CMO Spotlight | DeLu Jackson - ADT
The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, spoke with DeLu Jackson, the EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of ADT, about the power of collaboration, harnessing different communication styles, Apple’s innovation, and more.
“I realized that I really was the one that had to adapt. I had to understand my team, my peers, and my partners as much as I expected them to understand me.”
WATCH + READ THE RECAP BELOW (SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW)
Q1 | What advice would you share with marketers?
Jackson is all about understanding people and advising people to understand the different types of communicators.
Not everyone is going to communicate the same or adapt to you as a leader. He stated, “As I was going through my leadership journey, particularly when I got global, I realized that I really was the one that had to adapt. I had to understand my team, my peers, and my partners as much as I expected them to understand me.”
He chews on the thought, “What if we spend as much time understanding our teams and our people as we do understanding consumers?” We spend so much time investing in our teams, when that same energy could be poured into our teams to understand what makes them most effective.
“Understanding them almost as end users was really important,” Jackson shared.
Q2 | What is your superpower?
“Connecting dots. The ability to process quickly and understand the interrelated nature of different things.”
Jackson’s job involves many moving parts and learning how to juggle, honor, and execute them is a skill. “There are so many puts and takes. I found that, and I think it goes back to my consulting days, I had to process lots of information, put it together, make sense of it, and then re-communicate that back out to have an impact on my businesses.”
Q3 | What values are important to you?
“The true nature of collaboration and team peer elevation or peer support,” is super important to Jackson. Instead of looking to leaders for all the answers, Jackson believes that peers can be a really big resource for feedback and guidance. “What's really important for me is that they're working together to help each other make progress quickly. Particularly as they go up in level, that's more and more important.” Relying on your teammates and learning from one another is crucial for growth, and creating an environment where that is encouraged and valued is beneficial.
Q4 | What is a quote that inspires you?
Jackson quoted Pulp Fiction, “If my answers frighten you, you should cease asking scary questions.”
This quote reminds him of his career as a transformer, experiencing a range of organizations and circumstances where he came across big questions and needed to balance the truth with comfort to get the audience on his side.
He always prioritized making sure that the audience understood it, felt comfortable with it, and can go on that journey.
Q5 | What brand do you admire?
"It's cliche, but I really like Apple." Jackson’s admiration stems from Apple’s unwavering principles and innovative philosophies. From digital development to technology, HDMI design, and human-machine interface, Apple's holistic approach and dedication to consumers that is evident in every aspect of their product development left an impression on Jackson. This seamless integration of innovation and user experience truly sets Apple apart in his eyes.
Q6 | Tell us about an impactful marketing campaign.
Jackson recalled Audi's transformative reimagining of their brand. "I thought the campaigns they ran were really unique," he noted. The standout was a Super Bowl launch for the R8, cleverly referencing "The Godfather." The campaign juxtaposed old luxury with new luxury, featuring a dramatic reveal of an old luxury car grill. This campaign insightfully captured consumers' desire to reimagine the luxury space, highlighting Audi's role as a bold challenger. Jackson praised the campaign's clever work, engaging storytelling, and seamless integration of brand, product, and transformation. "It was probably why it stuck with me," he admitted, marking a significant shift from digital marketing to a broader marketing landscape for him.
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 DeLu Jackson, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
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