📝 AUGUST 22nd | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Welcome Back, Marketing Leaders ☕️!

This week, we have another podcast edition of MU.
I promised you a PMM interview, and Rory did not disappoint. There are 25 takeaways below, but I highly encourage you to listen to the full podcast for the full nuggets shared.

Thanks for those who completed the 4-minute survey on how Marketing will look in 2030 for a £25 Amazon voucher.

Enjoy your weekend!
Danny Denhard - ( 👋 wanna connect - email or LinkedIn)

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HOW THE FUTURE OF PRODUCT MARKETING WILL SHAPE MANY BUSINESSES’ SUCCESS

THE FUTURE OF PRODUCT SUCCESS MIGHT JUST RELY ON GREAT PMM’S

I had a brilliant and candid conversation with Product Marketing Consultant Rory Woodbridge. Click to watch/listen below

Listen to the audio version below

Rory joined me to demystify Product Marketing and explore its growing strategic weight in European tech. 

Rory spent his formative years at Google, YouTube and Monzo before founding The Product Marketer. Rory argues that product marketing's core purpose is to create product “message clarity”: a shared language that bridges product, engineering, sales and brand so the customer always hears one coherent story. 

Although the PMM function is two decades old in the US, he says it is only in the last five to ten years that UK and European firms have begun recruiting dedicated PMM teams, and it’s still very much maturing.   

Connect with Rory:

• His Site - theproductmarketer.co // his newsletter https://productmarketer.substack.com/ 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorywoodbridge/ 

• Contact - https://theproductmarketer.co/contact

Short On Time? Here’s The Pod Broken Down: 

Why PMM Still Needs Explaining

CMOs and founders routinely confuse product marketing with product management, growth or comms. 

Rory warns that because every firm defines the remit differently, the discipline can seem shape-shifting. 

In early-stage companies, a PMM is a multi-hat role that might fill research gaps; in better-resourced scale-ups, they concentrate on GTM, the right positioning and enablement. 

The biggest danger, rightly points out, is allowing the role to become an organisational dumping-ground for stray copywriting, CRM or project-management tasks that dilute strategic impact.  

Reporting Lines and Political Tightropes

Asked where PMM should sit, Rory gives the pragmatic answer: with whichever C-suite leader gets it and will champion the work. 

In Europe, that is usually the CMO; in some product-led cultures, the CPO makes more sense. 

A temporary spell reporting directly to the CEO can accelerate cross-functional buy-in, but long-term, the team must avoid being perceived as an arm of one tribe. 

I have often found that (O)KR-heavy organisations often push PMM towards Marketing to stay aligned with revenue metrics; Rory has seen the healthiest set-ups let PMM pivot freely to the business's biggest growth constraint, whether that is adoption, messaging or launch orchestration.  

State of Play in 2025 & 2026 

Looking ahead, Rory predicts smaller, more specialised PMM teams with big expectations will become the norm. 

Europe's ecosystem will likely never mirror Silicon Valley's, but demand for fractional or consultancy support is surging as AI start-ups seek senior expertise they cannot afford full-time. 

He expects AI to remove PMM drudgery, ”meeting notes, first-draft copy, desk research,” freeing practitioners to tackle higher-order work such as new-market analysis and full-company narrative design. 

However, saturation looms: low-code tools mean anyone who can imagine an app can now build 80% of one, so differentiation will hinge on sharper positioning and distribution.  

What Does A Good PMM Look Like

For leaders wondering how to judge PMM output, Rory offers one yardstick: clarity. 

When the website, sales deck and product roadmap tell the same story, and internal grumbles between product, sales, and brand subside,” you know PMM is working. 

I love that Rory champions radical simplicity, relentlessly stripping features, copy and decks to the essentials customers actually value. 

The trio of high-value deliverables he is most often hired for are: 

1. Rigorous customer segmentation rooted in TAM, ICP and personas

2. A structured positioning process ”blending classic methodologies with April Dunford's framework” to force hard strategic trade-offs; and 

3. Launch storytelling that is both exciting and empirically grounded.  

Implications for CMOs

For CMOs and Marketing leaders, the message is clear. First, treat PMM as a full-funnel discipline that owns insight, narrative and commercial alignment, not just launch emails. 

Second, guard the team from scope-creep busywork that AI or other functions can absorb. 

Third, invest in senior principal PMMs or super-ICs (I call them experts) who can influence across squads without chasing management titles. 

Finally, recognise that in an AI-levelled world of instant feature parity, brand trust and product-message clarity will be your lasting moat, so give product marketing the mandate, resources and C-suite airtime to build it.  

My Top 25 Takeaways For CMOs & Marketing Leaders

» Strategic Foundation 🧱

1. Product marketing is "a strategic function that finds common language between product/tech teams and commercial/sales teams" - the bridge that prevents organisational silos

2. Founders are the original product marketers - they naturally do customer research, positioning, competitive analysis, and storytelling in early stages

3. PMM should report to whoever understands it best in the C-suite - success depends on leadership buy-in rather than organisational placement

4. Product marketing works best as a "shape-shifting role" that fills gaps where the business needs the most impact

5. The function has matured from a recruitment burst in 2021 to more sophisticated, understood teams with bigger expectations

» The AI Revolution Impact 🤖

1. AI will free up 20+ hours per week by automating email marketing, website copy, meeting notes, and administrative tasks

2. "When AI enables anyone to one-click copy their competitor, differentiation through superior marketing becomes the competitive advantage"

3. Product categories will become saturated quickly as tools like Lovable enable anyone to build 80% of an app rapidly

4. Winners will be those who master marketing and distribution rather than just product features

5. PMMs will play crucial roles in making AI accessible to mainstream consumers who feel "overwhelmed" by infinite possibilities

» Operational Excellence 👩‍💼 

1. "Radical simplicity" is a superpower - constantly push for the shortest way to communicate value

2. Customer understanding should be structured like Russian dolls - TAM → segmentation → ICP → personas, not rushing to personas

3. Positioning is an intentional process, not a Tuesday afternoon whiteboard session requiring deep customer, competition, and market analysis

4. Great PMMs bring "clarity across all customer touchpoints" - website matches sales deck matches social messaging

5. Success metric: reduced internal friction - less rumbling between sales, product, and marketing teams

» Team Structure & Evolution 🔮

1. Rise of the "principal product marketer" - senior ICs who want high impact without management responsibilities

2. Product marketing should be full-funnel - top of funnel through retention and referrals, not just launches

3. Best PMMs can move between marketing and product reporting seamlessly without business disruption

4. “The European PMM scene is ~10 years behind the US” but is developing distinct characteristics due to regulatory and cultural differences

5. Consultancy model growing in Europe as many companies need PMM expertise seasonally rather than full-time

» Competitive Advantages 💪

1. "Embrace that naive, ignorant brain before getting infected by inside thinking" - maintain customer perspective

2. Customer reviews are "gold" but consistently overlooked - especially good reviews for messaging insights

3. The biggest challenge: scope creep - PMMs filling gaps in CRM, website copy, project management instead of strategic work

4. Performance marketing's dominance creates short-termism that reduces creative, long-term differentiation

5. Smaller companies (50-500 people) offer better PMM opportunities than large enterprises for full company impact

Don’t forget to connect with Rory

Connect with Rory:

• Via his Site - theproductmarketer.co // sub on his newsletter https://productmarketer.substack.com/ 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorywoodbridge/ 

• Contact - https://theproductmarketer.co/contact

Thanks for reading today, and if you’d like to discuss this or any other newsletter, drop me a DM on LinkedIn or just hit reply to any email.

Danny Denhard 
» If you need help: I coach leaders, consult with startups and challenger brands and advise companies looking to grow, so get in touch

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6 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

Here are the top 6 takeaways from last week’s newsletter by Harry

• The American Eagle campaign with Sydney Sweeney sparked intense debate, swinging between viral success and accusations of far-right messaging.

• Modern marketing thrives on controversy and velocity, making mistakes and backlash almost inevitable in today’s media landscape.

• The ad’s messaging (“good genes”) was misinterpreted by some as promoting eugenics, fueling outrage, while others saw it as a harmless celebrity endorsement.

• A deleted video from the campaign added fuel to the controversy, with critics claiming it hinted at problematic themes, while supporters dismissed concerns.

• The campaign’s divisiveness highlights how brands now seek fame through polarising content, accepting reputational risk for attention and sales.

• Ultimately, scandals fade quickly in the digital age, and brands risk irrelevance more than cancellation, pushing them to provoke and dominate headlines.

Read the full article:

Did American Eagle Crash Land, Or Is It Flying High?

Marketing Unfiltered 42 - FINALLY, HARRY TACKLED THE DENIM DRAMA FROM ALL SIDES

www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/42

Thanks For Reading This Week ✅

Share To Your Favourite Marketing Group

→ 💬 Copy and paste https://www.marketingunfiltered.co/?modal=signup into your group chat of choice (hint: into your favourite Marketing WhatsApp group to help them learn each and every week)

Danny Denhard & Harry Lang

📝 AUGUST 15th | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Welcome Back, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

This week, Harry tackles the recent “rage-bait Marketing” that is the American Eagle denim drama.

Thanks to everyone who completed the Future of Marketing survey. There are some brilliant answers, and the report will land in your inbox in the coming weeks. If you missed it, you can complete the 4 minute survey here.

Next week, we have a deep dive into Product Marketing & its critical function in today’s landscape

Thanks again for reading, and go enjoy your weekend!
Danny Denhard - ( 👋 wanna connect - email or LinkedIn)

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FINALLY, SOMEONE IS TACKLING THE DENIM DRAMA FROM ALL SIDES

Did American Eagle Crash Land, Or Is It Flying High?

Did American Eagle Crash Land, Or Is It Flying High?

There Are Two Sides To Every Story – This One Has Many More…

Nature may abhor a vacuum, but what human nature loves more than anything else is a scandal. Gossip, whimsy, ignominy or caught in 4K – human beings are hopelessly addicted to ingesting and sharing bad news in all of its grimy guises, as long as it’s happening to someone else. 

The recent American Eagle X Sydney Sweeney campaign went from nothing to something to everything in a matter of days, bouncing between viral genius and neo far right Nazi propaganda with the schizophrenic severity of a crack addled kangaroo. 

The nature of modern media is one of contradictions and compromises. You know the old adage about plumbers? You can pick two from fast, good and cheap? Well, the equivalent compromise for brand marketers seeking fame for their products might look something like this:-

And that’s what they desire, right? Fame – at any reasonable cost, both actual and reputational befitting the evolutionary status of the brand in question. 

A start up brand with meagre budgets might be pushed into taking more risks, eschewing brand conformity in favour of more outlandish stunts, videos, guerilla media and campaigns. A mature brand, conversely, is less inclined to risk it all on a Hail Mary throw of the dice. They have more money to spend, greater access to celebrity and more to lose should the world decide that their effort at being edgy has tiptoed over the line of good taste and landed on its ass in the land of outrage.      

That was then, however. And were in the now – a socially enabled, digitally enhanced, speed of light media landscape in which a Tank Top wearing Bruv with a bowl haircut can be off his nut in Ibiza one day and being wooed as a potential ITV prime time star the next. 

It’s utterly relentless being a marketer in this strobe light palace of bullshit. The speed of thought is faster than light and the Zeitgeist we’re all expected to keep hold of with our fingernails never stops changing. 

When everything’s moving this fast, mistakes will be made. So American Eagle found to their cost when their generic jeans ad featuring the shapely Sydney Sweeney was translated by the left leaning quadrants of America and LinkedIn from hokey celebrity titillation into a pro-eugenics hate fest before they could launch the second wave PR and social follow up story.   

Sex sells, always has, always will?

I myself landed in the latter camp, mostly because in Ancient Greek, ‘Good Genes’ literally translates as ‘Eugenics’.

I was wrong, of course. But having never studied Ancient Greek, that’s no real surprise. The most straightforward translation of ‘good genes’ into Ancient Greek would be eugenēis gonai, ‘Eugenēis’ meaning ‘well-born’ or ‘of good stock’, while ‘gonai’ refers to offspring or lineage. It’s a fair few postcodes away from ‘Great Jeans’, but by the time I realised my mistake, I’d already jumped on the bandwagon of Antis with a LinkedIn post vilifying the campaign, thus securing my illegitimate spot on one side of an increasingly wonky fence.

The main AE ad keeps growing - VidIQ data

On the other side sat those who couldn’t see what the problem was – let’s call them The Pros. A pretty girl maxing out her assets in a jeans ad, which had then been mistranslated by the gnashing Wokerati into a hate message because, well, they can find meaning in anything so long as it makes them right. Plus, the Pros pointed out, the campaign was supporting a charity, so who are the woke left to say it’s evil? Unfortunately for the Pro camp, Both ‘Doctor’ Phil and Ted Cruz (a man for whom a lobotomy would instantly render him more likeable and intelligent) jumped in to support them on Twitter:-

“Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women”.

When you’re agreeing with this bearded, bile-spewing can of Spam, you’ve got to be a tiny bit worried that you’ll end up on the wrong side of history.  

‘But, but, but…’ cried the Antis (a camp which I’d left by this point, leaving me straddling the fence wondering what the fuck was going on in the world) ‘But what about THE VIDEO?

‘What video?’

‘THE VIDEO AMERICAN EAGLE RAPIDLY AND PERMANENTLY DELETED FROM ALL THEIR SOCIAL CHANNELS. IT’S THEIR GRASSY KNOLL!!!’

‘I didn’t see it. Never happened’ said the Pros, arms firmly crossed in the smug stance of those who know they’re in the right.

Well, some people saw the video and its content adds, shall we say, a little spice to the porridge:-

Pulled ad via Reddit

“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour. My jeans are blue”.

That was Sydney, reading a script, in the American Eagle social video supporting the now rapidly disappearing print and digital ad of the same genre. And, well, it isn’t damning evidence, but it certainly had me leaning off my fence to listen with a softer ear to the shouty left Wokists claiming that American Eagle was at least a little mangy.

That video was pulled down shortly after the Antis looked like the might have a popular point, only to be replaced with, well, this effort. You’d see less T&A in a Soho clip joint, so they’ve just replaced one controversial take with an outdated stereotypical one. The Cannes judges must be sharpening their pencils already… 

We could go on like this all day. For what it’s worth, I ended up still sat on the fence, largely not giving a shit about American Eagle, Ted Cruz, Doctor Phil or advertising as a whole. However I do feel a little sorry for Sydney Sweeney who will have her face, breasts, ass and reputation plastered all over this blight on society til the end of time, and I also believe that American Eagle was most likely well aware of the potential for grandstanding ire its campaign would cause and purposefully loaded both barrels as a result. 

Because this is what works in the information age: – 

Fame is the target, controversial content that seeds division is the accelerant and angry debate is the missile. 

As an added bonus, we’re all so plugged into so many feeds we have digital myopia – even the worst scandals by brands, celebrities and politicians evaporate into the ether the moment they’re superseded by the next juicier, more scandalous or more damaging shit storm. I mean, didn’t Trump get pissed on by a Russian pro? How long did that flawless gem of socio-political hilarity stay in the public’s consciousness? And how little damage did it do him in the long run?  

What we’re in now is a hot mess of brands fighting to beat other brands at all costs - ethics and morality be damned. Entertaining consumers alone is too risky a strategy. There’s simply too much info, too much money, too much to gain by too many brands fighting for eyeballs and brains ripped to shreds by a tsunami of daily bollocks on multiple social feeds and group chat platforms. 

Being ‘the story’ by any means possible is the goal, and if they fuck up and step over the invisible line at which the world turns against them? Who cares – collect the fame points, bin the bad PR hangover and go again next month with a pocketful of sales and a share price that looks like the Alps in profile.

Brands will decide to go big with campaigns that anger half the world because if they don’t, they risk a fate even worse than cancellation.

They risk being ignored.

Harry Lang

CMO, Managing Director of marketing consultancy Brand Architects and author of the 5-Star rated marketing guidebook ‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit,’ available on Amazon.
You can connect with Harry on LinkedIn or email him at Harry@BrandArchitects.co.uk.

Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to discuss Sydney Sweeney's drama hit reply or DM Harry and me on LinkedIn.

Danny Denhard 
» If you need help: I coach leaders, consult with startups and challenger brands and advise companies looking to grow, so get in touch

Our Most Popular Articles This Month

1. CMOs: Here’s how and why to assign an AI leader

2. What The Future Of PR Looks Like

3. WTAF Is Happening With The CMO Role

The 6️⃣ Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

Here are the top 6 takeaways from last week’s newsletter, or you can read the full article: https://www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/41

1. New Marketing Roles: Marketing roles are going to shift towards a mix of specialists, generalists, and experts (aka super ICs), with new positions emerging, especially within AI and content.

2. Google Ads Low: Big brands like Google are going after rivals Apple and targeting the disappointing release of their AI features. Why bring up competitors in this market?

3. AI’s Lack Of Proper Marketing: There is a clear need for better communication and strong product marketing to help consumers understand the right model updates and what, why, when and how to use them.

4. Give The Fans What They (Don’t Know What They) Want: Collaborations between high street brands (e.g., Greggs and KFC) and innovative launches (like adidas’ cropped Arsenal shirt) are driving buzz and fan engagement - going beyond is how you win in today’s marketplace.

5. PR Spin: Google’s claims about improved traffic quality post-AI overviews are questioned, reigniting debates about traffic vs. audience value for advertisers.

6. YouTubers? Sports stars are turning to YouTube for brand-building and sponsor integration

Thanks For Reading This Week ✅

Don’t forget to give us your expert opinion on the future of Marketing for a £25 Amazon voucher. Answer here

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Danny Denhard

📝 AUGUST 8th | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Welcome Back, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

This week, we have a special edition of MU. We’d love for you to complete a quick survey on how Marketing will look in 2030 for a £25 Amazon voucher.

While Harry is on a holiday and I’ve been heads down recording and editing an upcoming MU podcast with Rory Woodbridge on the PMM role and the future of Product Marketing. I have also been getting ready to launch my new AI for leaders podcast called AI Moment. I’ll tease a little more next week. I wanted to share something a little different today. Today’s MU includes a few questions I’ve been asked on WhatsApp & iMessage from ex-colleagues, clients and friends, while I offer a few ponderings that I’m working through. 

Thanks again for reading and completing the survey this week. Enjoy your weekend!
Danny Denhard - ( 👋 wanna connect - email or LinkedIn)

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FOR A £25 AMAZON VOUCHER

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We will be creating and sharing a dedicated report to gain a realistic sense of the future and help you plan for the future.

We would love for you to be involved! Just complete the survey below and receive a £25 Amazon voucher

» HAVE YOUR SAY HERE

HOW THE INDUSTRY IS SHIFTING & CALLING OUT SOME GREAT MARKETING

THE FUTURE OF MARKETING NEEDS YOU!

The Future Of Marketing & Growth Roles 🚀

As I referenced in last week’s newsletter, there will be a need for full funnel roles (I summarise in 6 bullets below), and I called out Product Marketing as one of them. 

Here are the full funnel roles I called out last week, including PMM and Growth

It raises the question:
Will we need to rethink how we hire and assign new roles to? I predict we have to embrace a new 3-tier system: the specialist, the generalist and the expert role.  

I explain the differences between the roles below (a little teaser from the upcoming pod with Rory) 

Smart AI Marketing Features 🤖

Google took shots at Apple’s AI misfires - does this tactic work for a giant brand like Google? Yes, Gemini has been a success, but I’d suggest Google should be doing better than cheap shots… 

Dream Combo 🍗

This week, we saw the smart collaboration between Greggs and KFC. I expect to see many more of this level of collaboration from the high street institutions.

Big AI Companies Desperately Need Good Marketing 🆘 

Another big week for product launches. ChatGPT5 and Claude 4.1 have released big updates, but there’s still confusion around which model is best… 

Why use X or # model over Y or # model etc.? I can’t help but think a great Brand Marketer and, importantly, a top-level PMM could do wonders alongside developer relations here and help consumers really understand the product updates and get the most out of the latest releases. 

Google’s Traffic PR Spin 👀

Google released a questionable statement regarding sending traffic since AI overviews feature went live. Google failed to share any data or insights into how they are still driving traffic to sites, and they suggest they are now sending higher-quality traffic since AI overviews went live. When you are shareholder-driven, you have to put out these sorts of statements, but the issue here is that Google is misdirecting advertisers again.

This has had me thinking back to the old Traffic vs Audience debate. Google’s deal was sending traffic in exchange for using your content to rank sites; the value exchanged seemed almost fair until they started capping traffic. Our job was always to convert traffic into our audience. When there’s no traffic coming through, how do you convert to audience (away from their ads, of course)?

Is YouTube The New Home For Sports Star Brands 🎾

Women’s world number one tennis player and star Aryna Sabalenka has started her journey on YouTube. Aryna is known for her quirky TikTok dances and social media personality. Are we seeing a new way for sponsor integration with tennis viewership down? I suspect so. This video has 67k views at the time of editing.
Sponsors like Nike and Wilson feature heavily (indirectly). 
Fellow Nike athlete and Men’s number 1 Jannik Sinner has also started “vlogging” and was produced by the same production company.

Adidas’ Third Shirt Launches Genius ⚽️

I’ve received five separate WhatsApp messages on the Arsenal and adidas kit launch. 
Adidas have delivered brilliant Marketing alongside several brilliant kits. Arsenal and German champions Bayern Munich have had most of the plaudits.
The idea of introducing a cropped shirt is incredibly smart & has become a hit already.
Adidas’ cheat code has always been that:
they release beautifully designed + nostalgic kits + lifestyle collections that reference culture = huge buzz and fan happiness  

Fans on Instagram have loved the cropped shirts - link

Pro:Direct showing Arsenal lifestyle collection a lot of love as have the fans - Link

Christmas In August? 🎅 Causing Consumer Fatigue

Is Christmas in August too early? Have the incredibly popular Beauty Advent Calendars gone too early? Liberty’s hugely popular calendar went out in July…July!

Tesco are already setting up its Christmas aisle, and B&M’s now showing off their Xmas collection in early August

@nostalgia.2000s1

In my humble oppinion it’s never too early to start Christmas #christmas #christmas2025

My New Interview Question 🙋‍♀️:

If you were stranded on a desert island and had one marketing tool to get off the island. Which tool would you use and why?  

How would you answer? Hit reply and let me know.

Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to discuss this or need some help crafting your future, drop me a DM on LinkedIn or just hit reply to this email.

Danny Denhard 
» If you need help: I coach leaders, consult with startups and challenger brands and advise companies looking to grow, so get in touch

Our Most Popular Articles This Month

1. CMOs: Here’s how and why to assign an AI leader

2. What The Future Of PR Looks Like

3. WTAF Is Happening With The CMO Role

Subscribe To MU Today 

6 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

Here are the top 6 takeaways from my article on the future of Marketing roles and Marketing Org Design

1. Marketing teams are evolving, with new roles, structures, and cross-functional approaches emerging.

2. Present-day Marketing teams are often siloed, with limited collaboration and bundled disciplines, but marketing operations roles are growing; be wary of where you are exposed.

3. The near (AI) future may see team expansion, new specialist roles (especially in content and AI), and a return of strategic planners, not a reduction like many narratives are pushing.

4. Organisations currently group teams by goals, skills, and high performers; however, future org designs will need to adapt to tech shifts and changing channels.

5. Cross-functional thinking is key: teams will increasingly work across the full marketing funnel, blending brand, performance, and community roles - so design accordingly.

6. I predict there will be many new future roles in Marketing departments, this will include AI Marketing Managers, Voice Marketers, and new device specialists, requiring both generalist, specialist and expert skills.

Read the full article: https://www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/40

Thanks For Reading This Week ✅

Don’t forget to give us your expert opinion on the future of Marketing for a £25 Amazon voucher. Answer here

Share To Your Favourite Marketing Group

→ 💬 Copy and paste www.marketingunfiltered.co/subscribe into your group chat of choice (hint: into your favourite Marketing WhatsApp group to help them learn each and every week)

Danny Denhard

📝 AUGUST 1st | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Welcome Back, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

This week, I look inside my crystal ball and answer a question I keep receiving lately: What does the future Marketing Departments look like and how will they operate?

A BIG Thank You! We were over the moon with the amazing feedback on our LinkedIn newsletter (don’t worry, it’s the same that lands in your inbox) from Harry’s 35 ways to handle and get the most out of your job hunt. We share every Friday morning, so if you want to share your thoughts or talk through the newsletter - hop on over and let us chat!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard - ( 👋 wanna connect - email or LinkedIn)

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THINKING ABOUT RESHAPING YOUR MARKETING DEPARTMENT

The Next Era Of Marketing Teams: Are You Ready for What's Coming? 

There’s a journey that Marketing leaders should embark on, reshaping and designing the Marketing organisation of the future. 

With this in mind, I thought I would delve into how you could shape your Marketing functions for the next few years and future-proof early. 

Methodology & Disclaimer
I took the most common “roles” across D2C, B2C & B2B. If you look after customer support or customer success teams happily include them as separate teams or connect them to where they operate in your org
Most departments won’t have the full range of roles included, and many teams will be smaller, where team members will have to wear multiple hats; however, it will help you to design your org and get ahead of executive questions in the very near future. 

What The Present Day Looks Like 

• Teams are often bundled together under a discipline

• Many teams are disconnected - even within Performance teams, they will not share learnings and proactively collaborate as they have different goals or OKRs

• Marketing ops has become particularly popular in recent years. We have seen this team grow and could potentially grow again in 2026+

What The Near Future Could Look Like 

• Despite the headlines, we might well see Marketing departments grow while they show growth through AI, consolidation of competitors and M&A

• We could see new roles within the content teams, including content producer and specialist roles within content distribution

• We may see the planner (potentially calling the role a Strategist) brought back into play with more content output and a requirement to plan out bigger bang campaigns and more Product Marketing campaigns needed

• There will likely be new dedicated roles within AI, including a specialist AI Marketer role and with the push in AI into Voice, it could be a role that integrates across “Community & Audience”, Brand, “Content Marketing” and “Product Growth”

How Many Set Up Their Orgs Currently

• It is important to call out how most orgs are designed around

  • Goals (or OKRs)

  • A set of skills

  • High performers, whether in a management or Manager of Managers role or teams connected to a high performer

• In the future, these might have to change and be deliberate in understanding how to cross-functionally get the most out of people and improve performance

• Consider how you set up your org design and how it might need real thought in shifting to new tech shifts, new demands on roles and the decline in certain channels

Being Cross-Functionally Minded 

• Another way you could consider mapping out teams and talent is by connecting how they will sit cross-functionally, whether that’s in operations towards the beginning of the funnel or in mid to the end of the funnel or when inside of the Product.

• You can then apply goals and visually show how the teams connect together and have to play within the same space(s)

• Will we finally see a move away from “user” and “database” to community and audiences where many can feel freer to create and curate content and product features that work for sets of cohorts?

Entering The Phase Of Full Funnel Roles

• Something I believe will happen is that roles will evolve to fuller funnel Marketing roles, not just statically sitting at the top of the funnel or concentrating at the bottom of the funnel. This will mean working across the funnel and often working at different stages more smartly.

• Roles such as PR, community/social media, brand, Product Marketing and Growth often will work up and down the funnel, but in the new world, they may need to be called out as full funnel roles. Specialists will have to become more generalists and work with their colleagues far more closely and effectively.

How Might We Look At Grouping Team Members Together 

• Another framing that lands is how you might frame these roles, could roles land under Brand, Performance, amplification and distribution? With AI changing the Marketing landscape, will these new classifications make it clearer for your business and team members to understand where they are placed and streamline some leadership

• Although some of the above can be seen as conflicting, the fluid nature of Marketing, there is going to have to be real clarity for team members

A Question To Ponder:

Where would you apply teams and talent in the newer funnel to incorporate community, AI and new forms of referral and WOM? 

Will 1950s Disney Be Your Inspiration To Map Out How To Win?

Could you be inspired by how Walt Disney mapped out Disney’s business in the 1950s to gain alignment and show how your department will work moving forward?

Want To Map Out Yourself Or Run Your Own Exercise? 

Here is a list of roles I collated, and if you want to run your own mapping exercise, you can use it accordingly or request access to the slides here. 

Current Common Roles:
Brand, PR/Comms.
Paid Media, Performance, SEO, Content Marketing, Digital, Analytics. Customer Experience.
Product Marketing, Growth (Product + Marketing)
App Marketing, ASO
Lifecycle, Email, CRM 
Marketing Ops 
Project/Campaign Marketing 
Marketing Research 
Social Media, Influencer Marketing, Community Manager, Marketing Manager (Generalist), Affiliate Marketing 
Event Marketing, Field Marketing 

Role Reintroduced: Planner 

Future Roles: AI Marketing Manager / Strategists, Voice Marketer, New Device Marketing 

Over to you, I believe this will be a great exercise for any team or Department leader.

» If you’d like to revisit or prefer video, here’s NotebookLM’s latest feature converting this article into a short-form video 👇

Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to discuss this or need some help crafting your future, drop me a DM on LinkedIn or just hit reply to this email.

Danny Denhard 
» If you need help: I coach leaders, consult with startups and challenger brands and advise companies looking to grow, so get in touch

Want some other MU articles to read this weekend

• CMOs: Here’s how and why to assign an AI leader

• The evolution of the CMO role and what’s next 

• Why playing the game is not optional for Marketing leaders 

Subscribe To MU Today 

5 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

Here are the top 5 takeaways from Harry’s article on job seeking and productivity.

1. Resilience: Losing your job is emotionally tough, but resilience and self-care are key to bouncing back.

2. See It As An Opportunity: Time off is a rare gift; use it to upskill, reflect, and pursue passions you’ve neglected.

3. Build Your Personal Brand: Personal branding and networking are more important than ever; amplify your presence, especially on LinkedIn.

4. Unpredictable: The job market is unpredictable; pivoting or mentoring others can be both fulfilling and strategic.

5. Discipline Required: Financial discipline during unemployment extends your runway and builds better habits for the future.

Read the full article: https://www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/39

Thanks For Reading This Week ✅

Share To Your Favourite Marketing Group

→ 💬 Copy and paste www.marketingunfiltered.co/subscribe into your group chat of choice (hint: into your favourite Marketing WhatsApp group to help them learn each and every week)

Danny Denhard

📝 JULY 25th | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Greetings, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

This week, I’m starting with something a little differently with an AI Joke: I asked Claude for 5 marketing-related jokes and here’s the best one…

Two marketers are lost in the desert. One says,
"Don't worry, I'll create a lead magnet to attract rescue helicopters."
The other replies,
"Great, but what's our nurture sequence if they don't convert to actual rescue?"

It might make you chuckle this morning…

We have another great resource from Harry, who offers 35 ways to handle and get the most out of your job hunt.

Thanks for reading again this week and have a great weekend (cheering on the Lionesses on Sunday 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️)!
Danny Denhard - Let’s connect on LinkedIn

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FINALLY A USEFUL GUIDE!

35 Things To Make You Look, Feel & Be More Productive While You Look For Your Next Job

35 Things To Make You Look, Feel & Be More Productive While You Find Your Next Job

A/ The Top 8 Useful Things I Realised While Job Seeking

1. Losing your job takes you through a whole holiday of travel experiences:- one day you're flying, then the worst happens and you're treading water. You try desperately to stay afloat, but fear, lack of confidence and fiscal fear drags you under - which eventually migrates into drowning. No matter how strong you are, you’ll have days when you can’t see the surface, but you CAN swim back up there.

2. Time is your friend dressed up as your enemy. Waking up with that feeling of dread, watching your bank account tick backwards, spending hours scrolling jobs you would never have considered until your back was against the wall, tick tock, tick tock… Flip it on its head – when was the last time you actually had ‘time’? It’s a blessing – a majestic and precious resource, and it’s FREE! Use it productively, waste it, sleep through it, exercise with it – it’s yours, it’s wonderful and it won’t be here forever.

3. Don’t get annoyed with recruiters and talent teams – remember, if you think the market is treating you badly, it’s just as bad for them, if not worse. Dissing them will just get you on their Blacklists. So don’t fire off angry emails and posts when things don’t go your way or you get ghosted. Write them if it makes you feel better, sure – just don’t hit send as you’ll need those bridges one day. If nothing else in here is useful, you’ll thank me for this advice down the line.

4. Make a game of job seeking – one hour of job seeking, one networking meeting or one solid application is one point, good for a long walk to a waterside pub. A decent interview or positive feedback is three points, which equates to a steak dinner. Get to ten points? Well, that’s a night out, for sure. New job = holiday. It’s a miserable process and it can take a looong time (trust me) so why not own it and make it fun?

5. The job market is in flux, so why not pivot with it? The economy is in meltdown, AI is apparently the cause of - and the answer to - all of life’s problems (Chapeau, Simpsons). Ageism is rife, JD’s change, thousands of applicants auto apply to hundreds of soulless  ATS systems, professional courtesy is a long forgotten myth and everything sucks. Perhaps NOW is the time to step away from the career you never really enjoyed and do that thing you’re good at, you’re passionate about and you’d excel in? You know as well as I do that you’d be AMAZING doing that thing you love, so if not now, then when?

6. When you’re waiting to hear news, the silence is DEAFENING. And yes, you feel powerless half the time, but it’s like dating:- you need to create a desirable, confidentand differentiated public persona which looks attractive and reliable to businesses. In your head, pretend you already have a job offer in hand, grill the interviewers hard on the key elements of the role and business. Make them desire you so they want to chase you above the hundreds of other lookalike candidates. 

7. Nobody really cares – I mean, of course, some people care – they care how you are, but don’t imagine everyone is out there doing the work for you – that’s on you. Grit your teeth, swat away the inevitable disappointments and self-doubt, celebrate the wins no matter how trivial and embrace the fact that when you get to where you’re going, it’ll be down to YOU, because YOU refused to eat sh*t lying down

8. Your self-confidence and self worth will both take a hit, no matter how bulletproof you think you are. Desperation, apathy and ghosting gets us all, eventually. You wonder what you need to do, what you’ve done wrong, why nothing is happening, whether you need to pivot into plumbing and more. It’s natural, it’s painful and it’s inevitable, so don’t think you’re special, weak or alone. You’re not. 

9. Compromise isn’t the same as failure. 

10. The world is moving fast, especially for us marketers, and upskilling is more essential than ever. With all this wonderful time (and a newly polished CV to fluff) find new things to become an expert in. I leant into AI, creating images, data analysis skills and had a go at building agents. I focused on improving my writing, both by reading and writing every day. Then I took up metal detecting – not marketing related, you might think, but optimising my own TikTok channel certainly is.    

