Being Great at Marketing Won't Make You a Great Marketing Leader

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Michael Baker-Mosley, ex-Head of Brand at Kambi, ex-CMO at iGP, and one of the most respected B2B marketing minds in iGaming.

Michael pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to step into a CMO role unprepared, why most B2B marketing in this industry is renting its audience rather than building one, and what happens when a leader has to let go of the people they hired and believed in.

The conversation covers the art of hiring outside the industry, why picking a nemesis is a legitimate market entry strategy, the real ROI of brand, and the moment Michael went ballistic on his first holiday in years over a PR piece that was never meant to go live.

Guest Bio

Michael Baker-Mosley is a senior marketing leader and consultant with over a decade of experience across B2B technology, iGaming, and brand strategy.

He spent five years at Kambi, rising to Head of Brand Marketing, before joining iGP as CMO in January 2024, where he led the brand, PR, events, and product marketing functions through a period of significant growth and restructuring. He is widely cited as one of the most influential B2B marketers in the iGaming industry and serves as an Ambassador for the iGaming Leader Mastermind.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – From the smoking area at SBC Lisbon to the iGaming Leader: who Michael is now vs. then.
02:00 – The gap nobody prepares you for: the step up from head of to C-level.
05:00 – "We promote people who are good at their job. And we might get a shit manager."
09:00 – The best hire Michael ever made: a risk manager from Amazon with nine months of events experience.
12:00 – Two-thirds of marketers have never had formal training. What that actually means for the industry.
18:00 – Delegation gone wrong: the PR piece that went live on the first day of his holiday.
24:00 – Letting people go: why it is never just business, and why it should not be.
28:00 – The human cost of redundancy when the team was genuinely performing.
31:00 – Picking a nemesis: why having a competitor with 45 people in their B2B marketing team was a gift.
34:00 – Rented audience vs. owned brand: the most expensive mistake in B2B marketing.
38:00 – Why SEO, paid media, and affiliate are all forms of renting someone else's audience.
41:00 – The ROI of brand: why CFOs get it wrong and CMOs let them.
44:00 – What Michael would tell his earlier self on day one of the CMO role.
46:00 – Why Michael became an Ambassador for the iGaming Leader.

Memorable Quotes

"We promote people who are good at their job. And actually it's so wrong for so many people, because you lose somebody who's good at their job and you might get a shit manager as well."

"The best hire I made in my marketing team was a risk manager from Amazon. Outside the industry. Had about nine months of event management experience."

"Two-thirds of marketers have never had any formal training. I've hired a risk manager from Amazon, but it's true."

"I wasn't asking for people's opinions of whether or not I should be calm. It was too late. My mistake was to go ballistic."

"You as a leader always have to remember: it's not about you. 'I feel bad. I hope you...' It's not about you, is it? It's about them."

"If you're looking to enter a market, picking a nemesis is a great way to do it. One of our competitors had 45 people in their B2B marketing team. Ten to one outspending us. And we would find ways to subtly mock them at any opportunity."

"To build long-term value for a business, marketing needs to be building brand, building its own audience, owning the audience itself. Everything else is rented."

Key Takeaways

The Promotion Trap: Promoting the best performer into management is one of the most common and costly mistakes in iGaming. You lose a high performer and risk gaining a poor manager. The skills that make someone exceptional at a job are rarely the same skills that make someone exceptional at leading others who do it.

Hire for Your Weaknesses: The best hire Michael made was a risk manager from Amazon with nine months of events experience. She became one of the best hires of his career. Hiring outside the industry and outside your own strengths creates the depth of capability that frees a leader to operate at a strategic level.

Rented Audience vs. Owned Brand: Paid media, affiliates, SEO, and editorial placements are all rented. When the algorithm changes, the spend stops, or the platform shifts, the audience disappears with it. The only durable asset in marketing is a brand that people seek out directly. That is what separates market leaders from permanent bit players.

Picking a Nemesis: Entering a competitive B2B market without positioning is invisible. Identifying a well-funded competitor and building your identity in contrast to theirs is a legitimate and powerful go-to-market strategy. You do not need their budget if your message does the hard work they cannot buy.

It Is Never Just Business: The hardest part of leadership is not strategy. It is sitting across from someone you hired, believed in, and worked beside, and telling them it is over, for reasons that are not their fault. The leaders who treat that moment as purely transactional lose something they do not get back.

Stamp Your Vision Early: The biggest regret from Michael's time as CMO was waiting a year before taking his vision for the brand and the business to board level. The conversation was worth far more than he gave it credit for. A CMO who waits to be invited into strategy is always going to be seen as a cost, not a driver of growth.

Important Links

Follow Michael Baker-Mosley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosleymichael
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu