The Changemakers

Rebrand versus brand evolution. What’s the difference, and how do you determine which is right for you?In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave is joined by Nick Levesque, Creative Director at Asana, to discuss the nuances of evolving a brand expression.As Asana nears the end of its own brand refresh, it was a timely chat about the process. Nick and Dave delve into approaches to evolving brand image, the importance of distinctive brand assets, and the balance between maintaining consistency and fostering creativity.The conversation covers the challenges and strategies involved in refreshing a brand, the role of audience perception, and leveraging research to guide decisions. Nick also illustrates the careful considerations needed to align visual identity with company growth and evolving audience expectations.If you want more pearls from Nick on all things brand and his journey, follow him on LinkedIn here.00:00 Welcome to Changemakers: A Deep Dive into Brand Evolution00:17 Introducing Nick Levesque: The Creative Mind Behind Asana's Brand Evolution02:02 The Essence of Brand Evolution vs. Rebranding03:01 Insider's View: Asana's Approach to Brand Evolution03:38 Signals and Reasons for a Brand Refresh09:25 The Strategy Behind Targeting Different Audiences16:17 The Creative Process and Agency Collaboration in Brand Evolution21:59 Balancing Consistency and Experimentation in Branding24:51 Revamping Brand Imagery: A Creative Journey25:24 The Power of In-House Creativity and Experimentation27:04 Navigating Internal Brand Evolution: Strategies and Challenges28:16 Collaborative Brand Audit: Engaging Teams for Insightful Feedback30:22 Building a Business Case for Creative Projects35:24 Distinctive Brand Assets: Balancing Innovation with Tradition41:37 Reflecting on the Rebranding Process: Achievements and Insights44:56 Dream Rebranding Projects: A Creative Director's PerspectiveIf you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, brought to you by Shaped By - our creative director Tom Ovens lifts the lid on the secret art of sound design by interviewing freelance sound designer, Adam Legg. They delve into the intricacies of sound design including the definition, the process of creation, and the difference between a ‘meh’ sound, and one that’s impactful.Sound design in a B2B space brings so much to the table. It helps to control the pace, brings emotion, and can be a real differentiator. So we unpacked it for those of you interested in how it all works.Adam gives insight into his creative process, balancing sound design with music, and offers a glimpse into how he keeps himself creatively driven. The conversation also veers into the symbiotic relationship between visuals and sound, and how a shift in their traditional sequence can result in a dynamic output.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to The Changemakers Series00:14 Guest Introduction: Adam Legge, Freelance Sound Designer01:21 Deep Dive into the Art of Sound Design01:51 Adam's Perspective on Sound Design03:51 The Role of Music in Sound Design05:32 Adam's Creative Process08:12 The Challenge of Time Management in Sound Design10:10 The Use of Libraries and Starting from Scratch13:05 Sound Design Inspirations and Heroes18:16 Brands Excelling in Sound Design20:35 The Potential of Sound Leading the Creative Process26:11 Closing Remarks and Future CollaborationsIf you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Even just a few years back, you would naturally think of pretty much any fintech firm as a challenger brand. A digital disruptor to a financial sector that badly needed disrupting.But today, fintech is fast becoming mainstream, if it isn’t already. And its “challenger brand” tag feels increasingly redundant, given the extent to which many established financial services firms are pivoting what they do to challenge fintech pioneers - especially when it comes to digital, UX and so on.One guest wasn’t going to cut it for such an important discussion. So for this episode, we welcome three amazing design leaders - Aaron Robbs, Creative Director at Ramp, Michael Jeter, Executive Creative Director at Stripe, and Nick Farrar, Founder and Managing Director at Shaped By.Between us, we delve into how great design can help differentiate fintech companies and build robust and memorable brand identities. Across the discussions, we also explore techniques to build trust, the power of design in gamification, and the importance of founder understanding and support in fintech.And guess what? After two years of being an audio-only podcast, you can now watch on YouTube too! Each of this episode’s three discussions is available to view over there, on Shaped By’s brand new channel. