Marketing Vanguard: Marketing Evangelism and B2B Transformation

Guest: Sangeeta Prasad, CMO of Slalom
Host: Jenny Rooney (Adweek)
Date: September 4, 2025
Duration: ~30 minutes

Episode Overview

This episode of Marketing Vanguard features Sangeeta Prasad, CMO of Slalom, in a dynamic discussion with Adweek’s Jenny Rooney. Together, they dive deep into the multidimensional role of a marketing leader in today’s B2B and professional services environment. Sangeeta shares her personal journey, insights on driving organizational transformation, the evolving relationship between sales and marketing, and how AI is reshaping the marketing landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sangeeta’s Journey: From Traditional Marketer to Marketing Evangelist

• Role as Evangelist:
  • Sangeeta differentiates herself as a "marketing evangelist," highlighting the importance of converting organizational skeptics into believers (00:30, 01:41).
  • Emphasizes pride and passion in leading transformation, especially in companies where marketing isn’t historically prioritized.
• Career Trajectory:
  • Classic CPG background at P&G, followed by leadership roles at American Express and JPMorgan Chase.
  • Shift to B2B and professional services—served as first CMO at Russell Reynolds, then at Slalom (01:41).
  • Finds first CMO roles stressful but relishes their transformational potential.

2. The Unique Skepticism Toward Marketing in B2B

• Sales-Driven Origin:
  • Many B2B organizations, including Slalom, grew primarily via sales, with minimal or no investment in marketing (03:00).
• Cultural Resistance:
  • Sangeeta discusses the need to educate leadership teams who have “grown up in sales” about the value marketing brings (03:00-04:01).
  • Marketing and sales must be seen as partners; marketing boosts rather than displaces the sales effort.

3. B2B vs. B2C Marketing: “It’s People to People”

• Similarities and Differences:
  • Despite distinctions, core marketing principles focus on understanding and serving people (05:26).
  • In B2C, marketers “sell the what”; in B2B, “we’re selling the how”—the ability to implement solutions and deliver outcomes (07:10-07:36).
  • B2B marketing is often more complex and intellectually challenging, with tighter budgets and need for agility (07:36-08:23).

4. Organizational Structure: Marketing’s Place and Perception

• From Cost Center to Revenue Generator:
  • Sangeeta notes a pivotal change at Slalom, where marketing is part of the customer (revenue) organization rather than just a cost center (09:05).
  • This shift changes internal perceptions, aligning marketing more closely with company growth and collaboration with sales (09:05-10:16).

5. Creativity and Innovation in B2B and Professional Services

• Room for Growth:
  • Professional services still lags B2C in creativity, but some B2B players are pushing boundaries (11:12).
  • B2B environments may even have more “permission to do more” due to their lower baseline activity (11:47-11:51).
  • Sangeeta hints at upcoming creative initiatives, but remains coy on details (12:10-12:19).

6. Differentiation & Customer “Love” at Slalom

• Positioning:

  • Slalom focuses on “bringing more”—results, value, and especially care, emphasizing their “fiercely human” approach (12:39).
  • Relationships are core; success measured in emotional loyalty as well as KPIs (13:00-14:11).
  • Use of a “customer love survey”—a deliberate, unique metric for gauging deep customer connection (13:00-14:11).

• Balancing Soft and Hard Metrics:

  • Sangeeta highlights the importance of both emotional loyalty and traditional KPIs such as referrals and growth (14:28).

7. The Dynamic Between Sales & Marketing

• Dual-Brand Reality:
  • In B2B, clients interact both with the brand and the relationship-building consultant (15:43).
  • Success comes when consultant credibility and brand awareness work together (15:43-16:29).
• Future Focus:
  • One of Sangeeta’s main ambitions is to further align sales and marketing onto a single “train track” for seamless go-to-market execution (26:20-27:27).

8. Advice for Aspiring Marketers

• Career Paths in Marketing:
  • Sangeeta recounts her own education (Economics and then MBA, dual major in Finance & Marketing) and unexpected move to Sydney with P&G (17:24-17:57).
  • Compares deep, focused roles in CPG with the breadth of exposure at places like Slalom—advises young marketers to experiment early in their careers (17:57-19:29).

