the cmo club - cmo insights - may 2009

8/14/2019 The CMO Club - CMO Insights - May 2009

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The CMO Club Truman Company Executive Insights

TRUMAN COMPANY

INSIGHTS FROM CMOS MAY 2009




INSIGHTS FROM CMOS MAY 2009




TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. KEY TAKEAWAYS

Introduction (p.1)

Top 5 Things (p.3)

Where CMOs Should Focus (p.5)

More or Less (p.7)

Insights and Ideas(p.9-13)

• How to Become Customer Centric (p.9)

• How to Motivate Your Marketing Team(p.11)

• Key Ways to Elevate the Profession(p.13)

2. PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHTS & DETAILS

Participant Directory (p.15-19)

Discussion Highlights & Details (p. 21-55)

Participant Map (p.57)

3. COMPANY BACKGROUNDERS

4. ABOUT THE RESEARCH

i

(p.59-62)

(p.63)

For The CMO Club use—Do Not Distribute




INTRODUCTION

In January of 2009, Pete Krainik asked Truman Company, an executive marketing

consulting firm, to help The CMO Club develop a set of actionable stories — advice,

insights, and ideas from successful marketers — that would help members navigate

these trying times and build successful strategies for 2009 and beyond.

The result is this first edition of Insights from CMOs — the collective wisdom of nine

CMO Club members based on in-depth interviews with Truman Company conductedin early 2009.

Truman found that while the participating CMOs hail from a cross-section of

industries and have diverse experiences and backgrounds, they all share a common

optimism about their profession, even in today’s climate. Marketers are continuing to

solidify their position at the highest levels of business and wield ever more powerful

influence on their company’s corporate strategy and vision. Indeed, the future for

marketing is bright.

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TOP 5 THINGS

Customer centricity is all important.

Marketers must focus first and foremost on driving the business through the voice

of the customer. Spend time talking directly to customers and telling their stories.

Understand your customers’ businesses and how to add value. Tell those stories

within your organization.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Demonstrate value and ROI to secure strategic role.

Marketers need to systematically link marketing investments to business valueoutcomes. Understand how your own business creates value. Take the perspective

of your key stakeholders in crafting effective measures of return and impact. It’s not

about budget - it’s about value to the business.

Marketing as key agent of change.

Marketers can and should lead their organizations to the promised land of customer

focus. Take the role of strategic change agent. Educate and demonstrate impact of

effective customer outreach by securing internal stakeholder involvement.

Internal stakeholders are just as important as customers.

Marketers should focus significant time on educating and managing internal

stakeholders. Show both value and passion: pitch your C-suite peers like you are

pitching to a venture capitalist when you share marketing investment ideas. Shift

the view from cost to opportunity.

Drive short-term revenue but ensure the longer term view.

Marketers need to respond to short-term demands to drive revenue in this

environment but they should be the voice of longer term reason. Keep the lens on

strategic customer segments and growth opportunities. Maintain the focus on the

brand promise to the customer and ongoing value. Invest in deepening customer

relationships.

From the CMO interviews, five key takeaways emerged as most important for

marketers to consider:

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•Motivate teamthrough businessvalue

•Know yourcustomers

•Createcustomerstories &insight

•Rewardcustomerloyalty

•Drive marketing asbusiness growthopportunity

• Understand ROI

•Sell internally

•Sweat the details

• Visit customers

•Drive short-term revenue

WHERE CMOS SHOULD FOCUS

S T R A T E G I C

S T R A T E G I C

S T R A T E G I C

EXTERNALEXTERNALEXTERNAL

T A C T I C A L

T A C T I C A L

T A C T I C A L

INTERNALINTERNALINTERNAL

“The more customer insight you have, the more value you bring to the table.”

“Spend 50% of your time educating internal stakeholders about the business value of marketing.”

“Authentic conversations build trust.”

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MORE OR LESS

WHAT SHOULD CMOS TALK ABOUT?

More? Less?

BUSINESS

There is not enough talk about business value, balance sheets and gross margins. Togain the respect of the C-suite, colleagues, and customers, marketers should talk moreabout the language of business. “Get out of marketing speak and quick talk. This is justbusiness.”

STRATEGIC VISION

There is not enough talk about the potential for marketing to drive the business strategyand align the organization around a common vision. Marketers should talk more about“marketing as a growth driver and an agent of change for the total organization.”

THE MARKETING PROFESSION

There is not enough talk about the unique profession of marketing. Marketers shouldtalk more about the value that marketing brings to business. “The reality is thatmarketing’s unique value proposition is not universally understood.”

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

There is not enough talk about how to truly engage with customers. Marketers need to

spend more time digging into what customers think, need and want. “You have to knowyour business really well to connect with customers.”

BUDGETS

There is too much talk defending historical marketing budgets. To spur support for

strategies and plans, talk less about budgets and more about the business opportunities

marketing can help to create. “We’re too focused on marketing as a stand-alone

discipline that’s trying to protect its budget.”

QUALITATIVE WITHOUT QUANTITATIVE

There is too much talk about qualitative outcomes. To earn a seat at the table, marketers

should talk less about the “soft things” and more about how marketing investmentsdirectly impact the pipeline and the bottom line. “Data is the rock I stand on.”

SOCIAL NETWORKING

CMOs should continue to talk about social networking — how others are using it, whatworks and what does not. Everyone is using it, and more can still be learned and gainedfrom it.

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INSIGHTS AND IDEAS

HOW TO BECOME CUSTOMER CENTRIC

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Gain access to the customer through programs such as: case studies, advisory

boards, satisfaction checkups and net promoters score analysis.

Leverage customers to tell your story through a customer reference program,

customer stories and a customer showcase program.

Translate learnings and insights from customers back into the organization

through systematic tools and programs to enable deeper conversation.

Study and understand the customers’ business and develop the proof points

and the ROI case for customers.

Go on sales calls so you can hear first hand directly from the customer what’s

working and what is not.

Work to be loyal to your best customers, rather than asking them to be loyal to

you.

The collective wisdom provided by the CMO Club interviews offers some concrete

ideas and insights into tackling the top priorities identified by the participants. Ideas

for becoming more customer centric include:

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INSIGHTS AND IDEAS

HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR MARKETING TEAM

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Actively give marketing team members cross-functional exposure to special

projects, other marketing roles and skills within the marketing function and

different geographies to help them develop their careers and their expertise.

Use the link to business value to translate for the marketing team how

marketing drives and helps the business to inspire their ideas.

Encourage your marketing team members to build relationships in other parts

of the business to provide direct insight into the business and expand their

own network.

Give your marketing team members the training and information to be able to

communicate as true subject matter experts for your business.

Give your team members at least one area that is a “fire free zone” where they

can have clear authority, some autonomy and be able to control the

completion of a project.

Encourage your team to go on sales calls.

The interview participants agreed that in these challenging times it takes

creativity and focus to continue to encourage and motivate the marketing team.

Ideas include:

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INSIGHTS AND IDEAS

KEY WAYS TO ELEVATE THE PROFESSION

Position marketing as playing a necessary, integral role in business. CMOs

should ensure that marketing is not a stand-alone discipline. Demonstrate how

marketing plays a role in business growth, in revenue acquisition, and in

product development.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Demonstrate a deep understanding of your company’s core business.

CMOs must be able to speak knowledgeably about their company’s products:

how they work, how they’re developed, and how they fit in the customers’

organizations. This knowledge not only helps create better marketing, it helps

garner respect for the entire profession.

