Agility at Scale: A Roadmap for Global Marketing Teams and CMO’s

Marketing leaders facing times of major change or crisis have no choice but to abandon the idea of “business as usual.” Instead, by adopting practices that promote agility, marketers can put themselves in a much better position to remain resilient in the face of transformative change and continue to drive growth for their business. 

The concept of agile marketing is not a new one, but the societal, cultural and economic turmoil precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic created a greater sense of urgency to embrace it. In fact, nimbleness, once viewed as a competitive advantage, is now fundamental to a brand’s survival.

According to McKinsey, “agile, in the marketing context, means using data and analytics to continuously source promising opportunities or solutions to problems in real time, deploying tests quickly, evaluating the results, and rapidly iterating. At scale, a high-functioning agile marketing organization can run hundreds of campaigns simultaneously and multiple new ideas every week.” 

It’s important to acknowledge that the fast pace and level of continuous change that agile marketing requires may be overwhelming in today’s marketing climate. However, with the right mindset and team framework in place, it’s more than just a possibility.  

 To me, agile marketing is having the capacity to create and seamlessly execute broad-reaching campaigns across channels from anywhere in the world, while telling a cohesive brand story that resonates from the streets of New York and London to Beijing and Mumbai. As such, it’s crucial to develop a global marketing organization that blends both centralized and regional components, minimizing waste and ensuring consistency, relevancy and agility across local efforts.

As I’ve written in the past, agility goes hand-in-land with leadership. The best CMOs are incredibly versatile as they manage a wide range of responsibilities. The more agile they can be, the better they can lead with the transparency needed to keep employees aligned and informed.  

 In the midst of any transformation at CFA Institute, we make sure that open communication plays a significant role in how we make and share decisions. If we’re thinking about a new approach or project, we ask each other, “Does this benefit our members?” and “Does this support the outcomes our internal stakeholders seek?” Through this process, we seek to inform, consult and collaborate. These three elements are fundamental to our success as marketers. Hosting regular in-person (and now virtual) presentations and meetings for the global marketing team, sending a steady cadence of email communications and being open to answer any and all employee questions has worked well for our organization. 

Above all, making sure you have the right people in place that can work together at speed is critical to becoming globally agile. To achieve this, play close attention to the following:

 1. Accountability. Make sure that you align your marketing function with your organization’s structure so that accountability lines are clear. Assigning a single point of contact to support the strategic functions, regions and internal control functions is a smart way to keep everyone on the same page working toward a common goal.

2. Identify gaps. Ask yourself what’s missing from your team. Is it an area of expertise or skill set?  Poor cultural fit? Unwillingness to adapt? Whatever is lacking, make sure you have a plan to address it head on to build as optimal a working team as possible.

 3. Staff for expertise. Making sure you have the right organizational structure is central to getting things done fast and effectively. It’s a good idea to ensure that each internal client or partner has a liaison familiar with their primary marketing needs-- both topically and functionally--to keep things running smoothly. As challenges and opportunities rise, it may become necessary to make adjustments to the team. Based on team strengths and weaknesses, it may be necessary to shift people at the global and local level to tinker with chemistry, hire new talent or provide support for team members acquiring new skill sets.

4. Align with your stakeholders. When dealing with change, creating stakeholder alignment and support is key. Make sure that your stakeholders know and understand your structure (and vice versa). This will help you create unification across departments and avoid silos that can prevent collaboration.

 Creating global agility at scale doesn’t always follow a straight line. But with the right direction, team and alignment, marketers can connect the dots to create their own path and stay nimble in the process.