Fueling Business Growth Through High-Functioning Marketing Machines
Kiran Smith reflects on her diverse marketing career and discusses the power of blending brand storytelling, consumer data, and personalization to drive customer retention and brand evolution
Kiran Smith is a 25-year marketing executive who thrives at helping organizations prepare for their next level of growth by building out data-driven, brand-loving marketing teams. Most recently, she was the CMO for ButcherBox, driving subscriptions and retention for the $500M+ business that delivers 100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef, free-range organic chicken, pork raised crate-free, and sustainably sourced seafood direct to members.
Her career has spanned various industries – from robotics and innovative gadgets to footwear and grocery. Kiran has also led marketing organizations for iconic brands like iRobot, Brookstone, Stride Rite, and Supervalu, where she modernized marketing capabilities and bridged the gap between brand-building and performance marketing, always keeping the consumer at the center.
Kiran has an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and has also worked in the agency sector, serving as the CEO of Arnold Worldwide. There, she focused on refreshing the creative vision and approach to brand management to improve the agency's position in a modern, technology-driven marketing industry. Clients included Progressive, Santander, Jack Daniel's, Hardee's, and Sam Adams.
The Continuum sat down with Kiran to discuss her multiple CMO roles, the lessons she has gained from leading an agency, and what she’s looking for in a new challenge.
Your first brand marketing job was at the grocery chain Shaw’s. You were there for ten years through three ownership changes and seven different banners, ultimately overseeing all aspects of consumer marketing for Supervalu. It’s a very tactical business that relies on local execution. How did that start shape your career?
I started at Shaw’s as the Manager of Customer Segmentation, which was an excellent fit for a data person like me. I don’t think most people realize the amount that supermarkets invest annually in technology and consumer segmentation. It’s a data-rich environment. At that point in time, loyalty programs captured 90% of transactions. We knew who was buying what, when, and how often, and we could leverage that data for direct mail and in-store couponing programs.
In the ten years I worked there, the company underwent many changes. When I started, the parent company was a UK-based grocer with 200 stores throughout New England selling as Shaw’s and Star Market. A couple of years later, it sold to Albertsons, which now has more than 2,000 stores nationwide and operates seven distinct regional brands, including Acme, Jewel, Osco, and Albertsons.
The scale of the business meant that every couple of years, a new job would open, and I could move into roles with broader scopes. At some point, I was responsible for the Business Insights team and then the Own Brand Marketing group. Eventually, I was responsible for all the local banner teams nationwide and then brand equity and advertising. It's a really cool way to learn the trade and learn the business and have three children while I was doing it.
Supermarkets are different than other retailers because people tend to stay close to home. What challenges does that pose to marketing?
In grocery, proximity is key. The single factor that drives where you shop is the convenience of the location. Consumers overwhelmingly stay within a two-mile radius – although more recently, premium grocery brands like Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s have broken that mold somewhat and expanded that circle.
We had to strike the right balance. We had seven banner names across the country. The job was to figure out where you could get economies of scale and where you had to stay local. That reflected in big decisions; I wasn’t going to put the Jewel name on a store in Massachusetts because the name meant nothing to someone in New England, but in Chicago, it means everything. But it was also a consideration in minor decisions like a direct mail campaign. If I could buy paper for all the stores, I could get a lower price for bulk, but I couldn’t print the same thing on each circular. What’s on the front covers of those circulars had to be local.
“Conversion is easier when you have an assisted selling model and a sales force who can take the time to explain new products to people, especially the more technical or complex ones.”
When you left grocery, you went to work for Wolverine Worldwide to lead marketing for Stride Rite. A lot of us remember buying “school shoes” there. You moved from food to fashion – what was that change like?
One primary challenge in that role was that 50% of the business was sold through our own retail stores—both online and in malls—and the other 50% was through other mass-market retailers like Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Macy's, and DSW. When developing the brand, we had to tell the story within our own retail and online footprint and then tell it again through someone else's space.
Another challenge was the cost of innovation. Stride Rite felt strongly that quality was always the key to brand value and that parents cared about what shoes their children wore, so shoes were built with the kids’ feet and growth patterns in mind. However, that always came at a cost.
