
Rapid Response · 2026-06-30 · 31 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
52 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
At Cannes Lions 2026, Autodesk's Dara Tresidder unpacks a marketing landscape split between excitement and anxiety, with AI anxiety running higher than last year. The conversation pivots from 2025's "AI will crush creativity" fears to a more nuanced position: AI should handle syntax and process, not semantic meaning and creative decisions. Tresidder examines how Nike and Adidas approached World Cup advertising differently - Nike with real-time cultural speed (user-generated content at Knicks games), Adidas with nostalgic storytelling - and how both proved ownable to their brand DNA. She dissects the Starbucks South Korea campaign disaster (built around an infamous massacre) as a system design failure, not an AI failure, emphasizing the need for velocity AND governance together. A major shift Tresidder highlights: LLMs and enterprise search are reshaping B2B and B2C buyer journeys, with executives now conducting initial research via ChatGPT before RFPs. This makes earned media and third-party validation (influencers, creators, community) more critical than ever. She details Autodesk's AI transparency cards (nutrition-label style documentation) and unpacks why brand collaborations - from Adidas-Oasis to Swatch-Piaget - work best when mutually beneficial and carefully boundary-managed.
AI should be used for syntax and process optimization, not for semantic meaning and creative direction. Human creatives must retain control over the core idea and meaning; AI serves humanity, not the reverse. Autodesk uses AI transparency cards to document what went into AI-generated tools, similar to nutrition labels on food.
Starbucks built an ad campaign around an infamous Korean massacre, equivalent to a 9/11-themed U.S. campaign. Tresidder attributes this to system design failure - a lack of proper checks, balances, and approval processes - rather than AI alone being at fault. It demonstrates why velocity and governance must move together.
Executives now initiate purchase research by conducting LLM searches (ChatGPT, etc.) before formal RFP processes, making the initial shortlist via AI. This means earned media, third-party validation, and community advocacy are now more important than owned media, since LLMs weight third-party mentions more heavily.
Nike moved at the speed of culture with real-time, user-generated content (like at Knicks games), embodying their brand DNA of speed and athleticism. Adidas leaned into detailed storytelling and nostalgia, staying true to their heritage of craftsmanship and meaning-making through narrative.
Luxury brands can partner with down-market brands via limited capsule collections that are clearly boundaried, allowing them to reach new audiences and stay culturally relevant without compromising heritage or exclusivity. Hermès, for instance, would likely never do a broader collab that risked diluting brand integrity.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
There are a handful of genuinely useful ideas - LLMs reshaping the B2B buyer journey starting with executive searches on Claude, Autodesk's AI transparency cards, and the 'priming and proving' framework - but these are diluted by extended Knicks banter, surface-level Nike/Adidas brand commentary, and repeated plumbing analogies. The signal-to-noise ratio is moderate at best.
I can't tell you the amount of use cases now about purchases that began with the CEO, cio, cto, CMO doing an LLM search. You know, they're just having coffee on the plane, they pull up quad, they get a short list, and all of a sudden that becomes the shortlist that goes to the RFP process.
we actually have these cards called AI transparency cards. They're like little nutrition cards. You know, when you buy cereal, your label, your label, we have that.
The observation that LLMs discount owned media and elevate earned/third-party content is directionally fresh, and the 'firsthand thinker vs secondhand thinker' framing of AI use is memorable, but the majority of the episode recycles standard Cannes Lions conference talking points - CMO empowerment, velocity-plus-governance, human creativity surviving AI - that circulate widely in marketing circles.
I never want to originate my idea through AI. I am not going to become a secondhand thinker. I am a firsthand thinker.
they discount the owned media and they place more emphasis on what others are saying about you. So earned media community has never been more important.
Dara Tresidder is a genuine senior practitioner - CMO of a Fortune 500 company with direct revenue accountability over Autodesk's digital/e-commerce business and prior CMO experience at Carbon - not a career podcast guest or pure thought leader. However, polished senior CMOs who give Cannes commentary are fairly common, and she's a repeat guest who shows signs of media-readiness over raw operational candor.
at Autodesk, I oversee our digital business. It makes sense that it sits with me because it begins and ends with marketing.
