CMO Confidential

In this episode, "What Marketers Talk About Behind Closed Doors | The Artificial Intelligence Edition," host Mike Linton, a five-time CMO, sits down with the illustrious Babs Rangaiah. Babs, the founder of CCBabs and a CMO Coach, delves deep into the pressing issues keeping today's marketers awake at night. Key topics include the impact of artificial intelligence on marketing strategies, the trans...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Paul Roetzer, Founder of the Marketing AI Institute and author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence. Paul discusses the rapid growth of the AI business, early impacts on agencies and marketing organizations, why you should be careful using AI with customer interactions, and how things will evolve to handle a "string of actions" versus specific tasks. Key topics in...

A CMO Confidential interview with Mike Kitz, Notre Dame Professor, former CMO of Office Max and P&G Brand Manager. Mike discusses the best ways to optimize your in school experience, why the abundance of marketing data may be crowding out long-term thinking, and the importance of learning "integration skills." Key topics include: the value of leadership and influencing skills; why presentation...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Maryam Banikarim, Managing Director of Most Powerful Women + Brainstorm Tech at Fortune, formerly the CMO of Hyatt Hotels, Nextdoor, Gannett, NBCU, and Univision. Maryam discusses what it's like to be a company's first chief marketing person, how to bring a boss who doesn't know marketing along, bridging the generational digital divide, and how tech really doesn't...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dr. Daniel McCarthy, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Emory's Goizueta Business School. Dan discusses how marketing has recently taken its knocks, why he created a CLTV class, how companies can start developing their own models, and how customer math can be used to increase marketing accountability. Key topics include: why it is challenging to agree on key mode...

A CMO Confidential Interview with D J Patil, a Great Point Ventures investor and former U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the Obama Administration. D J discusses why everyone should "Take the red pill," his belief that AI will accelerate at speed, and why you shouldn't delegate this responsibility to a single person or team. Key topics include: why "boring, repeatable problems" offer the best current u...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dr. Peter Fader, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of Business. Dr. Fader discusses why customer lifetime value (CLTV) is such an important predictor of future financial performance, why some leaders resist the CLTV approach , and his belief that companies often think they have more control and influence over consumers than they really do. Key topics in...

In Part 2 - A CMO Confidential Interview with McKinsey Marketing & Sales Partner Robert Tas and Nick Primola, EVP and Head of the CMO Practice at the ANA. We discuss their recent study and Wall Street Journal article showing that CEO's who have marketing at the center of their strategy have measurably better results. They discuss the 3 types of CEO's including "non-believers" and why so many s...

A CMO Confidential Interview with McKinsey Marketing & Sales Partner Robert Tas and Nick Primola, EVP and Head of the CMO Practice at the ANA. We discuss their recent study and Wall Street Journal article showing that CEO's who have marketing at the center of their strategy have measurably better results. They discuss the 3 types of CEO's including "non-believers" and why so many still exist,...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Sean Peters, the Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Media, CEO of Publicis Collective and former Chief Operating Officer of Zenith. Sean discusses the pressure on media agencies to drive outcomes, how to be a true "business partner," and the risks of measuring what can be measured versus what should be measured. Key topics include: the importance of creating a tru...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Richard Sanderson, the Marketing, Sales, and Communications Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart. Richard discusses the bi-polar state of marketing, how complex the role has become, why "who" you are working for is the most important thing in career development, and his belief that it's "the golden age of marketing" even though 2023 was challenging. Key topics i...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Seth Matlins, Managing Director of the Forbes CMO Network, formerly Head of Cultural Strategy and Insights at Endeavor, Global CMO of Live Nation, President of Rock the Vote and Founder of CAA Marketing. Seth discusses his recent "New year, same old Fxxkery about the marketing narrative" post, why it's harder than ever to do good marketing, why marketing needs bet...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Paul Worthington, Founder and President of Invencion and former Head of Strategy at Wolff Olins. Paul discusses the “Weaponization of the Wanamaker Paradox” and how the digital revolution reduced marketing to a “little numbers game” in which the “I just don’t know which 50% of my spending is wasted” resulted in an efficiency doom loop which stunts growth. Key topi...

