In late June Spencer Stuart released its annual survey of CMO tenure and the results were a bit surprising. Tenure has lengthened to 35 months, up almost seven months over 2008. Tom Seclow, in an interview with BrandWeek, speculated that there were two main reasons. “The trend has been increasing and we assumed that marketers were doing a better job getting it right and becoming more attuned with CEOs and management teams and doing all the things they should be doing. I suppose the dramatic jump from last year to this year has got to be influenced by the economy as well.”
In my experience, CMOs leave their jobs for one of three main reasons:
1. They failed – to improve the business results or to fit into the culture. This is the most publicized reason for departures. Often the cause of the failure is due to misaligned expectations by the CEO and executive team. The new CMO is hired to “fix the brand” but is given control over only one of the four Ps: promotion. After launching a dazzling new ad campaign, enthusiasm wanes and, after a year of business results that didn’t fundamentally improve: The CMO must go!
2. They succeeded – in improving business results. They are hailed as “talented change agents” or “effective business leaders” and either promoted into a general manager/COO role within the same company or recruited to apply their skills at a new firm. AdAge recently published an article on the changing nature of CMOs, highlighting their increased focus on business accountability.
3. They got bored – and were ready for a new challenge. Marketing leaders are generally very curious people and are driven to solve problems and overcome challenges. After two to three years, the primary mission they were brought in to achieve has been achieved. The brand has been revitalized. The company has grown. The marketing organization has improved its effectiveness. “Now what? I need a new challenge.” And off they go to slay the next dragon.
During the past two years the economy has affected all three of these reasons. It has been hard to blame the CMO with everything else that has been going on as the industry tries to reconcile itself to the current economy. It has been difficult find major success stories with which to credit the CMO. And it has been too turbulent an environment to risk a secure job just to cure boredom.
So I predict that as the economy improves we’ll see more movement in the CMO offices. That’s my take. What’s yours?
John Ellett is CEO of nFusion Group, LLC, a digitally-focused marketing agency based in Austin, TX. He has a passion for encouraging and supporting marketing leaders who have the courage to be change agents in their organizations.
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I do not think the 35-month or less tenure is limited to CMOs. I find that in the B2B world, for companies that are $500M or less, this can be found with Managers, Directors and VPs also. The three causes listed above sound very plausible to me. What has been key in my world, “B2B – less than $500M”, is how well the marketing manager, director, or VP, connects with executive management. How well they are able to develop trust with the executives and are able to “educate” on the art and science of what marketing entails. I have found myself commonly working with executives who have climbed the latter through operations, finance, engineering, or other non-customer oriented careers. Such individuals are sometimes the same individuals who believe re-branding solely consists of changing a logo. If the marketing manager cannot educate executives on the benefits/value of long term planning and strategy related to marketing efforts, the “cutting-edge” of the initial marketing plan will wear off, and so can the relationship with the executive team. …about 35 months.
Great comment Scott. How can you educate non-marketing execs most successfully? Before, while or after building their trust?