Marketing in Progress

What happens when a B2B marketing team decides to take a “bonkers” idea seriously?

In this episode of Marketing in Progress, Gayle Kalvert talks with Keelia Estrada Moeller, Marketing Content Specialist at Broadcom Software’s Mainframe Division, about the creative thinking behind Big Iron Bits—a mockumentary series that brought humor, relatability, and real industry challenges into B2B marketing.

Keelia shares how the team turned an unconventional idea into a full campaign, how they brought SMEs and leadership into the process, why the series was designed as an awareness and engagement play rather than a sales tool, and what the campaign’s results taught the team about creating B2B content people actually want to watch.

Because sometimes the idea that feels a little too bold is the one worth pursuing.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why pushing beyond the usual B2B content formula can help marketers find a meaningful differentiator
• How Big Iron Bits used humor, relatable characters, and real technical topics to make the mainframe world more accessible
• Why bringing SMEs and key stakeholders into the initial brainstorm can build trust and make the review process smoother
• How approaching content as an awareness and engagement tool—not simply a sales or lead-generation tool—can create more room for creativity
• How the Big Iron Bits campaign generated 94M impressions, 57M video views, and 2M clicks across seven channels
• Why marketers should trust their expertise, communicate consistently, and have the confidence to speak up when they have a new idea

Highlights:

00:00 — No B2B idea is too bold

01:31 — How Big Iron Bits brought mainframe marketing to life

08:43 — Bring SMEs into the initial brainstorm

13:13 — Awareness and engagement over lead generation

16:23 — 94M impressions and 57M video views

21:15 — Lean into the crazy and find your differentiator

Resources Mentioned:

Guest: Keelia Estrada Moeller
Marketing Content Specialist, Broadcom Software — Mainframe Division
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keelia-estrada-moeller-b82b44139/
Big Iron Bits: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs7CDYopP0TCzJzIo2Iy_u5RZrqA3579o

Host: Gayle Kalvert
Founder & CEO, Creo Collective
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/
Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website:
https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

What drives growth when marketers are dealing with limited resources, more channels, and an overwhelming number of AI tools?

For Cahill Camden, the answer starts with focus.

In this episode of Marketing in Progress, Cahill shares lessons from his experience as a CMO in high-growth crypto and fintech companies and how those lessons still apply in today’s AI-driven marketing environment.

We talk about choosing one or two channels, systematizing repetitive work, making an impact with small teams, learning through communities, and using AI and automation without letting technology dictate the strategy.

Because sometimes the challenge isn’t figuring out what else to do.

It’s deciding what deserves your focus.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why focus should come before adding more channels, tactics, or tools
• How to choose one or two channels and give them enough time to generate meaningful feedback
• Why systematizing repetitive marketing work creates more room for strategic thinking
• How small teams can use time, systems, automation, and AI to make a bigger impact
• Why community and asking questions can help marketers learn faster
• Why creating more AI-generated content isn’t necessarily the answer—and where AI, systems, and automation can actually help

Highlights:

04:50 — Focus before you systematize
05:42 — Go deep on one or two channels
09:44 — You have time or you have money
10:17 — Leverage systems, automation, and AI
12:42 — Learn through community
15:01 — The content problem in an AI-driven market

Resources Mentioned:

Guest: Cahill Camden
Founder & CEO, Digital Vision and Novacast.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cahillcamden/

Host: Gayle Kalvert
Founder & CEO, Creo Collective

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Experiential marketing can create memorable moments, but how do you ensure those moments actually drive business results?

In this episode of Marketing in Progress, Gayle Kalvert talks with Sam Eitzen, CEO & Co-Founder of SnapBar, about what makes experiential marketing work, how to measure it, and why the best event experiences start with understanding your audience and your business goals.

