The Exit Five CMO Podcast

Episode: The Strategy Behind Canva’s B2B Growth with Emma Robinson and Kristine Segrist
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Guests: Emma Robinson (Head of B2B Marketing, Canva), Kristine Segrist (VP of Consumer Marketing, Canva)
Date: August 28, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the marketing strategy and organizational design that have fueled Canva’s meteoric B2B growth. Host Dave Gerhardt sits down with Emma Robinson, who leads Canva’s B2B go-to-market strategy, and Kristine Segrist, VP of Consumer Marketing. Together, they unpack how a globally beloved brand structures its marketing org, leverages creativity and data science, builds awareness with mass campaigns, and aligns B2B and consumer efforts within one of the world’s most widely used tech platforms.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Structure and Philosophy of Canva’s Marketing Organization

[04:40, Kristine]

• Canva’s marketing org is deliberately fluid between B2B and B2C—a reflection of their belief that people move seamlessly between work and personal life.
• The distinction between B2B and B2C is seen as increasingly outdated; their teams are “joined at the hip,” planning side by side rather than operating in silos.
• A matrixed model: Three core units—B2C, B2B, International—supported by “centers of excellence” for deep channel expertise (e.g., performance marketing, brand, etc.).
• Leadership structure: All report to CMO Zach Kitschke, who, in turn, reports directly to Canva’s founders. Flatter hierarchies empower small “pod” teams to experiment fast and chase high-impact ideas with minimal bureaucracy.

Quote:

“We really kind of think about fluidity between how people work and how people live... People are experiencing our brand in the world in a way where they're not like, ‘Oh, what part of the org chart sent me this communication?’ They're just seeing things from Canva.”
— Kristine Segrist [04:40]

2. Collaboration, Experimentation, and the Role of AI

[08:39, Emma]

• Canva’s “sprint” teams are empowered to test, learn, and rapidly disseminate best practices across geographies and business units.
• AI is at the heart of accelerating performance marketing—enabling rapid testing, scaling of creative, and surfacing actionable insights.
• Example: Their Japanese team experimented with a localized homepage featuring creator content—those learnings were later scaled globally after proving successful.

Quote:

“The spirit of the way that you test and learn very quickly in these small sprint groups helps to sort of give the rest of the org, like, learnings and leverage... There's just a lot more insights, particularly in that sort of realm of AI.”
— Emma Robinson [08:39]

Quote:

“Sometimes things are working really well to drive certain outcomes. So maybe you don’t look at them again or push on them. But actually, that constantly trying to beat yourself and not getting into control because something is working well is something we’re constantly trying to do.”
— Kristine Segrist [09:24]

3. Measuring Success, Attribution, and Internal Alignment

[12:27, Emma]

• Marketing performance is tracked using a combination of data science (funnel analysis, attribution models, etc.), set against founder-driven visionary goals.
• For B2B, Canva uses weighted attribution models to measure marketing’s influence on pipeline and revenue, with aligned marketing/sales goals (50/50 ownership).
• This rigorous, transparent measurement system reduces unproductive finger-pointing between teams about lead/source contribution.

Quote:

“We have algorithms that weight things. So…there’s not so much of the ‘this is sales contributed, this is marketing.’ We actually have a very tight agreement with sales that we're pretty much driving sort of 50/50 across this attribution funnel.”
— Emma Robinson [12:27]

4. Product-Led Growth & Signals-Driven Upsell

[16:13, Christine]

• Canva’s growth engine is a mix of self-serve (PLG), team upgrades, and enterprise sales, all fueled by product usage signals.
• B2C champions often inspire B2B deals, with significant focus on identifying in-product behaviors that flag opportunities to upsell—e.g., when a power user’s workflow expands and team features become valuable.
• In the enterprise, emphasis is on brand governance, security, and advanced controls needed by larger organizations.

Quote:

“In 95% of Fortune 500 companies, people are using Canva... That’s all from that kind of bottoms up, demand growth... unlocking outcomes for them... So that really creates a nice conversation for us to then maybe have a conversation with the C suite.”
— Christine Segrist [16:13]

5. Data Science as an Enabler, But Not the Creative Driver

[19:40, Emma]

• Data science is both centralized and embedded into business units, powering measurement, brand health tracking, and next-best-action decisioning.
• Marketers rely on data science partners for insights, freeing up bandwidth to focus on creative and strategic work rather than just combing through analytics.

Quote:

“It’s about working with your data team in the right way to be empowered by that information, but not limited... sometimes you still have to swing for the fences and bring in informed judgment and have conviction around creativity and a big idea.”
— Christine Segrist [22:29]

• Their annual flagship event (Canva Create) exemplifies this balance: big creative swings (“confetti-filled festival”) paired with rigorous downstream activation for enterprise, educators, and creators.

6. Brand as a Growth Driver: The “Love Your Work” Campaign

[28:31, Emma]

• Canva sees brand investment as a core growth driver, not a cost center.
• "Love Your Work": A massive US-focused campaign aiming to elevate perceptions of Canva as “not just for menus and school projects, but for serious work.”
  • Strategic insight: Awareness is high, but depth of product understanding is shallow.
  • Creative executed via humorous, relatable storytelling and mass channels (OOH, digital, TV, influencers).
  • Measurement: Full-funnel modeling (MAU, incremental revenue, brand surveys, media mix modeling, attribution).
  • Campaign flows: Brand ads to landing pages → demo requests, enterprise call-to-actions.

