News Byte: More Than Half of CEOs Look to Marketing for Growth

Honchos want marketing to energize organizations.

Some 58% of marketing organizations are now expected to drive growth by CEOs, says a study released over the weekend at the Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing Conference in Phoenix. That percentage is up 20% over a similar study done by ANA in 2006.

CMO’s top priorities today are to lead by example in digital and engage the entire organization, according to the Marketing 2020 project that studied 250 CMOs and more than 10,000 marketers globally.  It was conducted by marketing consultancy Effective Brands.

“We’re no longer the Wild West in how we make fundamental business decisions,” ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice said in his opening address to attendees. “This is an industry that is becoming extremely accountable leveraging increasing sophistication in measurement.”

By way of example, Liodice called out Papa John’s for generating more than $2 billion in sales through digital efforts, as well as the industry-wide 3MS (Making Measurement Make Sense) initiative that ties digital viewability to sales. He noted that Kellogg’s found that a 40% change in viewability produced a 75% increase in sales generated from digital advertising.