Why every CMO needs a crisis to thrive - Damian Symons, Clear M&C Saatchi
In this episode I am joined by Damian Symons, the CEO of Clear M&C Saatchi. He shares some fascinating insight gained from a brand new report revealing how CMOs have responded over this past year. You may be surprised by just how much the perception of the role has changed and why now is the time for CMO’s to step up! Of particular interest is how the interaction between the CEO and CMO has changed, what keeps each one of them up at night, and also why CMOs are becoming more and more influential in business decision-making. We also talked about why CMOs need to be held to account and the importance of ROI and measuring effectiveness in the short and long term. There is so much actionable insight in this episode and if ever you needed a CMO pep talk then this is it!
Damian Symons is the CEO of Clear M&C Saatchi and author of 'From Choas to Clarity', which we reference a bunch in this conversation. He shares some of the excellent insight gained from this study of over 700 CEO’s and CMO’s into the changing role of the CMO over the past year and more.
What we covered in this episode
- How aligned is the CEO and CMO when it comes to business priorities?
- Why is the CMO a lot more influential now than a year ago?
- How a crisis makes you a lot more connected to your customers and colleagues
- How business strategy and the actions required to deliver it get easily disconnected
- Why Marketing needs to be much more than just ‘colouring in’
- Why CMO’s need to be more accountable for both short and long term investments
- How CEO’s become more focussed on the long terms whilst demanding short term action from their CMO
- The importance of a clear narrative, clear evidence and a clear short, medium and long term goals
- Why successful CMO’s aren’t always the best marketers
- How you can make this crisis the best thing that ever happened to you
- The failure of CMO’s to nurture talent and why no-one wants the job
- The 4 point plan to create clarity from chaos
