119: How Anthem Procurement Became a Trusted Advisor to their Marketing Stakeholders w/ Greg Antoniono

“We never put our own priorities first. If I save money and diminish my stakeholders ability to succeed, then I am counter productive and they are not going to use me again.” – Greg Antoniono, Anthem

Today on the show, I am joined by Greg Antoniono.  Greg is the Sourcing Director for Marketing at Anthem, one of the giants of the US Health Care industry

Over the course of the last eight years, Greg has taken his marketing procurement group on a journey from having very limited influence to being a key partner with a direct line to the Chief Marketing Officer.

In today’s show, Greg and I discuss the key steps and learnings that he, and Anthem, took on that journey.

Areas we cover include:

• The major steps that enabled Anthem Marketing to become a trusted partner to their business stakeholders.
• The importance of executive level support.
• Why you should never put your own priorities first.
• Why Greg believes why products or services should not be immediately labelled as commoditized when they historically may have been so.
• The biggest disruptions impacting marketing stakeholders at the beginning of 2017.
• Why Anthem embraces small businesses and start up’s – including making direct investments – as a way to identify and facilitate supplier-led innovation.
• Greg’s biggest learnings on the journey to date – including the need to evolve to remain relevant, align, and recognize where you can add value.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/anthem