Drew Neisser - CMO Whisperer, Renegade Thinker, CEO of Renegade.com

Posts by Drew Neisser

Augmented Reality Aided and Abetted 19 Crimes

January 23, 2019

AI. Machine Learning. Augmented Reality. Today’s CMO has to be both artist and technician to keep up with all the new tools that are coming down the line. Unfortunately, this marriage of technology with creativity often feels forced. If it’s not done properly, the tech/marketing combo can seem disjointed from the overall brand story. Not so with Australian winemaker, 19...

7 Interview Questions for Your Next Marketing Hire

January 22, 2019

Leadership, whether you’re the CEO, chief marketing officer or chief financial officer, can typically be boiled down to three fundamental tasks: Set the vision, build the team and allocate the resources. Arguably, all three are equally important, yet in this CMO-centric column, we’ve focused more on the first and third, closely examining the strategic and budgetary choices that modern marketers...

Show Don’t Tell

January 16, 2019

There are two brand videos below. Each is only a few minutes long. Both use emotion to tell a story. But I think you will find that one of the two clearly stands out as a better story – and consequently a better brand story overall – for that company. (Warning: Spoiler Alert) Of course, it’s subjective but I’m guessing...

Yes, TV Advertising Is Still Effective

January 14, 2019

When Jonathan Beamer took over as CMO of Monster nine months ago, he found a brand that, despite “ten years of neglect” from both a product and marketing perspective, “was still one of the strongest in the job search category.” He credits this residual strength to Monster’s original insight, “that people desperately want fulfilling work,” which remains as true today...

The Key to Your Brand’s Success: Highlight Its Problems

January 10, 2019

The other day, I was speaking with storytelling guru and “father of modern branding,” David Aaker. One of the best ways to create a “signature story” for your brand, he said, is to magnify the problem that your product or service addresses. As David’s advice was kicking around my cranium, I came across the story of cloud backup and data...

How to Tackle High Expectations for New CMOs

January 7, 2019

From the moment a new chief marketing officer starts a job, the expectations for improved marketing performance are outrageously high. The CEO is looking for simultaneous upticks in brand metrics and demand generation. The head of sales wants leads that almost close themselves. The HR chief is expecting instant improvements in Glassdoor ratings and an influx of highly qualified recruits....

Why a CMO Needs More Than One Job

December 17, 2018

You don’t get to be a CMO by being afraid of adding yet another responsibility to your plate. Successful marketing programs often touch so many aspects of a business from customer experience to employee recruiting, investor relations to product development, that it is easy to imagine your above average CMO already being stretched beyond capacity. So, it is with some...

Going High-Touch in a High-Tech World: Q&A with Zoom CMO Janine Pelosi

December 10, 2018

Just about 50 years ago, futurist Alvin Toffler predicted that as our lives became increasingly dominated by technology, we’d feel an increased desire for human interactions. This “high-tech/high-touch” phenomenon is embodied in the rise of social networks, both of the virtual and physical variety (just look at the increase in associations and trade show attendance). It also helps explain the...

Hey B2B Marketer, You’re Doing Content All Wrong

December 3, 2018

There is probably a point in one’s life when you stop having the dream about showing up late and unprepared for your final exam. I’m still waiting. And it doesn’t help when cognoscenti like Brent Adamson, principal executive advisor at Gartner, challenge the very definition of marketing—let alone the way most business-to-business brands approach the customer acquisition process. Of course,...

CMOs, Take a Walk on the Sales Side

November 26, 2018

Despite all the advancements in lead generation, lead scoring and automated lead nurturing, the age-old tension between marketing and sales is alive and well. CMOs still complain that sales can’t keep to the script and close the deal, while sales directors still complain that many of the leads they get from marketing are useless garbage because the targeting and messaging...