CMO Council Circle
We turned an advisory board into a private network on WhatsApp.
- 01InvitationInvited
- 02Application receivedApplied
- 03WelcomeApproved
- 04Membership cardCard
- 05IntroductionIntroduced
- 06In the roomIn the room
The brief
Jarryd leads the CMO Council’s Global Circle Initiative: turning the Council’s advisory boards from names on a list into an active network of regional rooms. North America went first. The room had to feel like a private club for senior marketers, not another group chat, and it had to protect every member’s details completely.
The build
Two halves. First, a front door on the web: a personal invitation page, a five-step application with bot protection, a confidentiality agreement signed on screen, and an admin review behind two-factor sign-in, with a transparent fit score on every applicant. Approval issues a membership number, a referral link and a wallet card, and the welcome arrives by email and on WhatsApp.
Then the room itself. The groups stay human: people talk to people. Alongside them, one to one, there is a concierge on WhatsApp that says plainly it is an AI. It knows who is in your room, brokers introductions with consent on both sides, has the room’s next meeting and brief, and has read the Council’s published research, searchable by meaning rather than keyword. It remembers each member’s preferences between conversations, and forgets them when asked.
Introductions, done properly
Ask to meet someone and the concierge drafts a short note in your voice. You confirm it. Only then is the other person asked, and nothing about you is shared unless they say yes. When both say yes, it opens a private WhatsApp group for the two of you, with a line on why you were introduced. An ask that goes unanswered lapses after 72 hours.
Guardrails that are code, not hope
A rule in a prompt is a request. A check on the way out is a control. Attempts to pull the member list or talk past the instructions are refused before the model ever sees them. Every outgoing message is checked for contact details and for any name that is not in that member’s own directory, and if a check fails, the member gets a safe line instead. Phone numbers never appear anywhere. There is a kill switch, an audit log on every change and a deletion request that is honoured.
The agent can ask; only our code can act. Anything that touches another member runs through the same consent rules, every time.
The Circle on WhatsApp
A private club, in one chat.
From the day a member is approved to the first introduction, everything happens in WhatsApp, the app senior marketers already live in. Tap a chapter to jump the conversation.
Illustrative conversation. Made-up members and messages.
Today
Join the room
You are in. The room is where the conversation happens. I am the concierge, an AI, here one to one for anything else.
Hi
Who’s in the room
Here is your room right now.
I’d like to meet someone who runs retail media.
Send the ask
They said yes. Here is a private group for the two of you, with a note on why you are meeting.
When is the next meeting?
The next North America room meeting is Thursday at 11:00 ET, on video. On the agenda: retail media budgets for next year. The brief is pinned in the room.
Can I get my card?
Here is your card.
How it is wired
A front door, a room and a concierge.
A web app vets and welcomes. WhatsApp holds the room. The concierge sits between, and every message it handles passes the same guard both ways.
- 01
Apply and sign
A personal invitation page leads to a five-step application with bot protection, then a confidentiality agreement read and signed on screen, recorded against the exact wording.
- 02
Review
Admins sign in with two factors. Each applicant gets a transparent fit score, and a person approves, rejects or asks for more.
- 03
Welcome
Approval issues a membership number, a referral link and a wallet card. The welcome and the room link arrive by email and WhatsApp.
- 04
The concierge
Messages arrive through a guard that refuses extraction and injection attempts before the model sees them. Replies are checked again on the way out.
- 05
What it knows
The Council’s published library, searchable by meaning and refreshed weekly, and the member’s own room, limited to people who chose to be listed.
- 06
Introductions
The member confirms the note, the other person is asked, and only a double yes opens a private group for the two of them.
- 07
The rhythm
Scheduled jobs draft a monthly update for each room, for a person to post, and send the few emails a new member needs.
- 08
Privacy, built in
No phone number is ever shown, every change is logged, deletion requests are honoured, and one switch pauses WhatsApp entirely.
The house rules
Discretion, by design.
Every member agrees to five rules on the way in. The software keeps the same promises: the concierge cannot share a number, name a stranger or post in the room on anyone’s behalf.
- 01
Off the record
What is said in the room stays in the room.
- 02
In confidence
No member’s details leave without their consent.
- 03
No forwarding
No screenshots of the room or its members.
- 04
No pitching
Bring value, not a sales deck.
- 05
Signal over noise
Post like the room is watching.
The engine travels. Race Control, our live race-day concierge for F1inTO, borrowed this build’s double opt-in introductions, its wallet card delivery and its conversation memory. See Race Control
We build this for you
Your community, on WhatsApp, done properly.
- The front door. Applications, agreements and an admin review your team can trust.
- The concierge. An AI that knows your members and your content, and says it is an AI.
- Introductions. Double opt-in, with private groups instead of swapped numbers.
- The rhythm. Welcome, updates and renewals that run on schedule, with a person in charge.
- The guardrails. Checks in code, not in a prompt, and a kill switch you hold.
Results described qualitatively.
