Podcast
The CMO Office Podcast
Hosted by Nikki Taylor · EN
Helping marketers claim their seat in the C-suite by turning data into expertise. A publication of Analytic Partners.
www.the-cmo-office.com
www.the-cmo-office.com
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Inside PRISM+’s Commercial Playbook with Frank Ng
5d ago00:52:40Tap to summarizeHow does a Singapore-born consumer electronics challenger grow profitably in one of the most competitive categories around? In this episode of The CMO Office Podcast, I sit down with Frank Ng, VP Commercial at PRISM+, to find out.PRISM+ has built its growth on a deceptively simple idea: bring better value to customers by cutting out the middlemen, then keep listening closely enough to spot the gaps bigger brands miss. What started as a direct-to-consumer model has evolved into a more complex commercial engine spanning online, marketplaces, retail stores, live commerce, content, customer experience and supply chain decisions.For marketers, this conversation is a brilliant reminder that growth rarely comes from one magic channel. It comes from curiosity, commercial discipline and a willingness to ask better questions.In this episode, Frank and I explore:* How PRISM+ thinks about DTC, retail and marketplace growth in a category where customers still want to see, touch and compare before they buy.* Why measurement should guide decisions, not simply justify budgets, and how PRISM+ uses MMM, platform tests and customer insight directionally rather than blindly.* The hidden power of channel synergy, including why physical stores can help online sales rather than cannibalise them.* What live commerce really contributes, and why platforms like TikTok and Shopee are becoming more than just conversion channels.* How qualitative customer insight can unlock performance, including Frank’s story of a brand campaign that helped reduce CPA by 50%.* Why marketers need to think more like general managers, factoring in supply chain, demand planning, stock availability, weather, housing cycles and profitability.* The $1,000 versus $1 million marketing question, and why both scrappy lead generation and brand legitimacy have their place.* Why the next generation of marketers will need stronger commercial muscle, moving from revenue-at-all-costs thinking to profit, margin and portfolio decision-making.If you’re a marketer trying to connect brand, performance, retail, customer experience and commercial analytics in the real world, this one is well worth your time.Watch or listen in all your favourite places, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.Listen to more: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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What happens when a fintech CMO challenges how marketing value is measured?
4w ago00:41:41Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The CMO Office Podcast, I sit down with Jason Huan, Chief Marketing Officer at Endowus, to explore what it really takes to build trust, drive growth, and prove impact in financial services.This is a category where the stakes are high. Decisions carry real financial consequences, and trust is everything. That makes marketing both more powerful and more accountable.Jason brings a thoughtful, commercially grounded perspective. We talk about why traditional measurement approaches often fall short, and how marketers need to take a broader view of performance because too many organisations still rely on fragmented metrics that miss the full picture of how marketing drives growth .A big theme in our conversation is the role of brand. In financial services, brand is not a distant, long-term play - it directly shapes short-term outcomes, from conversion to retention. Jason reveals how stronger brand equity makes every other marketing investment work harder, amplifying performance rather than competing with it .We also discuss what this means in practice at Endowus. How do you balance brand and performance? How do you ensure your marketing builds credibility, not just attention? And how do you demonstrate value to a leadership team that is rightly focused on results?What I found most compelling about Jason’s perspective is its relevance beyond fintech. The pressures he describes, from rising scrutiny on budgets to the need for clearer accountability, are familiar to every CMO.In this episode, we cover:* How to rethink measurement to reflect real commercial impact* Why brand and performance are strongest when planned together* How to build credibility with finance and the wider businessIf you are looking to sharpen how you measure and communicate marketing’s value, this is well worth a listen.Listen now now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it.Listen more… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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🎙️PODCAST: Why Marketing Mix Modelling is the map for marketers in a volatile world
