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OhHello - Beth Reilly
76 Plays2 years ago
Beth is a results-driven and innovative marketer known for revitalizing and transforming marketing operations for some of the world’s most recognized brands, She offers an impressive history of shattering performance records, driving radical brand growth, and building the marketing infrastructure needed to scale operations for years to come. Beth most recently served as the first Head of Media Strategy and Planning at Live Nation in their Concerts Marketing organization.
Beth has over 25+ years of executive leadership experience, and has overseen both online and offline media and marketing across various industries in the Fortune 500, start-up, and interim leadership environments. She has managed media budgets of up to $800M for Sprint and overall P&Ls of $400M for brands like Kraft/Mondelez, controlling digital budgets of $50M on a global scale.
Recognized as a strong negotiator and relationship-builder, Beth has utilized these skills to broker top-notch deals and groundbreaking industry programs with Google, Twitter, and Facebook, including the first global deal between Kraft and Twitter for $3M.
A passionate mentor for the next generation of talent, Beth strives to build transparent, empathetic, and empowering working cultures that give employees the tools to do their absolute best. Beth also serves as an adjunct professor at Loyola University, where she teaches Media and Communications Planning courses.
No stranger to the not-for-profit board space, Beth serves on the board for the Ronald McDonald House, Chicago/NW Indiana and is the co-chair of the development committee at St. Joan of Arc School in Lisle, IL
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Transcript
Joyful Beginnings and Friendship
00:00:18
Speaker
Awesome. Look at that smile. Look at that smile. And for those that aren't necessarily watching this video, you can hear the smile coming out of the other side of the camera. Hi, Beth. Hi, Jeremy. Oh, hello. Oh, yeah. Oh, hello. Oh, hello, Jeremy.
Beth's Multifaceted Career and Charity Work
00:00:38
Speaker
Beth, I know you. We've known each other for quite some time. You are a real life friend, someone who
00:00:45
Speaker
is a connector, a mom, so well versed in the marketing ecosystem. But who are you? Why are you here? Tell us who you are. Who am I? We were just talking about this, that I am a true Jill of all trades. You are? Yeah, I mean, I've spent my career sort of getting experience in multiple facets of marketing from promotions to media to brand management to partnerships.
00:01:16
Speaker
I've done training, I've done mentoring. It kind of has all made me into this sort of like Uber integrated marketer. But aside from that, I'm also a mom. I serve on several charity boards. I volunteer. So I just was elected to the board of the Ronald McDonald House Charities here in Chicago and Northwest Indiana. It is a
00:01:44
Speaker
An organization that is personal and close to my heart. When my son was born, he was in the NICU and we actually stayed in the Lurie Children's Ronald McDonald House. And I always said, if there was one thing I was going to do and devote my time to, it was going to be that charity.
00:02:03
Speaker
I did also spend 10 years of my career working on the McDonald's business. So on the agency side. So it's, it's kind of in my eye. Like I, when I posted it on LinkedIn, people I worked with at McDonald's were like, Oh, you've come full circle. Like, you know, from McDonald's to McDonald's.
00:02:21
Speaker
Anyway, so that is one of the places that I devote a lot of my time to. And the other is my kids' school. They go to a private school, and I co-chair our fundraising committee at our school. So those are a couple of the places that I devote my time to. It's wonderful that you devote so much time to so many great purposes and causes. How would you characterize your skill set that you're going to be sharing with the Oh Hello community?
