The CEO Is Allowed an Opinion. They're Not Automatically the Target Audience.

The campaign is ready.

Six weeks of work.

Strategy.

Creative.

Research.

Creators.

Media.

Social.

Everyone has finally stopped touching it.

Then:

“The CEO has some feedback.”

Of course they do.

What is it?

“They don’t really like the creator.”

Why?

“They find her a bit annoying.”

Right.

Are they a 22-year-old woman?

“No.”

Do they follow this kind of creator?

“No.”

Are they the target audience?

“Not technically.”

Technically?

“They’re 57.”

And our audience?

“18–29.”

Excellent.

Cancel the campaign.

We’ve heard from the youth.

CEOs Are Allowed to Have Opinions

Let's establish this before somebody forwards this article to their CEO with seventeen exclamation marks.

CEOs are smart.

Often extremely smart.

They understand the business.

They understand where it’s going.

They carry responsibility for things most of us thankfully never have to think about.

They should absolutely care about marketing.

Frankly, we'd like more CEOs to give a shit about creative.

But there is a tiny difference between:

“I have an opinion about this.”

and:

“My personal reaction represents the customer.”

One is useful.

The other can cost you a fucking fortune.

Seniority Does Not Make You More Representative

This is such a strange organisational phenomenon.

A junior social person says:

“Our audience loves this creator.”

Interesting.

The data says:

“This creator consistently outperforms.”

Useful.

Comments say:

“MORE OF HER.”

Noted.

Then the CEO says:

“I don't get her.”

Emergency.

Why does one person's opinion suddenly outweigh thousands of audience behaviours?

Because they're the CEO.

Understandable organisationally.

Completely irrelevant demographically.

Your position on the org chart does not increase your statistical resemblance to the customer.

“I Wouldn’t Watch This”

This sentence should immediately be followed by one question:

“Are you supposed to?”

Sometimes the answer is yes.

Great.

Listen closely.

Sometimes the answer is absolutely fucking not.

Your CFO doesn't use TikTok.

Fine.

They don't need to.

Your CEO doesn't understand why the creator is funny.

Fine.

Maybe they're not meant to.

Your Head of Brand thinks the edit is too chaotic.

Interesting.

Does the audience?

Because one of the hardest skills in marketing is separating:

I don't like this

from:

This isn't good.

They feel identical inside your own head.

They are not identical in the market.

The Higher Up the Feedback Comes From, the Less It Needs to Explain Itself

Junior person:

“I think we should change the opening.”

Why?

They'd better have a good answer.

Social Manager:

“I think we should change the opening.”

Why?

Let's look at the retention data.

Marketing Director:

“I think we should change the opening.”

Okay. What's the thinking?

CEO:

“Not sure about the opening.”

CHANGE THE FUCKING OPENING.

This is how hierarchy quietly turns preference into strategy.

Nobody writes:

CEO doesn't personally enjoy weird opening.

The feedback gets translated.

“Could we make the opening feel more premium?”

“Could we ensure stronger brand cues?”

“Could we create greater immediate clarity?”

Beautiful.

The personal preference has now put on a suit.

The CEO’s Daughter Is Not Automatically the Target Audience Either

A close relative of the CEO is one of marketing's most powerful research methodologies.

We've all heard some version.

“I showed it to my daughter.”

Oh good.

What did she say?

“She didn't really get it.”

Right.

How old is she?

“Thirty-four.”

Our audience?

“Gen Z.”

Does she buy the category?

“No.”

Does she use the platform?

“Not really.”

Fantastic.

Anything else from the study?

“She preferred Concept Two.”

Great.

Let's move $700,000.

Look, talk to your children.

They're probably lovely.

But having access to a young person does not constitute ethnography.

The Problem Isn’t CEO Feedback. It’s CEO Gravity.

Good CEOs should challenge marketing.

Why are we doing this?

How does it connect to the business?

Is this actually distinctive?

What are we trying to change?

Why this audience?

Why this investment?

What evidence gives us confidence?

Fantastic questions.

The problem is gravity.

A casual CEO observation can travel through an organisation with extraordinary force.

“Not sure about the yellow.”

Maybe they meant:

I don't personally love yellow.

By the time it reaches the agency:

“Leadership has concerns about the role of yellow within the broader brand ecosystem.”

Three days later, someone's preparing twelve alternative colourways.

The CEO has already forgotten saying it.

This Is a Marketing Leadership Problem

Here’s where Marketing Managers and CMOs earn their money.

Your job isn't simply to receive senior feedback and forward it down the chain.

Ctrl+C.

Ctrl+V.

Thanks everyone.

Your job is to interpret it.

What is the actual concern?

Is it strategic?

Commercial?

Reputational?

Creative?

Or preference?

Sometimes the CEO has spotted something everyone else missed.

Fix it.

Sometimes they have context the agency doesn't.

Listen.