Apr 2800:46:36Tap to summarizeMarketing Mix Modelling is entering a new phase.Built on decades of evidence and rigour, it is now evolving to meet the demands of a more volatile, fast-moving environment. As expectations shift from explanation to action, MMM is becoming a more active part of how organisations plan, adapt and grow.In this episode, Paul Sinkinson, Managing Director Asia & Australia at Analytic Partners, returns to The CMO Office Podcast to explore what has changed over the past year, and why it matters now more than ever.The conversation reflects a broader shift in how leading organisations are approaching measurement, moving beyond static views of performance towards something more continuous, commercial and decision-focused.🎧Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube🎧 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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Why Most Marketing Plans Fail the Moment They’re Written (and What to Do About It)
Apr 2200:29:49Tap to summarizeWelcome to the first award winning edition of The CMO Office! Last night we were proud to take home Silver for Best B2B Content Marketing Strategy for ‘The CMO Office’ at Marketing Interactive’s Content 360 Awards, in no small part thanks to your support so thank you and please keep on subscribing, reading and sharing, Nx🙏Now, where was I? Oh yes, when I spoke at the Digital Marketing Summit in Seoul recently, I wanted to focus on a gap that most marketers recognise but rarely address directly; the world moves quickly but our plans do not…Many organisations are still working to annual plans set months ago, sometimes close to a year in advance. Those plans were built on a set of assumptions about demand, pricing, supply, competition and consumer behaviour that may no longer hold true.At the same time, the dashboards used to track performance tend to capture only part of the picture. Campaign metrics update constantly, but they rarely reflect the broader forces shaping results. For instance, a campaign may underperform not because the media plan is wrong, but because distribution has shifted. Or results may appear strong when demand has been artificially inflated by external factors.The consequence is a growing disconnect between what marketers see and what is actually happening in our complex world. So, what can we do?1. Don’t blindly believe your dashboardModern marketing dashboards are powerful. They provide real-time visibility into campaign performance across channels but they are not designed to capture everything that drives results. They are only the tip of the iceberg.Most dashboards focus on media metrics: impressions, clicks, conversions, ROI. These are important, but they sit within a much wider system. Marketing outcomes are shaped by a combination of factors such as pricing decisions, distribution availability, competitive activity, macroeconomic conditions and consumer sentiment, which all play a role.Our proprietary ROI Genome analysis shows that marketing contributes between 10 percent and 50 percent of business performance, with the majority influenced by factors beyond marketing itself. When these elements are not included in measurement, performance can be misinterpreted. A campaign may appear underwhelming when the real issue is product availability. Strong results may be attributed to media when they are driven by external demand shifts.Without a broader view, decisions are made on incomplete - even misleading - information.2. Widen your field of visionSpeaking of taking a broader view, one of the key points I shared in Seoul is that marketers need to widen their field of vision.Understanding performance requires looking beyond individual channels and beyond marketing itself. It requires a view of the full commercial system. This includes how channels interact with each other. It includes how brand and performance activity work together. It includes how external factors influence demand.Integrated strategies consistently outperform siloed approaches. Combining online and offline channels delivers significantly stronger results, with up to 50 percent greater efficiency compared to single-channel strategies .These effects are not visible when channels are measured in isolation. They only emerge when the full system is considered.3. You can’t predict the future. But you can prepare for it.Now you can see more of the picture, the question becomes: what do you do with it?Most organisations are still set up to look backwards. Campaigns are analysed after they finish. Insights arrive once the moment to act has passed. In a stable environment, that delay is manageable. In a volatile one, it becomes a risk.Because the reality is, you cannot forecast the future with certainty. But you can prepare for it. Reporting tells you what happened and simulation tells you what could happen.That means building scenarios in advance. Understanding how your business responds to different conditions. Knowing which levers to pull, what to pull back on, how to adjust pricing, and how to rebalance your mix across brand and performance when conditions change.Because when those moments come, and they will, the organisations that win are not the ones scrambling for answers. They are the ones who have already pressure-tested the decisions. This is where marketing moves from reporting the past to shaping what happens next.4. Use Marketing Mix ModellingAnd this is precisely the context in which marketing mix modelling becomes most valuable.At its core, marketing mix modelling provides a structured way to understand how different factors contribute to performance. At Analytic Partners, we extend