Christian Muche (POSSIBLE) | Building Marketing’s New Must-Attend Event

0:00Jim Stengel:Before we dive into today's episode, we would very much appreciate a moment from you to make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, along with optioning to auto-download the episodes. It really is the best way to never miss an episode, along with supporting the show and the amazing team that helps me bring it to you. And while you're there, leave us a rating or review. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the show and helps us learn. And of course, share this episode with a friend or colleague who might enjoy it. We wouldn't be here six years later and still going so strong without you all, our community.

0:36Jim Stengel:So thank you for being part of it. Now onto the show. What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young boy? I would say when I had to choose my first own car. And obviously it was around when I was 18, I immediately wanted to have a car. and I was very much in this golf generation, VW Golf. Sure. That was my dream car at this time. So I was very much into this brand, yes. And I spent a lot of time to figure out which one is exactly the right one for me. Of course, a used car, not a new car, obviously, but when I was around 18 years old. Hi, I'm Jim Stengel. I've helped hundreds of major brands discover and activate their purpose.

1:17Jim Stengel:Because when a brand's purpose is clear, compelling and authentic, profit naturally follows. Each week, I welcome the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of your favorite brands, to speak to how their job is so much more than marketing. These leaders share their inspiration and challenges, along with how they try to build a full, healthy, and happy life in and out of the office. And it's that energy that reaches everyone they touch. And we're glad you're here to feel that energy and to learn from these remarkable leaders. So here we go. This week, about 5 ,500 marketers from 44 countries and 800 brands are convening in Miami for one of the fastest rising gatherings in our industry.

1:58Jim Stengel:And my guest today is the entrepreneur behind it all. German-born Christian Mucca is the global president and co-founder of Possible, a three-day marketing event in its fourth year in Miami Beach. Since its inaugural year in 2023, it has become a must-stop experience for many top marketers to kick off their summer calendar. My guest, Christian, began his career first as an accountant before discovering marketing with time in internet pioneers AOL and Yahoo in the early 2000s. In 2007, he co-founded Demexco, the digital marketing exposition and conference in Cologne, Germany, which became one of the most influential marketing events in the world.

2:35Jim Stengel:I met Christian there way back in 2015. In 2021, coming out of the pandemic, Christian co-founded Possible, and in a very cluttered market, he has quickly built a differentiated event platform. In fact, so successful that Christian sold his company to the Hive Group in 2024. Hive also owns the ShopTalk event platform. This episode is especially timely as it runs during the week of possible itself. So whether you're there in person or following from afar, this is a chance to hear directly from the person who is shaping one of the most important new convenings in marketing today. Here's Christian.

3:12Jim Stengel:Christian, welcome to the CMO Podcast. We're recording this about two weeks before possible in Miami. So thank you first for taking time to chat in what must be an insane two weeks. Thank you so much, Jim, for having me. And it's a great opportunity, obviously, but you're right. Yeah. I mean, it's a busy time for a couple of weeks now for me and my team, but we are on our way. What is life like for you two weeks out? I mean, is it calm? Is it hectic? What kind of issues are you working through? First and foremost, I prefer to be in my home office these days and not being on the road anymore. So I get most things done when I'm sitting in front of my own laptop, but I'm heading over to Miami very soon next week.

3:53It's not hectic. I mean, we are not doing this for the very first time and the team is so experienced, which is great. On the other hand, and this is a beauty, maybe because of our industry, maybe because of the event industry. Every morning when I wake up, you know, I have something else surprising me in my inbox or the team is approaching me with something new. People are coming up with new ideas every day and till the last minute. And that's the biggest challenge, right, to still identify where is still a great opportunity for us, where can we still make things happen, or whether it's simply too late, right, and we need to focus on next year.

4:29I think that's the biggest challenge these days.

4:31Jim Stengel:That's a good challenge, right? People are coming with ideas, opportunities, energy. That's what you want. What are you most looking forward to this year in Miami? As I said in previous talks, yes, we are running a business. And that means we are looking for some growth potential in terms of, yes, having more people out of the industry coming to Miami. But this is not the priority number one goal for us. It's not about numbers itself. It's about having the right people in the room. So I'm looking forward to see everybody who really plays a role in that wide industry, which includes a lot in today's marketing world.