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Podcast Changes00:16 The Evolution of the Change Makers Podcast01:16 The Role of Brand and Design in Fintech02:43 Interview with Aaron Robbs, Creative Director at Ramp03:56 The Importance of Design Principles and Team Dynamics16:21 The Balance Between Brand and Performance Marketing21:17 Interview with Michael Jeter, Executive Creative Director of Stripe22:57 The Role of Craft, Beauty, and Culture in Branding26:09 The Challenges of Building a Brand Around an Invisible Product26:34 The Challenge of Branding in Fintech27:54 The Role of Design in Branding28:24 The Importance of Craft and Beauty in Branding29:27 The Impact of Company Culture on Branding30:28 Infusing Technology into Branding33:22 The Power of Self-Serve Design Tools35:25 The Role of Founders in Branding35:57 The Future of Design in Fintech39:03 Interview with Nick Farrar, Founder of Shaped By40:30 Building Trust through Design49:29 The Power of Gamification in Fintech55:19 Final Thoughts on Design in FintechIf you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Becca Chambers may be an award-winning technology brand-builder, storyteller, strategist and advisor.But when it comes down to the impact that her work has on the people that it touches, her tireless work as a neurodiversity champion and advocate is up there with any of those achievements.Becca has ADHD. She describes it as “a catalyst for my success in the creative world of brand, communications, and messaging”, and one of the driving forces behind her “scrappy get-sh*t-done attitude”.But for every Becca in the workplace, there are countless others who know their neurodivergence is a creative superpower, but don’t have the support or tools they need to thrive in their unique way. Why? Because despite all of the great strides that companies have made around diversity awareness, neurodiversity is rarely included in these conversations.Becca is on a mission to change all of that. As a parent of an autistic child, Changemakers host Dave Corlett is a huge admirer of what she’s doing to make workplaces more accessible to current and future neurodivergent colleagues. So join Dave and Becca as they deep dive into:Becca’s journey to executive level as a neurodivergent individualthe strengths that neurodiverse people bring to the workplacehow Becca has personally influenced and driven positive change at the organisations she’s worked athow the hiring process needs to change to better support neurodiverse candidates…and much more.You’ll love Becca’s infectious enthusiasm from the first minute. The best way to get more of it, and follow her journey as a neurodiversity champion, is to follow her on LinkedIn here.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

“I don’t need much sleep. And I love to take on a good challenge.”Take one look at Christian Flaccus’ resumé, and it’s clear to see that both of these things are very true indeed.He founded his first business, an e-commerce startup, in 1997 - then swiftly went and set up his own agency (whilst still remaining on his startup’s board). Not content with that, at various points during his agency life Christian also started a record label (Brave & Dizzy Records), opened (and closed) one of the first global street art online shops, and co-founded an incubator and house for dedicated dev teams for cloud-based SaaS projects called co.brick.Brave & Dizzy and co.brick are still Christian’s side-hustles. But since early 2021, his main focus has been spearheading brand design excellence at Celonis - Germany’s most valuable startup, and a pioneer in the hugely exciting and fast-growing field of process mining technology.As the company’s Chief Design Officer, Christian has taken the Celonis brand on an epic journey of disruption. But voyages like this aren’t undertaken alone. Disruption is uncomfortable for some people, and downright scary for others. So how do you bring everyone along on the journey, in ways that don’t just help them to understand why the company needs a disruptive brand - but gets them to fully buy into it, so they carry the torch as well?Join Dave and Christian as they go deep into why game-changing technology needs game-changing branding to match - and how to get your team to tune in and enjoy it in the same way that you enjoy crafting it.For more info on Celonis, check them out at celonis.de. And make sure you follow Christian on LinkedIn - he’s a really top guy and well worth connecting with. If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Ari Yablok is the Head of Brand at Island, the Enterprise Browser. If that sounds like a pretty simple description of what Island does, then there’s a very deliberate reason for that. And it’s a reason that has seen Dave fall completely in love with the brand strategy, identity, narrative and messaging that Ari has created for this Israeli startup that is going global pretty rapidly.Everything about Island exudes simplicity. The idea behind the product. The product itself. The experience of using it. The problem it solves. It’s easy, clear and stress-free. And this is all reflected perfectly in the simple, clean, zen-like brand experience that it’s all wrapped up in, and which entices you with its beautifully uncomplicated and supremely confident attitude.But don’t think for a second that the process of developing it was simple. It took a serious investment of strategic work, along with a heavy dose of boldness from Island’s founders to choose a path so unlike any other company in their space.Dave has been a long-time fan and admirer, both of Island and of Ari’s approach to crafting strategic narratives, end-to-end messaging and brand identities for tech companies in general - which he did for 50+ firms during his previous role at the B2B agency Atreo.So join us for another episode of fanboying as he chats with Ari on:the story of Island’s brand development, from first conversation to nowthe thinking behind its distinctive ethos and visual identityhow he and the Island team bring it to life in a differentiated way at live eventsthe challenge of evolving the brand as the company evolvesthe role of Island’s founders in the whole processThis is more than a story about an interesting brand. It’s an inspirational journey into the magic that happens when visionary founders and brand experts team up before a company has even launched, and build the brand alongside the product.Find out more about Island here, and follow Ari’s work on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ariyablok.