The real 4 P's of the CMO with Susan O'Brien (Just Eat)

Suso O'Brien, former CMO of Just Eat, joins us to discuss what the role of the modern CMO really looks like. Drawing on her experience helping scale Just Eat and the findings from a new CMO survey conducted with TikTok, Suso argues that today's marketing leaders need a completely different set of priorities. We revisit the growth of Just Eat, the success of the iconic “Did Somebody Say…” campaign, and the role celebrity partnerships and sonic branding played in building the brand. But beyond the advertising, Suso shares why CMOs spend surprisingly little time on the work itself, why internal influence matters more than ever, and why managing expectations may be more important than managing brands. The conversation also explores the lack of marketing representation at the top of organisations, the pressures facing today's CMOs, and Suso's framework for leading people through her five Cs of great management. Timestamps 00:00 - Start 02:52 - The food delivery category in 2016 04:05 - The role marketing played in the growth of Just Eat 05:55 - Does “did somebody say?” translate globally? 07:26 - The celebrity strategy behind Just Eat 09:47 - The power of sonic branding 12:12 - What impact did the campaign have vs other growth levers for Just Eat 14:36 - CMOs rarely spend any time on the work 17:28 - The real 4 Ps of the CMO 19:06 - Discoveries from the CMO survey with TikTok 20:56 - Why the lack of marketing representation at the top of companies is worrying 22:00 - What skills are lacking in an organisation 23:08 - The short term pressure on the CMO 24:34 - How do you make the case to invest in long term 28:20 - The power of compounding creativity 29:04 - The CMO’s role is managing expectations, not brands 30:04 - Why CMO’s need to persuade internal stakeholders 36:10 - The #1 challenge CMO’s face 40:58 - Suso’s hardest challenges as Just Eat CMO 42:40 - Why Suso asked her colleagues for feedback when she left Just Eat 44:17 - 5 C’s of great people management 44:32 - 1: Care 45:30 - 2: Clarity 47:35 - 3. Calling it early 49:12 - 4. The cost of comfort 51:33 - 5: Constant feedback 53:25 - Suso’s advice to future CMOs