American Marketing Association’s CEO on Marketing in the Digital Era

Russ Klein American Marketing Association’s CEO on The Brand Lab Series™ Ep 25

American Marketing Association CEO, Russ Klein has seen it all. At 29, and long before advertising had twenty-year-olds in leadership positions, Russ was CMO of Dr. Pepper.

He’s done it all too. His thirty-year career includes leading marketing at Burger King, 7-Eleven, Arby’s, and senior posts at Leo Burnett and Foote, Cone, and Belding.  Now he leads the largest marketing association in the world.

On episode 25 of the Brand Lab Series™ Podcast Russ Klein joins AE Marketing Group CEO Brian Walker for a conversation on marketing in the digital era.  Something Klein knows well with the “Digital Ad of the Decade.”

As marketers face rapid change, he sees the American Marketing Association as valuable resource to help them:

• Make sense of all the noise in the market
• Provide the tools to tackle what’s next versus what’s best right now
• Develop their purpose

The conversation highlights the “7 Big Problems of Marketing.” Brian asks how they came about and what is most scary on the list.

1. Effectively targeting high-value sources of growth
2. Role of marketing in the firm and the C-Suite
3. The digital transformation of the modern corporation
4. Generating and using insights to shape marketing practice
5. Dealing with an omnichannel world
6. Competing in dynamic global markets
7. Balancing incremental and radical innovation

Having the unique opportunity to be on both the agency and client side of marketing, Brian asks Russ which role is harder.

He describes the agency environment as the “art of responsibility without authority, while the client side is the art of authority with accountability.”

Beyond using co-creation as a critical strategy, Russ mentions three skills required for CMOs in the digital age.

CMOs must understand a balance sheet, cash flow statement, and P&L

CMOs must align the full C-Suite to be customer-centric to ensure a strong experience.

CMOs must be a Culture Warrior

Tags: Nonprofit, Technology, Brand and Marketing

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