Ciara Anfield (Sam's Club) | A Masterclass in Arriving to Purpose

If you go into a Sam's Club, there's a recurring theme has started to pop up on the CMO podcast Sustainability. One of our recent guests even incorporated sustainability into his job title. He might not be alone. According to Deloitte's 2023 Global Marketing Trends report, sustainability continues to be a focus for brands. While some organizations may want to pull back on sustainability initiatives in times of economic uncertainty, consumers continue to stress that a brand's commitment to sustainability is critical to their preferences. However, only 25 percent of brands that Deloitte surveyed say their focus for 2023 is on urging consumers to take action. Instead, organizations are recognizing that focusing on their own sustainability efforts can have an even more positive impact on the planet and on their business. For more inspiration on how to make this year be your organization's most impactful year yet, check out Deloitte's 2023 Global Marketing Trends report at Deloitte.com slash global marketing trends. Are you struggling to keep up with the increasing demand to create content and feel like your content creation process is all over the place? Well, you're not alone. One of the hot topics on this show is content strategy. How to reach your audience, what content is relevant and whether to do this inside your company or to hire outsiders to help you. Well, Deloitte Digital can help with all of this. They understand the challenges marketer's face when it comes to scaling content and they offer an efficient and sustainable way to create, deliver and analyze content at scale, all without hiring additional resources. With Deloitte Digital's integrated solutions, you can streamline your workflows and create relevant and targeted communications to help improve your business outcomes. Visit Deloitte Digital.com to learn how their content supply chain solutions can help you scale your content creation and could improve your customer experience. It's a quote that's attributed to Helen Walton. It was one of her favorite quotes and it says, it's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells the type of life that you've lived. And while we were doing character camp, that was one of the things like we were talking about our members and some of what we'd learned about them, their member insights, and it sounded like that quote. Hi, I'm Jim Stangle and I help major brands find their purpose and activate it in the profits followed. For seven years, I was the global marketing officer for Procter & Gamble, where I oversaw the marketing of hundreds of brands. You may not know it, but the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of all of your favorite brands, are trying to connect you with your favorite products and services through purpose. And on this show, I delve into how they do it. My guest today in the CMO podcast is Sierra Anfield, the Senior Vice President Chief Membership and Marketing Officer at Sam's Club. Sam's has a special place in my heart. It opened its first store in 1983, the year I married my wife, and the year I started at Procter & Gamble. Now 40 years later, Sam's revenue is about the size of PNGs at $80 billion plus. As you likely know, Sam's is a membership warehouse club store model with limited items at exceptional value. Sam's club has about 600 locations across the US and Puerto Rico, with locations also in Mexico, Brazil, and China. Sam's is part of larger Walmart, which once again topped the Fortune 500 with revenue of about $611 billion. My guest Sierra worked at Walmart for 12 years in multiple roles before moving to Sam's Club in 2020. She was promoted to CMO about a year ago. We recorded this show at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the middle of a very energetic week. Here's my chat with Sierra. Sierra, welcome to the CMO podcast. Is this your first time in Cannes? It absolutely is. Thank you for having me here on the CMO podcast, and I arrived in Cannes today, and I've just been taking it all in. So what's your first impression? You've been here like, I don't know, 36 hours. How would you describe this incredible phenomenon? So I'll tell you what I described it to some people before I left work as in how I had it in my mind. I said, I think it's like CES but for marketers. That was a bit of a first thought, but now that I'm here, I think it might even be more extensive than that. In terms of just the amount of content that's available, the amount of people that are here, I tell you, we have three of us here from Sam's Club. It's myself and two of RVPs, and we're going to take advantage of your CMO accelerator program later in the week, which I think is a great opportunity for development, but the rest of the week we still have planned with so much content that each of us are taking things in. We're fully booked and we're not overlapping. So it's pretty amazing the amount of inspiration and content for marketers and say just anyone in this industry. I think if I ask a bunch of industry people, who would they expect to be at CAN? Yes. You would hear Xbox, Nike, BMW, LVMH, but you probably wouldn't hear Sam's Club. So I think it's awesome you're here because it's unexpected. So could you talk a bit about why you and a couple of your team decided that this was the right thing for you, your team and the company? Absolutely. Well, I think one of the things that's really important as leaders is that you make sure you're taking time to grow and develop and get external sources of inspiration. And so in addition to any books that you're reading or what you're doing on your own, sometimes you have to get out of your bubble, get out of your space just to understand more about what's happening and how other people are seeing it, other people in your industry, other thought leaders. And that's what I really like about this opportunity at CAN is because there's so many people, you see people at the top marketers