ANA/Booz Allen Hamilton Survey: CMOs Must Be "Growth Champions" To Align With Boss' Agenda
CMOs must live up to the boss’ expectations
Booz Allen Hamilton and the Association of National Advertisers surveyed 2,000 executives about the structure and practice of their companies' marketing organizations.
By Bob Liodice, president-CEO, Association of National Advertisers
Story posted: November 12, 2007 - 12:21 pm EDT
It's time for CMOs to rise to the stature of C-suite players. To date, the CMO has not lived up to the CEO's expectations and needs. Too often, the marketing department's focus has been poorly aligned with the CEO's agenda. Weak information flow, functional ambiguity and leadership second-guessing have crippled the CMO's influence. The result? Failure to optimize the complex array of responsibilities needed to fulfill the CEO's agenda including:
* Balancing traditional and new media investments.
* Brand positioning.
* Marketing accountability.
* Organization management and development.
* Business system streamlining.
* Agency relations.
* Cross-functional integration
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According to the Booz Allen/ANA study, growth champions share these important characteristics:
* They possess a broad range of analytic, financial and creative capabilities.
* They can clearly identify their contributions to revenue growth, giving them added organizational credibility and authority.
* They use sophisticated tools and processes to promote business efficiency.
* They are proactive, not reactive, in providing guidance and services that add value to the senior leadership team.
* They are perceived by other executives, especially in C-suite offices, as contributors to and leaders of the growth agenda.
These are expansive definitions of marketing. They suggest the powerful, influential ways that growth champions impact their respective companies. These marketers are in tune with their CEOs. They are delivering results that really matter: business results. And in so doing, they are elevating the stature of the entire marketing profession.