About the Episode
About The Episode:
Ryan Morabito sits down with Tariq Hassan, former CMO and Chief Customer Experience Officer at McDonald's USA, to unpack the evolving marketing landscape. From the critical role of first-party data to building a fearless, innovation-driven culture, Tariq shares leadership insights that higher education marketers can directly apply. This episode is a masterclass in marketing transformation, organizational alignment, and using failure as a strategic advantage.
Key Takeaways
- First-party data is the new currency: Institutions must prioritize building, organizing, and leveraging first-party data to drive student engagement and operational efficiency.
- Fail fast, fail smart: Creating a culture that embraces responsible failure is essential for innovation and organizational growth.
- Alignment beats activity: Successful marketing begins with aligning marketing goals to institutional priorities—focus wins over doing everything.
- The future belongs to cross-functional marketers: Modern CMOs (and higher ed marketing leaders) must work horizontally across departments to drive holistic transformation.
- Authenticity fuels partnerships: Only collaborate with partners who genuinely align with your brand’s mission and values—surface-level relationships don’t build lasting brand equity.
- AI should be a strategy, not a tactic: Use AI to solve real problems strategically rather than chasing every new shiny tool.
What foundational customer data matters most today?
Tariq Hassan emphasized that first-party data—direct information collected from customers (or students)—is now the gold standard. It’s not just about business value but creating mutual benefit: using data to improve customer experience builds loyalty and trust. Higher ed leaders can take a page from this by focusing not only on enrollment numbers but also on gathering insights that meaningfully enhance the student journey. In an AI-driven future, having organized, actionable data sets will be a major competitive advantage for institutions.
How should higher education approach market research and behavioral data?
Hassan pointed out that behavioral data—what people actually do—is the most reliable source of truth. However, he warns against drowning in meaningless metrics. Smart marketers must learn to prioritize signal over noise and combine quantitative insights with qualitative research to stay connected to human needs. He stressed that data shouldn’t dictate decisions blindly but should prompt better questions, leading to deeper understanding and innovation.
What qualities make a standout marketing leader today?
Tariq’s nontraditional path to the CMO seat taught him the value of diverse experiences. He looks for marketers who’ve worked across different industries and roles, bringing customer empathy, tech fluency, and operational insight. Today’s marketing leaders must operate like general managers, collaborating cross-functionally instead of staying isolated in traditional marketing silos. In higher education, that means marketing teams must collaborate closely with admissions, student affairs, finance, and academic departments to drive unified outcomes.
How can marketing leaders secure internal buy-in and build collaboration?
The biggest barrier to successful marketing, Tariq argues, is not external competition—it’s internal misalignment. He emphasized that marketing needs to anchor its efforts in enterprise-level goals, not isolated campaigns. Marketers must demonstrate that their work impacts the full ecosystem: from recruitment to student experience to alumni engagement. Particularly for higher education, marketers must educate campus leadership on the expansive, cross-functional value marketing can bring—and marketing leaders must be disciplined about saying "no" to initiatives that don't align with top priorities.
What KPIs matter most when reporting to leadership?
Campaign-specific KPIs are important, but they must tie back to enterprise-wide priorities, Tariq shared. Success shouldn’t be about isolated marketing wins but about contributing to broader institutional goals, like enrollment growth, student success, or brand reputation. He encouraged marketers to build plans that are iterative and scalable—where strategic foundations are solid enough that improvements year-over-year feel almost "boring," because they’re so steadily successful.
What are the biggest challenges—and opportunities—for marketers today?
From navigating data overload to adapting to the speed of innovation, today’s marketing leaders must develop new muscles. Tariq warned that failure to prioritize will leave teams unfocused and ineffective. But he’s incredibly optimistic about AI's potential—not just for efficiency gains but for personalizing student experiences at scale. He cautioned that AI must be used to strategically solve real problems, not just to chase trends.
How should marketers approach partnerships and collaborations?
Authenticity is key. When McDonald's launched their wildly successful Adult Happy Meal, it was rooted in genuine fan insights about nostalgia and friendship—not manufactured marketing gimmicks. Higher ed institutions should take the same approach when considering brand partnerships: pursue collaborations where there’s an authentic shared mission, rather than just partnering for publicity or funding.
Enrollify is produced by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
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