Amidst the debates and shifting tides of corporate strategy, one thing is clear – the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is far from obsolete. But it does seem to have become integrated with roles like Chief Digital Officer/Chief Technology Officer. Some experts even note that the new era of CMO is not Chief Marketing Officer but a Chief Martech Officer.

As companies like Starbucks, Etsy, UPS, and Walgreens bid farewell to the traditional Chief Marketing Officer position recently, several questions around the ‘CMO role being extinct’ struck the brand world.

Brady Brewer's elevation from CMO to CEO of Starbucks' international business serves as a poignant reminder of the skill set possessed by marketing leaders. With a keen understanding of consumer behaviour and a knack for crafting compelling brand narratives, CMOs like Brewer are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of global markets and drive business growth, say experts.

But this isn't the first time the CMO role has faced scrutiny. Dig deeper into corporate history, and you’ll find familiar names like Hyatt Hotels, McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, and Coca-Cola, all of whom have toyed with the idea of eliminating the CMO position at one point or another. Yet, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, some companies have resurrected the role, recognising its intrinsic value in shaping corporate strategy and driving innovation.

So why the recurring debate?

Some attribute it to a misunderstanding of the CMO's evolving role in today's digital landscape. No longer confined to traditional marketing channels, modern CMOs are tasked with harnessing the power of data analytics, social media, and emerging technologies to engage with consumers in new and innovative ways.

Deepali Naair, Group CMO, CK Birla, says that with the rapid evolution of business models, the emergence of new-age martech tools and shifts in consumer behaviour towards digital, CEOs are now compelled to continuously reevaluate the CMO function.

“Today's CMOs are characterised by their data-centric approach and emphasis on measurable outcomes. They play a pivotal role in aligning business objectives with the expectations of a diverse and evolving consumer base. As younger demographics shape market preferences and demand patterns evolve, the CMO's role becomes indispensable in driving organisational success,” she feels.

There’s hence no doubt that the role of marketing is undergoing a profound transformation. As businesses increasingly rely on digital media for their marketing efforts, traditional marketing roles are expanding to encompass digital functions. This fusion of responsibilities means that modern marketers are evolving into multifaceted professionals who not only devise marketing strategies but also manage digital platforms and technologies.

“For a lot of digital-first companies, given the extent of marketing dependence on digital media, they are combining the marketing role along with the Chief Digital Officer role,” says Lloyd Mathias, Angel Investor & Business Strategist. He pointed out that the marketing person is therefore evolving into someone who also handles the digital function. “Today the marketing role has begun to encompass a lot of parts, which is mainly in the CDO and the CTO track. Therefore, it's getting broader,” he added.

Mathias feels that this is more a terminology issue than anything else, considering that it is not like the companies are going to stop marketing. “It's just getting very tightly integrated with the business,” he said.

Magicbrick’s Prasun Kumar, who has served as a CMO in his previous stints and observed the landscape closely, feels that the emergence of tech has probably given a boost to this trend. He highlighted that tech has led to many new propositions being built with many disruptions in consumer behaviour and in business patterns. Also, ad narratives have been shifting and consumers have been reacting differently to different narratives. “So, CMOs have had to grapple with such rapid speed of change within the marketing ecosystem itself,” Kumar said.

“The CMO role is a strategic marketing leadership role,” adds Sumeet Singh, Group CMO, Infoedge, pointing out that the role is and will remain as relevant as it was. “Marketing has become a very complex job. Today, there's so much fragmentation in the consumers viewing habits and the way the consumers are consuming content. So marketing is a complex mixture between the traditional ways and digital ways,” she explained. However, Singh also highlighted that like any other role, CMOs need to adapt themselves.

Echoing a similar voice as Kumar, on the tech angle, Singh said that the world is moving to different technologies. “So, if we, as CMOs, do not upscale ourselves, we do not adapt to the newer ways, then the role might become redundant,” she added.

Breaking departmental silos

Experts also highlighted that beyond just the digital space, organisations as a whole are undergoing a sea of change to break departmental silos. They note that organisations are now restructuring themselves along business lines.

“Earlier, big organisations were organised around function lines. So marketing was a function, sales was a function, technology was a function, product was a function, and so on and so forth. Now, increasingly, those functional silos are something that companies are getting rid of, and they have been restructuring themselves around business lines itself,” Kumar said.

This restructuring has thus further led to the traditional role of a CMO, as a supervisor of a function, coming under question, because there are new requirements from a business perspective or a business point of view, that come on the table.

“Pretty typically, chief marketing officers began their career in the old days focusing on the science, art and philosophy of marketing,” said Harish Bijoor, Business & Brand-strategy specialist. However, this is no longer so.

Bijoor explains that marketing is a piece of the entire whole, and this entire whole is really about the art, science and philosophy of reaching out to customers through communication formats which tend to appeal to customers of products and services. “And the process seems to have evolved over a period of time when this is really not about marketing,” he said.

In fact, experts also feel that marketing is much too important to be left to marketing people and therefore, comes the chief marketing officer who is also now more like a chief marketing technology officer.

To surmise, according to industry experts and CMOs, it would be wrong to say that the CMO role is dead. But the OG aka original CMO role has undergone a massive transformation and is now donning several different hats. Naair advises, “Adaptability and evolution is key for CMOs, who must upskill and reskill themselves to navigate the complexities of modern marketing to ensure their effectiveness in achieving business as well as marketing goals.”