Jess Cook is the VP of Marketing at Vector, the contact-level advertising platform that helps B2B teams reach the specific people inside their target accounts who are actually in market. She joins the show to trace her path from 15 years of B2C copywriting on brands like McDonald's, Pop Tarts, and Frosted Flakes into B2B marketing leadership. She makes the case for brand as the thing that actually drives demand, sharing how Vector ran its first year almost entirely on organic and inbound, why the team optimizes for likability and shareability, and how brand now shapes everything from wild CTV ads to how the company shows up in AI answers.
Tune in to this episode as we explore:
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00:53) Jess Cook's path from B2C copywriting to B2B marketing leadership
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03:19) What to learn and unlearn stepping into a VP of Marketing role
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06:52) Contact-level advertising explained: getting a level deeper than ABM
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09:51) Re-education over category creation: optimizing for likability and shareability
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15:19) Turning CEO one-on-ones into a podcast and sarcastic LinkedIn personas
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22:06) Data-driven sameness, AI, and hiring people who want to stand out
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31:26) The surround sound campaign and 40% lifts in traffic and pipeline
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38:19) Why brand permeates every customer touchpoint
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40:08) Showing up in AI answers with positive sentiment
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43:43) Quickfire: AI tools, the video-production edge, and a community pick