Hey, Happy Sunday –
I hope you had a great last week of July and an awesome start to August. I can’t believe it’s almost fall. I know I’m not the only one ending this summer feeling better than before.
This summer was HOT: tons of deals in the startup world, lots of new companies incubating, dry powder in action…also, incredible concerts, amazing nights spent outside.
I’m back in NYC, so if you want to meet up, reply directly to this email. BTW — Are we LinkedIn friends? Connect with me on there, I yap a lot and hype up everyone I know.
On Friday, I helped host an intimate, highly curated CMO conference with Brand Innovators in Greenwich alongside incredible leaders from global brands, including Marriott, Danone, Steve Madden, Mondelez, Diageo, Newman’s Own, Genius, and more.
Many of the CMOs here lead brands that have multi-billion-dollar market caps. It’s always my favorite to be a challenger CMO in the startup world.
I originally only expected to attend this to participate, but when I got a call a few days before from Allie Meagher to help host, I couldn’t say no.
Me on Friday, hosting an awesome CMO retreat in Greenwich
And yes, I let everyone know I’m the youngest CMO in the room and likely the only one with a little Gen-Z in them (I’m on the border of Gen-Z and Millennial).
We all want to talk about connecting with Gen-Z. But, is Gen-Z even in the room with us?! Duh.
Today, I’d love to walk you through a thought exercise that I put together from discussions at this conference.
It was exceptionally well-run, and I found myself having very valuable conversations with leaders across the industry. More valuable than usual.
We talked through everything: AI, our toolstack, remaining relevant, burnout, and team building.
These conversations were, of course, totally off-the-record, so I won’t attach many brands or leaders to points. But trust me when I say: you want to think through the below.
This is what top CMOs are thinking about. As a CEO, CMO, VC, or industry professional, if you aren’t thinking through these strategies, you’re already behind.
You should also be forwarding this to your team or portfolio companies (now).
Biggest Takeaways from the CMO Conference:
1) Brand recognition means little if you’re not relevant. In order to remain relevant, you have to find ways to keep reinventing yourself. Once you see that others are copying you, you should already be testing the next thing.
Did you notice competitors copying you? Are they direct competitors or indirect?
What are they copying? (Marketing, product, etc.)
How are you pulse checking that they are copying you?
What is the “next thing” you can start testing now? Push yourself here.
What’s one area of your product, marketing, or positioning that feels stagnant? What can you launch as a scrappy MVP in 1 week?
Are you only following trends? How is this hurting your brand recognition? You should be setting trends, too.
George Hammer, Global Head of Luxury Marketing at Marriott, recently put together a massive group of the top voices and celebs in the world on the Ritz’s new superyacht, Luminara. When he told me he did this in ~one week, it blew my mind.
Try this: What did you do recently that worked and connected with people, set a trend, or was copied? Think through what you will do next that will determine if you stay ahead.
2) An iconic brand is one that people admire. Do people think about your brand as iconic? Startups can achieve this.
I’m a big believer that startups can be iconic (even in 6 months or 1 year). You need clarity, consistency, taste, and the ability to take risks. What is it about your company that people admire?
Do people think about your brand as iconic?
Focus on what you want your brand to be admired for. How can you shape the narrative so that they feel this is true? Start with product and marketing here.
E.g., I love how the Steve Madden CMO owns their product roadmap and brand; he knows what his customer wants, even if it's controversial in the industry to make “inspired dupes”. Gen-Z totally eats this up, shows major social love for this brand, and purchases hundreds of millions in product.
Check out this viral TikTok with 850K+ likes of him giving 0 f’s. He’s iconic because he gives people exactly what they want at great prices and owns it.
Which brands outside your industry do you consider “iconic”? What do you love about them, and what would it take for yours to reach that status?
Try this: Would anyone call your brand iconic? If yes, why? If not, what’s missing: depth? consistency? aesthetics? emotional resonance?
