Data-First Marketing

Introduction

UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE CMO ROLE AS MARKETING IS ASKED TO TAKE ON MORE

The chief marketing officer (CMO) is under attack. In 2019, Forrester predicted the decline of CMO titles stating that “2020 marks the beginning of a final, desperate fight for CMO relevance” (Johnston, 2019).

For a while now, it's been widely known that the CMO has the shortest tenure of any executive in the C-suite (Korn Ferry, 2020). On top of that, in the last couple of years, there have been some very high-profile examples of big business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, like Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, and McDonalds, that have eliminated the position entirely and instead have installed people in less broad roles, such as chief growth officer, chief marketing technology officer, and chief customer experience officer. So what has changed? As it turns out – almost everything.

The new digital economy has disrupted traditional business models – from transportation and supply chain to music and publishing and beyond – leaving businesses scrambling to keep up, innovate, or be left behind. It has spawned completely new industries and fundamentally changed how we research, buy, review, and communicate with one another. In a few short decades, the digital economy has come to dominate even how we live our lives. It has changed buyers; consumers are much more tech savvy, and they have expectations – convenience, ease of purchase, and personalization – set by companies like Amazon, which spends billions ...