Summary
New research has revealed that a disconnect between business leaders and their marketers is threatening growth. The problem is that that marketers lack the necessary business acumen and connection with customers that their colleagues expect. What the sector needs is 'the commercial CMO', who is business-led, client-connected and accountable for delivering against the same business metrics as their colleagues around the board table. The seven steps to transforming marketing for business results include: hiring business people; reconnecting marketers with clients; and aligning marketing with business KPIs.

Summary
Although marketing has reinvented many different businesses (e.g. by targeting a different segment, repositioning an offering or modifying packaging), the discipline has suffered from an inability to reinvent itself. The key to rejuvenating marketing, this article argues, is social business. This goes beyond just social media, and is defined as: "Activities that use social media, social software and social networks to enable more efficient, effective and mutually useful connections between people, information and assets...[C]onnections [that] can drive business decisions, actions and outcomes across the enterprise."

Summary
If CFOs understood how marketing sustains premium prices, they would value it more. Instead, a preoccupation with ROI and the bottom line has been allowed to erode brand equity. Marketing is a simple two-stage process: build brand equity and harvest that to provide profits. The key difference between sales volume and the bottom line is price. Marketers, especially in these times of recession, may not be able to increase sales, but if they can maintain the price, the company will prosper.

Summary
A round-up of presentations from the Edinburgh International Marketing Festival 2012. Key themes emerging from the presentations include: marketers believe that advertising should be more about science than art – though many also agree that both are essential to produce successful campaigns; agencies are adapting to shifting trends in their daily working practices, with account allocation, office space and the possibility of getting into NPD all under consideration; and, among the digital trends that are reshaping these practices are the rise of gamification, "responsive design" and the increasing use of social media in corporate PR.

Summary
A proper appreciation and application of the marketing principle and its values across all aspects of business would make consumer-led capitalism a model in which everyone has a stake and would guard against future financial crisis. The root cause of recent financial crises is lack of customer focus by banks, regulators and governments. Marketing led, customer focused sectors such as supermarkets and credit unions are value-adders that strive to fulfil and exceed customer expectations. But banks and energy providers, for example, extract value through small print and hidden costs. Only the value adders, guided by consumer demand, can deliver a sustainable model of capitalism.

Summary
The protester who infamously complained that capitalism "should be replaced by something nicer" encapsulated the incoherence of the protests at Wall Street and the City of London. This incoherence results from a political void. Europe's political left lacks any convincing narrative in the post-socialist world. The right tells a story in which greed is the dominant human motivation, government an incubus on the spirit of free enterprise. The apparent practical success of capitalism is matched only by the failure of its public relations. Perhaps the "something nicer" which should replace capitalism is a more nuanced - and more accurate - account of capitalism itself.

Summary
As marketers approach the C-suite, they may need to reduce their direct involvement in operational marketing activities. But instead of seeing this as a loss, CMOs should take comfort from the fact that the functional skills they have built up will help them to move to a new level of performance, not just as marketers, but as broader business leaders.

Summary
Marketing carries out valuable functions of immense benefit to customers and organisations. It informs organisations what customers want and like, and informs customers that what they want and like is available. These are major benefits that also spawn employment and wealth. Marketing is a continuing process, which must generate employment and wealth that are sustainable. This can only be achieved when organisations work within a sustainable financial framework. To do this, there must be a balance between supply and demand, at the pivotal interface where price and specification are determined. Both must simultaneously benefit customers and organisations. Marketing is the only process which operates at this pivotal interface.

Summary
Many businesses are looking outside their own industries for marketing talent. This is an excellent opportunity for marketers to swap sectors and broaden their careers. But it is not easy. This extract from a report by Grant Duncan and Jonathan Harper looks at the challenges facing the transitioning marketer. While it is essential for a new CMO to have the unambiguous support of the CEO, this alone will not suffice. The CMO needs to be as collaborative as possible and establish early on whether or not there is widespread internal enthusiasm for any change the CEO is seeking. If not, the CMO must avoid getting isolated, but instead be able to rely on the CEO to align expectations among senior colleagues, define what success should look like, and be clear about where marketing is going to add value.

Summary
"Marketing middleware" is the organisational marketing capability necessary for a CMO to succeed in a company. It allows for smooth communication between organisational leaders and its marketing arm and enables translation of strategy, insights and execution between both departments. Middleware can fit the organisation by defining standard work and establishing the competencies needed to do the work. This involves understanding the marketplace, developing a growth strategy, executing the marketing plan and leading the right way. These insights then need to be put into practice by communicating the case for change, creating common frameworks and creating joint functional ownership.