The Spike: Learnings from our conversation with Terry Seitz former VP Marketing @ Visa

I sat down with Terry Seitz, former VP of North America Marketing at Visa, to talk about creativity, brand-building, and why marketing today isn’t just art — it’s science.

Terry’s path is fascinating: from dreaming of becoming a painter to leading agency teams and eventually steering marketing for one of the most globally influential brands. Along the way, he’s developed a powerful philosophy: great marketers aren’t just storytellers — they’re mad scientists.

Here’s what that means — and why it matters more than ever.

🎙️ The Spike

"From Fine Art to Financial Services: How Marketing Became a Search for Emotional Truth"

When Terry talks about marketing, he doesn’t start with channels or KPIs — he starts with truth.

“We’re not just manipulating pixels or pushing stories. We’re searching for lasting associations in people’s minds. That’s the ultimate form of truth.”

This lens — marketing as a scientific, emotional discipline — reframes how we think about strategy, creativity, and brand work.

For Terry, the job isn’t just to entertain or inform. It’s to embed memory, identity, and emotion in fractions of a second.

At Visa, this thinking translated into more than campaigns — it shaped how they thought about connection. And it’s the kind of thinking every brand should be investing in.

🔍 Deep Dive: Lessons from Terry Seitz

🎨 1. Creativity is Still at the Core — But It’s Evolved

Terry started his career dreaming of becoming a painter. That instinct for expression still drives him — but it's now guided by frameworks, data, and a search for meaning.

“When I joined the ad world, I felt like I found my people — writers, photographers, social commentators. But now, the job has changed. We’re part artist, part scientist.”

🧪 2. The Mad Scientist Mindset

Terry sees today’s best marketers as mad scientists: constantly forming hypotheses, testing emotional resonance, and optimizing not just for clicks — but for long-term memory.

“We’ve got a finite window — seconds, maybe milliseconds — to create emotional impressions. You can’t fake your way through that.”

🛠️ 3. Building Skills with Purpose

Terry’s career wasn’t accidental — it was architected. He moved through creative agencies, media shops, and then earned his MBA to round out his business acumen to build a full-stack marketing brain.

“Agencies gave me creativity. Media gave me reach. Business school gave me fluency in outcomes.”

🔁 4. Performance vs. Brand Isn’t the Debate

In a world flooded with false dichotomies, Terry brings clarity:

“It’s not brand or performance. It’s brand and performance. If you do both well, you drive value — and meaning.”

💡 5. What Makes a Brand “Exciting”?

Terry name-checked a few brands he admires and why:

• Modelo: for owning an emotional narrative around fighting spirit — deeply cultural, consistent, and real.
  

• Farmers, Allstate, Progressive: for making insurance funny, human, and memorable in a commoditized category.
  

  “They don’t just sell. They create brand personalities that resonate and stick.”

🎧 Excitement Talk: Full Interview with Terry Seitz
From the art gallery to Visa’s boardroom, Terry shares his creative beginnings, structured growth, and how he views marketing as one giant, ongoing experiment.
→ Link to episode

✨ What’s Next?

Marketing that excites doesn’t happen by accident. It takes structure, emotion, and strategy - whether you're building a new brand or rethinking an old one.

Let’s uncover the moments that make your brand unforgettable.

Thanks for reading,
– Gordon
Founder, The Spikes
 www.the-spikes.com