Molly Battin (Home Depot) | Your Career as a Tool Belt

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I had a professor at Kellogg who used to say, and now it's kind of apt at Home Depot. Think about your career as a tool belt. And so every job should have a new tool. And so you should never have two hammers on your belt. So really think about how to end of your career, you've got that complete tool belt to kind of do what you need to do to lead team. Hi, I'm Jim Stangle and I help major brands find their purpose and activate it and 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 the show, I delve into how they do it. My guest today on the CMO podcast is Molly Bat, the senior vice president and chief marketing officer at the Home Depot, the iconic orange branded home improvement retail company that sells simply everything you need to improve your home. Since the first door opened in the Atlanta suburbs in 1978, Home Depot has become one of the largest retailers in the United States with almost 500,000 employees and more than a whopping $150 billion in revenue. My guest Molly is no stranger to managing large brands. Her career journey so far has led her through brand giants like Coca-Cola, CNN, Turner, and Delta Airlines. She dawned the bright orange apron in 2002 as Home Depot's new CMO. We kick off this episode early in the football season, which is only appropriate. Home Depot's signature sponsorship of ESPN's College Game Day is one of the longest running grand partnerships. Molly would not disclose her favorite College Game Day location, but I will. There is nothing like an October College Game Day and Happy Valley USA home of the Penn State Nittany Lions. This show was recorded at the next generation CMO Academy at Deloitte University in Dallas, Texas. Here's my conversation with Home Depot's marketing quarterback, Molly Bat. Molly, welcome to the CMO podcast. I am married to a big-time doer, so she appreciates that you have the campaign now about people like her. I love it. We have a doer's girl doer. Our female doer campaign. Amazing. Yeah, over 50% of our customer base is female doers and we want them to feel welcome into our stores. She overindexes. I love it. And she's in your stores all the time for all kinds of weird things. I love it. Well, thank her. I will. I will, for sure. So are you a doer? I come a doer since I've moved into this role. My husband is a big doer. And so he is really the, was at Home Depot every weekend, multiple times. So I was kind of there with him. But now that I've come into this role, just seeing all the different projects and the products that we have has inspired me and actually my daughter, she and I are now do more projects together. So it's been fun. So what skills are you honing? Let's see. A little bit of painting. Yeah. It's a good place to start kind of the basics, some lighting. There's a lot of innovation in lighting. And that's what my daughter is like thinking about how to transform her room and a lot of innovation in even just home space and really kind of smart home technology. So thinking about how we can really kind of wire our home to be a little more automated. So we're renovating a 1937 home now. So we're doing all sorts of things. We're in your store a lot. So it's fun. It's a process. I love it. It is. Yeah. You know, we think about that from inspiration all the way down to kind of coming in and exploring to doing and then completion and then creating it all again, you know, I'm sort of an outcome person. My wife's a process person. So we work it out. It's a good. Okay. It's a good combination. Exactly. Exactly. Now, we have to start this show by talking about college game day, right? We're at the recording as college football is about to begin. And it's absolutely my favorite show. I don't do much appointment television anymore. I do appointment television for that. So I want to start with that because I think it's such an interesting, how many partnerships go? What? 23? 21 years. 21 years. I mean, that's rare in and of itself. But you keep refreshing it and renewing it and innovating behind it. So could you tell us a bit about what is it about your culture and that culture at ESPN and game day that keeps this so iconic and so fresh? As you said, Jim, it is incredible that a partnership this deep and connected has lasted over 21 years and agree. We keep it fresh. We keep it new. It's an amazing partnership with Disney. And we've really come to the table with kind of a same philosophy of embracing the passion, the fandom that is college football. It's such an amazing way for us to interact with our customers, our fans and really do something both experiential, but also with the reach of ESPN that we have every Saturday. So it is really an incredible partnership. And when I came to the Home Depot, I just thought to be part of something like this, it is kind of a marketer's dream. And as you said, we innovate every week, but there are some things that have been there since the beginning, whether it's the hard hats, and you look at the sea of hard hats and these college students showing up to be on campus, on site and the excitement of really finding out where are they going to be next weekend. So it's pretty incredible. We've had over 1.6 million people attend over 90 locations over the course of the year. And I think if I remember the stat right, we have traveled 350,000 miles across this country to go to game days. I've seen the truck on the road. Yes. It wants to get their picture with it. And it's just something that, similar to what you say, it's how people start their day. And it's such a great opportunity for us to connect with you. And then as you're thinking about finishing out your projects through the weekend, Home Depot is right there top of mind. Yeah. Now it's great. I split my time between the Midwest and the West Coast. I love being on the West Coast. I got up at like five in the morning. I do a quick workout. You come on at 6 a.m. It's just such a great way to start it. Exactly. So good. Is there anything new, different, unusual that you can share because I know you like the element of surprise? Right. There is a bit of a surprise. Well, you know, I think we're going to go to continue to go to huge games, get great turnout, continuing to lean into the hard hats, but thinking about new ways to connect with that audience. I mean, it's a great way for us to think about that next generation homeowner and that younger generation of having that connection with the Home Depot. It's such an early age and you carry it through. So we're super excited to, you know, it starts next weekend and we'll see where it starts. Yeah. It's such a great partnership. How do you measure it every year? I mean, obviously, it has to be good for your business. And if you've been doing twenty-one years, it's got to be working. Yeah. So how, I'm sure you get the