As brands shifted, adapted, and sometimes stumbled their way through the last 12 months, another trend reinforced the need for new thinking in the marketing wing: CMOs are on the move like never before.

A recent article in AdAge pegs a 25% increase in CMO moves compared to the year prior. So if you got a new boss, appointed a new executive, or, well, got a new job: you’re far from alone.

It also bears mentioning that 17% of appointments over the last six months are at newly created roles.

Is the marketer going away?

This trend is nothing new, but continues to reinforce the elimination of siloes around marketing, in the form of cross-departmental roles like Chief Customer Officer, Chief Growth Officer, and Chief Commercial Officer. Marketing is no longer an island, and as the sector continues to blur the line with roles in sales and product development, expect these new titles to lead the charge in this streamlined organizational charting.

In 2019, we wrote this about the changes already underway for the “Disappearing CMO”:

You’re already aware of the ever-broadening responsibilities of today’s marketer. 

Things like asking better questions about future growth, driving more strategic operations (rather than just making due with existing processes), and generally bringing a brand purpose from paper into action, just to name a few examples.

This change is well underway, and the CMO responsibilities will only continue to expand as marketing duties continue to shift within larger growth initiatives.

They’re things that every marketer needs to be thinking about, but they also need to extend to the coordination of your agency relationships.

Were we just way ahead of our time?

While we’d love to pat ourselves on the back, the truth is that, like many other trends, this has been years in the making, with the pandemic only accelerating its prevalence.

The fact remains, however, that agencies are seeing the same writing on the wall, and part of their job description now lies in their ability to drive value across departments with more extensive data reporting, analytics, and operational capabilities.

Who is shuffling in?

Beyond the expanding roles of today’s marketing, the volume of CMO shuffling underlines the demand for fresh thinking over the last year.

Not only did companies turn toward new names in the marketing driver’s seat, but they’re looking outside the four walls to do it: 84% of these hires were from outside the organization. New CMO, old CMO, or no CMO at all, your company is almost certainly hunting for an external perspective.

So what does it all mean for you, the marketer?

Besides needing to learn your new boss’s name, it means that there’s opportunity to drive change in your organization. Stagnation is the enemy of engagement, and whether or not your brand has made a change at the top, the mandate is clear: brands are looking for “new” now more than ever.

That means more chances for you to bring value to the table – offering up a new idea, doing homework on a new technology, or even bringing new options to the agency conversation.

If you’re looking for an agency option to push your marketing department forward, give us a call. We can help find a shop specifically for your goals, and built for the new look of marketing.

Drop us a line via our “Contact Page“.