The title of this post may sound like an overpromise. But stick with me. There just might be over 240 reasons why the post is helpful in your agency’s new business growth efforts. (When all you really need is one or two.)
This post digs further into a list of 241 CMO hires from the first six months of 2020. The list is broken out by the following broad categories:
- apparel / retail
- consumer digital and media
- consumer products & services
- leisure & hospitality
- financial services
- healthcare
- industrial & natural resources
- non-profit / education
- professional services
- technology
Some brands will be familiar to you. And some won’t be. To me, some of the categorizations feel a little wonky. But not sure it matters here. What’s helpful is that it’s a collection of brands in a variety of sizes, marketing budgets, potential scopes of work and marketing situations. A little something for all agencies.
The list is published by Russell Reynolds, a leading executive search firm. You can find it here. They note that while many (many!) brands cut their marketing spending during the pandemic, here’s a surprise: the number of senior-level marketing hires actually increased by 15%. Which spells opportunity for many agencies.
What follows are four quick ways an agency can use this intel:
Identify brands that may be going into review
This ain’t rocket science. Here’s a great example. This list mentions that Nikki Neuburger is the new chief brand officer of Lululemon. Five days ago, trade press suggests Droga5 was just hired.
Identify brands that may need new CMOs
When a CMO gets hired, they may be leaving a brand that will need a new senior marketing leadership. One could argue this is more helpful information than knowing a brand will go into review. Particularly if you can place a past client there.
Build your connection with CMOs
Share this information with them. There are a number of senior-level client-side professionals out there looking for jobs. This information helps identify potential job openings.
A word of caution: double check the information on this list! At random, I checked about ten names. And on two of them, found some incorrect info. For instance, new CMO’s past jobs listed were from one or two jobs ago vs. their most recent job. This kind of information is easily checked via other online databases.
Further dimensionalize this list to make it even more useful
This information can inspire a few more questions for for growth-minded agency professionals:
- What’s changed on the list? For the brands that are a potential match for your agency, hop on Linkedin. What’s changed since June? For example, I recently saw new marketing leaders at AT&T, Nature Conservancy, Kate Spade and Volkswagen.
- How does your agency intersect with these CMO needs? Do you have anything special that might be of interest your target that could spark a conversation?
- Can this list be prioritized by that intersection?
- Here’s another post with more questions to inspire your outreach
Anywho, hope this intel proves helpful in your agency’s growth efforts. And as always, should this post spark a thought or two, give me a shout. Thanks!
Traditional agencies are having a hard time. They’re trying to survive in a world where brands are rethinking the way they handle marketing. For starters: more in-housing; more projects/less AOR relationships; goodbye, CMO/hello, Chief Growth Officers.