U.S. Bank’s Michael Lacorazza on AI, Personalization & Modern Marketing Growth

Up today on the Speed to Culture podcast, we are thrilled to welcome Michael LaCarranza, the Chief Marketing Officer at US Bank. Michael's a transformational marketing leader who operates at the intersection of storytelling, technology, data science, and customer experience. Michael, thanks so much for taking the time here at CES to, uh, talk with us today.

Thanks for having me today.

Absolutely. So it's interesting, you know, I've been coming to CES for the last 25 years, and when I started, it was truly just consumer electronics companies. You had companies that made TVs and dishwashers and, you know, this is MP3s, and now you have US Bank here. Why is CES an important place for you as a CMO of US Bank to start the year off?

CES has become like a lot of other high-profile events where the attendees live at the intersection of our world. Yeah, a lot of marketers are here, brands, agencies, media companies, technology companies. So it becomes a place where we can actually accomplish quite a lot on the relationship building and the learning side.

Yeah, in terms of getting outside input and outside and thinking and fresh thinking.

So that's what it's become for us. And it's amazing to see this year in particular how that leg of it has expanded so much.

Yeah, it's crazy to think about. I mean, I think that what you find at events like this is that no matter what industry you're in, people kind of share the same problems, the same challenges, same opportunities. Obviously AI is something that goes across every category. And just curious, What are your overall thoughts on AI's impact, both on your role as a CMO and US Bank's overall product and how it touches and drives great experiences with your customers?

Right. Well, that's a, that's a pretty big meta question. Yeah. And I think maybe like a lot of other companies, we're, we're on this journey to figure out how this is gonna work for us and to plug in. And, and we have use cases and projects that are at various stages of development, some of which have been incredibly effective and promising and some of which we just learned and said, oh, well, maybe that's not the right place to insert this. You know, what I'm seeing right now is a couple of things. First is in terms of where it's driving the most value for us is in the use of tools and techniques like synthetic audiences to be able to develop strategies really quickly and just develop creative ideas really quickly. We developed that. We used that first with our brand campaign, The Power of Us, that launched in 2024. And it shaved the, the total cycle time development of the campaign in half from say 6.5 months to about 3 months.

So you're creating synthetic audiences. And who's in the audience who doesn't know what synthetic audience is? It's essentially an audience that's modeled after a real audience that you would test advertising with. Yeah. But, and it's made up of AI agents essentially who are answering in a simulated form like real consumers. And you're confident enough in that feedback that you're willing to use it as a, as a, as a key signal.

As a guide for sure. Yeah. You know, when, when we were first experimenting with this technology, we also ran human sort of parallel. Yes. Answering some of the same questions and, and with some refinement we found, you know, it probably correlates like 95% of the time for, for what we're trying to do. And so that's been really successful for us in terms of speed to market, getting insights quickly, executing research. Yeah. The other place that we're finding some success is in the growth space, which I find to be most exciting because the use cases for cost savings are more obvious in terms of automating processes and those types of things. But from my perspective, the real unlock is how do you leverage the technology to drive growth? So for us, you know, number one is how are we using it to improve customer, the actual customer experience, which then translates into higher satisfaction, which then translates into higher loyalty.

Yeah.

And retention, which has massive economic upside. And you know, one example is we have, we can feed data, behavioral data of our customers. Say they go onto one of our digital platforms and they get stuck somewhere. They're trying to move money or they're trying to do something and something's not working for them. Well, if they decide to call our call center, we can feed in insights that this customer got stuck here and the call center rep banker can maybe intuit what the customer actually needs in a sense when the call begins. Right. And so it leads to faster problem resolution, better customer experience. Better customer experience. Yeah. And then, you know, of course you want to have a situation where you never have any sort of problem whatsoever in your digital channels, but it's just not, you know, it's not feasible. Like it's technology. Sometimes things aren't going to work quite right. Right. For a variety of reasons. But so when we incorporate those kinds of, and AI plays a heavy role in being able to synthesize this information and deliver it right through our CRM. The third way we're getting a lot of value, and it's already now in the tens of millions of dollars, is through personalization. So it's, as you can imagine, a company like ours, we have a tremendous amount of data on our clients, all permissioned, all transparent for how we use the data, and a very high expectation from our clients to say, hey, you know me, you should be, you should be like giving me advice.