for many different brands, many different companies all merged together with agencies and creatives and really talking about the craft. And that's how you get better is you expose yourself to the best and continue to push beyond. Now, maybe this is a coincidence, but this is also the year you did your first Super Bowl spot, the great spot with Kevin Hart, who's here by the way. He was on stage this morning. Is it a coincidence? So is there somehow related? You know, those are two big acts of creativity in one year showing up on the Super Bowl with a great spot and coming to CAN. That's a signal. So is it a coincidence or is there something going on in Sam's Club like a double down on creativity and external focus? You know, I think it's best described as a bit of a journey that we're on as Sam's Club as a brand. We've long thought of ourselves as a wholesale retailer. That's what we are. But the recognition that we are also a brand and we should act and communicate our story as a brand is something that we're leaning into a little bit more. So in 2022, we did our Super Bowl spot with Kevin Hart. And then later that year, we did the movie trailer, the Mary like this holiday movie trailer with him. And this year we brought on board two new agencies of record, one for creative and one for media. And it's really just an evolution of how we tell our story. There was a period of time when we like to say we allowed the brand or our perception is we may have allowed the brand to feel a little bit dated. People weren't as connected to it in the moment. Their relationship or association with Sam's Club was, well, that was the club that I used to go to with my mom and dad or my grandma and grandpa. And not really having a connection with Sam's Club in that moment. What we've been doing is trying to help reconnect people to the brand. And that is by being where they are and telling them relevant stories about how Sam's Club can fit into their life. So from that respect, yes, I think the Super Bowl was one of those moments where we found an opportunity to connect into a really popular moment with an entertainment icon, Kevin Hart. And tell a story about how Sam's Club offers convenience to its members, which really had them feeling like VIPs in the context of our club. Yeah, that's great. You have two agency partners that are new. Yes. Are you doing things special with them here at Can to look at things together or talk about this? Yes, we have that planned for tomorrow. We're going to do a tour of the work with Arnold. And I'm excited to see what's there and really hone into what are those things, those insights behind the work or ways that it was brought to life that can be inspiring thoughts for us to latch on to as we continue to develop our story. Well, you hope you come back next year and I have an idea for you when you come back next year. I think Sam's Club should have a big kiosk right in the main street by the Pele where all the work is shown and sell Rose by bulk. I think there'd be a market for that. You say that in jest, but we actually were talking about that last night when I saw some of those huge bottles of Rose that are here. I said, that feels like they bought that out of Sam's Club. I know. I'm not saying it. Half in jest, but I think it would be really profitable. There's a lot of Rose consumed here at very high prices. There's a lot being consumed here. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of things that they need. And I was thinking about that just a few hours ago. I said, we could set up with a small selection of Sam's Club items on one side and Walmart on the other. And I think we'd help a lot of people get the things that they're needing. I'd be there first. There isn't a grocery store nearby too, you know? So I think it's an idea. We'll talk about it after the show. I love it. Okay. Good. We'll run a business plane after the show. So you've been at Sam's Club about three years. You've been CMO about a year. And before that, you were 12 years at Walmart. Do I have that right? Yes, that's right. As I looked at these three years that you've been at Sam's Club, they have been good ones, right? Top line growth, increased investments in media, new partnerships, market innovations. So could you talk a bit about what's going on inside this culture that is generating these great results and this innovation? So I'm always curious when I see some things in the marketplace that are interesting, exciting, a bit unexpected. What the heck is going on? So could you talk a bit about that? You are exactly right. It is a very exciting time at Sam's Club. One thing we've shared recently is that over the last three years, our membership base has grown by 30%. And so it is very exciting to see just this reinvigoration in the business. And one of the things that I'll credit to, credit it to is just a focus, a renewed focus on what is our model. And we've instituted that through the flywheel. And we spend some time, and I won't go through all the details of it, but I think what has really helped propel us is what's at the core. And the first step of our flywheel, the first piece of it is build a member obsessed culture, because it starts with the customer. It all starts with for Sam's Club, our member. And that means every Monday, we come into work, the first thing, one of the first things that we do in the morning, we have a trade meeting with all of our leaders. And we're looking at the business through the eyes of the member. What has moved in terms of some key metrics? How satisfied are they feeling with different parts of the business? What are they perceiving as our value? And we look at this every single week and over time, and some of these things are more volatile than others. A lot is very stable. But even the smallest change that, you know, of course, our teams, we look at it, is it a statistically significant difference? But even the smallest change, a point of change, will drive a conversation on what's going