Colin Bettam

Colin Bettam

CMO, LEAGUE

CMO, LEAGUE

THE SIT DOWN

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"Get busy living or get busy dying. You gotta act."
"Get busy living or get busy dying. You gotta act."
"Get busy living or get busy dying. You gotta act."

Colin Bettam

Colin Bettam

While most marketers spend their careers chasing briefs, Colin Bettam spends his chasing conviction. Raised across Oakville, Indiana, and Connecticut, the perpetual new kid who got bullied, toughened up, and kept moving, he learned early that adaptability isn't a soft skill. It's a survival skill.

He is best known for doing the impossible in one of the most competitive brand battlegrounds in the country. At Molson, Colin took Coors Light from a challenger brand to the number one beer in Canada, nearly doubling its market share to a 14 point clip and driving close to a billion dollars in revenue over seven years. Then, just to prove he wasn't a one-category wonder, he licensed the Marshall amplifier brand, built a fridge that looked like a stack of Marshalls, and landed partnerships with Slash, Motley Crue, and Alex Lifeson from Rush. A frustrated musician who found a way to put one foot in the world of rock and roll.

Now as Chief Marketing Officer at League, Colin is taking on his biggest creative challenge yet: making healthcare feel human. In an industry where every brand looks and sounds identical, he is building something deliberately different, and proving that the best marketing minds don't just sell products. They change how entire categories think about themselves.

DEFINING MOMENTS

The Ambition

Molson. Watching a beer commercial at a sales conference in Florida and deciding to quit sales and get his MBA. The Lesson: "Know what you want and go get it. I saw those commercials and thought, that's me. Most people have that moment and talk themselves out of it."

The Number One

Coors Light, Molson. Taking the brand to number one in Canada. The Lesson: "You hire good people, you give them the room to be great, they will be great. My job was never to be the smartest person in the room. It was to build the room."

The Riff

Marshall Amplifiers. Licensing the Marshall brand and building a product line with rock legends. The Lesson: "The best ideas come from obsession, not research. I was a guitarist who loved Marshall. That's where the idea came from. Passion is always a better brief than a focus group."

The Rebrand

League. Building a contrarian healthcare brand from scratch. The Lesson: "In a sea of sameness, different isn't a risk. It's the only strategy. If you can swap your logo for a competitor's and the ad still works, you don't have a brand. You have wallpaper."

The Ambition

Molson. Watching a beer commercial at a sales conference in Florida and deciding to quit sales and get his MBA. The Lesson: "Know what you want and go get it. I saw those commercials and thought, that's me. Most people have that moment and talk themselves out of it."

The Number One

Coors Light, Molson. Taking the brand to number one in Canada. The Lesson: "You hire good people, you give them the room to be great, they will be great. My job was never to be the smartest person in the room. It was to build the room."

The Riff

Marshall Amplifiers. Licensing the Marshall brand and building a product line with rock legends. The Lesson: "The best ideas come from obsession, not research. I was a guitarist who loved Marshall. That's where the idea came from. Passion is always a better brief than a focus group."

The Rebrand

League. Building a contrarian healthcare brand from scratch. The Lesson: "In a sea of sameness, different isn't a risk. It's the only strategy. If you can swap your logo for a competitor's and the ad still works, you don't have a brand. You have wallpaper."

The Ambition

Molson. Watching a beer commercial at a sales conference in Florida and deciding to quit sales and get his MBA. The Lesson: "Know what you want and go get it. I saw those commercials and thought, that's me. Most people have that moment and talk themselves out of it."

The Number One

Coors Light, Molson. Taking the brand to number one in Canada. The Lesson: "You hire good people, you give them the room to be great, they will be great. My job was never to be the smartest person in the room. It was to build the room."

The Riff

Marshall Amplifiers. Licensing the Marshall brand and building a product line with rock legends. The Lesson: "The best ideas come from obsession, not research. I was a guitarist who loved Marshall. That's where the idea came from. Passion is always a better brief than a focus group."

The Rebrand

League. Building a contrarian healthcare brand from scratch. The Lesson: "In a sea of sameness, different isn't a risk. It's the only strategy. If you can swap your logo for a competitor's and the ad still works, you don't have a brand. You have wallpaper."

Connect with Colin!

Connect with Colin!

Connect with Colin!

Colin Bettam

Colin Bettam

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