Roku’s John Rogers reveals how daily rigor, culture fit and a new programmatic playbook are shaping the future of CTV advertising.

🎙️ Episode summary

In this episode, John Rogers, director of global programmatic partnerships at Roku, takes us inside the systems and leadership principles driving Roku’s programmatic growth. We explore why the old sales playbook no longer works, how Roku balances programmatic and direct sales, and why ambiguity is becoming a competitive advantage in ad tech.

🔑 What you’ll learn

• How Roku uses daily rigor to run programmatic like a high-performance engine

• Why culture fit and curiosity matter more than a big Rolodex

• How to empower teams to make decisions without perfect data

• Why performance CTV is the next big industry shift

• How collaboration across sales channels creates revenue tailwinds

  
  

  💬 Standout quotes

  “Daily rigor is the hill I’ll die on.” — John Rogers
  “If your team doesn’t feel safe taking risks, you’ll never win.” — John Rogers

  
  

  About John Rogers

  John is an ad tech veteran, starting at Advertising.com in 2002. Leading teams through acquisition, hyper growth and even bankruptcy, he has developed an approach to driving client-focused teams to strong results in BD. He has been at Roku for 6 months and is developing their mid-market platform approach, focused on SSPs, DSPs and reseller partnerships.

  
  Connect with John.

  
  

  Visit our website.

  
  

In this episode of OnBase, host Paul Gibson sits down with Soumyajit Dey for a deep dive into why continuous brand building outperforms one-off campaigns every time, and how ABX becomes truly powerful only when rooted in purpose, consistency, and relevance.

Soumyajit shares his journey from early days in experimental digital marketing to leading global campaigns at ThoughtWorks, where he merges brand strategy with buying-group intelligence to drive sustained account growth. He explains why brand versus demand is the wrong debate, why ABX should be an experience, not a tactic, and how companies can orchestrate connected outreach that resonates emotionally and commercially.

From the importance of purpose-led storytelling, to measuring brand influence, to navigating AI and evolving buyer behavior, this episode is a masterclass in modern B2B marketing that actually works.

Key Takeaways

• Brand and demand shouldn’t compete, they should connect

Soumyajit argues that ABX succeeds when it amplifies a strong brand narrative. Disconnected efforts create drop-off; integrated storytelling builds trust that sustains long-term growth.

• ABX is an experience, not a pipeline hack

Effective ABX expands reach inside accounts, engages the full buying group, and nurtures trust over time. It’s a long-term motion, not a magic wand for instant deals.

• The tech stack makes or breaks digital ABX

Integrating engagement scoring, intent, and outreach into a unified ecosystem creates the intelligence needed for relevance and personalization at scale. At ThoughtWorks, this has driven an 18–23% increase in reach.

• Purpose-driven brands outperform

Buyers, especially millennials and Gen Z, make decisions based on values like transparency, ethics, and inclusion. Purpose creates memorability and long-term loyalty.

• Sustained brand building warms the ground for ABX

When a brand shows up consistently through content, social proof, thought leadership, and human storytelling, ABX campaigns land on receptive audiences, not cold inboxes.

• AI orchestration and buying-group intelligence are the future

Agentic AI, buying-group-level insights, and responsible use of automation will redefine how teams run always-on ABX and brand plays.

Quotes

“Brand creates receptivity. ABX activates relevance. Together, they expand your circle of influence.”

Resource recommendations

Podcasts:

• B2B Marketing and More with Pam Didner

Books:

• ABM is B2B: Why B2B marketing and sales is broken and how to fix it — by Sangram Vajre & Eric Spett

About the Guest

Soumyajit Dey is a digital first marketing and communications leader with 20 plus years of experience at the intersection of marketing, technology and communication. Currently, he serves as the Global Head of Digital Campaign Delivery and AI for marketing Lead at Thoughtworks. He has worked with multiple global tech organizations in various capacity and is equally at home with campaign delivery, execution and executive strategy. Soumyajit is passionate about building future ready functions and teams that blend in creativity, automation and measurable performance.

