Catherine Rose’s Post

The end of the CMO role? Starbucks’ move to ditch the CMO position comes as many brands are rethinking where the sometimes-nebulous role sits within their business, changing the title to reflect a broader range of responsibilities, hiring “fractional” CMOs in consulting-style positions and, in some cases, cutting it entirely. The restructure forms part of Starbucks’ “Triple Shot with Two Pumps” transformation plan, which is dedicated to three things: strengthening the Starbucks brand; upgrading its digital offering; and helping the chain become “a truly” global business. #cmo #marketing #brand #branding #leadership #retail #starbucks #technology #global #digital #executiveleadership

Starbucks has dropped its CMO role. Here's why 👇 ➡️ Starbucks has abandoned the global CMO role and introduced a new structure where regional CEOs will oversee business operations in each market, collaborating with regional marketers. ➡️ Reflecting a broader trend in the evolving role of the CMO - some companies are rebranding or restructuring the position, and others promoting CMOs to higher executive roles. ➡️ Formerly the evp and CMO, Brady Brewer has been promoted to CEO of Starbucks International, emphasising the company's commitment to reinventing its brand and addressing recent challenges. ➡️ Instead of a global CMO, Starbucks is seeking a "global brand creative leader," reflecting a broader range of responsibilities and the evolving landscape of marketing roles. #MarketingStrategy #IndustryInsights #MarketingLeadership

As a Marketing leader, reading this headline makes me double take, and ask Why? Is this function going away? Not so. Don't panic Marketers! Read on through the article, which details the many organizational changes that are being made, and right at the bottom, comes the line 'as part of its reshuffle, Starbucks has also hired a new Chief Merchant and Product Officer' Is that not what marketing is about? Putting the right product into the right market through the right channel? What do my fellow marketers think? #Marketingstrategy #productmarketing #CMO

Was Starbucks right to eliminate its CMO role? Barrie Brien, CEO at STRAT7, comments to The Drum: "The elevation of CMO Brady Brewer to the CEO role in a company like Starbucks could set a trend that other brands might follow." "Placing a CMO at the helm is a forward-thinking move. As such, we’ll likely see more CMOs make the move to CEO to steer the overarching vision." "This shift in C-suite power would also lead to CEOs, CFOs and CMOs working closely together to drive transformation around customer centricity.” #customercentric #brandstrategy #marketing #cmo #futurecmo

It was announced this week that Starbucks is dropping their "CMO" role. In an interesting development, Starbucks has decided to restructure their marketing department in a significant way as a part of a larger "transformation" process they are pursuing. But, did you know it's becoming more and more common for organizations to be doing away with the "CMO" role and opting instead for more functional specific roles that tie more directly into the grander business operations? This is without a doubt a notable shift happening in our industry, and I hope it's for the better of marketing departments/teams worldwide. If you've ever worked client-side you know how common it is for the marketing departments to be siloed, and the best marketing leaders are the ones that fight to break these silos. Hopefully, with this breakdown of "typical" marketing leadership roles/titles it won't mean a de-prioritization of marketing leaders at the executive level but rather room for more. #CMO #marketing #marketingexpert #executive #starbucks

I have a lot of thoughts about Starbucks' recent restructure, which includes the creation of regional CEOs who would oversee regional marketing teams, and the consequent dissolution of the CMO role. It also featured the promotion of their CMO into the International CEO position, and the establishment of a North America CEO. 1. Regional CEO, Chief Growth Officer, Chief Business Officer, Chief Commercial Officer... the labels vary, but what we're seeing is the development of a new C-Suite Role that includes marketing, but as part of a broader remit, designed to tie marketing more closely into overall growth, sales, and commercial development. The "why" should be obvious by now. While marketing has always been in service of those bigger 'bottom line' objectives, and it's clear that certain financial and economic dynamics have been affected, or accelerated by pandemic and post-pandemic life, and the result is an increasing focus on short-term ROI. And that means the chief marketing role within the C-Suite is in a state of transformation. While not necessarily a bad thing, it's also not necessarily a good thing. 2. I LOVE to see the continued growth of the CMO-to-CEO Pipeline. I'll post more on this another time, but as we talk about the evolution of the CMO Role, we also need to talk about the evolution of marketers. Historically, it's been CFO's and COO's that are predominantly tapped for the coveted Chief Executive position. So if there's a silver lining to all of this, it's that there's a push to develop marketing execs into more holistic business leaders, and the keys to the CEO office are there for the individuals who rise to that challenge. 3. The most important part of this particular situation is that Starbucks specifically is such a brand-oriented company, and I'd argue that their success over the past 50 years is due to two main factors: Their absolute ubiquity, and their brand. For a few years, the running joke in NYC (and I assume elsewhere) was that there were so many Starbucks popping up, one would open across the street from an existing Starbucks. Their omni-presence and with it, their McDonaldsfication of Coffee, drove so much of the company's growth and success. But the other half of it is the brand. As the father of one of them, I can tell you that there are currently hordes of self-identified "Starbucks Girlies" on Tiktok, but this is nothing new. People have always connected to the brand. It's where they like to work, or take meetings. They have their go-to order. They're on a first name basis with their local baristas. In a world nearly devoid of monoculture, and monoculture brands (outside of Taylor Swift), Starbucks comes close. NGL, it feels icky to see a company with such a strong & storied brand, just abandon decades of hard earned brand equity and fandom (**cough** HBO **cough**) Maybe they won't. Having a Marketing-Oriented CEO is promising, but doing away with the CMO Role is equally telling. What do you think?

