Show notes
Suso O'Brien, former CMO of Just Eat, joins us to discuss what the role of the modern CMO really looks like. Drawing on her experience helping scale Just Eat and the findings from a new CMO survey conducted with TikTok, Suso argues that today's marketing leaders need a completely different set of priorities.We revisit the growth of Just Eat, the success of the iconic “Did Somebody Say…” campaign, and the role celebrity partnerships and sonic branding played in building the brand. But beyond the advertising, Suso shares why CMOs spend surprisingly little time on the work itself, why internal influence matters more than ever, and why managing expectations may be more important than managing brands.The conversation also explores the lack of marketing representation at the top of organisations, the pressures facing today's CMOs, and Suso's framework for leading people through her five Cs of great management.Timestamps00:00 - Start02:52 - The food delivery category in 201604:05 - The role marketing played in the growth of Just Eat05:55 - Does “did somebody say?” translate globally?07:26 - The celebrity strategy behind Just Eat09:47 - The power of sonic branding12:12 - What impact did the campaign have vs other growth levers for Just Eat14:36 - CMOs rarely spend any time on the work17:28 - The real 4 Ps of the CMO19:06 - Discoveries from the CMO survey with TikTok20:56 - Why the lack of marketing representation at the top of companies is worrying22:00 - What skills are lacking in an organisation23:08 - The short term pressure on the CMO24:34 - How do you make the case to invest in long term28:20 - The power of compounding creativity29:04 - The CMO’s role is managing expectations, not brands30:04 - Why CMO’s need to persuade internal stakeholders36:10 - The #1 challenge CMO’s face40:58 - Suso’s hardest challenges as Just Eat CMO42:40 - Why Suso asked her colleagues for feedback when she left Just Eat44:17 - 5 C’s of great people management44:32 - 1: Care45:30 - 2: Clarity47:35 - 3. Calling it early49:12 - 4. The cost of comfort51:33 - 5: Constant feedback53:25 - Suso’s advice to future CMOs