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Lauren Sallata is CMO at Ricoh, an information management and digital services company. Earlier in her career, Sallata held senior marketing roles at companies including Panasonic and Xerox.
How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in marketing? I am a builder. I have spent my career building teams, building bridges between functional areas within an organization, building technology stacks, and, of course, building stories that change the company narrative and build customer loyalty.
What’s your favorite ad campaign? How can you go wrong if you pair Cookie Monster with Apple? And it is brilliant that the outtakes took on a life of their own—talk about extending your media buy. It goes back to the iPhone 6s with Siri, but the creativity and optimism are ageless. Watch it and see if you don’t say “Siri, you know me!” or “Me ok. Me trooper.” Still shareable today.
One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile? Well, I am guessing you can’t gather from LinkedIn that I am a band promoter! I flex my marketing skills to run social media and a website for my son and his band, Sunrise Cries.
What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? The marketing trend that I am most optimistic about is account-based marketing. While not technically a trend because it has been kicking around for quite a while, the adoption of it in certain segments of B2B has been slower than others. It is a true game-changer because it requires deep collaboration between sales and marketing. At Ricoh, it is the necessary next step after forming the first vertical industry marketing teams. Now each team can work closely with their corresponding sales team on developing relationships, improving reputation, and driving revenue within key accounts.
Least optimistic? I can’t say that there is anything I would call out. Marketing is all about testing and learning, so while there are some strategies and tactics that don’t work for us, they may be home runs for others. We have to keep an open mind to it all.
What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? I get a lot out of Radical Candor—the podcast and book by the same name really align with my leadership style. The core tenet being “the ability to challenge directly while showing that you care personally at the same time.” We use a phrase on my team that is similar: “I want to ask you something, but I’m going to do it with respectful courage.” It signals we disagree on something, but we’re going to have a respectful conversation about it. And it creates a moment where you can have disagreement but still be in collaboration. It’s a very powerful tool.