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Following staggering revenue growth of 46,000% between 2018 and 2021, cybersecurity asset management Axonius was unsurprisingly named as the fastest-growing cybersecurity company in America by Deloitte in 2022.That’s pretty damn awesome. But it also presented a very familiar problem that high-growth companies tend to face. They scale so quickly, with such a focus on perfecting the product and the platform, that the task of also building a cohesive brand message and narrative takes a bit of a back seat.It’s understandable. But there comes a point where it’s a major issue. And when Kaite Rosa joined the business as Senior Director of Brand in 2020, she immediately identified that it was becoming one.So alongside CMO Nathan Burke, she set about fixing the problem. And the way they went about it makes for quite a story.Join Dave and Kaite as they discuss:how Kaite and her team crafted a simple, human, relatable brand messagehow they landed gymnastics icon Simone Biles as a brand partner to help spread that messagewhy Simone and Axonius’ other athlete partners embody the spirit of Axonius’ brandhow those collaborations, plus the close collaborative spirit of Kaite and Nathan’s team, drive long-term success for Axoniuswhy it’s so important to build such distinct brand narratives in crowded markets like cybersecurityThis is a conversation that will inspire any brand or marketing leaders out there who are struggling to make their brand stand out in cluttered markets.So dive in and enjoy. And go follow Kaite on LinkedIn to keep up with the latest from Axonius’ remarkable brand journey - which is certainly not slowing down any time soon.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

It’s time for another chat with one of our fellow agency buddies - and in the hotseat this week is the wonderful Kirsty Jarvis, founder and CEO of tech-specialist communications firm Luminous PR.We’ve recently been getting to know the Luminous team through our shared love of working with game-changing technology businesses. Their approach to building B2B brands and driving growth through tailored communications strategies is pretty impressive. So we were delighted when Kirsty agreed to take time out of her busy schedule to take us behind the scenes of how they do it.Join Dave and Kirsty as they sit down to discuss:why PR is so important to early-stage startupshow Luminous’ approach differs for more established firms versus startupsthe key trends and developments in the world of PR right nowwhy it pays to be creative when devising a comms strategy that cuts through the clutterhow PR strategies are changing for tech firms in the current climate of profitability and sustainability, versus the last couple of years of free capital and growth at all costs…and plenty more! If you like the sound of Luminous and what they do (and why wouldn’t you, they’re seriously good PR experts) follow Kirsty on LinkedIn here, and find out more about the agency on their website.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Aaron Poe is a man who knows a thing or two about brand design. During his time in the agency world, he gave the Beats by Dre brand the distinctive identity that helped it get acquired by Apple. He led the 2018 rebrand of fintech giant Checkout.com, and the more recent evolution of the Square brand identity.Now, as head of Zapier’s brand studio, his esteemed talents are being put to great use in leading the roll-out of the rapidly-growing automation firm’s new visual identity.It’s a fun job for a creative leader who loves pushing boundaries and expanding concepts into new realms. But it’s also a big job. Alongside the guidelines and principles Aaron and his team are building out around type, colour, motion and brand architecture, the company is in the process of launching a steady stream of new products - all of which must fit creatively into these newly crafted systems.So how’s that process going? What inspired Aaron to step away from his previous role and take this on as a challenge? And crucially, as Zapier is becoming an increasingly AI-driven company, how is Aaron harnessing the latest AI tools to make that big job a little less big?Join Dave and Aaron to find out all that and much more, including Aaron’s opinion on the future of AI-driven creative development, and where someone as experienced as he is goes to find their creative inspiration.It’s a cracking conversation. If you agree, let us know over on our LinkedIn page. And go follow Aaron on LinkedIn for the latest out of the super-talented Zapier brand studio.