Category: Show Notes

After months of planning, Duck Creek Technologies had all of its ducks in a row for its flagship customer event, Formation, set to launch in April 2020. You might guess where this story is going—Duck Creek had to cancel the event and look for a virtual solution, one that wouldn’t let all its content go to waste and one that would be as powerful as most in-person events are for so many B2B brands.

In this episode, Senior Director, Global Marketing Lauren St. Amand shares how the insurance software company changed its course and developed vFormation, a digital engagement platform that was so much more than a virtual event. It was a solution to a world that would quickly become inundated with digital fatigue, a perfect lead-gen opportunity for Duck Creek partners, and, surprisingly, a way to reach more customers and prospects (and employees!) than ever before. This story is incredible—don’t miss it!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Duck Creek built and leveraged vFormation
• How vFormation grew business and facilitated strong partner sponsorships
• How Duck Creek is planning for hybrid events in 2022 and beyond

If there’s no partnership experience (PX) function in your organization yet, it’s high time you made one. As this episode’s all-star CMO guests can avow, a well-built and well-maintained partner ecosystem can do a lot for any B2B brand. Not only can it accelerate brand awareness and trust in the market, but a well-run partner marketing program can also directly and exponentially impact both pipeline and revenue.

In this episode, learn why partnership marketing needs to be taken seriously, with real-world examples to prove it and a slew of incredible insights into both growing and sustaining a powerful partner program from CMOs Denise Vu Broady of Appian, Michael Welts of Wasabi, and Melissa Sargeant of Litmus.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 3 B2B CMOs run B2B partnership marketing programs
• How to run a successful partnership program
• What it means to be a good partner

No two CMO playbooks are the same, but in all of them, agility is a prereq for success. The best CMOs are able to recognize the unique challenges of their organizations in the context of their growth stage and brand identity (or lack thereof), then develop the foundation for marketing-led, organization-wide success.

CMO Celia Fleischaker is an expert in the custom build, with previous stints at Epicor and PROS and now taking on a new challenge at Verint, a $1.3 billion company that recently completed a massive spin-off of its cybersecurity services, cementing itself as a pure-play customer engagement brand. Tune in to learn how Celia moved from her past experience for her current one, adapting along the way as needed to deliver a resonant Verint message to inspire employees and customers alike.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Celia’s CMO career trajectory
• How Verint redefined its positioning
• How Verint rolled out its new messaging

We haven’t had a Drew-on-Drew episode in a while, so buckle in for a meta-conversation between Question-Drew and Answer-Drew for episode 250! That’s right, Renegade Thinkers Unite has reached episode two-five-zero, and with so many interviews over the years, Drew has tracked the challenges that B2B CMOs have faced as well as the solutions they’ve implemented to lead their organizations to greatness.   

Pulling together these insights as well as those gleaned from Renegade Thinkers Live discussions and the confidential conversations at CMO Huddles, Drew reflects on three core issues that B2B CMOs are facing these days. Tune in to learn how CMOs are working to recruit and retain top talent, lead hybrid workforces, and preparing to meet their CEO’s growth expectations for 2022.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How to attract, win over, and keep great talent
• How adapt to post-pandemic changes in the way we work
• Four growth buckets to focus on in 2022

It takes special care to brew a post-acquisition stew. B2B brands need to determine how to properly blend the newly acquired brand into the established mix without jeopardizing the integrity of the branded house, and without losing the equity and loyal customer base of its sub-brand.

In today’s episode, CMOs Grant Johnson of Emburse, Kevin Ruane of Precisely, and Joshua Leatherman of Service Express share how they’ve successfully consolidated newly acquired brands, reflecting on best practices and mistakes made around the B2B world as companies work to build branded house empires. Tune in for a ton of great tips for B2B brand consolidation, from how to measure the value of an acquired brand to how to protect SEO equity in the process.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 3 B2B CMOs consolidate newly acquired brands
• How to merge brands without losing equity
• Common brand consolidation best practices

Transitioning from startup to scaleup sure does come with its growing pains. Marketing teams are stretched as they recruit for new and necessary functions, systemize demand gen efforts, and update their brand story in the market. Add in a global pandemic, a team spread across nine time zones, and a competitive labor market and you’ve got yourself an immense challenge.

For Bynder CMO Andrew Hally, this is not his first rodeo. Bringing in lessons learned from scaling up at Allego, Andrew shares how his team adapted to advance the brand’s growth phase in style. This is a fascinating episode about the marketing strategy behind two different scaleups, as well as why leading starts with listening and how to optimize intent signals in your category. Don’t miss it!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Lessons learned from scaling up Allego and Bynder
• How to scale up marketing teams and demand gen efforts
• How Bynder adapted post-COVID