Agile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing Environment

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Publication details
  3. Summary
  4. Key concepts and frameworks
  5. Who it's for
  6. Edition history
  7. How this book compares
  8. Related podcast episodes
  9. FAQs
  10. Related Terms
  11. Related Books
  12. Sources

Overview

Agile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing Environment is a 2025 book by Greg Kihlström, published by Mercury Learning and Information Systems, an imprint of De Gruyter Brill, that explains how to run a marketing team using Scrum. It is written for marketing leaders and practitioners at any experience level, whether they are starting an Agile Marketing effort or trying to fix one already underway. The book replaces two shorter Agile Brand Guides on the same subject from 2023 and is organized in six parts, from Agile principles through Scrum mechanics to working alongside teams that aren’t Agile.

See also: Agile Marketing · 12 Agile Principles · Sprint · Continuous Improvement

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Publication details

FieldDetail
Full titleAgile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing Environment
AuthorGreg Kihlström
ForewordNone listed
SeriesNone (one of Kihlström’s De Gruyter Brill-distributed titles)
PublisherMercury Learning and Information Systems, an imprint of De Gruyter Brill
Publication dateFebruary 26, 2025 (paperback); March 11, 2025 (ebook)
EditionFirst
FormatsPaperback, ebook (PDF and EPUB)
ISBN978-1-5015-2357-1 (paperback); 978-1-5015-2098-3 (ebook)
DOI10.1515/9781501520983
Length327 pages (index begins at page 291)
Where to buyDe Gruyter Brill, Agile Brand Guide product page, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
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Summary

The book’s premise is that Scrum, which was written for software teams, works for marketing teams once a few things are translated. Campaigns aren’t software releases, stakeholders are different, and marketing work tends to arrive from many directions at once. Kihlström spends the early chapters on those differences before getting into mechanics.

Part I covers the ground rules: what Agile is, the twelve Agile principles, what Agile Marketing means, how Agile in marketing differs from Agile in software, and the methods available for applying the principles (Scrum being one). Part II describes Scrum itself. The core elements, the additional elements, Scrum in practice, and the roles on a Scrum team each get a chapter.

Parts III and IV are the how-to. Part III walks the Scrum cycle for a marketing team: creating the backlog, sprint planning, daily standups, running a sprint, and retrospectives. Part IV is organized by role. There’s a chapter each on succeeding as a Product Owner, as a Scrum Master, and as the product team. Four appendices give meeting agendas for sprint planning, standups, and retrospectives, plus the twelve principles for reference.

Parts V and VI zoom back out. Part V deals with adoption at the organizational level: mindset, leadership’s role, where to start, measuring success, business value, and continuous improvement. Part VI is about the rest of the company. It covers working with other Agile teams, working with teams that aren’t Agile at all (common in marketing, where creative, legal, and finance may run on their own rhythms), building consensus, and how an Agile team grows over time. The chapter on non-Agile teams is one of the book’s more practical sections, since most marketing teams can’t wait for the whole enterprise to change.

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Key concepts and frameworks

Scrum. The framework the book implements, created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. The book covers its elements (backlog, sprint, sprint goal, increment, definition of done) and roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master, team). Individual elements are documented in Martechipedia’s Scrum Elements entries, for example Product Backlog and Sprint Retrospective.

The twelve Agile principles. From the 2001 Agile Manifesto; chapter 2 and Appendix D. See 12 Agile Principles.

Agile in marketing versus software. Kihlström’s chapter 4 comparison of where the software model transfers to marketing and where it needs adjusting.

Business value as the sprint’s measure. Chapter 23 ties sprint output to Business Value rather than task completion.

Working with non-Agile teams. Chapter 26’s approach to coordinating sprint-based marketing with departments on annual or project-based cycles.

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Who it’s for

A marketing manager who has read about Scrum and wants a version written for campaigns, content calendars, and stakeholder requests rather than code. A newly appointed Product Owner or Scrum Master on a marketing team. A CMO deciding whether to adopt Agile and what leadership has to do differently for it to hold. The book is also usable as a training text; the role chapters in Part IV and the appendix agendas are written to be handed to a team.

It is not a book about organizational agility in the broad sense. Readers wanting that should see The Agile Brand Revisited (2025).

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Edition history

EditionYearPublisherNotes
Agile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing Environment2025Mercury Learning and Information Systems / De Gruyter BrillFirst edition.

Predecessor titles, not editions of this book:

TitleYearPublisherRelationship
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing, Part 1: Fundamentals: Understanding, Planning, and Implementing Scrum for Marketers (foreword by Jascha Kaykas-Wolff)2023The Agile BrandShort guide; out of print. Covered the material now in Parts I–III.
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Implementation: Implementing and Optimizing Agile Practices in the Enterprise for Marketers2023The Agile BrandShort guide; out of print. Covered the material now in Parts V–VI.
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How this book compares

TitleAuthorYearFocusBest suited for
Agile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing EnvironmentGreg Kihlström2025Scrum, start to finish, for marketing teamsTeams adopting or repairing Scrum
The Agile Brand RevisitedGreg Kihlström2025Agility as an organizational and brand attributeLeaders defining agility for the whole company
Hacking MarketingScott Brinker2016Software-management ideas applied to marketing, including AgileMarketing leaders looking for the broader argument
Mastering Marketing AgilityAndrea Fryrear2020Agile marketing frameworks beyond Scrum, including Kanban and hybridsTeams comparing methods
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the TimeJeff Sutherland2014Scrum from its co-creator, general audienceReaders wanting the origin and rationale
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FAQs

Does the book cover Kanban or other Agile methods? Chapter 5 surveys methods of implementing Agile principles, but the book’s implementation guidance is Scrum-specific, as the subtitle says.

Do I need software experience to follow it? No. Part I explains Agile and Scrum from the beginning and chapter 4 addresses the differences between marketing and software contexts.

Is this the same as the 2023 Agile Brand Guides on Agile Marketing? It’s a full-length replacement. The two 2023 guides (Fundamentals and Implementation) are out of print; their material is expanded here.

What roles does it cover? Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the product (delivery) team, each with its own chapter in Part IV.

Are there templates? Four appendices: agendas for sprint planning, daily standups, and retrospectives, and the twelve Agile principles.

How does it handle teams that aren’t Agile? Chapter 26 is devoted to working with non-Agile teams, and chapter 25 to working with other Agile teams.

Who published it? Mercury Learning and Information Systems, an imprint of De Gruyter Brill.

How long is it? 327 pages, 28 chapters across six parts.

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  1. Agile Marketing
  2. 12 Agile Principles
  3. Sprint
  4. Sprint Planning Meeting
  5. Daily Scrum / Standup
  6. Sprint Retrospective
  7. Product Backlog
  8. Definition of Done
  9. Business Value
  10. Continuous Improvement
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  • The Agile Brand Revisited (2025) — entry drafted November 2026
  • The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing, Part 1: Fundamentals (2023) — out of print; predecessor
  • The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Implementation (2023) — out of print; predecessor
  • Marketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and Optimization (2026) — wiki entry pending
  • MarketingOps 3.0 (2026) — entry drafted November 2026
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Sources

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