CMO thoughts

84% CMOs believe their business model is under threat

CMOs today are facing an unprecedented challenge to reimagine their role and value within their organisation. Their business models are under threat, their customer is increasingly unpredictable and their competitors ever more diverse.

In the midst of this ever-shifting landscape, The IBM Institute for Business Value, in cooperation with Oxford Economics and partnership with The Drum, has launched The Modern Marketing Mandate, defining three new CMO archetypes and setting new standards for how marketing gets done.

Based on insight from more than 12,800 CxOs, representing six C-suite roles across 20 industries and 112 countries, the IBM’s Mandate suggests that the modern CMO mission has to extend beyond marketing in order to succeed.

For the first time since 2010, market factors surpass technology as the most important external force impacting their businesses. 84% of CMOs surveyed in the report believe their business model is under threat. Not just from technological disruption, but also because of the changing market dynamics, changing customer preferences and new distribution channels.

These factors sit squarely in the CMO wheelhouse and with the business environment shifting from product-led to experience led, if ever there was a time for CMOs to take centre stage, it’s now.

As brand stewards and customer champions CMOs need to strategically address how to help their organisations compete by increasing value; creating personalised customer experiences; and transforming corporate cultures to think and operate in truly customer-centric ways.
IBM

The vast majority of CMOs surveyed (74%) recognise that driving continuous, innovative, purposeful reinvention is an increasingly important part of their role. The pressure is on to deliver more accountability and increase sales and revenue for predictable profitability. According to the survey, a considerable number of CMOs report their organisations are struggling.