⁠Connect with Soumyajit⁠.

In this episode of OnBase, host Paul Gibson sits down with Joel Harrison for a wide-ranging and deeply insightful conversation about one of the most pressing issues in modern B2B: trust. Together, they unpack how trust is eroding across society, why it has become the backbone of successful ABX programs, and how marketers can differentiate in an era flooded with AI-generated “average content.”

Joel shares his personal journey from magazine editor to industry leader, and why he believes trust, not just technology, is the true engine behind influence, brand affinity, and long-term customer relationships. The conversation explores how AI is challenging credibility, how strategic thought leadership can reclaim it, and why authenticity must be built intentionally rather than assumed.

Whether you’re a marketer, seller, or B2B leader navigating the new era of AI-driven engagement, this episode provides a powerful framework for building trust at scale, without losing the human touch.
Key Takeaways

• Trust is the new competitive differentiator

Trust isn’t a soft metric, it’s the oxygen of B2B relationships. Without it, brands will struggle to generate engagement, earn consideration, or influence buyers who are increasingly overwhelmed and time-poor.

• Average content is everywhere, quality is the real moat

AI has made it easier than ever to produce content, but most of it lacks authenticity, depth, and accuracy. Joel argues that this creates an opportunity: brands that invest in high-quality thought leadership will stand out faster than ever.

• Thought leadership must be strategic, not random

According to Joel, true thought leadership:

• • Is rooted in robust data
  • Connects to a long-term narrative
  • Influences every stage of the funnel, from brand to demand to sales
  • Includes credible experts and voices internally and externally

When executed well, these programs deliver 52% better ROI than traditional marketing.

• Advocacy is massively underutilized in B2B

Customer recommendations, peer validation, and community influence play a foundational role in trust, but most companies underinvest in structured advocacy programs. Joel highlights emerging “TrustTech” tools that are beginning to change this.

• AI must be used with oversight, not blind automation

AI is powerful for efficiency, research, and content acceleration, but hallucinations and inaccuracies can damage credibility. Human oversight is non-negotiable, both at the beginning and the end of the workflow.

• ABX thrives when trust comes first

Signals alone aren’t enough. Buyers won’t engage with sales if they've never heard of you or don’t trust your brand. Trust-building must begin long before intent signals surface, and it must extend through the entire customer lifecycle, not just new logo acquisition.

Quotes

“Thought leadership isn’t a blog post. It’s a strategic, data-driven idea deployed across the entire customer journey.”

Resource Recommendations

• Andy Lambert’s newsletter
• Luan Wise’s newsletter
• CDP Institute’s newsletter
• Paul Cash’s LinkedIn posts

Shout-Outs

• Scott Stockwell, Founder at Workmatik
• Graham Wylie, Growth CMO, B2B SaaS & Services
• Barbara Stewart, Buyer & Customer Experience Consultant
• Robert Norum, ABM and Growth Expert, B2B Marketing

About the Guest

As editor-in-chief of B2B Marketing and one of its founders, Joel plays a strategic role in the company, focusing on the development of all B2B Marketing’s content, products and services – including events, training, reports and the magazine.

He’s also an ambassador and evangelist for B2B more generally, and a regular speaker at conferences and at in-house marketing team meetings.

Connect with Joel.

In this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody sits down with Corrina Owens to explore the evolution of account-based marketing, the misconceptions that still persist, and why most companies miss their biggest growth opportunity: their existing customers.

Corrina details her non-traditional path into marketing, the value of being a generalist, and how ABM shifted from a set of disconnected tactics to a true go-to-market operating model. She breaks down the critical role of ICP development, the importance of analyzing first-party data, and why sales alignment is still the strongest predictor of ABM success.

The conversation also dives into customer expansion strategies, the rise of AI as a democratizer of data, and the ABM plays every B2B organization should be running. Corrina shares practical examples, thoughtful commentary on relationship-building skills in the age of automation, and the mindset sellers and marketers need to stand out in modern B2B.

