Why Has CMO Tenure Been Declining Since 2009? A New Study Reveals Root Cause

CMO tenure is at its lowest point in a decade, a statistic that calls into question the role of the CMO in general. How, and why is their tenure on the decline, and what does that mean for the C-suite as a whole?

I recently had the opportunity to speak with John Connors, CEO of Boathouse Inc., a forward-thinking marketing agency focused on connecting strategy, execution, and championing narrative marketing strategy. John is a trailblazer in the industry, committed to peeling back the curtain on the role of the CMO and the CMO’s relationship with the C-suite.

Boathouse recently conducted a CMO Study, designed to reveal why CMOs suffer such short tenures and struggle to align with other members of the C-suite. He shared more about these ideas during our conversation. John also highlighted data from Prosper Insights & Analytics, revealing varying generational preferences when it comes to engaging with content.

Gary Drenik: Before we get started, I’d love for you to provide some background about Boathouse and what drove the team to create this unique study analyzing the relationship between CEOs and CMOs.

John Connors: Thanks Gary, great to connect with you and happy to share more about Boathouse and what sparked this idea. At Boathouse, we’re a marketing agency, but our team goes far beyond that to do a full audit of every business we work with in order to understand every nuance of that company. From there, we create tactics that are unique and successful to each client we work with.

We also spend a lot of time analyzing the C-suite because the relationships, leadership and strategies that are established and initiated in the C-suite trickle down to affect the entire company. The role of the CMO is particularly pertinent to us as a marketing agency, but it’s also playing an important role within the organization as a hub that fuels brand purpose, customer engagement and revenues. We realized that across all industries, there was a disconnect between the CMO and the rest of the C-suite, fueling much higher turnover, comparatively. This led us to survey CEOs in order to understand their perceptions of their CMO coworkers and get to the bottom of these issues. The survey polled 150 CEOs at US companies with revenues between $250,000 to over $1 billion, across 13 industries including healthcare, technology, banking, and retail.

Drenik: Do CEOs still believe the CMO role matters/is important for the future growth of the business? Do CEOs believe the tenure problem is due to CMOs being in high demand or the result of CMO failure?

Connors: While CEOs do believe the role of the CMO is important to the business, our survey found that only 34% of CEOs have great confidence in their CMOs and only 32% trust them. CMO tenure is at the lowest point in a decade and 80% of CEOs believe this is happening because CMOs are failing, which is a staggering statistic. Unfortunately, we found that the level of trust between the CEO and CMO is very low, and CEOs think that CMOs are more committed to themselves than overall company goals and are not aligned with the long-term goals of the business. We discovered that CEOs perceive their CMOs as having completely different priorities than the company, which has led to this lack of trust.

Drenik: Where Is the CMO failing…where is the problem? Is it just trust? Are there other challenges?

Connors: The interesting thing is… the CMO isn’t failing. CEOs believe their CMOs are failing, but so much of it comes down to communication, which is fascinating that something as simple as miscommunication can happen even among C-suite members! Trust and communication are certainly the two largest issues, but we also saw the trend of CEOs viewing their CMOs and the marketing arm of their business as a bit behind, which is something we’re seeing all over the industry. CMOs are using traditional methods rather than adapting their techniques and using technology to their advantage.

Technology has revolutionized the marketing world from how marketers create content to how consumers engage with it, so it’s interesting that when it comes down to how marketers tend to execute their strategies, they’re so traditional and outdated. Consumer preferences by generation are constantly changing, and it’s crucial for marketing strategies to adapt in similar ways. For example, a Prosper Insights & Analytics Survey recently found that while 43.4% of Gen-Z views video or TV content on their mobile devices, only 7.6% of Boomers consume content this way.

Similarly, while 46% of Gen-Z view video content online, only 13.7% of Boomers do, creating a clear divide in generational preferences.

When considering the rise of CTV and streaming online, these viewing habits were likely completely different a decade ago compared to now. It’s not that traditional strategies don’t “work,” but there are definitely technological advancements and more modern approaches that we’re seeing to be infinitely more efficient, especially when data shows such strong generational differences.

Drenik: How can modern day CMOs work to build trustworthiness and strong relationships with their CEOs and C-suite colleagues? Are there any other changes CMOs can make to improve the overall perception of the role?

Connors: The CMO problem is definitely one that is fixable. In our study, CEOs largely believe that the main role of the CMO is to grow the business and 86% of them think the CMO has the power to influence the C-suite, so clearly, the position of the CMO is still viewed as one that has quite a significant amount of power. Modern day CMOs can easily repair and strengthen their relationships with the CEO and other members of the C-suite by taking a look at their own strategies and method of communication. By ensuring these are aligned with the rest of the business and are being communicated in a way that is easily understood by the rest of the C-suite, many of the challenges can be alleviated. If CMOs work to make sure their strategies and “language” are more in line with the typical business-oriented language, they’ll be able to communicate their marketing goals more clearly and improve their overall perception.

Drenik: Overall, how is your work at Boathouse relating to the C-suite and how does the agency’s work help to revitalize the role of the CMO?

Connors: Although we’re a marketing agency, our team engages with every part of the business through our work. Before we even create a marketing strategy, we spend a lot of time as a team studying the company itself, its revenue, it’s strong points and challenges as well as the industry in which the company resides. Our team believes that better strategy helps drive better performance and also helps the CEO and CMO be more aligned. Through our work, we help foster alignment within the C-suite by creating business-oriented strategies that are easily communicated across the C-suite and align seamlessly with overall business goals.

Drenik: Thanks for your insight, John! The survey's findings definitely illustrate the nuances of the relationship between the CMO, and CEO and it will be interesting to see if CMO tenure improves. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Originally Published in Forbes on Feb 9, 2022.