REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards Grand Jury

Meet the 2026 REGGIE Brand Catalyst Grand Juror.

RICHARD MCLEOD

Chief Marketing Officer
Merrell

BIO

Richard McLeod is a senior executive and board advisor with more than 20 years of experience driving brand-led growth, global marketing transformation, and cultural relevance for leading consumer brands across apparel, footwear, luxury, and spirits.

Richard is currently Global Chief Marketing Officer at Merrell, where he leads the brand’s global marketing strategy and long-term growth agenda. In this role, he is responsible for evolving the brand platform, strengthening global consistency, and aligning creative, media, partnerships, and storytelling to drive both near-term demand and long-term brand value. His work focuses on positioning Merrell for sustained global relevance while expanding the brand’s connection to new and emerging consumers.

Previously, Richard served as a member of the executive leadership team at Champion, where he led global marketing strategy, integrated creative and media execution, and strategic partnerships, including high-impact collaborations designed to accelerate brand growth and cultural relevance. Prior to Champion, he was Senior Vice President at Canada Goose, where he played a key role in the brand’s evolution and global expansion.

Richard also held the role of Vice President and General Manager of Foot Locker Canada, where he led commercial and cultural initiatives focused on growth, youth engagement, and organizational transformation.

Earlier in his career, Richard built deep brand-building expertise in the premium spirits category, helping drive growth and cultural impact for globally recognized brands including Grey Goose Vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Jameson Whiskey, and Hennessy Cognac.

Known for his strategic clarity, collaborative leadership style, and ability to build high-performing teams, Richard consistently delivers sustainable growth by aligning brand strategy with commercial outcomes, creative excellence, and long-term value creation.

Q&A with Richard McLeod

What distinguishes exceptional brand-building work from work that is simply “good”?

Exceptional brand-building work starts with a deep, clearly defined understanding of the consumer, who they are, what they value, and the problem the brand is uniquely positioned to solve for them. From there, it’s about making disciplined choices that consistently meet those consumer needs over time, translating insight into brand meaning, relevance, and measurable business impact, which in turn drives long-term sustainable growth.

How have your expectations of great marketing evolved over the past few years— and how does that shape how you evaluate work today?

Great marketing has become significantly more complex, with a higher expectation that it clearly demonstrates how it contributes to business growth. Today, marketing must be able to articulate not just what was delivered, but how it influenced behavior and created demand that translates into measurable outcomes.

As a result, the language of marketing has had to evolve, particularly in how we align with senior leadership. It’s no longer sufficient to talk in terms of reach or impressions alone; what matters is what changed because of the work. Did we shift consideration, increase preference, drive repeat behavior, or reduce future reliance on paid activation? When I evaluate work today, I look for that clear line between brand strategy, consumer behavior change, and commercial impact.

How do you balance creative ambition with commercial accountability when assessing great brand work?

In today’s environment, creative ambition and commercial accountability should be symbiotic, not competing priorities. The most effective brands use data, not to constrain creativity, but to demonstrate how creative excellence builds long-term brand value and drives sustained growth. With the tools available today, we have clearer evidence than ever of the impact strong creative has on positively driving consideration, preference, loyalty, and future demand.

When assessing brand work, I look for creativity that is bold and distinctive, but also intentional, where teams can clearly explain how creative choices ladder back to a brand strategy and business objective, and how success was measured beyond short-term results

A key section of the case study submission is dedicated to how teams brought their big idea to life; for you as a judge, what details would you consider critical for entrants to include? What will it take for this section to achieve a higher score over other submissions?

Let’s start with clearly defining what a big idea is. Opinion of 1, A true big idea should be grounded in brand and consumer insight,  connects meaningfully across channels, and is flexible enough to live beyond a single moment or business challenge. By contrast, ideas that are channel led or overly executional often struggle to scale or sustain impact.

What’s important for me is that there is clear evidence of integrated thinking, showing how the idea was brought to life across the consumer journey, how messaging was adapted by channel without losing strategic coherence, and how phasing and sequencing were intentionally designed. The strongest entries should be able to connect these executional decisions back to business impact, clearly demonstrating how the idea drove behavior change, built brand value, and delivered measurable results over time.

On a more personal note, I often say to my teams that I can look at a plan and tell almost immediately whether the team has spoken to each other. The best work reflects true collaboration, alignment, and shared ownership qualities that are often as visible in the plan as they are in the results.

What lessons from your own leadership journey most influence how you assess excellence?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that clarity and consistency outperform constant reinvention. I assess excellence through the lens of leaders and teams who can make hard choices, lead with conviction, and are willing to take thoughtful risks in service of a long-term vision.

The strongest leaders build teams that can execute with confidence and ownership, connecting brand decisions clearly and consistently to business results over time. Ultimately, one question often guides how I assess excellence: Would the big idea and the plan survive if you weren’t there to personally drive it?

What makes an entry "award-worthy?"

When I judge this year’s REGGIE Brand Catalyst submissions, I’ll be looking for work that clearly demonstrates how the brand has been used as a catalyst for sustainable business growth, not simply as a creative idea or short-term activation. The strongest entries should be able to clearly link the brands strategy and a real business challenge, whether that’s driving demand, increasing relevance, strengthening differentiation, or improving long-term, sustainable growth.

Get to know the 2026 REGGIE Brand Catalyst Grand Jurors.