Key Takeaways

• ABM is a go-to-market strategy, not a set of tactics

Most teams still define ABM as direct mail or targeted ads, but sustainable ABM success requires cross-functional alignment, sales process maturity, and clarity on the ICP.

• Your first-party data holds the real ICP insights

Instead of wish-list accounts or executive bias, the strongest ICP definitions come from analyzing a full fiscal year of closed-won and closed-lost data to uncover patterns.

• Customer expansion is the biggest missed opportunity

On average, companies land only about 30% of a customer’s total ARR potential on initial purchase. Yet most marketing and ABM efforts stop immediately post-sale. Customer ABM should be a core motion.

• AI is democratizing data access

What once required multiple tools and data science resources can now be achieved with ChatGPT and well-structured prompts. AI helps teams iterate faster, brainstorm creatively, and pressure-test messaging.

• Human connection is the new differentiator

Sellers struggle with relationship-building across channels, especially in a digital-first world. The ability to communicate authentically, not from templates, is becoming a critical skill.

• Give-first ABM plays drive the deepest brand impact

Podcast invitations, industry award nominations, and sponsoring internal team events create memorable, non-transactional experiences that earn trust.

Quotes

“The best ABM plays are pure give tactics. You’re not asking for anything back.”

Tech recommendations

• Lovable
• ChatGPT
• Gemini

Resource recommendations

• The Power of Onlyness by Nilofer Merchant – a powerful exploration of embracing your unique perspective and bringing your fullest self to your work.

• 12 ABM plays by Corrina Owens

Shout-outs

• Christina Le, Head of Marketing at Plot.

About the Guest

Corrina Owens is the go-to GTM mind behind some of the most effective ABM plays in B2B SaaS. She’s led award-winning programs at Gong and now works fractionally, advising and implementing pipeline-driving strategies at companies like Orum, TripleLift, Navattic, and UserGems.

⁠Connect with Corrina⁠.

In this episode of OnBase, Paul Gibson talks with Tejal Patel about why ABM often falls short in large enterprises and how companies can fix it. Tejal shares how her B2C background shaped her customer-centric approach and explains the key issues she sees inside big tech—misalignment, data quality gaps, siloed teams, and overreliance on ABM as a standalone strategy.

She contrasts this with the agility of smaller organizations and outlines practical ways to improve targeting, use intent data, strengthen sales–marketing alignment, and unify brand and demand. This conversation offers clear, actionable advice for anyone trying to make ABM work at scale.

Key Takeaways

• ABM is a tactic, not a standalone strategy

Tejal argues that ABM only works when paired with brand, awareness, nurture, and customer-centric messaging. Without broader demand creation, ABM becomes narrow and ineffective.

• Sales and marketing alignment remains the biggest barrier

Large enterprises struggle with global vs. regional disconnects, mismatched KPIs, and long internal approval cycles, slowing execution and creating misfire between strategy and action. Smaller companies excel because they have fewer layers, faster decision-making, and shared prioritization.

• Data quality is the silent killer of ABM

Messy CRM data, fragmented systems, mismatched account naming, and inconsistent scoring models undermine targeting, personalization, and sales handoff. Clean data and agreed lead quality criteria must come first.

• Intent data only works when paired with first-party signals

Great ABM prioritizes first-party data, then layers on external intent. Messaging should be mapped to where accounts are in their journey, not just industry segmentation. Audience clusters can be built based on behaviors, not just firmographics.

• Brand and demand must run in parallel

Brand builds trust with the 90% who aren’t yet buying; demand captures the 10% who are. Both motions must reinforce each other with consistent messaging across all touchpoints, internal and external.

• Simplification accelerates performance

Tejal shares examples where hundreds of micro-campaigns were consolidated into fewer, audience-grouped programs, leading to clearer measurement, stronger engagement, and faster pipeline.

• AI will finally unlock true personalization at scale, but only with clean inputs

AI can accelerate content, sales enablement, and buying-group messaging, but only when built on a foundation of strategy, quality data, and customer-centric principles. Otherwise, AI simply amplifies the noise.