That's what I'm getting. It comes to me as an audience of many, not as an audience of one. Right, right.

To the, you know, to the extent that's possible. So, for us to be able to personalize, you know, content advice, you know, product suggestions, offers and so forth that will resonate on a more one-to-one basis with people. We find that they respond by wanting to do more business with us. Yeah.

How have you, I mean, you talk about it almost like so matter-of-factly and, you know, those examples are all really impressive for a company your size that you're actually putting it to work. 'Cause many people I talk to on this podcast talk about, what they're gonna do. You're talking about things that you're doing, which is a big distinction. Mm-hmm. How have you been able to drive that transformation so quickly in your organization to give people confidence in synthetic audiences or confidence in using AI for personalization or customer experience? It's not easy because in doing so, you have to change the way that many people work and get them to work together on that new way of working.

That's a great framing of it, right? So it's the journey is huge, requires huge commitments from cross-functional partners to enable this, right? So we, I would say, are quite fortuitous to have a risk partnership and a legal partnership that's focused on—

You still kill it. If you don't have the right legal team, you're dead in the water, right?

And the mental model is like, how can we help make the customer experience better? How can we help the business grow?

You all want the same thing.

Versus just saying, oh, that's too risky, it's a no. It's more like, okay, well, it's how do we get to a yes? What considerations, what changes do we need to make? And that's been a really big unlock to have that sort of advocacy to make things possible. I would say the second thing is that we also, for all the success or sort of opportunities that we've been able to unlock so far, we also know there's way more that we don't know than we know. So, you know, keeping a dose of humility And, and always being in learning mode is what, what makes it possible to move forward.

I also find, and I've experienced this in my own organization, when you roll out something new, there's people that feel threatened. There's people that feel threatened because they think it's gonna eliminate their job. There's people that feel threatened 'cause they don't understand it. And you, if in order for you to deploy something new with AI, you do need feedback from the organization. 'Cause like even with synthetic, like you don't, you said you tested it, but you don't really know how to build the right synthetic audience. And the first time it might be completely off, and over time you trust the technology and you get there. Yeah. Same with AI-powered creative. And I find that it's hard sometimes to get people to go along with you on the journey because they're so quick to say, see, I told you it doesn't work. And those who know AI know that today's the worst it's ever gonna be. And if it can do something just okay today, it's gonna do that way in a mind-blowing form a year from now. And you have to build your business to where the world's headed, not to where it was.

That's a great point. Yeah, that, that's a fantastic point. I think you said it well.

Right. Yeah. But, but like, what do you do? I guess my question is, have you encountered that? You know, like, have you encountered people that in your organization that aren't willing to embrace change? And how do you deal with that when you do?

You know, well, a couple of, couple of ways. I think what I've learned in the, in the course of my career, having, having been at the nexus of, of many different change initiatives is number one, you have to have a vision, a clear vision and a sense of where you're going and bring people along with it and bring people in to be a part of co-creating it and crafting it.

Make them feel like they have a vested interest.

Absolutely. Yeah. See, you know, getting a sense of excitement about what the future brings. It's maybe with the implementation of AI and so forth, because it's potentially such a massively disrupted technology. You know, you've heard it compared to industrial revolution and, you know, these kinds of things. But, you know, just because we got, you know, email and laptops doesn't mean that, you know, the world, the world got decimated, right? We used to have to handwrite letters and send faxes. Like, they don't really have to do that anymore. So, um, so, you know, number one, bringing people on the journey for the vision that you have. And, um, certainly there are going to be moments in time where you have to make some tough calls on do you have the right people and skills and leaders and mindset around you. And, you know, you might have to make some changes, right? Um, but, um, but, but, you know, from my perspective, if you get, if you can find that sort of formula where there's this inspirational tone and leadership and optimism about where it's taking you, it does help unlock it. And I would say that the next thing, the last thing is that, um, just being open and honest and transparent and acknowledging the anxiety that might exist. Say, look, I know, I understand that there's potentially a fear about where this could go and what this could mean. And, and we know that that's, that's a real fear.

