Say Hello to 5 Renegade Thinkers

Packaged goods companies are well known for their marketing discipline and not usually the place you’d expect to hear a CMO express the need for “tolerating a lot more chaos and ambiguity in the culture and the way we work in order to get to the good stuff.” But that’s just the starting point with Eric Reynolds, who, among other things, discourages using influencers on a broad scale and believes that unless your brand gets talked about via the “holy trinity of the brand story, the message, and the content,” then the idea isn’t big enough to cut through.

With over 70% share of the premium tequila market, it would be easy for Patrón’s CMO to rationalize a conservative marketing approach. Instead, Lee Applbaum believes that success can only be found by “challenging long-standing norms in luxury and in spirits marketing,” and by “always staying ahead of the curve.” To these ends, Applbaum is focused on showcasing Patrón’s authenticity as a handcrafted tequila via advertising, influencer programs, social media and an innovative Oculus VR experience.

As a long-time financial services marketer, you would expect Dan Marks to have the science of marketing down pat. And indeed he does, having built a predictive marketing spend model at First Tennessee Bank (see The CMO’s Periodic Table!) and the marketing tech infrastructure in his current role. But Marks sees the trend toward data-driven marketing going too far, explaining that, “Just doing the science without starting with the purpose is a recipe for failure.” In embracing the “art” side of his job, he encourages his team to “remember that we are ultimately serving people” and to look at “what’s happening with people in other categories.”

The notion of having a large-scale content studio in house would be radical for many brands but that’s just the opening scene for David Beebe, who “set out to establish [Marriott] as the largest producer of travel lifestyle content.” A veteran of Hollywood, Beebe has turned Marriott into a content powerhouse by “not asking for permission all the time” and by focusing initially on “really premium storytelling.” Noting that successful content needs to be scalable, built around a community and have a commerce component, Beebe reminds us, “You’re not making a commercial — you’re not talking about yourself and your features anymore.”

Lamenting the fact that the healthcare industry “says the same thing and blends into this mush,” Arra Yerganian is “working to change the conversation” about Sutter Health. To achieve this goal,

Yerganian seeks to “embrace the digital experience and create one-to-one relationships for the 3.5 million people that we serve.” Believing that this promise needs to go deeper than marketing, Yerganian works in “really close partnership with Sutter’s patient experience folks, executive leadership and operations to lay the foundation for a new [customer] experience.”

Remarkably, given my youth and inexperience (although I’ve never met anyone who has had their hood blow open at any speed), I didn’t panic. Instead, I instantly befriended my mirrors, gradually descended from light speed and coasted my way to the side of the road. Ten minutes later, a chipper California highway patrolman helped me cram the ruined hood low enough so forward visibility was again possible, and then I had 60 miles to think of what to say to my grandmother. Later I learned it was a design flaw and that many 1969 Ford Mustangs (same chassis as the Falcon) had hood straps to prevent just such an occurrence. Needless to say, being able to look backward saved my life, and perhaps that’s why I’ve been a student of history ever since!