The Rockstar CMO F'in' Marketing Podcast

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio and joins our host Ian Truscott to test whether a new trend, technique, buzzword, or technology is a one-hit wonder or a Wonderwall. In other words, is this something we should pay attention to, or a fad?

This week, they focus on causal analytics: whether it is the answer to the challenge of attribution and our dependency on vanity metrics, or a new buzzw...

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, dive into her “Bear Essentials” article series to discuss whether we are curating a martech museum and avoid overbuying while staying up to date.

They discuss:

• The analogy of Martech stacks as museums rather than systems
• The importance of operating technology, not just owning it
• The high cost of tech debt and how to address it
• T...

This week, our host Ian Truscott goes solo, comparing the electrification of the automobile industry with AI for marketing. 

Ian sees a parallel for marketers: as electric engines in relatively inexpensive cars make performance numbers like 0-60 times and horsepower less relevant indicators of desirability for exotic cars, they need to lean on the brand experience. 

An obvious analogy there for marketers, with all the horse...

This week, Mark Demeny, Senior Director, Product Marketing at OpenText, joins our host Ian Truscott in the Rockstar CMO studio to discuss the changes in content technology and where the industry is headed as the term DXP, or Digital eXperience Management, is being dropped, and how our enterprise marketing technology platforms need to work with AI.

They then move on to the question many B2B tech marketing organizations ask: should p...

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, discuss some research that she’s just published covering the State of Content Operations in 2026.

But first, they discuss Optimizely's recent retirement of the Digital Experience Platform (DXP) label, a prominent vendor in this category, but is the switch to an agent platform any better?

They then dig into Cathy’s research and ...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio and joins our host Ian Truscott to discuss a research project from the B2B CMO Project called The New Rules of B2B Marketing in 2026 - How the Best B2B CMOs Are Rewriting the Role.

The B2B CMO Project, is a research and community initiative founded by Jon Miller (best known as the co-founder of Marketo) and Sydney Sloan (former CMO of Salesloft an...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio after his summer break with our host Ian Truscott to discuss an article in The New York Times called “I Helped Run Lululemon. Companies Need to Stop Kidding Themselves About A.I.” written by Julie Averill, the former chief information officer of Lululemon, and some interesting research from McKinsey that supports her experience.

The article ...

This week, our host Ian Truscott goes solo to share some work from Jon Evans, host of Uncensored CMO and experienced B2C CMO, and digs into what he calls the 4 P’s of the CMO - what marketing leaders need to pay attention to beyond Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Jon suggests it’s Politics, People, Planning, and Persuasion, and Ian digs into these 4.

Thirsty after all that talking, Ian then joins Robert Rose in th...

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear discuss a recent post from her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog: Your Marketing Org Chart Is Fiction.

They discuss:

• The VP everyone quietly routes around

• How do we make the most of the AI opportunity?

• If everyone kinda knows how to get shit done, why does this matter?

• What should marketing leaders be doing i...

This week, our host Ian Truscott is joined by Ken Schwartz from Peer Survey Professionals, an expert on win/loss analysis.

They have a fascinating discussion about the value of having a good win/loss program, speaking directly with customers, avoiding the blame game, and the surprising insights Ken has found doing this over the years.

Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble M...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to discuss an article from Matt Heinz on his Substack - Most GTM Alignment Is Theater - What two decades of alignment frameworks miss, and what the GTM teams actually winning are doing instead.

The discuss 5 things that inspired them from the article:

• It’s not the process, it’s the discipline

• What AI is ...

This week, Simon Daniels, Principal Consultant at Accenture Song, a marketing and revenue operations expert and former Forrester analyst, is back in the studio, and he arrives clutching the results of the “Accenture Song Client Buying Index 2026”- which was shared at a recent “Rethink’ event, and in keeping with the editorial policy of the show, he shares his 5 f’in’ favorites.

Ian then joins Ro...

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear discuss a recent post from her Bear Essentials series on their blog - Your Voice and Tone Aren’t Guidelines, They’re Discipline

They discuss:

• A brand voice guide is only useful if it becomes a habit

• AI makes brand discipline more important, not less

• Voice and tone belong to everyone, not just the brand team

• Mak...

This week, Thomas Peham, former CMO at StoryBlok and co-founder of Otterly.ai joins our host Ian Truscott to share his journey of leaving corporate leadership and becoming an entrepreneur.

They cover:

• The leap of faith from corporate to startup

• Building a remote team

• The transition from CMO to founder

• Education as a marketing strategy

• Navigating competition and market dynamics

• What’s next for Ott...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to return to their One Hit Wonder or Wonderwall treatment, when they decide if something in marketing will fade away or stand the test of time.

Getting this scrutiny this week is the role Head of AI role that is being talked about. The idea that we need someone in the leadership teams responsible for all things AI. Will this endure,...

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear discuss a recent post from her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - You're Not Scaling Content. You're Scaling Chaos.

 They discuss: 

• Difference between scale and volume in content creation

• Impact metrics vs. production metrics

• Organizational governance and foundational systems

• The risks of scaling...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, to discuss a mid-year review from Matt Heinz called The State of the B2B CMO (almost) Halfway Through 2026. 

They share 5 f’in’ things they take from his research are:

1. Financial literacy is a required skill

2. The role of the CMO is changing

3. Where the buyer is versus where we pretend they are

...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, and they discuss the impact of folklore within a business, which can be positive or it can hold your business back. 

Their conversation is inspired by some work by Kerry Cunningham at 6Sense: Folklore Debt: The Stories That Build B2B Companies — and the Ones That Hold Them Back | 6sense

They share 5 f’i...

This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, and they discuss the impact of LLMs on the big analyst firms and the general advisory around B2B buying decisions. 

They share 5 f’in’ tips for buyers, analysts, and vendors in this new buying environment

• LLMs only work on publicly available information

• Vendors need to broaden the scope of AR/IR/PR

  ...