CMO Today

Advertising has changed significantly in the 30 years since Steve Stone, chairman and executive creative director at Heat, started out as a young ad creative. Yet while marketers have to be faster and more focused than ever—embracing data, analytics, mobile, and social media—the best ads still start with big ideas, strong relationships, and a willingness to take risks, Stone says.

The internet of things provides CMOs with a wealth of data about consumer behavior, health information, equipment malfunctions, and device management. However, interpreting this data to inform marketing decisions can be challenging. Five types of “analytics of things” provide a framework to help CMOs make the most out of IoT data.

Many marketers struggle to get what they need from their marketing technology, often because they’re using solutions that don’t account for organizational complexity, culture, and ability to measure marketing performance. With an honest assessment of these factors, companies can better determine their marketing technology requirements.

How can leaders better connect with and motivate their teams, whether they’re in the same room or scattered around the world? Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, shares six leadership lessons he learned as he transitioned to a global role.

Many millennials value flexibility, collaboration, and purpose over profit, but most corporate cultures have not yet shifted to reflect these preferences. To empower their millennial employees, CMOs can help their organizations improve in four areas: technology, skill alignment, innovation, and work-life balance.

Many organizations are investing to bolster their analytics capabilities. Yet rather than unleashing the bold, transformative potential of those capabilities, companies too often confine their application to problem sets that are safe and unthreatening to stakeholders. Fortunately, organizations can take specific actions to overcome internal resistance to the changes identified through analytics efforts, and increase the value they receive from their investments.