awareness. You can measure all that. But is there any way you can link it to advocacy or traffic or any of those KPIs that you care about? It's a lot of the brand attributes that we look at because we really think about as as a brand extension. So it's great reach, but it's also just that connection of passion and fandom. We know it drives brand affinity and being part of something so iconic and linking it with the Home Depot. There's this wonderful halo effect and we're just, you know, the college game day built by the Home Depot is just so iconic, exactly, exactly. And it just fits with our brand so well in terms of building and investing in that fandom and really kind of coming and doing something together. So it's a fabulous partnership. And as I said, we've got such a great partnership with Disney as we think about how do we continue to lean in together and innovate. So what is your team's favorite location? And then I'm going to ask you what your favorite location is. I don't know that there is a favorite location, you know. Last year there was a, it was a Montana, yes, Montana state, which, yes, and like, never been there before, you know, and so it's all those unexpected places that I think are even more fun. It was also there was one where we were in, it was a small college town and they didn't, I mean, they were not ready for us to come and Appalachian State, Appalachian State. Thank you. I'm a part of it. You are a huge fan. And just the infrastructure to get it ready, the fan, I mean, it was amazing, but like that, because we just don't have a lot of lead time in order to kind of get their figure at the hotel, the staffing, everything. So that I think is really fun when it goes to unexpected places, because it's truly where the fans are and where people want to see it show up. My first experience last year was at the Georgia Tennessee game, and so that was a pretty great first college game day experience for me and being on the ground in Athens, seeing kind of the excitement against, you know, it was such an amazing game last year. And the passion and it's really fun also to see how our partners and our suppliers show up, whether it's the Trigger Grill or really thinking about kind of the tailgate experience. And so really the pull-throughs, not only about the Home Depot brand, but our, you know, really trusted partners and how we can kind of really leverage the amazing brand equity of college game day together. Yeah, fantastic. I've been there. I've seen Penn State have been it on a happy valley for several of them up close there early for Ohio State, Michigan. It's such an environment. Yes. Well, I'm kind of hoping for Ohio State Michigan again this year, or I don't know, who knows? Or maybe even down the road, I've got a senior going in at Michigan and now a freshman at Georgia. Maybe they'll be a rematch. Oh, yeah. That'd be good. Got to go to that one. Exactly. That's so good. So anyway, I'm still my homework on you. And I found a beautiful video article where you talked about your competitive advantage, which is the culture and the people at Home Depot. And you said it so beautifully. You were at Delta before this, where I think culture and people there also is their massive competitive. I'm a really loyal Delta flyer and I just feel it from their people. So I'd like you to start with talking about what you've learned, sort of in building this incredible culture. You're a part of it. Delta, part of it now. I know you're still relatively new. But that's when you have a culture like Delta, Home Depot, it's really hard to match. So people can match your prices, your product assortment, all of that, but not the culture. So let's riff on that a bit. What have you learned about building a culture that is so rich. So effective, so attractive to customers and to employees. Yeah. I mean, you said at Gem, it's a competitive advantage, both at Delta and at the Home Depot. It's a part of the reason why people want to come work at Delta. It's why people are so passionate about their job. It's why people care so much about the customer experience and are willing to kind of put the customer first because the company puts our people first. And it's living by a set of values. And I was really lucky coming from Delta to the Home Depot, very similar being a values led organization. We both have the inverted pyramid where it's about our people on top, our CEO and leadership on the bottom. We're here to serve. And that really comes through in the culture. I always say the marketing team is here to support the brand, but the people are our brand. I talk a lot about math plus magic and it's our people that are the magic because it's that every day interaction. So it's when you go in or your wife goes into a Home Depot store and you're looking for something you need. You need help finding it. It's having that orange apron associate to be there to take the time and to really help you through it to have that warm interaction. And at Delta, it's about, you know, those moments that matter and listening. We talked a lot about being elevated, welcoming and caring and what that meant to the Home Depot brand and the Home Depot, how you show up in that way. Excuse me, at Delta. The brands would not be as strong if the cultures were not as strong and I, and I re-learn into that a lot at the Home Depot, the power of our culture, the power of kind of being orange blooded and what that means and there's a sense of pride. And the same was at Delta and it comes through in the customer experience. Yeah. I could ask a lot about what's my definition of a brand. And I always just say it's the collective intent and actions of your employees. That's a hundred percent. That's a brand. It's not the advertised, not the tagline. No. It's not even the product. That's right. And that's why everyone's part of the brand. That's right. And I think you know, it's having that clear articulation of what the brand and the expectation is so that we're all on the same sheet of paper and so that every interaction can have that brand consistency. So really being clear and articulate and what our values are, how we stand behind them, our expectation of how we show up in store and how we support our associates is so important. And you know, at Home Depot, Ted always leads with culture in brand as being kind of the foundation and the bedrock and it's our key differentiator. And it's something that you know, I think really propels us above the competition. And it's going to be the long-term advantage for us moving forward because we really continue to invest in our people and I know they feel that. So culture is everyone's job right in the company and in the leadership. And if you found to be the special role marketing or the CMO can play in culture building of those two organizations, you know, we are part of like guiding the culture and explaining it and storytelling, bringing it to life inside the organization, but having our customers really feel it. And you know, I think there's something really special when you have such a strong culture, it comes through and you can be authentic. You don't have to force fit it and it just is natural. And I think the role of marketing is to really elevate and amplify what the culture is and make our customers and our employees really feel connected to it. 