From a veterinary conference activation that engaged roughly 9,000 of 12,000 attendees to the importance of connecting events to sales and longer-term campaigns, Sam shares practical lessons on creating experiences that people remember, and that marketers can actually measure.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why experiential marketing creates a different kind of engagement than traditional, passive marketing
• How to measure experiential marketing through engagement, lead data, and brand reach
• Why copying another brand’s successful activation can backfire
• How knowing your audience and end goal can shape a more effective experience
• How SnapBar generated roughly 9,000 engagements at a 12,000-person veterinary conference
• Why events should be connected to sales, pipeline, and a longer-term campaign, not treated as one-off activities

Highlights:

00:00 — Why experiential marketing is more memorable
06:43 — Measuring the ROI of experiential marketing
10:11 — Don’t copy and paste another event’s idea
12:07 — The 9,000-person engagement example
19:05 — What actually gets buyers to stop?
22:11 — Turn your event into a campaign

Resources Mentioned:

Sam Eitzen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-eitzen/
Website: www.snapbar.com

Gayle Kalvert:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/
Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Your event is one day. Your campaign shouldn’t be.

In Episode 2 of Marketing in Progress: The Fix, Gayle Kalvert and Kristin Allaben unpack why marketers need to stop treating events as one-off moments and start treating them as campaigns.

From setting the right goals and aligning sales and marketing to planning content before, during, and after the event—and measuring what actually matters—this episode gives you one practical fix for getting more ROI from your event investment.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why events should be treated as 3–12 month campaigns, not one-day activities.
• How to define the business objective and target accounts before the event.
• Why sales and marketing alignment needs to happen before anyone gets to the show floor.
• How to plan messaging and content before, during, and after the event.
• Why post-event follow-up needs to be personalized and coordinated, not automated and forgotten.
• How to measure pipeline influence, new relationships, opportunity acceleration, and other meaningful outcomes instead of relying on attendance or badge scans.

Highlights:

00:00 — The problem with treating events as one-offs
04:00 — Start with the business objective
07:22 — Plan the messaging before the event
09:59 — The event isn't over when everyone goes home
12:05 — Attribution helps defend the marketing investment
14:09 — Measure the job the event was meant to do

Resources Mentioned:

Gayle’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle’s Website:  www.gaylekalvert.com

Kristin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinallaben/

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Entrepreneurship can look glamorous online, but the reality comes with incredible highs, difficult valleys, and plenty of outside opinions. In this mini episode, Brianna Doe shares why having a clear “why” matters—and why the people and content you surround yourself with can shape how you navigate the journey. She introduces the idea of building a “personal board of directors”: a trusted group of people who will support you, challenge you, call you out, and help you grow. Because not every opinion deserves your attention. The key is knowing whose voices you should actually listen to.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why entrepreneurship is often glamorized online—and what it really takes to build something of your own
• Why you need a clear “why” to keep moving through the highs and lows
• How to become more intentional about the people and content influencing you
• Why building a personal board of directors can help you grow, stay grounded, and make better decisions

Highlights:

01:11 — Brianna talks about the reality of entrepreneurship, from incredible highs to some of the lowest valleys, and why you need to know what you're building toward.

03:45 — Brianna explains her “does this person pay my bills?” test for deciding whose opinions deserve your attention.

04:03 — Brianna introduces the idea of a “personal board of directors”—trusted people who support you, challenge you, and help you grow.

Resources Mentioned:

Brianna Doe’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-doe/

Gayle Kalvert’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle’s Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Pretty good isn't going to cut through in 2026.

In the first episode of The Fix, Gayle Kalvert and Kristin Allaben break down how B2B marketers can cut through the noise without overhauling their entire marketing strategy.

They cover what it takes to create content that gets attention, show up in AI-powered search, and build messaging that actually resonates with the humans behind the buyer.

The takeaway? You don't need to fix everything. You just need to fix the right thing.

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why B2B marketers need to take more risks with their content
• How to create content that connects with the human behind the buyer
• Why your content now has two audiences: humans and AI agents
• How AI search is changing the way buyers research companies
• Why refreshing your existing content for AI can be more valuable than simply creating more
• Why detailed, nuanced messaging is critical to cutting through the noise

Highlights:

01:10 — Take risks with your B2B content
03:30 — Market to the human, not just the persona
04:27 — More content isn't always the answer
05:38 — Your content now has two audiences: humans and AI
09:40 — Refresh the content you already have
12:29 — Messaging is your marketing North Star 

Resources Mentioned:

Gayle’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle’s Website:  www.gaylekalvert.com

Kristin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinallaben/

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Most sales outreach doesn't convert after one or two touches.