on? What do we think are the drivers there? What can we do to help? And many times, it's a lot of follow-up action, just to make sure that we're looking at what we need to do to help serve the member better. And when you have the organization, particularly the leadership, really aligned in that type of mentality, it drives the types of decisions, the types of actions that can't help but to sparrow. It's also inspiring. It is. Every time I felt like I was old-stay, I went out and spent time with consumers, took my team out, walked a store, visit a retailer, go to someone's home, and it always gives you affirmation that you're doing something as meaningful. Absolutely. I mean, if there's ever a moment when you're not sure what to do next, talking to members, talking to the customers, they will tell you lots of things that you can focus on. And it's about how do you prioritize those things and really recognize where it is that you need to go and how it is that you can help remove friction for them or just serve them better. As a marketer, our job is to be creative. But what does that mean? I love George Lois's definition of creativity. George is, of course, a famous art director, and he said, creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit, by originality, overcomes everything. I love it. The way I think about creativity, I love George's definition, but I think of it as fresh and unexpected ways to solve a problem or to discover new opportunities and new approaches. In the world of business, however, creativity can be a scary word, but it doesn't have to be. In the 2023 global marketing trends report, Deloitte surveyed more than 1,000 top executives from today's top brands to understand how they plan to meet their customers needs this year. Turns out, some of these high-growth brands are reimagining creativity in their organizations. At a time when we're seeing a shift from creative skills to analytical skills in marketing, these brands are often doing the opposite. And some CMOs are discovering creativity can be their superpower. Are you looking to make a meaningful impact in your organization in the year ahead? Check out Deloitte's 2023 global marketing trends report today at Deloitte.com slash global marketing trends. As creative and marketers, we understand the struggle to keep up with the ever-increasing content demands. And the recent surge of interest among CMOs and chat GPT and other language learning models has added fuel to this fire. Today, businesses should embrace streamlined workflows and automated processes to step into the future of the content supply chain. Good news, Deloitte digital can help. Their content supply chain solutions can help your business improve collaboration across teams, increase efficiency and reduce costs, all while maintaining high-quality content. With Deloitte digital solutions, you can create more targeted and relevant content without having to leverage your internal resources. Visit Deloitte digital.com to learn more. Now, your year into the job is CMO. How do you feel about the year? I mean, if you went well for you, what did you learn? I mean, the first year is a CMO. I remember it. Well, my first year is a CMO. It was a vertical startup and some things I felt good about and some I didn't. So, talk to us about what you learned in your year one. Year one, I'd say it was good. I always see the opportunity and improvement. I guess that's my superpower is like I can see this could be better. This could be better. So, I'm very critical of myself and I see lots of things that I could have done better. I'll say most of the initial months was really spent trying to build the team and focus on getting the right people and the right job. First thing was backfilling myself and that VP of marketing role, which is very critical and very critical to your success as a CMO. So, that was the early emphasis and then really trying to bring the team together and the latter part of the year to make sure we were focused on the right strategies for this year and trying to move from a place where I felt historically our teams might have looked at our functions as individuals and say, okay, well, I'm doing marketing and this is what I'm going to do and here is my agenda and I'm doing membership and I'm doing analytics and contact center, you name it. Everyone kind of focused on their own priorities which were all very valuable and good, but how could I help align the team on what were some common things that we all needed to work on? Retention, being a membership business retention is very important and while we see really high levels of retention within our tenured members upwards and beyond 90 percent, for first year members, it just isn't that way and so what could we do there to drive first year renewal and retention? That is one of the things that we came together, said that's not a marketing initiative, that's not a membership, that's all of us. We've all got to come together and wear our hats of our respective functions to solve a unified problem that we have. What are you spending your personal time on these days? I know you're about at your team, yes. When you think about your agenda and what you really want to impact personally, what is what are some of the areas you're focusing on? Within my space, I would say one of the biggest things that I want to lean into is personalization and how do we accelerate where we are in that journey? We have the benefit of having a tremendous amount of data on our members because it's a membership model, we know everything that they purchase with us offline and online and that allows us to really be more tailored and focused in the way we communicate with them and we haven't fully realized that capability yet. That's a space that our teams are working on, how do we build out our personalization engines, next best action and bring it all together so that Jim, the next time you're looking for a sweatsuit for your wife or something, we can show you, hey, here's