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For enterprise marketing leaders, the mandate is clear: grow. But the path to that growth is a landscape of paradoxes. We’re tasked with building a powerful, recognizable national brand while simultaneously forging authentic, personal connections within hundreds of disparate local communities. We must harness the immense power of sophisticated MarTech stacks—AI, automation, and predictive analytics—while also recognizing that sometimes the most effective tactic is sponsoring a high school football team’s new uniforms.
As marketing leaders, we live and die by digital metrics and measurements. We obsess over click-through rates, scroll-depth, and algorithmic favor. We’ve become masters of a world measured in pixels and milliseconds, constantly striving to capture a sliver of attention in a deafeningly loud and crowded space.
Expedia’s research reveals how emotion, authenticity and the right mix of video and human-guided content inspire traveler wanderlust and drive bookings. This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech.
In a hyper-connected world, refusing to engage or hiding behind sanitized messaging isn’t caution, it’s capitulation. While you’re carefully polishing your corporate statements, competitors and critics are filling the vacuum with their version of your story, whether you like it or not. The World Economic Forum identifies misinformation as a major global threat, and studies show false information spreads up to six times faster than truth on social media. For brands, this isn’t just a social issue; it’s a direct assault on brand equity, market share, and long-term survival. The cost of playing it safe has never been higher.
The public relations landscape is in constant flux, a dynamic environment further accelerated by the advent of widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. For enterprise marketing leaders, understanding the ethical considerations, opportunities, and evolving dynamics of PR in the age of artificial inteligence (AI) is paramount.
Most brands are trapped in a dangerous feedback loop. They chase the same story angles, recycle identical influencer tactics, and parrot trending phrases in a frantic race for fleeting visibility. But this imitation epidemic doesn’t just make brands forgettable; it conditions audiences to tune them out entirely. While marketers justify this behavior with a fear of missing out, they ignore a harsher reality: chasing consensus doesn’t build relevance; it erodes authority.
Sangeeta Prasad has had the rare experience of launching the Chief Marketing Officer role at not one, but two global organizations. That gives her a unique vantage point: she hasn’t just built marketing campaigns—she’s built the case for why marketing matters in the first place. In her current role as CMO of Slalom, a $3B global consulting firm with a presence in 53 offices and 12 countries, Prasad leads with equal parts strategy and heart.
Consumer trust, once a given for established brands, has eroded due to recent events, opening the door for new players to redefine the category.
Brand partnerships are undergoing a significant transformation, fueled by the innovative power of artificial intelligence. Traditionally, forging these alliances has been a laborious, time-intensive process, often limiting access to only the largest brands with extensive resources.
Building a brand from the ground up is a daunting task for any marketing leader, but imagine doing so for a newly spun-off company with 90,000 employees across 60 markets. This was the challenge Maria Winans, CMO of Kyndryl, embraced following the company’s separation from IBM.
