Samsung's CCO reveals: what really makes customers stay

How do you shift from a product-first mindset to a genuinely people-first organisation?

In this episode of Your CMO Mentor, Deborah Honig, Chief Customer Officer at Samsung UK and Ireland, shares how the world’s biggest brands stay close to their customers, build trust and turn real human insight into better products.Deborah explains why curiosity is the most important skill in modern marketing, how to integrate customer insight into big organisations, and why community matters more than audiences.This episode is perfect for CMOs, brand leaders and marketers who want to build products customers actually care about.00:00 – Why customer insight beats product obsession00:40 – Welcome to Your CMO Mentor00:52 – Meet Deborah01:52 – What a CCO really does05:18 – The most important skill for marketers08:07 – Curiosity as a superpower09:59 – The role of mentorship13:06 – Community vs audiences17:20 – What “people-first” means at Samsung23:29 – How Samsung understands customers30:00 – Turning insight into innovation37:04 – AI, trust and customer expectations41:13 – Why communities drive long-term brand growth51:09 – Practical lessons smaller businesses can borrow56:00 – Community question: how to influence a sales-led culture1:01:34 – Final advice for marketers