Remarkable Content with Ian Faison Friends: B2B Marketing Lessons on The One About Community with Chief Marketing Officer at 2X, Lisa Cole
It’s not easy to keep pace with constant change. If you want to stand out, you need to pivot (yes, PIVOT!), adapt, and build real connection with your audience.
That’s the genius of Friends, a cultural phenomenon built on chemistry, community, and conversations that felt timeless. In this episode, we’re decoding its lessons with the help of our special guest Lisa Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at 2X.
Together, we explore what B2B marketers can learn from embracing constant pivots, building your own Central Perk with your community, and why team chemistry often matters more than individual expertise.
About our guest, Lisa Cole
Lisa Cole is currently CMO at 2X. She's a strategic marketing leader with over 24 years of experience driving transformative growth for B2B technology and professional services. As a former CMO at Huron, FARO, and Cellebrite, she has earned industry recognition for enhancing brand positioning, optimizing demand generation, and leveraging AI to accelerate go-to-market strategies. Through her earned accolades from Sirius Decisions, Forrester, and CMO Alliance and her book The Revenue RAMP, she guides B2B leaders in achieving more with less using her proven frameworks.
What B2B Companies Can Learn From Friends:
- Pivot, pivot, pivot. In marketing, staying still isn’t an option. New channels, new buyer behaviors, and now AI advancements mean marketers are in a constant state of change. Lisa explains, “Pivot is certainly one, especially now that, it seems like every week there’s a new advancement… marketing as a whole is pivot. We’re constantly in a period of time in between pivots is compressing.” The same way Ross couldn’t move that couch without shouting “Pivot!” every marketer today needs to be ready to shift strategy, adjust direction, and keep moving forward.
- Create your Central Perk. Every brand needs a place where buyers feel safe, connected, and part of something bigger than a transaction. For the Friends cast, it was Central Perk, a space where they could gather, vent, and support each other without judgment. Lisa says, “You have to create a place… where your target audience, your buyers feel safe to get together and meet and engage as a community… if you care about Central Perk for your buyers, then they’ll care about you too.” In B2B, that means investing in communities and experiences where customers can be candid, connect with peers, and build trust—with your brand quietly in the background.
- Build team chemistry. The Friends cast worked because the chemistry was real—something greater than the sum of its parts. Marketing teams are no different. Lisa says, “Sometimes it’s the chemistry that matters more than the expertise. It's not necessarily that I brought together six experts. It's the way that they work together, sometimes is the real magic.” Great marketing doesn’t just come from the smartest experts; it comes from teams (in-house, partners, or both) who click, collaborate, and push each other toward a shared mission.
Quote
“ I'm not necessarily saying to marketers that this cast needs to be a large in-house marketing team. I'm just simply saying that the people that are in the day-to-day business of executing marketing for your organization, that there is a chemistry between them and that they are working together in a unified way.”
Time Stamps
[00:55] Meet Lisa Cole, CMO at 2X
[01:09] Why Friends?
[01:52] The Role of CMO at 2X
[03:34] The Creation of Friends
[07:54] The Chemistry and Dynamics of Friends
[21:59] Marketing Takeaways from Friends
[32:17] The Humble Leader
[37:36] Introducing Brand Gravity
[48:11] 2X’s Content Strategy
[49:46] Final Thoughts and Takeaways
Links
About Remarkable!
Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.
In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.
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