Dive Brief:

• Marketing operations structures may be getting in the way of connecting brands to customers due to a battle between organizations' drive for centralization versus customers desire for personalization, according to a new CMO Council report unveiled in a press release. 
• About three-quarters of global marketers feel only partially prepared to deliver the localized and personalized experiences sought by customers, according to the "Reshaping Global Engagement Operations" report, which is based on a survey of 350 global marketing leaders. Only 10% feel "exceedingly confident" of reaching their customer engagement and revenue goals, and nearly two-thirds give themselves below-satisfactory grades for adapting global marketing content to individual markets and channels.
• A lack of localized market insight has had a negative impact, according to 57% of those surveyed and 37% believe the lack of local knowledge is one reason for customer relationships stalling. 

Dive Insight:

The CMO Council’s new report, conducted in partnership with ad/marketing agency network Worldwide Partners, shines a spotlight on the struggles marketer face in finding a balance between the centralization and de-centralization that modern technology enables.

Consumers increasingly demands personalized marketing and digital technology has been held up as a method for meeting this need, as the report points out. However, many organizations are discovering that achieving a connection and proximity to the customer is far more difficult than they expected. 

One challenge marketers face is around managing data. Strategies for localization and personalization are typically informed by new levels of distributed marketing intelligence. However, 82% of the respondents said that local market intelligence was only between good and OK. Nearly 40% said they are missing out on opportunities because of a lack of capabilities and intelligence.

Organizational structure is another challenge. Seventy-six percent of respondents noted that their global organizations face a disconnected collection of multiple creative teams, partners and contractors who are having a difficult time meeting the needs of global and local marketing at the same time. Instead of centralized or localized, the report points to the need for a disruptive model that blends both with efficient processes, empowerment of global and local teams for collaboration and actionable customer intelligence.

The issues around structure extend to the relationship between brands and agencies, with just 17% of marketers believing their operational structure is aligned with their agencies. While a mass exodus from agencies isn't anticipated, 28% percent expect to bring content marketing in-house, 26% are considering in-housing customer intelligence and 21% are eyeing demand generation as a function that can be brought in-house.