Some high growth firms may be sunsetting the global CMO role, but look deeper, many of them are being promoted to CEO's and EVPs! The right CMO with a seat at the table is a game changer regardless of the title. The next hire for #Starbucks in this arena is a particular favorite of mine......global brand creative leader :) Successful organizations recognize their brand's importance and impact in driving revenue growth. The right brand strategy builds trust and in today's changing buyer landscape...people are priotitizing trust in what they purchase and who they purchase from. Great brand leaders also have fingers on the pulse of people. Whether it's talent, customers, community. This trifecta is a brand executive who has knowledge in corporate, employer and personal branding giving them a holistic view of the organizations and it's audiences. I'm betting we see that with the new global brand creative leader Starbucks hires. Starbucks have had their hands full with controversies as of late, so its a smart move seeking positive changes by taking a deeper look at the organization's structure. According the the piece below they are also focusing more on the regional marketing efforts to ensure they have hands on knowledge of their markets to continue the human centric approach. Who knows the audiences better than the impactful regional marketing executive? Good luck with the restructuring Starbucks! I'm rooting for you. #starbuckscoffee #marketing #restructuring #cmos #brandstrategy #brandmatters #growthstrategy #customerexperience

TL;DR: Starbucks reorgs its executive team and will no longer have a CMO. They are, however, introducing a Global Chief Merchant and Product Officer, and they will soon announce a global brand leader. 1. We've been seeing this shift in the industry lately and it's a signal of where we're headed. On the one hand, marketing as a general function can be very dated and weighted down in some large organizations, and despite having years to embrace digital experiences, has not always done so. That makes this shift long overdue. 2. Yes to product and platform development being elevated. People seek experiences, especially in a digital world, and as noted above, marketing and product have too long been siloed. 3. Products and platforms also need to be promoted. Can this happen successfully at a regional level, which is where Starbucks is moving its marketing focus? Perhaps. As we see the niche-ification of audiences, this may make the most sense, especially with a strong brand. What do you think?

🤔 Starbucks is the latest brand to shelve its Global CMO role, hot on the heels of other brands like Lyft, McDonald’s, Uber, and Hyatt Hotels. This is a move that highlights the evolving nature of marketing leadership roles. 🔎 What's particularly intriguing is Starbucks' decision not to replace the global CMO position. Instead, they're implementing a new structure where regional Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) will oversee business in each market, working closely with regional marketers. This move reflects a broader trend in the industry where companies are rethinking the traditional CMO role. 💡 Definitely, a trend emerging in the market- instead of having a single global CMO, many brands are opting for more flexible structures, hiring "fractional" CMOs, or distributing marketing responsibilities among regional leaders. Read more here- https://lnkd.in/gbDCePMV #fractional #marketing #cmo #leadership

‼️The CMO role continues to evolve in the marketplace. Starbucks simultaneously eliminates the CMO role, while ironically promoting their CMO to international CEO. If you read many job specs for CMOs (and I have) you might think they are not for the same profession. What a CMO is and their value in the c-suite is evolving as rapidly as is the technology that supports the craft and likely creating more confusion as core principles and skills of the position might be taken for granted. ❓What do you think about this Starbucks move and other companies eliminating the CMO role all together? Maybe there needs to be a CMEO? https://lnkd.in/gzRXHAZK