CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 49

In this issue:

• In Our Opinion: C-Level “Digital” Officer Role
• Client Spotlight on Michael V. Howe
• Register for our May Webinar
• Blog Round Up
• Career Announcements

In Our Opinion

The Case for Establishing a C-Level “Digital” Officer Role

With spending on digital-related marketing, media, and e-commerce initiatives accounting for 20%+ of marketing expenses at the top 100 global advertisers—and forecast to increase at double-digit rates for the foreseeable future across most industry segments—it’s time for CEOs and Boards to give serious consideration to establishing a “Chief Digital Officer” (“CDO”) position reporting directly to the CEO. The stakes are too high and the issues too complicated to leave this domain left managed by an informal, undefined, and mostly powerless assemblage of mid-level managers across an enterprise.

The reasons for the current lack of a C-level Digital Officer position are many, and it’s worth taking a moment to look back to assess how we arrived at the current situation:

1. Over the past decade, digital/Internet/Web has undergone massive fluctuations in its perceived and real impact. Not long ago digital was considered a fad that would eventually fade to the background. Google is only a “teenager” in terms of its years of existence, so the accelerated growth of social media, SEM/SEO, and other digital innovations are a relatively new phenomenon.
2. When it comes to digital strategy, most CEOs and corporate leaders are Baby Boomers who have not incorporated digital tools into their lives to the same extent as Gen X, Y or Z’ers, so it’s difficult for them to fully appreciate all the business implications resulting from digital trends.
3. Digital is pervasive across the enterprise and successful digital initiatives, especially at top 100 global advertisers, require extensive cross-functional collaboration that often sparks conflict. Even the seemingly straightforward act of defining a job description for a Chief Digital Officer or Head of Digital Strategies role is problematic today because the responsibilities are split between the CIO and the CMO in most organizations, and neither functional executive is readily willing to let go of the pieces under their domain.

With this background as a perspective, let’s consider the case for creating a Chief Digital Officer position:

Digital Is a Strategic Imperative

While the Internet topics du jour are many—‘social media’, ‘cloud computing’, ‘data management platforms’, ‘mobile,’ etc.—the rapid evolution of new digital media, marketing, and e-commerce strategies continues at an accelerated pace. Someone needs to be proactive, accountable, and empowered to interpret these developments, create digital priorities, and make things happen. This is not a short-term, quick-fix situation. Digital strategies take time to establish and implement successfully. When not given the proper attention, implications can be dire and high-profile (i.e., look to Borders, Blockbuster, Yahoo!, etc.).

The Marketing Investment Dollars Are Large And Growing Rapidly

In every other part of the organization where big dollars are being spent and high strategic priority is assigned, a C-level person is tasked with oversight. Calculate what your company is spending on digital initiatives (marketing, product development, technology development), and what functional areas of the organization are impacted. If spending exceeds 10% of all company expenses, and more than three functional areas of significance are involved, then the need for a Chief Digital Officer position becomes rather obvious.

Recruiting C-level Digital Talent and Necessary Empowerment

Most C-level executive leadership teams are comprised of talented professionals with varied backgrounds that include deep domain experience, management training at top MBA programs, and outstanding business track records. With digital, it is more difficult and challenging to find the best C-level digital leaders because of the newness of the digital industry and functional disciplines. However, despite this challenge, someone needs to be given a ‘seat-at-the-table’ on the executive leadership team in order to make things happen and advise the CEO and executive leadership team on required strategies and investments. Otherwise it’s unrealistic to have lofty expectations or expect your company to achieve “best in class” digital performance within your sector.

Organizing Digital Under the CMO Is Not The Optimal Approach

The good news is digital strategy responsibility is rarely found in the IT function anymore. As shocking as it seems now in retrospect, it resided there for many years because IT owned the corporate website server. The bad news is responsibility has been either unceremoniously or informally transitioned over to the marketing group in recent years, which isn’t exactly a bastion of power in many industries. So unless the company in discussion is Coca-Cola or IBM, where marketing is a powerful domain, digital won’t get priority treatment. With CMOs lasting an average of only two years, digital investments (which take much longer to develop and payout) are better suited under a separate executive.

