loyalty ecosystems in retail. Ultimate Ulta Beauty serves more than 47 million members, who account for roughly 95% of the company's sales. Kelly has spent more than 11 years at Ulta, recently stepping into the CMO role. In early 2025, she did not come up through a traditional brand marketing path. Instead, she helped build one of retail's most sophisticated loyalty businesses before taking on the challenge of leading the entire brand. Prior to Ulta Beauty, she spent nearly eight years at bp, where she began her career in finance before moving into retail marketing. There she gained a foundation in analytics, customer strategy, and business leadership that still influences her approach today. Currently, she's guiding Ulta into its next chapter by connecting the brand to culture, defining moments, investing in AI powered personalization and commerce, and reminding us that even in an increasingly digital world, human connection remains the most powerful differentiator. We recorded this conversation from the sunny south of France aboard a yacht overlooking the Mediterranean, just days before Ulta's ambitious Supergirl campaign made its global debut. And special thank you to our friends at Beanstalk and Applovin for the views on the yacht. So here's my conversation with Kelly Mahoney, the Supergirl of this year's Cannes Lions Festival. Welcome to the CMO podcast, Kelly. Now, how many cans have you done?

Speaker B: This is my fourth can.

Speaker A: Your fourth can. So you're a veteran. So what's your week like? I mean, is it massively scheduled?

Speaker B: You know, we tried to balance it this year. We really tried to kind of balance learning as well as talking and exploring everything there is. I got to the play and I made sure the first thing I did was look at the work this year. And I think that was a big game changer. I'm glad I did that, but we're busy. There's so much to talk about. There's so many people to see. Yeah, uh, yeah, it's been great.

Speaker A: So has there been a person you've met or a, uh, presentation you've sat in or piece of work you saw that really struck you this year?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I was, I was just saying go to Pinterest. You have to go to Pinterest. You will be inspired. I think it's the most under tapped platform. I really do.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So how'd they show up this year? What was their presentation?

Speaker B: It's very experiential and so in fact they, they give you something to cover your phone because they really just want you immersed in the moment and it makes you think like in this world of AI and digital, everything, the importance of the human experience. And I love that. I mean, they're a digital company and yet they're kind of allowing us to all just take a minute and really think about what's happening right in front of us. The human element. And that was Inspiring to me.

Speaker A: So why do you think it's under leveraged generally, that platform?

Speaker B: I think, you know, Pinterest, uh, is where I think everything's going in terms of intent. So the whole idea of discovery, it's not a funnel like we've talked about. Everything can happen in a split second. So the time between when somebody is considering to make a purchase to the moment they are purchasing is. Is instantaneous. And I think that's what Pinterest has always been really great about, is understanding intent. And now they just have to kind of couple that with commerce. And I feel like they're going to be the future for us marketers.

Speaker A: So at ulta, you work closely with them?

Speaker B: We do. We work closely with Pinterest. Um, it's really important in the beauty. In the beauty category. I mean, that's where people are going to discover and explore and learn and tutorials. So it's very visual, too. So it's a really wonderful platform for that. Now we just have to figure out how do we create what we do best, which is understanding the customer, pairing that with their experience to really create, like, the most personalized, curated beauty experience in the world.

Speaker A: Now, this is a big week. We're can. You're busy, you're being inspired. But it's a big week for another reason too. Right. So this has to be the biggest week of your year.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yes.

Speaker A: So what's happening on Friday of this week?

Speaker B: Yes. So on Friday of this week, Supergirl premieres. So we are partnering with Supergirl, Warner Brothers and Ulta Beauty to bring this real life, I call it perfectly imperfect superhero, to life in a very, very authentic way. It's not just us slapping a logo on the movie. It's us really creating this immersive 360 campaign. We started with it being an ad, so we are, uh, we are in market right now with an ad, and it stars Millie Alcott.

Speaker A: You've seen it?

Speaker B: Have you seen it?

Speaker A: Yes, I have seen it.

Speaker B: Yeah. So it allows us to talk about ourselves in a slightly different way. You've probably seen our ads in the past. We have a little edge to us, really encouraging people to get out there this summer, be that rebel girl version. It's the summer of self expression. And I think she's a really great person to bring that story to life and really give people the opportunity to just explore what makes them find their look, rock their power. The Joan Jett song, I mean, it's pretty killer, right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Brings us back. Everybody could relate to that song as well.

Speaker A: I talked to you in May. Uh, and we arranged this. We met in Chicago.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And I've since been looking at your activation on Supergirl. And I have to say, I mean, we had Barbie on the show, you know, two years ago, and we heard about the Barbie story. And this has some parallels, but it's one of the most comprehensive, creative and bold activations I've seen.

