When Sarah Zurell came on board as CELS Brands’ CMO in 2022, one of her goals was to make fashion footwear brand Chinese Laundry cool again. But like, really cool.

“I want it to be cool enough for Taylor Swift to wear our shoes,” she told her PR partner CLD at the time. Admittedly, it was a “stretch goal” for the brand, whose styles first became popular in the 1980s. (Zurell herself wore a pair to prom.)

But then, it actually happened. Swift was spotted wearing the brand’s butter yellow Tai Dress Sandal in an Instagram photo posted by Brittany Mahomes, wife of NFL Super Bowl star Patrick Mahomes. Swift had been gifted the shoes—a low-budget marketing tactic the brand relies on frequently—but Zurell wasn’t sure if she’d wear them and post a photo, much less tag the brand. (Spoiler alert: The brand was not tagged.)

Then there was the issue of promoting Swift’s fashion choice within the restrictions imposed by online advertising, which inspired some creative marketing on the team’s part. We spoke with Zurell about how the brand capitalized on the “Taylor Swift Effect;” her small budget marketing solutions; lessons learned from co-founding two companies; and innovations in retail she envisions for the brand moving forward.

The CMO role is evolving—yet again. But while additional responsibilities continue to pile up (the latest being oversight of articifial intelligence), the need for such an increased scope of knowledge is raising the value and standing of the CMO role within the organization. Columnist Tim Ringel, Global CEO of Meet the People, details ways the most effective CMOs are increasing their job tenure, despite the ever expanding list of responsibilities tied to the position.

Lastly, while marketing around taboo topics like sexual wellness, body hair grooming, cannabis and alcohol has its difficulties (particularly on social media), there are plenty of strategies brands operating in provocative categories can implement to see success. We’ve outlined three.

Until next week,