On Marketing Technology

MTS: Tell us a bit about your role at Oracle Marketing Cloud and your journey here.
I lead the Global Marketing team focused on Global Campaigns/Demand Generation, Content Creation and Amplification, Partner, Field and Event Marketing, and Marketing Operations at Oracle Marketing Cloud. I joined the team after two years in the Oracle Industry Solutions Group. My career began by joining my mom’s boutique marketing and advertising agency. I left and co-founded another agency focused on sales incentives, but later went back and bought my mom’s company! I left again and started another marketing agency focused on direct to patient marketing for medical device companies. I decided to try my hand at bigger business and spent 10 years at Microsoft in marketing and business management roles in Seattle and Singapore.

MTS: What draws martech CMOs to the Cannes Lions?
The lines between adtech and martech are blurring. This is a great place to talk to peers about how that’s changing the role of the CMO and more importantly the organizational design of their teams.

MTS: What expectations might CMOs attending the Cannes Lions have outside of meeting prospective customers?

CMOs have a great opportunity to meet peers, agencies, vendors, and partners. There are so many domains represented, it’s a great time to meet them in one venue over one week. It’s also a great time to see the great work of their peers at the awards and in sessions.

MTS: Which part of the festival did you enjoy the most?
I enjoyed the networking and meeting CMOs from the top brands worldwide. There are so many opportunities to meet people at the networking events and panel discussions.

MTS: Of the many celebrities and marketing leaders present, whom do you follow on social media?
As a result of the event, I’m following more groups that support a more diverse workforce. Everyone from @SherylSandberg to amazing women like Cannes Lions award winner @KristinHayden from @IGNITE_National.

MTS: What startups are you watching/keen on right now?
I love the work that MyAlerts is doing in the martech space. I’m fascinated by their simple approach of “asking” what the customer wants by having them register for alerts. Sometimes the best solution is pretty simple.

MTS: How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a marketing leader?
Read. Be curious. Daydream. Ask “What If?”. Right now, we need to use our human curiosity to drive what’s possible. I have been going back to the book “One to One Future,” written a quarter century ago by Peppers and Rogers, to think of ways we can use machine learning and AI to make their vision a reality.

This Is How I Work

MTS: One word that best describes how you work.
Smart

MTS: What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?
I cannot live without Waze and the FlyDelta apps. I am on the road a lot and I like to get to my destination efficiently!

MTS: What’s your smartest work related shortcut or productivity hack?
Put EVERYTHING in the calendar. I book everything from my meetings, to exercise and just breaks to read.

MTS: What are you currently reading? What do you read, and how do you consume information?
I’m reading a couple books right now: “Agile Marketing,” written by my colleague Roland Smart, “The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader,” written by Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwsie. I also curate news through Flipboard and follow content from others on Twitter and LinkedIn.

MTS: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Your employer doesn’t love you. Love yourself.

MTS: Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?
Draw out the best in others. Identify their strengths and put them to work.

MTS: Tag the one person whose answers to these questions you would love to read
Elon Musk

MTS: Thank you Jennifer! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.