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THE NEW ROLE OF THE CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

The key role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is to look beyond mere marketing and rather focus on the wider growth of the business, the ‘IMM Journal of Strategic Marketing’ reports in its latest edition (Issue 1 2018).

Writing in his regular column, US-based academic, Professor Michael Goldman says that ‘Forbes’ business magazine’s second most influential CMO of 2017, Antonio Lucio, has challenged marketers to be business people first and marketing artisans second. Lucio warned marketers not to be too internally driven by the function of marketing, but to balance this with the role of marketing. He described this risk as marketers being “islands surrounded by mirrors”, becoming isolated and ultimately irrelevant due to their inability to deliver revenues today and growth tomorrow.

Lucio also warned marketers not to be obsessed with the technical aspects of digital media or to be consumed by marketing-specific debates. Instead, they should demonstrate how marketing activities deliver against their intended business objectives.

He called for strategic marketers who: “… are culturally bilingual, capable of translating highly technical functional terminology into business impact. They speak up on all issues affecting the business and design customer-centric solutions. They can demonstrate the value of marketing in every action.”

Writes Goldman in his column: “Lucio’s views reinforce a CMO Council and Deloitte report from December 2016, which highlighted the required shift for CMOs from brand-centric advertising roles to being the primary custodian of the customer and driver of growth and opportunity.”

The ‘IMM Journal of Strategic Marketing’ is the official publication of the IMM Graduate School and is published quarterly.