Leading marketing isn’t the same as doing marketing.
Marketing leadership is more than a skill—it’s the force that turns your ideas into impact.
When the Covid pandemic shut pubs, Guinness faced catastrophe. Millions of litres of beer went unsold. Revenues vanished. The future looked grim. Mark Sandys, Diageo’s global head of beer, realised he wouldn’t find the answer in his job description. He guided his team to develop an unconventional plan: invest hundreds of millions to buy back unsold beer and provide reopening support—twice. The internal management debates were pretty tough. But the strategy worked. When pubs reopened, Guinness broke sales records, becoming the No. 1 brand in UK pubs for the first time.
This is marketing leadership. Sandys and his team didn’t just craft a marketing strategy; they aligned customer needs with company goals. More importantly, they rallied the organization to make it happen.
The three gaps that hold marketers back
Why is leading marketing so tricky? The answer lies in three gaps:
The Trust Gap
Marketing is about shaping the future—predicting trends, changing behaviors, delivering outcomes. But the future is uncertain. That makes it hard for marketers to win the trust of colleagues. You simply can never prove it all.
The Power Gap
Great customer experiences need teamwork across silos. In most companies, marketing isn’t in charge of it all. The silos can stifle great ideas before they even take off.
The Skills Gap
With technology evolving rapidly, even the savviest marketers sometimes feel overwhelmed—and less confident.
Leadership skills explain more than 55% of a marketer’s business impact. Technical skills? Just 15%.
Thomas Barta
Leadership: The real marketing superpower
Marketing success isn’t just about great brand strategy or campaigns. It’s about leading change upwards, sideways, and downwards. Together with Prof. Patrick Barwise, I conducted the world’s largest study on marketers’ success involving over 68,000 assessments. The striking insight?
Many marketers home in on their technical skills. Most marketing classes teach marketing skills. Few teach marketing leadership. For decades, schools and universities have basically trained armies of marketing doers, not leaders.
Here’s the hard truth: technical expertise alone won’t get you to the top. If you’re a marketer aiming for success, it’s time to stop thinking of yourself as a doer and start thinking of yourself as a leader.
Thomas Barta
The magic of the Value Creation Zone
At the heart of marketing leadership lies the “Value Creation Zone” (V Zone), the sweet spot where customer needs and company needs converge. Only working inside the V Zone lets you drive business growth. The most successful marketers don’t just find the V Zone; they constantly work to enlarge it, ensuring marketing creates value for both the customer and the company.
Take PlayStation: Ken Kutaragi, the young engineer behind the PlayStation, spent nearly a decade advocating for its potential, rallying colleagues, and aligning leadership. His case? The PlayStation will be serving customer needs. People love gaming! It will also serve the company needs. We can do this, it’s ethically ok, it will make money. His persistence paid off. The PlayStation is now Sony’s most important product. That’s marketing leadership in action.
Leading Upwards, Sideways, Teams, and Yourself
How to lead marketing then? Well, the most successful marketers constantly ask themselves four questions:
- How can I shape the C-suite debate (upwards)? To make an impact at the top, marketers need to focus on “big issues”, those that align with the CEO’s vision and the company’s strategic goals. A critical skill here is showing measurable returns. While 67% of CMOs believe they’re return-driven, only 39% of CEOs agree. Bridging this gap requires marketers to communicate in the language of business outcomes and align their priorities with the top.
- How do I rally colleagues from other departments (sideways)? Marketing rarely operates in isolation. The customer experience is shaped by all departments, from IT to operations to sales. The best marketers know how to “walk the halls”, engaging with leaders across functions and rallying them around shared goals. Storytelling and role modeling are powerful tools. By crafting a compelling narrative about what matters for customers, marketers can inspire colleagues to join the cause.
- What does it take to build a team that dares to take action (teams)? No leader can drive change alone. Building a skilled, motivated team is essential. But beyond technical expertise, it’s about instilling a sense of purpose. When team members believe in the bigger picture, they’re more likely to push boundaries and deliver exceptional results.
- What’s the fire in my eyes (yourself)? As a marketer, you’ve signed up for a job where everybody can say ‘No’ to your ideas. But people love to follow people with a strong idea, a vision, a passion for the future. What’s yours?
You can choose to be a marketing leader
Here’s good news: great marketing leaders aren’t born; they’re made. Personality traits and gender play little role in a marketer’s success. What matters is a willingness to refine your marketing leadership skills. By embracing leadership, whether it’s mastering the art of mobilizing bosses, uniting colleagues, mobilizing teams, or inspiring others, you can bridge the marketing gaps and create lasting impact. Mark Sandy’s and Ken Kutaragi would agree.
Authored by Thomas Barta, Fellow of The Marketing Society, Marketing Leadership Expert and Author
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The highly anticipated Marketing Leadership Masterclass, is led by renowned experts Thomas Barta & The Marketing Society former President Syl Saller. The exclusive 12-week programme is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to become the influential marketer you've always aspired to be.
