From newsroom to boardroom to marketing that works.

Scott Spjut started in journalism, where the standard was simple: get it right, say it plainly, and back it up. That standard shaped everything after.

Nearly two decades in marketing followed, split between agency and in-house work. At Barefoot Proximity, part of Omnicom, he worked on P&G and ExxonMobil accounts. In-house, he held senior marketing roles at Fifth Third Bank and ENGIE Impact.

Across both sides, the same pattern kept showing up. Marketing gets treated as a creative exception, judged by awards and disruption instead of process and results. Other business functions don’t get that pass. Finance doesn’t win awards for creative bookkeeping. Marketing shouldn’t need to either.

That observation became the foundation for Marketing Isn’t Special, and for the consulting practice built around the same principle: marketing works better when it’s run like a discipline, not a talent show.