From $0 confidence to CEO of one of the most well-known brands in the world, Build-A-Bear CEO Sharon Price John’s story is nothing short of inspiring.
In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, recorded on the Brandweek 2025 stage in Atlanta, Sharon reveals her unconventional career journey and how that evolution directly shaped the turnaround and reimagining of an iconic experiential brand.
What you’ll learn:
- How to transition from functional expertise to CEO-level thinking
- Why CMOs must adopt a “business-first” mindset to advance
- The confidence gap that holds high-potential women back from applying for stretch roles
- How to unlock brand equity by understanding feeling over function
- The critical role of authentic leadership in driving organizational transformation
- How to pivot a single-location retail concept into an IP-driven, multi-vertical business
Sharon Price John is the President and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, bringing over three decades of experience in brand building, business transformation, and experiential retail. With a background spanning advertising (DDB Needham), product management (Mattel’s Barbie division), toy industry leadership (Hasbro), and vertical retail (Stride Rite), Sharon has developed a distinctive expertise in turning around underperforming brands and businesses while scaling profitable growth.
At Build-A-Bear, she has transformed the iconic 30-year-old company from a struggling mall-based retailer into a diversified intellectual property enterprise, expanding digital commerce to 40% of sales and positioning the brand for global expansion.
Her insights on authentic leadership, business strategy, and the emotional core of brand equity make her an invaluable voice for CMOs and executives seeking to balance heart-centered brand building with rigorous business fundamentals.
Introducing: Frontier CMO
In an era where the marketing playbook is being rewritten daily, how can brands stay ahead? Joshua Spanier, Google’s VP of AI and Marketing Strategy, pulls back the curtain in Frontier CMO, his new podcast and weekly insights letter featuring the marketers, thought leaders, and industry pioneers who are reinventing marketing.
Josh previews the tough questions and unfiltered conversations featured on Frontier CMO, including:
- AI as a leadership test: exploring the “human” side of the AI revolution. As technology and tools advance the challenge becomes equipping marketing teams to leverage these technologies
- Brand relevance and connection: writing the next playbook for brand relevance by showing up as a main character in the places and spaces that connect with your audience
- Agentic Commerce: understanding the transition from “speed vs. certainty” to a world where shopping is fast and smart
- The new marketing organization: knowing where AI makes work faster and smarter and restructuring teams to keep up. Redefining agency partnerships to elevate insights and creativity in real time