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 DeloitteDigital.com to learn more. Now, this is a tough question, I think. What could Delta learn from Home Depot in building a culture and vice versa? Gosh, they're both such great strong cultures. And they're so service-oriented, you know, the communication styles are different, right? And it's a different employee base. And so, you know, at Home Depot, you know, we have a little bit more of a churn in some of our stores. So being truly connected into the store and having a very strong cadence of communication to make sure the store feels really connected. In fact, we call our headquarters the store support center. And that is really what the leadership team, what the merchants and what our entire leadership is there to support the stores, make sure that they have what they need. They have the merchandise, they have the direction and they have the support from us. And that's been kind of the philosophy since the beginning at the Home Depot. And I think at Delta, there's a similar approach of kind of making sure that we're treating our customers or employees, right? And both have kind of the same philosophy. If we treat our customers or employees, right, they will treat our customers, right? And then our shareholders will kind of make good at that virtual flywheel effect. And I think both companies do it really well. Yeah, you feel it. I mean, I think it's part of, I've done some research that, you know, people want to support brands. They could see themselves working there. Is it a place where I think I'd like to work? Yeah. That actually is a purchase driver. And so, and I think both of them, as I said before, when I walk into Home Depot, when I get on a Delta airplane, I feel like those people are there. They're happy. Yeah. They're doing their work. And that's infectious. Yes. We talk a lot about being in the moment. And we talk a lot at Delta, really actively listening, because especially at Delta, a lot of times it's a very stressful situation. You know, there could be challenges with the schedule. You could be trying to get somewhere where a loved one is sick and you need to be there. There's, you never know. And so, having that moment where you can kind of shut out the noise and really actively listen, be caring, and being welcoming is such a core part of the brand. And that's something that really comes through, I think, when you have those interactions with the Delta people. Yeah. I was four out of connection and saw it late last week. And I wanted to get home for the tennis tournament since I didn't see Alcaras play on Friday night. And I didn't make it. Right. The flight was like five hours late. It was a mechanical issue. And I was chatting with one of the flight attendants and she was so apologetic and I said, listen, this happens, I'm glad you got me here safe. You communicated with me. I always knew what was going on. That's all I asked for. And so, I mean, we, I think customers have responsibility too. Yeah. Well, I think there's also just what you do matters when things don't go right. Yeah, that's right. And it's how you, how a brand responds in those moments that build trust. And so that, you know, customers will forgive you because they know that you were putting them first trying to do the right thing and to your point about that communication being kind of transparent and just doing the right thing. You know, we were talking earlier about coming through the pandemic, how Delta kept the middle seat open longer than anyone else. And it was a big decision within the organization as, you know, we were still, you know, very challenged in the business, but, you know, Ed really believed that we had to do right by our customers. And this was something that made them feel better, that gave them the space and the mental kind of well-being to get on our planes. And the trust and the thankfulness that our customers had that we stood by and we put them, you know, above what profit was very, very telling and that the brand has really benefit from it from that over the years, just that trust, the forgiveness when things don't go right. Yeah. You know, they're really great at responding and transparency and communication. And that's all we can ask for. That's right. Now I've heard you say about Home Depot and you've been there about a year that we need to tell our story even better because the culture is so strong. And that's a challenge I've found in companies that are service oriented and humble and always trying to improve and get better. So I just, curious, I think a lot of people would benefit from your learning on this. How are you approaching that? Yeah. The Home Depot brand is so strong and the people, as we talked about, the culture is so strong. And there is such a commitment to serving our communities and how we show up, whether it's the Home Depot Foundation or show up when there is a disaster and we show up for those communities, it's just in their DNA. It's just what we do. And when I got there last year, the idea of telling that story, not in a prideful way, but in a way that showcased, this is who we are as a company. We're not going to tout it, but we should embrace it because it's part of the DNA of the company. It's part of who we are. It's how we think. It's how we make decisions. We are values led. And we know that millennials and Gen Z are making decisions and brand purchases based on companies that share their values that are giving back to the communities that care about the experience, that care about their employees. So finding that right balance of really leaning in and telling all the wonderful things, and the beauty of my job is, I don't have to make anything up. It's all there. It's how do we package it and tell the story in a really authentic way? That honestly, our associates can be really proud of, our customers can be proud of, and then continuing to really elevate the brand. So it's been fun to figure out how do we balance that storytelling around our brand as well as continuing to drive traffic and sales, and it's that balance that everybody. Brand and performance. That's right. That's right. Now, you've joined a CMO about a year ago. It's a really large company, 500,000 associates, $152 billion or so on revenue. That's double the size of PNG. I have no idea how many SKUs, but it's going to be crazy. A crazy number. Lots of target audiences, lots of partners. So coming in from the outside a year ago, tell us that