Press
Recent press
A report from the Institute for Real Growth, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, compiles analyses on AI, behavior, culture, and brand value building.
The marketing sector must advance personalization without overstepping privacy, incorporate AI without losing human judgment, and balance immediate results with brand building.
Google, Ipsos, the Institute for Real Growth, and Ad Net Zero show how CMO-CSO alignment turns sustainability into growth, brand equity, and value.
Overperforming companies are treating sustainability as a strategic growth opportunity rather than a cost burden.
Research by Google, Ipsos, IRG, and Ad Net Zero reveals why aligning marketing and sustainability leadership can be a strategic advantage.
The dividing line between overperforming and underperforming organizations may lie in how senior leaders perceive sustainability.
Lack of alignment between marketing and sustainability leaders is a challenge to driving sustainable business growth.
Marketing leaders bring market perception and consumer behavior; sustainability executives bring technical expertise, credibility, compliance, and measurement.
Marketing2030 convenes leading marketing practitioners, experts, and influencers to define the future of marketing.
IRG announced the collective thought-leadership initiative during its opening session at Cannes Lions.
The study provides data-backed insights and practices for shifting from shareholder primacy to stakeholder value creation.
IRG released findings from a global study identifying practices used by businesses moving toward value creation for all stakeholders.
What it takes to win in the shift from shareholder to stakeholder impact.
IRG and Oxford Saïd FOMI launched a study focused on the practices needed to shift from shareholder primacy to stakeholder growth.
The 2023 IRG100 brings together senior growth leaders from a wide range of backgrounds, industries, and markets.
IRG announced the 100 CMOs and other senior growth leaders selected for its flagship 2023 leadership program.
Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest discuss how organizations can drive more humanized growth.
The IRG founders join CNBC-TV18 for a special panel on humanized growth.
IRG founders discuss how they help companies achieve humanized growth.
Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest explain IRG’s humanized-growth approach.
The program connects chief marketers with growth learning, benchmarking, practitioners, experts, and peer collaboration.
ANA and IRG announced a quarterly CMO leadership program built around individual, small-group, and plenary work.
IRG announced the 100 CMOs and senior growth leaders selected for the 2022 IRG100.
The annual IRG100 list recognizes the participants selected for the flagship leadership program.
The meaning of growth—and the role of marketing in delivering it—changed after the arrival of COVID-19.
IRG examines how business leaders can redefine growth for a post-pandemic environment.
IRG founder Frank van den Driest explains why a focus on people distinguishes growth leaders.
The BrandZ report explores how leading Dutch brands connect people and sustained top-line growth.
Forbes reported in 2020 on research from Spencer Stuart and the Institute for Real Growth that set out ten capabilities for modern chief marketing officers.
The coverage establishes that IRG's CMO research was carried to a general business readership on publication.
Institute for Real Growth announces IRG100 selected participants for IRG CMO Leadership Program 2021
The program connects leaders with peers, experts, benchmarking, and humanized-growth practices.
IRG announced the participants selected for the 2021 IRG CMO Leadership Program.
Frank van den Driest shares five lessons for staying relevant through crisis and change.
The article argues that marketing should retain the most human lessons learned during disruption.
Growth-minded leaders should adopt the learning mindset of the famous polymath.
The article considers how broad curiosity and continuous learning support growth leadership.
A challenging commerce environment calls for fresh growth perspectives.
IRG research is considered in the context of ecommerce acceleration and changing customer behavior.
IRG announced its list of 100 CMOs and senior growth leaders.
The selected leaders joined IRG’s flagship CMO leadership program.
Mi3 gave the Institute for Real Growth an extended hearing in 2019, in an interview with Marc de Swaan Arons on the standing of the chief marketing officer.
The coverage establishes that the Institute's diagnosis was carried to the Australian marketing industry under its own name.
The rise of modern brands helps explain why branded products became ubiquitous.
The article traces the development of modern marketing from the brand expansion of the 1960s.
More press
CNBC-TV18 interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons in 2019 on where growth was still available to Indian business, reporting his account of qualitative interviews with senior leaders and an online survey of business executives.
MediaPost’s Richard Whitman covered the formation of the Institute for Real Growth in 2019, listing the companies backing the new non-profit and reporting findings from the year-long growth study unveiled in New York.
MrWeb’s Daily Research News Online reported the formation of the Institute for Real Growth in 2019, setting out its eight co-founding organizations and the scale of the research program behind it.