5:02And if they have a good time, and what does it mean having a good time? It's not an entertainment event. Yes, we are in Miami. It's not too bad to be there, obviously, you know, and we do a lot indoor and outdoor. So it is definitely a different environment than, let's say, Vegas or another city. But I would like to see people going home with, you know, something in their hands, with a lot of benefits taking out of this. And if this happens, then I'm happy, my team is happy, and then everything is good.

5:30Jim Stengel:Your purpose for this conference is very ambitious, right? To define the future of marketing, to turn connections into tangible business results. I know the numbers are part of it, right? But how do you know you're making progress on that? First and foremost, we found ourselves a sweet spot between the, I call them boutique events, the small events, intimate events, with maybe 100 or 200 participants, which makes highly sense specifically for CMOs. And because you're having different conversations there. but also then in between those events and the mass events i call them mass events nothing wrong with that i did it before i did it with demexico we blew it up to 60 000 65 000 people yeah but these are other type of events you get other things out of this and i believe there was something missing exactly in between those type of events and this is where we see our sweet spot and this allows us to still create more people being on site, content, create connections, meaningful connections between the participants in a more meaningful way than the bigger events.

6:32Because I think it's obvious that you can't do it with 100 ,000 or 60 ,000, 70 ,000 people on that scale than with a couple of thousand people. And this is exactly where I believe we will be successful. And obviously, looking back for the first three years, that was the case so far.

6:47Jim Stengel:This is your fourth year by any measure that's a huge success already. I've seen all of your numbers. And what I really admire, Christian, I want you to talk about this is you decided to do this whatever, five, six years ago, and it's four years old. This is a cluttered category you've entered, right? There's a good marketing event almost every week, yet you figured out a way to make a differentiated event platform that people find very relevant. Right before this podcast recording, I was talking to a client who's bringing a number of people to possible. She's super excited about coming. So could you talk a bit about what was your strategy four years ago or five years ago when this idea came to you and your team?

7:28Jim Stengel:And what was the strategy then? How has it changed? What do you attribute this success to? Because you do have a differentiated event platform brand in a tough market. Yeah. Firstly, there were a lot of people who told me, you know, we shouldn't do this. I shouldn't do this because we already have a lot of events. And this is true. We have a lot of events, as you said. The type of events as described before is different. Second, I believe that in today's world, and of course, we see these massive changes and transformations every day across our organizations, across the entire business, new business, businesses develop every day, which further extend our broader marketing world, which includes more technology than ever, which includes culture topics more than ever, creative aspects coming from the creative economy more than ever.

8:14And there was no event which embrace all these different businesses paying off into the marketing world at the end. So therefore, coming from designing something from and for marketeers mainly, but also bringing everybody who provides value to brands together. And this was, it sounds pretty simple when I hear myself, but this is obviously which didn't exist in that case and at this scale. And I would say that was the main differentiator and still is.

8:47Jim Stengel:What was the catalyst? Was it a conversation you had? Was it something you thought about? Was it a mentor? What kind of tip you over into doing it? What was the catalyst? It was during COVID. We were all sitting at home or nearly it came to an end, but it was sometimes in 21. on. And I had a lot of conversations with my network, specifically in the US. A couple of people who are now also still involved, who became my investors, advisors, mentors as well. And the feedback was always the same, but nobody could really say what we need. And because of those conversations, I felt that there is something.

9:24And then I looked into it a bit more. I worked closely with the MMA, which is the industry body for marketeers. They were heavily supportive of that idea and agreed that we need something new, something fresh. So with that background, with this backing from so many individuals, influencers, I felt very confident to do this step during COVID, leaving my country here under proper lockdown, not knowing if I can go back to my own family, leaving US to do the funding, bringing a lot of, you know, influencers on board, because I knew if I get their backing, then we will be successful. Doing it solely on my own, maybe I could do it as well, but with that backing and the belief into that concept.

10:08And there was nothing else, just the concept and the vision. And we all were very much on the same page. And that was the initial start at the end.

10:19Jim Stengel:Now, you have nine tracks of content this year at Possible. and I know it's a lot of words, but I do want to read them out because I think it's an interesting reflection of the marketing industry today. So the nine tracks this year are future of creativity and brand building. Second, media innovations and storytelling techniques. Third, data analytics and measurement strategies. Fourth, Gen Z insights and emerging social trends. Fifth, social impact and purpose-driven business. Next, the intersection of business and culture. AI, ad tech, martech breakthroughs and innovations, the rise of the creator economy, and last, startups and entrepreneurship.