In this mini episode, Andre Lachlan shares why it can take 15+ touches before a prospect responds—and why persistence only works when you're actually building a relationship, not just sending more messages.

The goal isn't to chase. It's to stay relevant, helpful, and top of mind until the timing is right.

This is Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut—giving you one practical insight you can put to work today. 

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why it can take 15+ touches before a prospect responds
• How to stay persistent without losing the human element
• Why consistent outreach can build familiarity and establish you as a domain expert

Highlights:

00:51 — Andre explains why sales teams may need 15+ touches before getting a response—and how BDRs use longer sequences.

01:20 — Why automation can help, but personalization and relationship-building still matter.

01:41 — Gayle shares how consistent outreach can make someone familiar to you—even when you've never responded.

Resources Mentioned:

Andre’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrelachlan/

Gayle’s LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/
Gayle’s Website: gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

What gets someone hired as a CMO?

It's not just experience. It's not just results.

According to executive recruiter Kate Bullis, the marketing leaders who stand out have built a reputation beyond the companies they've worked for. They've developed a personal brand rooted in how they show up, how they lead, and how others describe working with them.

This is Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut—giving you one practical insight you can put to work today. 

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why your personal brand matters just as much as your resume
• How to uncover the qualities that define your leadership brand
• Why building relationships within the marketing community accelerates your career
• The difference between your value proposition and your personal brand
• A simple exercise to better understand how others perceive your leadership

Highlights:

01:28 — Why the best CMOs intentionally build their personal brand through community.

02:27 — The five-person exercise that reveals how others truly see your leadership.

03:55 — Why hearing your story through someone else's words can transform how you position yourself.

Resources Mentioned:

Kate Bullis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katebullis/

Gayle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle's Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

Sales and marketing don't have an alignment problem. They have a leadership problem.

In this Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut episode, Kristin Allaben sits down with Gayle Kalvert to unpack why sales and marketing alignment remains one of the biggest challenges in B2B organizations. From structural barriers to simple ways leaders can foster collaboration, this conversation offers practical advice you can apply immediately.

This is Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut—a quick, hyper-focused insight you can put to work today. 

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why sales and marketing misalignment often starts with organizational structure, not the teams themselves.
• Practical ways marketing leaders can build stronger relationships with sales.
• How attending sales meetings, like QBRs, can uncover valuable customer and pipeline insights.

Highlights:

(00:43) The structural reasons sales and marketing become misaligned.

(04:02) Actionable ways leaders can encourage stronger sales and marketing collaboration.

(05:41) Why QBRs and sales kickoffs offer a window into sales culture and alignment.

Resources Mentioned:

Kristin Allaben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinallaben/

Gayle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle's website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.

AI is changing the marketing industry faster than any technology before it, but it's not replacing marketers. It's changing how they work.

In this episode of Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut, Heidi Malden, Head of Americas Marketing at Pigment, explains why AI should be viewed as a competitive advantage, how marketers can reinvest time and budget into higher-value work, and why brand awareness is becoming every marketer's responsibility.

This is Marketing in Progress: The Shortcut—giving you one practical insight you can put to work today. 

In This Episode You'll Learn: 

• Why marketers who embrace AI will outperform those who don't.
• How AI is helping marketing teams save time, reduce costs, and personalize at scale.
• Why brand awareness and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are becoming essential marketing priorities.

Highlights:

(01:24) Why AI won't replace marketers—but marketers using AI will replace those who don't.

(03:44) Why brand awareness is now every marketer's responsibility and how GEO is changing search.

(05:08) How AI enables true one-to-one personalization without adding hours of manual work.

Resources Mentioned:

Heidi Malden's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidimalden/

Gayle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/

Gayle's Website: www.gaylekalvert.com

Visit the Marketing in Progress Website: https://www.creocollective.io/marketinginprogress-podcast

Explore every episode, discover practical marketing insights, and access resources designed to help B2B marketers drive real business impact.