story. How should you decide how to onboard, where to focus, how to spend your time? So take us through sort of how you approach that and how the year has gone in terms of your role. Yeah. First of all, it's been a really welcoming organization. From day one, I felt like this was a great fit and we've been talking about the strong culture. It was really what drove me to join Home Depot as well as the power of the brand and what it means. And really, you saw that coming through the pandemic. I mean, people's homes, it's where it's a lifestyle brand. It's where you want to spend time with your family and loved ones and that Home Depot can be there to help you kind of elevate the space and create those moments of connections. So I was really excited to join, but the learning curve is steep, right? So it is, you know, coming into retail, it's a new industry. As you said, it's extremely complex. The number of skews that, you know, the supply chain challenge is coming out of the pandemic, you know, we're steep. And so really understanding the merchant organization, kind of their priorities, how they operate, understanding the complexity of the supply chain and really how are we going to work through that inventory to kind of get through to the other side, coming out through the pandemic and facing a little bit of a, you know, economic challenging time. So continuing to kind of push the organization along. So it was a lot of learning, a lot of listening and really taking a step, I can try and say, OK, I need to look at what we're doing and listen to my people and learn from my team, but I also have to build those relationships across the organization so that I can really make sure that marketing is here to kind of support all the initiative. So, you know, marketing is one of the most fun jobs in the fact that we sit and touch every part of the organization, but that really means that you have to take the time to understand, listen, I did a lot of spending of store walks, going into the field, really spending time in the stores, you know, walking the stores, spending time with our store managers to understand, how do our customers shop? How do the pros you, the pro, pro desk, you know, what are some of the challenges? How can marketing show up better for them? And it really helped me understand the culture more quickly than if I was just trying to figure it out from my desk. Yeah. Strong signal also to everyone that you care. Yes. And so it's really spending the time. And then, you know, we have at the Home Depot, which is pretty incredible. We have something every March where we pull together all of the store managers and lately we've been doing it in Vegas and it's called our store manager meeting. We take over, I think it is three football fields and recreate the experience of what Home Depot would look like, but through the lens of all the innovative products that we have. And it's a way for us to bring all of our store managers together. They can hear from leadership, so hear from Ted about the power of our culture, the power of our people, hear from Anne, who runs our stores about how they are the CMO or CEO of their store. They're empowered to do the right thing by our customer. But then really spend time on the floor to see the next generation grill, what's innovative and cleaning. I mean, it really will blow your mind. And so things like that are just really great ways for me to kind of really immerse myself so that we can tell the story around innovation, product authority and really core tenants of the brand, but really kind of seeing it firsthand are great ways to kind of immerse and, but it's, it's a very unique experience at Home Depot. The public in at all. You know, we don't really, we have some press that have kind of come in and toward, but for the most part, it is really about our suppliers, our stores, really connecting and get excited about what we have to offer our customers for next year. We talked a few minutes ago about your partnership with Disney and, you know, and part of the benefit of that for you is younger homeowners. And I know the two areas I've seen you speak about this, two areas of focus are younger homeowners. And that's every great brand has new people coming into the franchise and you're no exception to that. So I'd love to hear what you're learning about that, you know, establishing a brand and being relevant as Gen X and millennials by their first homes. Yeah. No, it's, it's really interesting. They are, you know, we really have the boomer market, right? They have grown up with the Home Depot. We are a trusted brand, but as we look to millennials and Gen Z's, we know they're shopping differently. They're thinking about home ownership, home projects differently. They are still doing projects, but what we've learned is that they don't quite know where to start. So it's an interesting challenge where the boomer kind of knew what to do, jumped in, confident. What we're seeing is the millennial is a little bit stuck. And so we're seeing that we need to talk to them in a different way. So whether that's our content strategy of really thinking about how do we help them solve their problem? Here's what they're trying to do. We're in the middle of a bath renovation. Let's make sure that we're giving you the right content to help you through that journey. You're moving. We can see that you're moving. So let's make sure that we're helping you with the right messaging and the right content. So it's really thinking about audiences, personalization, and then marrying them with the right content to help them get unstuck and to solve the problem. So at Home Depot, we think a lot about our role is to help you solve a problem. So if you're coming into Home Depot a lot of times, you've got a problem that you're trying to solve, whether it's renovating your bathroom or I need a new light bulb. And so how do we think about really meeting our customers where they are on the platforms where they're going? So we know that they're starting on TikTok. They're starting on Pinterest for inspiration. And so we need to be on those platforms. So it's a bit of like media mix challenge changes, thinking about innovation ways that we can reach that customer. It's about creative content is different. And then honestly, also thinking about how our app and our interconnected strategy is different. So we know they're starting digitally. And so we need to make sure that we're there where they are. And then that our app can be an essential tool as they're going through the store or they're shopping online. So it's a bit of a shift in strategy as we really think about interconnected retail. I think we are really well positioned because we have both the store location where people can go, see, walk through the aisles, touch and feel, but also this amazing online experience. And if we can continue to think that interconnected and the