From Agencies to Kraft: Beth's Marketing Journey
00:02:47
Speaker
I mean, I kind of just talked about it sort of this sort of Jill of all trades, you know, I, I started my career at an advertising agency working in client service and strategy. And somehow I morphed I worked on the Disney business and I decided I loved entertainment. So I decided I was going to move to Los Angeles and find a job in entertainment and I did. So I worked in
00:03:12
Speaker
corporate marketing and partnerships for Universal Studios. I worked at Disney for a little bit. I came back to Chicago after a couple of years in LA. Did what I knew best was working on McDonald's on the agency side. I ran the global Happy Meal business at an agency. And then I left that job. It was amazing. I traveled all over the world, but it was a bit too much travel. I left that job and I started at Kraft in brand management.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that is when we met. And that is a job that I, between Kraft and Mondelez, I stayed at for 11 years. And then I've kind of moved, you know, even within Kraft, I moved around, I moved from brand management into the CRM team. And I moved, then I was on the, we had a very small digital team. Then I ran digital globally for Mondelez. So
00:04:01
Speaker
I've kind of done a lot of different things in my career. When I started in digital, by default, no one understood the media or the creative. So when you start in digital, you would kind of have to do both things, which has allowed me to also spend a lot of my career working in the media space, both the online and offline, like traditional and new media, which isn't so new anymore.
00:04:28
Speaker
You know, so I've kind of done, you know, everything in the integrated marketing space, which I think is kind of unique. And when you throw in working at several different huge tech and telecommunications and financial services companies and entertainment companies, you are certainly one of the Jill of all trades when it comes to being a marketing exec within our ecosystem. Yeah, I guess you could see Jill or Jackie.
00:04:59
Speaker
Jackie Jackie of all trades. Let's do that. Right? You're the Jackie of all trades. As you've got your stylish leather coat right now. Looks great. Thank you. What would you tell being being all stylish and having the amazing experience that you have?
Networking and Leadership Advice
00:05:16
Speaker
What would you tell your 25 year old self? What would 25? What would who Beth today? What would you tell Beth a few years ago?
00:05:27
Speaker
Well, there are a couple of things. There's one thing I tell all of my mentees, my students, because I've also taught at Loyola University here in Chicago.
00:05:38
Speaker
and you know this, that I, when you just said earlier that I'm a connector, network, network and network. I cannot emphasize it enough. It is, I find like really important in this day and age. And it's funny because I see people that I've come up through the business world with now their kids are graduating from college and their dads are helping them by networking with their friends. Hey, can you talk to my daughter? She's going into marketing. You know, I mean, and they're basically,
00:06:07
Speaker
helping them network. But I find that that's really important. I would absolutely reinforce that to my 25 year old self. And then also, you know what, no jobs forever. I think that it's, you know, kind of take it, get what you need from it. And if you're not happy, move on. You know, I always say you can do anything for a year. You know, and you can.
00:06:34
Speaker
you gain experience from everything you do, whether it's a year or 11 years, you know, and keep you can keep like a craft. I kept reinventing myself. I was there for 11 years because I moved from, you know, division to division. So I think those are a couple things. Oh, also, I follow good people and good bosses.
00:06:58
Speaker
and be a good person and a good boss and people will follow you. I think those are a couple things that I, I mean, that was like three things, but I would tell my 25 year old self. So, information, network, network, and network. Correct. Be a good person. And reinventing yourself and knowing that you don't have, you want to do what,
00:07:24
Speaker
intrinsically feels right. If you are able to still be challenged within a large organization, like a craft or Mondelez, and being able to wear multiple hats over the years, and to learn new things to have new challenges, new adventures, different skill sets, amazing. But if they're not being challenged, GTFO.
00:07:48
Speaker
What's that crazy statistic that the average person changes careers and is like an average of three times during their lifetime? I don't know that I've changed careers like I've stayed in within the marketing space, but I've definitely done a lot of different stuff within that space. Hence being a Jackie. Yes.
The Role of Mentorship in Beth's Life
00:08:08
Speaker
who are three of your mentors? And if not three, two, five, 20, who are some folks that you've looked up to or have learned from that you want to contribute to? Yeah, first of all, I do always tell people to kind of have your own personal board of directors. I just was giving this advice to someone I recently worked with who was, you know, trying to, you know, grow their career and grow themselves. Yeah, I feel like
00:08:37
Speaker
They may not be mentors to you, but they are definitely people you run stuff past, like sanity check. So I think that's important. But for my mentors, I honestly, my dad, I think your original mentors are your parents in some capacity, good or bad. But my dad always told me to do what makes me happy and not what makes the most money. It's great if they come together.