Yes, I have a line, I have to deliver. I'm in charge of delivering revenue for our digital business, our e commerce business, the Autodesk Store.
A few anchors of specificity exist - Autodesk's $350M three-year workforce investment, Adidas winning two Grand Prix in one day, the named Starbucks South Korea incident, and the '21st Century Brand' firm's priming-and-proving framework - but there are no campaign performance metrics, no conversion data, no market-size figures, and the strategic claims largely go unquantified.
we actually just committed $350 million to invest in preparing the next generation for jobs in this AI era. Over three years.
even at Cannes lion, we see them winning two Grand Prix in the same day. Right. See, even that campaign that they did, the Adidas Oasis campaign
Bob Safian asks a few genuinely probing questions - notably whether Nike and Adidas ads are 'ownable' and whether CMOs need direct revenue accountability - but he never meaningfully challenges Dara's assertions, lets multiple platitudes pass unchallenged ('velocity and governance'), and the Elon Musk and Starbucks segments stay firmly surface-level when deeper probing was available.
Are they ownable? Like, could Adidas have done the Nike ad and Nike have done the Adidas ad?
How important is it for CMOs to have control of their own source of revenue for the business?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Every year at Cannes Lions, the advertising world takes stock of itself - what's working, what's not, and what it's pretending not to notice. Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder joins Rapid Response live from the festival to cut through the noise. She breaks down the industry's complicated relationship with AI, weighs in on the hottest and most overrated campaigns of the year including sharp takes on Nike, Adidas, and Starbucks, and explains why the path from CMO to CEO is suddenly the most interesting career move in business. Treseder also gets candid about the brand of Elon Musk post-IPO, what Autodesk's $350 million investment in the next generation of workers actually signals, and what separates a brand collaboration that breaks through from one that just breaks. Visit the Rapid Response website here: See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
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Speaker A: That's Dara Tresidder, CMO of Autodesk and a recurring guest on Rapid Response. Dara and I sat down together at the Cannes Lions Festival in France to break down the buzziest stories and trends in the advertising and marketing world, from the industry's flip flop on AI to the growing pipeline from CMO to CEO to the trillionaire brand of Elon Musk. Plus the hottest and not so hot campaigns from the likes of Adidas, Nike, Starbucks and more. As always, Dara brings her a game. Quotable, funny and full of future forward lessons. So let's get to it. I'm, um, Bob Safian and this is Rapid Response. I'm Bob Safian and I'm here With Dara Tresidder, the CMO of Autodesk at Cannes. Lyons. Dara, great, great to be with you.
Speaker C: Thank you so much. This is our Ann thing. I always love spending time with you here.
Speaker A: Yeah, it's fun. So, so what's the vibe this year? What are you feeling? Are, are people excited? Are people anxious?
Speaker C: I think people are really excited, but there's also a lot of anxiety about what's going on. And I think there is, uh, some people are feeling clear. Some people are feeling like there's a lot of chaos. So it's a tale of two cities.
Speaker A: Tale of two cities. Is the chaotic feeling, like, about the world, is it about AI and the business? Like, where. Where's the chaos landing?
Speaker C: I would say the chaos is a little bit about the world, but a lot about AI I feel like the chaos on AI is. Is. Is more rampant than it was last year.
Speaker A: I mean, I feel like the, the mood. I mean, we've had such a crazy 20, 26, right? Things going on in the Middle east. And the Knicks winning the championship.
Speaker C: Winning the championship.
Speaker A: Like the brand of the Knicks, though. The best thing that could happen for New York.
Speaker C: The best thing, the best thing. I think everybody likes an underdog, right? Everybody wants to see the challenger win. I'm in the Bay Area, west coast, best coast. But even I, even I was rooting for the Knicks, okay. And I was so proud. The whole story, the resilience, the story of the coach, the story of Jayla, I mean, just, there's so much inspiration. And just to see I. You New Yorkers, you. Y' all are wild.
