Uncensored CMO: "How SAS Went from Performance to Brand"

Host: Jon Evans

Guest: Jenn Chase, CMO of SAS

Release Date: January 28, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jon Evans sits down with Jenn Chase, Chief Marketing Officer of SAS, to explore the data and AI software giant's transformation from a performance-driven B2B marketing approach to building a powerful, cohesive global brand. They discuss how the pandemic accelerated SAS’s brand-building efforts after 25 years, the crucial role of stakeholder management—especially with finance—the company’s foray into sports partnerships, and leading with humanity in an AI-accelerated landscape. There’s an honest discussion of leadership, culture, and the evolving toolkit required for success as a CMO.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The SAS Story and Jenn’s Unique Journey

• SAS at 50: SAS is marking its 50th anniversary, still led by founder Dr. Jim Goodnight—a rarity in tech startups (01:08-03:40).
  • SAS is a global leader in data and AI software, with 92% of the Fortune 500 as customers and a presence in nearly 100 countries.
• Jenn’s Tenure: Jenn Chase has been with SAS for nearly 27 years, taking on roles across R&D, customer support, and ultimately leading global marketing (04:46).
  • "I've probably had four careers at the company..." (04:49, Jenn Chase)

2. COVID-19: A ‘Forcing Function’ for Change

• Pre-pandemic: SAS’s marketing was predominantly performance-based, with 60% of leads from live events (06:13-07:58).
• The COVID Shift: The pandemic halted in-person events, pushing Jenn to reevaluate the balance between performance ("demand") and brand.
  • "For six weeks I thought I had a plan." (07:57, Jenn Chase)
  • "It was a forcing function for us to take a step back..." (08:07, Jenn Chase)

3. The Return to Brand: A Historic Pivot

• First Brand Campaign in 25 Years: SAS had not launched a concerted brand campaign since 2000 ("The Power to Know") (08:42).
• Rebuilding Brand Consistency: The company had been “decentralized and inconsistent” in its marketing across regions, prioritizing product and demand gen over unified branding (08:42-09:23).

4. The Art (and Data) of Winning Internal Buy-In

• Leveraging Data: Jenn used research from the B2B Institute/Ehrenberg-Bass (such as the 95:5 rule) to convince stakeholders that only 5% of buyers are "in market" at any given time (09:42).
• The CFO as Advocate: A breakthrough came by including finance early, building shared literacy, and shifting from transactional to strategic partnership.
  • "My favorite clip from Cannes... is the CFO saying, 'Marketing spends a lot of money and it's an investment and so it is perceived that way.'" (11:43, Jenn Chase)
• Cross-functional Trust: SAS now embeds a finance business partner inside marketing, making budget advocacy and measurement integrated, not oppositional (11:59).

5. Launching and Measuring Brand Campaigns

• Curiosity as Brand Platform: The first new campaign focused on 'curiosity'—a core value for SAS and data scientists globally (14:47).
  • "We focused on curiosity and the role that curiosity plays in innovation." (14:51, Jenn Chase)
• Introducing SAS Viya: Inspired by Cannes insights ("promise over product"), Viya became the symbol of the company’s new brand wave (15:42).
  • Managed internal expectations on the difference between brand (promise) and demand (features), stressing the need for "altitude" differences in messaging (16:04).
• Measurement Evolution: Beyond classic awareness metrics, SAS used NPS, news favorability, social engagement, responder growth, and advanced analytics like LinkedIn clean room projects and market mix modeling.
  • "We did a clean room project to understand the connection of exposure to brand advertising to won revenue... finding five times lift." (19:06, Jenn Chase)
• Brand vs. Demand: SAS reframed from "brand versus demand" to "brand and demand," combating internal skepticism and aligning short- and long-term marketing objectives (18:50).

6. Embracing Distinction and Humor in B2B

• Brand Distinctiveness: SAS faces brand confusion (SAS vs. SaaS, airlines, shoes, secret service!), driving the need for greater differentiation, including branding SAS Viya (21:10).
• Humor in B2B: Their latest campaign uses humor to dramatize information overload (white balls = data; a pink cube = SAS Viya insight), leveraging playful brand devices globally (22:09-24:15).
  • "We introduced a pink cube... and used white spheres... to represent the overwhelming amount of data." (23:07, Jenn Chase)
• Experiential Marketing: The campaign extended to conferences with adult ball pits—creating buzz and extending reach (23:35).

7. Sports Partnerships: Liverpool FC & More

• Strategic Sponsorship: Recent partnerships with the Liverpool Football Club and others intertwine brand exposure with deeper business objectives (24:38).
  • "If Liverpool fans were a country, they would be the third most populous country in the world..." (25:32, Jenn Chase)
  • SAS delivers AI-powered fan engagement, not just logo exposure.
• Cultural Fit and Scale: The decision required 18 months, cross-C-suite involvement, and an internal video explaining the “anatomy of the decision” for transparency and buy-in (27:16-29:10).

8. Leadership Skills: From Chief Collaboration to Chief Momentum Officer

• Stakeholder Management: Jenn emphasizes the criticality of early and ongoing stakeholder involvement, mapping decision makers, and continual change management (27:08, 30:06).
  • "I think of myself as a chief collaboration officer..." (29:38, Jenn Chase)
• Change Curves: Marketers must anticipate and bridge the change curve, ensuring they bring teams along to avoid being “out there by myself—not effective.” (30:54, Jenn Chase)
• Momentum Creation: Beyond ideas, CMOs must align, drive, and persistently communicate to make change stick (31:20).

