According to Marketing Magazine, the average tenure for a CMO is 40 weeks. That’s about the same length of time it takes a child to learn their colours and know that grass is green.
Many CMOs feel they have a short shelf-life because they need to deliver rapid results. They have a limited period to make their mark by doing something different and dramatic enough to get their CEO’s attention, and to put them in the shop-window for their next job.
Once in post, they generally look to review their brand’s positioning and proposition and update the marketing strategy and advertising campaign. If they’re really going for it, they might even change the visual identity.
And because the stuff that needs changing was created by incumbent agencies, they’ll need to go too.
Not that change is necessarily a bad thing. Agencies can become complacent and over-familiarity can be a barrier to innovative thinking
But when a business operates in a sector that rewards specialist knowledge such as finance or law, new - green - agencies can spend months getting to grips with the language and lore they need to master to deliver effectively.
Uprooting your agency might mean binning the deep and nuanced understanding of culture, competitors, relationships, politics and practicalities.
Successful brands know the value of long-term relationships.
Nike has worked with Wieden+Kennedy since 1982. Apple has worked with TBWA since at least 1983. CMOs have come and gone, but the brands remain and flourish.
Brands take time to build.
They’re trees.
Not flowers.
Perhaps the grass is not always greener?
Written by Simon Case
