Giant Stories Podcast

Episode highlights include:

• Jennifer’s career journey from marketing leader to operational executive
• How 7-Eleven helped shape her discipline, leadership style, and operational mindset 
• The transformation of Sally Beauty’s retail experience and evolving customer expectations
• How Sally Beauty supports both consumers and professional stylists in a changing beauty landscape
• The role influencers play in shaping beauty trends and brand storytelling
• Practical ways AI is improving efficiency, decision-making, and employee development 
• Why curiosity is a critical leadership trait for staying ahead of culture and customer needs 
• Lessons on authentic leadership, listening, and building trust with frontline teams 
• How operational excellence and people-first leadership drive long-term business success

Episode highlights include:

• Julia’s path from small-town Ohio to leading brand storytelling for Southwest Airlines
• Why diversifying experience across disciplines makes marketers stronger leaders
• How Southwest is preserving its signature personality while evolving its customer experience
• The balance between brand heritage and modern customer expectations
• Why data and customer insight should inform — but not replace — creative intuition
• How brands must rethink storytelling for today’s multi-channel content landscape
• The role of AI as both an inspiration tool and a way to scale content creation
• Why the most powerful brand stories often come from employees and customer experience

Episode highlights include:

• How Laura’s career-long thread of innovation and transformation informs her current role
• The transformational power of brand-building — and how scrappiness can be a superpower
• Why compassion is one of the most powerful brain enhancers
• The surprising, simple daily habits that measurably strengthen your brain — and how to “think about how you think”

Episode highlights include:

• The origins of Tire Discounters and its family-owned ethos
• Why storytelling is the foundation of Tire Discounters’ brand strategy
• The surprising power of humor and humanity in a traditionally “unsexy” industry
• Creating brand equity through cheeky signage, radio jingles, and character-driven ads

Episode highlights include:

• What it’s like leading brand and consumer marketing for the NFL — and how data-driven fan journeys are used to craft stories that resonate across age groups, cultural backgrounds, and motivations
• From The Simpsons to Joe Burrow at Paris Fashion Week, the NFL is leaning into bold, unexpected collaborations to stay relevant across generations
• What today’s audiences truly want from brands: authenticity, purpose, and emotional connection

Episode highlights include:

• What makes a brand story compelling, and why authenticity is key
• When to embrace AI and when human insight matters most
• Reach vs. resonance: How brands can balance data-driven tactics with emotional connection
• Emerging trends in brand ecosystems, influencer marketing, and strategic consulting

Episode highlights include:

• How to appeal to consumers emotionally and deliver content that makes an impact
• Why brands birthed in boardrooms can be more challenging to build stories around
• The challenges of finding influencers who have a meaningful connection with the brand
• Her predictions for how storytelling will evolve over the next five years

From Pizza Coupons to PCs: How Insights Drive Stories — With Lance Hill

Episode highlights include:

• How building content around tater tots and milkshakes laid an early foundation for Lance’s career journey
• Why it takes art and science to fuel storytelling
• Why playing it safe is clamping down on creativity
• The role of technology in our current world and how it has changed how we work — and create content

Building Real Stories From the Ground Up — With Joan Cetera

Episode highlights include:

• How she parlayed her experience from highly palatable food at Frito-Lay to heavy-duty machinery at Caterpillar
• How Caterpillar’s brand story has built a name for itself in our culture — right down to actor Ryan Gosling’s cap in The Fall Guy
• Why it’s important to get employees excited about their company’s story — and how to do it

Elevating the Stories of Black Creators — With Justin Adu

Episode highlights include:

• The impact of a people-first approach and how it can bring underrepresented stories to life
• Why having diverse voices across every storytelling platform is important
• The elements that make for an attention-grabbing, authentic brand story
• Why outside-the-box thinking and taking risks are worth it
• How agency collaboration — in and out of the office — is a game changer