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Intelligence

In-depth analysis for senior marketing and commercial leaders, built from the conversations shaping the industry.

The Latest

CFO Agenda High-contrast architectural photograph of symmetrical, monolithic white concrete pillars angling inward to support a vaulted hallway ceiling, creating rhythmic patterns of sharp geometric shadows to visually represent the balanced, load-bearing operating partnership between the CMO and the CFO.

Issue No. 14 · May 2026

The CFO Conversation

CMOs who still treat the CFO as a budget approver are having the wrong conversation, while CFOs increasingly co-architect the marketing operating model.

AnalysisJohn Horsley Read11 min FiledCFO Agenda · Operating Model
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Brand Visibility High-contrast architectural photograph of a curving white structural grid ceiling, serving as a visual metaphor for the recommendation surface and choice networks inside generative AI answers.

Issue No. 13 · May 2026

When ChatGPT Recommends Your Competitor

Why the marketing organisation not yet auditing its presence inside AI answers is letting competitors set the buyer's shortlist before any salesperson speaks.

Read11 min FiledDiscovery · Brand Visibility

The Series

AI Discovery Abstract digital illustration of a structured network grid of thin glowing blue lines dissolving into a fluid wave of synthesised light particles, representing the transition from traditional search engines to generative AI discovery.

Issue No. 12 · May 2026

Search Is Over

Why the marketing organisation still optimising for the blue link is funding only half of how buyers now find brands.

Read11 min FiledDiscovery · AEO
Organisation Design Abstract corporate network diagram showing interconnected nodes and vectors illuminating a dark blue background, visually representing a fluid digital work chart over a static organisational hierarchy.

Issue No. 11 · May 2026

The Org Chart Is Past Tense

Why the CMO still hiring against the org chart is paying for capacity the work chart has already absorbed.

Read11 min FiledOrganisation Design · Operating Model
Capital Allocation A high-definition, minimalist particle field visualisation representing market addressability, showing a singular light source above a deep, complex wave structure of out-of-market buyer potential.

Issue No. 10 · May 2026

Brand Funds Demand

Why the trade-off between brand and demand is ending, and what CMOs are rebalancing first.

Read9 min FiledBrand · B2B
Governance A clinical perspective view of an executive boardroom table, focusing on the vacant seat of authority to represent the structural redesign of the CMO role into a General Manager position.

Issue No. 09 · April 2026

The CMO as General Manager

Why the marketing organisation asking its CMO to deliver general-manager outcomes without granting general-manager authority is running a governance liability the board has not yet priced.

Read12 min FiledGovernance · CMO
Partner Marketing A macro photograph of interlocking industrial gears, representing the partner ecosystem as the high-yield distribution architecture for modern B2B growth.

Issue No. 08 · April 2026

The Partner Ecosystem Is the New Distribution

Why the marketing organisation still running partner marketing as a supporting function is underfunding its highest-yield pipeline line.

Read11 min FiledPartner · Distribution
AI Governance A macro photograph of a synchronized industrial gauge and valve stack, representing the transition from informal AI use to a sanctioned, governance-grade architecture.

Issue No. 07 · April 2026

The Governance Gap

Why the marketing organisation deploying agents without a signed governance architecture is running a brand-safety liability the board has not yet seen.

Read12 min FiledAI Governance · Agentic AI
Brand Economics A ledger page overlaid with brand identities, representing trust reclassified from brand platform to balance-sheet asset

Issue No. 06 · April 2026

Trust Has an ROI Now

Why the CMO still classifying trust as a communications objective is under-reporting a P&L asset the Forrester data has already priced.

Read11 min FiledBrand · CFO Agenda
Creator Economy A macro photograph of interwoven braided cables, representing the structural integration of creator partnerships and consolidated rights management.

Issue No. 05 · April 2026

The Creator Is Not a Media Channel

Why the brands treating creators as placements are liquidating the return that treating them as business partners generates.

Read10 min FiledCreator Economy · Partnerships
Media Strategy A long-exposure photograph of converging light trails, representing the collapse of separate brand and performance budgets into a single, high-velocity media architecture.

Issue No. 04 · April 2026

The Collapse of the Brand-Performance Split

Why every media plan still running brand and performance as separate budgets is carrying an outdated cost structure.

Read10 min FiledMedia · Connected TV
Measurement A ledger-style rendering of incrementality measurement against capital deployment

Issue No. 03 · April 2026

The Measurement Fiction

Why the CMO who cannot prove incremental value is the CMO whose budget becomes the next austerity line.

Read11 min FiledMeasurement · CFO Agenda
Agentic Commerce A structured grid of machine-readable brand signals

Issue No. 02 · April 2026

When the Customer is a Machine

What brand means to an agent, and why invisibility to machines is an existential risk, not a marketing problem.

Read10 min FiledBrand · Agentic AI
Operating Model Blueprint rendering of scaffolding and construction, representing scaling operating models

Issue No. 01 · April 2026

A to B is not the same as B to C

Why the operating model that built the business is the commercial risk hiding on next quarter's P&L.

Read9 min FiledScaling · CMO