this into Commercial Mix Modelling, which goes beyond marketing to include pricing, distribution, operational factors and macroeconomic conditions. It connects marketing activity with broader business drivers and external conditions, which makes it uniquely suited to today’s environment.Rather than relying on partial metrics, Commercial Mix Modelling provides a holistic view of performance, enables forward-looking scenario planning and supports continuous recalibration.It is no longer just a retrospective tool used to validate past decisions. It is becoming a system for ongoing decision-making, not by measuring in real time, but by pre-planning scenarios so teams know how to respond when conditions change.Companies that adopt this kind of approach move faster and make more confident decisions. Organisations that embed data-driven decisioning into their operating model have been shown to achieve significantly stronger growth outcomes, including up to five times the growth of those that do not.5. Move from plans to possibilitiesThe implications for marketers are clear:* Annual plans still have a role, but they cannot remain static. They need to evolve as conditions change.* Measurement needs to extend beyond campaign metrics to include the full set of factors influencing performance.* Decision-making needs to shift from retrospective reporting to continuous, real-time optimisation.* Most importantly, marketers need to recognise that the environment they operate in is not fixed. It is dynamic, interconnected and often unpredictable.The path forwardThe gap between the pace of the market and the pace of marketing decision-making is becoming more visible. Closing that gap requires more than better dashboards. It requires a different approach to measurement. One that captures the full system. One that looks forward as well as back. One that enables faster, more informed decisions because in a world that does not stand still, marketing cannot afford to either.Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it.If you would like to hear the full keynote, you can listen to my session from the Digital Marketing Summit on The CMO Office Podcast, available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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🎙️PODCAST: Marketing in Asia-Same, Same But Different? My Conversation with WARC Asia's Rica Facundo
Dec 900:45:19Tap to summarizeIf you spend enough time talking to marketers across Asia, as I do, a pattern emerges. Everyone insists their market is different. And yet, somehow, all of us are wrestling with the same questions about growth, measurement and the role of brand in a region that refuses to sit still.That is exactly why I wanted to bring Rica Facundo, Managing Editor of WARC APAC and co-author of The Pace Principle, onto The CMO Office Podcast for Episode 8. Rica spends her days analysing what truly drives marketing effectiveness in our region, and she brings a rare blend of empathy, evidence and lived experience to the conversation.And let me tell you now. She does not hold back.Asia moves fast. But not too fast for brand buildingOne of the biggest myths I hear repeatedly in APAC is that long-term brand building does not work here. We are told our consumers are too pragmatic, too fragmented, too digital-first or too price sensitive to respond to the classic effectiveness principles.Rica and her team at WARC have now shown, with data from across the region, that the opposite is true. When you combine long-term brand building with smart, measurable performance activation, you unlock what WARC calls The Multiplier Effect. And the impact in high-growth markets can be even more dramatic than in the West.As we discussed in the episode, the challenge is not that Asia ignores the rules. It is that Asia tests them faster.Culture is not a nice-to-have. It is a growth leverOne part of our conversation that really stayed with me was Rica’s view on cultural insight. Western brand playbooks do not simply plug and play in APAC. They cannot. Our region is too layered, too contradictory, too alive.But that does not mean we abandon the fundamentals. It means we apply them with greater cultural sensitivity. Rica shines a light on examples across Asia where brands have built genuine emotional connection by grounding their work in local truths, not borrowed tropes.And for those of us leading marketing in this region, she makes a compelling case. Culture is not just flavour. It is strategic advantage.And measurement. Always measurementYou know that on this podcast, I will always bring the conversation back to measurement. And Rica was beautifully candid here. Too many marketers in Asia are still evaluating effectiveness through a short-term lens. That means they miss the delayed, compounding value of long-term brand building and underestimate marketing’s true commercial impact.This is where modern MMM plays such an important role. Not the black-box models of ten years ago, but adaptive, always-learning commercial analytics that help marketers make the right call at the right time. If you are trying to build credibility with your CFO or COO, this is the evidence base you need.A must-listen for marketers in Southeast Asia and beyondI loved this conversation. Rica brings such clarity to a topic that is often muddied by opinion, trends and the myth that Asia is somehow an outlier. Spoiler: We are not. We are simply moving at two paces at once. And when you manage the sprint and the marathon together, the results can be extraordinary.🎧 Listen to Episode 8 Everywhere* YouTube* Spotify* Apple PodcastsAre you a CMO with a story to tell? Would you like to boost your personal profile on our podcast? Then for goodness sake, get in touch with me at nikki.taylor@analyticpartners.com.Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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🎙️ LIVE Podcast: Creativity, Commerciality and the Data Dilemma
