The chief marketing officers of Unilever, IBM, VISA and Adobe chaired the first ever CMO round table at the Cannes Lions Festival, where they and more than 60 other CMOs and leading marketers discussed early findings of the Marketing2020 study.
Cannes is the first in a series of CMO round tables to be held around the world as a part of Marketing2020. Participants at each will examine the role and creation of purposeful brands, the structure, role and capabilities of marketing, how to analyze big data in marketing, the role of the CMO and collaboration with agencies.
Within the US, round tables will occur on July 11 in Los Angeles, July 17 in New York City and July 30 in Chicago.
Early findings discussed at the Cannes Lions Festival include:
• Fifty-eight percent of marketers work closely with their CEO to establish the company’s strategic growth agenda – a 20 percent increase from 2006
• Seventy-three percent of marketers believe brands with a societal purpose drive business growth
• Ninety percent of marketers expect the size of global marketing departments to remain the same or increase over the next five years
• Sixty-five percent of senior marketers (SVP+) expect marketing and communications departments to merge in the next five years
• Only 20 percent of marketers feel their teams receive adequate training, even though increased marketer training correlates with increased business growth
“Marketing2020 – and the impressive group of senior marketers that gathered at Cannes to discuss it – represent a burgeoning breakthrough in our industry,” said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers). “The results of the study, including the Cannes discussion, will provide senior marketers around the world with clear pathways to business growth. This is the most ambitious, significant research and leadership initiative the ANA has ever taken part in.”
The study also revealed:
• Technology developments drive massive change in the way marketers develop value propositions and connect with consumers
• Data mining and analytics are the capabilities marketers most want to develop over the next five years
• The role of brands will increase significantly despite increasing consumer information and global transparency
• Marketing leaders of organizations outgrowing their competition tend to be closer to consumers and focus more on developing people in comparison to their peers
• Creative and agency partners will play a more important role in marketing organizations in the future
“Global marketing leaders are looking for guidance on how to structure their organizations,” said Marc de Swaan Arons, founder of EffectiveBrands and head of Marketing2020. “It is gratifying to see so many senior marketing leaders embrace Marketing2020. We are confident that it will be an incredibly valuable exchange and learning platform for all involved.”
Over the past three months, 350 CEOs, CMOs, CMO peers and agency leaders and several thousand marketers from around the world have contributed to Marketing2020. The Marketing2020 online survey is available here.
“The participation of so many world-leading CMOs at the Marketing2020 event in Cannes is indicative of the transformation unfolding within marketing organizations driven by digital and big data. Marketing2020 will serve as a roadmap for CMOs to navigate this new reality,” said Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer and CMO practice leader, Forbes.
Marketing2020 is a joint initiative by EffectiveBrands, the ANA, the WFA, Spencer Stuart, Forbes, Adobe and MetrixLab. When completed, the study will represent the largest ever qualitative and quantitative study of marketing leaders and organizations, and will provide marketers around the world with best-practices to focus on, organize for and support business gro