Develop a penchant for the quantitative. Marketing data is much more than a

tool for developing budgets and tracking campaigns. Data provides the

leadership team with the confidence to invest in marketing and to see its

limitless possibilities.

Be your company’s expert on the customer base. CMOs need to get to the

heart of what motivates and drives their customers by finding opportunities to

engage with them in conversations that lead to open and honest relationships.

Invest in the strategic growth of the company. CMOs must focus less on

defending program budgets and more on uncovering ways to use marketing

dollars to invest in programs to drive business growth.

What can marketers do to help the business community understand and truly

value our profession? Here are key ideas offered by the collective wisdom of the

CMOs interviewed:

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PARTICIPANT DIRECTORY

MITCH BISHOP

Chief Marketing Officer

iRise, San Francisco, California

[email protected]

In charge of overall marketing strategy and execution at iRise for the last 5

years, Mitch Bishop has built strong ties to CIOs and IT leaders at both large

and small companies. With his leadership, iRise has grown its customer base

tenfold and become the market leader in a new industry category: application

visualization. Mitch has many years of marketing and sales experience

building successful enterprise software businesses at Scopus, Sybase, Wind

River Systems and Ingres. He also held senior engineering positions at Altos

Computer Systems, Zilog and Amdahl. Mitch holds a B.S. in Computer

Science from the University of Connecticut. He also has a history in motor

sports and sits on the governing council of the non-profit International MotorRacing Research Center (IMRRC) based in Watkins Glen, NY.

PHIL CLEMENT

Global Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

Aon Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

[email protected]

Philip B. Clement is the Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

for Aon Corporation. He has responsibility for all Aon’s marketing, including

branding; market analysis, external and public; and demand creation.

Previously, Clement was a managing partner of The Clement Group, a

management consulting firm that he founded in Chicago. In that role, Clement

served a wide variety of clients as an expert in revenue-oriented growth

strategies. Clement is an advocate of “value marketing” and has an

impressive track record in leading rapid-growth initiatives at professional

services firms. Clement received his Master of Business Administration from

the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and a Master of

Public Policy Analysis from the University of Chicago. His undergraduate

studies were at the University of Southern California.

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JEAN FOSTER

Former Vice President of Marketing

BT Americas, Washington, DC

[email protected]

Jean Foster is a dynamic, results driven Chief Marketing Officer with a

successful track in turning around marketing organizations. With 20 years of

international experience in the telecommunications and IT industries, she has

provided leadership in marketing, business development, product

management and product development. Most recently as Vice President of

Marketing for BT Americas, Jean was a key player in growing the business to

over $2Bn.


MIKE HOGAN

Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer

GameStop, Dallas, Texas

[email protected]

Mike Hogan is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for

GameStop, Inc. Mike joined GameStop in February 2008. Mike brings 20+

years of corporate sales and marketing experience gained from key leadership

roles in the US and worldwide. Mike has built and led numerous brands and

marketing & sales organizations, and has directed brand management,

strategic planning, product development, advertising, merchandising, as well

as managing several national sales organizations. Prior to joining GameStop,

Mike served as a Principal with Strategic Frameworking, Inc., a marketing and

strategy group based in Seattle, WA. His consulting experience includes

engagements in packaged goods, restaurants, technology, manufacturing, and

healthcare. Mike received a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from

Northern Illinois University and an MBA in finance and marketing fromNorthwestern University.

16






HEIDI MELIN

Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer

Polycom, Pleasanton, California

[email protected]

Heidi Melin joined Polycom in September 2007 as Senior Vice President and

Chief Marketing Officer. She is responsible for Polycom's high-touch

marketing strategy which includes global branding and corporate identity, field

and channel marketing, corporate communications, analyst relations,

enterprise solutions, demand generation, and events. A marketing veteran

with over eighteen years of corporate and agency experience, Heidi brings a

proven track record of successful, award-winning marketing programs that

deliver bottom line results. Prior to joining Polycom, Heidi served as chief

marketing officer at Hyperion Solutions, the leader in business performance

management and business intelligence, and as group vice president of

Marketing for PeopleSoft. Heidi holds a BA in Political Science from

Willamette University.

CHUCK MARTZ

Global Marketing Director

Dow Water Solutions, Edina, Minnesota

[email protected]

Chuck Martz is the Global Marketing Director for Dow Water Solutions. He is

responsible for directing and implementing the global marketing programs

related to Dow’s water strategy. Chuck oversees a marketing team across

North America, Europe and Asia. The marketing organization of Dow Water

Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, works to provide

value from innovative, technology-based solutions to a broad spectrum of

water needs—from making seawater fit for human consumption and industrial

use, to purifying industrial and residential water, and reducing and reclaiming

water for reuse and efficiency. Martz joined Dow in 1982 and has held

positions in Research and Development, Supply Chain, Marketing and

Specialty Chemical sales. Martz holds a bachelor of science degree in ceramic

engineering from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in

marketing from Drexel University.

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RAM MENON

Executive Vice President, Worldwide Marketing

TIBCO, Palo Alto, California

[email protected]

Ram Menon is responsible for Product Strategy, Product Management,

Product Marketing, Field Marketing, Corporate Communications, Branding and

Customer Programs at TIBCO worldwide. Prior to this role, Ram served as the

Chief Strategist of the company, responsible for defining and executing

corporate strategic initiatives, including new product strategy, M&A direction,

and emerging vertical markets. Prior to joining TIBCO, Ram was with

Accenture, a global consulting firm, where he specialized in supply chain and

e-commerce strategy, consulting with Global 1000 companies. Ram holds an

undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and pursued graduate work in

Industrial & Management Engineering.

MARGARET MOLLOY

Vice President of Marketing

Gerson Lehrman Group, New York, New York

[email protected]

Margaret Molloy is Vice President of Marketing at Gerson Lehrman Group

(GLG), a position that she has held for almost three years. GLG’s clients—

more than 850 of the world’s leading investment firms, corporations, and

professional service firms—use the service to find and consult with subject–

matter experts across a broad range of industries and disciplines. Prior to

joining GLG, Margaret spent six years in marketing leadership positions at

Siebel Systems. Margaret also served four years as the VP of Marketing at

Telecom Ireland US (eircom). In 2008 Margaret was named by Business &

Finance magazine as one of the "Most Influential US-Irish American

Leaders.” Earlier this year she was recognized as one of the “Top 40 under

40” by the Irish Echo newspaper. Margaret holds a BA in European Business

from the University of Ulster (Ireland) and the Universidad de Valladolid(Spain). She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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JOHN MOSER

Chief Marketing & Brand Officer

Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, New York

[email protected]

John Moser is Chief Marketing and Brand Officer of Denihan Hospitality Group

(DHG), responsible for the company’s marketing, advertising, public relations,

brand standards and growing internet presence and strategy. John works

directly with DHG Co-CEOs and the development team to help expand the

Affinia, The Benjamin and James brands nationwide. John was awarded the

2008 Marketing Executive of the Year award by HSMAI’s Big Apple Chapter

and was named one of the “Top 25 Minds in Sales and Marketing” by HSMAI.

In his two-decade career with DHG, John has held a variety of leadership roles.

Prior to his appointment as CMO, John served as general manager for The

Benjamin, DHG’s luxury brand, where he oversaw the hotel’s opening in 1999

and spearheaded the launch of its world renowned sleep program. He was

also general manager at several of the independent properties managed by

DHG.

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Go out and get sales experience.

“Get out of the office and go on sales calls. The best CMOs out there have had to carry a bag,

and until you have had to carry a bag and feed yourself that way, you don’t get it. In my view,

the CMOs of the future are going to be former VPs of sales.”

Get to know and understand your customers.

“I have a great relationship with tons of our customers. They don’t view me as the CMO

trying to get something from them; they view me as a partner sharing best practices and

stories from our other customers. This trust has to be built up over time, and you have to

know your business really well to connect with customers.”

Motivate the marketing team by building excitement around sales.

“The trick is to get my marketing team connected to why we’re here… and that is to sell

software. I want them to feel that same thrill of the hunt that the sales people feel, especially

if it’s a lead or an opportunity that was generated from one of their programs.”

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS

MITCH BISHOP

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

IRISE

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The CMO Role

SUPPORTING ENTERPRISE SALES WHILE BUILDING A VOLUME BUSINESS

Mitch is responsible for iRise’s marketing, helping this business-to-business enterprise software

company grow. He also has responsibility for inside sales to small and medium-sized

businesses. He works closely with his peer, the VP of sales, who leads the outside sales force by

focusing on enterprise sales to large companies, to grow the iRise business. “I have a very

delicate balancing act as the CMO, between supporting an enterprise sales organization, wherethe bulk of our revenue comes from, and also trying to build a volume business. We are an

enterprise software company first and foremost… but it made sense for us to create a volume

business. We think we could dominate both ends of the market.”

GROWING MARKETING TO SUPPORT SIGNIFICANT GROWTH

When Mitch joined iRise, a B2B enterprise software company, five years ago, there was no

marketing department and only a scant 30 customers. Today iRise has grown to approximately

300 customers, but to Mitch the challenge still lies ahead. “My job right now can be defined in

one word, which is scale. How do we scale this thing and blow the covers off? About 10% of my

job is product marketing-oriented issues like pricing and packaging and release planning. Thevast majority of what I do is outbound focused, driving sales.”

CONNECTING THE MARKETING TEAM TO THE END GOAL OF SOFTWARE SALES

Mitch motivates his team by connecting them to their critical role in helping drive company

growth. “Marketing teams are most effective when they are the most connected to the business.

I encourage my team to go on sales calls, to have customer interaction. I share forecasts and

sales information with them, and when we have a win everybody is excited about it. I make sure

my team is driven on a day-to-day basis by the idea that if you’re not doing something to sell

software, then you’re probably working on the wrong thing.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MITCH BISHOP


IRISE

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The Marketing Function

A DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT FROM INQUIRY TO SALE

Mitch works together with his boss, the President and COO, to ensure that marketing is closely

and visibly linked to sales. “We have a meeting of the minds about a data-driven model for

marketing. We measure everything… from unique website visitors, to time spent on the site, to

what pages they are going to. All of the campaigns are measured by how many inquiries they

generated, how many turned into leads, how many turned into opportunities, and how manyclosed. So we have a direct line of sight back to the origin, and we can slice and dice the data a

million different ways.”

DATA AS THE BEDROCK OF MARKETING ROI

Marketing data, according to Mitch, is not only useful for program planning but is essential for

defending budgets and proving success. “We’re kind of statistics freaks here. We use data to

help guide us, but it has also turned out to be the rock that I stand on with regard to my

relationship with sales. Other software companies’ marketing can probably prove that they drive

maybe 15 to 20% of sales. At iRise, about 50 to 70% of our sales every year are directly

attributable to specific marketing campaigns. This is a compelling argument about the value ofmarketing.”

The Economic Environment

SHIFTING TO A REGIONAL FOCUS IN A DOWN ECONOMY

While they have had to shift the mix of marketing activities in the downturn, Mitch has found that

elements like the event business are still highly valuable, but with a shift in focus. “One shift

we’ve made is away from national conferences and our own national events, to regional events.

Our event business is actually going gangbusters right now, but it’s shifted its focus from

national to regional, and that’s a good clue for other CMOs to think about in this environment.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MITCH BISHOP


IRISE

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The CMO Role

IT’S ALL ABOUT GROWTH

Phil is responsible for all marketing including branding; market analysis, external and public; and

demand creation – for this $10 billion global provider of risk management services, insurance

and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. His biggest challenge is to help the

company find growth opportunities, in this down market, that pay off now. “It is hard to play in

this marketplace right now. The amount of discretionary spending available for good ideas isvery low, so you literally have to have the best idea. It also has to have very short-term returns.

So a good idea that has long-term returns—which would work in a normal market— doesn’t work

right now.”

GOOD MARKETING ENABLES THE GROWTH AGENDA

Phil recognizes the importance of industry leadership in marketing, both to help advance the

marketing agenda, and to reinforce the importance of marketing for the company’s leadership

team. “Leaders can recruit people more easily, vendors want to work for you, and they charge

you less because they’re willing to provide a discount for your account. It is not that the goal in

my firm is only the desire to be the world’s best marketer, but if the marketing enables thegrowth agenda and the sales agenda, it’s what you prioritize. My leadership team recognizes

that good marketing enables the corporate growth agenda.”


PART OF THE WHOLE BUSINESS, NOT A STAND ALONE FUNCTION

Phil integrates marketing into the business by viewing marketing investment in the context of the

whole process of acquiring revenue for the firm. “I’m hired to make sure that marketing supports

the growth of the firm in the best way possible and to make the right decisions of a dollar

invested in marketing versus a dollar invested in HR, or in a new sales rep, or a financial vehicleor other investment for the firm. I’m part of that dialogue at the top level of the firm. I think the

degree to which marketers can understand that a dollar invested in their area is a dollar not

invested somewhere else – and further, understand why the firm might not invest in marketing as

much as you would like because of those trade-offs, they end up being an important part of the

corporate leadership team and helping to grow revenue for the company.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

PHIL CLEMENT

GLOBAL CHIEF MARKETING &

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER AON CORPORATION

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ALIGNING TO THE BUSINESS IS ABOUT SHOWING THE RESULTS

Measuring the impact of marketing, according to Phil, is the most critical component to aligning

marketing to core growth of the business and to communicating value in terms the C-suite

understands. “If you can’t measure it, then don’t do it. We track the impact of marketing three

ways that the CEO and others like to hear. Either we put more into the front end of the sales

funnel, meaning more opportunity; or we increase the probability of advancing in the sales cycle,moving from one stage to the next, or thirdly we reduce pressure on price. This generally

resonates with executives.”


CREDIBILITY ENSURES YOU HOLD YOUR GROUND WITH CLIENTS

Phil finds that credibility is one of the most important elements in successfully negotiating the

current environment. “Credibility is key when communicating with clients in a downturn.

Provide the best information possible, as quickly as possible. Because we had demonstrated

credibility in the past, we have had clients coming to us regularly for information. This in turnput us in the right flow for monetizing when it’s appropriate. This environment is one in which a

marketer might spend a lot of money advertising, trying to get people’s attention. But if you’re

credible on an issue that already has their attention, it puts you in a better position to capture the

business.”