Saïd Business School announced in 2019 that Oxford Saïd had become the first founding business school partner of the Institute for Real Growth, quoting Professor Andrew Stephen on the research the partnership would contribute.
LBBOnline reported the formation of the Institute for Real Growth in 2019, carrying the announcement with its founding partners and Mark Read’s comments on the difficulty of delivering sustained growth.
CB News reported in 2019 on WPP France’s presentation of the Institute for Real Growth study, summarizing the seven pillars of sustained growth it set out and the French contribution to the sample.
exchange4media reported in 2019 that WPP and Kantar brought the Institute for Real Growth to India, where Marc de Swaan Arons unveiled the growth study at a summit in Gurgaon.
afaqs! reported the launch of the Institute for Real Growth in India in 2019, at a Real Growth Summit in Gurgaon where Marc de Swaan Arons unveiled the study’s Indian findings.
BestMediaInfo interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons in 2019 on why data has to be paired with human insight to produce growth, and on what the study found about transparency and talent in India.
Devdiscourse carried the newswire report of the Institute for Real Growth’s launch in India in 2019, naming the founding partners and the Gurugram summit at which the study was unveiled.
A 2018 LinkedIn post reported the closing keynote Aljan de Boer gave on the first day of the MIE conference, on understanding customers rather than chasing technology.
Adformatie interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons in 2025 ahead of his appearance at the MarketingLive conference.
Adformatie published Aljan de Boer in 2015 on what design thinking offers marketers working on innovation.
Adformatie reported Aljan de Boer in 2017 arguing that marketing turns on trust rather than on the newest technology.
AList Daily covered a 2020 podcast interview with Marc de Swaan Arons, who founded the Institute for Real Growth.
Adformatie carried Aljan de Boer in 2018 on a Dutch academic book asking whether marketing matters.
Adformatie reported Marc de Swaan Arons in 2011 on what separates global brands that capture scale from those that do not.
Adformatie quoted Aljan de Boer in 2018 in an article on local branding and consumer trust.
Adformatie reported research into what marketers needed from their communication during the 2020 crisis, quoting Aljan de Boer as a board member of the platform that ran it.
Adformatie’s 2017 report from Cannes recounted a session where Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest took questions from young Dutch professionals.
CKGSB reported in 2015 on a Shanghai forum where Marc de Swaan Arons presented findings from Insights2020.
Think with Google interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons and Mariana Peneva in 2025 about the Institute for Real Growth study of how CMOs are adopting AI.
Marketingfacts published Aljan de Boer in 2023 on the part marketing plays in driving sustainable growth.
Marketingfacts published Aljan de Boer in 2018 warning marketers against reducing themselves to a chief gadget officer.
A LinkedIn announcement recorded the Institute for Real Growth launching its Impact Study in partnership with Oxford Saïd FOMI.
The Australian Association of National Advertisers announced in 2015 that Marc de Swaan Arons would present at its RESET conference.
Daily Data Bytes interviewed Aljan de Boer in 2020 about Generation Z and what sets it apart from millennials.
MarketingTribune interviewed Aljan de Boer and Stefan Harzevoort in 2016 ahead of the launch of the PIM trend report.
Adformatie carried a review of The Global Brand CEO, the book by Marc de Swaan Arons.
Saïd Business School announced the release of the IRG Impact Study, based on interviews with 450 senior executives.
Marc de Swaan Arons published this article on LinkedIn in 2020, setting out how the Institute for Real Growth study of growth overperformers frames the question of market definition.
The Places We’ll Go Marketing Show hosted Marc de Swaan Arons, introduced as co-leader of Marketing2020 and Insights2020.
Daily Research News Online reported the acquisition of EffectiveBrands and its merger into a new Millward Brown unit.
Adformatie published a roundup of the 2015 marketing congress at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, quoting Marc de Swaan Arons on customer centricity.
Adformatie reported in 2005 that a senior Unilever marketer was joining EffectiveBrands as a partner, describing the consultancy founded by Marc de Swaan Arons.
MT/Sprout interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons for a feature on executives who left corporate careers to found their own companies.
Saïd Business School reported on the seventh anniversary event of its Future of Marketing Initiative, where Marc de Swaan Arons previewed findings from the joint study.
Marketing Facts interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons ahead of a Dutch marketing event on global brand management.
Marc de Swaan Arons published this piece on LinkedIn in 2015, arguing from Marketing2020 that capability building is the strongest lever a marketing organization holds.
Adformatie published a column by Aljan de Boer on how millennials read a global fast food brand and its marketing.
