Chief Marketers Challenged To Grow Or Pushed To Go

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- It might seem that today's CMO title stands for Chief Moving Officer. In most cases, the job involves exiting from or assuming a new leadership role at yet another brand.

According to Russell Reynolds Associates, retail has been particularly hard hit, with almost half of the top US chains having changed marketing leaders over the past year. CMOs are "dropping like flies," notes one blogger and pundit in the franchise sector.

The financial vagaries of retail and hospitality, in particular, have been taking their toll. In the past few months, CMOs have departed notable brands such as 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. 

Clearly, expectations are rising for CMOs to impact business performance. This means using new techniques, talents and technologies to rev up revenue, realize better returns, and build more profitable customer relationships, valued products and productive partnerships.

The latest edition of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council's quarterly eJournal, PeerSphere, explores the increasing list of responsibilities that CMOs face as they are charged with driving growth for their organizations. It keys off new research being undertaken by the CMO Council.

The feature discusses highlights from the CMO Council's current study, titled "The CMO Shift to Gaining Business Lift," and features insight from a number of global marketing executives about the steps they are taking to lead the charge for organizational growth and gain a clear view of the customer in order to best reach them at all stages of the buyer journey. It also highlights the challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve success.

Early results from the CMO Council online survey indicate that about a quarter of respondents to date believe the CMO is primarily responsible for growth strategies and revenue generation. This is in contrast to nearly 20 percent who view growth as the CEO's remit. Pressure to deliver top-line performance is mounting, with nearly 70 percent of marketers believing their organizations expect marketing to be the primary revenue driver and business growth architect.

The latest issue of PeerSphere is available today and covers topics such as:

• The five sins of marketing automation and how to get back on track
• Research findings from McKinsey on how income inequality affects economic growth and consumption habits
• The do's and don'ts of marketing to millennials
• Q&A articles with marketing leaders at SAP Ariba and Fresh Squeezed Ideas
• Insights from marketing leaders at Telenor, Acer, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Fujitsu, Cisco Jasper and more

PeerSphere is available on a complimentary basis to CMO Council members courtesy of our sponsor, Thomson Reuters. For more information or to view the issue online, visit https://cmocouncil.org/authority-leadership/peer-sphere/14.

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is the only global network of executives specifically dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council's 10,500-plus members control approximately $500 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 65,000 global executives in more than 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets.  Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa. The council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Mobile Relationship Marketing (MRM) Strategies, LoyaltyLeaders.org, CMOCIOAlign.org, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Institute, GeoBranding Center and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.

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