TwentyFirstCenturyBrand

Last week I spent time at the Modern Affluence Summit with some of the world’s most iconic brands discussing the theme of ‘re-imaging affluence’. Although the focus was on luxury brands, here are some universally relevant takeaways that stood out to me: 1️⃣ Investing in cultural capital is no longer optional, it’s essential. Brands need to be deeply embedded in culture to create emotional connections with consumers and drive differentiation. Now, more than ever, they have the opportunity to actively shape cultural narratives. This can be by themselves or with collaborations; but it must be authentic and strategically aligned to an overall vision - not just jumping on a new TikTok trend. “Cultural capital, much like economic capital, needs to be accumulated, nurtured and grown… [it] has become the new frontier of competitive advantage.” – Mike Pickett, Cazenove Capital 2️⃣Community-building should be at the heart of any brand. But there are a lot of misconceptions about what community means and how to nurture them. Community doesn’t necessarily mean like-minded individuals, it can be a platform to allow for differences and bring people together. A community is a group of individuals united by a singular passion point. Community shouldn’t always be monetized, instead it can be a powerful word-of-mouth tool, a direct feedback loop with customers, or a way to enrich the experiences of customers and create lasting connections - like Rapha’s clubhouses. Luxury brands in particular offer a masterclass in leveraging events, clubs, and partnerships to build thriving communities of fans. “Community enables brands to receive direct feedback around their product or service which in turn ensures brands to stay authentic.” ~ Rob Lee, Chief Creative Officer, Rapha 3️⃣ Emotional connection is a never-ending trend.  Today's luxury consumers aren't just buying a product; they're buying into a brand world, a story, and a set of values. They crave connection and shared experiences that go beyond a simple transaction. This means all brands must go beyond traditional marketing and create meaningful connections that resonate deeply. Building a strong connection means aligning with the values and beliefs of your target audience. Consumers are increasingly drawn to brands that support causes they believe in, embody sustainability, and prioritise social impact. At times, it also means showing vulnerability to creating a sense of trust, transparency, and genuine engagement. “There’s power of vulnerability in human connection. Vulnerability is not a weakness— it is the key to building trust, fostering creativity, and redefining success in an age of disruption.” - Andrew Phillips Thanks to Ben Whattam Marcus Watson Victoria Archbold for organising a brilliant event. 

Over the past six years, working with some of the world’s most influential brands, we've had a front-row seat to what works, what doesn’t, and—most importantly—the difference between CMOs who stumble, those who survive, and the rare few who truly thrive. Driven by our mission to push leaders toward leaving a lasting cultural and commercial legacy, we brought together a panel of top CMOs, CFOs, and CEOs to share actionable insights, insider hacks, and tools to help brand leaders make the most of their critical first 12 months in a new role. Since launching three months ago, we’ve connected with hundreds of brand leaders at various stages—some stepping into new roles, others prepping for the leap, and many expanding their scope. They’ve found different sections of the CMO Thrive Guide game-changing: how to build key alliances, rally teams, create high-performance cultures, show up as their best selves, identify growth areas, and tackle the challenge of integrating performance with purpose. As we keep refining and adding more deep dives based on feedback, we’d love to hear what resonated with you the most and where you'd like us to dig deeper. (And if you haven’t yet, you can still download your free copy of our CMO Thrive Guide here: https://lnkd.in/gfbD_fDe)

By now you will have heard us reference the Brand Blueprint multiple times. Our foundational strategy framework was built to turn a company’s purpose into a catalyst for real commercial and cultural impact. It functions as the go-to reference for making sharper, faster decisions that keep the brand’s purpose at the center of everything. By blending business ambition, value proposition, and societal purpose into one streamlined model, it ensures that any strategic decision is bold, connected, and delivers commercially. Especially in today’s fast-changing world, every move should align with your ambitions and live up to your brand’s purpose. Too often, we’ve seen profit and brand being separated, treating elements like the purpose as being confined to a CSR department or a few feel-good initiatives. But when your brand strategy supports your growth agenda by defining clear strategic relationships between your market, community and product positioning, it becomes a flywheel that shows everyone, not just the marketing team, the commercial power of purpose and brand. We’d love to hear from you: What element of this model would you find the most difficult to define – the Market, Community, Product, Business Ambition or Purpose pillar?

We’d like to take a moment to highlight Chime, one of our brilliant clients and a financial technology company that believes basic banking services should be helpful, easy, and free for everyone. We had the pleasure of collaborating with Chris Britt, Ryan King, Vineet Mehra and the rest of the team to rewrite the company’s foundational brand strategy which would encapsulate their ambition to address the fundamental misalignment in the industry between what’s good for banks and what’s good for consumers. Driven by their new mission “to unite everyday people to unlock their financial progress” they are way underway to reimagine what banking can be and to empower millions of everyday people to take control of their finances, through disruptive product innovations like MyPay™ which is a new way to get paid between paydays. And let’s not forget the fantastic rebrand and powerful brand campaigns which are led by the wonderful people at AKQA and Jones Knowles Ritchie. We are inspired by every action you take to make your vision a reality and excited to see what you’ll achieve next!

VIRTUAL | Join Our Global Conversation: CMO Thrive Guide 🚀 Don't miss our next workshop, where marketing leaders will explore how to prove and enhance their role in driving growth. Led by experts Neil Barrie and Sara Tate from TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, this session will cover: 🔹 Building a business case for brand investment 🔹 Understanding the value of a strong brand 🔹 Defining business ambition for growth 🔹 Collaborating with peers to boost brand impact 📅 Date: Wednesday, 18 September 🕒 Time: 2pm - 3pm BST, 5pm - 6pm GST, 9pm - 10pm HKT/SGT, 9am - 10am ET 🔗 Book your spot now - https://lnkd.in/eh_f7MB9 In partnership with TwentyFirstCenturyBrand #CMOThrive #MarketingLeadership #BrandGrowth #BusinessStrategy #LeadershipWorkshop

On behalf of the team at TwentyFirstCenturyBrand - thanks so much for the shoutout Vineet Mehra! A strategy only has true impact when there is bold leadership, an incredibly capable team, strong partners, and collective conviction to do something amazing. We are so proud to see this work coming to life in such a powerful way and are looking forward to see how you will unite everyday people to unlock their financial progress!

