Workgroup

A really interesting day at Workgroup’s CMO London get together. Among many topics, we discussed (via panels & working groups): - Marketing’s confidence gap - How to keep up the ante on brand awareness - Whether email, as a channel, still works (or not) - Marketing funnel - or is it a flywheel now? - AI Agents such as synthetic focus groups, synthetic stakeholders and scenario planning for Black Swan events It was great to see a few contacts (Maria Winn & David Keene) & make many more new connections

60 marketing leaders rocked up at Ministry Venues London yesterday for a full day of CMO group therapy. 💚 We kicked things off by asking: why have we lost our spark? ✨ David Enwright, Taylor Peele and Danielle Le Toullec shared what’s really killing their creative spark right now - and how we can bring more humanity back into marketing. Expertly moderated by Renaye Edwards at Ammunition. We then split into closed-door Chatham House chats, with 10 CMOs in each room. Topics ranged from future-proofing the business and brand building, to budget cuts, AI integration, career changes, and pipeline generation in gloomy times. Next up: “Funnel? F#ck knows.” Maisie Goss, Tony Miller, and Anthony Lieu had a spicy debate on where customers are actually coming from - and how confident any of us really are in pipeline reporting. Provocatively moderated by Luke Costley-White at DOJO AI. Finally, Professional Confessional 2.0. (yay.) CMOs shared their funniest faux pas: print disasters, hiring nightmares, and LinkedIn commenting gone horribly wrong. This is hands down my favourite part of the day. We’ve all made mistakes that make our hearts sink, so why not get them off your chest in a safe space and have a giggle while you’re at it? Thank you to everyone who facilitated, moderated, shared hot takes and gave up their time to come along yesterday. I hope you found the day fun, therapeutic and insightful in equal measure. This event is for you, and by you - I just piece it all together. And finally, big up to Pedro and his playlist. 🔥 📸 Andy Commons 📹 Matthew Stokes Workgroup Charlotte Hudson Zenia Petsa Kayleigh Armitage

I don’t know about anyone else but this year is going too fast! Weirdly, in parallel, it already feels like we’ve done a year and we’re not even half way through. Time for my favourite group therapy - Workgroup CMO London. I will be hosting a group (therapy) session on the aptly titled “This time baby, I’ll be…future proof” (and yes you do have to sing the title to La Roux’s hit Bulletproof if you want to join the group!) We’ll be talking about, not just future proofing the marketing strategy, but to what extent CMOs have to future proof the business. That includes when you have to take your CMO hat off and dig into other roles in the business. So looking forward to meeting some new faces and catching up with friends. If you’re interested in coming along there *may* be a few spaces available. Get in touch with Hannah Parsons

This Thursday I’ll be hosting a session at Workgroup’s CMO event in London. My topic: how do you evolve a brand without being seen as the person tearing the existing identity down? Many marketing leaders inherit something that’s been built over years. Processes, positioning, channels, reliable assets. All with history attached. Changing it isn’t just about strategy, it’s a trust and growth exercise. Looking forward to hosting an honest conversation, bringing together marketing leaders navigating this day to day. Thanks for the invite Hannah Parsons ✨ If you’re planning to be there, drop me a message would be great to connect. #MarketingLeadership #Events #CMO