Snap's Grace Kao on Conversational Marketing and the Future of Brand Engagement

Plus, the role of creativity as AI and other technologies evolve.

In this episode of Brave Commerce, Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter speak with Grace Kao, chief marketing officer at Snap Inc., about how changing consumer behaviors are reshaping the way brands build relationships and drive growth.

Grace shares why marketing is shifting from one-way messaging toward more community-driven, two-way engagement, and what brands can learn from the rise of chat and conversational commerce. 

She also discusses the role of creativity as AI and other technologies evolve, how brands can show up authentically in more personal spaces, and the challenge of balancing innovation with the growing pressure to prove ROI.

Key takeaways:

  • The future of brand engagement is increasingly two-way, requiring marketers to contribute value rather than simply broadcast messages.
  • AI may change how marketers create and engage, but strong ideas and human creativity remain fundamental.
  • Marketers need to balance measurable performance with experimentation across emerging consumer behaviors and technologies.

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Sarah Hofstetter

Sarah Hofstetter is co-founder and board member at 37Arc, a board director at Campbell's and Kenvue, a senior advisor at BCG and Publicis, and the co-host of the Brave Commerce podcast.

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Rachel Tipograph

Rachel Tipograph is the founder and CEO of MikMak, an enterprise ecommerce marketing platform. She is also the co-host of the Brave Commerce podcast.