Here's the second part of the recap from The CMO Summit based on my notes and “ideas” list:
- Jim Hintze from Fujitsu addressed creating a new category for your brand amid competitors who are investing much more in marketing. QTM: Can we quit complaining about having too few $ and concentrate on consistent, new, and relevant messages? Extra credit: Can you create, help launch, and SUSTAIN a new category in your business that forces your competitors to follow you?
- Liz Cahill delivered an understandable explanation of marketing mix modeling at Lee Jeans as a way to make better decisions. QTM: When was the last time you took a Byzantine topic and forced yourself to communicate it S I M P L Y?
- QTM: Would somebody look up the damn Spencer Stuart survey and figure out how many months CMO’s really have on the job? The figures quoted at the conference (and it was mentioned in many presentations) ranged from 23 to 36 months. The best antidote for this phenomenon suggested at the conference came from Phil Kotler – if you’re a new CMO (or any marketing exec), quickly identify the best combo of high impact / low cost efforts you can implement and get on with them IN A HURRY!!!
- Gloria Berndl of CDW posed an interesting charge, “Retrain the way you think.” QTM: If there isn’t a course on this, how else can you tackle the challenge? One answer / self-serving plug – sign up for this blog via email.
- David May (Goldman Sachs) delivered a presentation on the 4 values of branding that prompted an important affirmation: Nobody succeeds or fails by themselves at ANYTHING. QTM: Do you live your life professionally and personally as if you know that this is true? Extra Credit: What steps are you taking to stay connected to people that you can help?
Those were among the highlights. I’ll also post on some related questions and comments from the strategic thinking session.
Here’s one last recommendation – when attending a conference, don’t check voice mail continually; try to stay in the moment. QTM: Do you give your team the latitude to keep things going when you’re away so that they’re not having to call you all the time? If not, figure out how you can start to do this!