some style that you might like and maybe we even know that moment that you're going to buy it because it was for an occasion, it was for a special occasion, we can prompt you with the right things at the right time. That's something that is a project that's near and dear to my heart and that I'm spending more time on actually we in our structure have that function which is personalization and CRM report directly to me so that it can be closer even though it does traditionally fall within the world of marketing. You talked a bit a few minutes ago about the Sands Club brand and you're working to make it ever more relevant today and of the moment in building on its lovely history and equity but but making it even more contemporary. That's a challenge a lot of brand builders have in our audience that are listening. So what are you learning about that? I mean how to tackle it, how to approach it, how do you know what to change and not to change? Yes. So walk us through sort of your thought process. One of the things that I think can be helpful as you try to figure that out is how do you stay connected to a purpose, right? And so it's not about being cool and different and new for the sake of being cool and different and new but really finding a more updated and current way to deliver your true message. And we've done a lot of work over the past probably year and a half at Sands to really work on the articulation of what is our mission? You know, we're under we're under the Walmart umbrella. So still very connected to the things that they do and our overarching purpose as an enterprise. But specifically within Sands Club, we thought there was an opportunity to help refine how we talk about what we do for our members, what role do we play in our members lives. And just a few weeks ago actually at our shareholders meeting in Benville, we brought an associate from every club in and a couple hundred associates from different operations and talked to them about our mission, which is to make it easy for our members to share more, serve more and live more. That is I think the core of how we'll be talking about being more relevant as a brand or updating our communication. It is how do we continue to communicate the core of what we're doing? The why Sands Club? Why are they choosing us? And I think if you keep that in mind, you won't stray too far off the path. That's I think how we're looking at it right now. It's a beautiful purpose articulation. How did you arrive at that your process to engage everyone? So they felt it was theirs and they couldn't wait to bring it. So tell us what you learned on that journey. Yes, it it wasn't a one and done. I'll tell you that much. We did several rounds of work with different partners to really hone in on the story and who we are. I mean, it included character camp and understanding a little bit about character camp. So a small agency that specializes in brand stories. Yes. Yes. So understanding. I work with them at PNG. Wonderful team. And when you dig into the tension, what's your core tension as a brand and then what's the hero? So we had a cross functional team of people involved in that. And that got us very close, very close to where we want it to be. One of the things we pulled out of that was that if you go into a Sands Club, it says on the wall, there's a quote that's attributed to Helen Walton. It was one of her favorite quotes. And it says, it's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells the type of life that you've lived. I love that. And while we were doing character camp, that was one of the things like we were talking about our members and some of what we'd learned about them, their member insights. And it sounded like that quote. That was a moment where we said, wait a minute, wait, this is familiar. This is very familiar what we're talking about these people who are bringing people together and they are willing to let their home be where Thanksgiving and every holiday is hosted and just planning things and trying to do more in the community. I said, oh, this sounds really familiar. It's the quote. It's the quote on the wall. And that was one step in the process. And from there, we spent some time with the purpose institute. And they interviewed all of our leadership team, every single one of our leadership committee, not the marketing leadership committee, but the Sands Club leadership committee. And asked us each just deep questions about Sands Club and what are we doing and what is the role that we're playing and how are we fulfilling and when we're at our best. And it just went on. And then they took all of that information from these interviews. And one of the things that we realized is, man, we're all kind of staying the same thing with different words. And it was beautiful to see how aligned we were. Took that, came into a workshop, another workshop where we looked at these different components of what were our strengths and where, where we very authentic, like what was truly us. And at the end of the day, that is essentially where we landed a very close version of that purpose or mission that I just communicated to you. But we did some additional communication to your point about how do you make sure everyone is involved and got a broader segment of leaders within the organization together and got some feedback from them on it. And they had some great insights. There was one particular component where, I think, an earlier version said to do more for our members. And there was some pushback there. Like, that doesn't sound like us. Like, we do things for our members, but do more is not our language. That's not core to how we said, this is what we do is we make it easy. And so, oh, okay, yeah, no, that's right. That's you're right. And that, I mean, it's not that we're not doing, but what we're doing is in an effort of simplification, how can we make it easier for them? And so, yeah, I just described a really long process that had a lot of steps and a lot of stakeholders. But