Speaker B: Oh, thank you.

Speaker A: So could you talk a bit more about it? The origin of the idea? What was the catalyst? Did you think big from the beginning? What was it about the partnership that made this different from others you've done?

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. It's a personal one for me. When I stepped into the CMO role, um, it was really about reigniting our brand's purpose. And these days, as a marketing leader, you really gotta figure out the right cultural relevant way to do that. So, you know, sports is one avenue that we've been exploring. Music is an avenue we've been very deep into, but we really weren't in entertainment. And we're beauty for all ages, life stages. So I was really looking for something that could appeal across generations. So what best but to go to the movies? You know, you go to the movies with your family and then when I was speaking, I speak about the superpowers of beauty, so. So it is so much more than what you're putting on your face. It is about wellness, it's about self care, it's about expression, it's about empowerment. And it was finding the right moment. And there were a lot of options, actually, this summer especially, there's a lot of options out there. But this one felt right for us because of who Supergirl is as a character and this idea of female empowerment and this perfectly imperfect expression that I wanted to lean into it, and it felt like a sort of a match kind of made in heaven for us. So, as a marketer, it was a dream come true moment, and we did want to exploit this as much as we could across all facets of the customer experience. So you're going to see it or it is in our stores right now. So there's a merchandising expression of it. But I think it's really cool the way that we've been able to create looks, and each shelf represents a, uh, certain look, and it's based on her look in the movie. We have brand partners that have joined forces with us. So Joico, Opi, Sol de Janeiro, along with our very own Ulta Beauty collection. So nice way to shine the light on other Brands that we carry, we've got social content. So Millie herself getting ready and she's so real, like she's not your beauty, girly, like she's the real expression of beauty, learning how to put the makeup on herself. And she's been just so great to work with. It's just coming to life in such a real authentic way now.

Speaker A: What are your hopes for this internally, inside with your associates and, uh, externally in the world?

Speaker B: Well, part of the reason why we really wanted this to show up in our stores is because of our associates. So when they see us innovating inside our stores, bringing them something new, they get really, really excited. And they're the ambassadors to our guests, they're the handshake to our guests, so they're excited about this. In fact, we just had our field leader conference and one of them came up to me and said, I have been a die hard Supergirl fan my entire life and she has a tattoo. And now this is definitely, uh, a fringe case. But we are sending her to the premiere to really make her dream come true. But can you imagine, like, what that means to that person? And like a dream just came true for her and her family. So she's super excited about it. But what we hope, I mean, uh, it's a cultural moment. It's, it's us tapping into the zeitgeist. And I just want that to be meaningful for Ulta Beauty. I want people to think about Ulta Beauty as very relevant, very much with the times, but also across all generations. So I hope a mother and a daughter decide that they want to go watch this show because they saw something from Ulta Beauty.

Speaker A: I spoke yesterday with Fabi Torres at Gap and she has worked for Nike, Apple, Pepsi. Wow. And so she's worked for a bunch of brands that are multi generational. And we talked a bit about. That's not easy to do, to build a brand that appeals to multiple generations and types of people. You do that really well.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: So what do you think it is about? What's your counsel for others? Because obviously when you have a multi generational brand, you have a bigger audience, but to still retain a point of view and a voice and appeal to lots of people. It's an art and a science.

Speaker B: It is. It's complicated.

Speaker A: It is complicated. What's your learning on that?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, first of all, clarity in our purpose. Yeah, I think you have to always start with that. So we are clear in our purpose, which is we unleash the power of the possibilities by Celebrating those superpowers. And everybody can relate, no matter what age you are, everybody can relate to expression, empowerment, connection, and now self care. Self care kind of being this new territory that we've added in our superpowers list. Everybody can relate to that story. We are beauty for all ages, life stages. Our, uh, assortment allows us to expand and flex and adapt for sure. We are also welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. And I think when you have all of those things that going for you, it really does allow you to create expressions of your brand to appeal to the 10 year old that might be starting out on their journey with beauty all the way up to, you know, somebody that is in their 70s, that is, is still looking to have an experience with beauty and wellness and everything in between. But we always talk about in marketing, we will not be all things and nothing to no one. The power of our, uh, loyalty program is what allows us to really live up to that commitment. So we have all of this data. I mean, we have 47 million members in our loyalty program. So I've been in the relationship building business my entire career. That's my path to cmo. And understanding who your customers are and knowing how to curate an experience for them is what we do. Uh, as a retailer, it's really about, like, what brings you in today and how do we curate an experience for you, whether that's physically in the store or whether that's digitally or in our social channels. And I think that understanding, motivation and intent and then being able to provide an experience for them is why we can appeal to all of those ages across every life stage.

