Latest / The CMO Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Leadership, Budgets, and Executive Strategy / Why CMOs Are Hiring Chief Storytelling Officers
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, have you noticed a new title popping up in marketing department org charts the last couple years? Luna: You mean like Chief Metaverse Officer or something? I hope not. Lucas: Close but no. I'm talking about the Chief Storytelling Officer. C-S-T-O. It's spreading beyond Silicon Valley startups. I'm seeing it at PepsiCo, at Marriott, even at a few B2B industrials. Luna: Okay, that sounds like a rebrand of the Head of Content. What's actually different? Lucas: That's exactly the question. But the data suggests it's more than a title change. The Association of National Advertisers put out a survey last year — 2025 — and found that 22 percent of large consumer brands now have a dedicated storytelling role at the VP level or above. That's up from 6 percent in 2021. Luna: So in four years, it's nearly quadrupled. Is this just the pendulum swinging away from performance marketing? Lucas: Partly. But I think there's a deeper driver. Consumers are getting better at filtering out the sell. The old interruptive ad model has diminishing returns. Storytelling isn't about selling a feature — it's about creating a world the consumer wants to live in, even for a few seconds. Luna: Give me a concrete example of a company that's actually doing this well, not just hiring for the title. Lucas: Patagonia. They've never had a Chief Storytelling Officer per se, but their whole marketing engine is narrative-driven. Think about the 'Don't Buy This Jacket' campaign from 2011 — that was a full-page ad in The New York Times on Black Friday telling people not to buy their product unless they really needed it. That's not a feature list. That's a story about sustainability and anti-consumerism that aligns with their customer's values. Luna: And it worked. Their revenue grew after that campaign. But that's Patagonia — they have a built-in mission. Can a cereal brand pull that off? Lucas: General Mills is trying. They've had a brand storytelling lead for a few years now. Look at their work with Cheerios — they leaned into the mixed-race family narrative in that 2013 commercial. It wasn't about oat loops. It was about modern American families. They took heat for it, but they stuck with the story. Luna: That took guts. Most brands would have pulled the ad at the first complaint. So is the CStO role about having the authority to protect a narrative through controversy? Lucas: I think that's part of it. The title gives someone the mandate to say no to a short-term revenue push that would break the story. That's hard for a typical CMO, whose bonus is tied to this quarter's sales. Luna: But here's my skepticism. If I'm a CMO and I hire a Chief Storytelling Officer, what stops that from becoming just another layer that produces a bunch of brand films nobody watches? Lucas: Nothing, honestly. It could easily become a content mill. But the best ones I've seen — they're not just producing stories. They're auditing every customer touchpoint for narrative consistency. The website, the packaging, the call center scripts, the CEO's LinkedIn posts. They're asking: does this story hold together? Luna: That sounds like brand guardianship with a fancier title. But I'll admit, the best brand stories are almost invisible. You don't notice you're being told one. Lucas: Right. Apple is the master of that. Their product launch keynotes aren't spec dumps — they're three-act dramas. The problem, the hero, the resolution. Every time. And it's not just Tim Cook — they have a whole narrative design team. That's effectively a CStO function, even if the title is different. Luna: So is the title mostly an American thing, or are we seeing it globally? Lucas: It's definitely more common in the US and UK. But I've seen it in India at some large consumer goods firms. And in Australia, there's a mining company that hired a Chief Storytelling Officer — not to sell rocks, but to reshape the narrative around mining in local communities. Luna: That's fascinating. A mining company — the ultimate anti-storytelling industry — hiring someone to create a narrative. What does that person actually do day to day? Lucas: I looked into that case. It was BHP, the big Australian miner. They brought in a journalist, actually. Her job was to find human stories within the company — workers, local communities, environmental projects — and package them for external audiences. Not press releases. Actual stories. She had a small budget for video and writing, but her main tool was access: she could talk to anyone in the company. Luna: So the mandate is really about authenticity. If the stories are just polished PR, consumers smell it immediately. