The role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) had already become complex long before this year’s twin health and economic crises emerged.
On average, CMOs are among the shortest-tenured members of senior leadership. Boards expect extraordinary results: they want CMOs to be customer champions, frontline defenders of the brand, exemplars of internal culture and ethics, and leaders of initiatives that drive company growth. Yet a Deloitte study found that only 26% of CMOs are regularly invited to board meetings. Expectations are high, while access and influence are often limited.
All of this has become even harder to manage in today’s environment. As companies scramble to reconfigure product, channel, and demand strategies amid quarantines, isolation measures, and shifting consumer needs, CMOs must be ready to deliver growth and build resilient marketing plans. The key question is this: does the CMO role have the support it needs to succeed?
To better understand how CMOs can break free from the cycle of high expectations and limited impact, we spoke last year with board members from more than 50 Fortune 1000 companies. This year, we also interviewed CMOs across industries to learn how COVID-19 has affected their work. The findings, presented in this report, point to ways CMOs can reframe their roles and lead digital transformation. While CMOs can be powerful agents of change, our findings show that no one is better positioned than the CMO to help companies survive and adapt to any scenario brought by COVID-19.
What has changed for CMOs?
One thing remains constant: growing the business is still the CMO’s primary objective. As one CMO put it, “Today the role of the CMO is effectively to be the Growth Officer for the company.” CMOs are more critical than ever in crafting and managing strategies that deliver sustainable, profitable growth. In any given week or month, most CMOs spend the majority of their time running the business, solving problems, assessing short- and long-term growth opportunities with visible impact, and working with teams to prepare the company for future success. The remainder of their time is typically devoted to managing and supporting people.
What has shifted is how that growth is achieved. COVID-19 disrupted supply chains and spurred major changes in shopping behavior. Marketers—often unprepared—had to adapt quickly by pausing or canceling campaigns, finding new, contextually appropriate messaging, and aligning with a new reality where digital and contactless purchasing behaviors spread rapidly.
Retailers had been strengthening e-commerce capabilities for years, but the pandemic pushed millions of consumers toward online shopping, digital brand interactions, contactless payments, and omnichannel fulfillment methods (for example, curbside pickup and buy-online-pickup-in-store).
As consumer shopping continued to migrate online, CMOs in the consumer goods sector accelerated prior efforts to capture direct-to-consumer growth opportunities. A marketing head at a consumer products company said, “COVID accelerated trends that were already emerging,” adding, “we had a plan to act—now we have to move faster to execute it.”
For the automotive sector, these shifts highlighted the importance of analytics in the CMO’s remit. A CMO at an auto brand noted that COVID-19 “accelerated online shopping” and emphasized the need for rigorous review of data and for analytics teams that can convert insights into actionable analysis that drives the organization forward.
Mid-pandemic, the United States experienced nationwide protests against long-standing racial injustices. This heightened focus led institutions to reexamine diversity from a new perspective. Regardless of industry, many CMOs—some already taking active measures on diversity, equity, and inclusion—have now committed to longer-term investments that reflect these core values. Initiatives include improving retention, increasing leadership diversity, and adopting more inclusive hiring practices.
In 2020, CMOs faced the dual imperative of not only steering companies through immediate hazards but also building organizational resilience to enable sustainable growth into an uncertain future. Given these changing priorities, it is vital that CMOs manage these expectations in collaboration with their boards.
Five CMO models
So, what should a CMO do? Because a CMO cannot do everything at once, it is best to focus on strengths and align with the board’s expectations. Deloitte tested five CMO models that can help CMOs prioritize. Quickly engaging the CEO and the board to understand what they value most—and to co-develop or present proposals—will help determine which model will best drive success for your company.
Does your CMO need to be the customer champion—an executive who equips the business with the customer data, insights, and analytics necessary to grow? This type of CMO focuses on delivering high-quality, personalized experiences and runs campaigns that empower customers while delivering measurable results.
Or should your CMO be a growth engine, singularly focused on acquiring more customers and running programs that contribute to sustained, scalable growth?
Does the board expect the CMO to act as an innovation catalyst—experimenting with new technologies, data, and techniques to create breakthrough offers for customers? These CMOs transform customer experiences while also improving internal processes.
For some organizations—especially startups or legacy companies undergoing complete strategic reinvention—CMOs should be capability builders who develop strong marketing capabilities, hire teams with deep expertise in data and analytics, and create the operational foundations for future success.
Finally, many boards expect CMOs to be master storytellers who craft compelling narratives and produce striking content that defines the brand’s position and relevance.
For startups and legacy businesses undergoing total strategic renewal, CMOs should act as capability builders.
You may be able to combine two of these roles at once, but you cannot be all five simultaneously. Achieving alignment with the CEO and board on what the company needs now is the first step toward long-term success.
Now is the time to redefine CMO responsibilities by phase
In the current environment, many CMOs feel justified in abandoning old processes or mindsets and embracing new ideas, pursuing digital transformation, and discovering fresh routes to growth.
Accordingly, most CMOs will prioritize innovation and growth above all else—building marketing organizations that are data- and analytics-driven, capable of sensing broad customer signals and turning them into real-time, actionable insights. In a dynamic market, this is the environment in which CMOs can most effectively contribute to company growth and resilience. The stage is now set for CMOs to lead.