Mastercard’s Priceless Advice

Lawrence Flanagan, Mastercard’s CMO, summing up his keynote at the ANA Masters of Marketing conference, offered the following tips for being a good marketer:

  • How do you get a seat at the table? Build the table.
  • The CEO expects us to reinvent and innovate.
  • Give’em the numbers and they’ll leave you alone.
  • Our Brand and our people are what matters.
  • Per the above point: Respect trumps all other emotions.
  • Ask questions nobody likes to answer.

I think the last one is the hardest for most marketers.

In the audience Q&A with Flanagan, Rex Briggs of Marketing Evolution asked how Mastercard weaves consumer-generated media into the mix. Flanagan said it’s all organic, and they support it, but there’s no way to measure it. I need to talk with Flanagan to set the record straight.

  

Published by Max Kalehoff

Father, sailor and marketing executive.

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