seamless customer experience between the two, I think we have a winning combination. Sounds like your agenda. I heard you speak about retail media and you have some really promising things happening in that space and that's an area that everyone's trying to figure out, the advertised brands in store as well as retailers like yourself. So what are you learning on retail media? What's working? What's not? It is such an exciting space. As you said, more and more marketers are getting in there. You know that the retailer knows their customer better than anyone and we have visibility into point of purchase. So as you think about a supplier wanting to get in front of the customer at the right time, it's the perfect place. And so what we've really learned is the power of our data and the power of our audiences and how do we partner with our key suppliers to make sure that we're kind of achieving and getting in front of their customers at the right time and the right place. So building out this retail media network has been really a fascinating journey and we're seeing so many benefits from suppliers coming to us with their challenges and problems and us really thinking about through the lens of how do we leverage the assets that we have to create an amazing media plan for them to really kind of deliver something that is bespoke and will move the dial and they see amazing brand row as right back. So that they'll kind of as a great flywheel. So we think about it as kind of a win, win, win, right? So the more that we can kind of understand and learn about our customer, the more that we can then put a better customer experience and put the create that better experience, which then we can bring in our supplier, which then kind of creates this flywheel effect of kind of better experiences for everybody. So it's been an amazing growth opportunity. I mean, I think the challenge is really kind of growing at the speed and kind of trying to create an agile, almost start up within a very established retail organization and really thinking through what are the new rules of the road? How do we think about kind of relationships between our merchants and some of the things that maybe some of our suppliers want to do online and how do we how do we make sure that we're both comfortable and what is a new philosophy as we kind of move into this, you know, relatively new media area. We're seeing a lot of excitement from both our premium, but also a lot more of the long tail of a lot of our partners and suppliers are coming to us and they don't have, you know, big established marketing teams or big marketing budgets. But we can work with them to find their customers at the right time and the right place. And so we're seeing success both on the bigger partners, but also on the long tail, but it's really kind of growing a media business and thinking about what a sales look like. How do we think about ad placement? How do we think about media metrics and how are we reporting back so that our suppliers know that their campaigns are working? How do we think about new opportunities, both on Home Depot.com as well as with other partners? But how do we also maintain kind of the integrity of the brand as we as we think about kind of creating kind of a media marketplace? Is there any vendor or partner that you think is really leveraging the media and the potential really well right now? Yeah. You know, I was just out in Napa last week with Bayer, who's one of our big exclusive paint suppliers. And we were announcing the color of the year, which is cracked pepper like that. It's actually a beautiful dark flag that is warm and modern. And so we were announcing it and we were talking a lot about they have been an amazing partner. They've come on board. We've tried new things. We can do things really innovative with them. And so they have leaned into the platform. And we're trying, you know, everything from connected TV opportunities with them now, as well as really looking at how do we go after really important audiences that maybe we haven't gone after together in the past. So it's been a great partnership. And they're, you know, right there with us as we continue to innovate and they're on kind of we've got a measurement tool that we're rolling out. They're part of the beta. So, you know, it's really great to have amazing partners who are willing to come in, hold hands and kind of help us build this business together. That's a nice segue into your career path, right, which is pretty rich in media, right? You had marketing roles at CNN, Turner, I think for 13 years. So talk a bit about how that helped prepare you for, you know, your role now, your role at Delta. Yeah. And how what unique perspective that gave you, what do you think skills that you honed at that time that which which has helped you be successful? So speak a bit about that. Yeah. I was fortunate enough to have an incredible career experience at Turner. So I was there actually for 19 years, which is crazy. I know moved around a lot. Was that CNN in the beginning and then all the entertainment brands brand kind of our digital platforms, Turner sports and then kind of had measurement. And so it was a great experience. And through that had, you know, hand in hand with our ad sales team. So really grew up not only marketing our brands, but also really understanding the advertising business thinking about how do we create kind of how do we think about measurement. And it was a, you know, a lot of transition time from really being about linear TV overnight ratings to moving into streaming. How do we think about measurement in the streaming platforms and then building out the streaming platforms ultimately to launch HBO Max to max. So that really gave me firsthand knowledge of what advertisers are looking for. How advertising and ad sales like media companies can really kind of create really interesting packages, understand the value of the brands, find the right audiences and think about attribution in different ways. So I think that has given me a really unique perspective. So as I come in and I think about what are some advertising opportunities or do partnerships, I always come in with the lens of, okay, what would I expect Turner to be have given me or what would my sales team have packaged up? And so I can have those conversations kind of knowing that I know both sides of the coin. Yeah, it's fantastic. Now we're here recording at the law university and you've been here what a day or so. And so obviously we have a lot of people here who want to be in a seat like yours and want to be in a job like yours. And the three big themes here are leadership, influence and collaboration. So I'd like you to talk a bit about, you know, if you had the participants here in the room with us right now, what piece of advice would you give them? They're all a step or two away from being a CMO, you are a CMO at a great brand. So