Boyden Executive Monitor Finds Chief Marketing Officers Increasingly Critical for CEO Success

Chief Marketing Officers are becoming vital players in their CEOs’ success, with digital innovation and data analytics often playing key supporting roles, according to the Executive Monitor released today by Boyden global executive search.

The report includes exclusive insight from Alistair Macrow, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at McDonald's United Kingdom; Ty Shay, Chief Marketing Officer at LifeLock; and George Parr, ‎Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at SIRVA Worldwide. Also featured is a sidebar interview with John Cripps, CEO of Marketing Decision Science.?

“The CMO is now a critical player for the CEO, an equal to any in the C-suite”, said Lisa Gerhardt, Leader of Boyden’s Global Consumer and Global HR Practices and Partner, Boyden New York and Boyden UK. “The CMO is helping drive strategy around non-traditional areas, often working with HR executives to shape the employer brand and employee value proposition. CMOs are also working hand in glove with CIOs to ensure that the right technology is in place to deliver the digital strategy and consumer experience. CMOs are increasingly critical to an organisation’s strategy and ultimately its success or failure.”

Boyden’s Executive Monitor report, titled The Fully Integrated CMO, covers how data analytics and greater connectivity with customers are transforming the responsibilities of CMOs; the qualities and skills this transformation demands of CMOs today and will in the future; sentiment of CEOs toward the leaders of their marketing functions; and the enhanced role the CMO must play within the C-suite.

“CMOs are now at the centre of a quantitative approach to marketing, where data is often critical for analysis and decision making”, said Antonio Sanchez, Boyden Board Member and Managing Partner, Boyden Colombia. “In the past, the work of the CMO, CFO, CIO and CHRO was more isolated. As part of the integration of C-level officers, the CMO is a leading force to collect and analyse data to improve customer knowledge and revenue.”

“CEOs expect their CMOs to take on expanded responsibilities in today’s environment of fragmented media and overwhelming big data”, said Cornelia Tänzler, Managing Partner, Boyden Switzerland. “Successful CMOs will be those capable of on-boarding key stakeholders with divergent interests onto this unique vision.”

The new report also focuses on the following topics regarding CMO talent acquisition and retention:

• Role of CMO in affecting organisational change, driven by digital innovation, data analytics, and a pervasive global shift toward customer-centricity
• Key points of collaboration between CMOs and their C-suite counterparts
• Trend toward CMOs becoming CEOs, rooted in the increasingly strategic role marketers play

The full Boyden Executive Monitor report is available by clicking here.