Thoughts
P&L · FRAMEWORK · CMO · August 21, 2026
Marketing built into the P&L: the four-layer rule
An original framework: four layers of embedding — from data quality to accountability for P&L. The CMO ↔ CDO ↔ CFO alignment, ROAS vs. ROMI, budget from a financial goal, and where P&L accountability is justified vs. where it is not.
AI · MANAGEMENT · CMO · July 16, 2026
AI as an Amplifier of Managerial Decisions: What Changes in the Work of CEOs and CMOs
An extended working note: three classes of tasks where AI genuinely shortens the decision cycle; a personal AI system built through Obsidian + Claude + MCP; AI-native management as the contour of tomorrow's companies. With data from McKinsey, MIT NANDA, Gartner, WEF and MCP Enterprise Adoption 2026.
P&L · ROI · CMO · June 29, 2026 · updated July 21
From Cost to ROI: How to Make Marketing a Profit Center, Not a Cost Line
How to genuinely tie marketing to P&L: ROMI, incrementality, pseudo-metrics. With data from Firework, McKinsey, Ehrenberg-Bass and Gartner. Originally published in Sostav.
PERFORMANCE · ROAS · JURY · June 30, 2026
A Market Without a Funnel Bottom: How the Industry Measures Effectiveness
Observations from the jury seat at Workspace Digital Awards 2026: 200+ cases, five levels of metric maturity, why most agencies stop at CPL. Originally published in Cossa.
CENTRAL ASIA · UZUM · REGION · June 26, 2026
Marketing in Central Asia: Five Years of Lessons from the Region
Central Asia is not a “smaller version of Russia.” On localisation, payment infrastructure, building local teams, and earning trust in a region where Russian playbooks don’t work. Five years at Uzum and across Central Asia.
MOBILE · PERFORMANCE · RETROSPECTIVE · June 26, 2026
Mobile Marketing: What Changed Between 2020 and 2026
A retrospective from VP of Growth at AliExpress to CMO at Lesta Games. From MMP attribution to privacy-first, from hard performance marketing to product growth, from production creative to AI generation. What aged badly from the things I said in interviews five years ago.
11.11 · SALE MARKETING · CASE STUDY · June 26, 2026
The 11.11 Playbook: What I Learned Running Mega-Sales at AliExpress
My AliExpress 11.11 experience: channel mix, six weeks of preparation and management lessons from mega-sales. The 2021 campaign results and its Effie Russia 2022 awards: gold in Seasonal Marketing and silver in One-Time Engagement.
E-COMMERCE · MARKETPLACES · GROWTH · May 22, 2026
E-Commerce Marketing Transformation in a Shifting Economy
Platform economics is rewriting the rules. From the traffic race to the retention battle, from omnichannel presence to channel efficiency, from AI-generated content to trust in UGC. On the structural changes that are reshaping the logic of e-commerce competition right now.
GROWTH · STARTUP · EMERGING MARKETS · May 22, 2026
Building from Zero: Lessons from Uzum
Building Uzum’s brand, identity and marketing from the ground up. My contribution, management lessons and milestones of Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn.