CMO Confidential - podcast cover

CMO Confidential

Mike Linton // I Hear Everything Podcast Networkart19.com

Wonder what it's like to control millions of dollars of marketing budget? Manage hundreds of people? Make the decisions on which ideas get to market?

The CMO Confidential podcast shares how it feels to be in that chair of the shortest-tenured position on the C-suite.

We detail the long, hard road most ideas take to get to market & how challenging it is to get the best ones through.

Hosted by Mike Linton -- the former P&G Brand Manager who went on to be the Chief Marketing Officer of Best Buy, eBay, and Farmers Insurance, as well as the Chief Revenue Officer of Ancestry.com and the head marketer at Remington -- this show serves as an ongoing lesson plan for how to get, do, keep, and handle the pressures of the CMO job.



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Episodes

Tom Seclow: A 360°Look at the CMO Interview - An Insider Dishes on What Really Goes Down

A CMO Confidential interview with Tom Seclow of Spencer Stuart. Tom led the CMO and Customer Experience practice for many years at one of the most respected search firms in the world. He discusses how the firm creates the job spec and the "long list," why the CMO job specs has the most variance of any spec in the C-Suite and why company feedback can sometimes take weeks. Key topics include advice to internal and external candidates, the need to "engage in a discussion versus a sale," thinking of...

Sep 05, 202333 minEp. 34

Cliff Scott: Are You The Leader & Strategist You Think You Are And How to Check

A CMO Confidential Interview with Cliff Scott, the President & CEO of The Scott Group and longtime agency executive. This continues our "What Your Agency Wants to Tell You But Won't" series. Cliff discusses the difference between being a tactical leader versus a strategic leader and why understanding the business outcomes, consumer emotions and marketplace behaviors are more important than optimizing the tools. Key topics include understanding "Why versus What," the fact that few companies h...

Aug 28, 202333 minEp. 33

Paul Hirsch: Why Is B2B Marketing So Bad & What To Do About It

Episode 32 A CMO Confidential Interview with Paul Hirsch, former EVP at Leo Burnett, and inaugural judge of the B2B Creative Lions at Cannes, who is currently the CEO and Chief Creative Officer of the nation's oldest B2B agency, Doremus+Co. Paul discusses the need for change in how B2B companies approach marketing, why it’s important to think holistically about the purchase cycle versus the top of the funnel, and the fact that "Nobody Cares" about how great you say your product or service is unl...

Aug 22, 202326 minEp. 32

Robert Chesnut: Protecting Your Business Integrity: Advice From A Chief Ethics Officer

A CMO Confidential Interview with Rob Chesnut, the former Airbnb General Counsel & Chief Ethics Officer, Chegg General Counsel, SVP of Trust & Safety at eBay, and author of Intentional Integrity. Rob discusses how to think about integrity in the age of transparency - when every consumer and employee is functioning as their own newsroom, the difference between virtue signaling and real choices, and how marketing should help lead this discussion. Key topics include the diversity of what in...

Aug 14, 202333 minEp. 31

DJ Patil: A Data Scientist Turned Investor Talks Tech, Marketing & Public Policy

A CMO Confidential Interview with D J Patil, currently an investor and partner at GreatPoint Ventures and formerly the Head of Data Products & Chief Scientist at LinkedIn, Distinguished Research Scientist at eBay, and U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the Obama Administration. DJ discusses why "clever beats smart," the evolution of data science and AI, how to use your data science team as a force multiplier, and what it was like to work in The White House. Key topics include why you should have a...

Aug 07, 202335 minEp. 30

Rishad Tobaccowala: A Leading Business Thinker & Futurist Talks About What's Next

Episode 29 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala, former agency CEO, Publicis Strategy & Growth Officer, author, and podcaster. Rishad discusses the 4 power shifts in the marketplace, how the lack of marketers on boards costs companies, and why the future will come from the slime versus the heavens. Key topics include his belief that many leaders "optimize the plumbing versus the poetry" while hiding behind concepts like disruption," why marketing will become even more impor...

Jul 31, 202332 minEp. 29

Tom Goodwin: A Futurist and Innovation Expert Talks About Nowism

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 ir...