AGILITY ENSURES RESPONSIVENESS AND RESULTS

The second component to succeeding in a down economy is agility and response time, and

having a well developed process to bring new products to market to respond to rapidly evolving

needs. “What we had to do was create a very formal product development process, and a way of

packaging and bringing products to market, and because we’re in a highly regulated industry we

need regulatory review. Because of this process we already have in place, we were able to

respond very quickly to the needs of our client base. For example, we came out with 14 new

products in the marketplace to respond to the AIG situation in record time. And, these new

products helped to make the quarter in sales.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

PHIL CLEMENT

GLOBAL CHIEF MARKETING &

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER AON CORPORATION

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Demonstrate ROI to build credibility.

“To be taken seriously, marketers need to build credibility for marketing with their C-suite

colleagues by providing a clear line of sight for every marketing dollar spent through to the

results.”

Get to know how your business works.

“Marketers must be able to read a balance sheet and understand how the company works to

be able to translate how marketing impacts your business.”

Position marketing to define the value for your clients.

“Marketers need to take the lead to define for clients how your company can bring them value

and impact their top or bottom line.”


JEAN FOSTER

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING

BT AMERICAS

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The CMO Role

SHIFTING THE BUYER TO THE C-SUITE

When Jean Foster took the reigns at BT Americas, the organization was looking for significant

growth and expansion as a key provider into the global corporate marketplace. BT’s North

America business was now competing with Verizon and AT&T for global Fortune 500 companies,

targeting a new, C-level buyer. “Our biggest challenge was driving consideration of BT as a

partner, building our presence at that very high end of the market and then going high and widewithin the customer.”

ELEVATING TO THE EXECUTIVE SELL

Jean found that this shift in the marketplace required teaching the sales people the new skills

needed to sell strategically to executive level buyers and simplifying the BT story to provide the

C-level business case. “We had sales people comfortable selling at the lower end of the market

but not necessarily calling on the ‘C level’. We had to simplify our message so it would resonate

with a CFO or CIO and give the sales people the tools to deliver a message beyond the cost and

speed of our network.”

MOTIVATING THE MARKETING TEAM BY LINKING MARKETING TO THE BUSINESS

The acquisitions that were driving BT’s growth were also causing upheaval and uncertainty

within the marketing team. “I had to merge four separate teams… and we had to conduct some

downsizing because of it. I kept the team focused, fully integrating the teams, taking best

practices from the acquisitions and continually reinforcing where we are contributing to the

business.”


POSITIONING MARKETING TO DRIVE THE STRATEGIC SHIFT IN THE BUSINESS

Jean brought marketing along with the strategic shift in the business by showing how marketing

can support strategic growth through return on investment. “Too often I hear other marketers

say, ‘my CEO doesn’t get me’. I believe that when marketing can sit down and show the dollars

in the marketing budget, and the leads in the pipeline due to that investment, it gets the CEO’s

attention. A critical metric for me was pipeline. I walked my CEO through the numbers and it

shifted his thinking.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

JEAN FOSTER


BT AMERICAS

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ALIGNING THE DATA TO ALIGN THE ORGANIZATION

Jean knew that to convince the organization of the value of marketing, she had to show

consistent data and integrate into the same system the sales team was using. “We allowed the

CEO and others in the C-suite to see these numbers at any time. I was able to build the tools and

then the discipline to make sure that the team was tracking what they were doing. It gave us not

just the ability to look at things like pipeline, but clearly show how my team was driving business.

We could track what was working and what wasn’t.”

MARKETING BECOMES A SOURCE FOR STRATEGYAs a result of these efforts, the BT leadership team increasingly brought marketing in to give

strategic advice. One example was in developing the company’s channel strategy. “Marketing

initiated an analysis of the cost of serving various customer types and determined that some

segments had a very high cost of sale. Together with the CFO, we looked for ways to change the

channel strategy and save money. We developed a program that tiered customers into those to

service directly and those to service through partners, saving money and, more appropriately,

allocating resources.” Jean notes, “This is where marketing was really influencing the business

and the operational strategy of the company.”


DEMONSTRATING CLIENT ROI: A KEY ROLE FOR MARKETING

The economy did begin to affect BT’s business significantly, which Jean realized increased the

importance of being able to show customers the positive impact on their bottom line. “I shifted

my marketing budget to develop the proof points and support ROI studies for customers. The

only questions customers were asking were, ‘is it going to save me money?’ We were able to

give the sales team the answer to that question.”

CUT MARKETING COSTS WITH NEW TOOLS

Jean emphasized the importance of responding to the economic environment by demonstratingthat marketing was cutting the budget, and doing more with less. “I found it increasingly

important to bring in tools that were cheaper and quicker to implement, and allowed new ways

of communicating with our customers, such as social networking. I launched a social media

project using Twitter and blogging to generate customer dialogue. While the organization was

skeptical at first, the efforts showed results. We were able to actually demonstrate some very

good results in generating dialogue with the customer, very quickly and at low cost.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

JEAN FOSTER


BT AMERICAS

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Rethink the nature of marketing.

“I think we’re too focused on marketing as a stand-alone discipline that’s trying to protect its

budget and not enough on marketing as a growth driver and an agent of change for the total

organization.”

Place total focus on the customer.

“I put a relentless focus on my core customer and on making sure I am being loyal to them

and delivering real value to them. Because, if I do, they will reward me for that.”

Position marketing as an investment opportunity for the business.

“Every time I sit down in front of the CEO or the CFO, I should act like I’m pitching an idea to

venture capitalists. They have a right to ask for a return on the investment.”


MIKE HOGAN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

GAMESTOP

33





The CMO Role

FROM TRADITIONAL RETAILER TO CONSUMER-CENTRIC ORGANIZATION

GameStop - the world’s largest video game retailer - has grown, organically and through

acquisition, from $1 billion to $10 billion in revenue over the last 3 ½ years. Since Mike joined

the company less than a year ago, he has been working on helping the organization evolve from

a product focus to a relationship focus. “My role is to drive change in the organization, to help

shift the focus from selling products in a store to developing relationships with consumers and

driving a customer relationship that keeps people coming back.”

THE CHALLENGE: SELLING THE ENTIRE COMPANY ON THE VISION

Mike said that while the leadership at GameStop is supportive of the consumer-centric vision, the

key challenge is to bring the organization along too. “I think the greatest challenge for me is

creating broad alignment within the organization to drive real change. Less than 50% of my time

is spent on marketing and more than 50% of my time is spent on essentially selling internally on

the new direction that we’re going in.”

INSPIRING THE MARKETING TEAM WITH VISION AND OPPORTUNITY

Mike inspires and motivates his team by talking with them about vision and follows up by

offering the chance to develop broader skills. “What I tell people is, ‘Look, do you want to …

work on a next promotion? Or make some advertising? Or do you want to be a part of

transforming a company in an exciting industry? Giving the team a lot of exposure cross-

functionally helps them understand how the vision for marketing translates into helping different

parts of the business.”


MARKETING AS THE “AGENT OF CHANGE” IN THE ORGANIZATION

Marketing, according to Mike, plays a key role in driving the company’s mission to evolve theorganization. “I think we’ve been playing too much defense and we have been too focused on

marketing as a stand-alone discipline. We are beginning to focus on marketing as a growth

driver and agent of change for the total organization. My team is leading all of the change task

forces: there’s a task force on loyalty, on the ‘store of the future’, and on international

expansion.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MIKE HOGAN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT &

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER GAMESTOP

34





CHOREOGRAPHING THE CONSUMER-CENTRIC ORGANIZATION

Mike has worked to position marketing at the center of GameStop’s consumer-centric strategy.

