Brad MacAfee, CEO of Porter Novelli on Purpose and Evolving Client Needs

On our first episode of Marketing Upheaval, CEO of Porter Novelli, Brad MacAfee joins us to talk about the role of a global purpose consultancy, new technologies in marketing and how millennials are changing corporate culture.

Marketing Upheaval is created and produced by Creative Outhouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit us at www.creativeouthouse.com.

Transcript:

Rudy:               Hey, this is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse, and my guest this episode of Marketing Upheaval is Brad MacAfee, who's the CEO of Porter Novelli. Brad and I talked about the role of a CEO, and Porter Novelli's positioning as a purpose consultancy. We also spent some time talking about how to staff in this era when clients' needs are constantly evolving. How do you prepare for that? Well, listen in. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Earcon:             You're listening to Marketing Upheaval, from Creative Outhouse.

Rudy:               Hey, everyone. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval. With me is Brad MacAfee, the CEO of Porter Novelli. Now, Brad and I have known each other for a long time, and I've seen lead a practice, lead an office, be the head of PN North America, and now as a CEO of a global communications firm. If anyone has all the answers, it's him.

Brad:                I'm not sure about that, but it's great to be here with you, Rudy.

Rudy:               Thanks, Brad. I know you've had a lot of roles within PN, and you've been head of practice, you've been an MD, you've been a head of North America, and now the CEO. What is the primary role of a CEO? What does a CEO of a global communications company do? What's your biggest responsibility, you think?

Brad:                Yeah. Well, it's interesting because I don't think it's too complicated, really. I think it's about setting vision and inspiring, motivating those around you to embrace the vision, what you're trying to do as an organization, set that tone where we're going. I also believe that CEO has to be about building out the culture, and making sure that everyone lives the culture. I mean, lives it. If you have a set of values, how do you show up as an organization? In my role, I feel like I need to be the one who is an illustration of what it looks like to live those values each and every day.

Brad:                If Porter Novelli is a global purpose consultancy, as, how do I show up and demonstrate that as well, but truly, when you have such a great team, I think it's about setting vision and creating the culture, and then trying to inspire and motivate everyone to be as enthusiastic about that where we're going as I am.

Rudy:               Tell me about that, the global purpose consultancy. Porter Novelli I know has a history of, before it was called purpose, it was called social marketing, I guess.

Brad:                Yeah.

Rudy:               It was about helping clients that sought to improve the lives of the people they served. Tell me a little bit about Porter Novelli's evolution to that, calling yourself a purpose consultancy.

Brad:                Yeah. Well, first off, thank you for that, because I will say that when you look at at the evolution, yeah, it was about social marketing or behavior change, and a lot of it was really focused in on that behavior change around a lot of public health or heal

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