The Rockstar CMO F'in' Marketing Podcast

Hosted by Rockstar CMO, Ian Truscott

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399

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Oct 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Does the world need another f'in' marketing podcast? Our host and 4xCMO Ian Truscott asked this in 2020, and the world said "no", but he did it anyway - and each week with his guests and chums, he shares B2B marketing street knowledge - the authentic, practical marketing strategy advice that will bring out the rock star marketer in you. Learn more, follow, and get the show notes at https://rockstarcmo.com.

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60 recent

November 1, 202655 min

The Official 400th Episode

This week, as the podcast migrated to SimpleCast, Ian noticed that if you add all the regular shows, additional mini-series, and mid-week specials, we hit 400 episodes on the stream. Ian celebrates with regular guest and former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark, who joined the show as a regular in episode 40, as they pick their favorites from the occasional “One Hit Wonder or Wonderwall” series they did on and off over the last six years. The One Hit Wonder series kicked off in 2020 with Attribution to Causal Analytics, which they discussed a couple of weeks ago. Breaking from their 5 f’in’ things editorial policy, they pick 3 each to make 6 things for 6 years of the podcast. Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, who poured the first cocktail in episode 9, for a special spooky Halloween cocktail and a trip down memory lane to revisit that first bar conversation. Enjoy! — The Links Mentioned: Rockstar CMO Presents: The 5 F'in' Marketing Fundamentals The Swimming Pool #28: Attribution Into the Pool #3: Programmatic Backstage with Robert Rose The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science Spooky - Mike Sharpe (1966 instrumental) You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 24, 202646 min

The Reach and Recognition on an IBM Selectric Episode

This week, Cathy McKnight , Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear , returns for her regular visit to discuss reach and recognition, and her colleague Robert Rose joins Ian in the bar to discuss AI disclosure. Before they dive into Cathy’s Bear Essentials article, Reach is Rented. Recognition is Owned , Cathy shares her experience of presenting at SMASH in Las Vegas and Content Marketing World . Key points from this chat: Cathy’s Content Marketing World workshop, “AI Didn’t Break Your Content, It Exposed It,” which used participant exercises to reveal gaps in content and AI strategy. At the senior living marketing summit SMASH, Cathy discussed content chaos, conversion, and why high-trust decisions require consistent brand voice across research channels. Content volume and velocity cannot replace foundational systems: increasing output from 100 pieces to 1,000 only compounds inconsistency. Trust influences buying decisions alongside cost and quality, so brands need to build recognition before buyers enter a narrow decision process. Brand guidelines should go beyond fonts and colors to define beliefs, preferred language, words to avoid, and practical checkpoints. Marketing teams need a centralized content intake process that screens requests for value, audience, objective, and next action before work begins. Cathy’s recommendation for structured templates that capture audience, purpose, and success measures to support AI augmented content. Some practical advice on what marketers should do on Monday. Then Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose , Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to discuss the value of the latest clamor around AI disclosure and whether it matters to the audience, over a very fancy cocktail this week. They discuss the pressure on marketers to use AI for efficiency while facing public suspicion that AI-assisted work is dishonest or low quality, and (spoiler) Robert argues that disclosing AI use is like announcing a piece of content was typed on an IBM Selectric: the tool matters less than whether the work is good. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bear Essentials: Reach is Rented. Recognition is Owned. Content Marketing World SMASH Senior Care Marketing & Sales Summit The Move In Senior Living Podcast Why AI Disclosure Won't Build Trust in Your Content (and What Will) Robert’s newsletter: Lens , his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple , Amazon , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 18, 20261 hr 0 min

The Print Is Not Dead, But Marketing Engineers Might Be Episode

This week, Sebastian Hardung, the CMO of Priint, joins our host Ian Truscott to discuss his career and adding print to our marketing mix, before Ian joins Robert Rose in our virtual bar to discuss the term “marketing engineer”. Priint is best known for priint:suite, an enterprise publishing platform that bridges the gap between digital data sources and print production. As you’ll hear, Sebastian has been their CMO for 3 years, following a career in product management and data management, after starting his career as a developer. Their conversation was inspired by a previous episode when Ian asked Robert what 3 things we should focus on instead of AI, and he suggested print, so who better than Sebastian to give us the lowdown on this often neglected marketing channel. They discuss: The resurgence of print marketing in the digital age The importance of data quality and alignment across channels Personalized catalogs and data sheets as a marketing tool Measuring the effectiveness of print campaigns The role of print magazines in brand building Impact of AI on marketing content creation and translation European AI market and data privacy considerations The significance of events and human interaction in marketing Gating content versus open distribution strategies Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to discuss an article from the Wall Street Journal, “ Marketers Are Rebranding as ‘Engineers’ to Survive the AI Era” and a similar discussion Robert had at Content Marketing World, and asks if this is a new role or a change to the marketing operations function. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Sebastian Hardung on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Sebastian’s company website: Priint The print event: priint:day 2026 US The priint:day Magazine Marketers Are Rebranding as ‘Engineers’ to Survive the AI Era - WSJ Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter our weekly(ish) newsletter Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 10, 202642 min

The Causal Analytics and an Alignment Trick Episode

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 buzzword we can safely ignore. They discuss: The concept of causal analytics and its components Differences between correlation and causation in marketing Challenges of implementing causal analytics in B2B The role of data quality and analyst skills Barriers to mainstream adoption in B2B marketing Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear. Over a drink that is not a cocktail this week, Robert shares a trick for sales and marketing alignment from a recent article he wrote for his Rose Colored Glasses series for The Content Marketing Institute. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Causal AI for chief marketing officers | Alembic A Practical Guide to Causal Inference in Marketing Channel Analytics | by Brian James Curry Robert’s article: This Test Fixes Marketing and Sales Misalignment Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license Oasis - Wonderwall (Official Video) You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 3, 20261 hr 0 min

