The CMO's Curse

Written By Ted Grigg

Silos within the corporate universe represent the CMOs' greatest challenge according to David Aaker's new book "Spanning Silos, The New CMO imperative."

This problem is hardly new, but the need to work successfully with silos will make or break any CMO.

Of particular interest is Aaker's section dealing with IMC or Integrated Marketing Communication that was announced in 1972 by Y&R CEO Ed Ney. He stated that the firm would create a team of specialists with the mission of leading the integration of general advertising, PR, sales promotion and direct marketing strategies providing a team approach for solving client communication needs.

Aaker believes the IMC challenge applies equally to internal marketing integration efforts.

As a silo leader for direct response in several national general agencies, I concur with his assessment that these efforts have mostly failed. 

Aaker's analysis includes three primary causes for this conclusion.

1. These agency silos compete for resources "each believing that its approach is the most effective."

Working in these environments for over thirty years, I can confirm that marketers tend to recommend what they know rather than what is needed.  

2. Another barrier to successful integration lies within silo leaders who see the marketing landscape with different eyes and apply different performance measures.

For example, from my perspective, awareness proponents rarely quantify their performance based on the client's increase in sales as direct response people do. And PR professionals equate success with the space costs the client would have paid for equivalent exposure with paid advertising.

In fact, Aaker warns that successful teams must begin their efforts by agreeing on performance metrics to succeed in their purpose.

Clients want financial results, yet general agencies typically shy away from such rigid performance requirements claiming they do not control the selling environment to take on such accountability.

3. Leaders who provide strategic leadership at the required level are in short supply.

Why is all of this important? 

Who can deny that more than ever the need for IMC has increased? "Reliance on mass media as the cornerstone of the communication program is fading."

The whole book makes deep observations about the problems CMOs must solve to achieve the demanding goals imposed upon them by their organizations' silos.

Silos are here to stay and are not in themselves inherently evil. They are simply a reality that usually stands in the way of brand cohesion and marketing leverage.

The book goes to great lengths to define the various roles CMOs can play to successfully accomplish their missions. With meticulous research, relevant examples and actionable recommendations, this book will earn the respect of CMOs who want to improve their companies' loftiest goals. I recommend it highly to new as well as seasoned marketers regardless of industry.

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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