By Jenny Rooney --> In the age of AI, marketers still have to answer one big question: “Why should anyone choose you?”
Live from the Marketing Vanguard stage at Brandweek 2026 , Jenny Rooney sits down with Ameetess Dira, CMO of Petzey, for a conversation about the decisions that become even more important as marketing gets easier to automate.
Ameetess breaks down why purpose alignment is a non-negotiable in her career, and why she deliberately pushes marketing into product, technology, and finance conversations.
They also discuss why some of her strongest brand partnerships looked strange on paper.
This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Brandweek 2026 and presented in partnership with Tatari.
Ameetess Dira is CMO at Petzey, an on-demand pet telehealth app with more than 1,000 pet professionals across the U.S.
Her path into marketing has crossed broadcasting, radio, print, agency leadership, technology, and international market expansion across Asia and the United States.
Her move into pet health was deeply personal. After losing her senior dog, Ameetess deliberately sought out work that could improve access to care for animals and the people who love them. That purpose now shapes how she thinks about everything from partnerships and crisis response to the role marketing should play inside the wider business.
Purpose Alignment Is Not a Nice-to-Have — For Ameetess, belief in the company and its leadership is a non-negotiable requirement. She wants to work with people she trusts enough to do difficult things with because the work serves something bigger than the individuals involved. She makes the distinction clear: purpose is not a layer applied to marketing after the strategy is done. It is the filter that determines whether she wants to do the work in the first place.
Look Where Everyone Else Says “That’s Too Small” — Senior dog adoption is difficult, expensive, and easy for brands to ignore; that is exactly why Ameetess pays attention to it. Her approach is to look at how culture is changing, where people remain underserved and where a brand can contribute something useful instead of competing for the same obvious audience as everyone else.
Marketing Has No Business Staying in Marketing — Ameetess deliberately inserts marketing into conversations with product, technology, and finance. Her reasoning is simple – the executive team is her primary team, and everyone around that table is responsible for the overall health of the business. The CMO who stays inside campaigns and communications is giving up influence before the real decisions are even made.
Sometimes the Right Decision Is the One the Spreadsheet Hates — During the LA fires, Ameetess opened Petzey’s platform for free wellness checks for people affected by the crisis, including first responders, teachers, businesses, and shelters. The short-term financial logic pointed toward monetizing demand, and she still chose the opposite. Her argument is that doing the right thing can matter more than hitting the immediate number, especially when the decision proves what the brand actually stands for.
Jenny Rooney is Chief Brand and Community Officer, leading strategy for the overall ADWEEK brand as well as the ways in which we serve and support our audiences with high-value content, products, partnerships and experiences, notably through our community programs such as Marketing Vanguard.
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