Forrester: falling CMO numbers could be a good thing
Companies appear set to cut more CMO roles next year according to Forrester. But the research firm says that may be a good thing for marketing (Wall St Journal).
Key points:
- Forrester report predicts fewer chief marketing roles in 2020
- Research director Keith Johnston says axing CMO could unleash marketing across all departments
- “Then the brand is free to be about the experience, the communications, to be a recruiting and retention tool.” – Johnston
- Circa 70 per cent of large firms have CMOs, down from 74 per cent in 2009
- Key driver in keeping or ditching CMO role is board’s view of marketing
- Johnston hedges prediction: “If we go through a generation where we understand marketing to a customer is more important than showing them an ad, we may see the [CMO] title gaining ground”.
- Report predicts increasing role for CMOs in attracting talent, bringing customers into brand and product development and greater sway in technology spending
First it was CMO tenure, then it was the role itself. But Forrester’s analysis, while dramatising a “final, desperate fight for relevance”, should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Firstly, a four percentage point fall in CMO headcount over ten years is hardly a seismic shift. Secondly, Forrester has to sell its reports.
There are undoubtedly big companies mothballing or retiring the CMO role and appointing chief growth or customer officers. Does that actually matter? A brand still has to connect the dots between its customers and its products and harness the brand for growth, however the role is badged.
Perhaps more pertinent are some of the other predictions within the report, primarily that any business with even a hint of disconnect or fragmentation in the brand "will find growth elusive". That means marketers putting customer experience firmly front and centre have a better change of success - and keeping their jobs.