“Moving to a more consumer-centric model, we want to figure out how to create a compelling

consumer experience – who is our consumer and how do we create a compelling experience for

our target segments? Then, the product we order… the way in which we customize it and

promote it… and so on… all has to be choreographed together. It’s marketing’s job to make sure

that the consumers are in the center of that process.”

FROM MARKETING AS A BUDGET ITEM TO AN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE BUSINESS

Mike believes that most marketers are too defensive when presenting their budgets to their

leadership team. “I see too many marketers trying to defend the historical advertising or

marketing budget. What we really represent are great investment opportunities for the

organization. Every time I sit down in front of the CEO or CFO, I should act like I’m pitching an

idea to venture capitalists. They have a right to ask for a return on the investment, but I’m

excited about what the investment can do as opposed to getting nervous that somebody is

poking their nose into my advertising budget.”

The Economic Environment LOOKING FOR SHIFTS IN THE MARKETS AND PLAYING TO THEM

Although GameStop is thriving in the current economy, Mike has adjusted some of his strategies

to maximize opportunities. “We’re trying to take advantage of the external opportunity to

dramatically enhance our space, our footprint, you know… size, visibility, those kinds of things.

We are also seeing the mix shift in our store customer segments and we’re increasingly making

sure that we appeal to that much broader group of consumers in the store. We are also

appealing to value seekers by increasing the potential for customers to trade games in, for

example.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MIKE HOGAN


CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER GAMESTOP

35





Think of yourself as a business person first.

“As CMOs, we’re business people first, and the role we play in the business is as a marketer.

It’s important to have that delineation, because if you view it the other way around, you’re

ultimately going to get out of alignment with everybody else in the business, and that will bea problem.”

Demonstrate that marketing is an investment.

“Your toughest sell is internal rather than external. To convince the people internally that

marketing is not an expense, but is, in fact, an investment, is perhaps the biggest challenge

and key to success.”

Have confidence in your ability to create value.

“We just have to have confidence in ourselves. If we don’t have confidence that we in fact

can create value, then our General Manager surely isn’t going to!”


CHUCK MARTZ

GLOBAL MARKETING DIRECTOR

DOW WATER SOLUTIONS

37





The CMO Role

ALIGNING THE COMPANY AROUND THE BRAND PROMISE

Chuck Martz leads marketing efforts for Dow Water Solutions, a business focused on developing

and marketing functional components for water purification. Engendering trust that the Dow

Water Solutions brand lives up to its promise to customers is central to Chuck’s role as CMO.

“We have to convince customers that we are really living up to that brand promise, and we’re

worth the value that we’re requesting. We also have to go internally to make sure that our

people really understand what we are promising to the customer. The brand promise has to

infiltrate all functions for it to be effective, because the brand is what you are to the customer and

encompasses everything that you do.”

TAKE THE TIME TO BUILD MOMENTUM FOR MARKETING

Chuck emphasizes that building credibility for marketing investment in an organization takes

time. “You’ve got to start building the credibility, make some expenditures in a measured way,

and then you have to bring back a result. You have to be able to get enough confidence going

forward with the CEO that you get the chance to change stuff and demonstrate impact. That

takes some time, and if you decide you’re going to rush it, there’s a big chance you will end up

flaming out, in my experience.”

CROSS POLLINATE THE MARKETING TEAM

Chuck explained that while a deep understanding of water purification is critical to marketing

Dow’s products, he needs more than subject matter experts on his team to make sure his team

can think more broadly about the market. “In a company like Dow, there is this general feeling

that we can train a chemical engineer to do anything, but that is not necessarily the case. So, as I

look at my team makeup, I want to get more people with a marketing background on the team.

Their neurons work differently, and when you blend them with the technical people, you get a

stronger team, and more effective discussion of different ideas and solutions.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

CHUCK MARTZ


DOW WATER SOLUTIONS

38






MARKETING AS A MEANS TO CAPTURE VALUE FOR THE COMPANY

Chuck views marketing as central to the entire organization’s ability to succeed as a business.

“Marketing has a role to go capture value. We have a tremendous number of smart R&D guys. If

they come up with a better product, and we are not able to capture more value out of that

because we can’t explain that value, or we can’t link that value to the end user better, then shame

on us. And if we can’t articulate back to R&D the market needs for new products, we have failed.We must articulate that marketing is about business. It’s not about ads or anything like that,

which marketing sometimes gets hung up on.”

GIVING LEADERSHIP THE CONFIDENCE TO INVEST IN MARKETING

According to Chuck, the ability to gain leadership’s confidence is linked directly to the ability to

deliver positive quantitative results. “We are too qualitative. When somebody won’t make an

investment that would clearly make them more money, there’s got to be a confidence factor. As

marketers, I don’t think we are providing the appropriate level of confidence to business

management to make them willing to invest in marketing. You drive confidence when you say,

‘I’m going to deliver this number,’ and the number shows up. You do that three times in a rowand the next time you come in and say, ‘I’m going to deliver the number,’ you get the

investment. That’s just how it works.”

MARKETING MEASURES ARE BUSINESS MEASURES

Chuck focuses on tying his marketing metrics to the overall performance of the business.

“Revenue growth, market share, EBIT margin, or gross margin — are those business measures,

or are they marketing measures? I would argue that they’re both. If my metrics are the same

ones that my business managers are looking at, and I make those go up, I don’t have a problem

with alignment.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

CHUCK MARTZ


DOW WATER SOLUTIONS

39






IN TOUGH TIMES, THINK SHORT TERM, BUT KEEP THE LONG VIEW

While Chuck sees the importance of making tactical changes during a downturn, he feels that it is

equally important to keep the fundamental strategy in place. “The economy has made people

slow down implementation of that grander plan, shift their focus from near-term to ‘let’s go get

orders’, and ‘make sure that our cash flow is looking good.’ However, our overall strategy for

where we’re going has not changed. That is still in place and it’s still the plan.”

DIFFERENTIATE YOUR VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER

Chuck feels that in this economic climate, it is critical to demonstrate the value the company

offers to their customer. “Particularly in this current environment where everybody’s trying to

pinch their last penny and price is extremely high on people’s list, it’s critical to be able to show

differentiation at the customer level.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

CHUCK MARTZ


DOW WATER SOLUTIONS

40





Communicate ROI to position marketing strategically.

“To be viewed as strategic rather than as an expense, be able to show ROI, and what comes

out the other side of the investment.”

Evolve from “brand-keeper” to customer-focused leader.

“The CMO role is evolving from ‘keeper of the brands’ to having overall impact on the

business. Helping the company shift from internally-centric to an externally-facing market or

customer-focused company is strategic and is a place where CMOs can take a leadership

role.”

Pay attention to existing customers.

“2009 is about focusing on existing customers, continuing to support our customers, to

leverage and listen to our customers. This is the most important way to ensure the

organization emerges stronger in the long term.”


HEIDI MELIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

POLYCOM

41





The CMO Role

SHIFTING TO CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY

Polycom, a rapidly growing $1 billion telepresence, video, and voice solutions company, is

looking to sustain that trajectory by shifting from a technology-focused company to one driven

by the customer. “The company has seen the need to shift to be more customer-centered as

opposed to technology-centric. And while marketing has not historically been strategic at

Polycom, going forward the company has recognized the need to make the role more strategic tosupport this important shift in the business.”

