The CMO Helping Millions Get The Right Job

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! We’re officially in that pre-Thanskgiving blur where your inbox is chaos, your to-do list is growing by the second, and your focus is hanging by a pumpkin-spiced-scented thread. Take five, grab something warm, and settle in for your favorite kind of procrastination: productive.

Every week, we bring you insights from marketing’s boldest minds, leaders reshaping how brands connect, storytellers balancing art and data, and CMOs who know that “good enough” never is.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

• A sit-down with Indeed CMO, James Whitemore

• Waymo x OpenFortune

• How a home invasion turned into marketing gold for Owala

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone reimagining how brands can lead with purpose while still driving performance, it’s James Whitemore, Chief Marketing Officer at Indeed. With over 25 years of experience spanning tech heavyweights like IBM and NetApp, James has built a career on blending sales insight with marketing intuition, a perspective that now shapes how Indeed connects with millions of job seekers and employers around the world.

Early in his career, James found himself constantly challenging his company’s marketing materials, until someone finally called his bluff and invited him to do better. The move sparked a lifelong commitment to bridging sales and marketing, ensuring the two worked hand in hand rather than at odds. 

That dual perspective now shapes how James approaches his role at Indeed, one of the world’s largest employment platforms. When the company first approached him, he admits he wasn’t sure he was the right fit. Coming from the world of enterprise B2B tech, he’d always viewed Indeed as a consumer-driven brand. But once he looked under the hood, he realized the complexity of the business mirrored the platforms he’d spent decades managing, massive, data-rich, and deeply human at its core. 

Indeed’s mission, “We help people get jobs,” is more than a tagline. It’s a guiding principle that shapes everything from product development to boardroom discussions. James noted that every conference room has a single orange chair that no one is allowed to sit in. “That represents the job seeker,” he explained. “The job seeker is always at the table.”

That commitment to empathy became central to his first major initiative at the company: a $40 million campaign aimed at reshaping how people view Indeed. For years, the brand had been synonymous with job listings. James wanted to expand that perception, showing that Indeed more than just a place to find work, but a platform to build careers. The new messaging focused on empowerment, guiding job seekers through interview preparation, resume optimization, and confidence-building tools designed to help them stand out.

Through sleek TV spots, Spotify takeovers, and even cinema ads tied to the launch of Taylor Swift’s new album, the campaign brings warmth and relatability to a brand built on trust. It’s a mix of humor, humanity, and data-backed precision, the kind of marketing that feels both intelligent and empathetic.

Behind the creative sits a deeply analytical engine. James and his team use AI to anticipate shifts in the labor market, modeling when people might become active job seekers and tailoring outreach accordingly. But for all the sophistication, Whitemore insists that great marketing still begins with human understanding. Whether he’s guiding a small business owner who’s never hired before or consulting an enterprise client on employer branding, his approach starts with empathy.

James’ Takeaway

“You can do whatever you want. You just got to decide what that is you want to do.” For James, that clarity drives everything from his leadership style to his creative philosophy. Marketing, he says, will always be part art, part science, but it’s the human decisions in between that make it matter.

To hear more about how James Whitemore is shaping the future of work, and helping millions of people find their next opportunity, listen to the full episode of CMO Weekly.

🥠 The Cookie Jar

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

• Waymo: Driving Buzz and Trust From Branded Cookies. Turns out the fastest route to trust is through your stomach.

• How a home invasion turned into marketing gold for Owala. Sometimes the best marketing strategy is just being in the right crime scene at the right time.

• Hennessy’s LeBron James ad sparked controversy—and record engagement. Why aim for universal love when you can have profitable outrage?

• Why Coca-Cola keeps pushing the limits of generative AI despite backlash. AI critics are fuming, but Coke's just staying fizzy with it.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team