CMO Confidential

Episode 28 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Tom Goodwin, author, speaker and former head of Innovation at Publicis, Zenith and Havas. Tom shares his often provocative thoughts on how to rethink technology by focusing in on what it means versus what it is, why brands will matter more than ever, how folks will bungle AI, and why those managing marketing often miss the big picture by focusing on mundane analytics and "refinement within a closed ecosystem." Key topics include how companies get irrationally excited about new tech, the difference between the "religion of the story" and the "religion of optimization," his belief that the consulting world is "fueled by anxiety," that leaders should always be aware of what has not changed, and why Cannes was a "bit sad."  

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A CMO Confidential Interview with Bill Cobb, the CEO of Frontdoor who was previously the President of eBay North America and CEO of H&R Block. Bill shares his thoughts on how to succeed as a CMO, the best and worst marketing management practices of boards and CEOs, how to evaluate potential opportunities and the fact that there's life after getting fired. Key topics include his belief that marketing should be the most integrated function, a marketplace disrupter and "the hub of the wheel,"  the need to think and work  cross functionally, why it's a really tough road if the CEO doesn't support marketing, and why the "board skills matrix" undervalues marketers. Listen to hear how one board member had trouble distinguishing John Hamm from Don Draper and Bill's fabulous rendition of Frontdoor's ad campaign song "We Built This Toilet" sung to the tune of Jefferson Airplane’s "We Built This City."

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Episode 26 - A CMO Confidential Interview with David Kenny, the CEO of Nielsen and former CEO of Digitas and The Weather Company. David takes us through the evolution of measurement and media and shares his thoughts on how to stay on top of a rapidly evolving marketplace. Key topics include talent, thinking about marketing as a "team sport," how to stay relevant when companies spend less time on training and development, his belief that too many people measure the income statement and not the "brand asset," why creativity still matters, and how understanding the value of sports is a building block for valuing all media.

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Episode 25 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Brian Vos, the former CEO of The Wine Group (TWG) who learned the business while leading the supply chain at E&J Gallo and TWG, two of the largest wine businesses in the world. Brian shares perspective on working in a business with over 10,000 competitors and over 100,000 skus where distribution and point of sale are critical and marketing may or may not matter. We discuss the challenge of measuring impact, tips for marketers managing in a complex operating environment where failures happen a lot, how marketing should take point on innovating, and how Cupcake, "accidentally" became a 1 million case brand. Listen to how he believed it was not a very bright idea to name a wine after a "hard to eat piece of cake," why marketing can "spin" up a lot of unnecessary downstream work, and why I was his favorite board member.

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Episode 24 - "A Primer on the Marketing Chief Financial Officer Position & Why You Might Consider it for Your Organization"

A CMO Confidential interview with Tyler Bluth, VP of Finance at Ancestry, former brand manager and Marketing CFO. Tyler outlines how the position can reduce friction between marketing and finance and the key elements required for success. Key topics include constructing a marketing scorecard, eliminating the "asymmetry of information," his belief that teams should "adjust the spending, not the measures," and why this position should be internally sourced. Listeners will also hear about what he learned from being a facial care brand manager and how he not so triumphantly introduced packaging that was viewed as "filled with urine." 

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Episode 23 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Kim Whittler, business professor at the Virginia School of Business and former GM and CMO. Kim joins us for a second time on the red-hot issue of sociopolitical stands and describes why descriptive corporate research ignores consequences and trade-offs and is often wrong versus longer-term broader academic studies. Key topics include understanding the difference between "self interest" and "company interest," simultaneously managing consumer, employee and investor constituencies, preventing dangerous groupthink, fiduciary responsibility, the complexity of truly knowing "the right" thing, the asymmetric risks of picking a side, and CMO's that forget to represent their customers and investors. She shares many examples including Disney, Coke, Nike and Budweiser.

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Episode 22 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Dave Reibstein, the Wharton Business School Professor and former Chairman of the American Marketing Association. Dave takes us through the evolution of marketing, measurement and what's next. Key topics include why brands should be included on the balance sheet, how measures follow money, why the inability to quantify brands negatively impacts marketers and companies, his belief that business is ahead of academia in understanding new tools and technologies, and why e-games succeeded - but the Metaverse may not be the next big thing. Also, listen in to learn about a completely original way of sleeping during a lecture. 

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Episode 21  - A CMO Confidential Interview with Gary Stibel, the former Wharton econometric modeler, Pringles brand manager, and founder of The New England Consulting Group. Gary outlines his belief that innovation and "the big marketing idea" are in serious decline and what to do about it. Key topics include why short-term thinking is crowding out long-term innovation, his belief that many companies will suffer sales and stock price declines because of this, how he thinks about brands taking socio political stands, the continued rise of private label, and the financial reengineering going on in the marketplace. He also discusses why CMO turnover is good for his business but bad for companies, and why "stage gating" kills innovation and should be replaced by rapid prototyping. The Cheetos repositioning story which includes Cheesy Rider, the creation of Chester the Cheetah and the brand rising from near oblivion is not to be missed!

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Episode 20 - How to Decomplexify Your Marketing

A CMO Confidential interview with Margaret Molloy, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Siegel+Gale, the branding firm, and the “How CMOs Commit” podcast host. We discuss how marketing can become overly complex versus the power of a consistent focus on the customer. Key topics include translating business strategies, managing diverse stakeholders, B2B branding, asking the right questions in the CMO interview, and the importance of customer experience. Margaret provides useful frameworks and powerful examples of brand simplification. She even claims that one of my discussion points reminds her of an Albert Einstein quote. Listen to hear which point!

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Episode 19 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Kim Whitler, a business professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Kim started at P&G and went on to be a GM at Aurora Foods and the CMO at David's Bridal before shifting to academia - one of her fortes is deep quantitative research on marketing. We discuss careers, why CPG training can be foundational, and the many factors causing CMO turnover. Highlights include why candidates should "throw out" the job spec since over 50% of them are incorrect, boards and CEOs who don't believe in marketing, firms who think marketers are all interchangeable, and candidates who take positions doomed for failure. She provides tips to avoid these situations and also calls out search firms for a "cut and paste" approach while challenging them to do better in prepping candidates and companies.

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