Marketing2020 was built from two evidence bases at once. More than 250 CMO and peer interviews supplied the qualitative material, and a quantitative survey of over 10,000 participants across 92 countries supplied the comparisons.
The study’s organizing question is structural rather than creative. It starts from the observation that what the marketing function does has changed beyond recognition while how the marketing organization is arranged has not.
Key findings
- Performance is defined before it is explained. Organizations were split into over- and under-performers by revenue growth relative to competitors over three years, classified with an NYU Capstone analysis team and validated against publicly available revenue growth data.
- Three characteristics separate the winning brands: Big Insights, Purposeful Positioning and Total Experience. The first is stated as a deliberate correction, that this is not about big data but about big insights.
- Five drivers separate the effective organizations, and they are all about connection rather than campaigns. Connecting with other functions, inspiring employees with the brand purpose, focusing on key strategies and KPIs, organizing efficient processes and building marketing excellence.
- The largest measured gaps are about purpose, not data. On the belief that brands with a clear societal purpose drive business growth, agreement ran 70% against 8%, a 62 point spread.
What the over-performers do differently
They engage employees as seriously as customers. The study reports that over-performing organizations give the same priority to internal employee engagement and external customer engagement, which lets them delegate decisions and keep the customer experience seamless.
They work across the organization rather than beside it. The gaps against under-performers are 19 points on working closely with IT, 14 on HR and 16 on Finance.
They train more, and train more specifically. Over-performing organizations are reported to give employees on average 20% more training days, each more tailored to the company’s own challenges and way of marketing.
Three types of marketer
The study names three distinct typologies rather than one ideal profile. Think marketers have strong analytical capabilities, Feel marketers focus on consumer community engagement, and Do marketers specialize in content development and production.
The capabilities that correlate most with growth are named. They are Consumer Understanding and Insights, Brand Positioning and Brand Strategy.
Scope and limitations
This is a study brochure and it doubles as a services offer. It describes benchmarking projects, workshops and a CMO network alongside the findings, so the framing is commercial as well as analytical.
The study was led by EffectiveBrands with the ANA and Spencer Stuart as partners. The comparisons are self-reported survey answers from marketers about their own organizations.
Source
This page summarises Marketing2020: Aligning marketing strategy, structure and capability for business growth.