CMO at Planful

Rowan Tonkin

Rowan’s creativity was highlighted by his idea for the company’s very first acquisition. As a CMO, Rowan was challenged to convert marketing metrics like leads, traffic, and clicks into the common language of business: financial performance. When he discovered a company named Plannuh, which developed a marketing planning, budgeting, and measurement solution, Rowan envisioned a Planful solution that addressed this speak-in-the-language-of-business challenge experienced by nearly all CMOs and provided value to Planful’s core finance and accounting audiences with deep insights into the murky world of marketing performance. Building on a foundation of 35% year-over year growth for that line of business in just the first few months post-acquisition, Rowan has created a unique point of competitive differentiation and a compelling upsell opportunity for new and existing customers across the globe.

Rowan’s creativity was also instrumental in pivoting Planful’s in-person marquee events during the pandemic. While most B2B events transitioned to a virtual format, Rowan orchestrated a three-day “virtual tour” that not only moved the event online, but created a surrounding community to engage attendees, encourage conversations, and develop a live video feed that mimicked the energy and spontaneity of an in-person event. The virtual tour generated double the attendance of the previous year’s event and included participation from industry thought leaders, several Planful customers, and Planful executives.

Additionally, Rowan has created a team atmosphere that encourages creativity across the marketing and revenue operations teams he leads. Rowan pushes a “fail fast” mindset that supports new ideas and frequent trials while focusing on learning, speed, and future impact – not just the impact of a single effort. This attitude and environment has led Rowan’s team to explore, among other initiatives, fun, new video-based content, the launch of a Planful podcast, and compelling conversations. Rowan leads by example, sparking thought-provoking conversations with industry influencers (such as Dave Gerhardt) and media outlets (such as diginomica).