Melody Lee didn’t grow up knowing a role like CMO of Mercedes-Benz USA was available to her. On Raising Wealth, she traces the path from her upbringing by immigrant parents to leading one of the most iconic brands in the world. We talk about building a career at the intersection of luxury, culture, and corporate America, how becoming a mother recalibrated her appetite for risk, and the hard money lessons she had to learn along the way.
Any global event, whether sport or entertainment, creates the same temptation for brands to prioritise presence over purpose. But the biggest lesson from this World Cup is not that brands need to shout louder, it is that promotional activity performs best when it reflects how people actually experience the tournament.
The brands that succeed over the next decade will be the ones that rediscover the simple truth of why they exist, and stretch towards the dream of how they can add more to the world, then express that clearly and consistently in everything they do.
When agencies are able to demonstrate likely outcomes before campaigns launch, conversations become less speculative and more evidence-based.