I feel like it landed in a place that it rings true. It feels authentic to who we are. And the hope is that it continues to inspire us and keep us focused on what it is that we're doing. And this is a beautiful master class in brand purpose, which I think is still a misunderstood concept. It's not a slogan. It's not an ad idea. It's a company idea. And the way you just described this, Sierra, about it's inclusive, it takes time. You respect your history. You look at what you're building upon. You're connected to your customers with language like you just talked about making it easier. And everyone owns it. It can't be a lay on. It has to be organic in many ways. So, it's a beautiful master class. Now, now that you have this in this great process, it's about it coming to life every day, right? And daily work. And in how we evaluate our performance, how we hire, and we promote. So, could you speak a little bit about your early learning on that in terms of how it's impacting how people are approaching their work? Yes, I'll tell you where in the very early phases of rolling it out. And some of that work right now is helping it connect with people because it's a line, but do they understand what it means? When I say that to you, do you immediately connect with how that looks in the role that you're in? And so, part of what we've done just here in the last month is help take the opportunity to talk to our associates about it. Tell them stories about what does it mean to share more, right? And how do you see that coming to life? What does it mean to serve more and to live more? And then we are team did a beautiful job, just hats off to our associates that worked on it, making a video, bringing it to life. And we had in that video, just people from all different functions, the associate who decorates our cakes in the bakery, saying how she helps our members share more. The associates who design our members mark private brand items, talking about how the things that they're doing are making it easier for our members to share more or to live more. And everyone putting their own touch on it and connecting it back to their roles. And so I think by helping people see this broad cross section of individuals who all are playing a role in that are all connected to the mission that they can personalize it for themselves. And we'll continue to try and reiterate and then highlight and surface those stories so that it really becomes embedded in the culture. Fantastic. I know you've only been here a day and a half or so, but any companies or their brands or their people who you look to and say, I like what they're doing. That's a little bit, there's some insight for us, there's maybe an inspiration. You know, one of the people that I met just earlier today and one of the brands that I'm inspired by is progressive. I look at the journey that they've been on and the brand work that they've done. And it's so, it's so consistent yet it evolves. And you can just see there the equity that has been built up over time. And I think that takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of discipline as a brand marketer. It takes a lot of creativity and also discipline on the agency side as well, right? To say, this is who we are. This is our story. This is what's working. We're going to refine and build on it. And in the end, the customer walks away. The audience is like, yeah, I know who they are. I know what that's about. In a really, in a space that's very crowded and easy, easy to have misattribution or lack of differentiation, they created it. And I'm inspired by that. I think it was one of the things that attracted us to Arnold or helped us put Arnold on the list was, who's worked do we like? I really like that work. We're having their CMO on the show later this summer, early fall. Remi Ken can't wait. Yes, that's who I met this morning. And we were at the CMO inside of breakfast. And there's just so much great content. By the way, I was at a party last night and I spoke to the creative at Arnold who does that work. And he's so energized by it. He's proud of it. And he wants to evolve it. So that's everything you want to see, right? Yeah. I mean, that's what you're aiming for that work that one, it's impactful and delivers what it needs to for the business, but also is work that you can be proud of. And I feel like the work that we're doing at Sam's Club is really, really putting us in that space. I'm really pleased with what it's driving for our business and really proud of how we're bringing our story to life. This is a great story. You really love your work. I can tell that. I do. I have a fun job. I have a really fun job. I'm like, okay, are you having the most fun now of any time in your career? We're going to talk about your career in a moment. It's, it's a close. You know, the role that is kind of rivals. And I'm sure you'll probably understand this being a long-term marketplace is senior brand manager. Because that was where you could do it. Like you were doing it a little bit more. And, you know, I was on the Walmart side. I had a huge budget and it was responsible for all of the national price-focused messaging, which is a big part of that business. And so that was a very fun role that I truly enjoyed. And I'm not sure whether it's this role or that role that would have been my favorite. But if I include that I get to go to can and meet people like you in this and this one wins. Okay, good. Super. They're both good, right? Yes. They're both awesome roles. There was just a champagne cork that popped. Did you catch that on the soundtrack? Okay, we are in can. We're not drinking champagne here just to be clear. We're having a nice conversation with T and coffee. Yes. Hopefully purchase at Sam's Club. Maybe not. Maybe not. We're in France. There are no Sam's friends. I know. So I will excuse this non-members mark water. So let's go to your career path. You worked in banking early in your career with JP Morgan Chase, then an internship