Across industries and business models, marketing is essential to surviving and thriving. So why the recent flurry of headlines pronouncing the death of the CMO? As usual, the truth is more nuanced than the headlines suggest. In reality, the CMO role is evolving, as it should, and companies are restructuring, as they do. But marketing’s core mission—being the expert in the customer and evolving how to build brand preference and loyalty—remains vital. Where the headlines get it wrong Professor Scott Galloway paints a picture of “Mad Men” CMOs who hang their hats on industry awards and cling to b ..read more

A Content Disrupted podcast with Tricia Nichols, CMO. Access this and more Content Disrupted episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. Brand bonding isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a science that any marketing team can master. In this episode of Content Disrupted, trailblazing CMO, Tricia Nichols shares her insights on fostering and tracking brand bonding, balancing short-term vs. long-term perspectives, and using data science to answer the right questions at the right time. Tricia Nichols is a consultant, angel investor, board member, and former CMO at Gap, Estée Lauder, Pepsi, IP ..read more

A Content Disrupted podcast with Tamsen Webster, Founder of The Message Design Institute. Access this and more Content Disrupted episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. Struggling to cut through the noise and reach your ideal audience? Your brand message might be the culprit. In this episode of Content Disrupted, Tamsen Webster, Founder and Chief Message Strategist of The Message Design Institute, shares the power of the Red Thread Method in brand marketing, revealing why traditional marketing messages fail and what you can do to craft distinctive brand narratives that your ..read more

When Meta launched its Twitter look alike, Threads, in summer 2023, social media managers scrambled to learn everything possible about what some were deeming “the Twitter-killer.” They hopped on the platform and did their best to make a splash. More than six months later, was the rush worth the payoff? This is a familiar story in marketing. With the myriad of social media channels available and the pressure on brands to remain relevant, as marketers, we’re constantly challenged to determine the best social media channels for our brands to focus on. If there is one key takeaway from this guide ..read more

With organic search re-emerging as a cornerstone strategy for CMOs, top brands are harnessing AI to accelerate their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and bring more efficiency to a traditionally cumbersome and resource-intensive practice. This article explores how AI can streamline the process without sacrificing quality or strategy. What’s driving the renewed focus on organic search? Intense pressure to optimize spend amid economic uncertainty. With advertising costs continuing to rise, marketers are leaning again into SEO as a more sustainable and cost-effective solution to overshad ..read more

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Content & Context, to receive more insights on the evolution of content from Skyword CEO, Andrew C. Wheeler. We’re living through the decline of mainstream media, and as marketers, we have a role to play in filling the void. Like many of you, I’ve been struck by the recent wave of sweeping layoffs and program cancellations at prominent publications like The Washington Post, Vox, Condé Nast, and NPR. No major media conglomerate has been spared. But while this may seem sudden, it’s actually been a long time coming. For years, Pew Research has reported a c ..read more

A Content Disrupted podcast with Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing at TikTok. Access this and more Content Disrupted episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. Observing what’s trending on TikTok, you can discern a tremendous amount about what piques people’s interest and how they prefer to consume information. This week, we spoke with TikTok’s Global Head of Business Marketing, Sophia Hernandez, about the evolution of brand storytelling from the importance of diversity and risk-taking to the innovative strategies shaping the future of content and brand marketin ..read more

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Content & Context, to receive more insights on the evolution of content from Skyword CEO, Andrew C. Wheeler. It’s no surprise that Merriam-Webster’s 2023 word of the year was “authentic.” According to Webster’s, our cultural obsession with discerning the ‘real’ from the ‘fake’ is surging—when it comes to everything from media and politics to individuals, organizations, and products. Generative AI is at the center of this phenomenon. The fact that algorithms are now capable of generating human-sounding content in seconds, has sparked debate over whether ..read more

A Content Disrupted podcast with Axel Kirstetter, Vice President of Global Product Marketing for Guidewire. Access this and more Content Disrupted episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. How often does your marketing team produce content based on internal opinions or requests? Many of us are guilty of this practice, despite knowing it’s ineffective and wasteful. In this conversation with Axel Kirstetter, VP of Global Product Marketing at Guidewire, we explore methods to enhance your marketing’s precision, effectiveness, and efficiency through just-in-time content operations—a ..read more

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Content & Context, to receive more insights on the evolution of content from Skyword CEO, Andrew C. Wheeler. We’re swimming in an ocean of data, and content is the biggest fish in the sea. It accounts for 60% of the estimated 97 zettabytes of data today, with 90% created in just the past two years—explosive growth driven by the changing digital marketing, creator, and AI landscapes. When I think about this trajectory and how it’s accelerating into 2024, it’s evident that marketing leaders must make two fundamental commitments to continue driving busines ..read more