Speaker A: And what 95% of your business is in your loyalty program.

Speaker B: 95% of all of our businesses in our loyalty program. And that's been true. I came to Alta Beauty 11 years ago and we had 17 million members in our loyalty program and we now have 47. But what was always true is the 95%, because that's the power of our associates, really understanding what the power of data means to our company. And we've just gotten better and better and better at activating against that. I mean, we didn't have as many tools even five years ago that we do now. And that's creating our ability to curate that personalized experience. Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, before we leave Supergirl, we're here in Cannes. Will you submit it for a Cannes Lions next year?

Speaker B: I am so inspired to commit it, which is why I went to the Palais and why we're learning about the process of submitting it for a Cannes Lion. But I Think this would be a good one? Do you?

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a potential, you know, gold, maybe Grand Prix.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. You heard it.

Speaker A: You thought about this. So big, so bold. But the art is in how you present it.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: So. And I'm sure your team will. Yeah, your team will help you with that. But I definitely think it's a big idea and it's so beautifully thought of and executed. And I suspect your results a year from now are gonna be amazing. And you'll have that little early, but

Speaker B: there's really, really good chatter.

Speaker A: Yeah, I can only imagine. Now, you have been at Ulta Beauty 11 years, 18 months as CMO. Talk about that change. You were promoted internally.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: How's life changed since you've been cmo? I mean, what's different about your life?

Speaker B: So fortunate. I've been with this company for 11 years, so I know this brand. I live this brand. I love this brand. So that hasn't changed. That's just my ability to actually influence the brand is what I would say has, uh, changed the most. I have so much passion for it. Well, life does change, though, when you're promoted to the chief marketing role. Keisha Steelman is our CEO and she was promoted to CEO about 19 months ago. So I'm very honored that she promoted me internally to this role. It's really been just a blast, honestly, to have the privilege of being able to tend to this brand, reignite this brand's purpose and build other brands. Because we're a multi branded retailer too, you know, to be a part in building other people's brands to the power of what we're doing with our own brand, creating trust and authenticity. I feel like when I got in the seat, I said, I am in the possibilities chair, no pun intended. But now I need to go make those possibilities a reality. And I think I have the best marketing leadership team in all of retail. And I think we're just on, um, this trajectory to do really great things.

Speaker A: Is it easier or more difficult than you imagine, the transition or has anything surprised you about it?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, really great question. So the people and the culture is what I would say. I used this phrase in a marketing meeting that we just had. All of our marketing team members were all in one room and it was a really great opportunity. And what came out of my mouth and it was not prepared is I cannot do this alone. Coming into the second year, when you're in your first year, there's just a lot of, like, setting the strategy and making sure you have the right people in place. And we didn't have a full leadership team in place for much of that year because we were building, we were in a build mode. Um, we do now and then. To just look out into the audience, to see hundreds of marketers looking back at you, it's like it's going to take every single one of you living, loving and being as passionate as I am about this brand in order for us to win. And that's the journey we've been on. The energy, though, that I feel from day one to 18 months later with our marketing team in particular is palpable. I'm feeling it. It's a huge adjustment, but I cannot underestimate the amount of effort and purpose and intent that goes into creating a culture that brings out the best in people. But I think it's the long term play.

Speaker A: What was your magic in creating your team? I talk to a lot of CMOs in this show. That always comes up as a key driver of success.

Speaker B: Your team.

Speaker A: Yeah. And those that build it well, succeed. Those that don't build it well, do not succeed.

Speaker B: Yeah. First of all, trust. It's paramount. How do you do that, though, when you're just meeting somebody, you know, for the first time? And it's not easy, but I created this in my head. I really wanted a leadership team m that would. And I would say this in every interview that would go to Sunday brunch together and have fun if they had the choice. You know, we won't do that because we all need a little bit of a break. And in fact, we have a text chain that we call the Sunday brunch and it's just our leadership team. But if I got myself in that mode, ah. As I was interviewing somebody, then that was instinctually going to lead me in the best direction to hire the person. And so since I. We've rounded out our entire leadership team, I will never say we're completely done. Right. Because the minute you say that. But my point is, I think having that mindset of trust and having people that vibe well together, we out. You got to this point in the interview process so you're clearly capable, you can do the job and you have experience. But it was really about the cultural fit for me.