Speaker A: Yeah. I was a little worried that things were going to get a little tak
Speaker C: Bros run for their money.
Speaker A: I was worried things were going to get a little too wild at the parade. And every cause it was a madhouse.
Speaker C: It was wild.
Speaker A: Joy was what took over. Joy.
Speaker C: Joy. And we needed joy. We needed joy. And I actually think it brought joy more than just to New York. I think it brought joy to America.
Speaker A: You were mentioning that you went to the World cup with your son. And since we're here, I wanted to ask you about the World cup ads. Is that part of the conversation you're hearing?
Speaker C: It's part of the conversation. And I have to tell you, I've been hanging out with some CMOs. Some are team Nike.
Speaker A: Uh huh.
Speaker C: Some are team Adidas.
Speaker A: Yes.
Speaker C: You know, I want to give both brands a lot of credit because how do you enter a conversation in a very cultural, relevant way? I think Adidas approached it from a Nostalgia, perspective. And they really nailed it. And they created so much meaning. They focused on the semantics. They leaned into, I think, the lost art of deep storytelling. And it really paid off. And Nike took a different approach. Right. They went a little bit more, let's go 360°, a little Zady. And they captured a lot of attention, they drove a lot of conversation. So, you know, both brands, um, did a really great job. And you know, in the spirit of heated rivalry at the World cup, people are taking sides.
Speaker A: So you talk about with ads being like, relevant, memorable and ownable now. Now both of those ads are definitely memorable and they're relevant.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: Are they ownable? Like, could Adidas have done the Nike ad and Nike have done the Adidas ad?
Speaker C: I actually think that they are ownable. Adidas did what Adidas does best, this detailed storytelling. It's like a hallmark of the brand. And I have had the opportunity to work closely with Adidas. When I was CMO at Carbon, we had a big partnership with Adidas. I've seen how they think and they understand what their customers love and they lean into that. And even at Cannes lion, we see them winning two Grand Prix in the same day. Right. See, even that campaign that they did, the Adidas Oasis campaign, it's very similar in terms of style, of ownability, which is, let us lean into original storytelling. Let's not try to zag because everybody is zagging, but let's zig and let's do our own thing. And for Nike, I think, look, Nike is about marketing at the same time, speed of culture. That is what they do. Even look at the Knicks game, the marketing that Nike did at the Knicks game, where they were able to take user generated content and they were able to piece together beautiful creative that just really had everybody feeling that New York spirit and they did it in real time. That is Nike at the speed of culture. I almost think, like the brand embodies that. If you have a body, you're an athlete. Right. They, they take that like elite athlete in terms of how they try to move and the speed at which they try to move. So I think the Nike work was very true to their brand.
Speaker A: Yeah. Although Adidas got Timothee Chalamet, who's a Knicks fan. So now they both get to play.
Speaker C: They both got to play.
Speaker A: Exactly.
Speaker C: And you know, I love me some Timothee Chalamet. I'm a Dune fan. They had. Once the ad started, I was like, okay, okay, don't ask me what team I am. I like both brands. But you know, if I had to pick, it would be Adidas.
Speaker A: So, um, the. You talked last time we talked a bit about, ah, opining with the spine and how important that is and how effective that is in this, the environment of change that we're in right now in 2026. Is that harder?
Speaker C: It is risky, but the risk is worth it. The risk is worth it when what you are, uh, opining on is core to your business strategy.
Speaker B: Mhm.
Speaker C: And you can back it up with your spine because there's so much sameness. The unfortunate thing about what is happening is AI is raising the floor, but it is human ingenuity that's going to vault the ceiling.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: And there isn't enough emphasis being placed on that human ingenuity and human creativity. But I'm a rigorous optimist, so I think we are in the golden age for marketers and creatives who have excellent taste, are willing to master these tools, know when to use it, but most importantly have the discernment to know when not to use it. And I think when you have that down, the clarity and the peace comes in the midst of the chaos.
