Leadership News, Features, and Interviews

Collaboration and empathy with IT is vital for CMOs looking to be effective in the new age of customer-driven, digital conversations, according to Virgin America’s CMO.

CEOs are becoming more actively involved in digital strategy than ever before yet many companies have not made the organisational-level changes necessary to embrace digitisation successfully, a new report claims.

Former Commonwealth Bank CMO Andy Lark has been appointed to the board of New Zealand-headquartered IT firm Fronde as an independent director.

Marketing is adopting an increasingly influential role in customer service due to the rise of customer-centric thinking and digital communications. But the shift is causing friction between the two functions.

Telstra has confirmed its CMO, Mark Buckman, has resigned from his post just five months after being promoted and four years after joining the group.

A new infographic from Uberflip has set out to detail the top traits modern CMOs need to ride out the digital and technology disruption they’re facing today.

Several marketing industry leaders have applauded P&G’s decision to reposition marketing leadership into centralised ‘brand’ teams, claiming the move represents a welcome shift towards marketing as the orchestrator of customer experiences. However, one respected Australian marketer has raised concerns that the decision rationalises strategy into global teams, leaves brand managers without commercial responsibility and in product silos, and could stifle local innovation.

It makes sense to embrace the same media used by the people you are trying to reach. For German carmaker Audi’s push into the Korean market, that has meant a very high investment in one of the newest marketing channels – mobile.

Cricket Australia will have a new head of marketing later this month following the appointment of experienced marketer, Sonia Bijelic, to replace Julian Dunne.

An increasing number of organisations, both new and well-established, are opting to appoint their first chief marketing officer. In this new series of profiles, we speak to the first dedicated marketing chiefs appointed at their respective Australian organisations to find out what it takes to be the maiden CMO, their views on modern marketing, and who their allies in executive leadership are.

An effective evangelist focusses on other people’s interests and doesn’t worry about a sales quota, according to Guy Kawasaki.

The CMO job specs vary widely between organisations and the maturity of a given organisation’s marketing function. So what makes a good CMO?

In our latest Food for Thought series with leading marketers, we asked three brands: What does agile marketing and being responsive mean, and how do CMOs achieve it?

Getting to the heart of how customers behave through data and analytical insight has become a pre-requisite for CMOs looking to keep ahead of disruptive competitors and consumer expectations. As a result, building technology know-how, as well as the teams and operational capabilities to do this at scale, has become priority number one.

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.

Marketing leaders who show accountability in terms of performance, market share and effectiveness of marketing programs are more likely to be trusted and gain influence with their executive counterparts.

Australian insurance broking group, Austbrokers, has appointed a new head of marketing as it looks to tackle additional business streams and personalise its customer approach.

Organisations wanting to pay more than just lip service to customer experience not only need executive-level vision, they must win the hearts and minds of every member of staff.

Organisations trying to embrace digital disruption must combine quick, visible wins as well as significant technology investments and cultural change if they hope to achieve long-term and transformation gains, Telstra’s digital chief claims.

Having deep customer knowledge has become the new hygiene factor for brands looking to stay in business and meet consumer expectations, according to BT Financial Group’s head of customer insight and analytics.

Myer has appointed a new chief of marketing and merchandise among a host of new senior executive appointments.