what's your advice you would give them under leadership, influence or collaboration or something else that would help get them prepared to be successful and to be in a job like yours? It's a great question. You know, I've always found you should be always a little bit uncomfortable, right? And so whether that's in your marketing campaign, whether that's in kind of leaning into a new strategy, trying something new, or it's in your career. And so taking new steps and learning new and trying something new, I think is the best way to continue to grow. I had a professor at Kellogg who used to say, and now it's kind of apt at Home Depot. Think about your career as a tool belt. So every job should have a new tool and so you should never have two hammers on your belt. So really think about how do you, so that at the end of your career, you've got that complete tool belt to kind of do what you need to do to lead a team. And so I've always thought about that and I encourage my team to think about, okay, if you're really good at brand, why don't you try something that's more kind of digital performance marketing so you understand the tech side? So how do we build cross-athletes and really challenge people to sometimes get out of their comfort zone? Why something new so that you have that whole view of what marketing is? Because as we all know, marketing is no longer just a beautiful ad. It is so much more and it's that understanding of the tech, understanding of like leveraging your data and the connecting the two and really that balance of math and magic, right? So those would be some of my advice that I give. And then also just always kind of, you know, listen to your team. Build the right team around you and you will be able to kind of lift your head up and be that screen door to let them do their great job. And you know, my role is to take the eggs and take the hits but allow them to really kind of drive and push the brand. And so I try to try to be that screen door for them. I love that thought. I love that metaphor. And as you think about your personal, you know, tool belt, what tools did you put in from your time at Delta and what tools do you think you're putting in from your time at Home Depot so far? Yeah. Let's see. At Delta, we had a rich sponsorship portfolio. So we had just kind of negotiated the LA28 Olympic partnership, we had a lot of kind of sports marketing, activations and kind of leaning into that fandom and thinking about how do we show up where our customers are. So really building out that portfolio and then really the brand and our brand is so iconic and thinking about how do we reach new audiences and also really leaning into kind of a values driven brand. We had a lot on campaigns around faces of travel where we could kind of expand and have people see where they could travel. What we were doing in the environment space and commitments there. So really learning in that space. And then also we were really beginning, middle beginning of our digital transformation journey and really having the opportunity to partner hand at hand with our chief customer experience officer to think about how do we know the customer from, you know, when I can kind of pull them and inspire them to travel all the way through the travel journey, all the way to the end through the loyalty program and so that lifetime value, but connecting the customer experience from end to end and being part of it so that we're not looking at things in a silo. And then bringing that vision really over to the Home Depot that, you know, was really kind of, again, thinking about what is that interconnected strategy and then really, you know, at the Home Depot, continuing to lean into the technical, the audiences as well as kind of building out the retail media and then, you know, continuing to elevate this amazing brand that we have and make sure that we are relevant and building trust with the next generation of homeowners. What about leadership strengths? What do you think you developed further at Delta and then so far you're on the year in at Home Depot? Yeah. How are you a different leader from the time of Delta and from your first year at Home Depot? Well, Delta was an interesting time. So I started in 2019, best year, Delta's, I thought was a great time to join the industry and then fast forward to March of 2020. And so really had to adjust my leadership style to kind of what was going on in the world in the industry and at Delta in particular and, you know, really had to change and take a step back and think about, okay, how do I not only guide and sport and inspire this team but be there for them? So, you know, I think a lot of leaders had to turn to be a much more empathetic leader and help to inspire and help to make sure that we were, you know, really putting our people first as well as our customers and that's really where that, the brand values came through. Home Depot, you know, it's such a big complex organization of really taking a step back and listening, understanding kind of really where the, what the team is focused on and then helping to really prioritize and saying, okay, well, here's our North Star of where we're going to go and that means we're going to focus on these three core strategies and some things we might not get to and really helping kind of with that North Star, I think is really helping because you could get lost down to million rabbit holes and everybody's got a priority and everybody wants their project or their brand or kind of their product to be front and center, but we know that there are a few big boulders that we have to move and if we don't kind of focus on them, we're not going to make progress. So, keeping the team focused aligned and energized to kind of continue to go after that North Star. I love the thought about being comfortable, being uncomfortable, Lisa McNight at Mattel said that on the CMO podcast a few weeks ago, we interviewed her right after the Barbie movie came out and she talked an awful lot about how they had to all get comfortable with being uncomfortable because the leap they took with Barbie, you know, eight or nine years ago, had some downside and the movie, right, everything's going well, but it could have, yeah, they made a lot of fun of themselves, they were very vulnerable, they let the creative people go with it, with very few constraints from Mattel, you know, that, that took some courage. Yes, and I think courage is a great word because I think right now in this space and this time, I mean, you have to be innovative, but not be afraid to take some risks that might not work and that's okay, let's just make sure we learn from them, reset and keep going, but I think if we're not taking some risks, not being innovative, then I think you risk becoming irrelevant. That one will notice. That's right. That's right. So, you know, as we think about growing the retail media space, it's