Jul 25, 202339 minEp. 28

Bill Cobb: A Marketing Trained CEO Talks About Business & the CMO Position

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," t...

Jul 18, 202330 minEp. 27

David Kenny: An Experienced CEO Talks About Marketing, Measurement & the Future

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 "b...

Jul 11, 202333 minEp. 26

Brian Vos: An Operations Trained CEO Dishes on How He Views Marketing

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 compl...

Jul 05, 202336 minEp. 25

Tyler Bluth: A Primer on the Marketing Chief Financial Officer Position & Why You Might Consider it for Your Organization

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 "adju...

Jun 27, 202331 minEp. 24

Kim Whitler: A Top B-School Professor Shares Research on Brands Taking a Stand on Social and Political Issues

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, employ...

Jun 20, 202333 minEp. 23

Dave Reibstein: A B-School Professor Talks About Marketing - Brand Value, Measures and the Metaverse

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 techn...

Jun 13, 202333 minEp. 22

Gary Stibel: A Consumer Products Consultant Talks About Marketing - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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 soc...

Jun 06, 202330 minEp. 21

Margaret Molloy: The Case for Simplicity in a Complex World, How to Decomplexify Your Marketing

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 experie...

May 31, 202332 minEp. 20

Kim Whitler: A Comprehensive Look at Fixing the CMO Position

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 ...

May 29, 202333 minEp. 19

Paul Roetzer: A View from the Front Lines of Artificial Intelligence

Episode 18 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Paul Roetzer, the founder of The Marketing AI Institute and author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence who has been working on and with AI for12 years. We discuss the difference between machine learning and generative AI, the recent Google I/O Conference, how governments have been working on AI since the '50's, AI uses for efficiency and revenue acceleration, and what marketers and advertisers should be thinking about right now. Some key takeaways ...

May 29, 202330 minEp. 18

Carilu Dietrich: Top 5 Reasons B2B CMO's Get Fired

Episode 17 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Carilu Deitrich the former CMO and Hypergrowth Advisor who helped take Atlassian public. In part 2 of "Why The Short Shelf Life for CMO's Carilu outlines the top 5 reasons B2B marketers fail and shares tips on how to avoid the major pitfalls of the job. She also provides some thoughts on why 2023 might be a tough year for marketers, the perils of hypergrowth, and the importance of connecting with the rest of the C-Suite, especially Sales and the CEO...

May 23, 202332 minEp. 59

Ron Guerrier: Why Marketing and IT Should be BFF's

Episode 16 - Ron has been a CIO numerous times including Express Scripts, the State of Illinois (Go Bears), Toyota Financial Services, HP and Farmers Insurance. Marketing has always been an analytical function. And the function has gotten more analytical and significantly more measurable since then. In this week's episode Mike and Ron discuss how the two functions can not only coexist, but thrive together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https...

May 02, 202334 minEp. 51

Kip Knight: Why CMO’s Should Learn Finance

Episode 15 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Kip Knight. The founder of CMO Coaches, former CMO of Taco Bell, and President of H&R Block’s US business, joins the show for a second time as we switch formats and have him lead a 2-way dialogue following up on our "Why the Short Shelf Life of CMO's" session. We discuss marketing as “the offense” of the company, how to be “an optimist with objectivity,” the obligation of marketers to translate their budgets into sales and profit, the Marketing ...

Apr 24, 202338 minEp. 57

Clive Sirkin: Why Marketing Creativity is in Decline/What to Do About it

Episode 14 - A CMO Confidential interview with Clive Sirkin, the host of the podcast Unstuck who previously served as the Chief Growth Officer of Kellogg, the CMO of Kimberly-Clark, and the Group Managing Director of Leo Burnett. We discuss the difference between creativity and crafting, reducing the fear of getting out on the "creative ice," how to be a marketer versus an artist, avoiding the "marketing contagion of the moment" and how to make consumer believers versus taking hostages. Learn mo...

