GoFundMe CMO Musa Tariq on Mentorship, Inspiration and Creativity

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Free shampoo changed the course of Musa Tariq’s career. 

In 2003, long before he became CMO of GoFundMe, Tariq was an undergraduate at the London School of Economics. He needed 30 email addresses to start a marketing club, which sounded easy. But after a day spent standing on a busy street, he had eight names. Five were his friends. One was himself. 

Nevertheless, when he found himself seated next to a Proctor & Gamble exec at a dinner, he positioned the club as quite a bit larger and asked the exec, Michael Inpong, to come speak. Inpong offered free shampoo for members instead. 

“I wanted him to give me a job, but he just wasn't getting there,” Tariq says. He accepted the shampoo, and soon hundreds of bottles showed up at the Student Union with Tariq’s name on them. 

But Tariq didn’t have a marketing club. So, he brought the shampoo and two friends to that same busy street and marketed what he had to the best of his ability. Anyone who wanted free shampoo could have it — as long as they signed up for the Marketing Society. 

By the end of the day, he had far more than the 30 emails he needed. Tariq says that was the first time he felt mentored, and it encouraged him to pay it forward.

When Tariq told me this story, he had just hung up the phone with an aspiring marketer in Tangier. He hopes to reframe how people think of mentorship, noting that some of his best mentors are his peers and not people senior to him.

Over the last few months I’ve worked with Tariq to launch a Marketing Book Club on LinkedIn. (You can join us here!) At nearly 2,000 members, its growth is a testament to the following he's cultivated for himself. People really want to learn from him.

Tariq, who has held roles at Airbnb, Apple, Nike, Burberry and Ford, where he was chief brand officer, is not shy about why he wants to bring people together. He’s on a quest for continuous improvement and connection. Below, he shares more of his story.

1. What has had the most impact on your perspective as a marketer? 

Anyone I know or speak to that does not work in our industry. 

While I am so grateful for the community I’ve built, both IRL and online I know I’ve fallen into a deep bubble surrounded by tech, marketing + creative folk. Because of the algorithms we’re also all consuming the same content and opinions. It’s only when I’m in touch with old school friends, family or go out and spend time with customers that I realise that 90% of what we get excited by often isn’t on their minds. I realised how dangerous this is as a marketeer only a couple of years ago and have since tried to speak to customers at least once a week. It’s like calling your family, easy to forget but once you get into the routine it becomes not only easy, but you realise how much it fills you up.

2. What’s changed the most about your job as a marketer over the course of your career?

So much and yet so little. The internet came along and everyone believed marketing had changed. We still think it’s changing. But the reality is marketing has always been about building a relationship with your customer and yes the distribution channels have changed, but the dynamics of relationship building were established many years ago. It’s why I recently started a Marketing Book Club to focus on the classics and fundamentals, which many people, including myself, came into the industry without. 

3. What’s the hardest part of a marketer’s job today?

I’m not sure I can answer this question better than Gannett CMO Mayur Gupta in his Marketer Must Read. Go read his answer. What he said. 

4. Tell us about the marketing campaign you’re most proud of working on in your career.

The 2014 Football World Cup while I was at Nike. I’d been at the swoosh two years and had built, in my opinion, the greatest Social Media team in the world. We’d created an incredible culture and this was Nike’s first World Cup, where social media + mobile was now mainstream and real time. We leveraged world class technology, world class agency partners and delivered Nike’s most successful campaign. The command center in Portland had over 200 people in it and the energy was just like lightning. It was a real honor when our CEO credited the social media elements of the campaign for helping drive a 13% increase in revenue that fiscal quarter. 

5. What’s a marketing campaign you wish you’d thought of and why?

Everything Fernando Machado’s done. Both at Dove + Burger King. While we all talk about the importance of creativity in our industry, he walks the walk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but when it does, which is often, damn is it good. 

6. What’s your must read, watch or listen for all marketers?

You’ll have to join the Marketing Book Club for this one. But also any podcast or interview that Angela Ahrendts has done. Angela was my CEO at Burberry and then Apple Retail. She’s taught me more about leadership and empathy than anyone else in the world. Her way of looking at problems is like no one I’ve ever seen. She leads with so much heart and is the perfect example of someone who’s had so much success putting people first. 

7. What’s an under the radar brand you’re watching and why?

Nick Tran recently mentioned Liquid Death - couldn’t agree more. What I love about them is that they came into a bland space and just stood for something different. My other two are fashion brands The Pangaia and Girlfriend Collective - both also take a stand on issues and are unapologetic about it. 

8. Name a product you can’t live without (that doesn’t connect you to the internet) and tell us why.

A blank piece of paper and my LePens. I buy hundreds on Amazon and they’re everywhere I am. They just write so beautifully. I start any exercise with a blank piece of paper. My notes are never really in order, just words on a page, most unreadable, in no order and I never even go back to them. But find it’s how I am inspired to do my best thinking. 

9. Finish this sentence. If I weren’t a marketer, I would be…

Trying to get into marketing. It’s my love, my hobby, my passion and I'm obsessed with it. Once upon a time I was embarrassed to admit that, now that I'm older I think the fact that I know what I love and it aligns to my career, that I’m the luckiest person in the world. 

10. Finish this sentence: The marketer I most want to see do this questionnaire is…

Gino Fisanotti - he’s been at Nike nearly 24 years. He’s the best marketeer I’ve ever met, anyone that has worked with him will agree, and yet he’s so low key, humble and will probably be mad at me for mentioning him. He’s responsible for some of the greatest advertising + marketing the world has ever seen, and you would never know. He’s a legend. 

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