From the more things change, the more they stay the same department:
At Ad Age’s NY City 2004 Advertising Week panel, “Money Talks: The view from the CMO’s office” Ad Age editor/moderator Scott Donaton noted that the average tenure of a chief marketing officer is 22.9 months – half that of the average CEO.
Why is marketing so expendable? Said Paul Guyardo, Kmart CMO,
“We’re an easy target. Everybody likes to think they’re a marketer and can do our job. It’s easier to get rid of us than to adjust the real problems affecting sales.”
Amen.
Today the pressure is on CMOs to get the company involved in social media. There’s a lot of social media GMOT – “get me one of those” in boardrooms across the globe.
I’d be willing to bet that more than a few CMOs have been, or will be, casualties of picking the wrong social media consultant from among the thousands upon thousands of self-proclaimed social media gurus.
This is so true!