Title: "Leadership in Turbulent Times: Sally Henderson Talks Stability, Structure, and the Myth of Imposter Syndrome" Description:In this enlightening episode of CMO Confidential, host Mike Linton, a five-time CMO, sits down with Sally Henderson, the renowned High Stakes Leadership Mentor who has coached over 5000 executives. Broadcasting from across the pond, Sally shares invaluable insights on t...

PART 2 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala, former agency CEO, Publicis Strategy & Growth Officer, author and podcaster. Rishad joins us for a second time to discuss the AI effect on the 4 Horsemen of GDP, why the Google cookie change is a "sideshow," and how SEO may disappear. Key topics include why AI efficiency won't be a differentiator, vendor management and "The Octopus...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala, former agency CEO, Publicis Strategy & Growth Officer, author and podcaster. Rishad joins us for a second time to discuss the AI effect on the 4 Horsemen of GDP, why the Google cookie change is a "sideshow," and how SEO may disappear. Key topics include why AI efficiency won't be a differentiator, vendor management and "The O...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Bob Liodice, the long-time head of the Association of National Advertisers. Bob highlights the rapid evolution of marketing and the fact that technology is often outpacing the ability of organizations to apply, fully understand, and integrate an ever-expanding toolbox of capabilities. Key topics include how growth can be sacrificed in the name of efficiency, artif...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Kim Whittler, business professor at the University of Virginia and former GM and CMO. Kim joins us for the third time to discuss the recently published UVA case on Budweiser and the series of things that went wrong. Key topics include the chronologic unfolding of events and how a podcast recorded well before the Dylan Mulvaney social...

A CMO Confidential interview with Jim Stengel, the former CMO of P&G, author, podcast host, professor, and CEO of the Jim Stengel Company. Jim discusses how marketing has evolved from "awareness" to "entertainment and attention," the need for constant innovation and creativity, and why your purpose should be directed at making consumer's day-to-day lives better. Key topics include why CMO is 9...

A CMO Confidential interview with Jack Myers, the founder of Media Village, author, and Media Ecologist.  Jack discusses the metamorphosis of media agencies, the decline of relationships, and the math commoditization of the industry. Key topics include the generational shift in talent - nearly 2/3 of media folks have been in the business less than 8 years, why "With data dependence we stop thinkin...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Alan Gellman, the founder of Convivo Leadership and former CMO of Esurance and Credible who has coached over 150 executives. Alan discusses how to manage the imposter syndrome, the keys to building influence, and the need to balance choices regarding your leadership practices. Key topics include accepting responsibility, how to manage situations where you are disr...

A CMO Confidential interview with Dick Satterfield, the founder of Satterfield Rezenbrink Search and former P&G sales leader. Dick discusses career management under the framework of "successful and happy" and outlines why you should constantly be thinking about and evaluating your career. Key topics include why career progression is defined as continuous learning and getting promoted, tips for net...

A CMO Confidential interview with Jeff Severts, Deadly Memos author and former Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta, FTD, and Best Buy Europe. Jeff discusses why companies find it hard to do the right thing even with great intentions, why the focus on "objective measures" helps make performance reviews ineffective, and why you should think like a sports general manager. We also discuss rethinking recru...

A CMO Confidential interview with Tom Goodwin, author, speaker and former head of innovation at Publicis, Zenith and Havas. Tom shares thoughts on why generative AI is "A lot like having a million, really cocky, 16-year old interns working for you", how "The Internet has made advertising really bad," and and how "Everyone who understood technology has triumphed over people that actually knew what...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Rob Pace, the founder of HundredX, and former Goldman Sachs partner. Rob provides an investment banker's perspective on marketing and discusses his belief that how consumers "feel about" and "trust" brands is a predictor of stock price. Key topics include personal experience as the key metric, why you should be early in "doing the right thing," and why taking a so...