Speaker A: The, um, conversation last year here was about how AI is going to crush all the creativity or people were worried about that. And this year it's a little bit more about like maybe AI isn't, shouldn't be applied to the creativity part of the business or the product. It should be applied to sort of the process a little bit more, I think.
Speaker C: So. You know, when, when you're using AI, it is operating in two dimensions. There's the syntax and there's the semantic. When you're using AI in the syntax, like it can really address processes helping. But when you want to focus on meaning and the semantics, that is where you want to make sure that the creative is still in control of the art. AI is here to serve humanity. Humanity is not here to serve AI. And I think the brands that are willing to say that unapologetically.
Speaker A: Mhm.
Speaker C: There's trust being built with their customer bases.
Speaker A: Is there conversation or how much conversation you're hearing from colleagues and others here about like, when you acknowledge that AI has been used in the creation of content of, of an ad.
Speaker C: Okay. So I was with a bunch of CMOs and CEOs yesterday and the conversation was you have to acknowledge it. Because if you don't acknowledge it and it gets discovered, your customers feel like you were trying to deceive them. Everyone will forgive an honest mistake. No one will forgive deliberate deception. And so it's so important that you are transparent about when you're using AI. And by the way, when you have to become transparent, it forces you to put in the right checks and balances. M that allows you to have the guardrails that minimize your chance of making bad choices, like obvious bad choices.
Speaker A: You are at an organization where you are marketing AI, uh, as a tool for folks, but people are suspicious in a way, maybe even more than they were last year at this time. How does that impact how you think about marketing, what you're delivering?
Speaker C: One of our core values as a company is to be trusted. And so when we talk about our AI, we want to make sure that our customers understand what it is, what it isn't, how it got composed. We actually have these cards called AI transparency cards. They're like little nutrition cards. You know, when you buy cereal, your label, your label, we have that. So you can actually look and say, oh, what went into this product or tool? What does this AI mean? How will I use it? It gives you that information, these AI transparency cards. And that has been a great way to foster trust with our customers. Now, I'm not saying we're perfect, right? Every company, we're learning and we're growing, but we are so committed to doing everything we can to be trusted.
Speaker A: Do you personally use AI differently than you did like, uh, a year ago?
Speaker C: I do. I do use it differently. I would say the biggest thing for me has been understanding that I'm not taking an exist existing process and just layering AI on top of it. I'm actually taking a step back and saying, what is the outcome I'm trying to accomplish? And then how do I redesign the system to get me to deliver not just efficiency, but effectiveness of that outcome? And then how do I integrate humans and machines to do that to the best of my ability? And that has helped me a tremendous amount. In fact, I believe that we are in the era of system and design thinking, and it's not in conflict with creativity. Actually, designing and creating systems gives you more space to be creative. It allows you to lean into creativity in a way that you couldn't without a clear system. And I'll say, you know, to be a thought leader, you gotta have a thought radical idea. But it's so important for me. I never want to originate my idea through AI. I am not going to become a secondhand thinker. I am a firsthand thinker. And that discipline of saying, I'm going to come up with my point of view, um, and my perspective now I might implement AI As I develop it, as I evolve it. But the original idea and thinking and thought is mine.
Speaker A: There's this, uh, sort of fracas in South Korea. Oh yeah, for Starbucks. Right. They built an ad campaign around a sort of infamous massacre and I kind of blew back on them. And they had to close stores and do a day of training and whatever and they sort of semi blamed it on AI. Was this like AI leading the charge in a way that it shouldn't?
Speaker C: First of all, I just have to say it was a really, um, unfortunate incident for us in America. It would be the equivalent of a campaign almost around 9, 11 or something like that. And to me, this wasn't so much an AI problem as it was a system problem. There were not the right checks and balances. You have to think through how many people were involved in reviewing and approving this that we got to this place. Because you can't tell me it was just like an agent all the way through.
Speaker A: It's not that we're moving so fast that we're not checking.
Speaker C: There must have been, uh, opportunities. And if we didn't have that, then, well, that's a failure of system design. And I think it's a lesson to all of us because we are all going in real time. And sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. There is not a, it's not velocity versus governance. It is velocity and governance. And that is the power of how we win in this AI AH era.
