{"id":8098800,"date":"2025-09-11T10:57:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/?post_type=aa_video&p=8098800"},"modified":"2025-09-29T12:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:32:01","slug":"agility-in-marketing","status":"publish","type":"aa_video","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/videos\/agility-in-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Agility in Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is an AI summary of the event.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode of the\u00a0Reimagining Agility<\/a><\/em>\u00a0podcast\u2014hosted by Margareth Carneiro (Agile Alliance)\u2014featured Jeff DesJardins (CEO, Visual Capitalist) and Bruna Soboslay (ex-Gartner advisor to CMOs). They explored how CEOs and marketing leaders use business agility and agile marketing to adapt quickly, prioritize outcomes, and harness AI responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agility from the Executive View<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jeff traced Visual Capitalist\u2019s journey from agency\/client marketing roots to a global data-storytelling brand. The company scaled by iterating fast: put work in front of audiences, listen hard, and pivot toward what resonates. Intuition improves with experience, but MVPs and experiments reduce risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Separates Real Agile from \u201cBoard-on-the-Wall\u201d Agile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bruna noted many firms adopt artifacts (Kanban boards) without changing how decisions are made. High-performing orgs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Align strategy and cycles:<\/strong> Rapid iterations tied to business outcomes, not speed for its own sake.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Empower cross-functional pods:<\/strong> Small, autonomous, accountable teams that can test, learn, and pivot without top-down bottlenecks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Optimize by evidence:<\/strong> Prioritize ruthlessly using data; retire vanity KPIs and outdated approval chains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Building and Testing a Platform (Vno)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Jeff detailed Vno (VRO), a platform for finding and sharing trustworthy data visualizations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Demand test:<\/strong> A record Kickstarter from the Visual Capitalist audience validated user appetite.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Creator test:<\/strong> A low-tech \u201cwe\u2019ll pay and publish\u201d program drew hundreds of contributors and ~250\u2013300 visuals, proving supply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • MVP first, then iterate:<\/strong> Ship a bare-bones product, add features only when they create value for users and creators. Today ~300k monthly users with runway to grow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Metrics That Matter for Agile Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Bruna\u2019s outcome-oriented stack:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • North Star:<\/strong> Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Customer focus:<\/strong> Retention rate and share of wallet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Execution health:<\/strong> Cycle time (idea\u2192live), experiment success rate, efficiency\/velocity for operational predictability.
        Shifting from activity (impressions, volume) to outcomes often requires both a mindset change and<\/strong> upgrades to the martech stack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        AI: Strategic Ally and External Threat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Jeff sees AI as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • External risk:<\/strong> Distribution is shifting (search\/social dynamics), threatening traditional traffic models\u2014hence the bet on owning platforms like Vno.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • External tailwind:<\/strong> Easier creation means more high-quality visuals to aggregate and surface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Internal accelerator:<\/strong> A four-month experimentation phase invites teams to pilot AI in research, data prep, templated design, and workflow orchestration\u2014aiming for editor-in-the-loop systems that speed discovery and production while preserving human judgment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Gartner\u2019s Four Pillars in Practical Terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Bruna translated the framework into working guidance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Disciplined approach:<\/strong> Sprints, standups, retros\u2014structure that increases clarity and accountability (agile \u2260 chaos).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • T-shaped teams:<\/strong> Deep expertise with broad collaboration across content, analytics, tech, and strategy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Strategic partnerships:<\/strong> Agencies\/vendors integrated into the same cadence, KPIs, and co-creation rituals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Enabling tech:<\/strong> Tools like Slack\/Miro as the backbone for transparency and speed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            How to Start the Shift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

            Begin with one pilot team, one hypothesis, one sprint<\/strong>. Scale what works; sunset what doesn\u2019t. Use \u201cwar room\u201d pods\/COEs to shorten feedback loops and convert learning into outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Final Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            • Be servant to evidence, not ego.<\/strong> Product-market fit is discovered by listening to customers and iterating.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Outcomes over outputs.<\/strong> Tie cycles to CLTV, retention, and share of wallet; track cycle time and experiment yield.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Own your platform, shorten your loops.<\/strong> Reduce platform dependency risks and keep experiments close to users.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • AI is a force multiplier\u2014if you pilot deliberately.<\/strong> Keep humans in the loop, codify what works, and evolve the workflow.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Agility = doing what matters, faster.<\/strong> Not more activity\u2014more validated impact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              This session explored how companies can scale Agile marketing by embedding agility into culture, focusing on outcome-based metrics like customer lifetime value, leveraging experimentation and AI, and fostering disciplined, cross-functional teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8033092,"featured_media":8098771,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[904,883],"tags":[2209],"video_type":[755],"video_aud_level":[],"content_source":[],"class_list":["post-8098800","aa_video","type-aa_video","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-mindset","tag-reimagining-agility","video_type-podcast"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_video\/8098800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_video"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aa_video"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8033092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8098800"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_video\/8098800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8099084,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_video\/8098800\/revisions\/8099084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8098771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8098800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8098800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8098800"},{"taxonomy":"video_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/video_type?post=8098800"},{"taxonomy":"video_aud_level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/video_aud_level?post=8098800"},{"taxonomy":"content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_source?post=8098800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}