3 Invaluable Lessons on Transforming a Brand from a CMO

When you think about the changes that have taken place in any given industry – be it marketing, software, retail – everyone today operates on a sped-up clock. Gone are the days of months-long product development cycles. While technology has enhanced many industries, it has also disrupted them as well.

In 2014, when VP and CMO Lauren Flaherty launched CA Tech’s “Business Rewritten by Software” campaign, companies were just beginning to understand the importance of reinventing their business models using software, but the technology was still left in the capable hands of the I.T. department. Today, I.T. is no longer separated from the business, but instead uniquely intertwined with its mission. Flaherty recognized that shift, which structured her team’s latest campaign: “Modern Software Factory.”

To hear more about transforming a brand, developing new models for demand generation, and other hard earned insights, tune into the latest Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast with guest Lauren Flahery, VP and CMO at CA Technologies.

During her four years at CA Technologies, Flaherty also learned three invaluable lessons on transforming a brand that she shares in the latest Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast:

Start from the inside, and work your way out

Flaherty explains that every brand transformation has to start from the inside, and that it needs to permeate throughout the entire company. For example, employees should be receiving company-related news from the company, not external sources. When CA underwent its own transformation, Flaherty’s team implemented the changes six months prior to going public with them. She found it important to consult with her sales leads and get their unique perspective about the pain points their customers were experiencing. That helped her evaluate whether the transformation they were implementing was on point and would be well received.

Practice what you preach

Because CA’s products promised agility, Flaherty found it important to hold the company to the same standards. Rather than operating under drawn-out production cycles, she made sure her team worked in mini-sprints that built on the customer feedback they were receiving. This helped them get the product out to market faster in a way that was always relevant to the customers. During the process, Flaherty found that there was no longer a separation between tech and business – the two were entirely intertwined. The language and medium her department used to talk about their products needed to address both C-suite executives and I.T. teams.

Make the brand experience tangible

The latest campaign, “Modern Software Factory,” built on the patterns Flaherty’s team observed throughout the last three years. This campaign worked to help people visualize abstract software concepts. They used television (an excellent medium for storytelling) to address the C-suite executives and partnered with CNN during the 2016 presidential election in what Flaherty describes as a “co-creation.” While it appeared to be a media buy, what her team actually did was create a seamless experience between two mediums; CA recognized that people would be consuming election coverage through various types of media, and by creating an app experience for CNN, CA was able to show – not tell – what they could do for brands. And in case you were wondering, the engagement and reach CNN experienced during that period would have taken years to develop without the help of the app!