CMO Spotlight | Kelly Deen - kencko

The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders. 

Setup CEO, Joe Koufman, virtually sat down with Kelly Deen, the Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for kencko to discuss how she is inspired by Brands like Liquid Death and Bombas, the impactful influence of the Sci-Fi movie Vanilla Sky, the values she maintains as a leader, and more.

WATCH + READ THE RECAP BELOW

(SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW)

Q1 | What is your superpower?

Deen’s superpower is forecasting the future to identify trends. This superpower has been something she has developed over time and now feels like second nature. 

“I've been doing this for so long that a lot of times you can start to see it like a recipe… the bits and pieces formulating together. You can see these things coming together and the direction they're going to head, and it starts to feel like second nature.”

Q2 | What values are important to you?

Transparency and kindness are values that are very important to Deen. 

Everybody is different, and Deen has learned how to adapt her delivery to different situations and personalities. She also takes pride in fostering an environment where dialogue can be open and honest, and successes can be celebrated. “Recognizing other people on the team and their accomplishments and looking for even small things that people have done to contribute and go out of their way to help is just really important. Have an environment where that's shared because everybody likes to feel appreciated.”

Q3 | Tell us about an impactful campaign.

Deen was inspired by the Beauty industry and their subscription box services. She appreciated the novelties and the opportunities it gave consumers to try multiple products. Her team replicated the subscription box idea around the holidays to contain a variety of kencko goodies. She learned that inspiration can come from anywhere, especially other industries.

Q4 | Is there a movie that inspires you?

Deen loves Sci-Fi movies, and uses a line from Vanilla Sky to inspire her daily. The line, “Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around,” helps her to “think about the possibilities of tomorrow” instead of getting wrapped up in what is going wrong.

Q5 | What brands do you admire?

Deen loves Bombas because of their dedication to their mission to help underserved people facing homelessness. “They've chosen something really specific and built a whole business around helping to achieve that mission while making an amazingly terrific product.”

She also loves the creativity of Liquid Death and how they are also mission focused. “What I love about them is their fearlessness. Their creativity is outstanding. They've gone all in on the brand. It also has a really great backbone of a mission. I love a brand that just goes all in and is just relentless about it.” 

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For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Kelly Deen, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW TO THE RIGHT.