B/ Look After Number 1

As the Snickers X Tinder partnership headline would say (if it existed):- ‘You’re not you when you’re desperate’

1. Exercise – nothing will pull you out of a funk better than serotonin with a shot of fresh air

2. Read – self-improvement and learning is one route, but use all this wonderful free time to read those books you’ve been too tired to get into

3. Enjoy Yourself – They say you can’t hurry love, and you can’t hurry a job search, either. So, while you wait for a you-shaped role to emerge in this calamitous market, catch up with the friends you’ve ghosted when your career was going terribly well rather than terribly badly

4. Sleep – it’s a wonder drug (one I’ve suffered cold turkey withdrawal from whilst job seeking), so get to bed early, wake fresh, keep the coffee intake reasonable and let your brain switch off properly

5. Book in a mental health MOT – therapy, rest, acceptance and self-realisation aren’t woolly buzz words – they can be solutions. Your mind is an engine – service it regularly  

C/ Weaponise Your Job Search 

1. Tailor your CV and cover letter for every job you go for. In this horror show market, one perfect application has a better hit rate than 1,000 generic Hail Marys

2. Don’t burn time – you can search and apply for all relevant jobs in the first 1-2 hours of the day. There are no prizes for doing an 8 hour shift, so get the grunt work done then move onto more productive things (see section A)

3. Recruiters and Headhunters aren’t wizards – they can’t magic roles from thin air. Some are more communicative, others have higher EQ, many will ghost you for lack of anything worth discussing. Build relationships with them but only as one part of a wider strategy.

4. Focus on LinkedIn Jobs, recruiters and, crucially, your network. The non-advertised roles your professional contacts know about (and can vouch for you on) are the hidden gold. You can read a comprehensive guide to customising a more effective approach in this Marketing Unfiltered article)

5. You don’t get any presents by hosting a pity party – get over those nagging fears and ‘woe is me’ thoughts asafp – they’re valid, sure, but about as useful as pastry pants. 

D/ Magnify Your Personal Brand

1. People can’t hire you if they don’t know about you. Amplify yourself.

2. This could be on LinkedIn - comment as much as you post if you want maximum reach and engagement. This MU article summarised the findings of an experiment I ran about what tickles the LI algo off the back of a viral post

3. Write, speak, rinse, repeat – say yes to any and all PR opps whether they be Podcasts, article quotes, writing or conference speaking. Even if you find this stuff hard, it’s free and if nothing else is good fodder for your CV and profile

4. Get a new LI headshot – you don’t have to pay for it; just get the best high res photo you have and use AI to optimise it. Then redesign your LI header image to say exactly who you are and how amazing you are – it’s a massive billboard and it’s free – but I bet you’re not exploiting it

5. Keep in touch with recruiters so you’re top of mind. I send an email monthly which feels like the Goldilocks frequency, and I write personal updates for each recruiter with amusing stories about my job search, hobbies and PR wins just so my email is a tiny bit more memorable than the other hundred desperate generic candidate notes they’ll get that day 

E/ Don’t Give Up, Give Back

1. The annoying truth is that the job market is crap, and it might take you a while to get employed again. Get over that fact now and do something positive instead

2. Rather than whipping yourself with metaphorical birch twigs, you could use your oodles of experience to mentor younger folks in your line of work

3. This isn’t an entirely selfless act – while they’ll benefit from your objective advice and knowledge, you’ll extend goodwill in new and hitherto unexplored directions

4. Chances are professional bodies in your industry have mechanisms for mentorship in place already

5. So, lean into self-improvement by helping others improve themselves

F/ Money, Money, Money

1. We might say we love work, but none of us would show up if we weren’t paid to do so. If you’re not working, you can use all this wonderful free time to mitigate spending. You’ll not only extend your runway but also set yourself up to be more cash efficient when that lovely salary does start rolling in again.

2. Review your direct debits – cancelling a couple of TV channels and subscriptions can rapidly add up to Hundred $ in savings every month

3. Renegotiate standing orders – I bet you can get way better deals on your mobile and utility bills

4. Shop clever – I lean into LIDL, ALDI and TK Maxx anyway. If you like steak and wine, there are some corkers to be had in the value supermarket meat, veg and wine aisles, too. Are you a curry fan? Great! Now, finally, you have the time to master the Dishoom cookbook cover to cover

5. Gamify your frugality. Set yourself a challenge – see if you can find £500 in monthly savings in the next week and if you manage it, treat yourself to a date night. You’ll still be 400 quid in credit, and you’ll be happier, too

I genuinely believe that how you handle yourself when things are shit is the true reflection of how far you've come, and the person you really are. Being unemployed can make you feel like a failure, but it absolutely, unequivocally shouldn’t. In a modern marketing career, it’s as common as a typo in a CRM email or an ill-advised social post, so stop beating yourself up, recognise it’s simply a product of circumstance and soon enough you’ll be stuck in a meeting, dreaming of the days you spent your mornings sat in your PJs, crafting AI enhanced cover letters to appease thankless ATS Gods.

Then again, maybe not…

» Connect with Harry on LinkedIn or buy his book as a gift

Want some other MU articles to read this weekend

• CMOs: Here’s how and why to assign an AI leader

• The evolution of the CMO role and what’s next 

• Why playing the game is not optional for Marketing leaders 

5 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

The 5 takeaways from Harry’s take on Clarkson’s Hawkstone beer ad MU38.  

• Provocative: Jeremy Clarkson’s new Hawkstone beer ad was intentionally provocative and “designed to be banned,” leveraging controversy and his fame for viral PR rather than traditional advertising.

• Virality > Paid: The ad mimics tactics used by brands like Paddy Power, aiming for social media virality and press coverage instead of paid media, with the ASA’s slow response used as a PR tool.

• Clarkson’s Army: Clarkson’s massive, loyal following amplifies his stunts, making risky, irreverent marketing effective for him; this approach is an important lesson, as it would likely fail for less famous brands.

• Risky: The ad’s controversy creates headaches for marketers, as CEOs may pressure teams to replicate viral success without understanding the unique context or risks.

• Booze Boost? While Clarkson’s business ventures are successful and boost local economies, the marketing style is divisive and arguably irresponsible, especially for alcohol brands.

The CMO Takeaway:
Controversy and fame can drive viral marketing, but this playbook only works if you have a megaphone and a character larger than life like Clarkson.
Most brands should focus on their own lane and their approach, not manufactured outrage.

Thanks For Reading This Week ✅

We have a favour to ask, will you care to share and help Marketing Unfiltered grow?

Share To Your Favourite Marketing Group

→ 💬 Copy and paste www.marketingunfiltered.co/subscribe into your group chat of choice (hint: into your favourite Marketing WhatsApp group to help them learn each and every week)

Danny Denhard

📝 JULY 18th | EDITORS NOTE 📝

Greetings, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

Good Morning, leaders. Thanks for the great feedback on last week’s newsletter on the Future Of PR (the 9 top takeaways of this are below 👇).

Great news; we have a follow-up on the future of PR coming soon with another industry leader.

This week we have Harry returning on his funny take (of his neighbour) on Jeremy Clarkson’s latest ad, and how stupid/brave/smart their approach to advertising their beer, “Hawkstone” is.

Thanks for reading again this week and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard - Let’s connect on LinkedIn

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HARRY APPRECIATED THE 🆕 & SMART AD FROM TEAM JEREMY CLARKSON

F*ck me, it’s Clarkson swearing. Again.

The potty mouthed broadcaster turned farmer has won before the battle’s started with his ‘designed to be banned’ beer ad. 

Another day, another example of the fame vs. quality division.

The more well-known you are, the less hard you have to try if you want to promote your wares.

Earlier this week, Jeremy Clarkson has banged the same drum he always does when he wants to lift awareness of his TV driving show/ farm show/ new pub/ lager – he looked down over his belly at the problem at hand, an incredulous look no doubt stretched across his ruddy face - then swore at it.

The new ‘ad’ for Hawkstone lager features Clarkson surrounded by local farmers singing a reprise of the Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé. If that means nothing to you, it’s the same sweeping harmony British Airways used in its 1989 advertising masterpiece.

It’s somewhat ironic that the same song now sits at such opposing ends of the advertising quality spectrum.

Smart Move

Of course, the Hawkstone ad was never designed to be seen in any ad break. Following the strategy perfected by Paddy Power and fuel injected by the whimsical powerlessness of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it was created to never be aired.

Instead, it’s garnering millions of views on socials and has significant PR backing from the mainstream press. The Sun, Britain’s increasingly out of touch daily tabloid, gave it a big British thumbs up – which may or may not be related to Clarkson’s close friendship with Cotswolds neighbour (and News UK CEO) Rebekah Brooks.

Jeremy slams the ASA — aka the fun police on his beers ad being banned

For those not aware, there are tectonic plates that move faster than the ASA. They tend to ban adverts several months after they last aired, usually giving the protagonist brand an extra PR bump as a freebie. In this case, Hawkstone couldn’t be arsed to wait for their glacial ineptitude, so effectively declared it as ‘banned’ at launch, allowing Clarkson to go off on one of his famous hyperbolic (if factually divorced from the truth) rants in The Sun’s coverage:-

“It’s a cock-up, as usual,” said Clarkson. “…The fun police in their beige offices have decided that the public can’t be trusted to watch it. It’s been kicked off the telly, silenced on the radio, and barred from the cinema”.

None of which, of course, is true. But why should he let that get in the way of a good story? Or incremental beer sales? 

“He shouldn’t!” scream his legions of adoring (if cranially challenged) followers. 

“He mustn’t!” bellow Grand Tour mug owning, Sun reading simpletons in their droves.

“It’s a travesty of free speech – wokeism gone mad!” froths Nigel Farage as he glugs back his fourth complimentary Hawkstone of the morning.  

It’s a lager - not a bad one by all accounts - and Clarkson’s support for farmers is admirable, if self-serving (it can most definitely be both). But this is bottom rung marketing that only works when you have a hugely popular megaphone at the helm. If anyone else tried this kind of mildly offensive grandstanding they’d be toast, or worse – ignored entirely.

As it is, the choir adopted for the F-Bomb chorus makes the local farmers look less like admirable grafters who need our collective support against a rabidly city-centric government and more like co-opted minions, tricked into filming a TV ad under the pretence they were singing hymns at the Chadlington fete. I think one of the guys in the back row might even be blinking a cry for help in Morse Code…

Second Order Effects

There’s a secondary qualm to this debacle that directly affects us marketers. It’s a tough time to be a marketer, and every example of this pseudo controversial handmade bullshit will fuel a thousand needless conversations, in which CEOs will ask CMOs 'Why cant you do that'?

The stratospheric viral success of things like the Hawkstone ad will be forged into poisoned pills then force fed to marketers everywhere and trust me, it's a bitter pill to swallow.

In a previous role, I had to handle a Musk obsessed founder who repeatedly challenged me to mimic Tesla's social success and Christ, biting my true feelings back should've earned me a Sainthood.

Now, I have to come clean lest I be accused of unnecessary bias. I have previous form when it comes to Mr. Clarkson. Around fifteen years ago, I disagreed with one of his now infamous ‘Result’s Day’ Tweets, in which he pointed out how his poor A Level results hadn’t hindered his collection of sports cars. When I suggested that education was actually quite a good thing, and not everybody could expect to become a media superstar, he replied succinctly:-

“You, sir, are a moron”.

Which, as anyone who knows me will tell you, is fair. What wasn’t fair was the pile on I received from over half of his 7 million followers, some of whom went pretty dark pretty quickly in their poorly spelt name calling efforts. 

Clarksons Powerful Following

The point is, Clarkson has an army of loyal disciples that could populate Scotland. They love his devil may care attitude, they worship his no nonsense bravado and they idolise the way he sticks it to The Man (‘The Man’ seemingly anyone who hinders his commercial or televisual endeavours).    

Around this neck of the Cotswolds, we’re surrounded by Clarkson’s burgeoning empire. There’s a triangle of enterprise starting with his Diddly Squat farm, pivoting to Hawkstone Brewery in Bourton on the Water and culminating with his pub, The Farmer’s Dog, just off the A40 between Swinbrook and Minster Lovell. They’re great businesses, attracting swathes of visitors from across the country and employing what I imagine to be hundreds of local people in an area known more for second homeowners than young people’s career prospects. 

As such, I can only admire the scope and success of his endeavours. Of course I’m envious – I mean, who wouldn’t love to own a thriving brewery, a pub and a farm in this area of outstanding natural beauty? But I can still dislike his goading efforts to court cheap seats controversy with this latest ad. 

It’s the kind of tittering bullshit that should only appeal to twelve year old schoolboys – and in that respect, as an alcohol ad, it really should be banned.    

» Harry Lang is a CMO and the founder of Brand Architects, a strategic marketing and brand consultancy. He’s co-curator of the weekly Marketing Unfiltered Newsletter and author of the 5 Star rated marketing guidebook ‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit’. If you’re an irate Clarkson fan, you can find him on LinkedIn.

    » Connect with Harry on LinkedIn or buy his book as a gift

⚽️ Did you see this great ad this week?

Instagram post

9 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

The 9 takeaways from my interview with Rick at Smoking Gun MU37 - What’s the future of PR.

1. AI Cons: LLMs are trained on broad sources, and the data often includes misleading information and is trained on synthetic data. Be mindful… and know where you could leverage…

2. AI Pros: Integration of advanced AI for data analysis, creative testing, and crisis simulation

3. Get Closer: Ever more personalised messaging, real-time experiences, and communications at scale

4. Storytell: Audiences will increasingly reward brands that demonstrate genuine transparency, values alignment, and authentic storytelling

5. Be Human First: More real-life/human interest case studies to help brands stay HUMAN first

6. Go On The EGC Offence: Rise of employee-generated content (EGC)

7. Be There: there will be continued growth of social commerce and creator-driven content - be there with them

8. Internal Comms: Internal communications is critical, but often overlooked, PR channel. You need to own internal comms as a leader

9. Micro & Macro: on niche micro-influencers and B2B influencer (KOLs) strategies to break out of your bubble

Thanks For Reading This Week

We have a favour to ask, will you care to share and help Marketing Unfiltered grow?

Go & Share

→ 📧 Hit forward to a team member or
💬 copy and paste www.marketingunfiltered.co/subscribe into your group chat of choice (hint: into your favourite WhatsApp group)

Danny Denhard

📝 EDITORS NOTE 📝

Greetings, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

Good Morning, Marketing & Business Leaders, we have a real treat for you this week in the Marketing Unfiltered newsletter. I interviewed Rick Guttridge and his answers will help guide you through the next 18 months as you integrate PR into your long-term marketing plans

We cover:

• What is actually changing in PR

• What’s staying the same

• Where we should be investing our budget and resources for the next 12 months

• Why podcasts, video and AI are incredibly important, but strategic principles should stay

• Why EGC is going to be a tactic you will want to start really investing in

• Why humour is so important in today’s landscape

• We need to think about developing brilliant PR into 2026 and 2027.

Thanks for reading again this week and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard - Lets connect on LinkedIn

PS: Here’s my recommendations on how to win in the one-click AI space

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The What? A dedicated webinar for Marketers wanting to use humour in brand communications. Hosted by Carl Stroud, Chief Storyteller at Smoking Gun, & Dr. Eleanor Bryant, Health Behaviour Psychologist, 

Your Why? Carl and Dr Eleanor will explain how humour improves emotional recall, learning, attitudes, and brand preference, ultimately boosting memorability and mental availability for brands.

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WHAT PR WILL LOOK LIKE OVER THE NEXT 18 MONTHS

The Future Of PR Is Evolving!

1/ How do you see AI transforming the PR industry in the next 3 years? 

Let’s get real here. Most are still watching, waiting and dabbling, as the pace of AI products and offerings is changing so fast it’s hard to embed process and test, before the latest shiny new tool is announced. Never mind before companies can actually work out an AI protocol or policy.

The initial hopes of huge productivity gains may have been tempered with the realism that it’s in fact hard (and costly)  in practice to scale processes. Added to the fact that currently many solutions such as creative ideation offer reasonable solutions (the average of all the LLMs have learned, and not new thinking) but lack human instinct, empathy and maverickness. `For now at least. 

However the martech companies with the big budgets are embedding AI into tools we already know and love - think Adobe, Hubspot, media monitoring sentiment analysis etc to help garner quicker results, insights and reporting. AI was unsurprisingly the hottest topic at this year’s AMEC Global Summit. 

Yet there’s an immediate client need to address as Google search volumes get their first major kick in the privates as consumers switch to asking Ai for help. Many studies show that the key sources for training LLM and therefore affecting if your brand will show up as an answer in results is earned media. This is a clear and present opportunity for  PR and one we’re actively leading with our clients. And shout out to our mates from Coveragebook who've developed a nifty tool to allow you to see which media titles Google cites as sources when asked a question, therefore allowing PR to target these titles for clients - see https://inthemix.ai/ 

The ability to quickly process huge volumes of data eg customer, social mentions, reviews etc to benchmark and understand audience feelings, behaviours and actions around brands can springboard faster and better creative communications. Entrusting repeatability, reliability and accuracy in the data and methodology is a barrier. 

There are multiple other emerging uses of AI in PR, all of which require careful consideration of ethical and privacy issues. Building agents with audience personas to test comms creative and messaging and likely responses, simulating crisis and effectiveness of comms messaging, enhancing data-led analysis and decision making are just a few. The rise of personalised content is also set to explode. 

Practitioners that can build ‘test and learn’ of AI to reduce slow, or intensive processes into their workflows stand a better chance of sustained success and longevity.

But beware a race to the bottom. The latest MIT research suggests that those who use AI too much face cognitive decline, memory issues and loss of ownership of their work.

2/ Public sentiment is being influenced and shifting faster than ever, what are your recommendations for real-time crisis management and protecting brand reputation into 2026? 

With mass news media consumption in decline and all social media users caught in echo chambers of the algorithm’s meaning we’re existing in a complex comms world.

Factor in dark social- eg WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups etc added to the rise of social video content, where brands can be discussed for better or worse without any written brand mention and brands can be in a whole heap of trouble and not even realise it.

So keeping on top of your data stack and realtime alerts for sudden rises in brand mentions (text or Audio) and searches is key. A whole host of AI enhanced tools are available to help with this. 

I wonder how long until someone cracks a tool to alert of negative LLM brand results in real time too.