Adformatie published a column by Aljan de Boer on insurers, personal data, and the limits of sorting customers by measured behavior.
Frankwatching published a column by Aljan de Boer setting out three tests for creating social value for consumers.
Adformatie published a 2015 column by Aljan de Boer on how always connected consumers behave and what that asks of brands.
Adformatie reported in 2018 on the shortlist for a national marketing talent award and on the program of the award evening, where Aljan de Boer was billed to speak.
Adformatie published a 2023 essay by Aljan de Boer on the part marketing plays in sustainable growth.
Frankwatching reported in 2015 on a conference presentation in which Aljan de Boer set out that year’s digital marketing trends.
Frankwatching reported in 2017 on a session where Aljan de Boer spoke about a crisis of trust and what online video can do to rebuild it.
LinkedIn carries a 2021 installment of the Humanizing Growth series, a conversation between Marc de Swaan Arons and the chief executive of Unilever.
LinkedIn carries a 2025 post by Marc de Swaan Arons sharing the announcement of a marketing podcast season recorded at the Institute for Real Growth Summit in Cannes.
The Forbes CMO Network carried a 2010 piece by Marc de Swaan Arons on what makes a global marketing organization effective.
Marketing Daily reported in 2013 on the first CMO round table convened at Cannes Lions around Marketing2020, the study Marc de Swaan Arons headed.
The Adformatie ezine ran a 2020 interview with Aljan de Boer ahead of a Dutch event on generational marketing, where he was billed to speak on millennials.
MediaPost Agency Daily reported in 2014 on an agency study that Marc de Swaan Arons presented at an industry conference.
MediaPost reported in 2014 on the acquisition that made Marc de Swaan Arons chief marketing officer of the combined firm.
Adformatie ran a 2020 review of a Dutch event on generational marketing, singling out the talk Aljan de Boer gave on millennials as well grounded.
MarketingFacts reported in 2018 on a Dutch trend report written by Aljan de Boer, which puts human needs rather than technology at the starting point.
The Drum published a 2024 interview with Marc de Swaan Arons on why he treats the chief marketing role as a growth role.
hbr.org carries the 2016 article on building an insight capability, written by Frank van den Driest with two coauthors.
LinkedIn carries a 2024 post by Aljan de Boer previewing an interview he convened on what leaders can take from Nike’s difficulties.
Marketing Today gave a 2020 episode to the founder of the Institute for Real Growth and published the full transcript of it.
The Super CMO Show opened its run with an episode built around Marc de Swaan Arons and the case for humanized growth.
The Unlock Growth podcast published a 2021 interview with Aljan de Boer on how behavior, needs and values shifted during the pandemic.
AdNews reported in 2015 that Marc de Swaan Arons would present the conclusions of Insights2020 at an Australian industry conference.
BNR listed Aljan de Boer among the guests in its 2020 Big Five series on the generation gap, speaking on generational marketing.
DDMA Next published a 2024 program listing for a session by Aljan de Boer on the human context that gives data its meaning, describing him as Community Director at the Institute for Real Growth.
NIMA interviewed Aljan de Boer in 2024 about a mastercourse he teaches with Iris Academy, a condensed form of the international Humanizing Growth leadership program.
Mumbrella reported in 2015 that Marc de Swaan Arons would speak at the AANA RESET conference in Australia.
MM reported in 2025 that WPP Belgium would roll out the Institute for Real Growth study at Belgian level, and carried an interview with Aljan de Boer as community director.
A 2023 article by Aljan de Boer of the Institute for Real Growth set out the role marketing plays in driving sustainable growth.
Rush.nl reported in 2015 on a conference talk by Aljan de Boer about how the millennial generation handles brands, media and its own devices.
ANA released the joint Marketing2020 findings at its Masters of Marketing Conference in 2013, quoting Marc de Swaan Arons as the leader of the study.
A 2019 article by Marc de Swaan Arons drew on Institute for Real Growth research into what separates companies that overperform on revenue growth from those that do not.
Brand Finance announced in 2025 that its chairman would join panels at the Institute for Real Growth summit in Cannes, moderated by Aljan de Boer.
Semantic Scholar’s catalog record for the 2016 paper on building an insights engine lists Frank van den Driest as its lead author, with two coauthors.
Adformatie covered a 2016 congress session in which Aljan de Boer set out why the millennial generation matters to marketers as consumer and as future manager alike.
Adformatie’s 2019 report on the nominations for the PIM marketing literature prize lists Aljan de Boer among the jury.