DEMONSTRATE STRATEGIC VALUE THROUGH ROI

To drive marketing to become a strategic function, Heidi points to the critical role of calculating

return. “It’s about shifting marketing from an expense model to marketing as an investment

model. We demonstrate this through ROI -- for every dollar we put in we need to be able to

measure what revenue comes from that. This requires looking at marketing in a very pragmatic

fashion rather than only through the high-level, more qualitative measures that many CMOs use,

such as awareness benchmarks.”

MOTIVATING THE TEAM BY BUILDING CAREERS

Heidi looks to create an environment of excellence and learning to encourage her marketing

team. “The goal is to benchmark ourselves on best practices for the marketing team to be

experts in their areas. So whether it be direct marketing, marketing automation, operations, or

PR, I look to evaluate our progress on best practices, where we can improve, and how to ensure

that the team can all step up and be leaders within their own specialty area.”


GETTING THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER THROUGH SYSTEMATIC CHANNELS

Marketing has the responsibility for the voice of the customer. “We have a customer marketing

team responsible for two things. One is to listen to our customers through a series of user

groups and advisory groups and, more importantly, to funnel that information back into the

company. Two is to leverage customers to tell the Polycom story, including a customer reference

program, and a customer showcase program.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

HEIDI MELIN


CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER POLYCOM

42





LINKING THE DATA TO ALIGN MARKETING AND SALES

According to Heidi, marketing and sales are not two separate processes but one single process.

“We are putting an increased focus on making sure that our investments in marketing are

aligned with what we need to achieve from a sales perspective. We are implementing the ability

to measure the entire marketing and sales process, from response all the way to closed business

through a new marketing automation system. It will provide the opportunity for sales and

marketing to create accountability across the process and communicate about activities and

results with a shared global taxonomy or language.”


CHANGING THE MARKETING MIX TO NAVIGATE THE TIMES

The economic environment has impacted the way Heidi allocates her marketing investment.

“We made some pretty significant changes to the mix. As a result of the economic downturn, we

are focusing more dollars today on demand-generation activities than we are on awareness-

building activities. I am focusing dollars to be as close to the field sales organization as possible

because we have a very positive opportunity to drive revenue right now because of the economic

environment.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

HEIDI MELIN


CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER POLYCOM

43





Focus half your time articulating the value of marketing internally. “Spend 50% of your time educating your internal stakeholders on the value of marketing, and

speak in their language.”

Be more customer centric. “Be able to tell a real customer story. Go beyond the surface and talk knowledgeably and

deeply about how your product helped the customer. Position marketing to define the value

for your clients.”

Visit customers regularly.

“All CMOs should go along on sales visits to the customer. Hear firsthand that they don’t like

your product… or hear great things about the team—and get a real feeling for the brand not

from data, but directly from the customer.”


RAM MENON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT WORLDWIDE MARKETING

TIBCO

45





The CMO Role

BROAD RESPONSIBILITIES POSITION MARKETING FOR INFLUENCE

As EVP of TIBCO, a $650 million business integration and process management software

company, Ram Menon’s challenge is to bring a wide range of activities under the marketing

umbrella. “I have a very broad-based role, including product strategy, new lead generation, how

to tell the TIBCO story, and good corporate citizen activities. This breadth gives me a soup-to-

nuts opportunity to participate in and influence the go-to-market strategy of the company.”

GETTING BUY-IN BY ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS ON THEIR TERMS

Ram points to the importance of speaking your stakeholders’ language to communicate about

the role and value of marketing. “To be successful, marketing should spend 50% of their time

educating their stakeholders on the business value of what they are doing and 50% of the time

marketing externally. And with that 50% of time educating stakeholders, explain it to them in the

language they understand, tailored for that audience. The CMO is articulating the company story

to its prospective customers in the language they understand. Why don’t we use that simple

principle when we articulate our story to our own stakeholders?”

FINDING A MARKETING TEAM WITH THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

The biggest challenge to motivating the marketing team, as Ram describes, is “finding people

with the right marketing mindset to begin with, who understand intuitively how to make the

connection with marketing and driving the business. I have an approach to motivating the team

that is a bit different and driven by our Silicon valley roots – it is much more entrepreneurial and

free-wheeling and requires them to make the connection and prove their value to the bottom line

themselves.”


ALIGNING MARKETING’S MEASURE OF IMPACT TO THE AUDIENCE

Ram tailors his calculations of the impact of marketing to his audience. “For example, when I talk

to sales, I only talk about sourced revenue. When I talk to a CFO, I talk about specifics like

headcount reduction without loss of market coverage and delivery of revenue per dollar of

marketing investment. It helps to be able to tell engineering how you are taking their product out

and driving a lot of revenue through the sales enablement function.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

RAM MENON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

WORLDWIDE MARKETING

TIBCO

46





USING YOUR INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER OUTREACH

Not only does internal stakeholder outreach increase buy-in, but Ram also finds it to be a very

effective tool in developing more effective customer outreach programs. “Before turning to our

customers, I focused my enterprise social networking strategy first on my stakeholders. I focused

on how to use social networking to improve collaboration among my stakeholders, the whole

company and people saw the value from it. From those lessons learned, I launched my

community to the customer. The advantage of that was that my internal stakeholders were

raring to join the external community and participate, which helped make the launch moresuccessful.”


AN OPPORTUNITY TO INCREASE MARKETING’S FOCUS

The current economic environment has pushed Ram and his team to refocus their efforts to do

more with less, and to get more results. “This is a great opportunity to focus better, to make

more with less but do things well. Secondly, it is time to target our customer better and develop

a razor sharp focus on the most important subset of the market. And third, re-orient our

marketing budgets to driving lead generation because that’s what is most important to thecompany right now.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS

Uncertainty puts increasing pressure on doing things well, Ram points out. “Doing a lot of things

is easy. Doing a few impactful activities is hard. In this market, you need to pick your activities

carefully and sweat the details. At this point in time, it’s all about sweating the details. I find this

focus helps align the team during uncertainty.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

RAM MENON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

WORLDWIDE MARKETING

TIBCO

47





Know your customer.

“Customer relationships and the ability to demonstrate deep understanding of the customer

gives the CMO a seat at the table.”

Customer stories are key to reaching your executive colleague.

“A repertoire of powerful narratives brings your knowledge of the customer to life and makes

that knowledge memorable for your peers.”

Conversation enablement is the new frontier.

“Customers do not want to be marketed to, they want to be involved in an authentic

dialogue.”


MARGARET MOLLOY

VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING

GERSON LEHRMAN GROUP

49





The CMO Role

BALANCING SHORT-TERM PERFORMANCE WITH LONG-TERM STRATEGIC VISION

GLG is a dynamic company with a range of target markets, which has given Margaret the

challenge – and the opportunity – to evolve the marketing function to support growth.

“Marketing is a critical component to the growth of the business as we seek to expand existing

offerings, enter new markets, and drive new industry demand. The rapid growth of the company

presents additional challenges in focusing marketing on the key strategic needs of theorganization. The number one challenge as a marketing leader is striking the right balance

between the longer-term strategic focus and shorter-term initiatives.”

BUILDING TRUST THROUGH AUTHENTIC CONVERSATIONS

Margaret emphasizes the power of customer conversation. “Authentic conversations build trust.