Speaker A: Did you have to build any new capabilities when you came in? I mean, was there a gap in any area that you really needed to hire for? Did you shift your leadership team in any way based on what you saw the company needed? Yeah.

Speaker B: And maybe I'm going to say something that most CMOs in my position wouldn't say we had the data leadership, we had the technology capabilities. That's. That's my background too.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So from a personalization standpoint, from a relevancy standpoint, you know, we were sort of like, yeah, good to go. And I had a nice succession path for when I was able to step up. I needed to double down on the integrated marketing and the brand side of it. Really getting that leader, uh, that thinks and can relate and craft the right campaigns and messaging and most importantly, creative strategy. That is going to feel very emotional because we're headed in, uh, that emotional territory. I know you had Shelly House on, um, and I've listened to that podcast even more recently, and I credit her for moving our company from a transactional, functional, all things beauty, all in one place to the whoop could be. Is a very emotional and purposeful place. And I think she took it very far. I really am motivated by the idea of bringing it all away. I want Ulta Beauty to be the next great, iconic lifestyle brand that plays a very deep, meaningful role. Thank you.

Speaker A: Now, I was looking at another interview you did, and I talked and they were asking you where you're focusing, and you said, I love this. The thought. You said, I focus on what sets us apart. And you listed five things.

Speaker B: Oh, wow.

Speaker A: Uh, your purpose and emotional connection with guests, which we just talked about. Your famous loyalty program. The promising brands in your portfolio, because you have a lot of them and you have ones that are faster growing than others. UB Media.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Uh, and your incredible associates. So you pick those five areas, and it's a great lesson for all CMOs listening. You pick the areas that are your competitive advantage, and you're focused on that. My question for you today is, where are you spending right now your most energy on those five things? Is it the first one, the purpose and emotional connection or something else?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think right now it is about the purpose and that emotional connection, you know, trust and establishing trust in a world where AI is, uh, going to automate a lot of

Speaker A: things about that in a minute.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I think really make. You can't really automate or, you know, robots can't create trust in the same way that the humans can. So making sure that our brand's purpose is shining through and all the pieces of the content, creating, creating that trust in all of the content that we create is where I'm leaning in the most. That being said, our associates bring the experience to life, and so I think that makes us very Powerful and is an incredible differentiator. We don't do ads about our associates, but I will tell you, when we look at all of our brand health metrics, there inevitably is a statement about how great our associates are, how welcoming, inclusive they are. And so it just gets you thinking about leaning into them and really helping them create even better experiences because, you know, this world's bifurcating. There's this very, very digital and then I think there's this very, very human, how do we create, empower them to be able to be the best human experience that there really is is rattling around in my brain. I don't have all the answers, but I think that's my next, that's the next pathway I'm leading down.

Speaker A: How do you stay in touch with the associates? Do you have any rituals or rhythms or habits we could learn from?

Speaker B: First of all, we have an amazing store operations team. Second of all, we have a, we have technology that allows us to communicate with them on a regular basis. And then we visit stores very, very frequently, all the way. It's part of our culture. So I'm always in the store and you're always listening to them. Our Brand Insights team, we view them as voice of, uh, the associates, a voice of customer, voice of associate. So we're able to reach out to them. But it's very two way and we have the processes in our organization to hear from them. The good, the. But every question, no matter if I'm there for a personal shopping experience, I always ask, what can I do for you? What do you need? And if they say, you know what? I think I have everything, oh, it can't possibly be like, what do you need from marketing?

Speaker A: That's an amazing culture you've built and it goes way back. And we'll talk a bit about Shelley later. I think on the AI topic obvious, it's in every conversation at Cannes, it's in every conference in marketing, and it's real. But from what I deduce, you're doing a mindboggling amount of work on AI. So I'd like you to go there for a bit with us because everyone's struggling with it. I was in an interview with Google earlier this week and they said, don't believe anyone that says they figured this out. We're all learning together. There isn't a firm playbook yet, so we all have to be experimenting, taking baby steps. So I want you to talk about what are the mega lessons you've learned so far in optimizing AI? You know Using it to amplify your purpose, using it for efficiency, whatever it might be. And do you feel it's helping you deliver a better customer experience?

