Today’s post comes to you from Advertising Age, with an interesting interview with Subway CMO Tony Pace. Click here for the interview.
A few of the points I really enjoyed, and as a large-company CMO myself I agree with, are:
1) “Lots of companies, especially with all the private equity and the financial guys, they look at marketing as an expense. We look at it as, how do I build assets so that I can deploy those assets again and again to the best effect of the brand and the business?”
I couldn’t agree more with this statement, nor could I have said it better. Marketing can be thought of as an expense insofar as money does often have to leave the building. But if the analysis stops there, it can very much hamper the upside marketing can have on a company. As CMO, I would go so far as to say that everything I do has ROI (some more, some less) associated with it.
2) “If CMOs are really turning over inside of 24 months, they never had power in the first place. If marketing is central to the success of your organization, you’d better have a strong CMO or you’re not going to succeed.”
Again, well said. I see other companies in the interactive arena fall short of their potential because they do not have a strong, centralized marketing head or CMO. Someone asked me over lunch one day why there weren’t more CMO’s at interactive marketing companies. The answer is that I don’t know. I don’t think people understand the upside and financial impact this function or role can have. I’m glad Epic does!