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Podcast Episode

The Effective CMO: Instacart's Laura Jones returns

The WARC Podcast··12 September 2026·24 min

About this episode

Instacart's Laura Jones returns to share practical lessons from Instacart's brand transformation, including prioritising effectiveness, brand-first marketing strategy, partnerships, Instacart's chase to win a Cannes Lion and much more. Guests: Laura Jones, Chief Marketing Officer, Instacart Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC Chapters: [00:00] Introduction: Instacart’s marketing transformation project [01:36] Building the Instacart brand: From performance-pnly to full-funnel marketing [03:47] Balancing functional messaging and emotional storytelling [05:24] Redefining marketing measurement: From last-touch ROAS to portfolio impact [08:02] Explaining marketing effectiveness to the C-suite [09:25] Scaling an in-house creative agency [12:31] Instacart's 2026 Super Bowl campaign [16:41] Brand-building partnerships: WNBA and Feeding America [19:27] Brand stewardship: A new view on marketing effectiveness [21:22] Embedding brand across product, CX and culture [21:33] Learning from Cannes Lions and Raising the Creative Bar For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday. Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe