Ryan Sullivan shares his take on brand building over performance marketing, the role of human intuition alongside AI, and why continuous experimentation and small activations drive
growth.
Do you prefer brand awareness or performance? What is your preferred marketing channel? In this series, we get to know past Insider Summit attendees and
ask about their preferences.
Ryan Sullivan, CMO, GoodRx:
Brand Building or Performance
Marketing: Brand building. If you rely only on performance marketing to drive sales, without a strong brand behind it, you’re missing out on repeat business and
long-term growth that make revenue more stable and valuable.
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Memorable Characters or Celebrity
Endorsements: Memorable characters. Absent situations where the celebrity and the brand are one, like Air Jordan shoes, memorable characters create distinctive continuity
for a brand that need not be leased. We created The Savings Wrangler for this reason.
Entertainment-led
Storytelling or Information-led Storytelling: Both. Storytelling needs to be memorable, and the nature of the story dictates if an information or entertainment-led strategy
is best. If it’s not memorable, it won’t contribute much to your marketing.
AI-Powered
Optimization or Human Intuition: Intuition. AI offers leverage and scale to free humans to explore new ideas and help decide what’s worth doing in the first place. Even
before new AI interfaces and modern computing power, seasoned leaders used technology to hone and support intuition.
One Hero Campaign or Many Small Activations: Many small activations. Momentum comes from showing up consistently, not just once. Campaigns serve as
accent marks and to build the elements you run over time.
Experimentation Culture or Proven
Playbooks: Both. “Proven” playbooks are the compiled results of prior experimentation.
Unlimited budget or Perfect Targeting: Unlimited budget. If I can consistently reach everyone at regular intervals, there’d be no
reason to target!
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