Why CMOs shouldn't sacrifice long term thinking for short term gains

"An explosion in bandwidth and technological capability, combined with the omnipresence of content, means we are living in a time of communications abundance, which is both a huge opportunity but also overwhelming for consumers and communicators alike. What appears to be compounding what is already a big structural challenge for clients and agencies alike is the feeling that technology has accelerated everything; that if you aren't communicating real-time/24-7/always on/always ready then you are somehow a laggard."

"Then, most marketers perfected what we would call 'mid stream' excellence - highly planned, and orchestrated communications, which predominantly used campaignable assets to strike their message, through targeted (paid for) media right at the hearts and minds of the consumer. The need for speed has changed this, and flipped it. This has required new skills to be embraced, both inside client organisations and from their partner agencies."

Chief marketing officers confront severe complexity as digital technologies disrupt business models and customer experience becomes the primary source of sustainable advantage. An explosion in bandwidth and omnipresent content creates communications abundance that both enables opportunity and overwhelms consumers and communicators. Expectations for real-time, 24/7 communication have shifted marketers away from planned 'mid stream' campaigns toward continuous optimisation and newsroom-style operations. Success requires clear purpose, new skills across client organisations and agencies, and capabilities in real-time optimisation, crisis management and rapid communications. The pace rewards brave organisations and risks chaotic outcomes for those lacking strategic glue and clarity of purpose.

Read at The Drum