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the tension. The moment a story is obviously a marketing construct, it loses power. The best brand stories feel like they came from a friend, not from a brand team. That's the bar. Luna: I wonder if this role is a response to the rise of ai generated content. When everyone can produce a thousand blog posts a day, the only稀缺 thing left is a compelling point of view. Lucas: That's a smart framing. AI can generate text, but it can't generate a coherent narrative that builds across quarters. And that's exactly what the CStO is supposed to do: ensure narrative consistency across time. Luna: So if a CMO is listening right now, what's the practical takeaway? Should they hire a CStO, or just carve out the responsibility for themselves? Lucas: I'd say start with an audit. Map every piece of content your company puts out in a month — ads, social posts, emails, sales decks, packaging copy. Then ask: do these all feel like they come from the same voice? If the answer is no, you don't necessarily need a new hire. You need a narrative framework and someone to enforce it. That person could be you, or it could be a senior content leader with a mandate. Luna: But the title matters for signaling, doesn't it? If you call someone a Content Marketing Manager, they're going to be measured on output. If you call them Chief Storytelling Officer, they're measured on narrative impact. Lucas: Exactly. Titles set expectations. And if you're serious about shifting from a volume-based content strategy to a narrative-driven one, the title change can be a forcing function. But it has to come with real authority — a seat at the strategy table, not just a corner of the marketing budget. Luna: Before we move on, I want to circle back to something you said about the Patagonia 'Don't Buy This Jacket' campaign. That was 2011. We're now in 2026. Has the concept of brand storytelling fundamentally changed since then? Lucas: I think the fundamentals are the same — a good story still needs conflict, character, and resolution. What's changed is the channels. In 2011, you could run a print ad and get massive attention. Now, you're competing with short-form video, podcasts, newsletters, and a million other distractions. So the storytelling has to be more fragmented. You can't tell the whole story in one place. You have to weave it across platforms. Luna: And that's harder to coordinate. That's exactly why you might need a CStO — to ensure the thread doesn't break across TikTok, Instagram, and your annual report. Lucas: Right. And it's also why we're seeing more brands hire journalists or documentary filmmakers for these roles rather than traditional marketers. They understand narrative structure in a way that someone trained in demographic targeting might not. Luna: So where do you see this heading? Is it a fad, or is it a permanent fixture? Lucas: I think it's permanent, but the title might not be. In five years, every CMO will be expected to think like a Chief Storytelling Officer anyway. The best ones already do. The title just formalizes a skill set that's becoming table stakes. Luna: Speaking of table stakes, you know what's kept this show going without ads or sponsors? It's listeners like you who value independent, ad-free conversations about marketing. If these episodes have given you a framework you've actually used in your work, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just appreciation. Lucas: Yeah, and we mean that. Every contribution helps us keep the conversations focused on what matters, not on pleasing advertisers. So if you've gotten value, consider it. Now, back to storytelling — one more example I think is worth exploring. Luna: Sure, hit me. Lucas: The outdoor brand REI. They've been running the #OptOutside campaign since 2015, closing their stores on Black Friday and telling employees and customers to go outside instead. That's a story about valuing experience over consumption. And they've stuck with it for eleven years now. That's narrative commitment. Luna: That's a great example. And other retailers have copied the idea, but it doesn't land the same way because it's not authentic to them. REI's story is baked into their cooperative structure. Lucas: Exactly. The story has to be true. If you fabricate a narrative, it will eventually collapse. That's the risk with the CStO role — if the person is just spinning yarns that don't match reality, they'll do more harm than good. Luna: So the CStO has to be part truth-teller, part dreamer. That's a tough balance. Lucas: It is. But the companies that get it right — Patagonia, Apple, REI — they're not just telling stories. They're living them. And that's the ultimate lesson. The story is only as strong as the company's actual behavior. Luna: Alright, so next time I see a Chief Storytelling Officer on LinkedIn, I'll look a little closer at what they're actually producing. Lucas: And maybe ask them: what's your narrative framework? If they can't answer that, they're just a content manager with a fancy business card.