Creating centralised monitoring and analysis that can be used cross department e.g. PR, brand, marketing, customer services, sales etc can be an asset to help you win against your competitors.   

But be warned of ‘data puke’. Know what you need to measure and how you can stay on top of analysing it. Large scale analysis can be done with LLM BUT ensure prompts are captured and consistent, data stream controlled and DO add human checking too.

Also consider the use of LLM in advance to predict likely issues in advance based on what’s happening in the wider world, your industry and anything you know is going to happen from your business or competitors.

Deep fakes and disinformation is a growing brand threat and policies and procedures to deal with this should now be baked into crisis plans. 

3/ Newsletters hold a lot of influence in niche categories, what do you see the role and impact of newsletters having in the next 18 months? 

The Mill - a breakout example of how local journalism can work, built originally on Substack and moved to Ghost platform

Newsletter and niche news sites ( see the wonderful The Mill in Manchester as an example) plus WhatsApp groups are all being experimented with by media keen to stop the catastrophic traffic drops caused by recent Google updates, Facebook’s move away from emphasising news in feeds and the changing consumer behaviour to asking AI for answers.

Newsletters allow curious minds to stay ahead in the topics most relevant to them and for savvy brands to build community and advocacy in key areas. The numbers may be small but the power and influence is potentially mighty.

4/ Podcasts have continued to explode, how are you approaching podcasts and what are your recommendations to clients to win with podcasts? 

To podcast or not to podcast once was the question.

We always start by asking WHY?

Is the time and effort to produce something of quality worth the effort, to potentially only reach a limited audience. Is a pod the best way to effectively reach your key audiences. Or are you prepared to invest in the media to reach a bigger audience. Or is the podcast actually a trojan horse and a demonstration of knowledge rather than being reach focused.   

Often in our strategies, It’s more about how to land brand spokespeople onto relevant pods as guests. Not only to reach highly targeted audiences but increasingly as a valid tactic in training LLM to enhance brand visibility in GPT answers. 

Arguably POTUS Trump gained more success in his election push from appearing on high profile pods such as Joe Rogan’s than from mainstream media.

But beware of dangers. Not falling under Ofcom governance there’s an increasing brand risk from appearing on pods who can share misinformation without the same journalistic standards, fairness or perhaps thoroughness we expect from traditional broadcast outlets.
Ex social media agency founder, Dragons Den star turned hugely successful podcaster Steven Bartlett has run into trouble. Both for not disclosing his ownership of advertised products and for sharing potentially damaging medical claims.  

Be careful! Two examples of Steven Barlett’s misinformation

The internet is full of enough noise and guff. What I do know is that the world doesn’t need a load more white middle aged men spouting sausage fest opinions.

Adding real value and in a format that is engaging and entertaining are so much more likely to win through.

5/ With the increasing demand for video and podcast content, how is your agency adapting your approach to leverage these richer media formats for client success?

All our client work starts with the INtenin Unit - our strategic consultancy. Understanding the organisational goals were looking to impact through comms, researching and finding the insight that springboard campaigns and then selecting channels and formats.

You’re right that video is increasingly a powerful tool to gain reach and algorithm for favorability in social channels but also deployed across owned channels and when done in a not overtly branded manner a powerful asset to offer as part of earned media outreach too. 

Video and subsequent production values and budgets differ hugely. From the rise of in-channel editing and throwaway content on TikTok to high quality multi camera and director set up for macro influencer content, we offer the whole gamut, but again only choose based on the overall strategy and budget. 

6/ It feels like we are hitting an inflection point with how companies talk at/to customers, have we moved above the evaluated and overly polished corporate jargon for marketing to customers? Or do you think it’s still required in 2025?

This depends on the brand, the audience and the situation.

But as a general note, as we revealed in our recent white paper the Case For Strategic Levity, consumers are sick and tired of the saturation of bad news.

They seek entertainment and fun from brand comms which means a move from jargon - unless we’re poking fun at that of course.

7/ News and media are constantly evolving, and journalism has undergone significant changes, with a record number of journalists losing their jobs recently. Considering this, do you still see traditional media as a crucial channel within the PR strategy for the coming 18 months?

Traditional media is here to stay yet will constantly evolve to survive.

I’m long in the tooth enough to remember when newspaper websites barely existed and they would never run a story before it had been in print.

The 24 hours news cycle and immediacy of stories spreading via social media continues to add pressure on news media to be fast rather than thorough.

BUT, while declining, media brands still have trusted audiences. Mis and disinformation rules and spread fast.
Journalistic standards matter for brand health. And media still plays a role in SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).

Brands need to consider widening media types and formats in their earned first strategies. 

» Want to learn more about the future of SEO read Carl’s interview the future of SEO or watch below

8/ Where are untapped resources in the PR space that you believe will be critical channels to use in the near future?  

Internal comms remains a space often neglected bar change management scenarios and even then mostly focused in business with over 1000 heads. The fact it’s often hybrid ownership between HR/marketing/ external comms doesn’t help.

Brands who build reputation from the inside out will likely grow more sustainably and achieve longer term success.

As the grey areas between marketing communications become ever greater, the opportunity exists for PR to take the role of lead creative storytellers.

To achieve this requires a strategic mindset and skill set but also the confidence to step into that role.

9/ How do you see the use of creators and influencers changing in PR strategies in the next 12 months?

EGC (employee-generated content) will become more common- see the success of Currys social content. 

With TikTok pushing Live streams, we’re increasingly being asked to find creators who can produce consistent quality hour long love content for brands. This will be fascinating to see if it sticks or is a flash in the pan.

Social commerce is set to grow and grow though, and creators will increasingly be the vehicle to drive traffic to the social stores

We've already started to see some 100% AI created virtual influencers doing reviews of events. As the tools improve to allow a consistent look and feel of the virtuals, this may take off, but for now it feels more than 12 months away to be adopted mainstream.

More teams will embed outsourced creators as part of their content creation pod - agencies and brands alike. This allows both flexibility in coast and scale but also an authenticity by using the right creators already producing topic relevant content

More focus on niche micro influencers (for similar reasons to the growth of newsletters above) is set to increase as is the use of influencers in B2B.

Depending on which sources LLMs adopt for learning, if certain social media channels are Included that will fuel a focus for creators in that medium too.

Lots to watch here!

» If you want to learn more about to leverage EGC read my interview with Chris Hutchings’ on the future of content or watch the interview below 

10/ What 5 ways do you predict PR and Marketing will evolve by the end of 2026? 

1. New regulations around feeding LLM training sources with untruths! 

2. Ever more personalised, messaging,  real-time experiences and communications at scale

3. Audiences will increasingly reward brands that demonstrate genuine transparency, values alignment, and authentic storytelling.

4. More real life / human interest case studies to help brands stay HUMAN first

5. Ever decreasing and de lineated boundaries between marcomms channels  

A huge thanks to Rick for sharing his knowledge this week. Go and connect with Rick on LinkedIn or visit his Smoking Gun site 

5 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

The 5 takeaways from Simon’s MU36 - Less Mask, More Impact: Why Soft Skills Are the Hard Edge of Modern Marketing Leadership

1. Soft Skills First: like emotional intelligence, empathy, and collaborative influence, are now essential for effective marketing leadership and organisational resilience.

2. Embrace Change Agents: Change agents who can connect across teams and inspire without authority drive innovation and customer-centricity, far beyond what rigid hierarchies can achieve.

3. Rethink Politics: Traditional models that reward self-preservation and optics over true collaboration stifle progress, making it critical to foster cultures where people feel safe to challenge norms.

4. Go Agile! The future of work is agile, distributed, and AI-enhanced, making adaptability, trust, and human connection the new competitive advantages.

5. Soft Skills In Your DNA: Leading brands succeed by embedding soft skills into their DNA, showing that EQ, not just IQ or technical ability, sets top performers apart in this rapidly evolving landscape.

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📝 EDITORS NOTE 📝

Greetings, Marketing Leaders ☀️!

Heatwave ✅ Wimbledon started ✅ Summer Holidays about to kick in full swing ✅ and a great article to help you re-think and shape the future - what a week.

This Week: MU writer Simon Swan dives deep into the cultural impact of work, why soft skills are going to be the competitive edge and why change agents have to be embraced and celebrated, not scorned and drowned out by KPIs and OKRs.

Thanks for reading again this week and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard - LinkedIn

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🔓 SMOKING GUN SPECIAL REPORT

Thanks to Smoking Gun for partnering with us to help you and other Marketing Leaders to improve PR and Marketing results.

Who are they? Smoking Gun is an award-winning PR, Social Media & Influencer agency. Harry has worked with Rick and the team and regularly vouches for them!

Need help getting smarter with PR and Marketing cut through - read their report below or on Google Slides https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSuH-CWo9m8KFNcO4m09ZeS1xJrU6t5dIVc5KvQ8P0nmK0jE2pYLCm8ovUTnXNWCjAQaN01_aGQMV71/pubembed?start=false&loop=true&delayms=3000&slide=id.p 

Unofficial Rules & Unwritten Rules By Industry Peers

Less Mask, More Impact: Why Soft Skills Are the Hard Edge of Modern Marketing Leadership

Customer-centricity isn't a job title. It’s a cultural shift. 

What’s truly needed is a mindset change across the entire organisation – one that balance collaboration over hierarchy, and empathy over ego. 

To build organisations that genuinely reflect customer needs, we must enable fluid cross-office working, and foster a culture where customer insight is everyone's responsibility.

Easy, right?

This shift doesn’t happen through command-and-control. It’s not top-down. It relies on people at every level who can influence without authority individuals with strong soft skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to navigate complexity and competing priorities, otherwise known as change agents - the connectors, communicators, and collaborators who champion the customer and bring others with them. 

Soft Skills?!

Perhaps not shaped by job titles but more driven by the challenge to work better,  who can inspire across boundaries, connect ideas across teams, and embed the customer’s voice, driving what has been deemed “Soft Skills”. 

A recent Econsultancy 2025 Future of Marketing survey drove the importance of soft skills inside organisations as the skills in demand for the future to adapt to growing uncertainty through external factors, e.g. political and economic. 

Pic: From the econsultancy 2025 future of marketing survey

The Age of EQ 

We’re living in an age defined by data, dashboards, and what the algorithm deems relevant. Emotional intelligence, collaborative mindset, and genuine curiosity are the skills that will complement data, to add the narrative and the actions to take, to build connections across teams and departments and external partnerships to drive new ways of working. 

EQ isn’t necessarily learnt from an instruction manual; it’s more about the individual having a pulse on the role and opportunity for the business and led by data insights to open doors. So, the question is, how can we drive and champion more EQ?      

The Corporate Mask: Lessons from the Boarding School Model 

“How Formative Institutions Shape Professional Identity
Some professional environments still reward a particular kind of polish — strategic language, curated self-presentation, and fluency in power dynamics. 

These behaviours were not learned in the workplace, but in earlier environments designed to produce future leaders 

You quickly learn how to read a room, manage appearances, and perform a version of yourself that wins approval. 

What emerges is a kind of “survivor personality” — perhaps skilled in optics, motivated by external validation, and fluent in institutional expectations. It’s not necessarily about connection; it’s about adaptation.

Meetings resemble performances, status is managed like a resource, and long-term strategy often hinges on perception. It isn’t malicious — it’s just how the system was built.” 

But what is the cost to Performance? 

Innovation stalls. Silo walls get higher. Digital transformation can get stuck because no one feels safe enough to challenge the old playbook or do it their way. 

People protect their KPIs, but forget to pursue shared outcomes and those wider opportunities that are not necessarily easy to measure

Can a new or different system really reflect and score collaboration? 

In Marketing communications, where every channel is interconnected and change is constant,  this kind of culture is lethal. 

You can’t lead brand growth across platforms and teams if your people are stuck or rewarded in self-preservation mode. Jane McConnell, author of Gig Mindset, rather champions businesses to adopt a “reverse leadership” approach: 

Resilience is strengthened in organisations where it is recognised that leadership exists at all levels (within a business). Leaders are people who exert influence that brings about change….Gig mindsetters are often invisible leaders through their own behaviours that influence others”. 

Our very own Danny Denhard from Marketing Unfiltered refers to this mindset as the “hidden leader” and is discussed in more detail in this Isolated Talk below:

Soft Skills Are the Strategy 

To drive meaningful progress, Marketers need more than data fluency.
They need what might look, on the surface, “softer”:

• Emotional Intelligence: to build trust across departments

• Curiosity: to challenge legacy assumptions

• Humility: to admit what we don’t know (yet)

• Empathy: to understand real consumers and colleagues alike

• Collaborative Influence: to get things done in a matrix without owning every lever

A New Work Reality: Soft Skills in a Post-Job World 

Recent insights from business thinkers and AI observers show that the future of work is arriving faster than predicted. 

As author and futurist Heather E. McGowan points out, the very structure of jobs is eroding: work is becoming unbundled from traditional employment. The shift away from full-time, office-based roles to agile, distributed, AI-enhanced work models is not just coming, it's already here.

In a world where AI agents scope projects in minutes, creators can build businesses overnight, and lean teams achieve what used to take departments, the need for human adaptability, not just traditional hard skills — becomes non-negotiable. 

If work is becoming modular and borderless, then the glue holding it together is not hierarchy or control - it’s trust, collaboration, and “soft power”.

Companies Getting It Right 

Some brands are showing us what this looks like:

• Buurtzorg: a healthcare organisation - nurtured soft skills by decentralizing control, fostering trust and enabling self-management

• Timpsons: Adopts a servant leadership model, where leaders focus on supporting and developing their teams rather than exerting control. This approach fosters an environment where soft skills like empathy, communication, and collaboration are valued and nurtured.

• Patagonia: empathy-led decision making, rooted in their company values

• Spotify: agile structures that empower cross-functional collaboration

• TDIndustries - A construction services company with servant leadership baked into its culture, prioritising people and community.

These organisations don’t just train people to market. They train them to connect. Author Daniel Goleman called Emotional Intelligence (EQ), in that cognitive ability will be taken on by AI and EQ is a human ability and will remain so. 

If we relate this to the traditional hierarchy of a business (or indeed schools), IQ may predict the type of job you could get, but once you are in those professions, everyone is at the same level. EQ is the part that differentiates

It’s important to note, these companies won’t be for everyone, the traditional power players could come unstuck in these workplaces.

The Real Future of Marketing Leadership 

We often talk about the future of Marketing as being more technical, more automated, more AI-enhanced. And yes, that’s true. BUT, equally important is a need to build emotional intelligence (EQ). Leading with intent, asking better questions, being inquisitive, removing the ego and learning to collaborate are some of those core skills that are not necessarily taught from the traditional theme of corporate life, but it’s clear they are much needed now

Author Richard Tobaccowala, in his recent blog, referred to this much-needed skill set:
“Humans are social beings and most need some form of connection. The ability to invest and grow connections tends to be associated with joy.

We are living in an interconnected and multi-polar world of 8 billion people with countries proud of their history and hopeful for tomorrow that all want a place and voice in the future.

Connection turns data into intelligence in AI, a series of words into stories that move us, and connection works via genetics into progress across centuries”

💭 So the question to leave you to ponder this weekend: 

Will you be a leader that promotes softer skills, allows the connectors to build bridges and work smarter connecting with their colleagues to get the most out of projects and campaigns and drive business success or will you not want to drive change and operate in the status quo not to rock the boat or you had to come up in a different system? 

In a world where data is everywhere but true connection is rare, Emotional intelligence, curiosity, empathy, and collaborative influence are no longer optional; they’re what enable marketing leaders to drive change, break silos, and champion the customer across complex, fast-moving organisations.

Simon Swan - connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know what you think of the future.

Editor's Note 📝: Views expressed in this article are Simon’s own and do not represent those of his employer.

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5 Takeaways From Last Week’s MU Article

The 35 unwritten rules of Marketing (well, 47 - I couldn’t not include the bonus ones) in 5 condensed bullet points

1. Work on business politics and understanding/removing egos.

2. Foster a learning culture within the team

3. Never stop building cross-departmental relationships

4. Stay close to customers

5. Own your professional development and be proactive in learning

Thanks For Reading This Week

Thanks again for reading this week.

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P.S. Are you new here? Hit reply and let us know about you and if we can answer of your problems or puzzles as a newsletter!

📝 EDITORS NOTE 📝

Greetings, Marketing Leaders!

As London heats up again, we have a hot newsletter this week! It includes the unofficial and unwritten rules of Marketing.

I reached out to MU writers and regular contributors this week to add their unofficial and unwritten rules. This is to help you smile, laugh (or cry 😦) and applied well, they will help you steer your Marketing ship in a better direction.

If you missed last week’s instalment, here’s my guide to winning the next quarter by assigning an AI lead, theres the most important 5 takeaways below too.

Thanks for reading again this week and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard

🔓 SMOKING GUN SPECIAL REPORT

Thanks to Smoking Gun for partnering with us to help you and other Marketing Leaders to improve PR and Marketing results.

Who are they? Smoking Gun is an award-winning PR, Social Media & Influencer agency. Harry has worked with Rick and the team and regularly vouches for them!

