On this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Kristen Lauria, chief customer and marketing officer at Wheels U, to explore the evolution of luxury travel marketing and brand transformation.
Wheels Up is revolutionizing private aviation through innovative membership models, strategic partnerships, and its marketing team has everything to do with it.
From her unique journey from aerospace engineering to marketing leadership, Kristen shares insights on pivoting brands toward growth, building trust with high-net-worth clients, and creating exceptional customer experiences.
This conversation serves as a critical reminder of a good marketer’s core responsibility: translating complex business ideas into powerful customer value.
At Wheels Up, Kristen brings a unique blend of engineering and marketing expertise to the aviation industry. With a background as an aerospace engineer and extensive experience at IBM, Kristen specializes in transforming complex technical offerings into market-ready solutions.
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Episode Highlights:
[01:50] Building Trust Through Brand Translation — Kristen emphasizes that marketing success comes from effectively translating complex offerings into clear market value. She explains that building trust is paramount when serving sophisticated customers, particularly in luxury markets where significant investments are involved. The challenge lies in maintaining brand authenticity while simplifying complex services for different audience segments. CMOs should focus on developing a clear brand point of view that resonates across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C channels simultaneously.
