Which is visionary and ceo revolutionized how we communicate with his company named after a fruit

When Monica Walton walked into her Broomfield office at Level 3 Communications on Wednesday morning, she already felt nostalgic. “I came in and the sign has been changed on our campus,” said Walton, who has worked for Level 3 for 12 years and on Wednesday became CenturyLink’s general manager for Colorado. “This is happening globally, though not immediately everywhere. There are still a number of Level 3 buildings in Denver with Level 3 signage. That’s the first step of combining the companies.” Wednesday marked “ Day One ” of Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink’s purchase of debt-laden Level 3, one of Colorado’s largest companies and owner of one of the world’s largest internet networks. The deal, valued at $30 billion, is more like a merger, giving CenturyLink shareholders 51 percent ownership and Level 3 stockholders 49 percent. Level 3 CEO Jeff Storey becomes president of CenturyLink and will take over as the leader when CenturyLink CEO Glen F. Post III retires Jan. 1, 2019. But … [Read more...] about Colorado’s Level 3 Communications is no more, as CenturyLink closes $30B purchase

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The transformation of AMD from a PC microprocessor challenger to a semiconductor industry leader has been nothing short of remarkable. Under CEO Lisa Su’s leadership, the company has increased its market value to $150 billion from $10 billion in the last five years. At her side has been John Taylor, the company’s CMO since 2017. Taylor recently shared the highlights of this transformation success story. Here are the highlights. John Ellett: How has AMD changed since you took over as CMO? John Taylor: I was appointed CMO of AMD in 2017, and at that time more than 90% of the company’s revenues were from the PC and gaming markets (consoles and graphics). Our products were in the mid-range and value segments of the PC market, and we were perceived as a bang-for-the-buck brand. Our market capitalization as a publicly traded company was about $10 billion. In 2017, we introduced a new CPU architecture called “Zen” and … [Read more...] about AMD’s CMO Shares Transformation Journey That Increased Company Value 1500%

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The ONEHOPE range Taylor Hotter Nestled in the heart of the Napa Valley is a discrete yet stunning property - ESTATE 8, a beautiful eight-bedroom property that is the spiritual home of one of the most unsung social impact brands of the last decade – ONE HOPE Wine, where every bottle supports a charitable cause. The company's charitable donations are made through the ONEHOPE Foundation which has raised more than $4 million for various nonprofits. I caught up with one of the original co-founders and current Chief Brand Officer Brandon Hall to talk about the inspiring story behind the wine company that has helped so many people. ONEHope Chief Brand Officer Brandon Hall Laura Schneider “Wine is a way to bring people together; it’s a conversation starter, something that people like to know more about and feel connected to. Our CEO Jake Kloberdanz came up with the idea, but we really didn't do … [Read more...] about The Power Of Purpose: How ONEHOPE Wine Is Revolutionizing The Wine Industry Through Social Impact

Since founding his energy-bar company after a 175-mile bicycle ride, Gary Erickson has fiercely prioritized Clif Bar's independence for 30 years. Until this week. Mondelez International will acquire Clif Bar in a deal that will amount to at least $2.9 billion, the company announced Monday. It's shocking news from a business that has turned down so many acquisition offers over its lifetime that Erickson told me in 2018 he hadn't just lost track, but was purposefully unaware how many there had been. (His staff had been instructed not to pass on messages to him from potential buyers.) Earlier in the company's history, he threw himself, and the entire company, into massive debt to avoid an acquisition. By 1998, Clif Bar--named after Erickson's father, Clifford--had been growing so fast it landed at No. 152 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. But by 2000, his business partner Lisa Thomas decided she wanted to leave the … [Read more...] about Clif Bar’s Founder Just Sold the Company for $2.9 Billion. He Threw In Its Values for Free

Andrew Forrest travels the globe trying to persuade leaders of industry and politics — and rank-and-file workers — that despite his polluting past he’s the man to champion green hydrogen as the clean fuel of the future. M ore than a couple of the dozen or so coal-plant workers gathered at West Virginia’s Pleasants Power Station in April to hear Andrew Forrest push his green hydrogen agenda rolled their eyes as he spoke. “I believe this coal-fired power station has a huge future,” the Australian mining billionaire told them. The employees could be forgiven for their skepticism. Just weeks before, they learned their plant, surrounded by other closures throughout coal country, would be the latest to shut down . Forrest’s message was heartfelt, contrarian and a bit pie in the sky. In West Virginia, the second-largest coal-producing region in the U.S., Forrest told the workers that 22 of the state’s 26 coal-powered plants could be converted to green hydrogen plants. Tell your … [Read more...] about Australian Mining Billionaire Touts A Green Revolution In U.S. Coal Country — With Skepticism Trailing Close Behind