Quotes

“Smaller companies succeed because they’re aligned, agile, and closer to the spirit of ABM.”

Tech recommendations

• Miro
• ChatGPT
• Canva

Resource recommendations

• The Rundown AI newsletter
• Lisa Adams (LinkedIn) – insights on AI and modern marketing org design
• Harvard Business Review

Shout-outs

• Juskiran Sond, Senior Global Digital ABM Marketing Manager at Riverbed Technology
• Suyasha Kale, Senior Paid Social Advertising Manager - Global at TeamViewer

• Brett Rieser, EMEA & LATAM Growth Marketing, Senior Manager at Palo Alto Networks

About the Guest

Tejal Patel has 25+ years experience in marketing transformation, strategic planning, organisational design & change management. She has held senior leadership roles at Cisco, Microsoft & Nokia. She specializes in creating practical yet ambitious strategies that deliver tangible success. She is skilled at building and retaining high-performing teams. Known as a turnaround expert, Tejal combines strategic vision with hands-on execution and inspires a culture of collaboration and empowerment.

⁠Connect with Tejal⁠.

In this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody sits down with Chelsea Wells to discuss how AI is reshaping the future of demand generation, campaign creation, and attribution. Chelsea shares practical insights from her role at MasterControl, how clean, accessible data powers scalable, high-quality campaigns and how marketers can balance automation with creativity to stand out in a crowded digital landscape.

From solving data challenges to embracing multi-touch attribution, Chelsea explains how she’s redefining what effective ABM looks like today. She also shares a behind-the-scenes look at a successful one-to-few ABM campaign that leveraged both digital and physical tactics, achieving rapid funnel movement and opportunity creation.

Whether you’re navigating the complexities of AI adoption or rethinking your attribution models, this episode offers an actionable roadmap for marketers aiming to stay ahead of the curve.

Key Takeaways

• Data quality drives AI success.
  AI is only as strong as the data it learns from. Clean, accessible, and compliant data is essential to generate accurate insights and scalable, high-quality campaigns.
• Keep humans in the loop.
  AI can ideate and optimize, but human oversight ensures creativity, empathy, and brand authenticity.
• Choose attribution models that reflect intent.
  No model is perfect. Evaluate channels based on their role in the funnel, top, mid, or bottom, and consider equal or multi-touch models to see the full journey.
• Mix digital with physical experiences.
  Reintroduce tactile, real-world touches, like thoughtful swag or events, to complement digital plays and deepen relationships.
• Test, learn, and personalize.
  Successful campaigns rely on experimentation, feedback, and personalization at every stage, from message testing to channel sequencing.

Quotes

“Every channel has a purpose. Measure them by their role in the funnel, not by a single model.”

Tech recommendations

• Demandbase – For ABM orchestration and intent data.
• Domo – For real-time visibility across data and attribution models.

Resource recommendations

• OnBase podcast
• ABM Answered

Shout-outs

• Kelly Starmon, CMO at MasterControl

• Cassidy Milder, VP of Demand Marketing at MasterControl

About the Guest

With 8 years of demand generation experience in the tech SaaS space, Chelsea Wells is a seasoned B2B marketer with a proven track record of driving pipeline growth in complex industries including cybersecurity and life sciences manufacturing. She currently serves as a Senior ABM Program Manager and Demand Generation Team Lead at MasterControl, where she leads the strategy and execution of high-impact, omni-channel campaigns. Chelsea specializes in campaign orchestration, account-based marketing, and full-funnel demand strategies, leveraging data and insights to optimize performance across every stage of the buyer journey. Her approach is grounded in experimentation and agility, continuously testing and iterating to keep ahead of the rapidly evolving marketing landscape. She is passionate about aligning sales and marketing, delivering customized experiences at scale, and using data to uncover what truly moves prospects from awareness to closed-won. Chelsea holds a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin, a certificate in Global Management, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU). She brings a global, cross-functional lens to marketing strategy and thrives in fast-paced environments that demand strategic thinking and executional excellence.

Connect with Chelsea.