CMO evolution: Understanding the need for change but fearing not keeping up

CMOs have a problem. Their role is changing, from exploring customer engagement and adding to the sales pipeline, to one of more consistent growth. Yet a new report warns that a potential recession has led to an overall negative feeling among marketing chiefs.

Chief Outsiders polled more than 50 of its CMO consultants – executives with senior experience at Fortune 500 level now working at mid-sized organisations – last month to give their verdicts.

According to...

9 March 2020 | Advertising

The great data trade-off: Why consumers will still share details – but only for a true value exchange

What do the NHS, Fortnite and US Customs and Border Protection all have in common? The answer may surprise you, but they have all had major data breaches since November 2018.

These sorts of privacy scandals never seem to leave the headlines, and people are right to be concerned about who they share their data with and why. Indeed, data ownership has been a major public concern since the Cambridge Analytica scandal and people are taking steps to control their digital footprints....

21 February 2020 | Best Practice

Facebook explores issues of online content regulation in new whitepaper

Facebook has published a whitepaper which explores the potential need and pitfalls of online content regulation – at the same time CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits his company, and big tech firms in general, need greater scrutiny.

In a paper written by VP content policy Monika Bickert, Facebook notes four primary challenges in regulating internet-based communications: the variance in legal environments and speech norms; the ever-changing development of technology and speech;...

18 February 2020 | Attribution

Twitter reports $1bn in quarterly revenues for the first time – but long-term health remains key

Twitter has reported quarterly revenue figures north of $1 billion for the first time, with 152 million ‘monetisable daily active users’ (mDAUs) representing a 20% hike year over year.

Total revenues for 2019 were at $3.46 billion, an increase of 14% year on year. Of the quarterly figure, 88% of revenues were derived from advertising, with data licensing and other revenues contributing the rest. US revenue comprised just under three-fifths (59%) of total revenues.

7 February 2020 | Advertising

If Lloyd’s wants to change workplace behaviour, it needs to rethink how it judges performance

Opinion Last month, the employees of Lloyd’s of London received an email in which their chief exec, John Neal, urged them to behave appropriately during the ‘particularly challenging time of year’. Considering the date it was sent, December being the time of winding down, drinking up, and, of course, Christmas shindigs, coming after a lawsuit and more than 500 staff reports of sexual harassment over the past year, the powers-that-be at the insurer might have been...

31 January 2020 | Best Practice

Consumers are seeking out eco-friendly beauty brands: Exploring the rise of ‘conscious capitalism’

Meaningful beauty purchases are increasingly driven by how eco-friendly a product is, with shoppers also embracing new technology to choose the products that fit their needs and wants.

Yet despite this, a new BBC3 documentary, Beauty Laid Bare, will reveal how little plastic is actually recycled. The three-part documentary follows four people in their 20s for two weeks across America investigating the secrets of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry and shows how it is one of the...

29 January 2020 | Best Practice

Do we need to kiss goodbye to social media likes? Exploring visibility and health

Facebook and Instagram users in the UK can expect to see major changes following the latest controversial change from everyone’s favourite social media platforms.

Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012 for $1 billion and since then, both platforms have begun testing out hiding likes. The trial started by hiding likes from selected users in Canada in 2019 and was then expanded to more countries, including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. So it was only inevitable...

28 January 2020 | Attribution

2020 resolutions for influencer marketing: Taking responsibility and control

2019 was a tricky year for influencer marketing. It started with the release of Netflix’s ‘The Greatest Party That Never Happened’ which documented how Fyre Festival’s organisers used influencers to dupe consumers, and then it ended with three well-known UK influencers unknowingly promoting a diet drink laced with cyanide.

With the spectre of Fyre Festival hanging over the industry and warnings from the ASA about ad labelling, 2019 saw more scrutiny of...

10 January 2020 | Best Practice

The rise of ‘algorithm hacking’ – and how it may be leading marketers astray

Even though Robert Burns wrote the line “the best-laid schemes o’ mice a’ men/gang aft agley” more than 200 years ago, it still resonates. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), many brands are learning this the hard way as a new generation of algorithm hackers subvert their use of cognitive technologies.

AI is increasingly central to driving timely, personalised marketing communications. But by undermining the code they are built on, algorithm hackers...

9 January 2020 | Attribution

MarketingTech 2019 year in review: Influencer regulations, CMO battles, and social change

2019 in digital marketing, through the reporting eye of MarketingTech, has seen something of a two-pronged approach. While the exploration of emerging technologies and their use cases, from voice search to AI to blockchain, continues, it has been tempered with a more measured and nuanced focus.

While this publication found plenty of column inches to tell the stories those making the most of their technological bets this year, from Mastercard, to Starbucks – and will continue...

3 January 2020 | Advertising