Marketing BS with Edward Nevraumont

Why Subscribe?

There are generally two types of marketers:

• Traditional “brand marketers” who don’t understand math and measure success by the size of their (unaccountable) budget

• New-school “performance marketers” who want to believe everything that matters can be measured within a 30-day “last touch” feedback cycle

Both types of marketers are very very wrong and this newsletter is not for them.

There is a Third Way.

This third type of marketer is different. We are not an “average” of the first two types. We are orthogonal. We care about long term impact, doing the right thing for the business, and leveraging data - not being a slave to it. We are mavericks and iconoclasts. We are counter-intuitive thinkers who care more about getting to the truth and driving impact than riding perverse incentives, corporate bureaucracy and status games to the corner office.

We are not interested in doing things just because they have been “always done that way”. But we also have no interest in new fads just because it is fun to chase shiny objects. We understand that most of what works is pretty simple and the hard part is executing consistently in the face of all the challenges life throws at you.

We are outnumbered. There are not a lot of us. But we have an over-sized impact on our companies and the world.

This newsletter is about building a community of people like us, and maybe helping those with an open mind. I will both share what I know, but also share my thinking on how I got there. This may help you articulate ideas you may have already had and bring others into the fold.

The format of Marketing BS has changed over the years. Currently I try and write something short and impactful every Monday to Thursday. Monday and Wednesday posts are free for everyone; Tuesday and Thursday posts are behind the paywall. What goes out behind the paywall is fairly arbitrary - so if you subscribe you can expect more of the same stuff you get for free (just twice as much of it).

I was consultant at McKinsey, an executive at Expedia, and CMO of two private equity-backed businesses with successful exits. I now advice CMOs and CEOs, primarily across the Warburg Pincus portfolio, but also individual, unaffiliated companies that are not competitive with the portfolio.

My belief is that the stuff I write will help an individual’s career, but not in a competitive way. The more people around you who think this way, the more successful you are likely to be. I have a strong belief that people succeed or fail together within organizations. If you find what I write valuable, please share with your colleagues. (Related: I offer UNLIMITED group organization-wide subscriptions. For the price of seven individuals you can get everyone in your company a premium subscription. Even if your company is Amazon or Google — neither of whom have taken me up on the offer)

The current Marketing-Industrial Complex is a Goliath, but maybe slowly, together, we we can bring enough people into the fold to change the world.

Some posts to get you started

(There are all longer essays from when I was only publishing once per week)

Everything is Marketing was one of the earliest posts before I found my legs in the current format, but it is a good starting point on articulating the idea that marketing is not just advertising and costs per click.

Marketing to Employees is a central idea that the newsletter often returns to - How much of marketing is not aimed at customers at all and why it matters (and a June 2020 follow-up, “Brands are Deeply Saddened”)

Starbucks, Loyalty and Breakage: If there is one thesis about Marketing BS it is just saying words does not make it so. Market research is often not about market research. Performance is not about performance. In this case, Loyalty programs are not about loyalty. This is how they really work

Real Fidelity is a term I invented to discuss the impact of fidelity on marketing effectiveness. The concept is important far beyond just marketing performance, as the post-COVID-19 world is making clear. This was written pre-COVID-19, but extra relevant post March 2020

What some people say about Marketing BS

“Edward is the actual legit version of Tim Ferris”

• Enmi Kendall, General Partner, Healthy Ventures

"Marketing BS should be required weekly reading for any marketing executive, much like Ben Thompson's Stratechery is the standard for strategy professionals."

• Jason Goldlist, Cofounder TechTO; former GM/Head of Marketing, WealthSimple

"Always good. I don't know how he does it"

• Nicolas Murat, Partner, Levant Capital

"I rarely have time to read these kind of things, but I always make time for Marketing BS. A different way of thinking and I find it very valuable as a CMO."

• Leena Jain, CMO, HumanScale

"Marketing BS is really amazing. One day it might be remembered as the pinnacle of the industry."

• David Atchison, CEO/Founder NewEngen; Former CMO Zulily

"Marketing BS is always rewarding and worth the time spent…..most importantly what he says generally jives with my real world experience."

• Cannon Ghelani, Principal, Shorerock Group

"Marketing BS is so flippin good! Edward is creating phenomenal content. I am so glad to receive my Marketing BS email every week".

• Lindsay Pedersen, Author, Ironclad Branding

"Marketing BS is a constantly great read. I can’t tell you how few weekly newsletters I even open, let alone read and I always read Marketing BS. I often read it on Tuesdays before I get out of bed. Every part holds my attention"

• Andy Morris, Founder, Seattle Vacation Homes; former VP Ops TaskUS

“Blocked”

• Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author The Black Swan and AntiFragile

Who is Edward Nevraumont?

Edward is a Senior Advisor with Warburg Pincus (the private equity firm). Previously he was CMO/CRO at General Assembly, where he helped build and prepare the company for a $412.5MM sale to Adecco. As CMO at A Place for Mom, he steered the company from the brink of collapse to generating 30% annual growth over multiple years. As an executive at Expedia, he created the VIP Hotel program, Expedia Rewards, and the first landing pages organization. He’s done his time at at McKinsey, Procter & Gamble, and earned an MBA from Wharton.

You can find out more at www.marketingbs.com.