Pete Markey, CMO Boots UK on The Cold Bath Theory: Boots' CMO on Why Marketing Success Should Make You Uncomfortable
In this CMO Superhero series of interviews, a precursor to writing a book on Share of Experience – the Superhero Metric, we explore the stories of extraordinary CMOs in building their brands. Discover key takeaways from the business and measurement challenges these CMOs face and find out what Claude.ai identifies as their three top superpowers.
Meet Pete Markey.
In an era where legacy retail brands often fade into irrelevance, Boots has done something remarkable - achieved 15 consecutive quarters of growth while reinventing itself for a new generation.
In this candid conversation, CMO Boots UK, Pete Markey reveals how he and the Boots team supported this transformation, and why he'll never "sit in the bath drinking champagne" - because the bath water always turns cold.
Q: When you arrived at Boots, what was the state of the brand?
A: "Our brand purpose needed a refresh to ensure we remained relevant and connected in a post-covid world. Marketing was seen as a cost, not an investment. The power of what marketing could achieve was misunderstood and the marketing team didn’t feel like they were winning. A new purpose that provided renewed energy and focus was my first priority in the role.”
Q: How did you start turning things around?
A: "First, I made friends with the finance team - specifically the CFO. Instead of pitching marketing fantasies, I focused on being commercial, practical, no b*****t, completely transparent. There's a biblical saying: if you can be trusted with little, you'll be trusted with much. That's exactly what happened. We started small with a summer campaign, proved it worked, then got more investment for Christmas. Success bred success."
Q: What approach did you take in building your marketing team?
A: "We started investing in the team. Also brought new talent in and fused them with brilliant people who we'd got already and basically built this team up as 50-50. 50% people who have been in Boots for quite a while and 50% people that are new. What’s great is that everyone's arrived in that lead team with a new sense of energy."
Instead of either completely overhauling the team or maintaining the status quo, Pete has created a talent fusion, recognizing that legacy knowledge can be a catalyst when mixed with new energy. He recognizes the transformational power of people to drive the change needed at Boots.
Q: What's your perspective on measurement and proving marketing's value?
A: "This is where marketing's art and science come together beautifully. We use System One to predict campaign performance and MESH Experience to track real consumer response in the moment. The data lets me walk into meetings and say ‘I’m not just pitching this work because I like it – I know damn well it’s going to work.’ When you can show a Christmas ad scored 5.9 out of 6 with your target audience, those subjective arguments about creative details just melt away.”
Q: What’s the challenge now that you’re winning?
A: “It’s like being a band that’s had a string of number one singles – how do you write the next banger? The market’s more competitive than ever. We have new entrants and other brands gearing up. When you’re number one, everyone wants a slice. Plus, with TikTok exploding, the beauty market moves at lightning speed. You have to be onto trends instantly or become irrelevant.”
Q: What do you think about AI’s role in marketing measurement?
A: “I’m excited but cautious. AI could help digest insights and make brief writing easier. But I’ve seen too many marketing tools become Christmas presents – amazing on day one, gathering dust by New Year. The key question isn’t ‘Can AI do this?’ but ‘Will we actually use this consistently to drive better decisions?’ Unless it’s creating ongoing value, it’s just another shiny distraction.”
Q: What’s your philosophy on staying relevant?
A: “We’ll never rest on our laurels. I often say we’ll never sit in the bath drinking champagne because the bath eventually turns cold. That restlessness has fired us up for the last four years. People don’t care what we did 175 years ago – they care what we’re doing right now. Our history means we have expertise and trust, but it doesn’t mean we deserve to exist today. There’s zero sense of entitlement in our approach.”
So, what are 5 key takeaways for marketing leaders?
1. Make friends with finance before you try to change the world. The revolutionary insight isn't in your brand purpose – it's in your CFO's office.
2. Recognise that legacy knowledge can be a catalyst when mixed with new energy to create a powerful team.
3. Your heritage can be a liability, not an asset. The provocative truth is that heritage brands need to treat their history like a heavyweight boxer treats their past championships: nice memories, but utterly irrelevant to today's fight.
4. Data without decisiveness is just expensive decoration. The real value of marketing science isn't in the insights; it's in the arguments it helps you win. Your measurement strategy needs to be built for the boardroom, not just the marketing department.
5. Success is your biggest threat. After 15 quarters of growth, Pete’s biggest fear isn’t failure – it’s comfort. Growth isn't something you achieve; it's something you continuously earn.
This time, we have a Meta-Lesson. The true insight from Boots' transformation isn't in any of these individual lessons – it's in the mindset that unites them. Real marketing leadership isn't about finding comfort in best practices or industry frameworks. It's about embracing discomfort as your competitive advantage to grow your brand. In a world where TikTok can reshape your category overnight, comfort isn't just the enemy of progress – it's the precursor to irrelevance.
The question isn't whether these lessons make you uncomfortable. The question is whether you're uncomfortable enough to actually use them.
Which puts me in mind of my favourite saying, given to me by a yogi in Thailand, “In disease, find ease. In discomfort, find comfort. And when you do, you are at the growing edge.” To discover how Claude.ai uncovered Pete’s three top superpowers, click here.
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Author: Fiona Blades: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionablades/