Latest
CEOs should stop mistaking their opinions for the market
Corporate leaders increasingly claim they are speaking for the market. In reality, they are often speaking for themselves
A New Year’s wish: let’s ditch brand marketing
Performance marketing has an evil twin: brand marketing – another term that promises clarity, but mostly delivers the opposite.
All I want for Christmas is for ‘performance marketing’ to vanish
Two small words can do big damage. ‘Performance marketing’ gives marketers and C-suites the wrong idea about return on investment and needs to be retired.
What Amazon’s 14,000 layoffs reveal about AI’s grip on marketing
AI is leading to layoffs in areas such as SEO and ad production, but the challenge remains the same: make yourself irreplaceable by creating value.
More articles >
Essential reading
The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise decode the secrets of marketing leadership success.
The Little Book of Inspiration
Here are the quotes and ideas I find most relevant and inspiring for customer leaders in this century.
More articles >
Tools and Resources
Marketing strategy insights
Essential reading on fundamental strategy topics: investments, budgets, organization.
Japanese marketing leadership articles / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事
Japanese marketing leadership articles by Thomas / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is the complete toolkit to help marketers build their influence and boost their career.
The Global CMO Fellowship
Applications for the European CMO Fellowship 2024 are now open (and close 16 October)!
More tools and resources >
Keynotes
Keynote: Trusted Advisor—Building Client Relationships in an AI world
The AI era needs new skills. Building client trust now isn’t about the right answers. It’s about the right questions. It’s about understanding.
Keynote: Customer Freak
How can CEOs build organizations that grow in times of rapid change and disruption? Hire more customer freaks.
More keynotes >
Thomas Barta: Blog
Every article. In perfect chronological order.
If CMOs don’t stand for growth, they stand for nothing
Coca-Cola’s ditching of its chief marketing officer role for a chief growth officer is a clear warning to CMOs: stand for growth, or lose it all.
Why CMOs are always the first to go
The average chief marketing officer in large U.S. firms leaves after just 4.1 years, while the CEO stays around for eight. It is not good for business.
Why CMOs must side with the revenue camp
Influential CMOs are associated with revenue, yet too often marketers are not. They’re missing the point. It’s time for CMOs to get into the revenue camp.
CMOs: it’s time to up the game in team skills building
Every CMO agrees: skills are central for marketing teams’ business impact and internal standing. But when it comes to building those skills, the marketing department is too often undermanaged and underfunded. It’s time for CMOs to catch up.
CMOs and the ‘confidence thing’
Marketers often ask: “Do I have what it takes to step up and shape my company’s customer agenda?” But when good marketers hold back, companies may struggle to grow and customers are worse off. That’s when it’s time to add more fuel into marketer’s tank: confidence.
Why open books give you more power in the C-Suite
Why are CFOs so powerful? They have crucial and credible financial data every CEO wants to see. Competing with a CFO’s credibility can be hard if your own data is forward looking—or if your work’s impact is hard to measure. Don’t try to compete—change the game. Open the books!
How the CMO can add most value
In theory, the CMO role should be exalted, but reality is different. New evidence suggests many CMOs are missing the needs of an important customer: their own company. It’s time to change this.
Keynote: Customer Freak
How can CEOs build organizations that grow in times of rapid change and disruption? Hire more customer freaks.
マーケティングリーダーシップテスト:あなたの強みを見つける
マーケティングリーダーシップテスト:あなたの強みを見つける
マーケティングをリードするのはマーケティングをすると同じではありません。世界最大のマーケティングリーダーシップ調査では、マーケティングをリードすることは360度のタスクであることがわかりました。世界で最も成功しているマーケターは、上司、同僚、チーム、そして自分自身を巻き込む方法を知っています。
McKinsey: Can CMOs and CFOs be friends?
CMOs and CFOs always had a special relationship. Five steps can strengthen the ties between the two.
Podcast: Getting your CEO to buy in
Jeff White and Thomas discuss how leaders can get buy-in at the top—and enjoy the journey.
1 Minute Marketing Leader #20: Unfollow the Bin-Fluencers
In Marketing there’s a lot of “fake news”. Find your own truths. Unfollow the “Bin-Fluencers.”
1 Minute Marketing Leader #18: Be the Chief Mood Officer
When you are leading a team, you are the Chief Mood Officer too.
1 Minute Marketing Leader #19: Show the fire in your eyes
To inspire others, you have to be inspired yourself first. Inspired by a dream. Inspired by a goal. Inspired by things you care about.
1 Minute Marketing Leader #17: Be a dealer in hope
For almost every marketing project, you want other to change. You’ll need more than a story—but a good story helps.
1 Minute Marketing Leader #16: Start a movement
If you can’t tell people what to do, why not start a movement?
1 Minute Marketing Leader #15: As an emotional leader, communicate well
How to thrive in a rational world, when you are an emotional leader? Don’t change what you are best at. Instead, try and tweak your communication to fit the audience.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #14 Solve a problem
How to get promoted? How to land that next big project? There’s no silver bullet. Your best bet? Solve a real problem.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #13 Find your work’s worth
Your best work has impact. It changes how people think. It alters how people behave. Does your work have impact? It’s a good question to ask—from time to time.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #12 Side with the revenue camp
If you want to enjoy influence in any organization, you have to stand for what matters. In many firms, that’s profitable revenue—like it or not.
Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Boutros Boutros, Emirates
For my Forbes CMO column, I sat down with Emirates’ marketing head Boutros Boutros. Together with his team Boutros has built one of the world’s most admired airline brands. Here are three nuggets you might find interesting:
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #11 Find real customer insights
Most customer insight research goes unread, unvalued, unused. That’s a pity. Time to end the waste.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #10 Beware of the buzzwords
Buzz can be good. Buzzwords rarely are. PS: if in doubt, try “customers”, “revenue”, “profit”
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #09 Tackle big issues
When people cut your budgets, when people don’t put you on that meeting agenda, the reason is often simple. They don’t believe your work is tackling a big issue.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #08 Get inside the V Zone
If you want power in any organization, you must serve both customers AND the company. We call this: working inside the Value Creation Zone. Or V Zone for short.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #07 Know WHY to be brave
How to brave? You can—but there’s a trick. Bravery is purpose minus fear.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #06 LEAD marketing
What is marketing leadership? What matters most for marketers’ business success? Marketing and change leadership skills!
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #05 Ditch your job description
Is your job description right? I bet it’s not. What’s my real job? The answer to this question may not in your job description. It’s in your mind, it’s in your heart
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #04 Bridge the skills gap
Do you have all the skills you need? The answer is probably no. And that’s ok.
Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Greg Lyons, PepsiCo
Greg Lyons, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America and I spoke about marketing leadership and empathy.