Evan White pitches a new C-suite role for marketing memory

Communications strategist Evan White is proposing a Chief Market Memory Officer role to own how companies are understood, remembered and trusted across the market. The idea, outlined in a new essay, pushes founders and marketing leaders to measure reputation, not just activity, as AI and public signals shape buyer decisions.

Why it matters: - Evan White argues companies need one executive accountable for the story the market remembers, because that memory shapes introductions, recommendations and sales conversations. - The proposal shifts marketing leadership beyond campaigns and pipeline to include reputation, recognition and trust over time. - White says the model is also relevant as buyers increasingly use AI tools, search, reviews and peer input to form opinions about companies.

What happened: - Public relations strategist Evan White proposed a new executive role called the Chief Market Memory Officer, or CMMO. - White outlined the idea in an essay titled “Why the Next Fractional CMO Will Really Be a Chief Market Memory Officer.” - The concept is built on White’s Market Memory Framework. - White is founder of Evan White PR.

The details: - Market Memory is the collection of evidence, relationships, stories and repeated signals that shape how a market remembers, trusts and recommends a business. - The CMMO role would connect executive communications, sales positioning, product messaging, customer stories and partner conversations. - The role would also help create evidence people can reference, including customer outcomes, original research, product demonstrations, executive expertise and industry participation. - The model would assess whether customers can explain the company, prospects recognize its expertise, partners recommend it and independent sources support the positioning. - White said companies often have active marketing but still leave buyers unable to explain what the business does. - He said a company can have a full content calendar and still be “a company nobody can explain.” - White said the key test is what people say about a company when its leaders are not in the room. - The CMMO responsibility could sit with an existing CMO, a fractional executive, a communications leader or a founder, depending on company stage and structure. - Revenue, pipeline, customer acquisition and marketing performance remain essential measures under the model. - White says companies should also examine the reputation and recognition that support those outcomes.

Between the lines: - The proposal is a response to fragmented messaging, where sales, founders, websites, events and public appearances can all tell slightly different stories. - White’s argument is that marketing work only compounds when someone is responsible for connecting it into a single public understanding. - The AI angle suggests reputation management now includes not just what customers hear directly, but also what machine-generated summaries repeat back. - The essay frames public evidence as a strategic asset, not a byproduct of communications.

What’s next: - White says founders do not need to change anyone’s title immediately. - He recommends that leadership teams ask who owns the market’s memory of the company and identify gaps in the current story. - White suggests five questions for a leadership meeting: whether customers can explain the company, whether sales and executive messaging match, what evidence supports key claims, what independent sources and AI tools say, and who is responsible for closing gaps. - White says companies should review public representations, correct inaccuracies and strengthen the underlying evidence. - He directs readers to the full essay on EvanWhitePR.com.

The bottom line: - White’s core message is that marketing should leave behind more than activity reports; it should make the company easier to understand and trust.