Quote:

“Brand is the investment in the lead—the future. It’s how do you protect the base for lead gen, for future stake... a very easy kind of mental model for us to prove when we start to track these things.”
— Emma Robinson [28:31]

Quote:

“The US problem we’re trying to solve is that Canva is well known, well loved, but sometimes the knowledge of Canva can be shallow. ... Helping to pull across that actually Canva is an amazing tool for work.”
— Christine Segrist [30:20]

7. Navigating Stakeholder Buy-In and Scaling Creativity

[35:56, Emma]

• The creative process at Canva is collaborative from the earliest stages: B2C, B2B, and international teams work together from insight and concept through media planning and asset creation.
• Creative “sprints” are tightly run, but leadership (including founders) subscribes to the belief that differentiated creative drives business results, not just ROI math.
• Practical application: Awareness assets are tied directly to demand gen actions, and enterprise campaigns feature robust customer proof and use-case storytelling.

8. Enterprise Credibility and The Power of Out-Of-Home

[39:35, Emma]

• Large-scale OOH campaigns do help instill a sense of legitimacy and permanence, especially among enterprise buyers—“proof” that Canva is robust and won’t “go out of business tomorrow.”
• True enterprise marketing is a composite of awareness, PR, analyst relationships, and, most importantly, speaking to tangible value (governance, efficiency, security) for knowledge workers.

Quote:

“You have to kind of allow us to... let people see the robustness... take people on that journey... [We] try and allow people to see the robustness. The fact that we have a lot of enterprise customers, you know, using this Fortune 500 company.”
— Emma Robinson [39:35]

9. Creative Activation and Niche Influencer Partnerships

[44:03, Christine]

• Canva mixes mass media with creator/influencer partnerships for cultural relevance.
• Example: Collaboration with viral NYC street musician Ari Elkins—demonstrates Canva Sheets in a real, creative context, expanding brand reach in unexpected, sticky ways.

10. Timeless Marketing Lessons from Prior Experience (Google & Meta)

• Emma (Google):

  • Know your product; connect the “magic” of the product to user benefit—over and over.
  • Transitioning from PLG to enterprise takes years and sustained investment—be patient and persistent.

  Quote:

  “If you’re not bringing through the product magic, if you’re not explaining that and how it translates into how this can help you, then that’s going to be a miss on everyone’s path.”
  — Emma Robinson [45:26]

• Christine (Meta):

  • Anchor deeply in community—true product/market fit comes from observing and solving real user behaviors.
  • Creativity is a marketer’s superpower; unconventional launches (e.g., launching enterprise with a rap number) drive attention and brand affinity.

  Quote:

  “Creativity is a superpower... launching a new product like Sheets in an unconventional way... Being very anchored in your community and who you’re serving and never failing to use that as a true north... That’s how we’ve moved into enterprise.”
  — Christine Segrist [47:17]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “We’re building programs... not having those boundaries, knowing that people are experiencing our brand in the world in a way where they're not like, ‘Oh, what part of the org chart sent me this communication?’ They're just seeing things from Canva.” — Kristine Segrist [04:40]
• “AI has accelerated that process [of experimentation]. The spirit of the way that you test and learn very quickly in these small sprint groups... there’s just a lot more insights.” — Emma Robinson [08:39]
• “There’s not so much of the ‘this is sales contributed, this is marketing.’ It’s a very well agreed and aligned model... And that sort of then takes a lot of the steam and the heat out of those sort of sometimes unproductive conversations.” — Emma Robinson [12:27]
• “Brand is the investment in the lead—the future. It’s how do you protect the base for lead gen, for future stake.” — Emma Robinson [28:31]
• “Creativity is a superpower.” — Christine Segrist [47:17]
• On brand investment: “We believe our investment in brand is an investment in growth.” — Christine Segrist [28:14]

Segment Timestamps

• [02:06] Introduction and context – Canva’s marketing org overview
• [04:40] Philosophy on B2B/B2C fluidity & org design
• [08:39] Role of AI & sprint teams in experimentation
• [09:24] Local experiments scaling globally; never settling for “working well”
• [12:27] How Canva tracks marketing performance & attribution
• [16:13] Product-led growth, upsell signals, and enterprise needs
• [19:40] Data science role and collaboration with marketing
• [22:29] Balancing measurement and creative conviction
• [28:31] Brand investment as a growth driver—“Love Your Work” campaign
• [30:20] Campaign objectives, measurement, and creative execution
• [35:56] The creative process—the role of B2B/B2C collaboration
• [39:35] Out-of-home advertising in enterprise credibility and perception
• [44:03] Influencer/creator collaborations (Ari Elkins)
• [45:26] Google/Meta marketing lessons applied at Canva

Final Thoughts

This episode offers rare, practical insight into how a major global brand orchestrates B2B growth without sacrificing its creative edge. Central themes include the importance of fluid, collaborative org design; the interplay between data science and creativity; the power of product-led growth signals to activate sales; and the enduring value of brand investment as a flywheel for demand and market perception. Emma and Christine’s lessons from Google and Meta underscore the need for both patient, user-anchored strategy and bold creative risk-taking in modern marketing leadership.