Dive Brief:
- The early results of an online survey conducted by the CMO Council on CMO responsibilities for its quarterly journal, PeerSphere, found that around 25% of respondents see the CMO as primarily responsible for growth strategies and revenue generation, while 20% reported growth is the responsibility of CEOs.
- In terms of revenue, 70% reported believing their organizations expect marketing to be the primary revenue driver and business growth architect.
- One way CMOs can impact business performance, according to the CMO Council, is by using new techniques, talents and technologies to boost revenue and realize better returns.
Dive Insight:
The research by the CMO Council underscores both the shifting role of the CMO in upper management, as well as the confusion these changes are creating in the C-suite.
The single biggest change in the CMO role is technology. The advent of powerful marketing technology tools means that CMOs are now in charge of purchasing most of the business critical technology that has an immediate impact on the bottom line, supplanting a role more typically held by the CIO. In fact, several years ago Gartner predicted that by 2017, CMOs would be purchasing more corporate tech than CIOs, and that might have already come to pass.
The CMO Council does point out this uncertainty has taken a toll with marketing leaders moving between companies – particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors. Just over the past few months, CMOs have left notable brands including Target, Old Navy, Gap, Land’s End, Nordstrom, Pandora, The Fresh Market, Twitter, Under Armour, Neiman Marcus, Smashburger, Extended Stay America, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Macy’s, MLB, Culver’s Restaurants and Chico’s, to name a few. Russell Reynolds Associates pointed out that in retail alone almost half of the top US chains having changed marketing leaders over the past year.