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Some people are quite happy to simply coast along, and see where the wind takes them. And others constantly push themselves, always looking to grow and develop through experiences that test their existing skills and help them to create new ones.Matt Price falls into the latter camp. Each step in his career as a creative, whether to a boutique agency or the pristine corridors of Apple HQ, has been chosen deliberately to give him a new perspective on the craft of commercial creativity.Now, deep into his first stint in B2B-land with fintech giants Checkout.com, Matt joins Dave to discuss how the sum of those experiences is an innate understanding of exactly what it takes to be a successful in-house creative leader.The two of them also chat about:how to be a collaborator rather than a blockerhow to uncover opportunities to elevate the power of creativity internallythe importance of educating audiences about your category as well as your brand and productwhy creatives should look to the world of fashion, art and design for genuine inspirationBe sure to give Matt a follow on LinkedIn. And if you enjoy the episode, why not take an extra minute out of your day and give us a lovely review?If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

This is the first of two episodes in which we’ll be stepping away from our typical guest profile of in-house marketers, creatives and brand leaders, and getting to know some of Shaped By’s fellow agency buddies.And what a buddy to get to know. Kerry Guard is CEO and founder of MKG Marketing, a digital marketing agency that works with cybersecurity, data management and other fast-scaling tech firms to drive impactful growth.So what are the most pressing digital marketing challenges that tech firms are grappling with now? And what should marketers be doing to solve them?Join Kerry and Dave to find out, and also discover:why truly effective digital marketing is ultimately a long gamehow to optimize your strategy to deliver consistent results over timewhat “intentional” digital marketing means, and why it’s so importantwhy moving away from lead gen and towards demand gen makes sense in today’s worldhow effective digital marketing relies on a splash of creativity to succeedYou can find MKG Marketing on the interweb here, and go follow Kerry on LinkedIn too. Also be sure to check out her podcast, Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders, which Dave will be featuring on very soon!If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Until generative AI came along and took over every single conversation, one way to instantly ignite a ferocious debate in B2B marketing was to ask this question: “Should B2B companies be thinking like media companies when it comes to content marketing?”ZoomInfo certainly believes so. And when the go-to-market software, data, and intelligence company’s CEO Henry Schuck decided to turn his content marketing operation into an editorial media machine, he hired Meghan Barr to lead it.As an award-winning journalist with two decades of experience, Meghan’s editorial and storytelling skills were a perfect fit to bring Henry’s vision of building an internal newsroom at ZoomInfo to life.So we were thrilled when Meghan agreed to sit down with Dave to discuss her experiences of moving into the B2B tech world, and how that move has signalled a shift in the way ZoomInfo builds its audience through content marketing.Dave and Meghan also discuss:how to tell brand and product stories across multiple channelswhy it’s so important to create an ownable narrative that draws audiences inhow thinking like a media company helps to build consistency and communityhow her editorial skillset adds value to teams and projects right across the marketing functionThe debate will rage on, no doubt. But whatever side you’re on, if you want an objective, honest and fascinating insight into what goes on inside a company that’s very much in this transition, then this one is most definitely for you.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

It’s not every day that you get chatting with someone who, in the first five minutes, casually drops into the conversation that they “ran a couple of SWAT teams”.But this is an episode with a difference. And if you’re involved in anything to do with cybersecurity marketing or thought leadership, then it’s one for you.There ain’t no cybersecurity expert with more expertise than Steve Stone. From managing nuclear security and running counter-espionage operations for the US Air Force to then moving into counter-terrorism as a federal agent (including over 1200 interrogations of high-level terrorists), the early part of Steve’s career was action-packed, to say the least.And it hasn’t slowed down since. After moving into cybersecurity as a case agent for several nation-state cyber intrusions into the US government, Steve left the military and joined the US intelligence community where he spent five years as a cyber intelligence expert, before moving into the private sector to help firms like IBM and Mandiant to convince C-suites and executive boards of the mission-critical threats that cybersecurity poses.Today, Steve heads up Rubrik Zero Labs, the data threat research unit he helped to create inside the data security firm Rubrik (and Shaped By client). We’ve had the pleasure of working with Steve on the creative aspects of RZL, so Dave was stoked to get the chance to interrogate him about:what led him from dusty interrogation rooms to the clean, bright corridors of a Silicon Valley tech firmwhy Zero Labs is such an important resource for Rubrik’s clients and security leaders everywherehow to engage busy CISOs and CIOs with thought leadership contenthow committed thought leadership like RZL builds genuine trust and credibilitythe role that storytelling plays in the RZL experienceThought leadership in B2B is so often a badging exercise, consisting of a few hastily-trotted-out reports with a foreword from the company’s CEO. So if you want a bagful of tips on how to build a true thought leadership platform, get your ears around this episode.