• by Alan Hart , April 30, 2019

This week on the “Marketing Today” podcast, I speak with  Ty Shay, global CMO for Norton Lifelock, which was acquired by Symantec two years ago for $2.3 billion.

Shay’s career as a marketer began somewhat unconventionally. After earning a degree in accounting and serving a brief stint in investment banking, Shay returned to the classroom for a Stanford MBA. After cutting his marketing teeth at Procter & Gamble, Shay subsequently served in chief marketing roles with SquareTrade and Hotwire before joining LifeLock. He also currently serves on the board of directors for the Ad Council.

During the course of our discussion, Shay explains his concept of marketing jiujitsu and why, sometimes, it’s a good idea to “turn off” your marketing efforts. He also talks at length about performance storytelling and how it can be successfully implemented — and the impact of losing his father at an early age.

Shay also offered his perspective on the future of marketing: “I think it’s going to continue to be about accountability,” he said.  “I think it’s going to continue to be where, if you don’t really have first-party data and can’t really own your data and your customers', I think you’re going to be in trouble. So I think you’ll continue to see that evolution of marketers.  Really, I think, the successful marketers will have to be able not to choose between being a brand marketer or a performance marketer. I think you’ll have to be a performance storyteller going forward.”

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:

• Ty Shay’s unconventional path to a career in marketing. (1:23)

• “Let’s just turn the marketing off and see what happens” -- Shay explains the secrets of marketing jiujitsu. (5:21)

• Is Ty Shay a marketing Jedi? (12:57)

• “I thought the story they were telling was overly complex” — Shay on how he used performance storytelling when he joined LifeLock. (18:17)

• The three-step framework of performance storytelling. (22:20)

• The two core competencies necessary for successful performance storytelling. (25:47)

• Shay embraces a growth mindset. (37:44)

• Just Do It: Shay admires Nike’s work featuring Colin Kaepernick. And he thinks Southwest Airlines and Geico are two brands that “really know who they are.” (42:45)

Links to other resources mentioned: "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success"(book mentioned)