Experts in the marketing industry have advised chief marketing officers and aspiring marketing officers to redefine their roles in the business of marketing and integrated marketing communications.
Marketing professionals, the Managing Director, P&G Nigeria, Mokutima Ajileye; and business and marketing professional, Oare Ojeikere, at the Advertisers Association of Nigeria, Chief Marketing Officer Forum on Friday with the theme, ‘The evolving role of the CMO” in Lagos.
Ajileye said, “Adaptability is about change and change itself is inevitable, hence the continuous need for CMOs to make sure they follow the current trends and quickly adapt to new developments in the industry. This adaptability is necessary because CMOs must see themselves as business leaders who have the duty to focus on increasing the growth of their brand.”
She urged CMOs to know that volatility, disruption and various changes in the marketing industry were more now than ever before. According to her, there was a need to move swiftly and be on top of their game in order to remain a force to reckon with in the industry.
She advised that neutrality was not an option for brands nowadays but, CMOs need to make sure that their brands stood for social cause anytime it arose in order to warm their brands into the minds of the consumers.
CMOs, she noted, needed to safeguard consumers by having a clear vision of consumers’ wants and needs. They must also operate against the backdrop of increased consumers’ expectations and address them with great sensitivity.
While Ojeikere, speaking on ‘Changing role, capability and deliverable: Implication for business and marketers’, said, “CMOs and other brand custodians need to realise that the marketplace has significantly changed, making their relevance diminish in significance. CMOs must realise that consumers can no longer be pushed around in the face of fierce competition occasioned by tougher and more strong players, increasing commoditised products and worsening economy.