Consumers have been willing to pay for that for generations, right? Our grandparents were sure that if we didn’t start out with the classic white baby shoes and wear Stride Rites through our childhood, we were going to have terrible feet. The new generation of moms didn’t think like that. They preferred less expensive shoes that were fashionable and shopped at stores like Target and Kohl’s. Kids’ shoes started to look just like miniature versions of adult shoes.
Your first CMO role was at Brookstone, which is known for its super cool gadgets. What did you focus on while you were there?
I grew up with Brookstone; it used to be like a store full of magic. You would go in there and discover something you never knew you needed. I love the brand for that.
When I got to Brookstone, the company was bought out of bankruptcy by an overseas holding company. We still heavily relied on catalogs, and people ordered things by calling a toll-free number. We also had airport stores, which were extremely successful, and mall stores, which were struggling.
I realized very early on that our airport retail customers differed greatly from our mall customers. Airport merchandising was so much clearer than retail, right? We stuck to travel essentials: earplugs, earphones, luggage, and maybe a couple of gifts for someone who feels guilty that they didn’t have anything to bring back to family. The mall story, however, was more complicated. At that point, Brookstone had gone into so many different categories. You had your massage chairs at the front of the store, a drone flying over your head, a speaker playing music across the store, and home goods in the back. It was a challenging environment made worse by the fact that mall traffic overall was down quite a bit.
What was cool about that job was that we had a passionate sales force that we could leverage. We had people in stores who interacted with customers on many purchases, helping guide them to the right products. Conversion is easier when you have an assisted selling model and a sales force who can take the time to explain new products to people, especially the more technical or complex ones.
Your next move was to the agency side, but let’s save that for later because you’ve had two other CMO roles at very different companies. Can you talk about those?
Sure, my first CMO role was at iRobot, where we built the Roomba robot vacuum into one of the most beloved and recognizable smart home products. I joined during the pandemic, which, surprisingly, became a major growth accelerator. With people spending more time at home, they quickly realized just how much cleaning they had to do—and with house cleaners unavailable, Roomba became an essential household partner. This shift in consumer behavior helped drive a 28% increase in revenue in 2020 alone, as demand for smart home automation surged.
It was a really interesting job. We had tons of data on our customers and could do great personalization, but there was an inherent limitation. Households only need so many Roombas. So, the goal was to ensure people were using their robotic vacuums and upgrading when the time was right.
Our focus had to be courting new customers; it’s essential to do a good job building loyalty with the customers you have because they are your best source of referrals. At the same time, we also needed to identify new consumer segments with specific needs that Roomba could address. For example, pet owners face unique cleaning challenges, like managing pet hair and keeping floors tidy. By highlighting Roomba's advanced features—such as its ability to navigate around pet toys and efficiently handle pet fur—we successfully tapped into this growing demographic. This approach allowed us to build a strong connection with pet owners while expanding our reach in a meaningful way.
During my time at iRobot, we expanded Roomba’s global reach, refined our direct-to-consumer strategy, and evolved our messaging to highlight how Roomba wasn’t just a vacuum—it was a key part of the modern smart home ecosystem. Our work during those years set the stage for iRobot’s next growth phase, even as the market landscape shifted post-pandemic.
“It’s essential to do a good job building loyalty with the customers you have because they are your best source of referrals. At the same time, we also needed to identify new consumer segments with specific needs…”
Is it true that most people name their Roombas?
Oh, absolutely—about 80% of Roomba owners name their robots. It’s one of the quirks that makes Roomba such a unique product. When you have a little autonomous robot buzzing around your home, it doesn’t take long before it starts feeling like part of the family.
What’s funny is that most people name them the opposite gender. No idea why—maybe it just feels right? Personally, I had Rafa and Roger—because if you’re going to have two, why not name them after the greatest tennis rivalry of all time? But I’ve seen everything from Rosie (The Jetsons, of course) to Sir Cleans-a-Lot to names inspired by pets, family members, or favorite characters.
At iRobot, we saw this all the time—it’s a testament to how a consumer product, when designed right, becomes more than just a gadget. It becomes something people connect with.
iRobot is a large publicly traded company, but your next CMO job was for a privately held founder-led, direct-to-consumer company, ButcherBox. Can you tell us more about that challenge?
