How not to be boring in B2B, AI agents and lessons from F1 - Colin Fleming

Colin Fleming is a returning guest, and the CMO of ServiceNow, a B2B company ripping up the B2B marketing playbook. It’s not the first time Colin has done this, having previously spent 13 years at Salesforce turning them into a brand to be reckoned with. In this episode I talk to Colin about their new brand campaign with Idris Elba, what the future of marketing with AI looks like and the biggest lessons a CMO can take from a former F1 racing driver.

00:00 - Intro
01:36 - What is ServiceNow?
03:03 - How well is the marketing role understood at ServiceNow
04:26 - How to position marketing for leadership
05:38 - How are B2B buying decisions made
07:49 - Dealing with losing 50% lead volume
10:22 - How Colin is building the ServiceNow brand?
12:00 - ServiceNow’s use of distinctive assets
14:21 - ServiceNow’s ads with Idris Elba
17:07 - Understanding Agentic AI
19:47 - AI agents use cases
20:37 - Why we shouldn’t fear AI
23:10 - The risks of AI agents
24:12 - How to make AI agents work together
26:04 - What skills will CMOs need to win in the next 5-10 years?
27:20 - 5 things B2B marketers are wrong about
29:10 - How ServiceNow are using personalisation at scale
31:53 - Why the data is so important for AI
34:13 - How Colin went from F1 to CMO
35:04 - Lessons from being a racing driver to marketing
36:06 - ServiceNow’s partnership with Aston Martin
37:43 - Most surprising lesson for Colin since he left Salesforce