Right. But we have no choice but to move forward.

This is what we have to do. It's, it's a, you know, it's a, it's a meta question essentially for, you know, the future of the business and of many businesses. As Bill Adopos and you think about the various stakeholders that we support in terms of shareholders and employees and communities and so forth, I think, and the board and so forth that's helping guide us, you know, the expectation is that we're going to figure this out.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about creativity for a second because that's one area, especially here at CES this year, that a lot of people are questioning. What is the future of creativity? We just had the CMO of Adobe here and we're talking with her. I love her.

She's great.

Yeah. And, you know, talking about what creativity looks like in an AI-powered world. How do you look at AI's role in creativity today and how does that change the role of the creative and how you're able to build effective stories for the brand?

Yeah. Well, in the, in the current state, and I mentioned the synthetic audiences, it's more of like a tool to help you get insights and reactions. Sure. And then for us, we, we also have some AI generation tool creative work that we use in our, for like our in-house teams. Yeah. That help us render images and so forth and do some things at scale that, that can be done like maybe more quickly and efficiently than, than that if we had to do everything through a live view.

Right. Especially if you're trying to do personalization. Yeah. Especially if we're trying to do personalization.

At the same time, it's a very human business and there are humans predominantly making the content that we produce. And there are humans that have to make the decisions and be accountable for what those outcomes are. That's right. So, you know, to my knowledge, the machines haven't really figured out how to take over everything that we do and, you know, what we bring to the table yet. I mean, and that may be further off than some people think for all the hype around it. I mean, just, I'll give you one example. Please. You know, think about all of us that use various large language models, how you get hallucinations and you get wrong answers and you get, so, you know, one, I, on Monday, um, I'm a huge NFL fan.

Yeah. As am I. What's your team?

Uh, 49ers.

I'm the Eagles. I don't know if we should be having this conversation. Yeah. By the time this podcast comes out, one of us is going to be happy or sad. Right.

Well, this is perfect then.

Right.

And we didn't plan this by the way. No, but I asked ChatGPT on Monday after all the games were complete. Hey, um, show me what the NFC matchups are, right? You know, who is— what were the seedings in the NFC? And it said 49ers are playing the Carolina Panthers. And I went, I don't think so. I said, hey, the Carolina— the 49ers are playing the Eagles, right? And they were like, the, you know, device said, oh yeah, good catch, human.

You're right.

Patting me on the back. And I said, okay, so tell me more about the matchups. We have some more dialogue. I said, okay, so now summarize again, what are the matchups? For the NFC, 'cause I just wanted to see like the correct list that I could just capture. Yeah. It played back the, the false one again. Wow. So I, I just use that as like one small little analog because if the large language model who is using like massive amounts of compute power to even answer simple questions can't get the simple questions right, imagine when you extrapolate.

Yeah. Multiple data points.

Or some more complex things.

It's just not there. You wish they were playing the Panthers. Much easier matchup.

When I first saw that, I was like, Oh, that would be amazing.

Exactly right.

Right. I don't know.

That's not true.

Right, right. So, so in any case, I guess a long answer to a short question. I think humans have to be very involved in the creative process.

Yeah.

And the decision-making. And we're ultimately accountable for the outcomes, not the machines, at least not right now.

I mean, so I'm glad you mentioned sports because I know that U.S. Bank has been, you know, leaning in heavily into sports to build its brand and passion points obviously are incredibly important. And, you know, we all know live sports is the last bastion of kind of live TV viewing at scale and to bring people together. It's one of the few things actually in America right now where you bring people together and all cheering for the same thing as well. Yeah, right.

So yeah, it is.

What is your strategy around sports culture and, you know, passion points in general in terms of building the brand?