10:55Jim Stengel:It's a great list. How do you arrive at that? How do you choose those tracks and not others? At the end, we're listening to the market. It's not our own belief. Yes, of course, we will monitor all year round. We will listen a lot to our market partners, and this is what they come up with. Also, do an analysis, what kind of business develop, how well they're doing, talking to the marketeers as well as the core group. What are they looking for? What type of businesses they need to, well, survive, to do better, to stay connected with the audience in tomorrow's world. That all comes together. And then I have a wonderful team who spends tons of hours and hours and hours to look into other events as well.

11:36What is missing maybe at other events because of the size of those events? In other words, what are the needs, but who can provide these insights in a good way? And second, what pays off with our original thinking to embrace the wider marketing world? As you said, 10 years ago, we wouldn't talk about creative economy. AI is somewhere part of every discussion, but you need to narrow it a bit down. You need to focus on, is it a pure tech discussion? Or are we now talking about AI as an infrastructure and no longer a tool, which I think everybody is getting tired of it. Yes, we know about the potentials.

12:11We heard this now for a couple of years. Now it's time to do the step further. These are the beliefs or the thoughts behind that kind of agenda. But again, it will change. Pretty sure it will change for next year. And this is where we focus on. We don't come up with a theme every year because I don't believe into this. You know, I don't believe there's a theme which covers everything in our today's world, business world. And everybody forgets as soon as you're inside. At least I see it for myself every time. So possible is its theme. Of course, we came up with the name on purpose. We want to provide a positive momentum for the entire industry.

12:47Everything is possible. We can turn every challenge, every problem into possibilities, which I think is really true with that industry. But yeah, sometimes it's tricky. And we would like to guide people and curate also with such an agenda or range of topics so that curation happens per individual session, per connections, per agenda, through the agenda. That's the idea.

13:12Jim Stengel:Where do you think the most energy will be this year of those nine tracks? Is it impossible to say or what do you think? What's your thinking? I'm just reflecting what people tell me. And a lot of people told me so far is that level of energy when you're on site is so unbelievable and you won't experience this anywhere else. And why is that? I believe because of that concept to bring the entire wider marketing world together in one spot. But here it comes. It is still one central place. Yes, we're expanding this here from Fontainebleau into the Eden Rock and Novo Hotel next door onto the beach as well.

13:49But it's still in walking distance. It's one minute walk from A to B to C. And if we look into other big events, you have to jump in a car, in a cab and drive 20 minutes to one hotel to another, from one hotel to another, or you walk a mile up and down the street to go from A to B. This provides that dynamic. You're running into each other three days in a row. And despite that central place, we have so many different formats. And I think this is so unique. And I already have goosebumps talking about this because I can already feel it, you know, going into the venues and see the people connecting and talking and creating business opportunities.

14:37Jim Stengel:Hi, everybody. I'm Andrea Sullivan, the CEO of Vive, and we have produced the CMO podcast with Jim Stengel for many years, and I'm sitting in his seat right now. It's so exciting. I wanted to tell you a little bit about one of our programs. It's called Vive by Vayner. It's a 12-month program that's designed for C-suiters and founders, and we want to help people to grow their businesses, but also to grow themselves. And so we bring in people from Shark Tank to talk to our founders, but we also focus on wellness. We want to make sure that people are leaning into becoming their best selves, their best and happiest selves.

15:18Jim Stengel:So if you are someone that wants to learn how to grow your business and grow yourself, check us out at vive.co. That's V-Y-V-E dot co. We'd love to talk to you.

15:36Jim Stengel:As the co-founder of this, how do you spend your time in those three days? Do you have a strategy going in or do you have serendipity take over? It's relatively simple. Normally, you would be easily caught in meetings and press conferences and things like that. I'm walking the floor. I do a few of these meetings, but over three days, I would say 70, 80 % of my time, I'm moving around. I'm sitting in a session. I'm moving around. I'm going to the activation spaces of all my partners. I'm joining an intimate peer-to-peer conversation around table between CMOs, which we provide with the CMO Lab. I'm spending time just in a lobby where thousands of people are coming together.

16:16And, of course, with our side events as well, creating our selected guests. That's how I do it. I'm visible. I'm not hiding in meetings behind doors. I want to be proud of that. I also would like to enjoy it in some way like the attendees, but also listen to them, you know, what's going on.