And trust is the most fundamental element in any commercial relationship. Success is not about

pitching products or even solutions—rather, it is about actively listening to and understanding

customers’ business drivers; posing relevant, provocative questions that help customers see

their issues from another angle; and co-creating the answer that fits. This approach builds

confidence and enduring relationships.”

MOTIVATING BY KEEPING A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Keeping things fresh and inspiring is one of Margaret’s key strategies for team motivation. “We

want our team members to remember how it felt on their first day – everyday. Your first day is

full of healthy curiosity, positive energy, and unbridled ideas. We aim to maintain that feeling by

rotating team members across different areas of focus. This practice helps us become versed in

many aspects of the business and makes us better marketers overall.”


EARNING MARKETING’S SEAT AT THE STRATEGY TABLE

Margaret believes that marketers can play a unique role in strategy. “A seat at the strategy table

has to be earned. As marketers, we risk assuming that our professional credentials entitle us to

influence direction. The reality is that marketing’s unique value proposition is not universally

understood. Rather than bemoaning this branding and awareness challenge, we need to

acknowledge it and demonstrate the unique dimension that marketing brings to all business

issues, through rigorous, strategic, creative work. It is a constant work in progress.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MARGARET MOLLOY



50





HOLDING THE SEAT WITH THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER

Margaret emphasizes the importance of the customer relationship. “Throughout my career, I’ve

maintained that the number one way to earn and retain a seat at the table is to have a

comprehensive understanding of the customer base. The more insight that you have on the

customer in aggregate and through specific anecdotes ─ the more value you bring to the table.

Marketing gains access to the customer through programs including case studies, advisory

boards, satisfaction checkups and net promoters score analysis, and uses its skills in research,

analysis, and documentation to build fact-based institutional memory.”


FROM SALES ENABLEMENT TO CONVERSATION ENABLEMENT

While the notion of sales enablement is well established, Margaret asserts that enabling

engaging conversations between a firm and its customers is a necessary evolution, especially in

a challenging economic environment. “We are increasingly focused on developing tools,

programs, and training to enable deeper dialogue between customers, sales, and the

organization as a whole. I call it conversation enablement . We do this by conducting research to

help sales develop account plans that refine the value proposition for specific customers; bypublishing high-impact usage scenarios by segments; by delivering a menu of concrete points of

differentiation; and by documenting best practices.”

MAKING YOUR CUSTOMERS YOUR BEST MARKETERS

Margaret highlights the benefit of helping customers articulate the value they are getting from

your firm. “Happy customers want to be advocates of your offering, but left to their own devices,

they rarely take the time to reflect on their end-to-end experience working with your firm. A

thoughtful case study interview captures a client’s challenges, solutions, benefits and ROI in a

structured way, and provides customers a compelling narrative to tell their success story. In the

final analysis, helping customers be your best spokespeople is the ultimate conversation

enablement.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

MARGARET MOLLOY



51





Use the voice of the customer to demonstrate credibility.

“Go beyond tracking the link to new customers to demonstrate the impact of engaged

customers on the brand and the business.”

Align marketing with operations to engage customers.

“Operations and marketing together own the customer relationship. Drive the research to

ensure the front line aligns around delivering the brand and integrating the input from

customers.”

Keep one eye on the future.

“Keep a close eye on where you want to be at the end of this downturn so that you are not

selling your soul for short-term gains.”


JOHN MOSER

CHIEF MARKETING & BRAND OFFICER

DENIHAN HOSPITALITY GROUP

53





The CMO Role

BALANCING BRAND ENHANCEMENT WITH REVENUE NOW

Denihan Hospitality Group, with their three boutique brands (Affinia Hotels, The Benjamin and

The James), and a goal to grow, targets the high-end independent traveler looking for new

experiences. As the Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, John has the challenge of not only

driving room occupancy, but to ensure that hotel operations lives the brand. “I need to make

sure there are ‘heads in beds’ right now, which is critical to the short-term bottom line. I alsohave to keep sight on the brand and keep customers engaged with our brand promise for the

longer term growth.”

ENGAGING CUSTOMERS TO MAKE THE CASE FOR MARKETING SPEND

John finds that demonstrating ROI on a consistent basis helps to convince the C-suite of the need

for continued marketing spend. “While brand awareness is part of how you grow a hotel

business, my CEO and CFO want to know how to drive more customers now. I spend a lot of

time trying to explain customer engagement and how that links to loyalty and growth. I do focus

on tracking how our initiatives lead to new customers, since that is the most important outcome

at the moment, but I worry about the longer term brand building.”

MOTIVATING THE MARKETING TEAM WITH TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

John motivates his young but talented team by grooming them and giving them skills and

experience. “I have found some really talented people. We do a lot to develop them, exposing

them to new technologies, new ideas, a broader set of responsibilities and teamwork. When they

come here, we make them a superstar, ready to take on new challenges. I also make sure they

see the total positive impact of the team on the organization.”


BRINGING THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER TO THE TABLE

John brings his operations background to his perspective on strengthening marketing’s seat on

the executive committee. “My role is to bring the voice of the customer to the table. I came from

operations so I see how important the connection to the customer is. I also say to the team –

‘did we ask the customers?’ – and make sure we do the research.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

JOHN MOSER

CHIEF MARKETING &

BRAND OFFICER


54





USING MULTIPLE CHANNELS TO GET THE CRUCIAL CUSTOMER INSIGHT

John looks to online and offline options in the quest for real insight to gather customer feedback.

“Online customer surveys are a good tool to measure existing customer feedback. To learn

more about our target audience, we survey the high potential and high value population that

comprises this pool. Thirdly, we hold in person discussions at regular weekly managers’

receptions that provide exceptional feedback. Fourth, we are the first hotel brand to add Trip

Advisor comments and RSS feeds right to our website, without any edits or censorship. This not

only demonstrates to our customers how open we are to their input, but the visibility pushes thehotel to read the feedback and act on it.”


INJECTING THE LUXURY BRAND WITH VALUE

The current economic environment has pushed John and his team to introduce value into their

brand image. “We have to be more cautious about how we are marketing in this environment.

People don’t want to say they are staying somewhere over-the-top. We are toning it down and

trying to talk about the value, weaving it into our brand… and we have had success with this. “

KEEPING THE LONG VIEW WHILE WAITING OUT THE STORM

John cautions about the importance of continuing to engage with high-end customers and

listening to the future opportunities these customers reveal, despite the pressures of driving

short-term revenue. “Marketing is about finding the engaged customers and getting their input

so you can offer them something the competition isn’t and help you sell your brand. The voice of

the customer is more important than ever to ensure that we do not do things that will hurt us in

the long run. In this market, I think we have the opportunity to pick up market share where we

didn’t before, as long as we maintain the long view.”

DISCUSSION DETAILS

JOHN MOSER

CHIEF MARKETING &

BRAND OFFICER


55





PARTICIPANT MAP

TOP 5 THINGS

•

Customer centricity is all important.• Demonstrate value and ROI to secure strategic role.

• Marketing as key agent of change.

• Internal stakeholders are just as important as customers.

• Drive short-term revenue but ensure the long term view.

1.

2. 3.

1. MITCH BISHOPiRise

California

2. PHIL CLEMENTAon Corporation

Illinois

3. JEAN FOSTERBT North America

Washington DC

4. MIKE HOGANGameStop

Texas

4.

