41: Turning brand awareness into loyalty: Insights from Herbalife CMO Hanan Wajih

How can marketing help turn brand recognition into meaningful connections? 

In today's episode, Alan Hart speaks with Herbalife CMO Hanan Wajih about how she views marketing's role in helping lead enterprise transformation by strengthening the brand, sharpening the company's storytelling, and equipping distributors with better tools and content to better support customers. 

Hanan explains that Herbalife's current opportunity is not awareness, but familiarity, because many people know the name without fully understanding the company's purpose, product quality, innovation, scale or distributor model. She points to the company's broad reach—from nutrition clubs and distributors to sports partnerships and product innovation—and explains why that scale makes clear, consistent storytelling and increasingly personalized engagement more important than ever. 

For marketing leaders, her comments suggest three practical priorities: continue investing in brand building as a long-term driver of trust and loyalty, use technology to make content and engagement more relevant at scale, and help teams build the skills needed to lead through ongoing change. Hanan also shares her perspective that, as AI reshapes marketing, authenticity, strong values and the willingness to challenge old ways of working are likely to matter just as much as new tools. 

 

In this episode, you'll learn: 

Why awareness may not be enough to build deeper trust, loyalty and long-term growth 

How marketing can help support transformation through better tools, clearer stories and stronger alignment 

The importance of balancing innovation with trust and credibility 

 

Key highlights: 

[00:00] Introduction  

[01:20] A moment in Maui 

[03:00] Hanan's path to Herbalife 

[06:55] The scope of her role 

[07:30] The mission of Herbalife 

[10:00] Herbalife's enterprise transformation 

[12:10] Marketing's role in the transformation journey 

[15:00] An experience that defines you: A multicultural upbringing 

[16:20] Advice to your younger self: Trust yourself sooner 

[16:45] What are you curious about: Leadership in the AI era 

[17:25] What are you trying to learn more about: Generation Alpha and Beta 

[18:05] Largest opportunity and threat to marketers today: Authenticity 

[18:30] What would you want an AI agent or an LLM to do for you: Quantify the impact of brand marketing 

 

Resources mentioned:   

Herbalife 

 

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