Yeah. And, you know, it predated my arrival 2 years ago at U.S. Bank. There was, there was actually a pretty substantial investment in sports with, you know, various teams and so forth that we've been involved with. And when we do that sort of work, we're not only sponsors of the Vikings and the 49ers and the Timberwolves and the Clippers, we're their bank. So we are doing business with them and we're supporting them. But I think because of what you just mentioned, which is the change in consumer behavior, especially for the younger generations, for how they're using social platforms and short-form videos and doom-scrolling and so forth, as well as the impact that streaming has had on consumption patterns, and everything is sort of à la carte. You watch it when you watch it, and you're not doing it collectively. Sports is one of the last communal-based experiences that you can have. And even then, for the younger generations, they're getting a lot of their sports through clips. They're not necessarily watching—

They're consuming the songs, not the albums.

Yeah, yeah.

It's still— Fantasy, gambling, and endless different— Absolutely. —points of entry into sports. Absolutely.

My son and I, he, I have a teenage son and, and we, it's something that we do together. We love to watch sports of all different kinds. Yeah. We have teams, we debate, we, you know, we, we love these moments, but, uh, he'll sometimes like send me a clip and I'm like, oh, did you see that game? He's like, no. Right. But, but it was like he did. Yeah. Because he got to consume like the little piece of the game or pieces of the game that were the highlights. Uh-huh. And they feel like they're a part of it even though they're like, they weren't actually part of the, the total experience. Right. So the net of it is like we're going deeper in that space. We're leaning into that as a major point of culture and cultural relevance. And we have what I think is a really authentic history and heritage to connect us with sports fans. And our audience profiles align with those platforms really well. And, and so that's something that our teams will be going deeper in this year. Yeah.

Let's talk for a second about the business of US Bank and the banking business, what are some changes you're seeing with your customer, your consumer, that is causing you to drive transformation in terms of your product offering, in terms of what consumers want in 2026?

Yeah, well, you know, one, one observation is that we're finding that oftentimes financial services companies will tend to approach the customer relationship on an individual product at a time. Well, we're going to do a checking account and then we're going to do credit card and we're going to do this and we're going to do that. And what we're finding is that, you know, the needs, the needs are more complex. And, and there's, there are these windows of decision-making that customers have around their finances. And what they don't want you to do is to say, okay, now I have a checking account. And then for the next 90 days, they're going to pound them to try and sell them other things. Basically, right? Yeah. They've like, they're making this decision, they're switching banks. Cover the needs that I have when I'm in the mindset of being, of making this decision. Yeah. And so what that's led to for us is a bundling of products together. So we have this Smartly suite in our consumer franchise, which is a combination of a checking account, a credit card, and a savings account. And the more business that you do with us, the more that you, you know, the higher the interest rates that you learn on your savings and also the higher the rewards are for the cashback card, which is 2 to 4% depending on the balances that you keep. And what we're finding, we rolled this out last year, is a couple of things. One, the sizes of the relationship that are coming in are larger. They're more loyal and stickier, and those customers are more satisfied to get a more complete solution, you know, right from the beginning. And so we've launched something really similar in the small business space where we have, you know, your money management, your, you know, day-to-day checking, but also you can accept payments like merchant processing, right? So, all in one. And, and so that, that's what's changed the nature of how we're, we're kind of organizing our product set.

Yeah. I think as you look at also the customer, I would imagine they want to have new, you know, easier ways to interact with the, the data behind their money, like chat-based. How much money do I have in my checking account? Did this check clear? I would imagine over time that is going to be part of your product roadmap in terms of how consumers interact with their banking data.

Yeah, no, that's, that's a great point. And so that goes back to what we're talking about on around personalization. Yeah. Just how do you unlock insights for spending patterns, for things that are happening in their financial lives, credit scores, et cetera, and then, and feed those into the digital experiences along the way. Totally. That's—

'Cause you can benchmark and do all sorts of things to allow people, I mean, one of the big unlocks of AI is just in data-driven, data-driven insights. Right, in the way that matters to you, but it's delivered in a conversational format. So you have all this data on a customer in terms of how they're spending their money, where they're spending their money, how that compares against other people like them, or maybe a year ago. And that information can help guide their decisions in ways that are pretty meaningful. So now you're not just a functional offering, but you're some— you're an offering that can help them improve their life, improve their financial picture.

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, here's one like really minor example where you can add value just by mining the customer data. So in our mobile app, customers can give access to all the accounts that they have from other institutions, credit cards, accounts, whatever, and organize it. But then they can look at and see all the subscriptions that they have on all of their accounts, not just ours, if they don't work with us exclusively.

