Leslie Sims, CMO of Impossible Foods: Remember the Human

Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders

Feb 21 2024 • 1 hr

Full transcript "At the end of the day," says Impossible Foods CMO and Chief Creative Officer Leslie Sims, "we're helping save the planet, we're helping the environment, but people don't necessarily want to hear that when they're eating a cheeseburger." The arrival of the plant-based meat industry came in the form of a scientific breakthrough: Foods made from plants that behave like meat when cooked, which have been steadily added to restaurant menus around the world; in the case of Impossible's chicken nuggets, many critics have declared them "better than the real thing." But our emotional attachment to the foods we eat means that, if Impossible wants people to make different decisions in the grocery store, Leslie and her team have their work cut out for them. Today on Building Better CMOs, she and MMA CEO Greg Stuart talk about her background working at ad agencies, the disconnect between CMOs and CFOs, and her guiding philosophy that marketers must always remember the human on the other end of their work. Plus: The danger of over-reliance on data, and the enduring power of the Super Bowl. Follow or subscribe to Building Better CMOs Rate & review the podcast Links: Leslie's LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices