Author: Melissa Caffrey

The Big Pivot for 2021? Category Creation!

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

Anthony Kennada knows a thing or two about ANA’s 2020 word of the year: “Pivot.” In just 4 years, Anthony “pivoted” from Business Development Associate (BDA) at Box to CMO of Gainsight—an astounding feat for any marketer—and during his 6 years at the startup, he helped establish a category, growing the brand from $0 to over $100 million in revenue.

Now, he’s at Front, a start-up customer communication hub with a high-level story to tell. In this episode, Anthony shares how his experiences at Gainsight have informed his community-building, demand-generating efforts at Front—from how to develop a long-term, growth-focused brand strategy to how to bring employees, customers, and prospects together under one purpose-driven cause. Check it out!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Gainsight became a leader in customer success
  • What it means to produce high-quality content
  • How Front built its brand

A Make-A-Wish Holiday Story

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

It’s not every year that Christmas falls on the same day as a new Renegade Thinkers Unite episode, so this one is extra special. The show focuses on the story of Keane Veran, a cancer survivor who, while undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) as an 8-year-old, was asked by Make-A-Wish to wish big.

And wish big he did. In 2011, Keane and his family, including his older brother, Shaun, were flown to Washington DC to meet President Obama, in the White House no less. Nearly a decade later, this moving story about making a young boy’s wish come true is truly powerful—it not only motivated Keane to keep on fighting, but it’s the foundation that inspired the Veran brothers to start a wellness brand with a business model based on goodwill. 

A portion of every purchase from their company, Ouragami (OURA), goes to making a wish come true. It’s a lesson in generosity that B2B and B2C companies alike can benefit from. Tune in to hear how marketers can play a very vital role in helping both OURA and Make-A-Wish help kids reach their biggest dreams, with advice and inspiration from Keane, Shaun, and the CEO of the Make-A-Wish chapter in Orange County and the Inland Empire, Gloria Crockett.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Make-A-Wish helped a young boy meet President Obama
  • Why all brands should adopt a goodwill business model like OURA’s
  • How marketers (you) can help Make-A-Wish and OURA

Powering 2021 B2B Marketing with Conversational AI

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

In the premiere episode of Renegade Thinkers Live, Drew was joined by CMOs Rashmi Vittal (Conversica) and John McCrea (Amplify.ai), to discuss all things conversational AI. We take stirring things up quite literally here at Renegade, so in this episode, we sipped in the latest AI marketing insights along with Letherbee’s original label gin (which was amazing, by the way).

It was a fun episode, filled with AI conversational marketing use cases, wisdom from Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and a Live audience Q&A. Even Google Chrome makes an appearance! Tune in to hear some incredible use cases, learn why John and Rashmi both say that “bot” is a terrible word, and see just how Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) can transform B2B marketing in a digital-first world.

What You’ll Learn in this Episode

  • How conversational AI can optimize B2B marketing
  • Common conversational AI mistakes made by B2B marketers
  • How virtual assistants are becoming more human

Awareness Matters: How One B2B CMO Cut Through

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

What happens when you pair an identity security company and Terry Crews? An impressive, wildly successful influencer marketing success story, that’s what. It was the final piece of the “Let’s boost our brand awareness” puzzle that Ping Identity CMO Kevin Sellers was looking for. They had already identified their new brand identity and got internal support, now it was time to go big.

This episode is all about the courageous, artful, thoughtful, and scientific marketing that goes into building brand awareness, all in the service of driving new customer acquisition. As Kevin shares, “You can’t win business if you don’t even get a chance to bid on the deal.” Tune in for an inspiring story about brand differentiation, with ingenious marketing executions and measurable results.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Ping Identity differentiated its brand
  • Ping Identity’s influencer marketing success story
  • How to measure a brand awareness campaign

Precisely How to Change Your Brand Name

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

Would CMO Kevin Ruane recommend renaming a brand during a pandemic? No, he wouldn’t; but they had to do precisely that when Syncsort acquired the data and software division of Pitney Bowes in December 2019. The company had 6 months to change the Pitney Bowes name—6 months that just so happened to coincide with all of the disruptions of 2020.

In this episode, Kevin shares how Syncsort became Precisely, a global leader in data integrity committed to its “Trust Your Data” message. Tune in for tried-and-true best practices for B2B brands undergoing a name change, like when to get employees involved (hint: early and often) and how to successfully transition old brand equity over to a new, purpose-packed brand.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How (and why) Syncsort changed its name to Precisely
  • Why brands need to involve employees early and often when rebranding
  • How Precisely launched its new name and messaging