Changing roles and boardroom credibility: Your Marketing Week
At the end of every week, we look at the key stories, offering our view on what they mean for you and the industry. From the changing role of the CMO to the need to speak the language of the boardroom, it’s been a busy week. Here is my take.
Title challenge
There has been much debate this week about marketers’ job titles. Is the CMO role about to die a death? No. But we are seeing the continued rise of alternate titles. Chief revenue officer is the fourth fastest growing marketing job in the UK at the moment, according to data from LinkedIn. Last year it was chief growth officer. And don’t forget chief customer and chief commercial officers.
After a turbulent few years, businesses are eyeing growth once more. Is a chief revenue or chief growth officer more capable of delivering that than a chief marketing officer? Well, no. Meeting targets and achieving goals comes down to the ability of the individual in the role.
In a feature dissecting the changing shape of the CMO role, linked to below, marketers debated what it means for the industry. While some view it as a “healthy step” that demonstrates the breadth of marketing, others see it as a needless rebadging exercise that overcomplicates things.
When it’s a like-for-like replacement – a CMO in chief growth officer’s clothing – it is nothing more than a symbolic gesture. An attempt to reposition marketing to key stakeholders. But that doesn’t come without risk. Removing ‘marketing’ from a marketer’s job title could diminish marketing’s credibility in the eyes of others around the table. As Mark Ritson pointed out this week, a finance leader would be laughed out the building if they suggested rebadging the CFO title.
But, as always, actions always speak louder than words. What’s more important is a marketer’s ability to deliver results – whatever they are called. Just as a beloved grandmother is loved whether she’s called nana, nanny, granny or grandma, a good marketer is a good marketer regardless of their title.
Board talk
Speaking the language of the boardroom and knowing how to frame conversations is far more important than a shiny new job title.
In a feature looking at the future of marketing leadership, one marketer described building credibility in the boardroom as “critical”. While much progress has been made, Rentokil Initial’s top marketer Gary Booker said marketing is still viewed as “a bit of a dark art” by some, which is something marketers must work on. “Our job as marketing leaders should remain company value creation and shareholder return… Marketing leaders have always needed to be commercially driven, but they need to do even more,” he said.
This is something On the Beach CMO Zoe Harris highlighted this week while reflecting on her first year as part of the firm’s executive board.
While her role remains chief marketing officer, she advised marketers to talk about how they drive business growth and to ensure there is a clear link between commercial performance and brand health – which means never talking about brand health in isolation.
“Brand health is about long-term customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention, and by thinking of it in those terms, and from the growth opportunity, and the P&L impact, then you’re talking the same language as the board,” she said.
Harris also shared how being part of wider business conversations has given her a broader perspective and allowed her to get inside the head of investors, which means she is better equipped to think further ahead at longer-term opportunities and see the bigger picture.
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. By earning a seat at the table, marketing’s importance is being recognised. But because she has a seat at the table, marketing is also now far more ingrained in the business, which means there is even more opportunity for it to be impactful.
Stat of the week
75% – Starling Bank’s brand awareness, up from 8% in 2018
As the challenger bank celebrates its 10th anniversary, it is an opportunity for it to evolve and take stock. Having achieved its goal of increasing familiarity among consumers, Starling is now switching its focus to growing salience and consideration.
It is doing that through the launch of a new campaign that highlights its products – the first time it has done so. But rather than making it a functional message, Starling is putting the customer firmly at the heart, showing real ways its products and services are used and how they benefit the user.
The week ahead
We will be digging further into the current state of marketing recruitment and exploring why it might be time for optimism once more.