3) Consumers have more power than ever before. Brands used to control the discussion and narrative way more end-to-end, but that’s not the case now. This means you need an extra-tight feedback loop between your brand and consumers.
Feedback loops are immediate online. Within seconds of a post, campaign launch, or product drop, you should monitor first impressions.
How are you setting up these listening tools? How long should it take you to catch a vibe on how people are responding? Minutes, hours or days?
Is your feedback loop fast enough?
Are you responding to feedback, and what does that look like? E.g., Social statements, product updates, etc.
You can go through this product exercise: Pick the top 3 largest pieces of feedback from customers and fix minimum one per quarter.
If a customer was frustrated, how quickly would they hear back from your brand, and would their feedback impact your next move? You don’t want to get to a place where people are making mean Tiktok videos about your brand. Try to be proactive.
Do you have a conversational relationship with your customers outside of constructed feedback loops (e.g., constructed = when they complain and you respond).
How can you build more trust into your relationship with customers by increasing brand touchpoints?
Are you showing up in unexpected ways that provide value or resonate? You can do something as simple as comment on viral TikTok posts, or something as big as a collab with a brand your target audience loves provides a totally different product than yours.
This kind of reminds me about what makes you fall extra in love when dating – when the person you’re interested in shows up totally unexpectedly in the best way ever.
Try this: Where can your brand show up that’s unexpected but fabulous? Your target audience is already here, in a different industry. Think through what they use, their daily life, and goods/services they are obsessed with.
4) If you mess up on identifying your core value, it WILL cost you. E.g. 1-800-flowers previously considered themselves a gifting platform, but their actual core value is connection. This allows them to find product-market-fit in totally new, deeper areas.
Have you spent time truly identifying your core value? What are the real reasons people connect with your brand? Think beyond the service you provide.
E.g., Strip away your features, funnel, even business model. What emotional outcome do people come to you for? Are you solving for safety? Belonging? Power? Freedom? Connection?
Are your company’s decisions being driven by your true core value, or just by what you sell?
If you needed to pivot, how would your core value guide you into a new category or service?
What’s something totally out of the box that you could run that’s unlike what you sell today but still connected to your core value?
If your current product disappeared tomorrow, what else could you offer that still delivers your core value? Something to think about if you’re an early-stage founder or during market shifts.
Try this: In your next strategy session, have each team member:
1. Define the company’s core emotional value in one word.
2. Pitch a new product, content series, or campaign that has nothing to do with your current product, but aligns perfectly with that value.
5) How does your brand participate in culture? Culture = the ideas, behaviors, and identities people care about, use to make sense of the world, and create.
Where and how does your brand naturally show up in conversations outside of your owned advertising?
Are you proactively creating culture or only reacting to what’s hot? How did you earn your spot here?
What cultural moments align closely with your brand’s values? Where are these trends heading this year (or even in the next 6 mo.)
What’s a risk you could take to embed your brand deeper into culture this year?
If your brand threw a party or pop-up, who would show up and why?
E.g. Is your brand culturally relevant enough to gather people and who?
Just curious: What would feel risky but true to launch in a cultural space you are confident you’re in? Make it something that might alienate the wrong people and attract the right ones.
Well, How’d I Do?
If you haven’t already forwarded this newsletter to your team or portfolio companies, you’re behind.
This is exactly what top CMOs at the world’s biggest and most disruptive brands are thinking about today.
Of course, we had breakout sessions that were just focused on AI too (usage, implementation, trust, etc.), but the takeaways above really stuck with me.
Being in the room with industry leaders keeps me constantly looking deeper into what I’m building and how we can continue to be disruptive, sticky, and iconic.
I’m so glad I get to spill insights from some of these closed-door sessions with you all. Extra shoutout to Brand Innovators for putting the room together.
If you know a marketing leader who you think needs to be in this room, reply and connect us.
I hope you have the best week. Welcome to August!
Julia