9. The Evolving Role of AI in Marketing

• Adoption Trends: SAS research shows marketing adopting GenAI faster than other functions—a result of marketing’s experimentation DNA (32:29).
• Operational Impact: AI streamlines core processes (lead scoring, content gen, message testing), improving productivity and reducing time-to-market ("messaging process... from 30 days to 10 days") (34:10).
• Beyond Cost Savings: AI should make marketing better, not just cheaper (36:03).
  • "You've applied it to making something better, which ultimately... that's where the game is going to be changed." (35:46, Jon Evans)
• Eyes on Strategy: Don't overdo "cost takeout"—sustain creative excellence and innovation (36:03-36:25).

10. CMO Leadership: Human Skills & Humility

• The Human Side: Jenn shares a career highlight—interviewing Brene Brown—finding inspiration in her approach to vulnerability and strategic focus (37:03).
  • "Get SHIT done person to a GSSD person—get strategic shit done." (38:09, Brene Brown via Jenn Chase)
• Top Skills:
  • Stakeholder management
  • Collaboration
  • Deep listening to both organization and market (40:01)
  • Advocacy for outcomes over ego: "Are we going to get the outcome that we need?" (42:15, Jenn Chase)
• Marketing’s Loneliness: The CMO is often the only representative of marketing in an executive room, which can be isolating (40:51). But success comes from giving credit broadly and empowering teams (41:36-42:08).

11. Building Advantage through Culture

• Two Pillars: SAS builds culture around lifelong learning (including 'Focus Fridays' for skill development) and dynamism (risk-taking and “sharper elbows”) (43:11).
  • "Learning and... latitude for risk-taking is core to the culture that we have." (44:53, Jenn Chase)

12. The Next Marketing Frontiers: AI Search & Winning Hearts, Minds, and Machines

• Winning the Machine: AI search changes the balance—companies must win the attention of both humans and algorithms, without over-indexing on either (45:19-46:13).
• Website’s Strategic Role: The website is the “pre-sell” as most B2B buyers decide before contacting sales (46:26-47:11).
• The 95:5 Rule: A profound shift—marketers must attract and nurture the 95% not currently buying, using both upper and lower-funnel tactics (47:11).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

SAS’s Brand Challenge:

“There’s brand confusion because we’re SAS the software company. Well, there’s SAS the shoe, SAS the airline, SAS the British Secret Service...”
— Jenn Chase, 21:10

On Bringing Finance Along:

“Fast forward to today, I have a finance business partner that reports into the finance organization but sits on my leadership team...”
— Jenn Chase, 11:59

On Leadership & Brene Brown:

“You move from somebody who’s a get shit done person to a GSSD person—get strategic shit done.”
— Jenn Chase quoting Brene Brown, 38:09

On the CMO Role:

“Chief Collaboration Officer within the company.”
— Jenn Chase, 29:38

“The skills that enable you to be a success are very different to the skills that got you to that role in the first place.”
— Jon Evans, 40:25

On AI’s Purpose:

“Are we trying to drive cost down and just do cost takeout with AI? Is that what we want as a society? I don’t think so.”
— Jenn Chase, 36:03

The New Game in Search:

“Now we have to win the hearts and minds of people, and of AI, and of the machine...”
— Jenn Chase, 45:19

Key Timestamps

• [01:08] SAS company background and global footprint
• [04:46] Jenn Chase’s 27-year journey at SAS
• [06:12] SAS’s performance marketing model pre-pandemic
• [07:58] COVID-19 as a catalyst for change
• [08:42] First brand campaign in 25 years
• [09:42] Using data to drive stakeholder buy-in (B2B Institute, 95:5 rule)
• [11:59] Embedding finance within marketing
• [14:47] Employee reactions and campaign pride
• [17:40] Measuring brand effectiveness: awareness, NPS, clean room
• [21:10] Brand confusion challenges
• [22:09] Humorous new campaign: visual devices and global activation
• [24:38] Liverpool Football Club partnership
• [27:16] Selling big ideas and change management
• [30:06] The stakeholder map and organizational navigation
• [32:29] AI adoption trends in marketing
• [34:10] AI use cases: message generation, creative briefs, productivity
• [37:03] Leadership wisdom from Brene Brown
• [40:01] Essential CMO skills
• [43:11] SAS’s marketing culture: lifelong learning and dynamism
• [45:19] AI search and new challenges in digital marketing

Concluding Insights

This conversation offers an inside look at what it takes to transform a venerable tech brand from performance obsession to brand leadership in a fast-evolving world. Jenn Chase’s journey—from analytics to CMO—demonstrates that real change requires both data-driven business cases and deep human trust-building across silos. The future of B2B marketing, she argues, means balancing immediate demand with long-term brand equity, embracing risk and humor, building bridges across the organization, and leading with both curiosity and compassion.

Recommended for:
CMOs, B2B marketers, brand strategists, those navigating post-pandemic change, and anyone wrestling with the convergence of data, creativity, and organizational influence in the AI era.