The Changing Role of the CMO

We are excited to announce the release of our latest research, “The Changing Role of the CMO.” We conducted in-depth interviews with CMOs and senior marketing executives across the world to get their perspectives on the transformation in the field of marketing. The CMOs came from a variety of industries, including companies such as Bitburger, GE, Lonza, Allianz, UBS, Vanguard Health Systems, Mashable and others. After listening to CMOs, we found a sports analogy might be particularly apt. Marketing used to be a lot like American football – a game that consists of running a play, regrouping, running the next play, repeating, until you score. These days, marketing has morphed into a sport more akin to soccer – a game where strategies are determined in real time as the landscape is redefined with each move.

With World Cup season upon us, there seemed no better time to release our findings.
While the CMOs explained that some fundamentals stayed constant (we all still play to win!), they agreed that there are a variety of changes impacting their roles. We found the five areas of change to be:

For example, in the category of strategy, forward-looking CMOs realized that marketing is about leveraging data and technology to improve people´s lives versus just managing perceptions. As Birgit Spors, Head of Marketing at ING DiBa, explained, “The accountability of the CMO to drive business strategy and bottom line results has increased even further.”

When talking about changes in the area of operations, Marcelo Prado, Chief Marketing Officer at GE Measurement & Control, explained, “Today’s marketing team ticks differently. Today’s interactions are more frequent, more flat, with a lot more virtual interaction.”

While all CMOs reiterated that there were still constants in their roles, the changing digital landscape and the rise of the Always-On Consumer have definitely impacted today’s marketing.

As we listened to CMOs talk about the challenges and opportunities, it became apparent that three particular skill sets would be key to managing these five areas of change. The three capabilities are: commercial instinct, collaborative mindset, analytical acumen.

We’re very excited by all the coverage “The Changing Role of the CMO” report is generating in the press. Our CEO Erich Joachimsthaler was interviewed by Bloomberg TV’s Betty Liu about the report.

Also, check out our other coverage:

BusinessWeek, “Are Empowered Consumers Making CMOs Obsolete?”
Bloomberg Radio, “In the Loop, At the Half“
Lead-Digital, “Chopin werden nur ganz wenige“
CMO Australia, “CMOs must have courage to lead successfully“
Mobile Marketing Watch, “New Report Explores the Changing Role of the CMO“
MarketingWeek, “How to market marketing”
Business News Daily, “What Small Businesses Can Learn from Today’s CMOs“
GfM, “Neue globale CMO Studie – mit Schweizer Beteiligung“
CMO.com, “Study: Marketing Is A Lot Like Soccer“

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