🚨 Great Download Alert 🚨

Here are my 5 top takeaways from the guide:

1. Discover the neuroscience secret that makes your Marketing messages that actually stick - Learn how ‘strategic levity’ triggers dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins to boost brand recall and purchase likelihood while your competitors bore audiences to death 🥱 

2. Turn crisis-fatigued consumers into engaged buyers - Obtain the proven framework that cuts through information overload when traditional fear-based Marketing now falls flat, backed by real case studies showing increased market share and sales 📈 

3. Unlock the competitive advantage 50% of 🇬🇧 marketing leaders want but are too scared to use - Master the rules of effective humour in marketing without the risk of offence, misjudged tone, or brand damage that keeps most Marketers playing it safe 🦺

4. Get insider secrets from comedy professionals on what works - Access exclusive insights from comedians and behavioural scientists on humour structure, timing, and execution that most brands completely mess up when they try to be funny 🙄

5. Transform your brand from forgettable to unforgettable - Download the complete Strategic Levity playbook with audit tools, experimentation frameworks & step-by-step implementation guides that turn even negative or boring brands into memorable Market leaders 💪

Unofficial Rules & Unwritten Rules By Industry Peers

35 Unofficial And Unwritten Rules Of Marketing 

There are so many official rules we are supposed to follow, but there are a huge number of unwritten and unofficial rules of Marketing (& business).

1. The need for creativity is inversely proportional to budget, so if you don't have lots of money, you need to think clever and act brave to get cut through. Equally, it is possible to spend your way to fame - Harry Lang 

2. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple - that could mean how you measure digital and e-commerce ie tie it back to business goals when presenting to the exec, not in an echo chamber of digital channels - Simon Swan 

3. Don’t be afraid to also audit your platforms “tilling the land”, set it up for future growth, reassess what is working and what is not, reevaluate channel and processes - Simon Swan 

4. Think like a start-up or if it’s your own business, when it comes to hiring, spending and evaluating performance - Simon Swan 

5. Embrace the squiggly line - the hierarchy isn’t necessarily “success” get more comfortable in learning about what motivates you and drives your passion? It could be driving change, building connections in organisations- so look for those lateral moves in career (not just in same company) it might not be higher up the ladder - Simon Swan 

6. Apply your own training and development. You’re never to old to learn and adapt. The hard reality is the business won’t stay loyal to you and find opportunities, you need to be more comfortable in finding your own path or at least have one eye on alternative incomes and opportunities - Simon Swan 

7. Try to learn to play business politics and egos - Simon Swan 

8. Remember to allocate time to learn and explore, and to foster this culture with the team - Nick Bottai 

9. Build and nurture connections with all the other departments. The more insights, the better results (and value perceived from the marketing department overall) - Nick Bottai 

10. Don’t be glued at your desk. Your customers are outside the building, allocate time (for you and your team) to study and meet them - Nick Bottai 

11. Relationships are everything - you never know where the next great collaboration will come from - Sophie Collins 

12. Sweat the small stuff - the incremental gains of truly rinsing integrated channels add up - Sophie Collins

13. Spend most of your time with business partners outside of Marketing - Sophie Collins

14. AI is going to change Marketing and Marketing leaders need to be on the front foot to figure out how - Sophie Collins

15. To be an authentic brand externally, you have to be an authentic brand internally. Customers and staff smell brand BS. Marketing should be at the table/ lead for internal brand, culture, values, and comms strategies - Sophie Collins

16. Data is for action as well as measurement! This drives me bonkers. Companies obsess about getting log level data into visualisation tools so they can measure, but put minimal effort into the data infrastructure that means marketing can action it (CRM, retargeting, affiliates, loyalty etc) - Sophie Collins

17. Be best friends with your CFO - Nicola Anderson 

18. Deeply understand your product. Go through your own purchasing funnel - Nicola Anderson 

19. Make sure you are looking at the full funnel - too many Marketing Teams are told to focus on acquisition when the real gold is in retention, increasing LTV and building advocacy - Nicola Anderson 

20. Just because it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it won’t work now. Poor execution, wrong audience/creative/messaging or wrong time leading to bad results often scars a business so they won’t try again - Nicola Anderson 

21. AI is going to make and break your business 

22. If you cannot explain the complicated in an exec summary, it won’t be trusted 

    1. No one reads the full 100-slide deck, but they’ll notice that one typo.

23. The right metrics matter! 

    1. Your vanity metrics are a double-edged sword that will likely cut you 

    2. The company’s objective could be pre-determining your success (Bad OKRs will damage you) 

24. The best data is useless if your team doesn’t want to trust it or use it 

25. Your gut instinct will often beat data - never ignore your gut and your experiences  

26. Good Products make Marketing easier, mediocre Products makes Marketing hard, Crappy Products make Marketing almost impossible  

27. Brands are allowing themselves to live and die by algorithmic filtering 

28. Quality over quantity, every time! 

    1. Signal over noise every time; however, noise often looks good on reports 

29. Your CEO and CFO are your (internal) customers 

    1. That budget sign-off is only final until a reforecast 

30. We are living in the more with less era - that headcount is going away   

31. Evoke customer emotions

32. Going viral is not a tactic (but the C-Suite still wants viral moments to boast about…)

33. Internal alignment beats external hype, every time 

34. The CMO role is always at risk - performance matters most 

35. The CEO’s pet project will likely become a company's priority, and plan on that derailment.

    1. Remember: Your CEO or founder likely isn’t ready for that big podcast they want to be on 

    2.  Know your biggest critics and treat them as allies: Sales, Product, Growth, Finance 

    3. Cross-functional allies are worth more than the extra budget you fight all-year for 

Bonus Rules: Here are some bonus rules I couldn’t not share! 

• Miro boards will never be revisited, and where good ideas go to die… 

• You have to do Brand Marketing, but you have to rebrand it and label it something else…

• Empathy matters! 

• If you’re not measuring it, it certainly didn’t happen in the eyes of colleagues 

• You have to be able to operate in C-Suite chaos  

  • The loudest voice in the room isn’t always right, but it gains attention and will often be heard.

• Your competitors’ mistakes are your best learning opportunities (apart from your own) 

• The simplest message is often the hardest to produce  

  • The best creative brief is half as long as you think 

• Those “urgent” requests aren’t urgent

• Marketing’s priority is rarely other departments’ priorities

• If you don’t own the narrative, someone else will and does already 

• What people really think about your Product and Brand is being discussed in private group chats and pages 

• If your big launch doesn’t hit, go again and again and again! 

Q:: What did we miss? Hit reply to me know, and we will add in!

Got Strong Opinions?
Or Have Something Important Or Unfiltered To Say?

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5 Takeaways From Last Week’s Article

If you missed last week’s MU article, here are the 5 most important takeaways:

• AI ownership is now a strategic imperative for CMOs 
  → Leaders who proactively assign an AI owner will gain a competitive advantage, while those who delay risk falling behind in workforce transformation and market disruption

• Clear role structure drives adoption success 
  → Implement the Owner/Co-Owner/Collaborator model with Social, Search, and Growth Marketing teams best positioned to lead AI integration across your org

• 90-day implementation plan delivers measurable results 
  → Execute these immediate steps, including strategy development, a dedicated allocation of AI budget, and team communication, followed by strategic hiring and ROI tracking for long-term success

• Significant benefits outweigh manageable risks 
  → Accelerate productivity, reduce costs, build internal expertise, and create competitive moats while managing change resistance and upfront training investments

• Board-level priority requires executive vision 
  → AI has moved from nice-to-have to boardroom discussion topic, demanding CMOs now require clear answers, a “strategy”, and measurable outcomes to maintain your executive influence

Thanks For Reading This Week

Thanks again for reading this week, we will land in your inbox next week.

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Danny Denhard - 🆕 summer coaching programme available

P.S. New here? Hit reply and let us know about you and if we can answer of your problems or puzzles as a newsletter!

Good Morning, Marketing Leaders!

I think we can officially call it…it’s been Heatwave week 🥵.

This week, I offer you ways to improve your Department’s performance by assigning an AI owner. Don’t worry it has an actionable guide!

Thanks for your feedback on Harry’s take on the “BrewDog rebrand”, I think most agreed it was a rebland not a refresh or rebrand…

INTRODUCING OUR PARTNERS - SMOKING GUN

Smoking Gun is partnering with us to help you and other Marketing Leaders to improve PR and Marketing results.

Who are they? Smoking Gun is an award-winning PR, Social Media & Influencer agency. Harry has worked with Rick and the team and regularly vouches for them!

• This week: we offer 5️⃣ techniques for killer insights to drive your PR strategy

• Next week: We will be sharing the hot off the press guide on why Humour isn’t a Marketing gimmick - it’s a neurological strategy, definitely look out for the The Decline of Doom-Led Messaging section.

Helping You Lead Your Business Forward

The AI Leadership Gap: Why Most CMOs Need To Assign An Owner

The Uncomfortable Truth

Over the last month, I have spoken to three different leadership teams where AI dominated the agenda. 

In each conversation, the same pattern emerged: executives asking hard questions about AI strategy while Marketing leaders struggled for answers they didn't have...yet…

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone.
But you are running out of time.

Where Most CMOs Stand Today

After coaching C-suite leaders in the AI space since 2022, I've identified where most Marketing executives currently sit:

• The Reactive Majority hears AI discussed in leadership meetings but hasn't moved beyond surface-level awareness.
  They're worried about performance while everyone else shares opinions about AI's potential. Fear often controls the conversation. 

• The Firefighters deal with immediate pressures while having preliminary team conversations about AI implications.
  Firefighters know it matters; however, they lack the bandwidth to act strategically.

• The experimenters tested some AI tools and ran a few prompts every few days. They've seen glimpses of potential but haven't developed systematic approaches.

• The Strategic Few are the Marketing Leaders I work with are thinking months ahead, planning where AI fits organisationally and are slowly positioning themselves as internal AI leaders.

The gap between groups three and four is where future careers are being made, and many are being reviewed by their boss and peers. 

Why This Matters More Than Your Last Success Campaign Or Biggest Win

Having held both CMO and CGO roles before moving into executive coaching and consulting, I've dedicated the last seven months to going deep in AI. 

What I've learned working with companies operating in AI since 2022 is this:
AI has shifted from a set of helpful tools to a workforce transformation driver.

How? We're seeing mass layoffs, we are reading about the hiring freezes unless you can prove AI can't do the job first; Zapier, Shopify and other big orgs have clearly called this out and as their MO for 2025 and beyond. 

Fiverr CEO had more strong words about AI and being responsible or not for staff

Board discussions will now include AI and ROI from implementing AI.
The CMOs who go first will build competitive moats while others play catch-up.

This sort of shift is not new to CMOs, but now, integrating AI, understanding the ROI in AI, while managing headcount and org design, has to be your priority. 

The AI promise is exactly what every CMO needs: 

• Productivity gains without starting from zero 

• Quicker decisions from analysis (not waiting days to months for an answer)

• Improved performance 

• Cost savings on hiring and agency dependencies  

• Sustainable competitive advantages.

The Strategic Framework That Will Help Drive Your Decision 

Through my consultancy work, I've developed two approaches that consistently deliver results:

Approach 1: The AI Ownership Model

You need three tiers of AI adoption:

1. The Owner – Your AI champion who integrates tools into workflows and takes responsibility when things break. This high-trust role carries significant status and influence. When they say AI is important, teams listen.

2. Co-Owners – Team members who don't want to be left behind but aren't confident enough to lead. These are often your retention risks if not properly engaged.

3. Collaborators – Those who need support learning AI applications, particularly for deadline pressures and knowledge gaps.

Something that is critical in H2 and beyond, everyone needs to be involved in your Department, you will need to place team members in owner, co-owner and collaborators categories and ensure they are all aligned with the owner. 

Approach 2: Organisational Redesign

This requires visionary leadership—reshaping teams for the next 24 months, not just filling current skill gaps.

You're planning how the next 6, 12, and 18 months will evolve, repositioning team members, anticipating headcount changes, and preparing for technology that will impact every marketing discipline.

As mentioned in my recent SEO and AI chat with Carl Hendy, it’s an opportunity for SEOs to take on more responsibilities and for CMOs and Department leads to assign an AI leader.

Finding Your AI Leader

Your AI champion likely comes from one of three areas:

1. Social Media Teams – They've adapted to platform changes, algorithmic shifts, and increased content demands.

2. Search Marketing – Particularly strong SEO leaders have navigated major algorithmic updates since the early 2000/2010s. They understand technical aspects and have been the interface with Product teams while teaching colleagues.

3. Growth Marketing Teams – Modern Growth professionals managing paid, organic, and social channels with analytical rigour. 

Strong Product Marketers (or PMMs) might also be a strong consideration, they will likely be at the forefront of AI (packaging and pushing out AI product features and sending updates to customers) and understanding the market, without being able to corner of a good percentage of their time, they may struggle to adapt. 

CGOs Have A Competitive Advantage 

If you are a dedicated Growth department, you have a huge advantage, the core skills within your team are understanding mass shifts, algorithmic changes and informing the business of the

The Essential Skills To Lead Internal AI 

1. Problem Solver - you will need someone who is a problem or puzzle solver. Someone who can understand what is happening, where there are problems and help their colleagues address problems as puzzles and recommend tools and solutions to address said issues

2. Teacher/Coach - the essential role for AI leaders will be teaching and coaching colleagues how to get the most out of AI, so the prompts, the tools and building with AI. 

3. Comfortable With Change - the person taking on the ownership of AI will be great in an ever-changing environment, someone who can see change as an opportunity and not feel daunted by a constantly evolving landscape 

4. Explains Technical Changes In Simple Language - specialists can struggle to translate technical into digestible language and make it stick without it feeling like jargon, cutting through the jargon and noise will be critically important 

5. Cross-Functional Communicator - Product teams and Marketing teams have to be closer than ever before, being a great connector and communicator will be critically important to ensure Marketing tickets are prioritised, that internal tool (you will want to build your own tools (not just buy more tools) based on your own data and then integrate competitive data) builds are a priority. Marketing and Product departments and leaders will have to be aligned to make the biggest impact. Product leaders are under tremendous pressure now that AI has sped up development, and they are on the hook for AI ROI, including large investments in APIs and token usage. 

6. Influence - this should go without saying; however, the AI lead within your Department should have company-wide influence. Someone who can communicate and hold their own in C-Suite and Leadership team meetings, someone who can use their political intelligence to influence important decisions and be a long-term trusted partner to the C-Suite. 

Based on my interactions and experience, Search and Growth leaders typically emerge as the strongest AI owners.

Q: Do you have the right person in play today?

Your 90-Day Implementation Plan

Immediate (Week 1-2):

• Create your formal AI strategy presentation (what, why, how, when and who) 

• Assign a dedicated AI budget

• Address Department fears through transparent communication (this is where so many brands have gone wrong - communicated by memo, not by open forums and discussions) 

• Launch kickoff workshop with approved prompts, tools and processes

Short-Term (30-90 Days):

• Audit departmental problems and identify AI solutions

• Establish bi-weekly progress updates

• Begin cross-functional coordination

• Implement weekly training sessions

• Understand the future impact of the agentic web

Long-Term (6-18 Months):

• Org Design: 

  • Develop an AI-focused hiring strategy

  • Plan organisational restructuring

• Build executive presence for AI champions

• Create measurable ROI frameworks

The Bottom Line

Board members and CEOs are asking AI questions that demand strategic answers.
The CMOs providing those answers will shape their organisations' next chapter and place you at the head of the queue to lead the business forward and be the strategic leader.

The question isn't whether AI will transform Marketing—it's whether you'll lead that transformation or be transformed by it…

In this rapidly evolving landscape, being proactive today means being prepared when your business needs to be reactive tomorrow.

» Need help or to chat AI through? Drop me an email on mu@dannydenhard.com 

Watch ⏯️: Carl & I Talk About Why SEO Is Such A Strong Potential Leader In AI

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Thanks For Reading This Week

Thanks for reading this week, we will land in your inbox next week

Danny Denhard - coach, consultant, advisor

P.S. New here? Hit reply and let us know about you and if we can answer of your problems or puzzles as a newsletter!

📝 Editor Note 📝 

Hello and welcome back to this week’s Marketing Unfiltered.

This week we have Harry telling his personal story and whether BrewDog have lost its punk…🤘

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Let us know what you think, hit reply or drop us a note on LinkedIn.

🤩 WOW what a great reaction to last week’s deep dive into the CMO title.
If you missed it, you can catch up by reading here

If you ever have any feedback or want to submit your take on anything Marketing or Growth, please get in touch mu@dannydenhard.com or send me a DM on LinkedIn

Thanks for reading again this week,

Danny Denhard - CMO coach, consultant, company advisor 

Difficult Conversations & A Little More Action

From BrewDog’s rebrand to teenage period pants and the camera that’s being sent up my backside this afternoon, great communication starts with honesty…

Let’s start with the elephant in the headline – said camera isn’t some recreational freakery or the least appealing OnlyFans account in history. 

I’m off for my 5 year colonoscopy, something I’ve done since I was 35 due to a prevalence in my close family, and everyone ought to do a free bowel cancer screening test from the age of 54, according to the NHS. 

For most, the screening test can be done from the comfort of your own home, and you can learn all about the process and whether you’re ‘higher risk’ on the amazing Cancer Research website. 

For the colonoscopy, it’s dead simple, as the leaflet in my pre-sent pack of laxatives eloquently informs me. Evacuate everything the night before, pop into the clinic, tick every box marked ‘pain relief’ or ‘sedation’ you can find (really, it’s for the best) and you’re done and out in a couple of hours.  

The language is sciencey without being confusing, the infographics are clear without being overtly icky and the preliminary phone calls and texts are pragmatic without being scary. 

It is a text box exercise in selling something unpleasant, potentially confusing but hugely necessary in a pragmatic, easy to follow way.

The thing is, we don’t talk about such things (especially us guys – we’re shit at it) which is why more open conversations are such lifesavers. 

Prostate and Bowel (Colorectal) cancers are respectively the first and third most common in men, so if you’re over 54, book in the ‘at home’ test tomorrow. If a close family member had one of the above and you’re over 40, book in a colonoscopy right now. 

Even the admin side isn’t a pain in the ass.