Speaker B: Yes. So this is my path to CMO. So I'm modern CMO kind of Persona. So AIs kind of been there for us, even though it wasn't termed that for many. Data science, advanced analytics, ultimately to AI and the application of AI across our customer journeys. And I agree with Google completely. I also have spent time with Google and all of them to sort of lean back and say, wow, this is really unchartered territories. So I think the biggest lesson, and if I go back five years, is we're just fortunate. I wish this was. We had the data, and so we really made sure our data was foundationally very secure and structured in a way that allowed us to leverage it, because we had it. And maybe we were only back 10 years ago when I first walked in the door. Maybe we were only using it to get smarter about circulation strategies on print, because print's very costly to today, really being able to leverage that data. For personalized recommendations. We call it the Beauty Graph. This is our proprietary recommendations engine that is AI and it's tuned to you and you're getting messages that are very specific to you. But that does not happen overnight five years ago. It's always this feeling of like, I just need to scale even more. We just need to scale even more. It's iterative and it's hard to kind of say, hey, we're 80% personalized across all the channels. But I actually do try, try very hard to encourage the organization around this concept of let's be 80% personalized. So it's like put a stake in the ground to say every channel needs to be personalized. Obviously, you don't want to do things just for the sake of measuring it. But the idea there is if you fixate on how to curate and tailor an experience to benefit the customer, that's probably a good thing for the organization.

Speaker A: What's your advice to other CMOs who would love to have the number of initiatives you have in AI? Beauty Graph is just part of it, right? You're doing all sorts of things.

Speaker B: Yeah. My advice would be, so we have a product organization, a technology organization, a, uh, marketing and digital organization. Those are five different silos in an organization. But you really have to figure out how you create this concept, which we've called the Fusion team. So each one has a different chief, each one has a different leader, but it doesn't get in our way. And we as leaders like to say organizational charts should never get in the way of getting your business done. It's like it does sometimes. Different organizations have different priorities. We've really established this idea of a fusion team, which is centered around the customer. So we've flipped the script on segmentation altogether. So we don't segment based on, oh, age, demographic, where they're regionally located. We are segmenting based on intent and motivation. That's number one. And how you do that, you got to have a lot of data to start making assumptions and predictive plays around what you think a customer is coming to you. That allows you to then create a structured fusion team around this idea of a cohort that's motivated by a given thing. And then members from each of those areas of the business sit together, brainstorm, test, learn, experience, m experiment, and then measure their ability to create value from each of these cohorts.

Speaker A: Now, when you leave this Cannes Festival.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Right where you're being, you're immersed in all these interesting ideas and creativity. What will you do when you go home? How will you share this learning?

Speaker B: Oh, that's so powerful. Every day I wake up and I send a message back to the team to say, this is what we're doing. This is how we're going to spend our day. And then other members of the team that are here with me are dropping in photos because I think it's really important for all of the marketing organization to be a part of this experience. Obviously, we can't bring them all. I wish I could. Well, we can't, because it's easy to kind of look at this from home base and go, like, what are you doing over there? What is that? Really adding value. So really trying to help them understand what's going on in track with us. And then when we get back, sharing the recaps. I know members of the team, too, are kind of dropping in our teams channel, we use teams recap of the day. Here's what we learned. Um, just to bring people along. But I was saying earlier that when I was. I set an intention when I'm on the airplane and say I need to open my mind and be inspired by, let's hope, three big things. And I'm really excited because I'm in day two, and I've got two really big ideas already kind of formulating nothing that I want to share at the moment, but, like, two really big ideas, and I'm like, could I get to 5? So now I'm pushing my thinking to Say like, can I get to five really inspiring things.

Speaker A: If you get to five, it has high roi.

Speaker B: There you go.

Speaker A: Yeah, about that. So when you think about creativity, you seem to have a very creative, energized organization. What have you learned about building that kind of culture? What I love about all the stories here at CAT is I always think about what's the culture behind this? Yeah, because you know, a great creative culture is not afraid to fail, thinks big, feels supported, you know, takes a different approach to problem solving. Those are all powerful characteristics. And I think our job as leaders is to nurture that. So I'd just like you to talk about how you do that. You know, how do you make sure that your organization's creatively on fire and stays that way?

Speaker B: I love this question because it does start with day one, when I stepped into the role and it was all about building a culture. We didn't really, I'm gonna say it, we didn't really have a culture. Not one that I could articulate. Mhm. I'm not saying it was good, I'm not saying it was bad. I'm just saying it was sort of not there. Maybe beige. So it's like we gotta build a culture. Because once we've got people living, loving and being as passionate about this brand as me, we will be on fire. And we were already producing great things, but we're now going to produce Breakthrough Disruptive, the next iconic fill in the blank. That's why that culture piece was so important to me. When you come to a place like Cannes, I think what you realize is the importance of space. And like, I'm not sitting in a meeting, my computer is not in front of me. I'm not trying to multitask to get through email. At the same time I'm sitting in a meeting, trying to have a conversation with somebody and dealing with the text messages and the pings on teams all at the same time. Space. And that's trickier, it's easier said than done to create this space, but I think bringing uh, bigger members of the, more members of my team here so that they can sort of feel the magic and the inspiration that can, can give you. But we as leaders need to figure out how do we inject this space into our lives back, back home.

