by Thomas Barta | May 23, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
“You can help us build a love brand. I want to hire you,” the CEO said. Nina was thrilled. Her last years in consumer goods had been tough. Tight margins. Aggressive competitors. A firm, in which everyone was a marketer. This telecoms CEO promised something very...
by Thomas Barta | May 16, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Who wants to be a middle manager? Not many people. It’s nice to be the trainee – young and cool; it’s nice to be the CEO – with all the power. But the rest? Stuck in the sandwich’s middle. No longer cool. Not really powerful. If middle managers were brands, they’d be...
by Thomas Barta | May 3, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Everyone in the boardroom turned to me in anger. I spent much of my former career doing two jobs: leading large brands and running major marketing transformation programmes. I loved both. And in both, when it came to success, my head was on the table. In marketing, I...
by Thomas Barta | Apr 25, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
We love the familiar, the recognisable, the known. And when it comes to picking a team member, many people are looking for a clone. Men recruit men. Creatives recruit creatives. Number crunchers recruit number crunchers. It’s easier to relate. It’s kind of natural....
by Thomas Barta | Apr 17, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Do you thrive in a matrix organisation? In a matrix, everybody is in charge–and nobody has all the power. The person who can tell sales what to do, doesn’t exist. The person who can tell product development to make amazing things, isn’t on that list. The...
by Thomas Barta | Apr 11, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Trust in politicians has evaporated. Consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low. And too many executives don’t trust their bosses. What’s the problem? Perhaps it’s professionalism? Brexit, for example, is a tough (and stupid) challenge – but the politicians in...
by Thomas Barta | Apr 5, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
The internet is great. If you know something and you want to write a blog that 100,000 people read, you can. If you want to do a podcast that 100,000 people hear, you can. The internet is also great for people who don’t know much, but are good in front of a camera and...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 28, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Brave leaders change the world. Air traffic controller Anthonius Gunawan saved the 160 souls on board Batik Air 6231, by staying in the tower, so the plane could escape minutes before the earthquake struck. Berta Cáceres led the protests that stopped the Honduras Agua...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 22, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
You are in the business of change. In fact, we are all in the business of change. We try to get customers to accept our offer. We try to get colleagues to support our cause. We try to get friends to join our Saturday dinner. Making change happen is what most of us do,...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 14, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Can you ‘feel’ a brand? Can you ‘sense’ what customers want? Did you ever think ‘I’m different from the other people in my firm’? You may not be alone. Many marketers are more sensual, more emotional than their colleagues. And if you are, life in firms can be rather...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 7, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Hard work is appreciated. Or so people hope. That’s why they put in the long hours, go the extra mile, give their best. But then, things go nowhere. The big meeting gets cancelled, budgets get cut, friendly voices disappear. Working hard is commendable, but it’s just...
by Thomas Barta | Feb 28, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Why is the finance department so powerful? Does it bring in clients? No. Does it invent new products? No. Does it produce revenue? No. In fact, to every business, the finance team is a cost. Still, it has the CEO’s ear. Why? Because finance leaders create something...
by Thomas Barta | Feb 21, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
“Hello Lucas, your dad told me you want to be a goalkeeper? Good lad. We always need good goalkeepers. Here’s some advice from me. First of all, you have to work hard. Being a goalkeeper is not easy. But the more you play… your eyes will get better at spotting the...
by Thomas Barta | Feb 14, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Bean counters love long-term contracts. A customer signs and the revenue is secure for three months, six months, twelve months. If the customer forgets to cancel, more cash rolls in. It’s tempting to make leaving hard for them. Everyone hates to feel trapped. Someone...
by Thomas Barta | Feb 11, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
“No one on the planet knows how to build a computer mouse,” author Matt Ridley once said. There’s just too much to know, too much to learn. Success today is all about teamwork. Yet, the average team achieves only 63% of their strategic objectives, according to Harvard...
by Thomas Barta | Jan 31, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
We’ve all sat there, in the middle seat, at the back of the plane. Where it’s cramped. Where it’s noisy. Where drinks get served last. Not all seats can be golden. In every firm, some customers get what’s left: the bistro table by the door, the room without a view,...
by Thomas Barta | Jan 24, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Sheryl Sandberg has a point. In her book ‘Lean In’, Facebook’s current COO asks women, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” Sandberg is a public role model. Her book has empowered millions of women to step up. To seek and speak the truth. To claim their seat at...
by Thomas Barta | Jan 18, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
“What’s the point of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)?” I asked Marketing Week readers that question. Why? Well, here is a baffling paradox: Each day, the world’s marketers create billions of cash dollars. Baileys, the Irish cream liqueur, has just had a record year....
by Thomas Barta | Jan 10, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
A Scandinavian airline asked people how travel changed their lives. Three things stood out: More knowledge. This one is obvious. Your own silo looks different from the outside. Other silos look different from the inside. There’s plenty to learn when you travel. New...
by Thomas Barta | Jan 3, 2019 | Marketing Leadership
Elvis didn’t invent rock ‘n’ roll. Steve Jobs didn’t invent the smartphone.* Google didn’t invent web search. All three took an idea, twisted it, made it better—and changed the world. People love out-of-the-box ideas. But they pay for what’s...
