Deloitte’s First CMO Is Out To Capture Hearts And Minds

“Marketing is not just who you are and what you offer,” says Diana O’Brien, whose background is anything but traditional for a chief marketer.

Diana O’Brien is the first-ever CMO at Deloitte. In that role, she believes she’s lucky because she has been given responsibility for everything from traditional brand elements to clients, markets, sales, thought leadership, policy, and corporate citizenship, among other duties. Basically, everything she “needs to be successful.”

In this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast, O’Brien touched on many topics, but, for her, thought leadership for marketers is key: “We all need great thought leadership. We all need to be looking toward the future, helping and sharing insights that are meaningful to the marketplace.” She went on to add, “But what I do think can be different and what can help people is understanding how to capture the hearts and minds of people, because that’s what marketers need to do.”

She also brought up sense of purpose and the big picture. “I think it’s aligning around your purpose—what is it that you’re all there to do. For us, that’s to make an impact that matters. That’s our purpose. We want to do that for our people, our clients, and in our communities.

Podcast highlights also include:

• O’Brien discusses her unconventional path to CMO. (1:03)
• Breaking down silos: the interconnection of marketing and sales. (7:39)
• Content and thought leadership. (10:50)
• People and place: what’s important in O’Brien’s marketing mix. (14:10)
• The strategic decision to use acquisitions to enhance identity and increase capabilities. (18:16)

https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5157276/height/90/width/640/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/no-cache/true/render-playlist/no/custom-color/7f3889/

The strategic decision to use acquisitions to enhance identity and increase capabilities. (18:16)

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