CMO 2.0: Beyond marketing

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Hello Spark reader,

If you’ve ever felt like marketing is still fighting for its seat at the table—or wondered why—it’s time to meet the (O)CMO.

I first came across Elliott Bundy, our guest contributor this week, through Vivace’s participation in Financial Narrative. As a founding board member, Elliott has emerged as a thoughtful voice on the evolving role of marketing leadership—especially in how CMOs can step beyond traditional boundaries to operate more like COOs and CEOs.

His piece challenges a lingering mindset and offers a refreshing, grounded take on how marketing can (and should) lead the business, not just support it. We’re proud to feature it here in Spark.

Best wishes to you for a productive and fulfilling rest of your week.

—joel

The (O)CMO Mindset: Operating Beyond Marketing

Guest essay by Elliott Bundy

Spend enough time in marketing and communications circles and you’ll inevitably hear the existential lament: “Why don’t they get us? Why aren’t we at the table? Don’t they get we aren’t just in charge of making things pretty?” It gets even louder in professional associations, where the conversation can spiral into a self-perpetuating loop of doubt and exclusion.

I’ve never really had time for that.

Yes, I was incredibly fortunate early in my career to work under a CEO who valued communications, marketing, and brand from the start of any strategic conversation—big or small. But I also remember one day, in that same company, when my manager had finally had enough of his own “proof gap.” He printed a year’s worth of our team’s work—every campaign, speech, press release, and brand asset—and laid it all out across the entire boardroom table. And this was a very large boardroom.

The CEO walked in, glanced at the landscape of paper, and asked, “What exactly is this trying to prove?” Then he walked right back out.

Because he knew what was on that table was output, but not value. Value came from the ways our work helped operate the company, not from how many artifacts we could stack in our corner.

Marketing and communications don’t sit outside the business. They are the business. Just as much as finance, HR, strategy, or business development.