What Byron Sharp taught me about the future of marketing

In April, I joined a packed room of Australian marketers at FWD Sydney to hear the legendary Professor Byron Sharp speak on ‘The Future of Marketing?’.

For just under an hour, the room listened intently as Sharp shared his evidence-based marketing wisdom, many of them drawn from his landmark book How Brands Grow – one of the most important marketing books ever written.

Feeling inspired, I posted a short LinkedIn update sharing my eight favourite takeaways from Byron’s talk, paired with some quick personal reflections.

What happened next caught even me by surprise – the post seemed to strike a real chord, amassing over 66,000 views by marketers globally and inundated with comments and reposts by marketers who recognised themselves in the challenges and opportunities Sharp so clearly outlined.

Even Sharp engaged with the post, suggesting that the insights hit a raw nerve because in a world of constant marketing “disruption,” the fundamentals still matter more than ever.

Below are the eight quotes I shared, alongside some thoughts and practical examples on how marketers can put them into action:

1. Even growing brands lose customers.

Attracting new customers drives more growth than cross-selling to existing ones.

Real-world example: A global FMCG brand like Coca-Cola sees regular churn among buyers but sustains growth through constantly refreshing brand love and recruitment campaigns, not by desperately trying to upsell Diet Coke to Classic Coke drinkers.

Read the full article in Marketing Mag.