Disconnect between CMOs and CEOs grows

Company chiefs and marketing leaders increasingly have differing views on the role and understanding of the marketing discipline, a series of studies highlights, indicating that communication between company leaders needs to improve. 

What’s going on

The Wall Street Journal highlights a series of important studies into the relationship, which has been under pressure for many years.

• 90% of CEOs agree that marketing’s role is clearly defined according to a McKinsey survey; by contrast just 22% of marketers agree, a nine percentage point drop from 2019. 
• McKinsey’s figures suggest that CEOs’ idea of what marketing is hasn’t kept up – just 50% of CEOs gave the same answers as their CMOs on the primary role of marketing.
• 90% of CEOs believed that company strategy is driven by customers versus just 58% of CMOs, according to Forrester. 
• That same survey found that CEOs tend to have a much more positive view of how the company meets consumer needs: 97% of chief executives agree; 75% of top marketers also agree.

Why the CMO/CEO relationship matters 

Though many top marketers enjoy good relationships with chief executives, on an aggregate level there are some important disparities about what marketing is for and what it can do. Improving communication will be necessary at a time of economic uncertainty, when growth levers are needed more than ever. 

Broadly, the research suggests that the education of leaders is vital to effective marketing, and that this tends to involve a move away from marketing jargon and instead focusing on the activity’s impact on the bottom line. Increasingly popular techniques, like econometrics, are helping marketers to have these conversations more effectively. 

Sourced from the Wall Street Journal, WARC