Speaker A: It's a big point. I was talking to the Klarna CMO. He's been in the job 10 years when he's here in Cannes, he said, I go and I just sit in a bench for a while and I watch people and I think about, do they like Klarna? Are they aware of Klarna? What would it take to have that person, you know, use my brand? And he said, it's just reflection time. It's pondering time. I have to tell you observation time.

Speaker B: I've got to tell you the story. So my team and I were sitting at a little cafe and we were just eating and it wasn't a, wasn't scheduled time. And I was watching people as they were walking by and I said, hey, grab a picture of this person. And this was a person that didn't necessarily reflect our brand. They actually reflected a brand, a different brand altogether. But I was looking at people as if they were brands. And then out of nowhere, And I'm saying, 10 seconds later, our brand walked by, our brand personified walked by, we grabbed a picture, and this is our muse. Okay, I just told you one of my big ideas that I'm walking away from. But literally our brand personified, it was the way this person was dressed, it was the way this person was walking, it was the way this person was carrying themselves. It was amazing.

Speaker A: I love that. Now you have a lot of brands in your stores, right? And you. So you see a lot of different cases, strategies, creativity. What are the characteristics these days of a, um, really fast growing, relevant, salient, beauty brand?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean we're brand builders. We want to be best brand builders. I love the founder led brands, I really do. I love their story and I think that's what separates because we do see a lot of pitches, we see a lot of brands. It's highly competitive space. But when you talk to uh, a founder that creates a brand out of pure purpose, passion, solving for something, I get really, really excited as a marketer. The merchants obviously get excited about how does it fit into the assortment. But I get excited about how do I tell your story. We have this ignite portfolio which allows us to go deep and into other people's businesses and really be an extension of their marketing team. So Live Tinted, for instance, this is an amazing brand that's about complexion and um, being able to provide complexion solutions across the full, full spectrum. And living in your, living in your tone. I love that one. And it's such a beautiful brand and I love telling the story. Polite society, a very bold, very glam, very different Persona. So it's fun as a marketer because it's like I get to live in a, in a different and different personalities and help all brands kind of grow.

Speaker A: That must be a tough challenge though, to choose which ones to get behind?

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: And which ones not to any experience. Any advice on that?

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Well, it's because you can't do them all, right?

Speaker B: No, we can't be, you know, all things beauty all in one place, but we can't be all things and nothing to no one. So we look at, you know, who we want to serve and we do serve the spectrum. So we're making sure that we really understand this next generation beauty shopper. So getting into the mindset and the motivation of this next gen because they're very passionate and very informed about beauty and wellness, for that matter. And then how do we curate the right assortment for that customer? Um, because we're in a really, really cool spot as a brand, we can support somebody that may be early in their journey or maybe that they're starting out their journey in beauty and wellness for the very first time, very young age. But we can start them out in the healthiest way possible. I think that comes with great responsibilities. So we're learning everything there is to know about that customer and curating the right set of brands and, uh, products in order to support that mission of the healthy, healthy lifestyle all the way to longevity. So longevity is the other place, and I love that word as opposed to maybe the words in which we used in the past to describe how beauty supported people as they're progressing in their age. So longevity, this is important across every aspect. Skin care, hair care, supplements, collagen, protein. I mean, everybody's talking about those things and we can cater across all of those things inside Ulta beauty. So it's really understanding the areas of the assortment that we see growth and then finding the white space opportunity too. So we don't need multiples of doing the same thing. And that takes real strategic foresight, understanding your customer and understanding where we see growth.

Speaker A: How do you figure out where it's all going in beauty? I mean, do you have a discipline process? Do you? Because it's, you know, I agree with you. Wellness, longevity. Um, I mean, I'm looking at all the fitness clubs and how they're leaning into this. So the nature of your category, I think is going to be super interesting as we go out five, 10 years. So how do you, how do you stay in touch with that? How do you make sure that you're set up for the future to be as successful as you have in the past?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's never one thing. It's complicated. But we are lucky in that we have data and we do understand the customer now. But we're also utilizing our partners. I think Pinterest is a really great one under tapped platform. They see trends that are longer term. I think as marketers we kind of see here and now and I'm going to make a bet on what's going to happen next summer. But they're seeing trends longer term. So really recognizing who is it that can help you understand where this is going. I would also say our brand partners because they're the ones innovating product and that takes time. So that takes two to three years to really innovate a product. So knowing who to partner with among our brand partners to really understand where do they see the future and making sure that we're, we're there to support the guest.

