The Story Behind the Award: How Laura Knebusch Made Georgia-Pacific a Model for Modern Marketing

ATLANTA – August 11, 2026 – When Ad Age names its Leading Women of the year, the industry takes note. The award is a barometer for who is not just succeeding, but actively shaping the future. This year’s inclusion of Laura Knebusch, Georgia-Pacific’s Senior Vice President of CPG Marketing & Customer Experience, is more than a personal accolade; it’s a validation of a quiet but profound corporate transformation.

While the press release celebrates Knebusch’s influence on a multi-billion-dollar brand portfolio that includes household staples like Brawny®, Angel Soft®, and Dixie®, the story behind the award reveals a masterclass in modernizing a legacy company. It’s a narrative of strategic foresight, technological adoption, and the deliberate construction of a marketing engine built for the next decade.

The Architect of a Modern Marketing Machine

Knebusch’s promotion to SVP in 2023 was the culmination of a 15-year career at Georgia-Pacific, a steady ascent through brand management and shopper marketing. This long tenure provided her with a deep institutional understanding, a crucial foundation for the ambitious changes she would orchestrate. Her mandate was clear: prepare the company’s iconic brands for an increasingly complex and fragmented marketplace.

She leads a lean but powerful organization of over 80 professionals, a group she has cultivated to embody a culture of “collaboration, curiosity and continuous learning.” This is not corporate jargon; it’s a prerequisite for survival. As one industry analyst noted, “CPG is no longer just about shelf space; it’s about mind space, and you can't win that without a team that is constantly learning and adapting.”

Fernando Gonzalez, President of Georgia Pacific Foodservice Solutions, underscored this point. "Laura is an exceptional leader whose vision has transformed not only our marketing organization, but how our brands connect with consumers," he stated. "She has built a modern marketing organization that embraces innovation, develops outstanding talent and continually looks for ways to grow our brands and serve our customers."

This new structure emphasizes in-house capabilities, a strategic move that provides Georgia-Pacific with a significant competitive advantage. By bringing programmatic media, search, and retail media functions under its own roof, the company gains speed, control, and, most importantly, direct access to performance data, allowing for rapid optimization in a cookieless world.

From Paper Products to AI Powerhouse

Beneath the surface of familiar paper towels and napkins, Georgia-Pacific is operating as a surprisingly sophisticated tech company. Under Knebusch’s leadership, the firm has aggressively expanded its use of AI—not as a novelty, but as a core business driver. The company is leveraging Causal AI to untangle complex supply chain logistics and generative AI, through tools like its internal “ChatGP” chatbot, to enhance shop-floor productivity.

This data-first ethos extends deep into the marketing function. AI-powered tools are now integral to creative development, media optimization, and analytics. The goal is to make better, faster decisions, from identifying the most effective ad copy to reallocating media spend in near real-time. This is a far cry from the traditional CPG playbook of broad, slow-moving campaigns.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the company's approach to the chaotic retail media landscape. With dozens of networks vying for ad dollars, Georgia-Pacific has taken a disciplined approach, vetting nearly 40 platforms and consolidating over 90% of its spending into just seven key networks, including giants like Amazon Advertising and Walmart Connect. This strategic focus, which now accounts for over 20% of the company's total media budget, allows for deeper partnerships and a more coherent understanding of the shopper journey.

Creativity Backed by Data: The Award-Winning Formula

The true test of any strategy is in its execution. Here, Knebusch’s team has delivered spectacular, award-winning results that demonstrate a fusion of data-driven insight and bold creativity.

The Angel Soft® brand’s “Potty-tunity” campaign during Super Bowl LVIII was a masterstroke of “anti-advertising.” Instead of paying for a multi-million-dollar spot, the team aired a simple 30-second countdown timer in a prime slot just before halftime, cheekily encouraging 120 million viewers to take a bathroom break. The campaign, developed with Grey New York, was a viral sensation, generating massive ROI by prioritizing clever media placement over lavish production. The subsequent Gold and Silver Cannes Lions awards were a global recognition of this brilliant, data-informed risk.

Similarly, the Quilted Northern® brand’s “Keep It Quilted” campaign, which won the Grand Prize at the ANA In-House Agency Conference, successfully elevated the brand by eschewing toilet humor in favor of a message centered on premium comfort and craftsmanship. Meanwhile, Brawny® was named one of Fast Company’s Brands That Matter, a nod to its successful rebrand that strengthened its connection with consumers.

Leading the Charge in a Competitive Landscape

The Ad Age Leading Women award is a recognition of executives who drive measurable results. Knebusch’s honor reflects the tangible success of Georgia-Pacific’s marketing overhaul. But it also places her among a cohort of female leaders who are navigating and defining the future of an industry in flux.

In her own words, Knebusch deflected the individual spotlight, emphasizing the collective effort. "I'm honored to be recognized alongside so many accomplished leaders," she said. "What makes this recognition especially meaningful is that it reflects the incredible work of our talented teams across Georgia-Pacific. Every day, they bring fresh ideas, challenge us to think differently and find new ways to connect with consumers."

Her statement, while humble, points to the core of her success: building a system and a culture where talented people can thrive. In an era where AI threatens to commoditize creativity and data threatens to overwhelm decision-making, Laura Knebusch has demonstrated how to harness both. She has built a blueprint for how a legacy CPG giant can not only compete but lead, proving that the most powerful brands are built on a foundation of both cutting-edge technology and human ingenuity.