It’s an on-again, off-again trend: Companies get rid of CMO roles, renaming the role and adding different responsibilities, or making large changes to how messaging and targeting happen. In many situations, the same companies add a CMO again after a couple of years. I talked to MaryLee Sachs, marketing veteran and U.S. CEO of consulting firm Brandpie, about the issue. Sachs is also program director for the Conference Board Council for CMOs.
This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. It was excerpted in the Forbes CMO newsletter.
Why do you think CMOs’ roles are disappearing? Is it because the role is changing? Companies are looking for something easy to cut? Lack of understanding of what the CMO does?
Sachs: I think that there is a feeling by the CEO and C-suites that marketing perhaps isn’t driving growth in the way they want it to be driven. But I think there is a disconnect as well between how the CMO relates to the business side of it.
Is it because growth isn’t happening as quickly as organizations would like? I think that’s part of it, but I would argue that maybe the CMO isn’t as connected as they should be to the business if that’s the situation, because the CMO really is the window to the business. If they’re not helping to drive growth, I would question whether they’re doing their job.
One of the things that we’re seeing is the CMO role is not just expanding to include things like CRM, a lot more technology, a lot more of the social, a lot of the communication. It’s also starting to ebb into the talent piece as well. One of the things I picked up on at Cannes Lions was that CMOs are increasingly being asked to think about talent retention and attracting talent, so I think that’s coming into play as well.
Brandpie U.S. CEO MaryLee Sachs.
When an organization loses the CMO position, what are they losing, other than having somebody in a role that is called “CMO”?
I think it’s different by organization, but I would suggest they’re probably losing their edge on analytics and data to capture who your customer is, which is so important from the point of view of connecting with their customer. I think they will also be losing the brand-building element. Who else is going to build a brand for an........