Though it may make sense for those owning brand strategy and customer experience to become their organization’s “chief growth officer,” a new report from consulting firm Accenture Strategy warns that marketing executives should act quickly if they don’t want to be fired.
In ‘The C-Level Disruptive Growth Opportunity,” which was subtitled “Chief Marketing Officers: What Your CEO May Not Be Telling You,” Accenture uses survey research to show the gaps between the perspectives and expectations of CMOs versus their bosses. This includes the following:
- 37% of CMOs view disruptive growth as very important, versus 44 percent of CEOs
- Only 36% of CMOs rank launching new business models or value chains as an extremely important priority
- Just 34% cite establishing new partnerships with untraditional players extremely important
- 33% of CEOs say Marketing will sit under Digital within the next five years.
Accenture says that despite how much their work might be tied to growth, it by no means ensures CMOs of job security.
“Although it may not be explicitly said in everyday interactions, more than a third of CEOs Accenture surveyed say the CMO is the first to go should growth targets not be met. Despite diluted accountability throughout the C-suite, it seems CMOs are on the hot seat,” the report says. “Naysayers will claim marketing skills do not translate well to growth but we see real-world examples of CMOs who take charge of the change agenda, harness disruptive growth and make their mark.”
For example, chief growth officers at Kellogg’s, Kimberly-Clark and ConAgra were all former CMOs, the report pointed out.
Accenture recommended CMOs open up an “Office of Disruptive Growth” to stay one step ahead of their industry’s changes, as well as aligning their roles with those leading sales or digital transformation.
The Accenture report comes out not long after a similar study from Forrester Research, which estimates that 30% of CMOs will lose their jobs next year because they lack the digital skills necessary to make meaningful changes.