Speaker A: Yeah. Now, uh, your career path, you spent eight years earlier in your career at BP at retail. And I think people generally don't have an idea of how big. Oh yeah, they are as a retailer and how much product they move.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: So I'd like you to talk about. That's a long time. Eight years. What kind of foundational lessons did you learn in working at bp in retail?

Speaker B: Yeah, I always joke, I made the transition from gas to beauty. Yes, I did it. I did it. I loved my years at bp. What maybe you don't know is I actually spent most of those years about uh, five of them in the finance industry. So I started my career as a finance person and I would recommend that to anybody. Maybe that's another career career lesson or you uh, know, piece of advice I could give the young, the youngsters, as you're just starting out, don't be afraid of finance. You can become a chief marketing officer and maybe spend 2, 3, 4 years in finance because especially now marketing is all measured. So to understand how money flows in, how money flows out, how the value's created, how to evaluate a decision, you know, how to prioritize. I think that's been an amazing, amazing, uh, experience, foundational experience and BP's work, really great at that. But I looked up and I said no, I don't think I want to be a cfo. That's not for me. And they do have a huge retailing presence, um, owned as well as franchise 10,000 locations. And BP was on a mission to really create a brand which is very unique in the gasoline and petroleum space. Is we wanted to compete on emotion and we had something with our commitment, uh, at the time to energy efficiency. And it was really fun to think about. How do you take a low involvement category and create a reason And I say take a hard left turn instead of the easy right turn in gas. That was kind of our mantra. So we had a playground to test, learn, try. Not everything worked. It was really a tough category. Um, but it was an amazing experience. Also looked at that and said, hey, I want to market for a company. I want to work in a company where I could really fall in love with the category, and I want to see what that really, really feels like at the more high involvement, emotionally charged category. And I set my sights on beauty, just being passionate about it myself, set my sights on beauty. And, um, I was really excited to land the role of. I came in to lead our credit card, believe it or not, credit card program as an extension of our loyalty program, and quickly started to just build my career more broadly at Ulta Beauty.

Speaker A: It's a great story. I want to flip into the creative brief. My first question. You've been involved in a lot of work in your career, so is there one campaign or initiative or time that is most meaningful to you? I mean, Supergirl's probably going to be up there.

Speaker B: I think Supergirl's going to be up there. I do. I think what's coming up next, honestly, is going to be up there. If I talk about the last 10 years, I'm very, very proud of the evolution that we've taken with Ulta Beauty Rewards. And in fact, we rebranded it. You know, it used to be called Ultimate Rewards. No one knew what that meant. We were working so hard to kind of convince people about this program that they were calling Ulta Beauty Rewards anyway, so it's like, how do we really think about what we want to call this program? How do we express this program? Almost right there. Not quite as high, but really close to the equity of our brand, because this is one of the secret engines that have powered so much of our success. I'm really proud of creating almost a vernacular, too. So we've created new words that don't actually exist. Like, we're the rewardiest program in all of beauty. It's fun. And we see that appear in social, and I'm really, really proud of that. Every Monday when I start the week, I go on social and I just search on what are people saying about Ulta Beauty Rewards. And it's a fun, fun exercise because they're doing the marketing for me and I'm getting really inspired by it.

Speaker A: What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl?

Speaker B: It's Fisher Price, because I fell in love with the chipmunks and they were really a little 45. And it was a, um. I think it was the Rolling Stones. Like they were. I. We'll have to look at it. I'm not sure, but I got. For Christmas, I got that 45. Plus the Fisher Price record player.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: And I mean, it was my favorite toy ever. But I remember the brand. I don't just remember the toy. Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, deep impression. Actually, we hear Fisher Price a lot. Do you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not the first CMO of alto we've had on the show, obviously. We had shelly back in 2020, and we re. Released the episode when she passed away in 2022. And it is a beautiful episode. So I'd like you to talk a bit more about her as a role model and what you learned about her. How she influenced who you are as a leader, as a person.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, and just. Just saying her name definitely gives me just a minute, but, uh, the chills. She is somebody that I think about nearly every day, honestly. And that's not just saying that. I really do. I got. I was fortunate enough to get to know her right away. So she was there right before me. While I didn't report to her in the very beginning, I was drawn to her. She would spend time with me, just talking. She was the marketer that, you know, I'm the performance marketer. I'm the data person. I'm coming in to do loyalty. And she's this creative genius that just exudes just beauty in sort of all aspects. And she sees the world. Everything is good, everything is positive, everything is optimistic. And she's just drawn to her, quite honestly. And I was so fortunate to then report to her when she was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. And I got a good two and a half years working for Shelli. I think what inspired me most about Shelli is how she brought people together. So this idea of Sunday brunch, while maybe she never called it that, but I always felt like that every time we were in a marketing, uh, team meeting with her, the way she could relate on a personal level to everybody, individually and collectively, I admired so, so much and how she could put people at ease and be so relatable, I admired so much. And I really wanted to take that away and I wanted to exude that. And, um, I just want to honor her legacy, to be honest with you. Um, make her proud.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think you are.

