CNBC Launches New Brand Campaign ‘Live Ambitiously’ to Empower Viewers to Achieve Their Financial Aspirations

September 08, 2023

Original Sit-Downs Showcase the Road to Success with Personal and Professional Journeys of C-Suite Level Executives including John Hope Bryant, Brian Grazer, Marissa Mayer, Everette Taylor, Desiree Gruber and CNBC’s Own On-Air Talent

As part of CNBC’s mission to inform and inspire a next generation of leaders, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, launched “Live Ambitiously,” an all-new branding campaign that reveals how today’s global leaders and investors have reached the pinnacle of success and what ultimately drives them to achieve it.

Featuring notable and influential CEOs and leaders across a multitude of industries, the recently-debuted spots with John Hope Bryant (Operation Hope CEO), Marissa Mayer (Sunshine Co-Founder & CEO/former Google Executive), Brian Grazer (Imagine Entertainment Founder), Everette Taylor (Kickstarter CEO), as well as CNBC’s expert roster of anchors and reporters including Andrew Ross Sorkin (“Squawk Box” Co-Anchor and New York Times Reporter), Kelly Evans (“The Exchange” Anchor and “Power Lunch” Co-Anchor), and Melissa Lee (“Fast Money” Host), provide an exclusive, inside look at what it takes to navigate the world of corporate America and advice on staying true to one’s aspirations throughout the journey.

Upcoming inspirational vignettes for on-air and digital include moguls from entertainment, pharmaceutical, retail, sports, and more, such as Priscilla Sims Brown, CEO, Amalgamated Bank; Albert Bourla, CEO Pfizer; Carlos Gutierrez, CEO, EmPath (former CEO, Kellogg Company); Nick Fink, CEO, Fortune Brand Innovations; Adena Friedman, CEO, NASDAQ; Desiree Gruber, CEO, Full Picture; Troy Jones, CEO, Status Pro; Nick Kyrgios, Professional Tennis Player; Marc Metrick, CEO, Saks; Rhonda Morris, VP, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chevron; Kate Ryder, CEO, Maven; Karl Strovink, CEO, Blue Bottle; Shundrawn Thomas, CEO, The Copia Group; and over 20 familiar faces from CNBC.

″‘Live Ambitiously’ is a profoundly deliberate representation of what CNBC stands for, inspiring the audience to recognize and embrace their own ambition, and seize opportunities to improve their lives and financial well-being,” said Tom Clendenin, Senior Vice President, Marketing, CNBC. “Whether you’re someone looking to run a company, or just looking to better themselves, this campaign is about humanizing the challenging process by providing a true glimpse of what it takes to define your personal success.”

Excerpts from recent sit-downs:

• Jon Fortt, Co-Anchor, CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime”: “There’s a difference between ambition and greed. Greed is wanting more, ambition is wanting better. And not just better for yourself, for your family, for your community, for your country.”
• Marissa Mayer, CEO, Sunshine: “Being the first woman engineer at Google, I get asked all the time, ‘What’s it like to be a woman at Google?’ ‘What’s it like to be a woman in tech?’ and I realized that when I parsed my experience and really processed it, I didn’t feel like ‘a woman at Google.’ I felt like a geek at Google, right? I was someone who loved technology…And I realized that it was the passion around what we were doing, and what we thought we were building and creating for people, that, really, for me, neutralized the notion of gender. Which is why I like to say ‘passion is a gender-neutralizing force.’”
• Everette Taylor, CEO, Kickstarter: “Initially, my ambition was really driven by survival-- being able to take care of my family. And then when I was able to put my family in a better position and be in a better financial place, it was really driven by impact and the positive impact that I could bring into the lives of all the people around me and the people that may not even know that I’m behind that impact.”
• John Hope Bryant, CEO, Operation Hope: “I was in class one day [when he was young], and a white banker came to my classroom wearing a blue suit, a red tie, and a white shirt. I remember it like it was yesterday. And he was talking about money. I looked at him. I said, ‘Excuse me, sir, what do you do for a living? And how’d you get rich legally?’ And I was dead serious. Nobody in my neighborhood wore a suit or had a business card saying they were on the 16th floor or had a salary. I mean, what was this man? What did he do? He said, ‘I’m a banker, and I finance entrepreneurs.’ I said, ‘Sir, I don’t know what an entrepreneur is, but if you’re financing ‘em and it’s legal, I’m gonna be one.’ That’s who I am today.”

“Ambition is what drives our viewers to connect with CNBC,” adds Robert Poulton, Vice President, Global Creative Director, CNBC. “They have financial goals they strive to achieve, and they rely on us to give insight that might help them reach those goals. This new campaign puts the spotlight on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ leaders got to their achievements. This inside look is meant to engage our viewers on a deeper relatable, personal and aspirational level.” 

To learn more about CNBC’s campaign, visit: https://www.cnbc.com/live-ambitiously/.