5. CHUCK MARTZDow Water Solutions

Minnesota

8. MARGARET MOLLOYGerson Lerhman Group

New York

7. RAM MENONTIBCO

California

6. HEIDI MELINPolycom

California

9. JOHN MOSERDenihan Hospitality

Group

New York

5.

6.7.

8.9.

57





COMPANY BACKGROUNDERS

Aon Corporation

Chicago, Illinois

Vertical: Financial ServicesHeadquartered in Chicago, Aon Corporation is the leading global provider of risk

management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital

consulting. Through its 36,000 professionals worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive

client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity

solutions. Aon’s industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry

knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120

countries. Aon was ranked by A.M. Best as the No. 1 global insurance brokerage in

2007, based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best

reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 by the

readers of Business Insurance .

Denihan Hospitality Group

New York, New York

Vertical: Hospitality

New York based Denihan Hospitality Group is a full service hotel management and

development company built upon a successful foundation in real estate, guest service

and profitable asset management. With more than 40 years of hospitality management

expertise, the privately owned DHG operates three brands: Affinia Hotels, The

Benjamin and The James. Affinia’s distinctive hotels offer an array of options to suit

particular lifestyle and travel preferences in prime locations in Manhattan, Chicago

and Washington, D.C. The Benjamin, in the heart of Manhattan, provides an

experience of true luxury with the highest level of service in an intimate, boutique-style

setting. The James Chicago effortlessly blends a sense of modern, residential comfortwith state-of-the-art technology and classic hospitality. DHG also manages several

independent hotels in Manhattan. DHG was recognized as one of the Top 100

Management Companies on April 2009 by Hotel Business Magazine.

59






Dow Water Solutions

Edina, Minnesota

Vertical: Chemical ManufacturingDow Water & Process Solutions has a 50 year legacy of providing innovative water

and process solutions to both communities and industries alike. A differentiated

business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, Dow Water & Process Solutions offers a

broad portfolio of ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis membranes, ultrafiltration

membranes and electrodeionization products, with strong positions in a number of

major application areas, including industrial and municipal water, industrial processes,

pharmaceuticals, power, residential water and waste and water reuse. With annual

sales of $58 billion and 46,000 employees worldwide, Dow is a diversified chemical

company that combines the power of science and technology with the “Human

Element” to constantly improve what is essential to human progress. The Company

delivers a broad range of products and services to customers in around 160 countries,

connecting chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help

provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging

and personal care products.

GameStop

Grapevine, Texas

Vertical: Media & Entertainment

Headquartered in Grapevine, TX, GameStop Corp., a Fortune 500 and S&P 500

company, is the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer. The

company operates more than 6,200 retail stores worldwide, as well as GameStop.com

and EBgames.com. Game Informer magazine, a leading multi-platform video game

publication, is also an important part of the GameStop family. GameStop offers

customers the most popular new software, hardware and game accessories for next

generation video game systems and the PC. In addition, their used game trade

program creates value for customers while recycling products no longer being played.

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Gerson Lehrman Group

New York, New York

Vertical: Information ServicesGerson Lehrman Group (GLG) provides technology and services to support a

marketplace for expertise. Since 1998, its platform for consultation and collaboration

has helped the world's leading financial services firms, consultancies, corporations,

and nonprofits find, engage, and manage experts in a broad range of industries and

disciplines. Gerson Lehrman Group's unparalleled network of the world's leading

expert consultants, known as the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils, includes more than

200,000 subject-matter experts who educate and provide insight to decision makers

through a wide range of consulting methods, including telephone consultations, expert

surveys, and seminars. Gerson Lehrman Group has invested in one of the world's most

sophisticated infrastructures for expert recruiting and compliance. Learn more at

www.glgroup.com.

iRise

El Segundo, California

Vertical: Technology

iRise is the world’s leading provider of visualization software for business applications.

Visualization is quickly becoming a critical competitive advantage for businesses to

more effectively communicate their needs to technology teams and give everyone

involved the ability to fully experience applications before they are built. Companies of

all sizes like General Motors, UPS, Wachovia, Manpower, M.D. Anderson Cancer

Center , and many others use iRise to “test drive” their applications before building,

which accelerates time to revenue, improves customer experience, and drives costs

down. At iRise, our vision is that by 2020, all business software will be visualized

before being built, the same way that every car, airplane, and building is visualized

today. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., iRise is backed by Morgan Stanley and

Deutsche Bank and has sales offices across North America.

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Polycom

Pleasanton, California

Vertical: CommunicationsPolycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice

solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and

collaborate everywhere. Companies choose Polycom for solutions that enable their

geographically dispersed workforces to communicate and collaborate more effectively

and productively over distances. Using Polycom telepresence, video, and voice

solutions and services, people connect and collaborate from their desktops, meeting

rooms, class rooms, and mobile settings. Organizations from a wide variety of

industries and the private sector work with Polycom standards-based solutions to gain

a fast return on their investment as their teams easily collaborate "face to face"

wherever they are, cut the time, cost, and carbon emissions associated with gathering

the right people in one place to solve problems, and apply saved resources, time, and

energy to primary business and organizational challenges.

TIBCO

Palo Alto, California

Vertical: Technology

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TIBX) provides

enterprise software that helps companies achieve service-oriented architecture (SOA)

and business process management (BPM) success. With over 3,000 customers and

offices in 40 countries, TIBCO has given leading organizations around the world better

awareness and agility–what TIBCO calls The Power of Now®. TIBCO is focused on

leveraging and extending the capabilities of its software to help companies move

toward predictive business: an exciting new way of doing business that lets companies

anticipate customer needs, create opportunities and avoid potential problems. As the

basis of the real-time movement of data across the enterprise, TIBCO's software is

uniquely capable of correlating information about a company's operations and

performance with information about expected behavior and business rules so they can

anticipate and respond to threats and opportunities before they occur.

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ABOUT THE RESEARCH

About the Research

In February of 2009, The CMO Club launched a unique effort to help members navigate these trying

times, and to leverage our collective knowledge – the Insights from CMOs program.

The research involved an initial set of 9 in-depth interviews with CMO Club members to help all of us

better understand how the economic environment is impacting our membership, and what you and

your colleagues are thinking about now as you respond and look for opportunities.

The goal was to develop a set of actionable stories – advice, insights and ideas from successful peers

– that will help members build successful strategies for 2009 and beyond. We are looking to

understand what marketing executives are talking about – not only with each other, but with their

teams, their vendors, their CEO, their line-of-business heads, and their customers – all of their keystakeholders.

Insight into Action

We have collected the insight garnered from the interviews into a compendium of stories,

recommendations, and best practices for CMO Club members to leverage in their own settings. We

thank those participants willing to spend their time to share their thinking and their ideas with The

CMO Club.

For those of you who did not have a chance to participate in this round of research, we encourage

you to reach out to Pete Krainik ([email protected]) for inclusion in the next round of

interviews.

About Truman Company

The CMO Club engaged Truman Company to help us uncover, evaluate and synthesize your insights

for this project. Truman Company is an executive marketing firm based in Burlington,

Massachusetts, dedicated to helping companies engage, sustain, and capitalize on executive

relationships. Their approach is driven by gathering and leveraging executive insights and helping

their clients effectively deploy content for conversation in their sales, marketing and relationship-

building programs. Learn more about them at www.trumancompany.com.

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the cmo club - cmo insights - may 2009

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