CEO & CMO - Evolving Relationship In The New Marketing Age

The role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is continually evolving, as marketing functions become increasingly strategic, complex and challenging. For effective implementation of strategic marketing initiatives at an organizational level, CMOs need to form cohesive partnerships with CEOs.

Partnerships between CEOs and CMOs need to be highly effective, efficient, and a two-way nurturing and collaborative process.

Even though the CMO represents the marketing and branding function in the Board, the responsibilities go beyond simple representation. The CMO needs to have a broad understanding of the organization’s strategic direction, corporate vision, financial goals, shareholder expectations and impact of external factors (economic, political, social and regulatory). I wrote about it here: "The Chief Marketing Officer – A New Boardroom & Strategy Role".

If these are the needs and expectations from the CMO, then the CEO’s duty is to provide guidance around these aspects. Broad level collaboration between CEOs and CMOs has finer aspects, which vary from organization to organization and is influenced by organizational structures, individual roles, reporting lines and also by the defining characteristics of the industry and segment that the organization is operating in.

Relationships between CEOs and CMOs can take many forms. But the underlying characteristics of successful relationships are the same:

Mutual trust: Without strong levels of trust, the relationship cannot function, develop and flourish. The CEO’s trust is characterised by the dependency on the CMO to make the organization more customer-centric. In turn, the CMO’s trust is characterised by the dependency on the CEO to provide support and critical guidance.

Empowerment: Empowering each other is a key success driver in any CEO-CMO relationship. Decision making at an organizational level and specifically for marketing requires transparency, cooperation and alignment with goals of each other. Empowerment as an aspect does have a bias towards the CEO, who is expected to have a dominant role as the overall guardian of strategy.

Effective and efficient teamwork: The CMO is an integral part of the CEO’s team along with the Board and other CXO level individuals. For the CMO, the CEO represents the highest level of accountability in majority of cases, along with a strategic marketing team working alongside.

Co-creating the future: Both the CEO and the CMO should have a strong involvement in charting the growth path of the organization and its strategic priorities.

Like the CMO role, relationships between CEOs and CMOs are constantly evolving. The strategic need for a CMO to be more aligned with organizational objectives and for the CEO to have an understanding of the customers’ pulse is driving close collaboration and support between both roles. The criticality of this cross-functional responsibility is going to get bigger in the near future. As superior marketing and branding capabilities become new strategic differentiators for organizations, the roles of individuals spearheading these functions will become increasingly critical.

Today’s CMO is not only an experienced marketer but a versatile team player, has the ability to build and strengthen relationships at the highest level, has a strong understanding of technology, has a strategic mindset and last but not the least, has the ability to lead the whole organization. Ultimately successful CMOs are potential CEO candidates.

You can read the more in-depth article I wrote on emerging CEO and CMO relationships: “CMO & CEO: Evolving Relationship In The New Age Of Marketing”.

**********

Martin Roll is a business & brand strategist, and the founder of Martin Roll Company. He provides advisory and guidance on leadership, strategy and execution, and how to build and sustain high-performing, enduring brand-driven businesses and global, marketing-oriented organisations. Author of Asian Brand Strategy.

Specialities: Branding, Marketing, Strategy, Leadership, Change & Transformations, Business Family Transition, Business Coaching, Asia & Emerging Markets.

Read more articles >>