Communicating difficult subjects clearly has always intrigued me as both a marketer and writer. My favourite effort at cracking the genre was in this article for The Drum, where I explored the marcoms strategy deployed by period pants start up WUKA (aka ‘Wake Up, Kick Ass’ – still my favourite brand name acronym). 

Their entire approach was to normalise periods by showing them in all their bloody glory, thus mitigating any potential shame, worry or embarrassment girls may have historically felt when invaded by the Red army.

Wuka’s language and creative are simply honest, with an appropriately kick ass tone of voice, and as the father of a daughter, I’m delighted that as a society, we’ve collectively pulled our heads out of the conservative sand of Victorian era sensibility to be frank about something experienced by almost every girl every single month of their lives.   

Both the NHS and Wuka follow the same M.O. to communicate tricky subjects to a potentially nervous audience – they face it head on, culling unnecessary copy in favour of pragmatic, truthful and easy to understand language. Neither skirt around the less appealing elements of their task, and both ensure that it’s impossible to ignore the benefits of their offering. 

🤘Has BrewDog Lost Its Punk? 🤘 

They front up honestly and bravely - which brings us, belatedly, to BrewDog.

Regular readers of my articles and LinkedIn posts will know I’ve cultured an almost obsessive disdain for some of the Scottish brewer’s behaviour in the past, my apathy often directly attributed to their former CEO, James Watt.   

Via LinkedIn

A couple of weeks ago, they cryptically teased something was up using images of the bottom of a can.

What eventuated was the announcement of a brand family brand refresh. Now, brand design is hugely subjective, so what’s sugar for me might taste like effluent to you, but almost universally the feedback to BrewDog’s upgraded packaging has been… underwhelming. 

Via LinkedIn

Since 2007, BrewDog has positioned itself as a Zeitgeisty brand, a ‘F-you, establishment’ punk rocker dressed in a brewer’s jacket.

The problem they’ve always had is their own success – they’ve outgrown the teenage angst phase that allowed them to look and act like real punks, bursting through a $1 Billion in around 2017 so they began to look like your grandfather with a Mohican, aka a bit stupid.

Their new brand design refresh tries to give its leading products a new lease of individualism, but they ignored the ‘show, don’t tell’ rules of brand storytelling across all four beers:-

• Punk IPA – they’ve leant on (AKA shamelessly ripped off) the infamous album cover front from ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols’. Nothing says ‘conformist’ harder than plagiarism 

• Hazy Jane – ooh, you want a hippy vibe? I’ve got just the font – it’s all wavy, like a flag in the breeze. Groovy baby!

• Lost Lager – Original thought? Lost. Eye catching colour palette? Lost. Ability to differentiate from a can of Strongbow? Lost. Any redeeming design features? Also lost.

• Elvis Juice – the name, prompting thoughts of The King’s demise, always suggested the congealed fat that you get when you try to cook three packs of bacon in the same baking tray, only to forget about it and find it sitting, resembling the floor of a soap factory, several days later. Adding stripes to the can just makes it look like some kind of disruptive tomato soup. Or a new rival to Dandelion & Burdock. ‘Tomato and Disappointment’ – yep, that’s what it looks like.

I like BrewDog’s product – Punk IPA tastes decent, and I’d drink it at a party.
But I won’t buy it, in the same way I would never buy a Tesla or anything Nigel Farage has ever put his besmirched name to. I prefer Beavertown’s Neck Oil – the cans look cool, the brand is unsullied, and the beer is delicious.
I’d even choose ALDI’s own Anti Establishment IPA – a beer that is legitimately more punk than Punk IPA, if only in the sheer brass balls it has in ripping off BrewDog so flagrantly.

Image Link

Despite all the CEO controversy and corporate Unicorn shilling, BrewDog still claim they bleed anarchy, but their new brand design, clearly fudged through committee and made beige through compromise, simply underlines how they now have to ask for permission to rebel, which leaves the brand looking woefully generic as a result.

Harry Lang is a CMO, founder of strategic brand and performance consultancy Brand Architects and author of ‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit,’ available on Amazon.
You should get in touch with Harry at Harry@BrandArchitects.co.uk 

» Harry’s latest post on LinkedIn breaks down his viral LinkedIn moments

📝 Editor Note 📝 

Hello and welcome back to this week’s Marketing Unfiltered

We have a long-awaited Q&A with leaders from Growth, Marketing, Sales and Customer Officers.

It’s a long detailed read so for the best reading experience, please read online by clicking the button below:

If you ever have any feedback or want to submit your take, please get in touch mu@dannydenhard.com or send me a DM on LinkedIn

Thanks for reading again this week,

Danny Denhard - CMO coach, consultant, company advisor 
(If you wanna see the future of AI - here is my exec breakdown for The Agentic Web)

The CMO Title Debate:

This week, we're exploring insightful perspectives from various C-Suite leaders on the evolution of the CMO role, its perception, and broader leadership advice.

We gathered feedback from a diverse group of professionals, ranging from CMOS/CGOS/CCOs to Business Advisors and Marketing Directors, to get a comprehensive view of current trends and challenges.

The MU Editor Introduction:

The debate surrounding the CMO title is more than just semantics; it reflects a fundamental shift in the evolving role(s) and perception of Marketing within businesses. 

While the proliferation of titles like CGO and CCO can cause confusion, it also signals a growing recognition that Marketing's impact extends beyond traditional brand and communications.
Many conversations emphasise “Performance Marketing” but have Marketing leaders done enough to apply performance to traditional Marketing channels?
In the eyes of their executive peers, it's not yet…

For Marketing leadership to thrive, Marketing professionals and business leaders must actively work to bridge the understanding gap.
Marketing leaders, you will have to start the building process and likely be the project manager until it lands. 

The theme is clear: Marketing leaders must embrace a commercial mindset and articulate their value in terms of business outcomes, while businesses can struggle to recognise Marketing as a strategic function essential for long-term growth and can struggle to give Marketing the necessary influence.
You have to drive the change and have to have a positive business impact to improve the standing within the C-Suite and boards.
Education and peer relationships are more critical than ever. 

Clarity of remit, strategic capability, and strong cross-functional collaboration are paramount, regardless of the title held, it is on you as a leader to own these areas of responsibility and drive the business forward. 

Enjoy the deep dive with our seven leaders, again, this is a long-form conversation and will be best read online (https://marketingunfiltered.co/p/cmorole) 

Spotlight on Key Insights:

• Xavier Vallee (Interim CMO/CGO/CCO): "Marketing is all about driving top line at the lowest cost possible... the evolution of the title is the way CEOs make sure to look for Marketing Leaders that can focus on financials."
  - Connect with Xavier On LinkedIn

• Kathryn E. Strachan (Business Advisor): "In too many businesses, the CMO title is being diluted to the point of irrelevance... It’s about being a strategic leader who can see the whole chessboard... Speak the language of the boardroom." - Connect with Kathryn On LinkedIn

• Amita Fearon (Marketing Director): "It’s not about the title, it’s about perception... you need to understand all areas of the business — it’s your superpower." - Connect with Amita On LinkedIn

• Leilah King-Gotlib (Global Growth Marketing Leader): “Marketing as a subject and profession isn't linear. Unlike many others such as finance, operations and technology which are routed in principles of logic, Marketings foundation is based on the ability to influence human perception, to create and harvest demand for a product/service.”
  - Connect with Leilah on LinkedIn

• Nicola Vidal (CMO): "The role of a modern CMO has evolved massively... But instead of expanding the understanding of what a CMO can deliver, companies are just changing the title... That can dilute the position."
  - Connect with Nicola On LinkedIn

• Neil Campbell (Chief Growth Officer): "The evolution in title reflects the broadening of the expectation of marketing... thinking about the holistic customer experience, lifecycle and value" 
  - Connect with Neil On LinkedIn

• Helen Forsyth (CCO): "It's a shift in needs, and a resistance to change - at odds with each other... Start with your vision and mission. Align job responsibilities to this."
  - Connect with Helen On LinkedIn

The Q&A:

Q: What are your thoughts on the CMO title evolution, do you think it’s hurting Marketing Leadership?

• Xavier Vallee: I don't understand this debate about titles changes hurting marketing leadership. Marketing is all about driving top line at the lowest cost possible, and if the C-Level in charge is good enough to also manage CAPEX, depreciations and net working capitals in order to grow free cash flows. It's just that for too long, CMO have focused on the wrong metrics. The evolution of the title is the way CEOs and designers of board leaderships make sure to look for Marketing Leaders that can focus on financials - short term and long term.

• Kathryn E.Strachan: "Yes. In too many businesses, the CMO title is being diluted to the point of irrelevance. Companies are rebranding marketing leadership roles. Not because the remit has changed, but because they don’t understand or fully value what strategic marketing actually delivers. Even worse, early-stage startups often hand out big titles to junior talent without aligning them to clear remits or measurable expectations. It may feel good in the short term, but it sets those individuals up to fail and undermines their long-term career progression. Far too often, CMOs are sidelined in favour of “growth hackers” or tactical delivery leads, which massively undervalues the importance of brand building—especially in B2B. When you neglect brand building, you lose ground in both share of voice and share of market. And when you undermine marketing leadership, you lose the very people who drive long-term value, differentiation, and commercial strategy. "

• Amita Fearon: It’s not about the title, it’s about perception. However, I’m taken aback when I hear some marketing leaders talk about marketing success not in commercial terms.

• Leilah King-Gotlib: "As a CMO role can vary enormously related to factors such as size and type of the business, changing the title can have impacts on talent sourcing. Due to the unregulated and misconceived nature of the Marketing profession, many in the search & hiring process aren't fully informed on what they need or should be looking for. Changing the title adds another level of complexity. Bottom line- further complicating the process through title shifts, can lead to getting the wrong fit for purpose. Having a baseline definition for each role, with caveats rolled out to HR through the CIPD, Executive Search firms and thought leadership on the subject with business leaders, could be a helpful route to solving this challenge.
  Now assuming the above has been conducted comprehensively, from a leadership perspective, it goes back to the standard approach: establish with the CEO (if that's the reporting line) the definition of the role and ensure all stakeholders are educated on/aware of this for optimal integration. It’s not about your title but what you do and are there to deliver."

• Nicola Vidal: Honestly, yes — I think the title shift reflects confusion more than progress. The role of a modern CMO has evolved massively — it's not just brand and comms anymore. It’s data, growth, product alignment, customer experience, revenue. But instead of expanding the understanding of what a CMO can deliver, companies are just changing the title to something that “sounds” more commercial or strategic — CGO, CCO, CRO. That can dilute the position and make it harder to define clear accountability. It’s not hurting marketing leadership in capability, but it is muddying how that leadership is perceived and valued.

• Neil Campbell: I think that the evolution in title of CMO and marketing people in general to either growth (CGO etc) or customer (CCO etc.) reflects the broadening of the expectation of marketing, from finding customers via advertisting, to thinking about the holistic customer experience, lifecycle and value. I don't think it's hurting marketing per se, but in organisations in which these sort of titles exist, marketing can end up being somewhat restricted to brand, creative, community management.

• Helen Forsyth: I don't think it's anything to do with the title, that's causing the pain. It's coming from what organisations think they need being at odds with what CMOs believe they should deliver.

Prefer listening vs reading? Here is Google Notebook’s take ↓

Q: Is the CMO title change CMOs fault? Or is it a lack of understanding of what a Marketing leaders actually delivers for businesses?

• Xavier Vallee: It's a lack of understanding by Marketing Leaders of what they have to deliver for the business and a failure to educate other C-Levels and SLTs that Brand metrics (for instance) are drivers of increases in discounted cash flows rather.

• Kathryn E.Strachan: "Both parties are responsible. Some CMOs have failed to step up as true business leaders. Often because they were promoted too early or simply aren’t strategists. Being great at tactical delivery doesn't make someone a strategic thinker or a capable leader. When these CMOs focus too much on outputs (campaigns, clicks, content) and not enough on outcomes (revenue, market position, customer lifetime value), they lose credibility. Even worse, many don’t know how to communicate value in a way that resonates with technical or commercial stakeholders like CTOs or COOs. As a result, marketing becomes the “poor cousin”—underfunded, misunderstood, and without a real seat at the table. At the same time, many CEOs fundamentally misunderstand marketing and as such treat it as a lead gen function that should deliver instant results. That mindset ignores the strategic power of marketing to drive growth, shape customer experience, and build lasting brand equity. A truly great CMO is a growth strategist, brand architect, and customer advocate rolled into one. If the organisation doesn’t understand or value that, changing the title won’t solve the problem. "

• Amita Fearon: It’s a combination of a lack of understanding on both sides. Some organisations see marketing as the 'pretty pictures' department, and CMOs need to push to change that perception and fight for a seat at the table. However, it’s difficult to keep pushing on that door! If don't talk about commercial impact, you allowing for these other titles to take ownership.

• Leilah King-Gotlib: "Marketing as a subject and profession isn't linear. Unlike many others such as finance, operations and technology which are routed in principles of logic, Marketings foundation is based on the ability to influence human perception, to create and harvest demand for a product/service. Psychology: the study of the human mind and how people behave. Humans cannot be accurately boxed into groups, and influences in a unanimous way, without a risk of error. Marketing isn't prescriptive by nature.
  There is a fear to admit this in business. A drive to demonstrate linear perfection in cause and effect in Marketing. And therefore a lack of education and clarity across businesses in what Marketing delivers to a business. Which can lead to the belief that a change in title will be the solve for this challenge. When in reality, a commercially savvy and clearly defined/integrated Marketing leader is the solution, especially in a world with more options/competition. Some of the benefits: streamline decision-making, resource allocation and ensure the best brain is on the task. "

• Nicola Vidal: It’s a bit of both. Marketing leaders haven’t always been great at speaking the language of the boardroom — many still talk in terms of campaigns and channels instead of commercial impact. At the same time, a lot of businesses, especially founder-led ones, don’t fully understand what strategic marketing leadership looks like. They see it as a service or support role, not something that drives growth or shapes direction. That mismatch often means the role changes shape or the title gets replaced, even when the actual responsibilities stay the same — which just adds to the confusion. So yes, we as marketing leaders need to be better at showing impact and aligning with business goals — but companies also need to take marketing seriously and give it proper space at the top table.

• Neil Campbell: No, I think it's driven by a desire to frame marketing in terms of its output and not its inputs. Like most changes (e.g. the rise of product management 10 - 15 years ago) it is being championed by start-ups where it is more important for marketing leaders to have an overall impact on the company performance and where in a smaller team, marketing leaders are by necessity more multi-functional.

• Helen Forsyth: It's not anyone's fault. It's a shift in needs, and a resistance to change, at odds with each other. Organisations want results faster and are focusing on performance metrics - which means essentially they are looking at data from what's already happened. CMOs understand you need to look at more than just measurable metrics, you need Brand story and values, and there's a mismatch in expectation which is driving the invention of other, more metric focusing job titles.

Q: Depending if you’re B2B, B2C etc depends on what you "own" and what responsibilities you have, often leading to the change of the CMO title, do you have recommendations to CMOs/CGOs on how to positively influence the business?

• Xavier Vallee: Have strong relationships with CFOs, speak their language and learn how to read the 3 financial statements.

• Kathryn E.Strachan: "To be an effective CMO, you need to understand the business from the inside out and approach it with a truly commercial mindset. This isn’t about just owning marketing. It’s about being a strategic leader who can see the whole chessboard. The best marketing leaders do three things exceptionally well: Speak the language of the boardroom. No one in the C-suite cares about engagement rates. If you want influence, talk about revenue, margin, CAC, market positioning, and customer lifetime value. Be the voice that connects brand to commercial outcomes. Own the customer journey. You’re the only function with a line of sight across the full funnel. If you don’t champion the customer—before, during, and after the sale—no one else will. This is where brand, retention, and loyalty are won or lost. Build real alliances. Influence doesn’t happen in isolation. Work closely with product, sales, finance, and even external partners. Marketing is the connective tissue of the business. If you’re not collaborating across functions, you’re not leading. True marketing leadership is about vision, prioritisation, and influence. Get those right, and the title takes care of itself.

• Amita Fearon: I’ve always tried to speak in commercial terms and highlight the successes my team has delivered, as well as our focus for the next quarter. One thing I’ve found is that you need to understand all areas of the business — it’s your superpower. Understanding how your business operates and recognising your impact helps drive growth. We marketeers touch every part of an organisation. I also try to remember: marketing is the one function everyone thinks they understand — everyone thinks they’re a marketer!

• Leilah King-Gotlib: "Before starting, establish what is the business challenge, to understand if the role and its peer set is equipped to deliver. If the definition and remit of the role and your skillset reply to the need. In this situation, ensure it is clear among all stakeholders who is responsible for what and that the priorities align, to deliver the business objectives. As businesses continuously evolve, it brings emphasis to continous training and also skills assessments within a business to ensure the right talent is present."

• Nicola Vidal: "Yes. First, build relationships across the business — especially with product, sales, and finance. Don’t sit in a marketing silo. Second, get very close to customer data and commercial goals. That’s what earns respect internally. Third, educate. Not in a patronising way, but consistently show how marketing drives business impact — not just awareness, but pipeline, lifetime value, loyalty. You have to translate marketing into language the CFO and CEO care about.

• Neil Campbell: "Firstly, I'd say 'own the data'. I think the rise in CGOs is related to the need for marketing leaders to be much more data-centric and much more aware of the impact they're having. This is partly due to the availability of data and instant measurement of impact that comes with digital marketing, but also with the need to prove marketing effectiveness (regardless of it being digital or not). Every marketing leader these days needs to be a designer of analytics, not just a consumer of data.
  Secondly, 'take a holistic approach', increasingly the impact that marketing leaders are measured on is not the headline numbers of new customer acquistions but the total value added to the organisation and this requires understanding what each customer brings.