Adformatie’s 2025 MarketingLive dossier lists Marc de Swaan Arons among the speakers and carries an interview with him on the skills winning marketers now need.
Adformatie published a 2010 conversation between Marc de Swaan Arons of EffectiveBrands and three former global chief marketing officers.
Forbes covered Marketing2020 at the 2013 Cannes Lions Festival, in a report on the CMO round table convened around the study’s early findings.
Consultancy.nl reported in 2014 that EffectiveBrands had been acquired and folded into Millward Brown Vermeer, with Marc de Swaan Arons taking the chief marketing officer role.
Emerce reported in 2018 that Aljan de Boer of TrendsActive would take the stage at its Emerce Engage conference.
Adformatie ran a 2020 essay by Aljan de Boer and Douwe Knijff of TrendsActive on the human needs brands had to answer during the pandemic.
Nieuws.Marketing reviewed the 2018 Emerce Engage conference and singled out Aljan de Boer’s keynote from a program the reviewer otherwise found unremarkable.
Marc de Swaan Arons wrote for the Forbes CMO Network in 2010 on what separates companies that build global brands well, drawing on EffectiveBrands research.
“Generation Y has a built-in bullshit detector” – interview with Aljan de Boer (Swiss Life blog URL)
Swiss Life published a 2016 interview with Aljan de Boer on how the formative years of each generation shape what people expect of organizations.
A 2016 LinkedIn post carried an excerpt of the Aljan de Boer interview and pointed readers to the full version.
CustomerTalk reported the 2019 PIM marketing literature prize and listed Aljan de Boer of TrendsActive among the jury.
The awarding platform’s own 2019 announcement of its marketing literature prize names Aljan de Boer of TrendsActive as a member of the jury.
SlideShare carries a 2014 upload of the discussion in which Marc de Swaan Arons set out the Marketing 2020 study run with Millward Brown Vermeer.
This 2014 upload reproduces in full the report in which Marc de Swaan Arons presented the Marketing 2020 study for Millward Brown Vermeer.
A second 2014 upload mirrors the same report, in which Marc de Swaan Arons describes the Marketing 2020 study organized with Millward Brown Vermeer.
Jenny Rooney’s 2013 report previewed the first Marketing2020 findings ahead of the ANA Masters of Marketing conference, naming EffectiveBrands as a partner in the study.
Aljan de Boer published this 2019 article on how younger generations will push insurers toward wellbeing, drawing throughout on TrendsActive research.
The ARF reported in 2015 on the first read out of Insights2020 findings at Advertising Week in New York.
PRNewswire carried the 2020 announcement naming the hundred senior growth leaders selected for the Institute for Real Growth CMO leadership program.
Campaign Brief reported in 2019 that Marc de Swaan Arons would deliver a keynote at the AANA RESET conference.
The ANA published this 2023 record of a joint research initiative with the Institute for Real Growth and Oxford University.
Fonk Magazine reported in 2024 that Aljan de Boer would teach a Humanizing Growth course in the Iris Academy spring program.
Mi3 reported in 2024 on Marc de Swaan Arons briefing Australian chief marketers on the Institute for Real Growth’s study of 475 senior leaders.
Marc de Swaan Arons was interviewed at length in 2024 on the Institute for Real Growth study of purpose, product and stakeholder alignment.
MediaPost’s 2015 column on the ANA Masters conference reported Marc de Swaan Arons on a lunchtime panel alongside chief marketing officers from ADT and McDonald’s.
SlideShare hosts the readout deck in which Marc de Swaan Arons presented the Insights2020 findings on customer centric growth to a webinar audience.
PRWeb carried the 2016 release of the quarterly Marketers Confidence Index, a joint measure by the American Marketing Association and Millward Brown Vermeer.
Mumbrella reported in 2015 on Marc de Swaan Arons presenting customer centricity research at the AANA RESET conference in Sydney.
A 2016 Dutch trade article set out findings from a millennial research report co-authored by Aljan de Boer for the marketing platform PIM.
Adformatie reported in 2020 on a panel about consumer behavior during the pandemic, in which Aljan de Boer was one of the invited voices.
BusinessWire carried the 2014 announcement that Millward Brown had acquired EffectiveBrands, the consultancy Marc de Swaan Arons co-founded.
Communicate Online interviewed Marc de Swaan Arons after he presented Marketing2020 findings in Dubai.
SlideShare hosts the 2014 deck in which Marc de Swaan Arons set out how to organize a marketing team for a digital age.
