The CMO-to-CEO pipeline was extra distinguished at CPG manufacturers like Procter & Gamble (P&G), the place CMOs have been typically groomed for the CEO function. CMO tenure at these corporations was the shortest of all of the industries Spencer Stuart analyzed, at 3.5 years.
“Low CMO tenure just isn’t an indication of failure. In actual fact, fairly the other. It’s truly an indication of success, as a result of so lots of them are being promoted into different roles,” mentioned Sanderson.
2. Manufacturers are advertising with no CMO
Consistent with 2024’s findings, roughly a 3rd (31%) of SP&P 500 corporations shouldn’t have a CMO.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply they don’t have a advertising boss; the accountability merely sits elsewhere on the org chart.
Sanderson mentioned corporations are more and more hiring for various or complementary positions, together with chief development officer (CGO), crammed by Walmart in January, and chief revenue officer (CRO), adopted by Morningstar in late 2025.
These roles won’t be CMO positions, however they usually embrace some accountability for advertising and have model and information specialists reporting into them, Sanderson noticed.
“It’s not that advertising has gone away, however slightly the set go-to-market capabilities have been restructured in a brand new manner, for instance, round a CRO,” he defined.
The CMO function isn’t lifeless, although. Whereas some organizations, such as Unilever, are decentralizing advertising, others, like Disney, are doing the other and appointing their first formal CMO.
“It’s all the time fluid. The place one function is damaged up, one other is created,” noticed Sanderson.
3. Hiring practices differ vastly
