ROWAN TONKIN · CMO · POSITIONING last run: 8 plays built · 2 ruled out · 1 recommendation

You know the position has to change.
You just don't know to what.

I build every play your business could make, test every reason each one might not work, and bring you the one left standing. Ten days.

RECEIPTS Planful Anaplan HEAVY.AI Diginomica
01

The longer you wait, the more the market decides for you.

AI moved the ground under every B2B category. Incumbents bolt agents onto old platforms. Startups claim your words. The free layer makes your core claim sound like table stakes. Every quarter you spend deciding is a quarter a faster rival spends owning the ground. A top consultant is a twelve-week wait. An agency rebrand is a six-figure art project with no proof behind it.

Most teams make this call once, on instinct, in a room, and never write down what they turned down or why.

80%
of B2B scores generic-to-invisible
Grenier, 2026
$50k
12-week consultant floor
Dunford band
02

My method, run as an engine. The call is yours to make.

01
interrogate
02
argue what fits
03
generate 8 plays
04
argue against each
05
score, then the call

The engine reads your business the way a buyer would, builds six to eight real positioning plays, then tests every reason each one might not work. The plays left standing get scored on six things a buyer cares about, with risk kept separate so a bold play is not punished for being bold. Then the part you actually pay for. I make the recommendation, tied to the evidence, with the conditions it holds under and the signs that would tell you it is wrong. The scoring stays neutral. The decision you take into the room is yours.

03 / SHOW THE WORK

Nobody else shows you the bets they turned down.

A recommendation means nothing until you know what it beat.

PLAYDISTINCTBELIEV.DEMANDDEFENS.OWNABLECLARITYSCORE
▸ the operating layer4.64.4 4.24.74.54.34.48
the proof engine4.14.53.84.03.94.24.10
category creation4.83.23.13.64.43.03.58
the AI-native pivot2.92.12.42.02.62.22.36
score raised on review strike = ruled out in testing weights: believability × 1.4
the AI-native pivot
Ruled out. The proof for "AI-native" does not exist yet, and everyone is already saying it.
the enterprise-grade play
Ruled out. On its own turf it looks identical to a rival thirty times its size.
Read a real working paper
04

I have made this bet with my own name on it.

2019 to 2022
Host Analytics → Planful

Repositioned and renamed the company as CMO. Branded search up 50% in eighteen months off a zero base, unaided recall up 30 points, and new logos tripled.

And the honest part. The brand went backwards for eighteen months before it went forwards.

2017 to 2019
MapD → OmniSci

Moved an open-source database company upmarket into enterprise, from eight reps and no ICP to named Fortune 500 accounts.

2015 to 2017
Anaplan

Moved the argument from territory planning to incentive compensation, where the buyer's pain was sharpest. That wedge won the company its first Magic Quadrant leadership spot.

Diginomica byline/50 CMOs to Watch/podcast host

Twenty years of positioning work, and one engine that makes it inspectable. That combination is the offer.

05 / THE OFFER

The Position Call.

$12,500
fixed price · ten business days

A fixed-scope positioning engagement. One hour with me to start. The options you are already weighing go into the analysis as bets in their own right, tested as hard as mine. If yours wins, you will see it win in the scoring. If it falls apart, you will see exactly why.

Ten business days later the bundle arrives. You get the deck to decide with, the report to understand it, and the working papers to defend it. The call comes with its conditions named, its fallback stated, and the signs that would tell us it was wrong. Then ninety minutes together to pressure-test it, with the person you report to in the room.

First three clients pay $7,500 in exchange for a named case study.

Book the intake call Position Audit $2,500 · free strip-the-name test

If your executive team does not rate the bundle decision-grade, I rework it with a further session at no cost. If it still is not, half your money back. I do not guarantee market outcomes and you should distrust anyone who does.