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Whenever the conversation at Shaped By HQ turns to our favourite B2B brands, the same one always crops up: Drift.This unapologetically bold SaaS startup broke all the moulds when it created the category of Revenue Acceleration, and launched a vibrant and expressive new visual identity last year. So we were stoked when Andrea Carrillo, the firm’s Associate Creative Director, agreed to jump into the Changemakers hot seat and give us the inside story on Drift’s creative ethos.Originally from Colombia, Andrea and her family moved to New York as a child. Her parents - both engineers - landed jobs in the Big Apple, which sparked a keen interest in tech from an early age. This was matched by an equally enthusiastic passion for design when she joined a high school class that was effectively a mini creative agency for community projects.Dave chats with Andrea about how those influences shaped Andrea’s career and led to her becoming a creative leader at one of the SaaS world’s most recognised and loved brands.They also discuss:why internal creatives should think more like marketers to understand business goals and objectivesthe value of having a creative team that has a voice in conversations across the businesshow to retain the essence of a strong brand, and still be able to evolve and progress as the company growsthe influence of Drift’s founders David Cancel and Elias Torres on the brand’s creative expressionhow their background as Latinx founders is so inspirational to Andrea as a member of the Latinx community.Find out more about Drift on their site, and follow Andrea on LinkedIn here.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

How can the application of creativity enhance product marketing?If there’s one thread that’s been running consistently through the 29 previous episodes of The Changemakers, it’s that product marketing is the unsung hero of B2B tech business growth.All of our guests who have spent time in PMM roles have said that time was invaluable to their success. Many product marketers go on to have successful leadership careers. So when the time finally came for a discussion on creativity in product marketing, we knew exactly who to call on.Shobhana Viswanathan is a Silicon Valley-based chief marketing officer who has held numerous product marketing and B2B marketing executive roles at companies including IBM, Oracle/Sun, VMware and Automation Anywhere and startups.Shobhana started her career as a developer but found her true calling post-MBA at advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather. That stint in advertising and persuasive copywriting paid future dividends by allowing her to translate complex technical concepts into business benefits to help companies scale.Listen as Dave and Shobhana dive into:Why creativity is vital to product marketing, from campaign design to human-centric copywriting and messagingWhy nailing product marketing is especially crucial for category creatorsWhy product marketers’ skillsets make them perfect candidates for CMO positionsHow to use data to enhance your stakeholder management…and much more besides.Shobhana is the host of a great podcast on the future of work called The Change Alchemist, which is wonderful listening. Check it out here, and go connect with/follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Design leaders in tech don’t come much more visionary than this week’s Changemakers guest, Nando Costa. Nando is a Brazilian-American designer with an extensive background in visual design, branding, digital products and animation production. After spending the first part of his career in the agency world, Nando joined Microsoft in 2013, spending the next nine years working on projects such as the creative development of the HoloLens, various Mixed Reality projects and cross-platform versions of Office apps. After a stint at Google Design in 2022, he returned to Microsoft, where he currently works on immersive experiences for Microsoft Mesh and explores the potential applications of generative AI.This may well be news to you, but to our Dave it isn’t. He’s followed Nando’s career for a long time, fascinated by his incredible Microsoft and Google animation pieces and ongoing experiments with Midjourney’s AI design tool. So, to have the chance to discuss all that with the man himself… let’s just say fanboy Dave was pretty excited. Their wide-ranging chat covers: Nando’s early influences growing up in Rio de Janeiro, how he wound up joining Microsoft, and staying at the firm for so long, why maintaining a consistent pace of learning and progression is so important to him, how to “find your tribe” in a company of 200,000 people, why impactful design at huge global brands relies on “thoughtful rule-breaking” the future of AI-powered design. This is one that any fan of truly world-class design and branding will really enjoy.Find out more about Nando at nandocosta.com.