Apr 18, 202332 minEp. 50

Joe Perello: Lessons Learned as the First Ever CMO of New York City

Episode 13 - Joe started his career in credit cards at MBNA where he launched the NFL Visa card. He was the VP of Marketing for the New York Yankees, worked on David Bowie’s business and then became New York City’s first ever CMO in 2003. He’s gone on to found a digital ad agency and most recently a creator marketing technology platform called PROPS, where he serves as the CEO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Calif...

Apr 18, 202335 minEp. 56

Craig Coffey: How to Increase Your Chance of Succeeding as a CMO

Episode 12 - A CMO Confidential interview with Craig Coffey, the former CMO of Frontier Communications and Nokia North America and the founder of Way Maker Leadership, an executive leadership coaching practice serving senior executive and high-potentials in Fortune 200 companies. We discuss, beating the 2-year tenure jinx that bedevils the position, playing at a strategic level, hiring the right team, leading the consumer charge, managing social issues, and elevating the position. There's also t...

Apr 04, 202332 minEp. 54

Tom Seclow: An Executive Search Perspective on Marketing and CMO's

Episode 11 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Tom Seclow of Spencer Stuart. Tom for many years led the CMO and Customer Experience practice for one of the most respected search firms in the world. He discusses the short tenure of the position, aligning expectations, the difference between CMO and other C-level job specs, the power of classical consumer goods training, things to think about when you are considering a position, and CMO promiscuity and curiosity. Yes, you read that right, but it's...

Mar 28, 202335 minEp. 51

Tom Kirk: What Your Agency Wants To Tell You But Wont (Part 2)

Episode 10 - A CMO Confidential Interview with Tom Kirk, the long-time EVP and Chief Client Officer of RPA, the large independent agency in Los Angeles. TK, as he is known, discusses creative as a business driver, how consensus building can destroy good ideas, thinking through your agency interface and organization structure, Wayne Gretzky, and last, but not least an "orbiting the giant hairball "cow analogy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at ht...

Mar 21, 202335 minEp. 43

Nancy Zwiers: Why Is Marketing Innovation So Freaking Hard?

Episode 9 - A CMO Confidential interview with Nancy Zwiers, the former CMO of Spinmaster, founder of Funosophy and SVP of Marketing for Barbie Worldwide. Nancy takes us on a tour of innovation in the toy space where judgment and speed are critical to success. She shares some tips on how to trust your judgment, shepherd projects through the company, and what you can learn from marketing to kids. Great stories on Hatchimals and P&G to name a few. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

Mar 08, 202334 minEp. 57

Paul Madera: What do Venture Capitalists Really Think About Marketing

Episode 8 - A CMO Confidential interview with Paul Madera, the founder of Meritech Capital and former investment banker. Paul is a different guest for this show having founded a very successful firm which has backed some serious winners including Facebook, Salesforce, Roblox and Snowflake. He shares his perspective on venture capital and how it differs from Private Equity. He also discusses how VC's see marketing, why marketing is often less material to the investment thesis, and why he thinks m...

Mar 03, 202331 minEp. 55

John "Ozzy" Osborn: What Your Agency Really Wants to Tell You But Won't

Episode 7 - A CMO Confidential Interview with John Osborn, the former CEO of OMD USA and BBDO New York. Ozzy has been in the advertising and media business his entire career and shares some thoughts on how to build good business relationships and some CMO best and worst practices. He also talked about his first-hand "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" experience as a junior agency person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cali...

Feb 22, 202332 minEp. 58

Pat Mendelson: How Your Creative Team Really Wishes You'd Run A Meeting

Episode 6 - All brands have creative teams responsible for delivering the go-to-market work that showcases the business to the marketplace. Many big businesses hire agencies to deliver this work and set up a process to sift through hundreds of ideas, whittling down the pile until they invest in the ones that make it to you. And all CMO's know that in addition to the marketplace, the harshest critics of this work will be their fellow employees. Mistakes cost brands and CMO's as shown recently by ...

Feb 15, 202326 minEp. 53

Jeff Culliton: How To Run An RFP Without Crushing Your Agencys Soul

Episode 5 - In this Episode, Mike and Jeff Culliton, President of Adcom talk about the best and worst ways to run an RFP so that the agencies pitching your business all have a fair shot at success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 09, 202328 minEp. 56
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