• Helen Forsyth: The minute there’s any kind of separation, any ‘them and us’ narrative, is the moment you create division. Or to put it another way, you create gaps. And it’s in those gaps where leads, and their associated costs, go to die. Eventually, someone asks whose fault it is, and the blame game begins.

  Ownership of ‘this’ or ‘that’ gets handed off to other teams to ‘fix’ the problem, but all that really happens is the problem gets shifted around. I’m B2B-biased, but I’ve seen the same pattern in B2C too. Everyone becomes so focused on defending their own metrics to avoid blame that the silos only become more pronounced, and the gaps keep growing.

  CMOs face the greatest challenge in these situations because the pressure to hit or exceed quota typically comes from above, whether that’s the board or private equity. Meanwhile, the CMO might be focused on brand, lofty strategy, or long-term pipeline building. It all becomes increasingly fragmented.

  Yet, at the end of the day, every business needs buckets of sales. So starting with sales strategy and working backward to marketing just makes sense." Essential the customers journey isn't fragmented by who the internal owner is - they are either convinced - or not.

Q: Do you have a set of guidelines that could help companies use the different titles effectively?

• Xavier Vallee: No

• Kathryn E.Strachan: "Yes. Stop chasing trends and start being honest about the role’s purpose. Every leadership hire should start with a clearly defined scope—not just a flashy title. Here’s how I see it: CMO (Chief Marketing Officer): Owns the full marketing engine including brand, customer insight, demand generation, and strategic positioning. A true CMO ensures marketing spend is tied to commercial priorities, channels are optimised, and brand awareness is directly driving market share. This is a strategic leadership role, not a delivery function and they shouldn’t be responsible for low-value execution like copywriting or design. CGO (Chief Growth Officer): Typically owns sales and bottom-of-funnel marketing. They often carry revenue targets and lead a sales team. Marketing can support growth here, but it’s not the core focus. CGOs can be effective but only if they’re truly cross-functional.
  CCO (Chief Customer Officer): Works best in CX-heavy or service-led organisations. This role should own retention, upsell, and customer experience but without a revenue line, it often lacks teeth. CCOs must be measured on account growth and customer success, not just NPS scores. CRO (Chief Revenue Officer): Often a rebranded sales leader. And that’s fine, if you’re honest about it. The danger is when CROs are put in charge of everything commercial, but marginalise marketing and brand in favour of short-term pipeline at the expense of long-term value. As a result, it’s often better for CMOs to sit alongside CROs rather than under. At the end of the day, titles matter less than remit and impact. But they should still signal something—to the board, to the team, and to the market. Get it wrong, and you risk misalignment across your entire go-to-market strategy. " Amita Fearon Take each role, consider what you believe their responsibilities are, then ask the marketing leader — chances are, they’ll think they’re responsible for that too. Also, don’t mistake a lack of skills to do the job as a reason to create a new title just to avoid difficult conversations.

• Leilah King-Gotlib: "Each company needs to assess what they need and how many people they can afford to cover the remit. So this will vary on how much the role holds and what it will be called. For example, you might just have a CGO - who will own what in another org would be CMO+CCO/CRO, or in some I’ve seen CBO+CCO. Harry captured the responsibility list in the grid he published but how they're distrubuted among titles and combination of titles on the c-suite depends on existing/new business, opportunity for restructure, budgets, talent available."

• Nicola Vidal Titles only work if you’re clear on what success looks like. Don’t just rename a role to follow a trend. First, define your business priorities — is the biggest need revenue growth, brand credibility, customer retention, or product adoption? Once you know that, find the right person with the right experience to lead it. In an ideal world, yes — you’d have a CGO, a CCO, and a CMO. But most companies, especially scale-ups or early-stage businesses, can’t afford three senior people doing overlapping roles. So be honest about what you need most right now, and hire for that. A CGO should own cross-functional growth. A CCO should lead customer experience end to end. A CMO should drive brand, demand, and customer insight — all contributing to growth. But don’t confuse titles with capability. The real issue is clarity. Without it, you end up with buzzwords, duplication, and messy reporting lines.

• Neil Campbell: "For me: CMO sets the overall framework of how we address the market, what customer groups do we target, with what products and what are the emotional triggers within those. This is all based on wider market research. CGO then operates in a data driven way within that. Bringing an analytical, experimental and holistic view (i.e. ad, onboarding and ongoing customer experience) that is designed to drive value. CGO has to be careful to not over-step the boundaries that the CMO who is the ultimate brand owner sets (e.g. in use of promotions or discount-led language). "

• Helen Forsyth: Start with your vision and mission. Align job responsibilities to this, consciously and clearly build both job and people specs to meet the need of this + and with your company's culture in mind. 

  Fail to do this, and you'll fail to run an optimised business. This is something you can do as a startup, or 200 year old company that's operating globally. It's never too late, or too complicated to ensure your people, who build the business, are doing so together and as one. Job titles don't define success

Q: Is there ever a world where the CGO or CCO title makes more sense than a CMO title to you? 

• Xavier Vallee: It really depends on how the board is designed and revenue lines are assigned to each Execs.

• Kathryn E.Strachan: "Absolutely. I’ve already repositioned myself in the market accordingly. While I have the depth and experience to lead end-to-end marketing strategy, my background as the founder of a successful marketing agency gave me deep expertise across all business functions. Not just marketing. Righly or wrongly, those other functions are often seen as delivering more tangible value. Over the past year, working as a fractional CMO, I’ve seen a clear pattern—when budgets get tight, marketing is the first to go, while sales, customer success, investment readiness, and operational initiatives continue with the same or increased investment. That tells you everything about how marketing is perceived. With AI automating more of marketing’s day-to-day execution, I believe the traditional CMO role is at risk of becoming even more undervalued, especially if it doesn’t evolve to include broader commercial and strategic influence. So while I can craft a mean marketing strategy, to me, personally, there are absolutely cases where a CGO or CCO title makes more sense. Not just as a label, but as a signal that the role spans multiple functions, carries real accountability, and is valued at the highest level. For me, it’s not about abandoning marketing. It’s about aligning where I can drive the most value and be valued. "

• Amita Fearon: I’m on the fence — some organisations need dramatic growth, and if marketing decisions aren’t resourced correctly, you may need a single owner solely focused on driving that growth. However, a good CMO should be able to deliver it.

• Leilah King-Gotlib: We need to be less obsessed with the branding of the title and better at diagnosing the need to find the best-suited response.

• Nicola Vidal: "Yes — but only when the structure demands it. If growth cuts across marketing, product, and sales, then a CGO might make more sense. Same with CCO — if customer experience spans support, onboarding, lifecycle, then yes, you might want a CCO leading that. But don’t use the title to avoid empowering marketing. The danger is that marketing ends up reporting into commercial or product, and you lose the strategic voice it should have in the room.

• Neil Campbell: For me (but maybe I'm biased by smol) the CGO title makes sense in a Direct to Consumer world where the data availability and ability to analyse customer insight and have direct communication with customers is hight.

• Helen Forsyth: This world is happening now.

Q: What 3 pieces of advice would you give Founders, CEOs and C-Suites (& HR departments) hiring their next CMO/CGO/CCO/CRO?

• Xavier Vallee: Hire me!

• Kathryn E.Strachan: 1. Be brutally clear on the remit. Before you hire anyone, take the time to define the role with a clear, outcome-driven job description. What are they actually responsible for? What will success look like in 6 or 12 months? This avoids hiring a “growth” leader when what you really need is sales and stops you from calling someone a CMO when you're only giving them control of the blog.
  2. Prioritise strategic thinking over tactical hustle. You can hire people to run ads. Tactical execution is easy to outsource. What you can’t outsource is strategic thinking. Someone who understands your market, your customers, and how to position your brand for long-term growth. Most agencies and freelancers won’t have the proximity or context to shape that. You need a leader who can connect brand, audience, and commercial value.
  3. Give them real power or don’t bother. If your marketing leader isn’t part of pricing, product, or growth discussions, you haven’t hired a leader, you’ve hired a service function. Putting them under a CRO, requiring CEO sign-off on every decision, or refusing to give them budget control is a fast-track to failure. You can’t expect strategic impact without strategic influence.

• Amita Fearon: 1. Define the remit clearly and resource it properly.
  2. Ensure marketing has a seat at the table.
  3. Remember marketing is the backbone of your success. We are commercial leaders that drives growth across a number of ways. Title doesn't matter if you get these correct. "

• Leilah King-Gotlib: 1. Define the Business Plan (e.g. 1, 3, 5 years).
  2. Outline the existing senior leadership talent pool. Assess the talent gap in curating and harvesting demand (Marketing). Identifying this before the need arises to allow sufficient time to find the person.
  3. This will help in defining what type of 'Marketing' leadership you need/how to integrate them and define the role/person brief. Work with partners who can help you find that profile (e.g. internal recommendations & external search firms). The pre-work will support in more efficiently and effectively integrating the next Marketing leadership role.

• Nicola Vidal: 1. Be clear what problem you’re solving. Are you after brand credibility? Pipeline? Product-market fit? Don’t hire a unicorn. Hire for the stage you’re in.
  2. Give them a seat at the top table. If they report to the CRO or CFO, don’t expect strategic thinking. You’ll get tactics.
  3. Trust them — and challenge them. If you’ve hired a marketing leader, let them lead. But hold them to outcomes, not just outputs. Marketing needs space and accountability.

• Neil Campbell: In particular for a CGO, look for skills around deep comfort with data, curiosity around truly understanding customer behaviour, business strategy and a viewpoint that sees the entire business (marketing, CX, product, customer service etc.)

• Helen Forsyth: 1. Start with your business need and recruit for that, don't go for a straight replace - or whatever everyone else is doing.
  2. Recruit using a framework that comes from vision, mission and culture. 3. Take a risk, don't look for unicorns - look for people with energy, who portray ambition. Attitude wins over a generalist who can do everything a bit well.

Q: Any final pieces of feedback to help Marketing & Business Leaders?

• Kathryn E.Strachan: Happily read my new book -  Book Link

• Leilah King-Gotlib: Marketing isn't prescriptive as it is the profession that curates and harvests demand from humans by influencing thinking/behaviours. Who don't conform to neat little boxes when it comes to styles of thinking/behaving. At least not as few a boxes as we'd like when it comes to ROI! We diagnose, test, learn, iterate to become more efficient and effective at creating and harvesting demand, within an ever changing environment and ecosystem. There is never a ‘control environment’. Using tools to guide us in doing so. The role of the CMO is no different. How much responsibility that role encompasses, what we choose to call it, depends on the organisation and its incumbent systems. This said, from the emergence of both AI systems within Marketing (e.g. Evidenza) and Talent Management (e.g. Humantelligence), I can already see these systems supporting both facets in understanding the human part of the equation and responding more accurately/effectively to it. "

• Nicola Vidal: Yes — I’d just say: marketing is often treated like a cost centre until suddenly it’s asked to be the growth engine. You can’t have it both ways. Invest early, give it time, and judge it by the same standards you judge product or sales. The best marketing leaders are commercial thinkers — but they need to be given the runway to deliver.

• Helen Forsyth: I'm someone who is not a CMO but regularly works with them over the last 14 years. CMOs do need to be willing to update themselves and meet the market need which has changed exponentially in the past 24 months. Everybody knows this and it's a much discussed situation and yet I still see a lot of highly experienced experts pushing the traditional approach, which, right now, the market isn't buying. It is possible to operate short-term minimum viable brand strategy and revenue generation and collaborate across teams to hit sales quotas and use the data gleaned to build out long term evergreen brand strategy. There are a lot of CMOs in the marketplace, more than there are jobs, and with CRO and CCO jobs on the rise, maybe it's time to consider what your true offering and value is. Most of the brilliant CMOs I know are actually SO much more than a CMO skill set alone

>> If you enjoyed this, you will love hearing Harry & me debating the CMO title and role.

📝 Editor Note 📝 

Hello and welcome back to this week’s Marketing Unfiltered

We have a guide to becoming the modern-day CMO, the steps you must take to get there, and the skills you need to (re)build.

Thanks for your kind words last week on the long-form piece on how to market content more effectively. Remember, if you missed any, you can catch up below:

• Read: The current state of the CMO role - Watch On YouTube 

• Read: The future of SEO and why SEO is far from dead - Watch On YouTube

• Read: How Marketing leaders are allowing bland content to negatively impact their own business - Watch On YouTube

» Got any feedback for us? Let us know or hitting reply

The Road to CMO: Essential Skills for the Modern Marketing Leader

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of Chief Marketing Officer has transformed dramatically. No longer simply the keeper of the brand or the head of advertising, today's CMO sits at the intersection of technology, data, customer experience, and business strategy. As someone who has navigated this landscape for over fifteen years, I've witnessed firsthand how the requisite skills have shifted. The journey to the CMO's office requires a unique blend of capabilities that extend far beyond traditional marketing expertise.

The Evolution of the Marketing Leader

When I began my marketing career in the early 2000s, digital marketing was still in its infancy. Social media was barely a concept, and the idea that marketers would need to understand complex data analytics seemed far-fetched. Fast forward to 2025, and the marketing function has undergone a seismic shift. Today's marketing leaders must possess a rare combination of creativity and analytical thinking, strategic vision and tactical execution, technological savvy and human intuition.

I clearly remember sitting in a boardroom in 2012, presenting our quarterly marketing results to the executive team. I had prepared a comprehensive report on our campaign metrics such as impressions, click-through rates, and conversion percentages. When the CFO asked about the impact on customer lifetime value and return on marketing investment, I realised I had only half the story. That moment changed my career trajectory, pushing me to develop a much broader skill set that would eventually help me reach the C-suite.

The Essential Skills for CMO Success

1. Strategic Business Acumen

Perhaps the most crucial skill for aspiring CMOs is the ability to think like a business leader, not just a marketing specialist. Today's CMOs are expected to contribute to overall business strategy and demonstrate how marketing drives business outcomes.

Modern CMOs must:

• Understand the company's business model

• Speak the language of finance fluently

• Connect marketing activities directly to revenue generation

• Participate in strategic planning beyond the marketing function

• Anticipate market trends and position the company accordingly

I learned this lesson the hard way when pitching for a substantial budget increase early in my career. I presented a compelling creative strategy but failed to articulate the business case effectively. A mentor later advised me to reframe my proposal in terms of expected ROI, market share growth, and competitive positioning. When I returned with this business-focused approach, the budget was approved within a week

2. Data Fluency and Analytics Mastery

The modern CMO must be comfortable swimming in oceans of data. This doesn't mean you need to be a data scientist, but you do need to know which questions to ask of your data and how to translate insights into action.

Critical capabilities include:

• Understanding key performance metrics across marketing channels

• Using data to inform strategy rather than just report outcomes

• Building data-driven decision-making processes

• Balancing quantitative analysis with qualitative insights

• Implementing proper attribution models to understand marketing effectiveness

One of my career breakthroughs came when I partnered with a third party to build an attribution model that finally demonstrated how our content marketing efforts were influencing purchasing decisions, even when they weren't the last touchpoint. This helped secure executive buy-in for a content strategy that had previously been underfunded, ultimately delivering a 35% increase in qualified leads.

3. Customer-Centricity and Experience Design

The most successful marketing leaders place the customer at the centre of everything they do. This means going beyond surface-level demographic understanding to develop deep empathy for customer needs, challenges, and aspirations.

Aspiring CMOs should excel at:

• Developing detailed customer personas based on research

• Mapping comprehensive customer journeys across touchpoints

• Understanding emotional as well as functional needs

• Designing seamless experiences across channels

• Using the voice of customer data to drive decisions

I remember instituting a monthly "customer immersion day" where our entire marketing team would listen to customer service calls, read support tickets, and review customer feedback. This practice transformed our marketing approach, making it noticeably more relevant and effective. Within six months, our customer satisfaction scores had improved by over 5%.

4. Technological Literacy

While CMOs don't need to code or configure complex systems, they do need to understand the marketing technology landscape and make informed decisions about the tools that will drive marketing success.

Key technological competencies include:

• Understanding the core functions of a modern marketing tech stack

• Evaluating marketing automation platforms and CRM systems

• Appreciating the capabilities and limitations of AI in marketing

• Making informed build-vs-buy decisions for marketing technology

• Collaborating effectively with IT and data teams

When I joined a mid-sized fintech firm, I discovered a sprawling, disconnected marketing technology ecosystem with significant duplication. By developing a clear understanding of our actual needs and the available solutions, I was able to consolidate the tech stack from 37 tools to 14, saving nearly £200,000 annually while maintaining the capabilities.

5. Cross-Functional Leadership

Modern CMOs rarely have the luxury of operating within a marketing silo. Success depends on your ability to collaborate with and influence stakeholders across the organisation, from sales and product to finance and technology.

Essential cross-functional leadership skills include:

• Communicating marketing's value to non-marketing colleagues

• Building strong partnerships with sales leadership

• Working effectively with product teams on customer-focused innovation

• Collaborating with finance on budgeting and ROI assessment

• Partnering with technology teams on digital transformation initiatives

One of my proudest achievements was establishing a revenue operations function that brought together marketing, sales, and customer success under a unified strategy. Breaking down these silos improved our ability to deliver consistent experiences throughout the customer lifecycle and significantly improved our retention metrics.

6. Adaptability and Continuous Learning

The pace of change in marketing is relentless. New channels emerge, consumer behaviours shift, and technologies evolve seemingly overnight. Successful marketing leaders cultivate a growth mindset and commit to continuous learning.

