Forbes CMO Summit 2022.
Jamel Toppin for ForbesChief marketers, entrepreneurs and leaders put their heads together in Miami this week to discuss change, creativity and purpose at the 18th annual Forbes CMO Summit.
“We want to do something that’s differentiated and valuable,” Forbes CMO Network Director Seth Matlins said in his opening remarks. “It’s a community conversation.”
This year’s Summit included ad and marketing legends from Jeff Goodby and Dara Treseder to Bing Chen and Deborah Wahl. The stacked lineup of panels, conversations and exclusive networking opportunities had one goal: to think, be and do different.
“Irrelevancy” is a common foe of just about every marketer. Industry experts explored and discussed the possibilities of keeping brands relevant.
Below is live coverage of the Summit. To join the conversation on social, follow #ForbesCMO.
‘How Do Leaders Do More Good?’
On stage, during the Summit’s last panel, Forbes CMO Network Director Seth Matlins posed the question “How do we do more good?” to Qualcomm Technologies CMO Don McGuire, Wrangler vice president of global brand marketing Holly Wheeler and The Female Quotient CEO Shelley Zalis.
We all have the opportunity to do good, Zalis said. For McGuire, doing good is providing equal access to technologies, to name one.
"If you want to do good, do good,” Zalis said. “Make the choice."
Growth At All Costs?
Thrive Market CMO Amina Pasha discusses how the e-commerce retailer’s core mission since day one has been environmental responsibility and sustainability. It started as a carbon neutral company and has decided to become carbon negative by 2025.
Nearly 70% of U.S. and Canadian consumers consider it important that a brand is eco-friendly and sustainable, according to a study by IBM and the National Retail Federation.
Rupen Desai, cofounder of The Shed 28, joined Pasha and AKQA President Tesa Aragones for a panel on finding balance in the business world between growing a brand, increasing consumption and environmental responsibility.
Thinking Creatively
At sweetgreen, cofounder and chief brand officer Nathaniel Ru says the salad restaurant is “reimagining fast food for a healthier generation.”
It requires thinking from the inside out, Ru said on stage Friday, whether it’s an ad campaign or the font size on the menu board. “The best creative people inside the business are the ones that are the most integrated,” he said.
Sweetgreen’s TikTok strategy includes sharing their salad recipes and working with food-focused creators to create videos.
Elsewhere, New Balance created a “physical manifestation of the brand,” CMO Chris Davis said, via its New York track and field center and concert hall. The goal? Be the integration of sport and culture, Davis said.
Creative ideas can’t live and die in the creative department, said Laura Petruccelli, cofounder and chief creative officer of creative studio Frank.
Leaders Tout What’s Not Working In Marketing
On stage, Forbes CMO Network director asked Quad CMO Josh Golden, Instacart CMO Laura Jones and Ally Financial CMO Andrea Brimmer, “What’s broken?”
Jones said it’s companies’ tendency to silo itself to one space. Brands need to have intersectionality and “look beyond your industry.”
Jones looked to bring the grocery delivery platform to the red carpet. “What role would Instacart have on the red carpet?” she asked.
It was about finding new ways of brand exposure. Instacart partnered with actress and comedian Chloe Fineman to wear a custom silver, quilted dress aimed to imitate a grocery cart—“cart couture” some say—at the VMAs this fall.
“We were covered in Vogue and all these other publications that we had no right to be in as a grocery delivery company,” Jones said. “It was that intersectionality that was really inspirational.”
For Brimmer, what’s not working in marketing is the tendency to buy into false narratives, such as believing we don’t have a seat at the table. “We let false narratives define the outcome.”
How Brands Drive Value(ation)
Benji Baer, CMO at global real estate commercial service CBRE, joined the stage with AB InBev Global CMO Marcel Marcondes Thursday, touting the power of metrics and brand value.
Why People Buy
When it comes to persuading people to buy or do something, it’s about making consumers feel something, said Converse CMO Sejal Shah Miller.
Shah Miller joined Cadillac Global CMO Melissa Grady Dias and Marisa Thalberg, a Forbes CMO Hall of Fame lister, on stage to talk about the power of persuasion.
Web3... Loading
Web3, blockchain, metaverse, NFTs—it can be a case of “buzzword bingo,” as 3GEN founder and CEO Roberto Grande called it Thursday.
Grande joined the stage with Alo Yoga CMO Angélic Vendette, EY marketing practice leader Janet Balis and Forbes Assistant Managing Editor Diane Brady to talk about their company expansions into Web3.
“It’s the next paradigm shift for the internet,” Balis said.
The Future Of Identity
Vans Global CMO Kristin Harrer, Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder and LinkedIn CMO Melissa Selcher joined Forbes CMO Network Director Matlins on stage to talk brand identity.
Selcher emphasized that besides keeping the core principals of a company in mind, it is important to not remain stagnant.
Capturing Attention
Neuro-Insight founder and CEO Pranav Yadav and Zappos.com CMO Ginny McCormick took the stage along with Russell Wallach, global president of media and sponsorship of Live Nation to discuss how to capture and move beyond attention to connection and memory.
Marketing is all about capturing consumers’ attention. But Yadav says, through research from his neuroscience company, he explains the human brain pattern seeks storytelling. The entire world is constructed on memories and stories.
“Everybody remembers their first concert,” Wallach said. “How can brands play a role in these long-term memories? We want to be the brand that got people the tickets for Harry Styles’ concert and created a memorable experience.”
Driving Cultural Relevance
With consumers having unlimited choice in the market today, the constant question facing brands is how to create and sustain cultural relevance.
“Things have been rapidly changing,” NFL CMO Tim Ellis said on stage. First, brands need to understand the cultural context of this moment. “And then connect that to the values of your audience.”
For TikTok’s global head of business marketing Sofia Hernandez, it’s more about resonance. “Relevance is a moment, and it goes away,” she said. “But resonance makes me feel something, and in turn makes me do something, and I think as brands that’s what we’re looking for.”
Brands are looking for a deep level of engagement that “makes humans want to do something for or about your brand,” Hernandez said.
DAY 2
Taking Risks And The Permission To Fail With Microsoft, Square and Kickstarter
Consistently taking risks to innovate a brand comes with failure.
“Kickstarter started really hot,” said Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter, referencing the first years of the company. When consumers like a company they want it to remain the same. But to stay relevant, Taylor said companies need to persistently take risks and avoid stagnation.
What keeps companies from breaking through? Sometimes it comes from struggle within teams to reach a common goal.
Square CMO Lauren Weinberg said it’s important to create the space for employees to fail. “At Square, our main principle is taking risks, and failure comes with taking risks,” she said. “But including accountability and transparency in the process makes it easier to fail.”
Jeff Goodby On What Makes A Strong Marketing Idea
Jeff Goodby, co-chairman and partner of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, joined Matlins poolside to conclude Day 1, sharing his advice to CMOs and how to come up with creative ideas.
Seth Matlins and Jeff Goodby chat poolside during the Forbes CMO Summit.
Jamel Toppin / ForbesGoodby—also known as the creator of the “got milk?” ad campaign—said you know an idea is a good one when you find yourself waking up wanting to work on it.
“People think of creativity as being some magical bolt of lightning that happens to you,” Goodby said. “And a lot of times, it’s just keeping your eyes open.”
His advice for finding creative ideas and strategies? Listen to kids. “They’re the best source of ideas,” Goodby said. “It’s getting back to a state of innocence that makes you see things in a different way for the first time.”
Jokes rely on surprise, he continued. A successful campaign is often one that includes one memorable, unique sentence.
“If your brother, sister, mom or dad can think of it, don’t do it.”
Human Values Drive What Trends
Leaders are recognizing the impact of worker and consumer values, whether it’s sustainability or flexible work. And values differ across generations.
“It's important to understand what these generational values are,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll, on stage with The Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema.
Values drive how leaders operate—and thus their marketing strategies. Take the value of career advancement as an example. Data from The Harris Poll showed 73% of Millennials think it’s likely the metaverse will provide lucrative career paths and money-making opportunities.
“Web3 isn't about big tech,” Rodney said. “It’s about access and ownership.”
As a result, companies are investing in metaverse expansions and research.
And with 81% of Gen Z and Millennials thinking ongoing education is core to their ability for financial stability, Rodney points to TikTok as a driver of information. “TikTok is an undercover learning channel.”
Understanding what’s at the core of what people value is key to business success, the duo said.
The Power Of Digital Data
“Irrelevance is the thing we don't want,” said Ragy Thomas, founder and CEO of Sprinklr, a software company that offers its customer experience management platform to businesses.
Consumers gravitate toward brands that align with their personal interests. On stage, Thomas said one way companies can stay on top of consumers’ needs is by harnessing the power of digital data.
Sprinklr conducted research where they asked people, “What makes a great day?” The data showed breakfast, music, friends and family are general topics that give people joy across the board.
Simple questions and data can reveal what a brand needs to focus on and what their target communities care about.
“Magic is found at the intersection of expected and unexpected,” Thomas said. “Harness the power of digital data to listen to the voice of your customers and consumers.”
The Forbes Under 30s Shaping Marketing
Founders and Forbes Under 30 founders Bing Chen, Travis Montaque and Lara Vandenberg are harnessing the creator economy and diversity and inclusion to move their businesses forward.
“Marketing moves with the pace of culture,” said Vandenberg, founder and CEO of Publicist, a marketing firm focused on talent.
And with cultural shifts, inclusion is key, said Montaque, founder of technology company Holler and cofounder of Group Black, a collective of Black-owned media brands and creators.
“Creators are the new startup,” Montaque said. “They're not just people putting content online and entertaining us. They're shaping culture and determining what products to buy.”
How To Engage And Connect A Brand With A Diverse Community
In a digitalized world, where anyone with a keyboard can influence the destiny of a company, the brands that stand the test of time are those that market to—and with—communities and fans.
The main job of marketers is to create a space to listen and take action on a community’s interests and needs.
“We’re platforms for social connection,” said David Tinson, CMO of video-game company Electronic Arts. He said the life-simulation videogame Sims introduced a space for the gamer community where their suggestions are heard. These actions have sparked the introduction of customizable hairstyles and pronouns in the game to accurately represent different communities.
How do you identify the community and what they want? Listen. For a company as big as McDonald’s, CMO Tariq Hassan said, “At least 90% of Americans have walked through McDonald’s in the past year.” Opportunities to listen are everywhere.
DAY 1
What Stays the Same? Keeping Consumers At The Heart
Leaders should think of consumers as people first—not their IP address. Instead of business-to-business, think business-to-human. That’s the message JPMorgan Chase CMO Carla Hassan had on stage. People-first strategy can help companies stay relevant to consumers.
Marketing is an ever-changing industry. What stays the same is the consumers and fundamental brand message.
“The reality is there is a ton that’s different,” Hassan said. “What stays the same is the fundamentals. Storytelling, fundamentally, is a way that we connect.”
General Motors Global CMO Deborah Wahl advised brands to know their core and find ways to engage consumers.
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