TIAA CMO Micky Onvural On Going From CMO To CEO And CEO To CMO

Key Concepts

• Brand Thinking: Applying a broad understanding of the customer, value proposition, and culture to business decisions.
• Culture as Strategy: Integrating internal culture as a central component of business strategy and outcomes.
• Value Creation: Identifying and leveraging the unique role marketing can play in driving business outcomes.
• Familiarity, Regard, Meaning, Uniqueness (Fermu): A brand index used to measure and drive consideration and purchase intent.
• Agile Budgeting: Allocating resources in flexible "Lego blocks" that can be re-prioritized based on evolving business needs.
• Co-creation: Involving stakeholders, including the CEO, in the development of marketing strategies and tactics.
• Big M Marketing vs. Little M Marketing: Differentiating between a holistic, strategic approach to marketing (Big M) and a focus on specific channels or tactics (Little M).
• Leadership Story: A personal narrative that articulates a leader's values, impact, and unique contributions.

From CMO to CEO and Back: A Dual Perspective

Mickey Alpert discusses her experiences as a CMO, CEO, and then CMO again, highlighting how each role has influenced the others.

• CMO to CEO: Alpert brought a deep understanding of the customer, value proposition, and the importance of culture to the CEO role at Bonobos. She committed to being a champion of the customer experience and internal culture, viewing these as critical to building an enduring brand.
• CEO Learnings: As a CEO, Alpert learned the importance of rooting every decision in concrete business outcomes. While understanding the customer and championing the experience are crucial, it's essential to connect these to tangible results.
• Culture's Role: Alpert emphasizes that internal culture is often underplayed in both CMO and CEO roles. She believes culture should be at the center of strategy and business outcomes.
• CMO Again: Her CEO experience has informed her approach as CMO at TIAA, where she focuses on driving the retirement, wealth, and asset management businesses. She ensures that every marketing initiative is tied to specific business outcomes.
• Culture for Growth: Alpert is now driving efforts at the enterprise level to build a culture for growth, partnering with the CHRO.

The Importance of Culture

Alpert defines culture as "the way we do things around here," emphasizing that it should be embedded in language, rituals, and cadences.

• Example: Learn and Adjust: TIAA uses a quarterly business review process called "learn and adjust," which focuses on identifying what was learned from the previous quarter, including failures, and how to iterate as a result. This fosters a culture of openness and agility.
• Culture and Risk: Creating a culture that allows for strategic risk and failure is essential. Employees need to feel safe taking risks without fear of severe repercussions.

Value Creation and Marketing's Unique Role

Alpert emphasizes the importance of understanding how marketing can uniquely contribute to value creation within a business.

• Focus on Business Lines: She considers the three lines of business at TIAA and what outcomes need to be driven.
• Marketing's Unique Contribution: Marketing's role is to create distinction and differentiation, ensuring that customers choose TIAA over competitors.
• KPIs and Measurement: It's crucial to choose KPIs that align with marketing's unique role and to relentlessly measure progress.
• "Go to Green": Alpert's team uses the language of "go to green," embracing "red" (off-track) as a learning opportunity and focusing on plans to achieve desired outcomes.

Fermu: A Brand Index for a Non-Linear World

Alpert introduces "Fermu" (Familiarity, Regard, Meaning, Uniqueness) as a brand index to drive consideration and purchase intent.

• Familiarity: Being known and recognized by the target audience.
• Regard: Being held in high esteem, often associated with trust.
• Meaning: Clearly communicating the value and benefits offered to the customer.
• Uniqueness: Differentiating from competitors and highlighting why customers should choose you.
• Relevance in a Non-Linear Funnel: Even with the "collapse of the funnel" and non-linear customer journeys, Fermu remains relevant because brands must continuously compete for attention and ensure they are top-of-mind with a clear value proposition.

Agile Budgeting and Resource Allocation

Alpert describes a flexible approach to budgeting using "Lego blocks" that represent units of spend for infrastructure, media, and activation.

• Business Outcomes First: Resource allocation is driven by business outcomes and their order of priority.
• Lego Blocks: Budget is constructed using Lego blocks representing different areas of investment.
• Agility: The prioritization of Lego blocks can be adjusted mid-cycle to respond to changing business needs.

Co-creation and Stakeholder Engagement

Alpert advocates for involving stakeholders, including the CEO, in the development of marketing strategies and tactics.

• Monthly Jam Sessions: Alpert's team holds monthly "jam sessions" with the CEO to brainstorm and gather input on specific areas of the business.
• Benefits of Co-creation: This fosters a sense of involvement, builds trust, and creates space for the marketing team to execute their plans.
• Teaching Through the Work: Co-creation provides an opportunity to educate stakeholders about marketing principles and strategies.

Storytelling and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Alpert emphasizes the importance of marketers telling the story of their work effectively to gain buy-in from other members of the C-suite.

• Marketing Themselves: Marketers need to be better at marketing themselves and their work.
• Connecting to Business Outcomes: Stories should be tied to business outcomes to demonstrate value.
• Big M Marketing: Focus on the holistic, strategic aspects of marketing (Big M) rather than just the tactics (Little M).
• Internal Storytelling: By showcasing the power of storytelling, marketers can get invited to broader company strategy conversations.

The Future of Marketing and AI

Alpert believes that AI will shift the focus of marketing back to first principles: deep customer insight, creativity, and storytelling.

• AI as Diagnostician: AI will handle many of the functional skills, such as data analysis and CRM management.
• Human Skills: The value of marketers will be in interpreting data, crafting compelling stories, and connecting the dots across channels.

Advice for CEOs and CMOs

Alpert offers advice for CEOs who want to better understand marketing and for CMOs who want to earn the permission to do their best work.

• Educate CEOs: Share seminal works on marketing strategy and involve them in teach-ins on different marketing elements.
• Focus and Trust: CMOs should relentlessly focus on KPIs and build trust by under-promising and over-delivering.
• Teaching Through the Work: Integrate teaching into the daily rituals, cadences, and language of the organization.

Personal Values and Career Decisions

Alpert shares her personal approach to career decisions, emphasizing the importance of joy, values, and value creation.

• What Brings You Joy?: Prioritize roles and responsibilities that bring genuine enjoyment.
• Values Alignment: Seek out organizations and cultures that align with your personal values.
• Unique Value Creation: Identify the unique impact you can make in a given role and ensure it aligns with the business's needs.
• Leadership Story: Create and share your leadership story to articulate your values, impact, and unique contributions.

Conclusion

Mickey Alpert's insights highlight the evolving role of the CMO, the importance of culture and storytelling, and the need for a strategic, business-outcome-focused approach to marketing. Her experiences as both a CMO and CEO provide a unique perspective on how to drive value and build enduring brands. The emphasis on teaching, co-creation, and personal values offers actionable guidance for marketers and leaders at all levels.