Sure, they can connect their other credit cards.

Yeah, they can connect it. Then we have like a function that says like, here's, here are your subscription services. Right. So if you, you know, how many times do you want to pull up and, you know, I don't know, at least once a year and say, God, what did I sign up for?

I do it all the time.

Yeah. It just creeps in. Yeah. And you see the bill come through sometimes, the charge, oh, I'll get to that, I'll get to that. And then you never do. And then 6 months later you've spent like, you know, $500 on subscriptions. Right. So that's just a really small example of how we're using data in a personalized way that's adding value in the customer experience.

And it's also, I think, a roadmap for a lot of companies regardless of the industry that one of the moats in the era of AI is data. If everyone's access to large language models, what's gonna differentiate you is data. And the more customer data you can get, the more value you can offer and the stickier you're gonna become. Absolutely.

Yeah. So that's sort of, yeah. And the key for it, for us on that is, is, you know, I, I think trust of the, the trust of in the data sits at the center of it with the customer. So being really crystal clear about what's being permissioned, what you're opting into, what's the value exchange that you get in return for that. And then also responding to what they expect us to be able to deliver having access to their data.

Absolutely. So shifting gears as we wrap up here, uh, wrap up here, Michael, it's been such a great conversation. Would love to hear a little bit about you and your career journey. Oh, more specifically, when you look back at your career, what are some of the things that you think you did right along the way to put yourself in the CMO seat? We have a lot of listeners to podcasts that are in earlier stages of their career that want to be a CMO. One day and any wisdom you can impart on your journey. And obviously we don't always make the right decision. So if you want to talk about maybe some things you wish you did, but just any learnings from your journey. Yeah.

Well, so I, if I, if I were to summarize my journey so far, I've had the privilege of working across a number of different categories. So I started in automotive, I worked in hospitality at Marriott, I worked in real estate, I worked in the agency side, then I went to financial services and in between Wells Fargo, where I spent about a decade, and where I am now at US Bank. I was the CEO of a consumer technology company. So really kind of varied experience. And the value of that, of just learning new businesses and learning new categories, is the way it kind of expands your thinking and keeps you fresh, but also keeps you challenged. Yeah, sure. Because, you know, when, um, if I, I had a great career when I was at Lexus and Toyota. I love that company. And, but I took that risk to go work at Marriott, you know, and move across the country. And, you know, if I, if I had stayed at, in the automotive business, I'd probably still be doing that. And I would be in a place where that's what I would be seen as only qualified to do. Right. And so if you get more variability in terms of the businesses that you get exposure to, it gives you more options. Yeah. How you want to, how do you want to operate later in your career? And that's how I've constructed it. The second thing is, a number of the decisions that I made in career choices were not linear ascension growth choices. So when I decided to go work on the agency side of the business, it was because I felt like I needed to have that sort of experience in making the sausage for clients, be on the service side, and also to accelerate my own immersion in the digital tools and experiences. 'Cause this was, you know, mid-2005, right? So 20 years ago, it was like 2 years before the iPhone, Yeah. Google search exploding. Facebook had just launched. Yeah. So Facebook was, you know, just launched. They were still in, they were still basically in colleges until like 2007. So, so it was like, hey, I'm gonna take, you know, either a lateral or maybe even kind of a step back in terms of compensation and title and so forth, but I'm gonna learn a lot. Yeah. And so not being afraid to make those choices that aren't always up and up and up. Is one of the hardest things to do, but it's one of the most valuable choices that I've made.

Yeah. And then like, how do you find that? How do you gain the conviction to make the leap? So you're at Lexis and you're like, are those hard decisions and how do you know when it's right?