Nov 1800:29:39Tap to summarizeIn our first EVER live-recorded episode of The CMO Office Podcast, I sat down with Toby Aldred, Managing Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, to explore one of marketing’s most persistent tensions — the balance between bold creative thinking and the demand for proof.Recorded live on stage at SXSW Sydney, this conversation is a fast-moving, funny, and refreshingly honest take on what happens when creative ambition meets commercial reality. Toby, fresh from collecting eight Effie Awards, shares how data can sharpen great ideas but never replace them.“Agencies were founded to build brands and grow them,” says Aldred. “We’ve built our own effectiveness practice so that even our boldest creative ideas are underlined by the impact they’ll have.”From the CFO’s demand for hard numbers to the CMO’s instinct for emotional connection, this episode digs into how creativity and data can (and must) coexist. Toby argues that marketing’s true growth lever lies not in performance metrics alone, but in the human insight that turns spreadsheets into stories.“If you make every decision based purely on what the data tells you, you’ll miss those imaginative leaps that create real impact,” he explains. “It’s about using data to guide and prove — not to decide everything.”We also dive into the evolving role of AI in creative development during which Toby admits he’s “a ChatGPT guy,” using generative tools as “a brainstorming partner” rather than a replacement for human originality.And when I ask him which marketing buzzword gives him “the ick”? His answer is instant: “Lean in.”“In creativity, we don’t want to lean in — we want to stand out.”💡 Key Takeaways* Creativity needs evidence. Data and analytics should amplify, not stifle, creative ideas.* Growth is the ultimate KPI. Marketing must prove itself as a business growth lever, not just a cost centre.* Emotion still wins. Storytelling and human connection remain the most powerful differentiators.* AI is a partner, not a pilot. Generative tools can accelerate ideation, but great ideas still come from people.🎧 Watch or Listen Now* YouTube * Spotify* Apple PodcastsAre you a CMO with a story to tell? Would you like to boost your personal profile on our podcast? Then for goodness sake, get in touch with me at nikki.taylor@analyticpartners.com. Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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PODCAST: From Laundry to Lift-Off with P&G 🚀
Oct 1400:41:21Tap to summarizeHow do you make people fall in love with washing powder? Or convince them that fabric softener is essential in the middle of a pandemic?In this episode of The CMO Office Podcast, I sit down with 2022’s Young Marketing Leader of The Year, Mariel Chavez - Regional Brand Director for AMA Home Care at Procter & Gamble to find out.Mariel is the marketer behind Tide’s “Perfect Clean” repositioning in the Philippines, which delivered three consecutive years of growth, and Downy’s empathetic “Bye Bye Bahayrus” campaign during COVID, which turned household anxieties into brand loyalty.What can CMOs learn from her playbook? Quite a lot, as it turns out:* Reframing the consumer problem: Why growth came when Tide stopped talking about stains and started talking about confidence.* Balancing brand and performance: The art and science of delivering today’s sales while laying the groundwork for tomorrow’s growth.* Always-on measurement: How an “always learning” loop helps Mariel pivot mid-flight, not post-mortem.* The power of social listening: Why even soap powder can spark conversations worth tuning into.For CMOs navigating growth in volatile times, Mariel’s insights show that measurement and creativity aren’t opposites—they’re partners in crime. Watch or listen in all your favourite places including: * YouTube* Apple Podcasts* SpotifyAnd get bite-sized insights from our Instagram & TikTok Channels.Are you a CMO with a story to tell? Would you like to boost your personal profile on our podcast? Then for goodness sake, get in touch with me at nikki@analyticpartners.com.Listen More…Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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🎙️ Podcast: Betting Big on Brand - PropertyGuru’s Reality TV Gamble That Paid Off 🎰
