Damian Burleigh is the Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer (CRMO) at Acuity Knowledge Partners, leading all global sales, account management, and marketing activities. This Q&A focuses on Burleigh's perspective on leading marketing teams during business transformation, the "outcome-based" marketing approach Acuity moved to during the pandemic, financial services marketing challenges, and the rising role of PR in the C-suite agenda. Note: Burleigh is a corporate marketing leader, not an agency founder — this Q&A is included in the Q&A profiles for the client-side perspective on PR procurement and partnership.
The Interview
Q: What is your role and how has it been redefined by the pandemic?
A: As CRMO at Acuity Knowledge Partners, I lead all sales, account management, and marketing activities globally. Marketing has seen remarkable elevation amid the pandemic. Acuity's board and C-suite see marketing as a critical function to drive growth. Throughout the pandemic, my focus has been keeping my team safe, calm, and focused on areas where the business could exceed.
Q: How do you lead a marketing team in business transformation?
A: Driving sustained growth relies on lasting relationships between the marketing team and clients. Very early in the pandemic, we realized it would be a marketing-led recovery, particularly in financial services. I sensed the urgency to go digital. Over the past 24 months, we made a strategic move to "outcome-based" marketing — focused on automation and analytics, and even more on the ROI of each dollar spent.
Q: How has remote work impacted marketing campaigns?
A: Remote working has helped blur geographical boundaries. One can now hire talent from geographies not previously possible. Field marketing and physical events saw a wider impact, but webinars and other virtual-event formats have become mainstream. While marketers across industries experienced diminishing returns, at Acuity we saw the reverse — content-led, thought leadership-driven digital campaigns were quite effective.
Q: Marketing challenges unique to financial services?
A: The global financial services sector is both highly competitive and highly regulated. Pre-pandemic challenges included competition from fintechs, evolving business models, mounting regulation, and disruptive technologies. These obstacles, coupled with the pandemic, have had a profound impact on how the sector operates. We see disproportionally high investment in strengthening digital presence through mobile apps and cloud-based tools.
Q: What innovations are you most excited about?
A: Data and AI — but I'd caution that these are just "enablers." The key is remaining focused on ROI outcomes and high-quality CRM. Data will enable smarter, client-centered content and personalized buying experiences. AI enables real-time analytics and AI-enabled chatbots are already seeing wider adoption.
Q: Has PR jumped up the C-suite agenda?
A: Yes. PR is now at the core of every board's list of priorities. More than ever, brands worldwide are rethinking how to reach their audiences effectively. Beyond navigating crises, PR has the leading role in increasing a brand's share of voice and building brand visibility. As markets rebound there's a serious war for talent — our C-suite acknowledges the importance of running an effective PR program to hire and retain exceptional skills.
Damian Burleigh is the Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer (CRMO) at Acuity Knowledge Partners , leading all global sales, account management, and marketing activities. This Q&A focuses on Burleigh's perspective on leading marketing teams during business transformation, the "outcome-based" marketing approach Acuity moved to during the pandemic, financial services marketing challenges, and the rising role of PR in the C-suite agenda. Note: Burleigh is a corporate marketing leader, not an agency founder — this Q&A is included in the Q&A profiles for the client-side perspective on PR procurement and partnership. The Interview Q: What is your role and how has it been redefined by the pandemic?
A: As CRMO at Acuity Knowledge Partners, I lead all sales, account management, and marketing activities globally. Marketing has seen remarkable elevation amid the pandemic. Acuity's board and C-suite see marketing as a critical function to drive growth. Throughout the pandemic, my focus has been keeping my team safe, calm, and focused on areas where the business could exceed.
Q: How do you lead a marketing team in business transformation?
A: Driving sustained growth relies on lasting relationships between the marketing team and clients. Very early in the pandemic, we realized it would be a marketing-led recovery, particularly in financial services. I sensed the urgency to go digital. Over the past 24 months, we made a strategic move to "outcome-based" marketing — focused on automation and analytics, and even more on the ROI of each dollar spent.
Q: How has remote work impacted marketing campaigns?
A: Remote working has helped blur geographical boundaries. One can now hire talent from geographies not previously possible. Field marketing and physical events saw a wider impact, but webinars and other virtual-event formats have become mainstream. While marketers across industries experienced diminishing returns, at Acuity we saw the reverse — content-led, thought leadership-driven digital campaigns were quite effective.
Q: Marketing challenges unique to financial services?
A: The global financial services sector is both highly competitive and highly regulated. Pre-pandemic challenges included competition from fintechs, evolving business models, mounting regulation, and disruptive technologies. These obstacles, coupled with the pandemic, have had a profound impact on how the sector operates. We see disproportionally high investment in strengthening digital presence through mobile apps and cloud-based tools.
Q: What innovations are you most excited about?
A: Data and AI — but I'd caution that these are just "enablers." The key is remaining focused on ROI outcomes and high-quality CRM. Data will enable smarter, client-centered content and personalized buying experiences. AI enables real-time analytics and AI-enabled chatbots are already seeing wider adoption.
Q: Has PR jumped up the C-suite agenda?
A: Yes. PR is now at the core of every board's list of priorities. More than ever, brands worldwide are rethinking how to reach their audiences effectively. Beyond navigating crises, PR has the leading role in increasing a brand's share of voice and building brand visibility. As markets rebound there's a serious war for talent — our C-suite acknowledges the importance of running an effective PR program to hire and retain exceptional skills.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