That's a great question. Well, I think it's easier to do when you're earlier in your career because there's just less to lose, right? You have less to lose. You know, you might still be single. You probably don't have a family yet. You know, you don't have as many, kind of connection points that might anchor you or might introduce risk for change into the process. So it's much easier to do then. And I would say take advantage of that, you know, not be like a hopper, but, you know, get fresh opportunities. And then I'd say the next thing is being really honest about what you know about yourself and what is it that you need and what is it that you desire and where you want to go. And when you kind of, When you understand that, then it's, it's not that difficult ultimately to put together the matrix of, of what the pros and cons are. Um, and then once you make that decision, just commit and go. Yeah. And just don't look back. It doesn't mean if you, if you made a bad decision, you can do something else. Like this is a great country. Like you, yeah, you have opportunities to make adjustments. It's not, nothing's set in stone. That's right.

That's right. I think that's great advice to wrap here. We often have to ask our guests, if there's a saying or mantra to help sort of encapsulate their career journey. And you've been to so many great places. What, what comes to mind for you?

Yeah, well, you know, two things. And one, I just wanted to wrap up this last section. Oh, as a, like a piece of career advice, which I think is maybe even more important than what I said, which is learn the business. You know, understand how your customers make decisions, understand how the P&L works, understand what the levers are, what the drivers are, the competitive landscape. When you know the business, it makes you so much more competent to make decisions in your function, but also gives you that credibility with your business partners to sit toe to toe and be able to speak their language. If you come in, if I came in with my CEO and started talking about impressions and, you know, clicks, right?

She'd be like, what? Yeah.

'Cause that's not what she cares about. Right. That's not our metric. Right. Our metric is growth.

But our metric is retention. Wall Street doesn't care about that.

Right. Which is, is, So, you know, and if I, if I didn't, uh, if I didn't have some semblance of how the P&L works, I wouldn't be able to have intelligent conversations.

And same with ad agencies. Ad agencies sometimes lose sight of the business they're working for and what their client really cares about. And they focus on winning a Cannes Lion or impressions. And it's like, that's not going to move the needle on the business. That's not going to drive shareholder return. Like that's where you need to focus.

It's a great point. It's, and they're even one more step removed from it, which makes it even harder because they don't necessarily have access to the internal insight.

Although those, but that data is more easy to get your finger on than ever before in the age of AI. Yeah.

So I, that's what I just, my point is just learn the business. Yes. Good. And especially as you become more senior role, that, that expectation that you're gonna learn it is really important. And it's, it is something that you do every day. You, you don't come in like, you know, even having worked decades or decade, whatever, you never know everything, right? There's always something more to learn, always something, you know, more to go deep on. Um, and I think for me, that's been, that's been really helpful and, and it's given me a lot of confidence in what I'm doing now. Yeah. I think that's awesome.

I, I'm glad you added that because I think a lot of people do lose sight of that in, in the midst of them just trying to deliver whatever the task is.

It's hard because like, hey, this is what I'm accountable for, right? Yeah. Like this is what I've gotta do. But at the end of the day, if growth is the metric, then what are you doing to drive growth and how are you measuring that and how are you demonstrating the value? Yeah, absolutely.

So going back to my question earlier, is there a saying or mantra that comes to mind?

So I have one that it may be completely off, off— There's no wrong answer, my friend. But it's about, so for me, my mantra is find gratitude in life every single day, especially when you're under great stress and adversity. Pressure's a privilege, right? Pressure is a privilege. But you know, all of us will go through moments in time where we have disruption in our families, tragedies, setbacks at work, setbacks in companies, health, et cetera. And every day that you can find just a little bit of gratitude in your heart, it will help propel you forward. I know it sounds like a—

no, it's really true. And I think we take a lot of things for granted in life.. And any moment where, you know, you, you would take a step back and you love what you do and you're surrounded by those that you like working with or your family, you know, so many people in this world would, would, would die, would kill for a situation like that. Yeah. Right. So absolutely. Just be happy with where you are. For sure. And nothing's ever perfect, right? No, it's not. Yeah. Well, I have a lot of gratitude for you taking the time today, uh, to, um, take some time outta your busy CES schedule and share your story and your insights with us. I think our audience is gonna get a lot of value. So thank you so much. Mike, thanks for having me. Awesome. On behalf of the Suzy and I, we team, thanks again to Michael LaCarranza, the Chief Marketing Officer of US Bank, for joining us here live at CES in Las Vegas today. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and view the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time, see you soon, everyone. Bye-bye.