00:09:07
Speaker
Your career is long, and you want to make sure you're doing something that makes you truly happy, not just the thing that makes you the most money. I'd say my friend and former colleague, Sarah, she truly showed me that you can set boundaries, but still be successful.
00:09:33
Speaker
And to give an example, she's Orthodox Jewish. And, you know, there's some very specific boundaries you have to have.
00:09:41
Speaker
you know, when you are Orthodox. I'm vigorously nodding as someone who has come across some Orthodox Jewish folks in my life. Yes, absolutely. She's been incredibly successful. And I think I'm not Orthodox Jewish, but I can respect that, you know, you have to set those boundaries. Set of parameters that you live by. Yeah. What is Sarah's last name? Just to give her a shout. Oh, Hofstetter. Sarah Hofstetter. She's amazing.
00:10:11
Speaker
And then my former colleague Kim Evanson, she's always good for a pep talk or a pep walk. We like to walk and talk and bring me back to reality if something's going bad in my day and I can give her a call. We don't live in the same city anymore, but I recently was in the city she was in and we
00:10:29
Speaker
I called her up and I said, hey, do you want to, can we just, I need a pep walk. So yeah, it was amazing. She always has really great advice, things you didn't think of. Like if you're, if something's not going well, she's always the one who's like brings you back to reality. Like listen, it's not you, you know? So I'd say she's, she's also somebody I would consider a mentor for sure. Nice.
00:10:54
Speaker
Thank you for sharing that. It's amazing to hear about your father and then two former colleagues that have become close friends and part of components of the BOD to Beth Riley. There are more. I mean, I have plenty more, but I would say if you if I had to stop at three, I mean, I have former bosses that I've worked for that I would go work for again in a second who I also still keep in touch with. Andy Markowitz, I'm sure you know from my days at Kraft,
00:11:24
Speaker
I still remember the name for sure. We text each other all the time. You know, nice. Great. Great.
Charitable Focus: St. Jude and Susan G. Komen
00:11:31
Speaker
Well, as a hello, as you know, that you're going to be able to to donate.
00:11:37
Speaker
parts of the revenue that come in to a cause that's near and dear to your heart. Obviously, you had mentioned Ronald McDonald House charities earlier in the conversation. Our goal is to have as many different charities as possible long-term. But for now, as a solopreneur, as we're building up the platform and eventually creating teams, so on and so forth, we'll be able to put individual and more charities into it.
00:12:05
Speaker
What are some some charities that are near and dear to your heart that are available inside this platform? Yeah. Actually, I need to look and remind myself because of course I told you I looked through it and I was like, Where's Ronald McDonald House? Then we then just you had already don't don't don't stress about that. But I see St. Jude on here. I mean, that's amazing. St. Jude everybody. St. Jude. St. Jude. I don't I don't know. My dad has Parkinson's. I don't see Parkinson's on here. But
00:12:34
Speaker
I also, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, I've had one too many friends who've had breast cancer over the years. So I think those two probably are, the St. Jude and Susan G. Komen are probably the two where I would focus some of my money.
00:12:54
Speaker
Awesome. Thank you, Beth. We're so excited to have you be on the Oh, hello platform with us. Thank you for being here today. Any other parting words as I start the outro music?
Excitement for the Oh Hello Platform
00:13:07
Speaker
I mean, you and I talked about this earlier, but I'm first of all, I'm super excited. I think this is an amazing platform. And, you know, I'm excited to help people understand like, even if even if you've seen I've worked at a company before to be able to give you a
00:13:23
Speaker
yay or nay on a company or things to watch out for, just things to keep in mind as you're looking at companies. I think this platform will be amazing for that. You rock. And since this likely won't be edited out, thanks for letting me just play around with the outro music. Is that going to go? Oh, first of all, the music, that's why my smile was so big at the beginning. I mean, who's not going to smile at the Charlie Brown?
00:13:52
Speaker
We appreciate you. Thank you everybody for listening. Thank you for watching. Goodbye. Hello. Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you.