B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • NRL
  • WPP
  • B&T Women in Media
  • AFL
  • Thinkerbell
  • Pinterest
  • State of Origin
  • Anthony Albanese
  • imaa
  • Meta
  • ARN
  • AI
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: The Hot Seat: Why Australian CMOs Have The Shortest Average Tenures In The World
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Media > The Hot Seat: Why Australian CMOs Have The Shortest Average Tenures In The World
Media

The Hot Seat: Why Australian CMOs Have The Shortest Average Tenures In The World

Staff Writers
Published on: 28th August 2019 at 3:21 PM
Staff Writers
Share
3 Min Read
Living Room On Fire. This stock image has a horizontal composition.
SHARE

The average term of an Australian CMO is 2.1 years, while globally, CMOs generally have the shortest tenure of all C-suite positions.

So why is it the role of CMO has become such a hot seat?

Speaking at the Sitecore Experience ANZ 2019 conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Deloitte Digital partner David Phillips attempted to tackle the question.

One of the top problems for Australian CMOs, he explained, is the constant struggle to justify intangible values, particularly that of a brand.

“For most marketers, they deeply understand the value and importance of brands, but they struggle to convince C-Suite members of the value and importance of that brand,” Phillips explained.

“If you think about the way we structure financial reports within organisations, we really forget the intangibles.”

Phillips stated around one-third of an organisation’s value lies in its brand, but marketers still struggle to convince their colleagues of the importance of a brand as anything more than a logo.

But the struggles of Australian CMOs are nothing new or unique. There was a similar crisis in the US around ten years ago, Phillips stated.

In terms of overcoming the current issues, Deloitte has recently released a report which suggests marketers move away from being ‘brand protectors’ to become ‘brand promotors’, in order to spread brand ownership through the entire organisation.

Knowing what the future holds

The continual convergence of marketing and technology also gives CMOs and marketers the opportunity to work through the current climate.

“With marketing we’re really blessed,” Phillips said. “There aren’t many other functions of an organisation where we can really clearly see exactly what the future of the function holds.”

“In marketing, especially from a campaign standpoint, we know what the future is: fully-orchestrated cognitive marketing.

“Campaigns that are run through AI sitting on the cloud, that will deliver the right message, to the right customer at the right time.”

And while we might know what the end result is, getting there still provides a challenge.

Achieving success under the future model requires an agile approach which deploys company experts in a cross-functional manner, according to Deloitte.

This also means investing into current talent. In the US, only four per cent of marketing budgets are used towards the training and development of staff.

“We need to weed out the ‘old school’ marketers – the new model cannot carry them,” says Deloitte. “The terms ‘pure’ and ‘brand’ marketers should not be celebrated.”

 

 

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: CMO, Deloitte, Sitecore
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

NSW Blues & Adidas Kick-Off Game III With ‘House Of Blue’
04/07/2025
TV Ratings (03/07/2025): Nearly 800K Tune In For Joanna Lumley’s ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ Danube Tour
04/07/2025
Google’s Veo 3 Being Used To Create Racist Videos For Social
04/07/2025
Enrichd Group & Greg Inglis Launch ‘Stick With It’ Mental Health Movement
04/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?