And sometimes they're simply a human being having a subjective reaction to advertising that wasn't made for them.

That's okay too.

Not every opinion needs to become Version 14.

“But They’re the CEO”

Correct.

Observant.

And if the CEO says:

“Change it.”

then ultimately, yes, they can probably change it.

We're not confused about capitalism.

The question is whether your marketing culture gives senior leaders enough information to make good decisions.

Because there's a huge difference between showing someone a piece of creative and asking:

“Do you like it?”

versus:

“Here's the audience. Here's the objective. Here's what we've learned from the last 11 months. Here's why we chose this creator. Here's the behaviour we're seeing. Here's the strategic role this work needs to play. What are you seeing that concerns you?”

Now we're having a useful conversation.

Context makes feedback better.

Even CEO feedback.

Data Gives Marketing Managers a Spine

This is one of the best uses of data.

Not replacing judgement.

Supporting it.

CEO doesn't like the creator?

Okay.

Here's their performance across the last six pieces.

Here's audience retention.

Here's engagement quality.

Here's sales.

Here's what happened when we used more traditional talent.

Now we have something more interesting than:

CEO opinion vs Marketing Manager opinion.

We have evidence.

Maybe the CEO still has a good reason to change direction.

Fine.

But at least we're discussing the actual trade-off.

Data should make it easier to say:

“I understand why this isn't personally for you. Here's why we believe it's right for them.”

That's a sentence good marketers need to get comfortable saying.

This Is Why Taste Matters

Because data won't solve everything.

Sometimes the work isn't live yet.

Sometimes there's no direct precedent.

Sometimes you're choosing between two genuinely new ideas.

Now what?

Judgement.

Taste.

Understanding the audience.

Understanding culture.

Understanding the strategy.

And importantly, understanding when your own taste is irrelevant.

That last one might be the hardest.

Great taste isn't believing everything you like is good.

It's being able to recognise why something can be good even when you don't personally like it.

Your CEO needs that skill.

Your CMO needs it.

Your Marketing Manager needs it.

Your agency definitely fucking needs it.

Imagine If We Did This in Other Departments

The CTO presents a new cloud architecture.

CEO:

“Personally, I prefer servers.”

Okay.

Head of Logistics presents a warehouse optimisation model.

CEO:

“I don't really like forklifts.”

Noted.

Finance presents a tax structure.

CEO:

“Could we make it feel more premium?”

Great feedback.

In specialist functions, we generally accept that expertise matters.

Senior leadership challenges the thinking, asks questions and makes decisions.

But marketing is visible.

Everyone sees ads.

Everyone consumes content.

Everyone has preferences.

So everyone feels unusually qualified to art direct.

“Could the logo just be a little bigger?”

There it is.

Sometimes the CEO Is Right

Annoying, but true.

Maybe the creator is wrong.

Maybe the joke is shit.

Maybe the campaign has become so obsessed with getting attention that it's forgotten the business.

Maybe the social team is celebrating views from people who will never buy anything.

Maybe the agency is hiding a weak idea behind the word “brave.”

Maybe the CEO's instinct is the product of twenty years understanding the company and they have spotted something nobody else has.

Good.

Interrogate it.

The argument isn't:

IGNORE THE CEO.

It's:

MAKE THE FEEDBACK EARN ITS WAY INTO THE WORK.

No matter who said it.

The Customer Doesn’t Know Who Approved the Campaign

This is the ultimate reality check.

The customer doesn't know the CEO hated the first version.

They don't know Brand requested three rounds.

They don't know Legal changed the caption.

They don't know the agency fought for the creator.

They don't know everyone eventually aligned.

They see the final thing.

And either:

Stop.

Or scroll.

Remember.

Or forget.

Care.

Or don't.

The organisational hierarchy disappears the second the work enters the world.

The audience gets the final vote.

And they are spectacularly unimpressed by job titles.

The Best CEOs Give Marketing Permission

This is where CEOs can be incredibly powerful.

Not by choosing the headline.

By creating the environment where good marketing can happen.

Giving the team permission to take informed risks.

Backing distinctive work.

Demanding evidence without demanding certainty.

Asking why instead of immediately saying no.

Protecting the team when something doesn't work.

Expecting Marketing to have an opinion.

And perhaps occasionally saying:

“It's not for me. But I'm not the audience.”

Beautiful.

Put it on the wall.

Because the CEO absolutely deserves a voice.

A very important one.

But if you're selling skincare to 19-year-olds, gaming to teenagers, retirement products to 70-year-olds or dog food to people who refer to themselves as “Mum” when speaking to a Labrador…

there is a chance the CEO's personal media habits are not the definitive source of customer truth.

Listen to them.

Challenge the work.

Use their experience.

Take genuine concerns seriously.

But don't confuse authority with audience insight.

Because the CEO is allowed an opinion.

They’re just not automatically the fucking target audience.