This includes:

• Staying current with emerging trends and technologies

• Building networks of knowledgeable peers and mentors

• Experimenting with new approaches and learning from failures

• Encouraging innovation within marketing teams

• Balancing established best practices with emerging approaches

I've made it a personal rule to dedicate at least half a day each week to professional development, whether that’s reading industry publications, attending webinars, or participating in peer groups. This habit has repeatedly helped me identify opportunities before competitors and avoid costly investments in fading channels or technologies.

7. Storytelling and Communication Excellence

Despite the increasing emphasis on data and technology, marketing remains fundamentally about communication. The ability to craft compelling narratives and communicate effectively across various audiences and channels remains crucial.

Aspiring CMOs should master:

• Developing brand narratives that resonate emotionally

• Communicating complex ideas in simple language

• Adapting messaging for different stakeholders and contexts

• Visual as well as verbal communication

• Persuasive presentation skills for the boardroom

Early in my career, I worked alongside a brilliant strategist who struggled to gain traction for her ideas because she couldn't communicate them effectively to our executive team. I learned from watching her challenges and dedicated myself to becoming not just a good marketer but an exceptional communicator.

8. Financial Management And Budgeting

Marketing leaders who aspire to the CMO role must demonstrate fiscal responsibility and sophisticated budget management. This means not just spending wisely but strategically aligning resources with objectives.

Key financial skills include:

• Developing and managing complex budgets

• Allocating resources based on performance data

• Building business cases for marketing investments

• Understanding financial modelling and forecasting

• Navigating procurement and vendor management

• Making hard choices

When I inherited a marketing department with declining effectiveness despite increased spending, I implemented zero-based budgeting, requiring every expenditure to be justified based on expected outcomes rather than historical precedent. This approach initially created friction but ultimately improved our marketing ROI by 8% in the first year.

Charting Your Path to CMO

The journey to becoming a CMO is rarely linear. For most marketing professionals, it requires deliberate skill building across multiple domains and the willingness to step outside comfort zones.

Consider these approaches for developing your CMO-ready skill set:

Seek Cross-Functional Experiences

Look for opportunities to work across different marketing disciplines and adjacent functions. A stint in digital marketing, brand management, product marketing, or customer experience can broaden your perspective and skill set. Similarly, roles that require close collaboration with sales, product, or technology teams can help you develop the cross-functional fluency that CMOs need.

Develop Business and Financial Acumen

Take advantage of formal and informal opportunities to strengthen your business knowledge. This might include pursuing an MBA, taking finance courses, or simply spending more time with colleagues from finance and strategy. Understanding how your business makes money, and how marketing contributes to financial outcomes, is essential for C-suite credibility.

Build Your Technology Capabilities

While you don't need to become a technologist, understanding marketing technology architecture and capabilities is increasingly important. Consider certifications in marketing platforms, attend technology conferences, and build relationships with IT colleagues who can help deepen your understanding.

Cultivate Your Executive Presence

CMOs must command respect in the boardroom and inspire teams across the organisation. Work on your presentation skills, executive communication, and ability to translate marketing concepts for non-marketing audiences. Finding mentors who exemplify strong leadership can accelerate this development.

Practice Data-Driven Decision Making

Look for opportunities to strengthen your analytical capabilities. This might mean taking courses in data analysis, working closely with analytics teams, or simply challenging yourself to base more decisions on data rather than intuition alone.

The Future CMO: What's Next?

As we look toward the future, the CMO role continues to evolve. Emerging trends suggest that tomorrow's marketing leaders will need to develop capabilities in:

• AI strategy and implementation across the marketing function

• Privacy-first marketing in an increasingly regulated environment

• Purpose driven brand building in a socially conscious marketplace

• Real-time personalisation at scale

• Sustainability marketing and circular economy principles

Those who aspire to marketing leadership would do well to monitor these trends while building the foundational skills outlined above.

Conclusion: A Journey Worth Taking

The path to becoming a CMO has never been more challenging, or more rewarding. Today's marketing leaders have unprecedented opportunities to drive business strategy, shape customer experience, and create lasting value. While the skill requirements are demanding, each capability you develop makes you not just a better marketing leader but a more complete business executive.

My own journey to marketing leadership has been filled with moments of challenge, growth, and flexibility. The landscape will continue to evolve, but one thing remains constant: successful CMOs combine deep marketing expertise with broad business acumen, technological understanding, and exceptional leadership skills. By developing these capabilities, you position yourself not just for the CMO role but for lasting impact in an increasingly complex business environment.

By Richard Levy, CEO and Founder of Sophera Marketing 

Connect With Richard On LinkedIn 

>> If you enjoyed this, you will love Harry being pushed by me on the CMO title and role

» Harry’s delivers another brilliant bingo card

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Content Marketing

A reminder of why this chat with Chris was so important:

• We explore common missteps brands and brand leaders make, we break the myth that there’s no organic reach, and why your brand guidelines stifle creativity. 

• We highlight the need for personal connection, community building, and innovative approaches to customer relationship management - remember speak with, not speak at!  

• We advocate for a shift in marketing strategies to embrace change and foster creativity within brand frameworks not say no as default. 

• We explored the evolving landscape of Marketing, emphasising the importance of understanding customer needs, the role of AI in content,

• We break down the need for UGC, the value of ECG (user-employee-generated content), and IGC (influencer-generated content). 

• We discuss the necessity of quality over quantity in content, and the significance of effective distribution strategies (not just create content spray and pray across all channels. The dialogue culminates in actionable marketing tips and insights into why brand content often fails to resonate with audiences.

If you missed last week’s newsletter, definitely read what was described as “the most useful newsletter to date” and “my favourite so far”. You can also watch Carl and me dive into SEO on YouTube

Read The Full Breakdown: The Future Of SEO & The Impact Of AI In Search

www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/seo-and-ai

Watch This Week Podcast & Digest The Takeaways:

Share with your team

In our SEO conversation: 

The Important Chapters To Share With Your Team

• Where are we really at with SEO 01:45 

• Is seo dead? 10:54 

• How is luxury and Amazon going to fare in this AI driven SEO world? 22:33 

• The different states of search - educate state, want state, need state, action state 29:55

• Should SEO and LLMS search go together? 33:53 

• The opportunity for SEO to reset 38:00 

• Link building and the costs of link building 46:00 

• The opportunity to open up editing webpages - not going into a product effort vs reward matrix 51:46 

• Why share of search is underrated 53:15 

• The big difference between tinkering and testing 55:43 

• SEO helping the Marketing Department in appearing in search and apply SEO lessons across social platforms 55:48 

• The big opportunity and misunderstanding of branded search 56:39

The Key Takeaways

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📝 EDITORS NOTE 📝

This week, Harry and I recorded our first Marketing Unfiltered podcast. We jumped into the huge topic about the CMO role, why it’s changing, the cost of the change and what we can do proactively about it.

Thanks for all of the feedback on last week's article on The Brand Crisis in Modern Marketing, read Sarah and Jessie’s hugely popular piece below:

👀THE RETURN OF BRAND! How smart brands are shifting focus from SEO to BDO in an AI landscape

Brands Are Sleepwalking Into AI Digital Extinction - Why BDO (Brand Discovery Optimisation) will be critically important for any brand in the new AI world

www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/bdo

 💬 Join Our Exclusive WhatsApp channel 💬

As a reminder, we have a dedicated WhatsApp channel, so if you prefer your news in updates on WhatsApp, our channel will be great for you.

This week, we have our first submission from Jessie and Sarah on the importance of Brand in the shift towards the AI web and why being the brand is going to arguably more important than ever before, with 3 clear actions to take to ensure you influence LLM’s and answer engines put you front and centre of answers and new experiences.

We ❤️ feedback, so got something to say, you can hit reply and let us know, add a comment or drop me an email mu@dannydenhard.com or tag Harry or me on LinkedIn.

Enjoy this week’s newsletter by Jessie & Sarah,

Danny Denhard // LinkedIn // Email

👋 If you want to tell us your thoughts on the evolution of the CMO role or be featured with your own take or experiences, drop us an email to mu@dannydenhard.com 👋

1/ How the new YouTube & X live tech show is showing us the future of content 👏

📝 As Marketing & Growth leaders we are constantly looking for new formats or a revisit of old formats to inspire us and be part of. Live social is already swamped, maybe this format will be something you leverage or become part of…

TBPN The New Blueprint For Podcasts & Live Long Form Content — Danny Denhard

Why TBPN, the new tech and business live show is the future of live and long-form content, and maybe inspiration for new form podcasters

www.dannydenhard.co.uk/blog/is-tbpn-the-new-blueprint-for-podcast

2/ A16z VC and Growth legend Andrew Chen dropped a blog last week about why every marketing channel sucks right now, here’s a good challenge from Emily at MKT1 🍿

📝 Marketing is increasingly difficult in this ever-evolving landscape it’s essential to remember some channels will hit saturation, while you might find one that pops off for you, while others say it’s not working for them.

Does every marketing channel *actually* suck right now?

A reaction to Andrew Chen's Substack post: "Every marketing channel sucks right now"

newsletter.mkt1.co/p/does-every-marketing-channel-suck

3/ We are seeing several brands struggle and tackling turnarounds all in different ways, including rebranding and going back to “Brand first” activities. This is a good post on how long and what it takes to turn around a brand 🥤

📝 Starbucks have brought back the black shirt and green apron in US stores, placing brand and uniformity front and centre - another key move by chief brand officer

How long does it take to turn around a brand?

(And how do you do it?)

embeddedbrandstrategy.substack.com/p/how-long-does-it-take-to-turnaround

If you are new here, remember to click the button above 👆

4/ FT Interview: How Google is rethinking its place in the market and evolving its search product (alternative link) 🔎

📝 Google is in the prime position to win the AI arms race with their Search product and 6 other products with over 2m MAUs - will they mess search up to win AI? Or will AI win over search first… if we’ve learnt anything, we know not to bet against the incumbents and monopolies

Google’s Elizabeth Reid: ‘Human curiosity is boundless and people ask a lot of questions’

The search executive behind the push to reinvent the group’s core product says users are driving change in how to seek information

www.ft.com/content/decc6853-4fff-448c-b1c3-be8824ab511f

5/ Openai’s ChatGPT is growing at a rapid rate, and their app is exploding in downloads, ranking 1 in app stores, outranking TikTok & Instagram 📲

 📝 The way many chatbot apps will become sticky is going to the phone, driving more desktop app downloads and being installed in browsers. Are you using them enough to get ahead of the curve?

» If you’re feeling a little left behind, don’t worry. It’s likely time for the team AI workshop

ChatGPT became the most downloaded app globally in March | TechCrunch

ChatGPT became the world's most downloaded app in March, excluding games, topping the usual contenders for the No. 1 spot, Instagram and TikTok. This is

techcrunch.com/2025/04/11/chatgpt-became-the-most-downloaded-app-globally-in-march/

6/ WhatsApp is slowly rolling out new features for Marketers, many Marketers will love this idea, but will your customers? Unlikely. 💬 

📝 While WhatsApp works out its monetisation strategy, Marketers will be the perfect guinea pigs for them…it is essential to question will this hinder or hurt your relationships with your customers?

WhatsApp Adds New Ways for Businesses To Send Promotional DMs

Users will be able to opt out of future direct messages.

www.socialmediatoday.com/news/whatsapp-adds-business-broadcasts-ads-to-previous-contacts/744441/

7/ A look into Duo and Duolingo’s Marketing Strategy & why their bold approach worked for them and is unlikely to work for so many others. (alternative link) 🦉

📝 With 15% of new customer acquisition coming from social media, Duolingo is a unique brand confidently embracing quirky social media and a bold mascot to win over net new customers. In a performance-first market, can the classic tactics like a brand Mascot work for you?

Hi! It's Duo: The Marketing Strategy Behind the Internet's Favourite Green Menace

Ranging from silly to threatening, Duo the Owl is the envy of social media managers.

www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/duolingo-duo-owl-marketing-strategy

THE LOTTIE UNWIN THE POWER OF COMMUNITY INTERVIEW

Why Did You Start The Community?

I founded Up World many, many years ago in its first ever format, because I had just moved from big corporate company portrait gamble to the head of marketing and startup, and I loved the energy and the speed and the like genuine requirement for me to use my brain to think about how to do marketing better that I saw in a startup.
But I was so lonely, and I had so many situations where I felt really at my depth, and I didn't know where to ask for help, and then I asked around lots of people to, like, see if they knew somewhere, like, where they went for advice, and it just felt like there was a massive gap. 

So I started a supper club and introduced lots of people who I'd met on this journey, kind of trying to upskill.
And they loved it, too. And then turned out that they really wanted the forum, and so everyone was kind of piling in my inbox the next day to say, like, Tell me more, when the next event? Can I bring this person I know? And so it sort of snowballed from there. And the group up Club is A, we call it, curated learning and community for entrepreneurial marketers, so that can be anyone in a marketing position, you don't necessarily need to have marketing in a job title. You could be in sales, or you could be a founder, but anyone who's been tasked to think about marketing and entrepreneurial in the sense of like they're under pressure to get more done with less. So often, this is people in a startup that doesn't need to be.

What are my top three goals for the community?

Every day I speak to someone who says, I wish I find out about you earlier, like I really need you in my life, and as long as long as I keep hearing that, I'm going to keep doing this, so I don't have any goals specific to like changing what we do, but I just want to impact more members.

Was there a light bulb moment?

Was there a light bulb moment? I just solved my own problem.

And then turned out that other people had the same problem.
I owe a lot of my kind of commitment and scale to COVID and because I think, as the world changed overnight, in a way, we'll all remember, I really saw the industry come together like a huge number of people lost their jobs, people were put in incredibly difficult situations, and there was just a real need to create a support system and to connect people.

That felt like a really motivating moment.

And I'd say since then, I've kind of been pretty single-minded about the goal.

Events are a key part of your community. How do you see events shaping community members’ successes in their career? 

Yes, events are a key part of our community, and they are run in a number of different ways. So we've refined the way we think about events a lot.

There are parties and in real life networking events, and there's a pub meet up once a month, which is just about having fun and having a nice time.

There are then events called up talks which are like sessions run by high profile speakers. In the way I describe it is like people whose whose job, people with a job you wish you had, and they run great sessions on like their expertise and what they've done and their roles.

And then we have sessions called huddle ups, which are intimate roundtable discussions, cat to eight people on a specific topic, which are really immersive and about bringing real areas of development to a very tailored forum.

How have the events helped members in their careers? 

Many ways, like from inspiration to building partnerships or connections that either build your confidence or unlock some commercial goal for you, and then very specific upskilling. What is the best part about being a community leader?
The best part of being a community leader is that you are so
there's two.

One is that you're so close to your customers. So I don't like their friends. I don't see them as customers. They're members. I talk to them all day, every day.

My job is so clear, which is just to give them what they want. And I love the simplicity of that. I love that I never get distracted by any other goals other than them. And the other thing is that you solve your own problems all the time. So I really needed this community, and so I built it, and I still really need this community, and I use it, and it makes my life easier a lot.

What is the hardest part of community leadership that members don't see? 

I think trying to make it commercially viable like I have no ambitions for this to ever make me rich, but I do want to run it in a way that's self sufficient, and we give 2% of our revenue to charity, and I want the team to be well paid for their work, and I want us to be able to afford to bring in great people to help make our work better. 

And community is not something that we're used to paying for, because community, historically, has been like the church has been your village, it's been your neighborhood, like this should be built into the fabric of society, and it's not anymore, but that makes the value equation quite complicated. It's not something we're used to having a transactional relationship with. 

So, I think keeping the wheels on and making the whole thing work is the hardest bit, particularly hard moments. Yeah, we just made mistakes. 

We moved all of our members to a really terrible membership portal that was shit and didn't work, and that gave them a terrible experience. We lost lots of members as a result of that, and then we had to build a new one, woo everyone back, and convince everyone it was a good idea. And then there are times where you just really need more people to sign up, because our membership fees are what keep the lights on. And sometimes that feels really challenging. And so like cost of living, when lots of people had to make tough financial decisions, was a really hard time. It was a really hard time for us, because we're very much a just kind of discretionary spend. You know, we're not your food shop where we're an extra and so for businesses, for individuals, where their company weren't paying for their membership fee, people had to ask them really hard questions, which was challenging for us to

How has running the community helped you as a marketer? 

Oh, in so many ways, I've made incredible friends, like genuine friends for life. I have been able to attend talks and be round the table in conversations that I should not have been in the room before. I have had answers to my own questions solved immediately, I have hired the normal people I've met amazing freelancers like
I owe my whole career to the result of a community I built.

How do you see the role and influence of communities changing?

Oh, in so many ways, I've made incredible friends, like genuine friends for life. I have been able to attend talks and be round the table in conversations that I should not have been in the room before. I have had answers to my own questions solved immediately, I have hired the normal people I've met amazing freelancers like I owe my whole career to the result of a community I built.

» Connect with Lottie on LinkedIn or go deeper on her community here and read more about her offerings below:

Up World is the place for start-up marketers:

• Community of over 1,100 brilliant marketers who support each other daily

• Weekly huddles with other members

• Mentor matching service

• Jobs - our matchmakers put top marketers in brilliant brands

• Actionable courses that will supercharge your business and your career

Up Talent connects start-ups with top-tier marketing talent:

• Experts in finding exceptional marketing leaders for growth-focused start-ups

• Specialists in team design, hiring, onboarding, and ongoing performance acceleration to help your marketing team thrive

• Whether you’re building your team from scratch or strengthening an existing one, we’re here to help you create a marketing function that drives results.

Brand Hackers provides fractional marketing teams for ambitious brands.

• We know there are infinite things a brand could do to grow, but the hard part is deciding how to allocate precious time and money.

• We slot in seamlessly, providing just the right experience and energy at just the right time.

• At Brand Hackers we prioritise what’s going to deliver results. Through our Progress Loops process, we get to results faster than an agency or small in-house team could.»