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In-depth analysis for senior marketing and commercial leaders, built from the conversations shaping the industry.
CFO agenda 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.
By John Horsley · · 11 min read
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.
April 2026 · 12 min read Read the analysis →
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.
April 2026 · 11 min read Read the analysis →
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.
April 2026 · 10 min read Read the analysis →
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Why every media plan still running brand and performance as separate budgets is carrying an outdated cost structure.
April 2026 · 10 min read Read the analysis →
The Measurement Fiction
Why the CMO who cannot prove incremental value is the CMO whose budget becomes the next austerity line.
April 2026 · 11 min read Read the analysis →
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.
April 2026 · 9 min read Read the analysis →More analysis
A pulse on the commercial questions the board is asking, and the ones forming before they reach the agenda.
- CFO agenda
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.
May 2026 · 11 min read
- Discovery
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.
May 2026 · 11 min read
- Discovery
Search Is Over
Why the marketing organisation still optimising for the blue link is funding only half of how buyers now find brands.
May 2026 · 11 min read
- Organisation design
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.
May 2026 · 11 min read
- Brand
Brand Fuels Demand
Why the trade-off between brand and demand is ending, and what CMOs are rebalancing first.
May 2026 · 9 min read
- Governance
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.
April 2026 · 12 min read
- Partnerships
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.
April 2026 · 11 min read
- Governance
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.
April 2026 · 12 min read
- Brand
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.
April 2026 · 11 min read
- Creator economy
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.
April 2026 · 10 min read
- Media
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.
April 2026 · 10 min read
- Measurement
The Measurement Fiction
Why the CMO who cannot prove incremental value is the CMO whose budget becomes the next austerity line.
April 2026 · 11 min read
- Brand
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.
April 2026 · 10 min read
- From Business of Marketing
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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.
April 2026 · 9 min read
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