Speaker B: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

Speaker A: You know, she had an impact on you as a leader and a person. What's a strength that, I mean, you're obviously very accomplished, results oriented, inspiring leader. It's obviously from this interview. But what are you working on as a leader? What's something that you want to really improve upon or double down on? Wow.

Speaker B: Uh, that's a really great question. I mean, when you're a first time cmo, which I am, the first year is just, let's just try a lot of things. Honestly, let's just try a lot of things. I sound like I had it all figured out. We have the playbook and this is what we're going to go do. But really it's trial and error. And then the second year, and I was really looking forward to the second because it's like, okay, we can sort of take a breath. I have some, I have the first time down. You know, I've got, I've done everything at least once for the first time. So now I can start to feel a bit more like, oh, yeah, I've got my sea legs under me. I can't do this alone. It's the power of the collective. How do I make sure that I engage the power of the collective? Because I think when you're the first time, it's all sort of resting on your own shoulders. You're gonna have to figure out how to, how to maneuver through the board, how to maneuver through this campaign, how to get your agencies aligned. And it's really, really great for me to have built this marketing leadership team and now to see them each bring their area of expertise. Uh, I'm not a creative by trade, I'm not an integrated marketer by trade, but I've hired the best. I'm not a PR person by trade, but I've hired the best. And now my job is to really allow for that collective to shine and me be the North Star and the visionary. But, you know, that's a bit of a new muscle at this level.

Speaker A: Yeah, it is. Yeah. It's a different, uh, different way to spend your time.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: It's a different way to show up.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Different questions you ask, right?

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Because they watch you. They watch what questions you ask, what meetings you're in, where you spend your time.

Speaker B: Yeah. How you support them, how you support the team. But I'm looking forward to it. I really am.

Speaker A: Yeah. Super. Kelly, this has been terrific. Anything we didn't talk about that we should have. We covered a lot of space.

Speaker B: We covered a lot of space.

Speaker A: Judy smiling in the background here.

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, this is just. This has been on my bucket list. So I can't thank you enough for including me on your podcast. I'm excited. I, um, can't wait for this to air and thank you for your time.

Speaker A: That was my conversation with Kelly Mahoney. Three takeaways from this one for your business brand in life. The first one is that human connection always wins. AI may reshape marketing, but emotional connection will always be the competitive advantage. That was one of the defining themes of Cannes this year. Everywhere you turned, people were talking about AI. But Kelly reminded us that AI isn't the destination, it's the accelerator. The real advantage still comes from purpose, trust, creativity and empathy. Technology should help us build stronger relationships with people, not replace the human connections that great brands are built upon. The second takeaway is that culture really matters. The strongest creative ideas don't chase culture, they become part of it. One of the joys of Cannes is seeing brands create work people genuinely want to engage with. Kelly's Supergirl partnership is a wonderful example. It wasn't simply a sponsorship, it was a cultural moment that authentically reflected Alta's purpose around confidence, self expression and empowerment. The best marketing doesn't interrupt culture, it contributes to it. And finally, third takeaway is that we should always make our first priority to build the right high performance team. Behind every award winning campaign is a culture where great people can do their best work. As I walked through Cannes this week, I kept thinking about the teams behind all of the incredible work being celebrated. Kelly reinforced that idea beautifully. She talked about building trust, creating space for creativity, and even hiring leaders who would genuinely want to have Sunday brunch together. That's a wonderful test of culture. Great marketing begins with great leadership, and great leadership creates an environment where people can do the best work of their careers. We will have many more conversations coming from an unforgettable week on the Croisette with some of the world's most inspiring marketing leaders. So cheers to the upcoming holiday weekend and we'll be back next week week with another episode from Cannes Lions. That's it for this week's episode of the CMO podcast. As always, I would be grateful if you shared our show with your friends along with subscribing and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. The CMO podcast is a Vive original production.