CMO Spotlight | Brandon Coleman III - Dave & Buster's
The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO, Joe Koufman, virtually sat down with Brandon Coleman III, the Chief Marketing Officer for Dave & Buster’s. In the interview, Coleman shares how several marketing campaigns taught him the power of empathy, how being open to learning is the key to growth, and how specificity gets results.
“Marketers should focus on the experience they’re delivering [because] those experiences create beliefs, which create thoughts, which create actions.”
Read the recap + watch the full video below
Q1 | Is there any advice you’d like to share?
Coleman shared that there are two things that you can control: your attitude and your effort.
He explained that you shouldn’t let challenges control your attitude. “You can control your attitude. Whether it rains or whether the sun is shining – you control your attitude. You take that positive attitude because nobody ever promised that this was going to be easy or that this wasn't going to come with any lumps.”
Q2 | What is your superpower?
“I am not a marketer first...I am a business person first and then a marketer second. That differentiation has enabled me to really work well with CEOs.”
Coleman is a communicator and bridge between the C-suite roles, identifying similar priorities and overall company objectives. He stated, “I really orient myself towards the business: metrics, the business KPIs, the EBITA, the revenue, the PnL, and understanding that you need a lot of depth to then find creative solutions for marketing to drive value.”
Leading from a data driven perspective has led him to work closely with CEOs. He also believes that this is why CMOs are promoted to CEO roles. “They're not just talking about how many likes or how many people shared. You have to find the right balance of the metrics that marketers talk about and the metrics that the CEO and CFO talk about.”
“Be specific about your goals and be accountable for your results.”
Q3 | What values are important to you?
Coleman values people with integrity who are driven. He also appreciates people who are vulnerable, smart, and kind who can also “create a fun environment with their team members.”
Q4 | What lessons have you learned from implementing different campaigns?
Over the course of his career, Coleman has worked on a number of campaigns that were filled with lessons. The lessons that have stuck with him throughout his career are:
Have empathy
Know what’s meaningful to customers
Listen to your customers
Whether a campaign has succeeded or been reworked, Coleman’s experiences have shaped him into a better leader and marketer.
Q5 | Do you have any advice for leaders?
“Open yourself up. Empty your cup and open yourself up to new inputs and new learnings.”
Coleman added, “As soon as you say ‘I know everything,’ you've stopped growing.”
It’s important to be vulnerable and willing to learn. Coleman said that stagnation in the workplace is incredibly challenging, especially with how quickly the world is changing. “You've got to have a willingness to say, ‘I don't understand that. Walk me through that. What does that acronym mean? Tell me more.’ Because you can learn new things that get you excited about where the world's going.”
For more marketing leadership advice, and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Brandon Coleman III, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
Watch the full interview to the right.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, spoke with Ben Boyd, the Chief Communications Officer at Chobani, about designing your own career path, the importance of empathy and understanding as a leader, and more.