Thanks Elaine.

From the article in BrandWeek:

Marketers, then, may be worried, but Van Rossum said this new talent force is in no way a permanent replacement for or danger to the full-time CMO. 

“What we’re seeing is the CMOs themselves are looking for interim marketing execs to come in and fill in gaps in their current team,” he said.

By Bob Van Rossum

A recent BusinessWeek article discusses “The Disposable Worker”.  It does a great job describing the challenges facing today’s workforce.   But for the biggest brands, it shows a growing and necessary trend.  How do I compete on a global scale deploying talent on an as needed basis, increasing my flexibility and decreasing my cost?  Ultimately how does this trend impact how marketing is done inside the enterprise?

Marketing departments are required to provide ever increasing ROI with fewer resources and less budget.  This is difficult to do when you have a large headcount filled with too many generalists.  The marketplace is changing so rapidly it is impossible to keep the perfect balance of skills on your team.  CMO’s are increasingly turning to interim marketing executives to; build an analytics function, launch a new product / brand or handle merger integration. 

Reality is your headcount is lower than it has been in years leaving your team overworked.  Your internal team does not have the skills or bandwidth to handle a large influx of work and move from execution to strategy.  Outsourcing to an agency or consulting firm is too expensive and your results are limited by the talent they have on their team / bench.  Alternatively for significantly less money, you can have an interim executive who has direct industry experience working by your side on a daily basis. 

In the end you get much more than just a recommendation you would receive from a consulting process.  You get a recommendation from someone who knows what it is like to live in an enterprise like yours, so the recommendation is one that can be implemented and then they stay around for as much of the actual implementation as you see fit.

Researchers Also Develop Framework for Classifying Variances in Marketing Leadership Positions Across Companies and Industries Based on Scientific Analysis of Job Descriptions

Atlanta (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 — New research appears to indicate that, despite the volatility that sometimes surrounds the position, the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is being created with increasing frequency among publicly-held companies. This finding is the result of two studies conducted by Rajdeep Grewal, Professor of Marketing and Dean’s Faculty Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University, and Rui Wang, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Peking University, Beijing, China. The results are published in the current volume of The Chief Marketing Officer Journal (www.ChiefMarketingOfficer.com).

The purpose of the research effort was to answer several questions about the role of heads of marketing, such as: Are all CMOs created equal?; Are there any systematic differences in the job descriptions of CMOs versus those of a vice president (VP) of marketing in firms without the CMO position?; What are the ramifications of any such differences in the role and expectations of CMOs and VPs of marketing for firms and the heads of marketing?; Is the “Chief Marketing Officer” title just glorified nomenclature for the VP Marketing?

Read more: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/11/prweb3218374.htm

By Bob Van Rossum 

We are seeing many companies invest in senior level strategists in areas of innovation, brand, e-commerce, etc.   This makes perfect sense as both large and small organizations need to compete in the current economic climate but do not want to add to full-time headcount.  Bringing in a marketing consultant for 6 months allows you to move your company forward but not permanently increase overhead.

So if you find yourself in the position of needing some top notch talent to consult on your marketing needs, what should you be looking for?  Interestingly, not a consultant, you need a marketing practitioner. 

Marketing has changed so much in the past 5 years and the velocity of that change is increasing.  It is moving so fast, a lot of marketers (not just consultants) find themselves in a place where their skills are irrelevant.  Ultimately, since 2005 the big changes have happened inside corporate marketing departments, not at consulting firms.  Therefore, you do not want to hire a consultant who has not seen any of these changes first hand.  What you need is someone who has successfully moved the needle from inside a corporate structure.  They will readily understand where your company is, what challenges you face and how best to overcome them.  You want someone from outside your organization to bring in innovation and to take your company to a place it cannot go with the current team.  Face facts: you cannot possibly be assured of success if you choose and individual or firm who has failed to execute something in the past 5 years or longer.  So where are we drawing the line?  Ultimately somewhere in 2005, if you are looking at bringing in an individual or firm, study their bios carefully.  If they have done nothing but consulting since 2005 or longer, they are no longer relevant as an expert marketer.  They have been removed from the corporation at a time when you cannot possibly appreciate all the change from the outside. 

Fortunately this is good news, with consultants come oversized mark-ups, bring in an interim marketing executive to improve results while reducing cost.