Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders

Full transcript "Any organization, any team, is going to have inherent conflict," says Dave Steer, CMO of Webflow. "The question is... Do you bring it into the room and have discussion about it, or do you not talk about it in the room, and then around the water cooler you're having that kind of conversation?" Dave learned how to "mine" conflict in this way from an executive team coach, and he says it's "bananas for anyone to not have a coach at any level of their career." And conflict is just one of the lenses through which he has tried to zoom out and think of his role as a marketing leader in terms of systems, rather than small projects. Today on Building Better CMOs, Dave and Greg discuss the ROI of personalized marketing, how Webflow has embraced agentic marketing to help brands level up their online presence, and why "we're in the Moneyball moment for the marketing industry." Plus: The unrealistic expectations of everything marketers are supposed to be able to do in 2026. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:21 Webflow and the Modern Marketing Team 5:24 The Promise of Personalization 10:54 The ROI of Personalized Marketing 15:24 Moneyball Marketing Mindset 22:54 The Trust Framework and Team Coaching 27:22 Mining Conflict Together 32:01 Shifting from Campaigns to Systems 36:24 The Modern Marketer Skill Stack Dave's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesteer Webflow: https://webflow.com/ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://lightningpod.fm/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://pod.link/1689135815 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://bettercmos.com/review?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description

Full transcript Marketing a traditional brand is one thing. Marketing an entire city — specifically, Las Vegas — is something else altogether. For Kate Wik, CMO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), executing a massive campaign means getting hotel owners, elected officials, and local stakeholders to completely buy in. When making cultural waves, like turning the city's casinos purple for the K-pop group BTS, collaboration is everything. "That's not my building or my assets," Kate explains. "It's bringing others along with you. That's what drives the scale of a great idea." Today on Building Better CMOs, Kate and Greg discuss the complexities of serving Las Vegas' distinct audiences, spanning luxury, leisure, budget, and convention travelers. They dive into the unique challenges of destination marketing organization (DMO) attribution when you don't actually own the transactions, as well as how the LVCVA approaches brand health tracking, PR, and digital targeting. Plus, why Vegas has moved away from the iconic tagline "What happens here, stays here," and what it takes to produce massive recent events, such as Super Bowl LVIII and the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:05 How the LVCVA Markets Las Vegas 08:26 Data, Attribution, and Marketing Complexity 15:20 Evolving "What Happens Here Stays Here" 19:23 Driving Demand for a Category of One 25:13 The Best Marketing Advice Kate Ever Received 28:01 Experiential Marketing: F1, Shoeys, and BTS 36:26 Measuring Long-Term Brand Value vs. ROI 39:48 The Brand Impact of Hosting the Super Bowl 43:09 Brand Health Tracking and the "Pack for Vegas" Campaign Kate's LinkedIn LVCVA This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Full transcript CMOs are " really good at the M part," says Bennie Johnson, the CEO of the American Marketing Association. "We're really good at the marketing part. We struggle with the 'Chief' and the 'Officer.'" Why is that? Some possible reasons include the lack of professional certification for great marketers, the short tenures CMOs often have before moving on to the next job, or the fact that — according to the Marketing + Media Alliance's research —  30 percent of marketing capabilities sit outside the role of CMO. "We need to take a full push that we are unapologetically leading the business," Bennie says. "An organization's marketers are driving growth. We don't get credit for the money, but we get credit for the expense." Today on Building Better CMOs, Bennie and Greg talk about bridging research and practice through executive–academic collaboration, emerging trends from the AMA's own research, and why Bennie believes "adjectives matter" when you talk about marketing. Plus: Why you are never the target audience. 00:00 Introduction 03:47 Inside the AMA's Big Tent 08:22 Future Trends in Marketing 10:58 Portfolio Careers and Fractional CMOs 22:07 Career Advice and Collecting Art 29:20 You Are Not the Target Audience 31:25 Where Academic Research Meets Practice 36:05 The Boardroom Leadership Gap 38:16 Why Marketing Loses Control 48:23 No Licensure, No Gatekeepers Bennie's LinkedIn American Marketing Association This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Full transcript Helping families navigate senior care at A Place for Mom requires constant cross-functional alignment. For marketing veteran Chris Milone, leadership extends far beyond his own department. "You have to be a thought partner to the CEO," says the CMO. That philosophy was forged the hard way during his first stint as a chief marketer, when his boss pulled him aside to express disappointment. "He said, 'When I hired you, I didn't hire someone to run the marketing department. That's table stakes, that's a given,'" Chris says. "'I barely hear from you in our leadership meetings. I don't know if you even care about what's going on in the rest of the company.'" Today on Building Better CMOs, Chris and Greg talk about working with CEOs who used to be the CMO; why AI makes everyone think they’re an expert; and how to balance what your customer wants with what the business needs. Plus: Why new executives have to "talk to every single person in their organization." 00:00 Introduction 01:22 What A Place for Mom Does 04:51 The CMO Onboarding Playbook 10:46 Some Bad Marketing Advice 16:02 Becoming a Four-Time CMO 20:31 When Your CEO is a Former CMO 23:10 Performance, Teams, and Go-To-Market Strategies 31:17 Brand Building in the AI Search Era 35:25 Being a Thought Partner to the CEO 40:45 Why Marketers Must Prove ROI 44:57 Incrementality Testing and Measurement 50:35 Defending Marketing Decisions Against AI Chris' LinkedIn Greg's LinkedIn This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

At the heritage beauty house Estée Lauder, marketing is led by a re-inventor, who refuses to draw any line between marketing and digital: "Everything is digital," says Global Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Aude Gandon. However, Aude argues that there is a risk of becoming overly reliant on technology to do the job. For her, the tools only get smart when a marketer who actually knows the craft does the briefing. "AI is not expertise," she says. "Only the marketer knows what to feed the AI with. And if we don't do it that way, it's going to be garbage in, garbage out and everybody's going to look the same." Today on Building Better CMOs, Aude and Greg talk about how a luxury house takes real risks with creators and TikTok Shop; why young marketers still need to study and learn the fundamentals of their craft; and why, "Just because you don't fit in doesn't mean you don't belong." Plus: The merits of making lateral career moves. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 04:41 Lessons from the Tech World and YouTube's Evolution 12:31 Transforming Legacy Brands for Modern Consumers 14:08 Brand Prestige, or Digital Experimentation? 19:38 Fitting In vs. Belonging 21:27 Luxury Storytelling on Social Platforms 28:53 The Importance of Mentorship 32:40 Applying Data Science to the Art of Beauty 37:49 Reaching International Consumers 41:18 Marketing Fundamentals in a Digital Age 48:54 AI's Role in Creative Evaluation and Personalization Full transcript⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod⁠⁠ Follow Building Better CMOs⁠ in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Rate and review⁠ the podcast Aude's LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Greg's LinkedIn