uncomfortable. We're learning this. I keep saying, you know, for the Delta metaphor, you know, we are building this plane as we are figuring out how to fly it. It's about moving fast, it's about trying new things and it's about breaking down processes and building up new skill sets. Okay, we're going to shift to the creative brief and my first question for you is, you are in women's crew at Princeton. Yes. Okay. That's tough. So, how did that experience help shape you into the person and leader you are? So, I never rode before I got to Princeton. What a track that you do. You know, my brother was at Princeton and he joined the crew team and when and I was fascinated by kind of the camaraderie, the sport, how it all came together and I am tall. So, as I walked into the gym freshman year at Princeton, the crew coach came over to me and she was like, we'd like to see you down at the boat house. Yeah. And I knew enough from my brother and so went down there and just kind of fell in love with the sport. I mean, it's so unique in the fact that it's not a, it's such a team sport, but yet so individual as well. So, everybody has to be pulling their weight, but it's not necessarily about being the strongest or the fastest, it's about finding swing in your boat. And so, I use that analogy a lot with my teams of like, you've got to get the right people in the right seat and then you got to find your swing. And once you've got the swing, you can beat anyone. And so, that was really what I focused on when I got to Delta was getting the right people in the right seats and then building the ways of working to kind of get that swing. And so, that's really where I am at Home Depot as well. I have this amazing leadership team now. So, now it's like, okay, let's just get into the right swing. I love it. Love the metaphor. What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl? You know, I have always been a huge fan of Apple, right, growing up and kind of the power of that brand and how it broke through and how creativity and technology could come together in such a unique way. And I remember having kind of the an orange MacBook and thinking about how cool that was or the power of music in your pocket with your iPad. So, I think that there's, that has always fascinated me. It's that design, creativity, technology and really consumer centricity. And so, I think that's a really unique combination. What was the moment you decided you wanted to be in business and in marketing and in media? Was it a long-held dream or did it occur at Princeton or after Princeton? Yeah, so, you know, going into marketing from Princeton was not really the thing. It started history, right? Yeah. Yes, I studied history. So, really prepared me for business. I remember going to meetings. We were like, so you're a history major. I was like, yes, but I can think critically. And that was my selling point. And I remember going through senior year career, I actually was really interested in television. I had interned with the David Letterman show. Oh, you did. Lucky you. And I was writing questions for the interviewers. And I thought that was fascinating. So, yeah. No, I was not the comedian. I was doing the research. Okay, got it. The history major in me was coming out to do the research and then the comedians would put the funny spin on it. But I loved from day one. I loved the idea of the power of TV, the power of kind of storytelling and that connection. And so, when I was at Princeton, everybody around me was interviewing for investment banking jobs and consulting. And I just thought, I don't think this is the right fit for me. So, I really went out and tried to break into advertising. And I remember I was interviewing everywhere. And at the time, it was really hard to get into kind of a traditional advertising roll account management. It was really kind of, you had to start media. Those were hard jobs. And that was hard job. And it was also, I remember they made me take a typing test. And I was not very fast. So, I was going to turn down. That's what it was. I was kind of, that was going to be kind of an assistant at a media organization. And I actually, one of my first mentors, and by the name of Patrick Nisely, who was a partner at Bates, advertising agency, had come, he had gone to Harvard and he had come to Princeton and had done some interviews on campus. And I had met him. And he didn't have a job for me when I graduated. But kind of, I had stayed in touch in about six months after, you know, I was running a capital campaign for my eating club at the time. And it was not, it was not a great fit. He called and said, you know, I've got a, I've got a job on Miller genuine draft. You know, do you want to come and work in advertising in Bates? And he gave me my first job. And I am thankful to him ever since. And so that was really kind of my first marketing and advertising. Were you on account or media? I was on account. Yeah. And I loved it. I mean, I was getting to work with these amazing creatives. It was on a beer account. And I had no idea. It was so fun. That it was so good. Good for you. So let's see how to mentor who helped you with that. Who else have been the significant mentors in your career that helped you to develop into the leader you are? There is a man who I attribute a lot of my success to as Steve Coonan. So he was my boss at Coca-Cola at the time. He was head of brand partnerships, sports marketing, and they gave him brand. Sprite in particular. And I was working on the Sprite brand. And he is the most incredible kind of passionate. Was that after business school? So this was after business school. So I got to work on Steve's team. And he was up for anything. And working on brand Sprite was so liberating because everybody was protecting brain coke. But Sprite was kind of under the radar. We were about no BS and trying new things and going after this amazing teenage audience. And so we could be really creative. I have a lot of fun. And so he taught me to always be uncomfortable. Always push the envelope. Never take no for an answer. And I then ended up leaving coke. But we joined again at Turner because he came over to Turner and was running TNT. And so he eventually became my boss at Turner and got to work underneath him. He is now the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks. And to this day, I run decisions by him. I call him and ask for advice. And he's been an amazing mentor and supporter through my career. He's had a fun career. Yes, he's had a fun career. And what he's done with the Atlanta Hawks has been incredible. That's a great branding story as well of just kind of reinventing a brand. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So what's the most you've worked on in lots of incredible organizations on some really good brands? If you think about your career, what's the one marketing or company initiative that's most meaningful to you? You know, it's really what we started talking about. It's about the culture. And making sure that the brand reflects the culture and building a great culture. And I believe that branding culture are two sides at the same coin. And I've been really lucky through my career to be able to be part of really creating that culture, whether it was at Turner, creating a new culture at Warner Media when we brought the brands together, really helping to elevate and articulate it at Delta. And now being part of kind of such a strong culture at the Home Depot. And I take that responsibility very seriously because I think it is the Chief Marketing Officer's role to make sure that we are continuing to fuel that culture, continuing to elevate it, and to continuing to make sure that everyone feels part of it. So to me, that is really, frankly, what gets me up in the morning, that gets me passionate about what I do and proud to say where I work. Yeah. What do you do to stay creative and fresh and innovative? What are your rituals, what are your processes, what are your habits? Yeah. You know, I am a big fan of talking to the younger generation and having kind of a reverse mentor, if you will, because I don't know everything. I know I can be out of touch, so I make sure that I'm walking the halls, talking to people, frankly, my kids help to keep me honest and keep me grounded of like, mom, what are you doing over here? Or have you thought about this? So that's really important to me because I think great ideas come from anywhere and I'm a big believer in a lot of the great ideas are not coming from me, from the next level down, maybe even four levels down. So how do we make sure that we're creating a culture and an environment where people feel confident to speak up? Because I think that's where the next great ideas are going to come from. We've been here at the Law University for a day. We've had lots of interaction with the participants and fellow faculty people, which you are one. Any things strike you here in terms of a comment, a quote, a person, a conversation you've had that you'll take home and think about it? Yeah. You know, I think it's just the themes that I keep hearing that it's... There's something nice about, you know, everybody is going through a lot of the same challenges and I think there's the constant struggle between brand versus performance and how do you find that right balance? You know, as a being in a company that is very, you know, data driven, looking at results on a daily basis, how do you make sure that you find that balance between showing that you're driving traffic and conversion and sales, but also making sure that we're being great stewards of the brand? And the two don't have to be differentiated. If you do it right, it should all work together and brand should be the umbrella between everything and kind of come through, whether it's an event spot or a brand spot. And so I think that's been a constant theme. I think there's also, you know, been a theme around that rigor of really owning your schedule and owning your agenda. I think we can get so caught up in the day to day in the moment that we don't take the time to take a step back and really reflect and think. And so really being rigorous about thinking about how do I make time to exercise for me so that I have that time so that I can reset, rethink so that I can give back to my team, to my family and really kind of think beyond the day to day and look ahead to the future. We've been a big theme here. Yeah. Molly, who do you, as you think about your life today, who's been the most inspiring person for you and your life? I am so lucky. I have an amazing husband partner. We met at Princeton and so we have been together and he is such a support. I mean, I could not do these roles without him. And we have three wonderful children who, again, support me, give me inspiration. So I'm really lucky to have this amazing kind of foundation of a family. And then also my parents, honestly, who kind of helped push me. My mom always said, like, you need to keep going. Get your graduate degree. You know, go out there and they've, they've supported me every step of the way. So I'm really lucky to have that foundation. And then I have great mentors, like the steves of the world. And amazing people that I've gotten to work with throughout my, my career. And in many different industries so that I could kind of tap into them when I have challenges or creative. And I can look at things from different perspectives. So I'm pretty lucky. This has been a beautiful conversation. Maybe we can continue at college game day. Yeah. I'll have to figure it out and get you there. I'll find a way. Believe me. It's a busy fall, but I'm going to have to get, I have to get to a few games. Yes. Great. Who's your team? Penn State's my team. Okay. My son's a Buckeye. Okay. He met his wife there. So the big, Ohio State people. My daughter's a UCLA Bruin. Okay. So my wife's a Bruin, but we met in graduate school at Penn State. Okay. So we fell in love there. And I went to PNG from there. Yeah. So we feel very fond about Penn State. Okay. We go to at least a game a year in Happy Valley. That's awesome. We think there's nothing like it. Well, you know, that's the beauty of the college football, right? Yeah, everyone feels that way. That's right. That's right. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me. This was great. I appreciate it. That was my conversation with Molly Batten. Three takeaways from this one for your business brand and life. First one, it's the crew metaphor. Have the right swing with the right people in the right seats. I love that. It's a lesson that Molly learned at Princeton when she was on the crew team. And she has certainly carried forward that philosophy to her CMO roles. She's all about people. She's all about cultures. She's all about people working together for great outcomes. She learned that back in the crew team at Princeton. Second takeaway. Your tool belt. Think of your career as a tool belt. So when you move jobs or move companies, don't buy another hammer. Get a screwdriver or a power drill. We should think about our career as having a tool belt with lots of different tools that we picked up along the way. That makes for being a great leader and having a great career. Third takeaway. Molly is really clear in her priorities. It's important for Home Depot that their brand appeals to younger homeowners. And they're spending a lot of resources and research on that. And also that they understand the role of retail media. Because that's going to be very important as they bring their whole customer experience together. So being clear in your priorities, especially the forward facing ones that are important for the future of your brand. Molly's great at that. We have a lot to learn from her. 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.