Last spring, Linda Boff could have written a ticket for any CMO job in the universe.
With experience at NBC, Citigroup, and two decades at General Electric—where she served as CMO from 2015 to 2024—Boff helped humanize the industrial giant through inventive campaigns. She honored pioneering women in science by projecting their images on Grand Central Terminal’s ceiling and turned GE machinery into music with electronic artist Matthew Dear.
But her latest move wasn’t a campaign—it was a career shift.
In 2024, Boff raised eyebrows by crossing to the agency side—and the corner office.
Boff is now CEO of Said Differently, leading custom creative teams for clients from a network of 3,500 professionals.
That business model preceded Boff, but it’s one she’s refined and invigorated because she remains a marketer at heart. “I continue to bring that client perspective of knowing what it’s like to build a brand,” she told ADWEEK. “I’ve sat in that seat.”
This week marks the first anniversary of Boff’s agency gig, a time that’s given her the chance to look at brands from a new vantage point. We asked Boff to share some of her insights.
Beware of brand myopia
Corporate marketers tend to be tunnel-visioned about their brands, but they should remember that others (agency people included) are not.
“When you’re at a brand, you’re [in] so deep—thinking about your investors, your employees, your customers,” Boff said. “You almost take for granted that when you bring on an agency, that they’ll know all those same things.” They don’t, of course, so it’s essential to allow for a learning curve. “It takes a little time for an agency to be [brand] conversant,” she said.
Agencies, know thy brand
Last year, Boff was on a call with a prospective client and was struck by the reason the brand hadn’t been happy with agencies it had hired in the past.
“They said they had found agencies that were really good at creative but didn’t go deep enough on substance,” she said. Substance, meaning the fundamentals of how the brand’s business works, not just its marketing needs.