at J and J Johnson and Johnson. Then you landed at Walmart and you've been there, including Sam's about 15 years. Thinking back to I think it was 2008. What attracted you to Walmart? And what has kept you there for 15 years? So it was a mixed bag of some personal but also professional. So on the personal side, I was a newlywed, got married before business school. So just a couple years in and my brother-in-law was working for Walmart in Bentonville. We came down to visit while I was in school. They had their first child and we came to see them. And I was like, oh, Bentonville is kind of cool. You just kind of planted a flag in my head like, oh, it's an interesting place. And when I heard about the opportunity with Walmart, then it was already something that, okay, I knew people there. Let me learn more about this. To be honest, I didn't know very much of what retail marketing was at that time. I remember sitting in my interview like, so what exactly are you doing because I was in the Northeast and didn't see a lot of Walmart ads there at that time. And what I was attracted to early on was just the opportunity to do so much work at scale. Because of how we are and our culture is EDLC or everyday low cost, we keep it very lean, we keep it very lean. And the opportunities that I was given in my first six months as a marketer at Walmart, I feel like in many places I would have had to work several years to get my very first program. So I two months in was working on a program and we had a substantial budget. I was making four TV commercials and a couple of print ads. And it was a lot at that moment. But a lot of exposure that lets you learn really fast. And that I think was really intriguing. And in fact, that at Walmart Sam's Club, there's so much breath. There's very large companies and you can do so many different things that you never get bored. By the time you feel like, okay, I'm getting the hang of this or enjoying what I'm doing, there's another opportunity for you to go do something completely different, stretch yourself, expand your skill set. And that's what's kept it interesting. So even though it's almost 15 years now, I really don't feel like it's been a long time at all. Yeah, I know the feeling. One part of your career path at Walmart, which I thought was interesting. I heard you speak about this in another venue. We're at this festival of creativity here this week. And you took an opportunity to move out of your comfort zone. You moved into field operations when you had a baby, I think. So often that does exercise your creativity, right? Because you totally get out of your normal group and you're with a different team, different goals, different culture, different customers in a way, or different partners. So talk about that time in your life. And what you took away from that, because I think it was from what I've gathered is pretty meaningful for you. It was, it was incredibly meaningful. I'll tell you all back up to what was happening right before that. I had, after that senior brand manager role, I went into a role in strategy and that looked across the enterprise at things that were going on in our different business units that we could leverage to help reduce costs and improve capabilities. And while I was in that role, I had an opportunity to sit in several meetings with our EC or executive committee. That's our enterprise CEO and direct reports. And I would listen to how they made a lot of decisions about capital investment strategies for the future. And it felt like no matter what the discussion was, the decision would involve some type of conversation around, what does this mean for our associates? And what does it mean for our customers? And they would go back to those experiences that they'd had being on the front lines or as close to the front line. And I just reflect on, in fact, I don't have that. At that point in my career, I did not have that. I didn't know what it meant necessarily for the customer from a lens that had interacted and seen that on a day to day. And I wanted it. I said, I want to go get that perspective for myself. And was fortunate to begin the opportunity to go and be a developmental market manager and then a market manager in neighborhood market stores for Walmart and Alabama and Mississippi and Tennessee. And I feel like I often call that time, you know, if I, the business school was my MBA, that that was equivalent of like a doctorate in leadership because you have so much responsibility. And motivating, it was close to a thousand associates across the different stores and maintaining that focus that you want to have on the customer and how you serve them. It really did help stretch me. I think it helped change my perspective on what it means to to be a leader. And even now that I've come back, I did that role for three years. And since coming back, like, I don't look at anything to say, I see every like once your filter or lens that you view the world has been opened, it doesn't really close back. So, and I feel really fortunate to have had that experience. Do you think you change as a leader as a result of that and being more, I don't know, empathetic toward the field or just you understood their daily work? Oh, 100% 100%. I am very empathetic about when you know what's going on, like just on a given day, the amount of things that are happening for our unit leaders, our store and club leaders that some things that are within their control, some things that are outside of their control and how they still are trying to pull it all together for our members, it makes you incredibly empathetic. And I view in my role as a leader with the membership in marketing, the responsibility to help make it easy. I cannot make their lives more complicated. And that is a challenge that we put on ourselves as a team. We don't always get it right, but it is a perspective that we have and it's a goal that we have and really want to be respectful to our operators because they do so much. And I witnessed it firsthand. Actually, that's a little twist on your purpose, right? It works for your associates, yes, as well as your customers. Absolutely. Well, let's move into the creative brief. And we're here in Can Lions. This is going to be extra creative. And the first question I have is, I've heard you say that if you weren't doing this beautiful work you're doing at Walmart Sam's Club, you might be a novelist or a jazz lounge owner. So, Sierra, if you were to do a novel, and this is kind of putting you on the spot, what would your first book be about? There's a lot of different topics that have gone through my mind, and I think that's probably the hardest part. And why I haven't started a book yet is because I can't seem to decide on which topic I would love to write a book about. Maybe we can talk that offline. Yes, let's do that. It's the author of a few books. A few thoughts about it. Now, maybe this is an easier question. If you had a jazz lounge, what's the first act you'd like to book? If you had unlimited budget? Oh, man, it's tough because I don't have the budget to bring people back to life, but I love the the greats of that space. I mean, it would be all about Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. That's an idea there. You know Damon Jones at PNG. I'm going to do a little plug here. Do you know Damon Jones? He's ahead of communications at PNG. He has a jazz lounge in downtown Cincinnati and over the Rhine, a really trendy neighborhood called nostalgia. It's really good. It's really fun. I will have to check that out. So next time in Cincinnati, I was just in Cincinnati too. I didn't know that. You got to look up Damon Jones and go to his lounge. I think it'll be inspiring for you. Awesome. I will. Okay. Damon will thank me for the plug. You're going to get more foot traffic. Okay. What's the first brand you remember activating your creativity when you were a young girl? For me, I would have to say Barbie. Just the summer of Barbie. Barbie was probably like my first childhood memory, honestly. The one that I could say, oh, I remember that and I was four years old. I remember for my fourth birthday, the thing that I wanted most was this Barbie jacuzzi. I don't know why. I remember that too. But I just said, oh, man, I like, and I remember like all the anticipation leading up to it. I just had to have it. And that morning waking up and opening it up. And I was I was said, my Barbies were going to be living the life. As I just pressed that little like plastic button that made bubbles pop up. But yeah, I was going to love this show. You're going to see the Barbie movie this summer. I think so. I'm a mom of two girls, 12 and nine. And my nine-year-old, she plays with Barbies. And I love that. I love that in all of the things and spaces that kids enjoy today for entertainment that she still enjoys that moment of pretend play. It's really special. How do you show your team at Sam's Club that you value creativity? That I think is a really important question. And one that I don't know that I've quite solved. I think one of the things that we're trying out is knowing when there's those moments that you need to create a better environment for creativity. That fosters it. There's the day to day that we work in, which is maybe not the best. We're getting your most inspired thoughts. And then there's programs or times or challenges that you have where you want to bring all of the creativity forward. And so what I've done most recently is just taking time when the team is faced with a particular challenge where I feel like we need to bring creative thinking into the mix is really challenging. Are we creating the environment? Is this something that we want to do things a little bit differently? Do we want to bring the teams together? Do we want to have an offsite? How do we want to tackle it versus jumping right into the analyzing of the ideas? Take a minute and allow people the opportunity to step back and make a better moment. It's a good week to get inspiration on that here at CAN, asking other people that, because I think it is an important leadership question. I think about that a lot with myself. How do I show that this is what I value? This is what's important. Yes. What creative idea in your career that you have worked on is most memorable and meaningful for you? I'm struggling between two right now, but I'd say if I went with the original one or the earliest creative idea, I would say it was in my time working at Walmart where we were bringing to market the low price guarantee. We were given the challenge. There was a team that had really developed a very strong performing asset on the C for yourself concept of if you have the receipt and you compare it to another supermarket that you would save money at Walmart. I was working on national, though, so we couldn't use that same local concept. That was the challenge was how could you prove out this idea? How could you communicate this message about how much people could save nationally when, at the time, not a real national supermarket competitor, prices vary, all types of complication, and I remember while I was working on this, spending so much time working with legal, I was going down to our lawyer's office every day, sometimes probably twice a day with just different ideas. What about if we tried it like this? Would that be okay or what are we, and just getting lots and lots of feedback? We ended in a place that we were able to put the concept on ear, and it did very well. It performed just about as well as the local ones with the information, but all that we did, we did the whole setup where you have a member and they're comparing to stores, but at the end when they showed the customer the savings, the audience didn't see it. All you saw was the customer's reaction. That was fun. It was really, really fun to have that moment where something that in the beginning or told you can't do it, no, you need to figure out how to do this, but you can't do it. Working