Marketing Week became the UK media partner for Marketing2020 in 2013 and put the survey to its own readership.
The Nedbank IMC 2026 agenda lists Marc de Swaan Arons, founder of the Institute for Real Growth, as an international keynote speaker.
CKGSB listed Marc de Swaan Arons among the confirmed keynote speakers at a forum on the growth of Chinese brands, convened with Millward Brown.
Fonk Magazine reported in 2024 that Iris Academy had scheduled the Humanizing Growth course taught by Aljan de Boer, the Dutch edition of the Institute for Real Growth CMO leadership program.
Fonk Magazine reported in 2023 that Iris Academy had put the Humanizing Growth international marketing program, taught by Aljan de Boer, into its schedule.
MarketingTribune reported in 2024 that Iris Academy had added the Humanizing Growth course from Aljan de Boer, described as the shortened Dutch version of the Institute for Real Growth CMO leadership program.
Raad voor Reclame, Belgium’s advertising council, published a 2025 interview with Aljan de Boer, Community Director at the Institute for Real Growth, on humanized growth and the responsibilities of advertising.
Forbes ran a 2015 column by Marc de Swaan Arons on aligning marketing organizations for growth, drawing directly on the Marketing2020 findings.
The 2025 Oxford Future of Marketing Symposium agenda gives a session to Marketing2030, the research collaboration between Oxford’s business school and the Institute for Real Growth.
The executive summary hosted on ana.net records the Impact Study led by the Institute for Real Growth with Oxford’s business school.
Emerce reported in 2020 that the Dutch marketing platform PIM had reset its strategy, naming Aljan de Boer among the board members who formulated it.
MarketingTribune reported in 2019 on the annual PIM trend study written by TrendsActive with Aljan de Boer, a board member of the platform.
Marketingfacts covered the 2014 PIM trend report, co-written by Aljan de Boer, after its presentation to a Dutch marketing audience.
Marketingfacts reported in 2015 on the PIM trend report co-written by Aljan de Boer, following its presentation in the Netherlands.
Emerce reported in 2018 on the PIM trend report authored by Aljan de Boer, Head of Inspiration at TrendsActive.
Adformatie reported in 2025 that TrendsActive wrote the PIM trend report marking two decades of the series.
Emerce reported in 2018 that Aljan de Boer of TrendsActive would speak at its Engage conference in Amsterdam, alongside the Rijksmuseum and Beerwulf.
W&V reported on the second, quantitative phase of Marketing 2020, the global study of how marketing organizes for growth.
MediaCat listed Marc de Swaan Arons, co-founder of the Institute for Real Growth, among the contributors to its Inside the Lions video series from the Cannes Lions festival.
The DDMA NEXT retrospective for 2024 lists Aljan de Boer, Community Director of the Institute for Real Growth, among its speakers and publishes his session slides.
Spencer Stuart published its da Vinci Growth CMO profile with the Institute for Real Growth, drawn from interviews with more than 500 leaders worldwide.
GlobeNewswire carried the 2010 announcement of a book on global marketing organization by Marc de Swaan Arons and his co-founder at EffectiveBrands.
Bizcommunity reported that the Nedbank IMC agenda places Marc de Swaan Arons among the international speakers on growth and business transformation.
Dialnet indexes the Harvard Business Review article by Marc de Swaan Arons and his co-authors as a citable bibliographic record.
Course Hero hosts a student study document summarizing the Harvard Business Review article by Marc de Swaan Arons and his co-authors.
Harvard Business Review hosted a 2014 webinar in which Marc de Swaan Arons presented the research behind Marketing2020.
typeset.io indexes the 2014 open access record of Marc de Swaan Arons setting out the Marketing 2020 research.
Mediabureau STROOM published a 2019 report on a digital branding session led by Aljan de Boer of Trendsactive.
Adformatie recorded the 2015 congress session on purpose given by Marc de Swaan Arons.
adformatie.nl published a 2017 interview with Aljan de Boer of TrendsActive ahead of a national event on online video.
ID Communications Blog reported from Global Marketer Week in 2013 that Marc de Swaan Arons presented to the assembled member CMOs of the World Federation of Advertisers.
CKGSB reported that Marc de Swaan Arons presented Marketing 2020 at a 2015 forum on Chinese brands in Beijing.
Exchange4media reported in 2019 on the founding of the Institute for Real Growth at a WPP event in New York, naming Marc de Swaan Arons as a co-founder.
Adformatie interviewed Aljan de Boer of Trendsactive in 2020 ahead of its event on generational marketing.