Speaker A: Because if we just move without that governance, we may move into some places that are uncomfortable.
Speaker C: We might go to places we don't need to go. You know, there are journeys we don't need to take.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker A: How much conversation are you seeing around, uh, AI and search and sort of how that changes where you find people, where you connect with people.
Speaker C: I was having a conversation actually with the 21st century brand. They're one of the brand strategy firms and they've come up with a framework that I really love. I think the way they articulated is brilliant, which is priming and proving. So you have to actually prime people to, to, to love what you are about to offer. You want to prime the audience. And that's where you're addressing your total addressable market, your service, your serviceable, addressable market. But then also you need to prove it's not about what you say about you anymore. That 30 year old on Reddit who just had their little keyboard warrior moment and you know, wrote a scathing review of your brand, now all of a sudden can really shape perception of how you're seen.
Speaker A: Well, and that may. The AI may pull that out.
Speaker C: Exactly. You have to prove it to the. So it's a combination of priming people and proving to LLMs, and the best systems are, ah, bringing these two in concert and working together. And everyone is trying to figure out, what do we do, how do we do it, how do we do it in B2C? How do we do it in B2B? In fact, one of the CMOs was asking me, she said, do you think this is as relevant for us in B2B? I said, absolutely. B2B is a much more emotional purchase, emotional investment. You're spending hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, tens of millions, hundreds of millions in some places. Millions, billions of dollars on a technology investment. You want to be sure that that is happening. And I can't tell you the amount of use cases now about purchases that began with the CEO, cio, cto, CMO doing an LLM search. You know, they're just having coffee on the plane, they pull up quad, they get a short list, and all of a sudden that becomes the shortlist that goes to the RFP process. Wow, it's amazing. This is now the reality of a B2B buyer's journey.
Speaker A: The, uh, way to influence those decisions. No one's quite sure how to do that yet.
Speaker C: You know, I think no one's sure we're figuring it out, but I think what we're learning is the importance of, you know, cultural relevancy and authority. That has never been more important than it is today. You have to be in the conversation, so you have to be culturally relevant for your category, for your space, and you have to be loved and advocated for by third parties. So comms is storming, I was gonna
Speaker A: say, because earned media suddenly becomes more important.
Speaker C: Era of the earned media.
Speaker A: Right, because the LLM is gonna discount the owned media in a different way.
Speaker C: They do, they discount the owned media and they place more emphasis on what others are saying about you. So earned media community has never been more important. Almost. Um, every CMO I am talking to now is thinking through their YouTube strategy and their strategy with regards to influencers. You see marketers saying, hey, I'm turning my whole, a large part of my budget to creators and influencers because everyone is realizing, I gotta have someone with authority validate me.
Speaker A: There is a difference in impact between you telling your own story and someone else telling a story about you. So what kind of stories are landing most right now? Unexpected brand collaborations, a $350 million investment in humanity. A SpaceX sized IPO. We'll talk about all that and more after the break. Stay with us. Here's something that doesn't get talked about enough. Canceling a trip is never as painless as promised. The fees add up and the time, chasing refunds and waiting on hold for confirmation, that adds up too. Enjin's Flex Pro subscription takes care of all that change. Or cancel any booking up to the last minute with no fees and no questions. Last year, businesses got back $160 million on travel they didn't end up taking. Thanks to Enjin. Enjin is an all in one travel and spend platform. Hotels, cars, group trips and a corporate card. Engine X with no annual fee, no credit check and up to 10% back on travel with no contracts. Free to start. Head, uh to engine.com rapid to make your team travel seamless and secure. Nginx Visa commercial cards are issued by Fifth Third Bank. NA member FDIC. Before the break, Autodesk's Dora Tresidder talked about this year's Cannes lions and changes in the world of advertising and marketing. Now we talk about the brand of elon Musk post SpaceX IPO. Why Autodesk is investing $350 million in the next generation of workers and more. Let's dive back in here at can. There was a time where all of the activations were ad agents. Yes, right. And then they became the tech platforms and you have meta here and you have Google here, whatever. But we don't have yet OpenAI and Anthropic sort of owning the beach yet.
