CMO Archives - The Grassy Road

Is this the “Ultimate CMO” – or poor research on your target?

See the Ken doll? He was sent to me as the "Ultimate CMO" - "Every CEO's dream come true" in a fancy box designed to get me to take a meeting and learn about a marketing service. Blue eyes, blond hair and khakis - what a silicon valley stereotype! He is male and so he wears "winged oxfords" and an "untucked dress shirt" and his box says "all CMOs contain nuts". He came in a box from a marketing agency who claim they are category creators. A small firm run [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:23-08:00June 23, 2015|Equality|0 Comments

Do all CMOs have to be data geeks now?

Written by me in the The Economist Group today Few would argue against data’s importance in marketing today. Data is essential to every marketing decision now, and the techniques used to transform that data into actionable market insight can make or break a company. Given this, some data-intensive companies now require their CMOs to have a background in data science—but will we get to a point where all CMOs and senior marketing leaders have to have a background in data science? Or will tools continue to emerge that will help [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:49:07-08:00May 20, 2014|Career Advice|0 Comments

Why CMOs won’t lock CIOs out of the C-suite

Published in the Economist today Money talks. It's common knowledge that people with money tend to get what they want, and today’s business dynamics are no different. A new Accenture study shows that CMOs are claiming more of the tech budget share. Much to the chagrin of CIOs, it is coming out of the IT purse. Regardless of how much injustice CIOs feel, the success of their companies is increasingly reliant on their teams learning to align with CMO teams whose priorities—and very nature—are incredibly different from their own. CIOs [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:50:46-08:00January 8, 2014|Leadership|0 Comments