through all of the challenges ending in a place, and it was a really, really well performing campaign that we did for over a year. Creativity within constraints, right? Sometimes the constraints are great. Yeah, and the reason why I bring that one up and why I go to that one first is because I feel like it shaped my way of thinking. It created this idea that anything is possible. Don't feel just because it hasn't been done or just because you've been told that it's very difficult that it's impossible. It's not. Just keep trying. And you made friends in the legal department, right? Yes. Yes. Very good friends with our legal as a result. I think it's important that the legal team that works with a marketing group is a very, very special breed, very, very special because marketers by nature, you don't have to push, you have to push, and they help us play within the lines. Is there a creative idea that you worked on in your career that you now look at and sort of cringe? I mean, I have a bunch in mind. When I look at my kids make fun of the ads, I used to make. There's so often a look at now from the 80s and early 90s, especially the 80s. I feel like for me, without thinking about any particular one, I'll say that I usually feel like that when I look at things like as recently as six months ago. It could be six months ago. You're like, why don't we do it like that? What was I thinking? Why didn't we do this? Because you learn and you get better and something that was a great idea a year ago, two years ago, six months ago, in the context of what you know now, there's just so much opportunity to improve upon it. So, yeah, pretty much everything would be my answer to that. That's a good one. Now I know we're early in the weekend here, but you're going to go home to your team after this week is over with a couple of your colleagues who are here. Any thoughts on how you'll bring this learning to life when you go back home? We'll need to spend some time taking them through the work. I've been taking lots and lots of notes as many pictures as I can to try and recreate as much of it as they can see in the way that I've received it. But I know there's a lot that will get lost in translation. Mainly, it'll be about how do we pull together the key themes and really make sure they connect with that rather than try and take them through everything that we saw or everything, even that was meaningful. Like, what are the couple of things that will boil it down to that we really want the team to action on and think about differently? Creativity and inspiration are very linked. So, I'd like to ask you the last question. Who really inspires you in your life? That's a great question. I feel most inspired by my children. My daughters inspire me to really keep pushing and to show them what's possible. I think there's been times where there are thoughts that you have to choose one or the other. You can be good at the family part. You can be good at the professional part. You can't do them both. You can't do them both at the same time certainly. And I am not saying that I'm great at it all. But I want to show them that I think it's important if you desire a certain career, if you desire a certain path, if you desire to have a family of your own, don't choose because people tell you you have to choose. Try to do it all. I love it. That's a good place to end. It's a beautiful story, a beautiful thought. Sierra, thank you for this. It's been lovely meeting you. I'll see you later in the week because it's just the beginning. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for all you're doing. I love your purpose story. I love everything about how you approach your work and your team. This has been a great inspiration. Well, this has been an inspiration. And thank you for doing this podcast. I think it inspires so many CEOs. I mean to hear from you and your career itself has been legendary and to see you keep investing in leaders through the work that you're doing. It's really making a difference. It's really impactful. Thank you for that. Thank you. That was my conversation with Sierra Anfield. Three takeaways from this one for your business brand and life. The first one is the power of empathy. We talk about empathy a lot in this show. Sierra told the story of how she took an assignment in the field. She got to understand field operations for three years. She got to know the associates got even closer to her customers. The big lesson here is if you have the opportunity in your company, take an assignment which gets you even closer to your customers and the people who are working most closely with your customers. Second lesson, purpose, purpose, purpose. Sierra gave a master class on how to think about arriving to a purpose for your company, including everybody in the process. Having it means something for your customers and associates and activating it across your company. This was a beautiful story about purpose as a business driver and an organization driver. Third takeaway, this always improving mindset. Sierra said her superpower was she's happy with her work but never satisfied. Not in a weird way or not in a destructive way in a positive way. She is of a mindset that she will always improve as she goes through her work and through her life. And then a bonus takeaway, I loved how she said she's inspired by her daughters and a beautiful little story about her daughters and how she is enjoying watching them develop and wants them to make the right choices in their life and career to set them on the right path. That's it for this episode of the CMO podcast. If you found this helpful and entertaining, I would be so grateful if you could share our show with your friends and I would be super happy if you subscribe so you can be updated as we publish new episodes. And if you really want to help, leave us a five star rating and a positive review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. The CMO podcast is a gallery media group original production.