Sep 200:48:56Tap to summarizeIn Episode 5 of The CMO Office podcast, I sit down with Alex De Leon, Group VP of Marketing at PropertyGuru, and Quark Henares, award-winning filmmaker and director of Home Run Singapore, to talk about one of the boldest brand moves we've seen.🧠 Why it matters: In a region dominated by performance marketing, Alex took the road less travelled — pausing nearly all performance activity and going all in on brand. What started as a casual idea over drinks turned into Home Run, a reality show that:* Racked up 10 million organic views (latest figures!)* Increased brand preference and NPS +6 points* Increased emotional brand attributes +13%* Helped generate new revenue from agents, developers, and even fashion partnerships* Created earned media buzz — from Marketing Interactive to Grazia to Vogue — and inspired a cultural shift internally at PropertyGuru🎬 Behind the scenes: Hear how Alex ran the pilot season in stealth mode, why there were no logos or hard-sell, and how casting real agents led to surprisingly emotional storytelling that resonated far beyond the brand.💡 Key quote:"We didn’t want our logo to be as big as possible. We wanted to tell a great story — and if the brand showed up organically, great. But if not, that was okay too." — Alex De Leon🚀 Now what? With Season 2 underway (and yes, eliminations are coming), the show is evolving into a full-scale marketing and revenue-generating engine — proving that creative risk-taking can drive real business outcomes.🔗 Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.💌 Subscribe for your monthly dose of marketing leadership: the-cmo-office.comThanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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🎧 Podcast: Rewiring Consumer Habits - How Zespri Turned Kiwi Fruit Into a Daily Ritual 🥝
Aug 1200:38:58Tap to summarizeThis month in The CMO Office, we're joined by Jiunn Shih, Global Chief Marketing, Innovation, and Sustainability Officer at Zespri International - one of the most beloved (and surprising) brands in the fruit bowl.Jiunn brings a bold, brand-building vision to one of the world's healthiest commodities. But this episode isn't just about kiwi fruit - it's about how you take any product, even one that’s less than 1% of the global fruit market, and elevate it into a global habit.💥 In this episode:* Why Zespri reimagined kiwi fruit packaging to resemble a pill box and boosted sales by 25%* The role of “sensory priming” and how marketers can activate desire through visuals* The creation of the iconic Kiwi Brothers and the power of distinctive brand assets* Drones, influencers, and live shopping - how Zespri scaled innovation from China to the world* Jiunn’s take on brand vs. performance (hint: it’s all about the “and”)* The marketing buzzwords he hates the most (you’ll want to bookmark this 🔖)"I think we have one of the most fun jobs in the world, but as marketers, we also carry responsibility. We have the power to shape cultures, influence how people think, feel and believe…So let's take that responsibility seriously. Let's do marketing for good.”Zespri isn’t just selling fruit. They're reshaping consumer behavior and Jiunn Shih is leading the charge.👉 Don’t miss this episode if you’re ready to think differently about what a brand can be.🎙 Listen here, on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts all you’ll find these episodes too:🔗 Subscribe to the-cmo-office.com for your weekly dose of content on marketing, measurement, and optimization.Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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PODCAST: The New CMO Playbook: Brand, Data, CX, and Beyond with Debra Soon, CMO, Singlife
Jul 100:35:28Tap to summarizeThey say good things comes in threes and it must be true because the third episode of The CMO Office podcast is a ripper (Australian slang for ‘very good indeed’ - Ed)!Debra Soon is the Chief Marketing Officer for Singlife, which launched in 2017 as the first local insurer to be licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore since 1970.Eight years later Singlife is one of the top six insurers in Singapore based on total assets of S$14.4b as of 31 December 2022. In 2023 Singlife merged with Aviva Singapore and just last year was acquired by Sumitomo Life in a deal worth S$4.6b. All of this has left Debra flat out like a lizard drinking (Aussie slang for ‘really quite busy’ - Ed), but through it all she has amassed incredible knowledge and experience, which she shares with us in a conversation about the new CMO playbook for 2025 and beyond. Listen and learn…* How to build credibility with the C-suite* How to structure a modern marketing team* How to set up and scale an in-house content studio* How to run a brand campaign that evolves over years—not quarters* How to make AI useful in real-world marketing* How to use data without needing a data science degree* How to bridge creative and technical skill sets* How to mentor teams for independence and growth* How to collaborate cross-functionally and reduce silos* How to avoid burnout and build a sustainable team culture* How to prepare for the CMO role of the futureThis conversation is all killer no filler! If you’re wondering what it’s going to take for you to become a CMO in 2025 and beyond, this is it. Watch or listen wherever you are right now on:* Apple Podcasts* Spotify* YouTubeAnd don’t forget you can get daily doses of marketing gold by following us on LinkedIn and TikTok too.Thanks, Nikki.Thanks for reading The CMO Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.the-cmo-office.com
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