The Curating a Martech Museum and Questions of Provenance Episode

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 The dangers of redundant tools and conflicting data sources How to conduct a comprehensive tech audit and ownership assignment The debate between monolithic and composable solutions The impact of AI and data hygiene on marketing success Practical steps for aligning technology with organizational goals Then Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose , Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, who gives a sneak peek of his presentation for Content Marketing World next week: “ Nobody Knows: Thought Leadership in the Era of Prompts ”. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bear Essentials: Your Martech Stack is a Museum, Not a System Content Marketing World Robert’s CMW Session: Nobody Knows: Thought Leadership in the Era of Prompts ” Robert’s article: Why AI Demands That Marketers Have Industry Expertise Robert’s newsletter: Lens , his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple , Amazon , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 27, 202627 min

The Marketing Horsepower and Jargon Busting Episode

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 horsepower of AI, we can either do more with slop or do something differentiated. Thirsty after all that talking, Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, and over a refreshing cocktail, they discuss our industry's dependency on jargon. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Tuesday 2¢ - Horses for More Us My personal website and blog Robert in CMI Newsletter - AI-native full-funnel GTM motion (WTH?!) Robert’s newsletter: Lens , his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple , Amazon , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 19, 20261 hr 3 min

The Death (or not) of DXP and the Death (or not) of Blogging Episode

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 product marketing sit under product or marketing? They discuss: The decline of the DXP category and its implications The importance of composable marketing technology and API-first approaches AI's impact on content creation, management, and governance The evolving roles within marketing teams, including product marketing and CPOs Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to explore some fresh research from Andy Crestodina at Orbit Media, following an annual survey of over a thousand content marketers. The headline number in the post was that, after consistent performance over several years, “The percentage of respondents who report 'strong results’ dropped to an all-time low of 14%” and Ian and Robert discuss what that means for content marketing. Does this mean the death of the corporate blog as traffic is down, or are we measuring the wrong things, and has the purpose of our content now changed? Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Mark Demeney on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Mark’s last appearance - The Metaverse and Marketing Gifts Holiday Special Episode Mark’s website - Mark Demeny Digital Marketing Tips from Andy Crestodina - We asked 1,042 content marketers if their blog works. Just 14% said yes. This Old Marketing - Is Blogging Dead or Mostly Dead? (550) Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter our weekly(ish) newsletter Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 12, 202655 min

The State of Content Operations and an Expensive Way to Be Stupid Episode

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 discuss five key points: Speed went up. ROI did not AI wins here. Falls flat there Three bottlenecks. None of them AI It was never the AI. Five reasons. None of them intelligence. Then Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose , Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to ask about something he heard Dr. Margaret Heffernan on the Uncensored CMO say: “AI is a very expensive way to be stupid.” This leads them to explore the nuances of AI's impact on decision-making, industry knowledge, and marketing strategies. They discuss how AI can both enhance and hinder critical thinking, the importance of industry expertise, and the risks of over-reliance on technology. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Brice Dunwoodie’s LinkedIn Post about retiring DXP Optimizely Retires DXP Label, Bets Everything on Agent Platform State of Content Operations in 2026 Valuable Friction - Robert Rose Uncensored CMO - Dr Margaret Heffernan Robert’s article: Why AI Demands That Marketers Have Industry Expertise Robert’s newsletter: Lens , his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple , Amazon , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 5, 202658 min

The Newish Rules of B2B Marketing and Newsjacking Dolly Episode

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 and G2) and the report is based on interviews with more than 50 B2B CMOs at companies including Zoom, Salesforce, Nutanix, Snowflake, PagerDuty, and Sprout Social. Jeff and Ian give it their 5 f’in’ things treatment, pulling their favorite points from the research, including: The credibility gap for marketing leaders AI as a new capability beyond GEO Prove marketing’s value in the language of the board Invest in brand as a strategic asset Building a marketing team for the next decade. Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear. They share their horror at an AdAge article that newsjacked Dolly Parton's passing with a very poor piece about what we marketers can learn from her. So Ian asks: if this is bad newsjacking, what is good newsjacking, and is it still an effective tool for content creators and marketers? Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: The B2B CMO Imperative: 2026 Marketing Leadership Report The Beat Newsletter: Times Like These What Dolly Parton’s career can teach marketers about staying relevant (requires subscription) Robert’s latest Lens newsletter: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Robert discussing the Dolly Parton article on This Old Marketing Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license Foo Fighters - Times Like These (Official HD Video) You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

August 29, 202650 min

The 5 Tips to Get AI Working and What Else is There Episode

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 discusses A.I. wishing and A.I. washing, and Jeff and Ian discuss how to get A.I. working and share 5 tips: Create an effective business case Map processes Clean up your data Incorporate your culture Create a change management plan Then, Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to discuss what else we marketers should be talking about, if not AI, and Robert suggests three classic marketing moves that can cut through, while everyone else focuses on digital and A.I. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: I Helped Run Lululemon. Companies Need to Stop Kidding Themselves About A.I. Helping AI succeed in retail: Turn pilots into measurable impact | NRF The State of AI: Global Survey 2026 | McKinsey Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM . Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton , shared under a Creative Commons license Dolly Parton - The Seeker (Official Audio) You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts , Amazon Podcasts , and Spotify . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.