Relationships have never been more important for businesses and the marketers supporting them. Creating access points for key customers, and bringing them behind the curtain for real talk, R&D, and connection, is a strategy Google Cloud has honed with its Customer Advisory Board program and the group’s high-touch annual board meeting.
C-suite experiences are growing in importance at a time when the suite itself is evolving. In recent coverage of this trend, we reported on a Forbes Insights Survey, which found 85 percent of C-suite decisions are influenced by peer conversations. Which is where Google Cloud’s Customer Advisory Board (gCAB) Meeting comes in.
Google Cloud annually brings together approximately 25 of its top global customers (CTOs and CXOs) for intimate 2.5-day meetings in five-star locations, from the Bay Area to London. The white-glove experience features a robust gifting suite, marquee dinners (think: on the goal line at San Jose’s PayPal Park stadium), facilitated peer-to-peer discussions, and proprietary product development presentations. Customers provide deep feedback throughout the board meeting, which shapes Google Cloud’s Go-to-Market and Product strategies aligned with their outcomes.
“What makes gCAB unique is the depth of feedback we receive—and how directly it informs what we build next. These are leaders actively implementing at scale, so the perspectives are practical and highly actionable,” says Bill Meyer, Google Cloud client lead. “The sessions are designed to be working conversations. Customers come in ready to engage at a very real level—sharing what’s working, what’s not, and where they need us to go further.”
A Commitment
To ensure participants get the most out of the experience, and to ensure its success, the gCAB team relies on YOY participation from the customer board members as well as their commitment to the cause (and the board charter). In return, these key customers are treated to an immersive, “from the inside” experience, with meetings often held in top-secret Google campus locations.
“We can’t forget that customers appreciate coming to Google. There is a level of playfulness and sophistication that they experience as part of this,” Meyer explains. “We have unique venues that not everybody knows about. We always try to surprise and delight throughout the entire experience. But it gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of the dynamic nature of the meetings and our discussions.”
White Glove, Start to Finish
The team coordinates all travel arrangements, so that participants don’t have to squeeze “logistics” into their extraordinarily busy schedules. It makes the participation-ask easier, and it builds that relationship. And as a result, the engagement level is high, and the annual meeting feels more like a reunion, with members staying in touch in group chats and the like throughout the year.
“As we say, from touchdown to takeoff, every single moment is curated for our customers,” Meyer says. “They’re in great hands with us the entire time.”
With the primary goal of the meeting to optimize connection and discussion, the team hosts a pre-program networking moment at the hotel for introductions and casual conversations, easing into the group work that will be taking place. (The following day is then packed, beginning to end, with content.)
“All of the agenda topics are curated based on what our customers want to talk about,” Meyer says. “We host summer interviews with each of them individually, and they’ll let us know the priority topics for discussion, and what they’re hoping to get out of these meetings.”
Thoughtful Facilitation
Details matter with the C-suite, and so rooms are set intentionally. All chairs have wheels, and pad and pens are the tools as there are no projectors or slides—and no devices allowed. The team brings in a trained facilitator and a graphic illustrator to bring to life the conversations and feedback, creating dynamic summaries of key themes and actions that are displayed all around the room.
“We bring to these discussions Google leaders who are industry luminaries, they’re experts, they’re renowned. This is the access that our customers continue to look for, and that other organizations outside of Google can’t always deliver,” Meyer says. “Then, our customers get to really lean in, because they’re physically on their feet, grabbing pens, and mocking things up to help us prioritize.”
In addition to company road-mapping and previews, the program includes discussions around cutting-edge, industry disrupting topics, challenges, and what the talent and upskilling environments look like. It’s all off-the-record, with notes sanitized after the program, which certainly adds to the experience’s allure.
“A big part of the value is the peer exchange,” Meyer says. “These are leaders solving similar challenges, and the ability to learn from each other accelerates progress meaningfully.”
Collector-worthy Takeaways
Back to that intentionality: Everything designed for the event is meant to be multipurpose and collector-worthy. This sometimes includes menus that double as keepsakes, and other tokens of appreciation that are uniquely Google. One year, the team gifted Google-branded telescopes that the attendees used to take in the views atop the Tower Bridge in London during a reception. “Nothing is meant to be wasted,” Meyer says.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway is the priority consideration extended to the advisory board members for other marquee and invite-only engagements outside of the program, like seats at Google Cloud Next. “That is also our commitment to them for investing their time with us in the gCAB meetings,” he says.
Immediate Feedback
C-suiters don’t need a post-show survey on their to-do list. Instead, a final session at the meeting serves as a closing discussion on what worked well, what should be elevated, and what the next engagement of the group should be like. “It’s richer content than what a survey could provide,” Meyer says. “And there is a flurry of actions in terms of follow-ups, solutions we had talked through that we were exploring with our customers, supporting the members’ connections outside of the event. Our job is to be an enabler.” (Agency: Grow Marketing)
Photo credit: Magnolia Pine Studios
