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Aaron Riippa (General Mills) walked through how the team built an end-to-end governance structure for over $1B in martech, adtech, and salestech spend. The framework intentionally did not lead with savings as a stated objective, even though savings were the eventual outcome.

His reasoning: leading with savings would demotivate marketing stakeholders. The ANA and 4As published our joint pitch principles, which I had the chance to walk through with Matt Kasindorf, Mark Hudson (Walgreens), and Donna Wiederkehr (Wiederkehr Balloon Academy).

The principles aren't prescriptive. They're about how organizations relate to each other through what is one of the most expensive and emotionally loaded processes in marketing.