9. AI’s Impact on Marketing

• Rapid Disruption:
  • “AI is part of every conversation that we’re having today.” (20:13)
  • The pace of change is unprecedented. Challenge is enabling teams to lead and adapt, not just react (20:13-22:09).
• AI Adoption Across the Industry:
  • No company has fully “figured it out,” but foundational training is widespread (22:09-22:57).
  • Some companies produce 100% AI-generated ads, signaling future possibilities, but end-to-end adoption is nascent (22:57-23:48).
• 2025 as the Year of Operationalizing AI:
  • In 2025, AI moved from concept to operational reality in marketing practices (24:26-24:56).
  • Sangeeta predicts 2026 will be about driving ROI from AI, urging marketers to justify investments and demonstrate agile, data-driven results (24:56-25:56).

10. Looking Forward: Sangeeta’s 2026 Priorities

• Personalization at Scale:
  • Leveraging AI to engage customers with relevant, meaningful interactions based on data (26:20).
• Seamless Sales-Marketing Collaboration:
  • Breaking down organizational silos to ensure synergistic execution (26:20-27:27).

11. Shout-out / Inspiration

• Future Guest Suggestion:
  • Sangeeta nominates TD Bank CMO Terrell Schmidt for her creative leadership in a risk-averse sector, praising her openness and innovative work in financial services (28:56).

Notable Quotes

• On Evangelism in Marketing:
  “I’m a marketing evangelist rather than just a marketer because I do believe that we have to be evangelists to convert the skeptics in our organizations into believers.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (00:30; 01:41)

• On the Sales-Marketing Relationship:
  “To come in and show what marketing can do in partnership with sales, I think is the key. And to show them we’re not taking away anything. We’re actually boosting sales.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (03:00)

• On the Nature of B2B vs. B2C:
  “In B2B, I think it’s more complex because we’re not selling the what, we’re selling the how… and that is the special sauce that we bring, which is more complex to sell than a product.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (07:36)

• On Differentiation in Professional Services:
  “We have this thing called a customer love survey… Love is a very deliberate word there because we really want the journey to be joyful… This is the first company where when we are leaving a project, I’ve seen tears from our customers… And I think that is our secret sauce.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (13:00-14:11)

• On Marketing Structure:
  “At the cost center, everything we did was a lens of how much are you spending? And here everything we’re doing is with the lens of how much are you generating. And I love that change because I think marketing is a growth generator and driver.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (09:05-10:16)

• On AI’s Disruption:
  “AI is part of every conversation that we’re having today… The pace of change that AI is bringing is pretty radical. And I’ve never seen things change this fast.”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (20:13)

• On What’s Next:
  “In 2026, I want to really be able to finesse how our conversations are happening with our customers so they know that we understand them… I want us [sales & marketing] to become on one train track, on one train, so that we are truly working synergistically together to deliver results…”
  — Sangeeta Prasad (26:20-27:27)

Important Timestamps

• 00:30 – Sangeeta on “marketing evangelism”
• 01:41 – Personal journey & background
• 03:00 – Why B2B companies are skeptical of marketing
• 05:26 – Lessons from P&G, customer focus
• 07:10 – B2B vs. B2C: what vs. how
• 09:05 – Impact of marketing’s position in an org (cost vs. revenue)
• 11:12 – B2B and professional services: creativity and innovation
• 12:39 – Slalom’s differentiation: “bringing more” & customer love
• 15:43 – Brand versus consultant relationship in B2B
• 17:24 – Sangeeta’s education, early career advice
• 20:13 – AI is reshaping marketing—operational and organizational challenges
• 24:26 – 2025 as the inflection point for operationalizing AI
• 26:20 – 2026 priorities: personalization at scale, sales/marketing synergy
• 28:56 – Future guest recommendation

Final Thoughts

Through Sangeeta’s lens, this episode underscores the evolving landscape of marketing leadership in B2B and professional services. Listeners will gain appreciation for the nuances and complexities of marketing transformation, the critical partnership with sales, the importance of customer-centricity and emotional metrics, and the accelerating impact of AI. Sangeeta’s insights are both practical and inspiring, serving as a call to future marketers to embrace curiosity, experiment widely, and lead their organizations into the next era.