Is the CMO role unnecessary? Thought-provoking article and data here from Paul Hiebert at ADWEEK, including a quote that proclaims "Certain jobs are mandatory. The CMO role isn't." Two reactions: 1. I strongly believe that the job of a CMO is mandatory in the sense that someone in the org needs to have a clear role as the ultimate decision-maker on anything related to marketing, brand, and community. However, the actual title of "CMO" is not mandatory. I've worked with thriving companies where this decision-maker has a different title whether it's a CEO with marketing focus, a highly strategic Chief Comms Officer, a versatile CRO or COO, and many other variations. Less important than the title is the value that this role brings in creating a singular focus on the customer and aligning the rest of the C-suite. 2. I was struck by the disparity in the data point that "84% of B2C Fortune 500 companies have a conventional CMO role, compared to 48% of B2B firms." Perhaps this can be attributed to B2B's greater reliance on sales vs. traditional marketing. But it also points to an untapped opportunity for B2B leaders to leverage the power of brand and marketing as key differentiators in a highly competitive landscape. We can debate whether the word "CMO" is right or not, but it's inarguable that the best marketing leaders and orgs are vital growth drivers, not cost centers! https://lnkd.in/g6BNVSHh

The #1 priority for any CMO is understanding what levers drive measurable growth. This isn’t news to anyone and has been confirmed by many brand leaders we’ve talked to, especially since we launched the CMO Thrive Guide in June. We know that at a company level, driving growth attributed to brand can be a challenge. Then there are the added hurdles for marketing to prove its role in said growth, which might even vary by type of business and the industry you operate in. We’ve proven that using a framework like the “Business Case for Brand” drives strategic business discussions with your CEO, CFO and other x-functional leads to identify the critical challenges they are facing that the brand can help address. This framework summarizes the critical external and internal dynamics influencing the company’s growth strategy, the key ‘jobs to be done’ that the brand will focus on to address those dynamics and the two horizon scorecard of KPIs to track progress. We’d love to hear which of the components might be the hardest one to define in your experience? A clear overarching business ambition? The critical dynamics influencing the company’s growth strategy? The role of brand to address these dynamics? The KPIs to track the progress? Which other roadblocks do you face in defining these elements in your industry?

Some thoughts on London’s IPO revival and the implications for the UK’s most ambitious tech brands. The signs of a mini IPO boom for the London Stock Exchange were a highlight of the commercial conversation this summer. Our investor community have been making cautiously optimistic noises as have the likes of Fortune and Financial Times in the wake of the successful IPO of the beloved Raspberry Pi and confirmation of a London listing for SHEIN. On the regulatory side we’ve seen a relaxation of rules around dual class share structure which have put off home-grown hotshots like Arm in recent years while the Labour government is making moves to channel more pension funds into local stocks. On the ecosystem side, the London VC is stronger than ever with significant new funds from top tier VCs Balderton Capital and LocalGlobe and the recent entry of US giants Sequoia Capital & Andreessen Horowitz. So what of the companies themselves?  In TwentyFirstCenturyBrand’s European client community - the likes of Monzo Bank and Flo Health Inc., Europe’s first femtech unicorn, have been the subject of IPO speculation along with the likes of Klarna, Flix and Bolt One thing I know for sure from our team's pre-IPO work with the likes of Pinterest & Airbnb is that a strong brand with a unified employee, customer and investor narrative is a powerful asset in building investor confidence. Here are three critical ingredients to make that a reality: 1. Community Congruence.  Many tech brands hype up the power of their community powered platform, its network effect and viral power. But while authentic stories of host empowerment were powerful for Airbnb’s narrative, IPOs often shake out ‘community-washing’ - look at how Deliveroo’s London debut was marred by rider protests.  Scale-ups need to ensure congruence between idealistic rhetoric and business reality - putting meaningful community incentives at the heart of their brand & product. 2. Performance x Purpose flywheels A compelling purpose with a strong connection to the business model has bolstered countless IPOs.  I was so proud to see 21CB client founders/CEOs at the likes of @Pinterest (Home of inspiration) and @Next Door (Kinder Neighborhoods) put their purpose front and centre of their S1s and even stock ticker in the case of NextDoor. But again if there’s a reality gap (WeWork - selling office space while elevating the world’s consciousness) it's likely to be called out. 3. A brand-enhanced growth model A brand designed to travel across audiences & markets is a valuable tool to inspire investor confidence in future growth. The scale-ups that  grasp this constantly assess how their brand can work harder to overcome growth obstacles, from crossing the performance marketing plateau to crossing the chasm into lucrative new audiences. As we get ready for a hopefully pivotal period for the London tech ecosystem, what are your thoughts on how to leverage brand to drive a successful IPO?

For a new Chief Marketing Officer, prioritizing vision and strategy is crucial. However, strategy is destined to fail if its creator doesn’t become fluent in the culture in which his or her plans have to live. Peter Drucker famously said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," emphasizing that no matter how well-crafted a strategy is, it will falter if not aligned with the company’s culture. In her latest Fast Company column, Sara Tate, 21CB Partner, Transformation Practice, explains Why mastering company culture is the most underrated power in the CMO Toolkit. https://lnkd.in/g8NHYc9X