Cannes Lions 2023: How has the role of CMOs evolved in the past few years to become growth drivers

Day 1 of Cannes Lions 2023 saw the CMOs of Not Co, Eli Lilly and PepsiCo delve deeper into how the field of marketing has been changing over the past few years. The session was moderated by Jenni Middleton, SVP-Content and Editor-In-Chief, Lions.

Kickstarting the first session of CMOs in the Spotlight, Fernando Machado, Chief Marketing Officer, Not Co., said, “We are always overwhelmed with change and I’m constantly being bombarded by the next new channel, AI, Metaverse, NFT, etc. every year. Being the curious person that I am, I always try to learn these new things, but I spend more time making sure on focussing on things that are not going to change, i.e- basic marketing.”

He also went on to add that staying glued to the basic principles of marketing which make an impact and getting them right coupled with putting himself in positions where he is constantly learning because that is what helps him in coping up with new things better

“By basics, I mean, not being a shitty client, knowing how to brief and how to discover an insight, doing research the right way and not just knowing how to discover an insight, doing research the right way and not just doing what the research tells you to do, knowing how to do performance marketing well in terms of attribution and convincing stakeholders. None of these is going to change with AI or even performance marketing,” he said.

He then went on to talk about how the role of a CMO has now changed to being the right-hand man of a CEO and therefore being involved with ESG, DE&I, Recruitment, Culture, etc. to become more like a driving force for the company.

Lina Polimeni, Chief Corporate Brand Officer, Eli Lilly, also shared the viewpoint that while brands do evolve, it is the culture that has been evolving more than anything and that’s one thing that never changes fundamentally.

“I think our role really changes in terms that the one thing that you always have to keep up front and centre is the vision and the ability to define the same to the CFO or CEO of the border organisation as it is important in terms of staying ahead of the change,” she said.

She, like Machado, then went on to emphasise that some of the fundamentals will never change for the brand for it operates in the healthcare segment, specifically being in the business of making medicine, which is being able to understand what are the key insights of people who are facing terrible diseases and how the brand’s products can help and fit within that journey. 

“The way, I think, our positions and the marketing function in organisations has changed and evolved over the past few years has mainly to do with growth and the ability to drive the same for the company while really understanding where the new frontiers are. One such example for us has been the Olympics and our ability to participate in the same for the first time by being able to sponsor athletes at a medical level and not at a corporate level which is born from vision, moving at the speed of culture, and understanding where can one be a part of conversations that's relevant to people and not just for company sake,” she said.

She then went on to add that if one stays true to what the journey of a person is, in Eli Lilly’s case, then the value proposition of the CMO changes because then it's the ability to answer and relieve those real-world consumer problems.

Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer- International Beverages, PepsiCo, said, “As marketers, we have a responsibility to build our craft because marketing, in my view, is not just a function, but a craft that requires dependence upon lots of people which is why trust and relationships are critical. Even though control has a certain aspect of managing the brand and its impact on business, ultimately the CMO will need help from the industry and the brand’s agency partners to push the boundaries, but put in within frameworks.”

He then went on to add that the idea of control needs to be about what does the brand stand for and how can it be relevant or authentic and if one is able to establish that from a global mindset, one would not control but drive global scale and local relevance whilst harnessing the power and passion of the marketers.

“This concept of flexibility in a framework, it's a real thing. Ultimately, one need not be the police or the controlling factor, but actually be the partner because that’s what truly helps you build your craft,” he said.

He further pointed out that marketing must be a growth driver because if that isn’t the case then the organisation or the system will view marketing as a mere side function which is not fundamental to the business. It is this great advertising and great innovations that results in growth and makes marketers with a growth mindset the growth drivers.

“Some marketers do struggle with business stuff coming in the way of great creativity, but actually it is the business stuff which can be a creative jumpstart to drive business growth and grow our brands, successfully. However, if you don't think that you're a growth driver and it's just creativity for creativity's sake, then I think you're missing the overall opportunity,” he said.

Eli Lilly’s Polimeni also shared the opinion that today more than ever, the role of the CMO is to be that relentless defence point for creativity and for the reason why we need creativity while understanding business because business acumen has to go hand in hand with marketing which ought to be the ambassador for creativity. 

“You (as CMO) will find yourself in more financial conversations than in actual creativity conversations, but you have to foster the growth of marketers coming after you and ensure that they understand how to differentiate a big idea and how to create important campaigns that will move forward the beliefs within your target customers because attention is everywhere,” she said.

She then went on to emphasise that instead of just focusing on the RoI of campaigns, today marketers should try to isolate what's the piece of creativity besides media, the actual idea, and try to measure that through analytics so as to prove or sharpen the value that marketing brings.

Commenting on the accusation that sometimes the creative work done by a brand is stunt and is therefore not very effective, Not Co’s Machado emphasised that one need not care if people think it’s a stunt because if people have noticed it and are talking about the same, it was eventually linked with strategy and will therefore be measured before and after of people understanding the point.

“You're not going to get it right every time, but I prefer to try to do something different and fail miserably than try to not do something differently and always fail miserably,” he said.

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