Risky Business
February 2, 2008
Here is an excellent article from CNN on the travails of being a modern CMO. I have extracted a few key points for emphasis - the bold areas are my “amens” …
A recent day in the life of Gitow as CMO included a meeting about promotions on the Web site, a discussion with store managers about membership programs, and reviewing analytics about its customers. CMOs must think “in a multidimensional way. Our job is to be one step ahead of these channels and understand where the customer is moving,” Gitow said.
“The Street, CEOs, boards need short-term wins and unfortunately that flies in the face of long-term consumer-oriented brand building. CMOs are looking for short-term wins, product launches, quick hits, but the reality is very few of them are getting huge wins,” Welch said.
The role of the successful CMO is no longer “about creating a clever TV commercial or coercing someone to buy your product. What works is creating a powerful product that people want to buy and people talk about like the iPhone,” Scott said. Companies such as Google create experiences for consumers with minimal advertising.
The mostly 40-year-old CMOs need to understand what drives Gen X and Y consumers. Welch says his teenage daughter talks about her 600 closest friends on Facebook, noting that she hasn’t met most of them. “CMOs must be unafraid to connect with this generation and get into their skin to understand new consumers,” he said.
Don’t blame the CMO for the high turnover rate, Neale-May says. “It’s more about the organization they’re managing and the corporation they’re involved in. CMOs must be change agents,” he said. Until CEOs do a better job of defining what the CMO does and aligning support, turnover will continue.
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