ButcherBox is a subscription business that has seen tremendous growth since its inception. I was brought into the company to re-establish marketing as a foundation for expanding sales and expanding the brand into new verticals. The organization had grown rapidly, and everyone wanted to continue that pace – but with the stability and control a strong internal marketing team could provide.
I inherited small teams and individuals that were spread out across the country, including Brand/Creative, Performance, Retention, Merchandising, Analytics and PR/Social. My first step was to reunite them under one roof. That meant quickly assessing the team’s strengths to determine what was best kept in-house and what might still be outsourced. We quickly moved to consolidate agency partners and align the creative work through contracts that ensured that both sides benefited when the business met and exceeded our goals.
We also focused on creating processes that ensured that what the consumer was seeing was consistent and meaningful across campaigns and channels. The messaging needed to be consistent and impactful from the first moment the consumer was introduced to the brand, to when they were deciding to enroll with a subscription, and then to the point where that consumer was ordering regularly and actively looking for ideas and inspiration. The key was establishing a brand platform that supported the entire consumer journey. Most importantly, we needed to ensure every ButcherBox employee knew who we were serving. By creating segments and personas, we humanized the customer and created a user experience, programs, and capabilities that helped them get the most out of their subscription.
“Sometimes, what happens is that once the marketing machine starts working efficiently and effectively, organizations declare “Mission Accomplished” and shift resources to other areas. The assumption is that the marketing machine will just run itself without continued refinement and focus.”
At the Continuum, we’ve discussed the pressure on CMOs to perform fast. The average tenure of a CMO these days is about 18 months. Why do you think this is the new norm?
It’s a really good question. I think CMOs are often brought in to create a functioning marketing machine. That’s been true for me. If you asked me what my superpower is, I’d say it’s seeing the different pieces that are spread out across the organization and not working together. I can spot the inefficiencies and failures of communications and can bring those teams together, set the vision, create messages, and build a high-functioning, data-driven marketing organization.
That does not happen overnight. But it can be done efficiently and without putting the day-to-day business at risk.
Sometimes, what happens is that once the marketing machine starts working efficiently and effectively, organizations declare “Mission Accomplished” and shift resources to other areas. The assumption is that the marketing machine will just run itself without continued refinement and focus. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. You have to keep investing in marketing, keep optimizing it, and keep building on it to get that continued growth.
There are also the pressures of managing short-term versus long-term objectives, balancing investment that supports brand-building activities with conversion activities. This is an ongoing conversation that requires strong alignment not only with the CEO but across the entire senior leadership team.
“You have to keep investing in marketing, keep optimizing it, and keep building on it to get that continued growth.”
You took a break from the brand side for a few years before iRobot when you served as the CEO of Arnold Worldwide. What was it like to go to an agency after being in-house at brands for so long?
It was a fantastic opportunity. There's something special about the creative energy at a world-class advertising agency. When you combine creatives with account teams, strategy experts, and finance all under one roof, it’s just a really cool environment. You feel a buzz about being there. It’s exciting to challenge your brain to be in so many different places at once. Having been on that side, I will never work with an agency the same way again.
Would you be nicer?
I’m much harder on contract negotiation and much more empathetic to what the agency deals with every day. I’m deeply appreciative of what they do.
I am also a big believer in the value of the agency relationship. When you are heads down as a marketer in your own industry, you drink your own Kool-Aid, and it's tough to be objective about your brand, your offering, and your messaging. A good agency partner can challenge you and be the look in the mirror you need sometimes.
You’re looking for your next role right now. Do you have ideas of what you want?
I will always love consumer goods. I am a sports fan, I focus on personal health, I enjoy food, and I love cooking and entertaining. I think all of those interests have a direct connection with consumers, and I want to work for a brand with a product I believe in. But the key to my success has been bringing my experience in all aspects of marketing to new industries and opportunities, and I thrive on the excitement of a new challenge.
I would like to find a company that's ready for that next level of growth and wants someone to come in and build the things, know the plays, make the calls, and guide them through. That's what I love doing, and I'm good at it.
It’s exciting. My career has taken me to places both personally and professionally that I never could have imagined when I started at a regional grocery chain 25 years ago. I’m excited for that next challenge, and I can’t wait to get started.
January 30, 2025
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