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In these 'soundbite' episodes, we'll be sharing moments from our Changemakers podcast that have made us stop and think, and we think will be valuable to you.This is from Episode 24 and our chat with Alan Cohen. During our conversation, he talks about cybersecurity and gives his thoughts on what businesses can do to stand out and make an impact in a world where their target audiences are often so bombarded by vendors, salespeople, and marketing activity.To cut through and make an impact on a very busy audience, you need to get so many things right to make a good impression.Listen to this episode to see if it changes your approach to cybersecurity marketing.Check out our content hub on how to stand out in a crowded cybersecurity market here. shaped-by.com/cybersecurity-marketingIf you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Heidi Joy Tretheway is one of those marketing leaders who, in her words, would “rather build a ship than sail it”.That’s why she’s always gravitated towards startups with huge growth potential. The challenge of creating a marketing function virtually from scratch, and turning that into a pipeline-building, the revenue-generating machine is one that Heidi Joy absolutely thrives on.It’s also a challenge that we haven’t really tackled on The Changemakers until now. So Dave gets deep into it with Heidi Joy, exploring what makes a truly effective startup marketing leader, and why she gets such a buzz out of being one. They also chat about:why Heidi Joy was drawn to her current role at Gardenhow to approach your first 100 days in the rolehow to build out a messaging/positioning frameworkhow to create a content engine from scratchthe differences between building and scaling marketing at a Series A startup vs Series CDave and Heidi Joy also get into the art of storytelling - which as an author of a dozen kids and adults books, Heidi Joy certainly has a valuable perspective on.If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Being a CMO these days is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a role that is fraught with challenges. Yes, many have a seat at the top table, which certainly wasn’t the case a decade ago. But in return, the pressures on performance are enormous, even at the best of times - let alone in uncertain climates like this one.Some just aren’t cut out for it. But others thrive on those pressures because they know exactly how to inspire their teams to perform. That’s the mark of a true marketing leader - and Dillon Nugent recognised early on in her career that she had those qualities.Dave sat down with Dillon to find out how that self-awareness led her to be named the CMO of customer engagement firm Khoros last year. Where did her journey start, when did she realise she had leadership potential - and how did she turn that potential into the actions that proved she was a natural fit for the CMO role?We also chat about:Why being in sync with sales and product teams is so important for marketers at every levelThe importance of always being able to step back and see the bigger picture as a leaderHow to build a thriving team that is greater than any one individualKeeping her team focused on their goals during a year of seismic changeWhy it’s more important to fail and learn than always play it safeYou can follow Dillon on LinkedIn here, and find out more about Khoros here. If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In the second of our cybersecurity mini-series, Dave sits down with Mike O’Malley, seasoned tech marketing executive and recently-appointed CMO of API security specialists Noname Security.Mike joined Noname in the summer of 2022 to lead its marketing team into the next phase of the company’s rapid and impressive growth. Prior to that, he was Senior VP, Global Marketing at CyberArk, another pioneering cybersecurity firm. Mike’s career has also taken in senior marketing roles at VMware, CA Technologies and a number of other leading technology firms.As Mike tells Dave, he’d been fascinated by the challenges, innovation and fast pace of cybersecurity long before he moved into it - as well as the opportunity to play a pivotal role in the fight against the scourge of cybercrime.So now he’s immersed himself into the cyber world, what are Mike’s top tips on making a positive impression on one of the most under-pressure and vendor-bombarded technology buyers of all: the cybersecurity professional?No spoilers of course, but tune in and you’ll find out:why security marketers must understand their buyers much faster than in other tech categorieshow to go beyond your customers’ basic pains and really get inside their heads on an emotional levelhow to flip cybersecurity’s obsession with fear, uncertainty and doubt into honest, positive and benefit-driven messaginghow to use data and research to highlight genuine and immediate security problems, and position your solutions as the answerthe challenges of API security, and why addressing them is so important right nowEnjoy the chat, and leave us a review if you liked it!If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech. 👉 Watch episodes on YouTube👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed 👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️