What CEOs Want From Their CMOs
Forrester, 4/21/11
What do CEOs want from Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs)? I asked that question on Forrester’s CMO community site, triggering some excellent comments. You can check it all out here.
The CMO must provide the basics: “Increase revenue, decrease costs, no embarrassments.” But what about the non-obvious?
1) Innovation. CEOs know that innovation usually lies outside of the company — in the free market of partners, inventors, new channels, and new technologies. Procter & Gamble plays this game brilliantly — partnering with AstraZeneca on Prilosec OTC, Clorox on Glad Wrap Press’n Seal, and with its customers on the redesign of Tampax. The CEO wants the CMO scouting the path ahead — outside of the four walls of the corporation.