Speaker C: I think it's just a matter of time because they're starting to activate. There's always a scouting. I think they're in their little scouting time. They're coming in, they're checking out, they're saying, what are those people doing there with all that and sunshine? Right. They're scouting to figure out how they want to show up. But I think it is inevitable. It was interesting to see databricks. If I had told you a company like databricks would be at Cannes 10 years ago, you would have been like, how much rose have you had? And I'd be like, none. I just drink sparkling water. But, you know, you wouldn't have anticipated that. We're seeing that change happen and I think this is the trend we're going to continue to see.
Speaker A: The other trend that seems to continue to grow here in a way that almost surprises me is the creator, uh, economy part of it. I sort of thought like, is it gonna peak? Or, uh, you Know, are we over the top? Not close. Right.
Speaker C: You can't even blink without seeing a creator. And I think that this speaks to the power of the authority and the third party community movement. Right. You can't design your campaign, your growth plans, your marketing strategy without thinking through.
Speaker A: So do you think of creators as earned media or are they like collaborators?
Speaker C: I think that they are both actually. I think some creators have built such a following that they are uh, a media channel unto themselves. And there are creators who are more in the collaboration space. So it's both, uh, some actually do both and some land more squarely in one of the two.
Speaker A: And calling it just the creator economy isn't really doing service to the variety that's, that's available.
Speaker C: It's absolutely not doing service. And in fact what I would say is, you know, that collaboration is no longer just a distribution strategy. It should be a design principle from the beginning.
Speaker A: M. I mean brand collaborations, we see a lot of them around, right? We talked about, um, Adidas has a bunch of different brand collaborations. Um, Absolut Vodka did one with Tabasco. I don't know if there are any that particularly uh, resonate for you or that you're hearing people talk about.
Speaker C: Well, the Adidas and Oasis, right? Everyone is talking about this because it's been a while since you had two Grand Prix in one day. Oasis have been long term fans of Adidas.
Speaker A: It's a collaboration that sort of, um, each side reinforces the other in the same way that like, and it's mutually
Speaker C: beneficial because it was great for Oasis too. It made them cool, right? It made them show up in interesting ways. It provided merch for their fans that was differentiated, unhealthy, unexpected. It allowed them to surprise and delight their community. The best partnerships are mutually beneficial.
Speaker A: And so I'm curious, like there's a, there's a collaboration between Swatch and Piaget, right. Which you, uh, know did well. But it's also sort of a high end brand with a more mass market brand. Is that a different kind of risk?
Speaker C: It's a different kind of risk. You have to be confident and understand what your customer is looking for. There are certain high end customers. Like I don't really think Hermes would ever say, hey, here's a Birkin, you know, collab, because it would compromise the integrity of the brand. So I think you have to figure out, hey, what am I trying to accomplish and what makes sense. When you're a brand trying to go down market, sometimes you have to think about new ways to reach your down market customers, but you do not want to compromise the business from your upmarket customers. You want to make sure that.
Speaker A: And that's a tricky dance.
Speaker C: It's a very tricky dance. It's a fine line and you don't want to cross over. Right.
Speaker A: And I guess sometimes the luxury brands, they're just trying to stay relevant so they have to sort of reach sometimes
Speaker C: to places, but usually they'll do it as a limited capsule. Right. To find a way to put a boundary around it and keep it in that box, if you will, to preserve the rest of the brand story.
Speaker A: Right. To get into culture a little bit more, but to maintain their, their status.
Speaker C: Exactly. Get into culture without losing the fight.
Speaker A: Are there other um, campaigns and things that you're hearing people talk about, you're talking about that you're seeing here that you know.