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin This week is the Cannes Lions Festival Of Creativity - the huge annual jamboree for the advertising and PR industry. Sustainability is one of the main themes, but change isn’t easy for an industry based on selling more stuff to more people. Advertising plays a pivotal role in climate change. On one hand, advertising defends the destructive oil and gas industry, greenwashes brands and drives consumption. As the recent IPCC report put it: “A good number of corporate agents have attempted to derail climate mitigation by targeted lobbying and doubt-inducing media strategies.” But on the other hand, the power of creativity and storytelling could change the course of climate change. The IPCC also made clear that: “Socio-cultural changes within transition pathways can offer Gigaton-scale CO2 savings potential at the global level” In non-geek speak…The IPCC is saying that culture eats climate for breakfast! The … [Read more...] about 43 People Changing Advertising For The Climate

Conny Braams from Unilever; Dara Treseder from Peloton; Forbes CMO Hall of Famer Antonio Lucio; and Frank Cooper III from Visa. Illustration by Alexander Wells for Forbes. Recognizing the 50 Most Influential CMOs in the World By Seth Matlins , Managing Director, Forbes CMO Network Additional reporting by Diane Brady , Emmy Lucas , Olivia Peluso , Lauren Debter , Isabel Lord , Katherine Dunn T wo hundred years before it was first used as a verb, “influence” was a noun denoting the stars’ ability to affect human lives and destinies. Today, we consider “influence” less astrologically and more practically, focusing on the chief marketers who wield it to shape the character and destinies of the brands and businesses they help steward. The link between marketing and influence has always been inextricable. After all, a chief marketer’s job is about nothing more than it is the influencing of attitudes and behaviors in … [Read more...] about The Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs List: 2022

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A print Juul advertisement that ran in Vice Magazine in 2015 as part of the e-cigarette company'’s ... [+] launch campaign, “Vaporized.” Juul 'Vaporized' ad in 2015 via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising Juul Labs, the maker of the most popular U.S. e-cigarette, is growing meteorically—on track to generate an estimated $1 billion in sales this year, up more than 300% from a year ago. However, its products haven’t only gained traction among smokers trying to wean themselves off cigarettes. They are also a hit with teenagers. What medical experts are calling a Juul-driven “youth nicotine epidemic” is gaining heightened attention from regulators like the Food and Drug Administration, which on Thursday said it is seeking a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and will sharply restrict the sales of fruity-flavored nicotine vaping cartridges. Juul, likely aware of the … [Read more...] about The Disturbing Focus Of Juul’s Early Marketing Campaigns

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Elad Inbar, CEO of RobotLAB Inc , is dedicated to making robots smart and useful, supporting businesses in their journey to the 21st-century. With only 10% of people looking for work experiencing any urgency to secure a paycheck, service-related small businesses are having a hard time recovering from the pandemic. Despite food service, hospitality and other low-skill jobs seeing sharp wage increases — many exceeding the symbolic $15 per hour rate some have been clamoring for — “help wanted” signs proliferate in cities and towns across America. The widespread unwillingness to reenter the workforce could not have come at a worse time for restaurants, bars, movie theaters, barbers and other companies that deliver their services in person and are desperate to find ways to return to some semblance of normality and pre-pandemic revenue levels. Most were forced to lay off their staff when Covid-19 forced their … [Read more...] about How Small Businesses Can Rely On Robots As The Labor Shortage Grows

It's reality check time and we are opening the holiday-shortened trading week in a bear market in the S&P 500 after U.S. stocks had their worst week last week since March of 2020. The Federal Reserve hiked the federal funds rate by three quarters of a percent last week as it tries to cool inflation. I know, I said that would be "out of character" and "off script" on last week's podcast . So, you know the situation is pretty serious, and the Federal Reserve does not have inflation under control. No central bank does, for that matter. It's going to take aggressive interest rate hikes to get to what the Fed calls a normal rate environment (3.4%), which means we may very well see another 75 basis point hike at the Fed's next meeting in July. While that 3.4% may be normal, if you look at the last 50 years, it is not normal when you look at the past decade, which has been characterized by accommodative monetary policy via low interest rates and low inflation well under 2%. This is new … [Read more...] about Investing in Wine With the NBA’s Elite Players