As a marketer, you often know exactly what should change. You can see the commercial opportunity behind a customer insight, the brand risk that no one wants to acknowledge, or the internal blind spot that is preventing the business from moving forward. And yet, even the strongest idea can lose momentum somewhere between the slide deck, the budget meeting and the next round of alignment.

It is precisely this tension that marks the starting point of Thomas Barta’s work.

Expect marketers who dare

Throughout his career, Barta has come to the same uncomfortable conclusion: marketing impact depends as much on internal influence as on external insight. In his work with Patrick Barwise, which included conducting research with over 1,200 senior marketers from 71 different countries, Barta demonstrated that effective marketing leaders must be able to 'manage up, down and sideways' — aligning with the CEO's strategy, proving return on investment, and motivating people across the organisation. This may sound like leadership theory, but for marketers, it changes the job description. A marketer who only briefs campaigns or optimises channels will never truly own the growth agenda. To have an impact, a marketer must become a change leader

This is also why Barta associates marketing so closely with courage. In an interview with the Marketing Society and in his weekly blog TryThis.Blog, he often highlights the 'leaders next door': people who are not necessarily in the headlines but who take change into their own hands. For him, bravery is not about making noise. It's about building a customer-backed, commercially credible case and bringing people along with you, even if they don't report to you.

Expect more influence in the boardroom

At the BAM Marketing Congress, 'Growth Rebel – How to Dare When Others Wait' brings together Barta’s ideas in a practical framework built around two steps: IGNITE ideas and RALLY people. The first is about creating customer value that competitors cannot easily copy, while the second is about ensuring that strong ideas do not disappear because no one in the organisation helps to make them a reality.

This concept is directly connected to his Value Creation Zone: the space where what customers need and what the business needs start to overlap. For marketers, this is where real influence begins, not just in the language of campaigns, but also in the language of revenue, growth, and long-term business value.

In a world shaped by AI, automation, and the constant need to demonstrate impact, Barta’s keynote speech is a call for marketers to do more than just generate activity. It's about creating movement, bringing customers into the decision-making process, and earning a stronger mandate to drive growth from the customer outwards.

Want to hear Thomas Barta live? Join us at the BAM Marketing Congress to discover how to take the lead when others hesitate.