Speaker C: So I really loved the Delonghi, um, coffee, uh, campaign. I thought it was beautiful. Right. So they took a coffee maker and they redesigned in an actual coffee shop. It was bringing the element of appreciation of the coffee shop experience into your home. And that's, you know, every coffee drink, My husband drinks a lot of coffee and the first thing he does when he gets up is goes to his, he loves that coffee machine, you know, starts to make his coffee and, and to be able to do that in a machine that reminds you of your favorite coffee shop, there's a power to that. Obviously. I'm also going to say they're an Autodesk customer. So I, I, I, I, I love that. And they won awards. Right. And part of what I think grabbed a lot of people's hearts and minds is the power of craft making. Bringing the outside in in an authentic way. The industry craft that is sometimes a lost start in the age of AI.
Speaker A: The role of the CMO is, it's changing in some organizations. I mean there have been some studies I've seen recently that CMOs are, are, are more relied on on CEOs than they used to be for high level decisions. Where should CMOs sit in sort of business strategy?
Speaker C: I think if you're a business that wants to be successful, your CMO should have a real seat at the table and should be empowered to win because you are absolutely seeing the best companies are treating their CMOs like strategic partners. They're not seeing them just as the marketers, but they're seeing them as enterprise wide business leaders. And you are seeing that path from, from CMO to CEO. It is happening at a much faster clip than it was happening even just five Years ago. And the reason for that is because as uh, CMOs, our remits are so broad.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker C: We have to think about everything from the events and experiences and the activation at can all the way to the go to market strategy, the revenue accountability, the pipeline creation to the technology stack. We are on the forefront of the implementation of AI internally. And so. So having a CMO have a real seat at the table gives the C suite, the company a competitive edge and advantage.
Speaker A: I mean what has tended to happen sometimes is when, uh, things don't go well for a business, revenue wise, the CMO gets blamed and when things do go well, the business unit takes the credit for it. Right. How important is it for CMOs to have control of their own source of revenue for the business?
Speaker C: I think it's really important to have that revenue accountability, um, especially for areas of the business. When marketing is in first chair, like digital business, like for example at Autodesk, I oversee our digital business. It makes sense that it sits with me because it begins and ends with marketing.
Speaker A: So you, you are in charge of delivering revenue?
Speaker C: Yes, I have a line, I have to deliver. I'm in charge of delivering revenue for our digital business, our e commerce business, the Autodesk store. And know most of my CMO friends are in a similar situation. Accountability and ownership have to go hand in hand.
Speaker A: Mhm.
Speaker C: And businesses are seeing that separating the two do not set the company up for success. So really getting that done is important. And the point you made about when things go wrong, marketing gets blamed. But when it's all going well, nobody's talking to us. It's a real point. And I'm going to, I'm going to sit with it for a minute. You know, we have, we're in Cannes, we have air conditioning, we've got some time. So we're gonna talk about this for a minute because I often say marketing is like plumbing. When was the last time, Bob, you went to your house and you were like, ooh, I love my plumbing. You're not thinking about your plumbing on the date.
Speaker A: Only when the pipes break.
Speaker C: Only when the pipes break. But I bet when the pipe breaks you're thinking about it until it gets fixed, right? Yes.
Speaker A: Yes.
Speaker C: You can't exist in a house.
Speaker A: I need that plumber down.
Speaker C: You need that plumber now. And that is the reality for a lot of markets. Marketing, it's often invisible, it's behind the scenes, it's not top of mind. But when one little thing goes wrong.
Speaker A: Mhm.
Speaker C: It's the topic of conversation and so our job actually as cmos is to market the marketing. We have to make sure that internally and externally, the value of marketing is understood. And you see it all the time now, right? Your reputation matters as a business.
Speaker A: Yes.
Speaker C: Customers will switch like that from one service to the other because of the trust in the brand, in the business, and the story that is being told by a powerful marketing engine.
Speaker A: And I feel like the story of a business is its strategy, and the strategy has to be a story. Like all of those things have to fit together.
Speaker C: Absolutely. It has to be cohesive. That is how you build a house that stands the test of time.
Speaker A: So we started by talking about the Knicks as a brand. I want to ask you about a different brand, um, and your take on Elon Musk as a brand, because to me, a lot of the buying of SpaceX is about him as opposed to being about the business.
