Today's connected customer is pushing marketing and technology teams together, but the CMO/CIO relationship remains a challenging one. Here we look at two companies making it work
Gartner research analyst, Laura McLellan, lobbed a grenade into the executive trenches when she claimed the average CMO will control more technology spend than the CIO by 2017.
That’s not an empty promise; at its core, marketing is about communicating. In today’s hyperconnected world, communicating is about technology. As commerce becomes e-commerce, customer interaction becomes digitised and direct communication becomes real-time engagement, marketing and IT are taking central roles. It makes sense for the leaders of the teams to buddy up.
Yet according to an Accenture survey of 252 CIOs and 405 CMOs globally last year, nine in 10 marketing and IT executives aren’t collaborating successfully. “They [CMOs] view the CIO organisation as an execution and delivery arm at a time when they should consider IT as a strategic partner and involve CIOs when planning new marketing investments,” the report authors state.
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In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