16:33Jim Stengel:Now you get around, we're going to talk about that in a minute, but you talk to a lot of senior marketers in your travels and of course at possible and preparing for it. What do you see as the common kind of characteristics in the best of the marketing people you work with? So if you're talking to CMOs or senior marketing people, what to you stands out of those that you admire most? Honesty. What I experience is that we all know, and I think that relates specifically to CMOs and brands because everybody wants to be connected with brands and get their feedback from CMOs directly. And we, of course, we see that it's not necessarily happened on a panel discussion on stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

17:15having the opportunity to spend time with CMOs on site, but also all year round and get the honest feedback, what's on their agenda and see the different, partly very different situations across industries, across organizations. And I admire most those who are honest with me as a neutral counterpart or platform at the end and share a lot of insights with me, which helps me a lot to serve the industry with what we're doing. As you can imagine, that range of feedback is very broad. Everybody seems to be in a very special situation within an organization. Of course, it makes a huge difference if you talk to an enterprise CMO or a startup CMO or a tech CEO, but that is what I would highlight most and where I take most benefits out of this.

18:02For myself, to better understand what's going on, and of course, for the event, how we serve the industry.

18:08Jim Stengel:What do you sense they're struggling with most? I mean, is there a commonality? Is it talent? Is it handling transformation? Honestly, I think it's a mix of, yes, how to set up the organizations. It's a lot about their own role within organizations. What I can say, we all know there are CEOs, there are CDOs, there are CFOs. And obviously, that role of a CMO changes a lot. And I believe it's the mix of how to set up the organization in the era of AI and other things to be considered, but also their individual situation, how to, I would say survive. That's not the right word, but how to perform, how to improve the role as a CMO where we come from.

18:50I think this is the most fascinating and challenging thing for all of them.

18:56Jim Stengel:And it's evergreen, right? It's never going out of fashion. They'll always be wrestling with that because everything's changing. Absolutely. The dynamics are different. Obviously, it's more dynamic than ever. Pace is different. Complexity is different. But as you said, yeah, I think that's not specific to CMOs or to organizations. It's more as part of our life today. Now, from what I've read about how you spend your time, you seem to be on planes a lot. You go to a lot of conferences. You get out and about looking at what else is happening in the industry. So I often get asked this question, Christian, and I'm not as as qualified to answer as you are.

19:29Jim Stengel:I get this question a lot. What conferences should I go to? I can't go to all of them. I can pick a few. You're the guy. So when you get that question, of course, possible has to be up there in your top three. But how do you handle that? What do you tell people when they ask you your advice on that? Because I bet they do. You're right. Possible has to be in the top three, possible first, possible second, possible third. And then, well, as you can imagine, it's just really, and honestly, it's for myself, it's tricky to highlight a dedicated one because this is exactly why I believe possible was needed.

20:02I cannot see one single event which provides everything for me. And therefore, I believe for everybody else. It's a combination of events. And I believe into those smaller events, boutique events, how I call them, which because the type of that event is so different than a CES, for example, or Mobile World Congress or Ken Lyons with tens and tens of thousands of attendees. Your agenda is automatically different. You have to be differently prepared to go to those events. It's a mix of those. But what I can see is it's all about budget for many. But more important, it's about time. People are more selective.

20:39Senior executives, probably brands and CMOS are more selective than ever. Where to go and where to spend their time. I think time is definitely something more valuable than asking just for budgets. And if somebody comes to Miami, in this case, if possible, that's the biggest ask I can have, you know, to ask for somebody's time to be with us. So the answer is it's a mix of events, I would suggest, but less in terms of total numbers.

21:06Jim Stengel:Yeah. Are there any events that you that you never miss that you go to every year other than your own? Yes, but this is definitely also under the perspective, you know, of course, what type of other industry events, how do they develop? It's more under the competitive, what our clients do with other events. I barely can really sit at other events and really learn for myself. That's the downside. You know, if I go to CAN, if I go to CES, if I go to more events like the MMA Summit and others, I have to observe other things than just listening to all this great content. I would love to do it more, but that comes along with my individual job and when I go to those events.

21:47But those ones I've mentioned, I love to see new events also in very different regions. I spent years ago a lot in Asia, those events which are covering the Asian region, but not necessarily the global, be there on a global scale. Yes, I've seen, I think, every single event in the industry. Does it mean I need to go back to each of them every year? No, because most of them, I would say, do not change a lot. Is it good? Is it bad? I mean, that's everybody's decision. I tell my team every year again, we need to review everything. Everything we did last year needs to be reviewed. Is it still valuable enough?