Speaker C: I mean, we definitely have to say it's cult of personality. That is a lot of what they're betting on. Betting on him, his strategy, his vision. That is increasingly becoming the name of the game. M. Especially in technology, the people behind the products have never been more important than they are today. And so that almost shapes the company's strategy. It shapes the perception of the product. People are willing to put up with a lot when they believe in the personality. You know, they're willing to believe things that almost seem unbelievable to a logical person thinking about fundamentals, because they're not betting on reality, they're betting on their platform perception of potential based on the personality.
Speaker A: But there's. There's more. I. I don't want to say there's pressure, but there's a model for having your CEO be like a celebrity, like, uh, a public celebrity.
Speaker C: It is, it is, it is. It is definitely the. Especially for these large tech brands, right? The CEO personality, the CEO being a celebrity, the CEO being out there. Not just the CEO. Senior leaders on the executive team building their cult following is a core part to driving growth. And look, Elon Musk is having a good year, right? He's having a good year. And I think that, you know, regardless of what anyone thinks, the SpaceX IPO was a success. Now, what will happen in the long run, we're all going to wait and see. Let's grab our popcorn and see what happens.
Speaker A: We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Well, um, as always, this is great. As we, as we look to the year ahead, are there themes or lessons or guidance that you're most focused on right now? Yes.
Speaker C: You know, I'm really focusing on investing in the people. There's not been enough conversations about how we are investing in the next generation. Let's take a minute and just reflect on what's happening. A lot of students just graduated. I went to a few graduation celebrations. You saw booing happen in certain instances because these students are walking into the toughest job market. And at the same time, like you said, trillionaires are being minted.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: At Autodesk, we think about this deeply. We actually just committed $350 million to invest in preparing the next generation for jobs in this AI era. Over three years. We're going to be doing the work to provide access to technology training and credentialing. And I would say that, that as a company, really think about your people internally and externally. How are you investing to help them win? Because when you do that, you're going to set yourself up for success in the long run and win that long game. Right. You'll be the Knicks.
Speaker A: Well, Dara, as always, great to talk with you. Thank you.
Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker A: Conversations with Dara leave me both joyful and reflective. What stuck with me most this time about the lesson she shared was the through line of intentionality. The speed of technology today makes it easier than ever to be reactive. And that lack of intentionality can lead to oversights and a creeping staleness. Sure, it takes extra effort to carve out the time and focus to be intentional and none of us have enough time. But we can all taste the difference between a meal that's been lovingly prepared and one that's rushed out in ultra process. So my advice, make the time. Don't automate away the critical moments. We need to consider things. As Dara says, you can't be a thought leader without a thought. I'm, um, Bob Safian. Thanks for listening. Look, booking business travel is a pain. Most companies are searching dozens of tabs to compare prices and managing spreadsheets, emails, slacks, text messages just to book a simple trip. And if you've got to coordinate a group, that's 50 to 70 hours of your life gone, Engine just handles it. Hotels, flights, cars, group bookings, everything in one spot with travel policies and real time analytics too. And here's the thing. They've got deals that you'd never get on your own. Last year, Enjin customers saved over $300 million. Enjin is free to use. No contracts or BS. Plus you earn rewards that actually add up. You can double dip earn from your favorite chains and get points to use on Enjin head uh to enjin.comrapy and check it out. 33,000 businesses loving and you will too. That's engine.com rapid rapid response is a Wait. What? Original I'm Bob Safian, our executive producer is Eve Trow. Our senior producer is Alex Morris and our associate producer is Masha Makutonina. Mixing and mastering by Aaron Bastinelli and Brian Pugh. Our theme music is by Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is Lital Milad. For more, visit rapidresponseshow.com.
Speaker C: Uh, humans will never be more intelligent than AI.
Speaker A: There's going to be two types of companies those are great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't. How do we build a future that is human centered?
Speaker D: I'm Rana El Kalyubi and on my podcast Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone. Every week I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives. Find Pioneers of AI wherever you tune in.
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