The Baker Retailing Center welcomed Adam Kornblum, Chief Creative Officer for U.S. Brands at L’Oréal, for an inspiring conversation on creative leadership, brand-building, and taking bold swings in one’s career. Kornblum, who helped transform CeraVe into a global phenomenon, shared lessons from his unconventional path from philosophy major to a marketing visionary.
Before entering advertising, Kornblum had planned to go to law school. His first entrepreneurial leap was pitching a financial literacy board game to American Express during the credit crisis, which he later sold to Hasbro after making up a story about a billionaire, cleverly marketing it to the CEO’s son, and relentlessly self-educating by reading books on advertising and strategy.
He landed at Ogilvy, working on global campaigns for American Express, Coca-Cola, and more. Seven years later, L’Oréal came calling.
As the company’s first global digital marketing hire for CeraVe, he helped scale the brand from $200 million to $2 billion in revenue, turning it from a niche player into one of the hottest names in skincare. One of Kornblum’s most notable achievements was the Michael CeraVe Super Bowl campaign, which became the #1 Adweek Ad of the Year, earned a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, and was Emmy-nominated. The viral “fake news” campaign playfully speculated that actor Michael Cera had created CeraVe, before the brand stepped in to “debunk” the rumor. The campaign was a viral hit – a full-circle moment of Adam’s “make up a story” method and an immersive way to advertise while amusing people.
INSIGHTS FROM ADAM
When Walt Disney struggled to sell his early animations, an investor told him, “Everyone knows Lifesavers — no one knows you or your mouse.” That became his motivation to be the “Lifesaver” of animation. “Anything I try to do,” Kornblum said, “I think about how to become the Lifesaver everyone knows.”