Marketing Services and Consulting Firms Are Leading The Way

Every major advertising agency has a Chief Digital Officer or equivalent—a CEO of a full-service digital marketing services agency—and they are selling digital-related services to the CEO, CIO, and CMO. The same is true for the blue-chip strategic consulting firms (i.e., Accenture, BCG, McKinsey), which might call it “digital or interactive media and marketing strategy consulting,” but the digital/interactive practices have been among the most rapidly growing areas within the consulting sector. So a CEO won’t get much credible push back for suggesting the creation of a new Chief Digital Officer position from their agency or strategy consulting firm partners (and these partners can help sell the importance of the CDO position to the Board).

Summary

Ten years into the so-called “Internet revolution,” the digital marketplace is as vibrant as ever, impacting businesses of all sizes, in every sector and geography. This is exciting, dynamic, opportunistic, and daunting at the same time.

Even after a decade or more, the top 100 global advertisers are still struggling to address this powerful and ubiquitous phenomenon in a structured manner. Seizing the moment and sensing opportunity, vendors have scrambled to capitalize and define the sector according to terms that suit their strengths—as advertisers, technologists, service companies, and the like.

However, the harsh reality for top advertisers is digital doesn’t fit neatly in any existing functional area, and requires its own unique category from an organizational management perspective. Most successful digital programs impact multiple functional areas, and broader digital strategies cut across the enterprise. If only for this reason alone, it’s time to make the move and create a new Chief Digital Officer role to set strategy and oversee successful digital operations, before it’s too late.

Tim Bourgeois
CEO Magazine

Client Spotlight: Michael V. Howe

Michael V. Howe, a C-level, Blue-Chip Marketer with Client & Agency Know-How, recently completed the first phase of an executive branding project with us that included his LinkedIn Profile makeover. Check out his branded headline (under his name), the branded bio in his Summary, and his achievement-oriented resume content that highlights his loyalty programs expertise.

Here’s what Mike Howe had to say about this project:

Thanks to my work with the team at Executive Connections LLC, I feel good about my brand story — how I articulate my past and where I want to take it in the future. The entire executive branding process that Lola, Jeff, and Kirsten guided me through was spot on for me. I’m now able to point contacts to my public LinkedIn profile, am in the process of breaking out from others who share my name online, and have a plan to share my focused thought leadership information with my network.

Want to learn more about branding your LinkedIn profile? Register for our May Webinar.

Webinar: Brand Your LinkedIn Profile

May 30th at Noon Eastern Time

Are you maximizing LinkedIn for your executive brand? Can your connections grasp your niche and your unique value in a way that they can connect you with the right people and opportunities?

Join us for this exclusive, complimentary Webinar with Jeff Gundersen, Lola White, and our online branding expert, Kirsten Dixson. Learn more and register now.

Blog Roundup

Did you catch these recent posts on our blog?

ASK OUR COACH

Q. I was recently laid off after a 25+-year career in one of the largest media companies. I have been looking for new career opportunities at my previous level (SVP), however, there does not seem to be much available. What’s your advice?

A. While age discrimination is illegal, we are definitely seeing many of the 50+ having challenges re-engaging in industries such as print media, marketing services where there are fundamental shifts (i.e., print to digital) taking place which have eliminated jobs permanently. Read more

INSPIRED AND PROSPEROUS

Lola White is honored to have been one of 11 coaches invited to contribute her insights on building a successful coaching practice to the new book, Inspired and Prosperous by Duanna Pang-Dokland. Read more

MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

Don’t miss the opportunity to work through valuable exercises in our personal brand audit process, even if you don’t hire us. Reflect on where your personal brand is today and what it needs to be to reach your goals. Our “Managing Your Personal Brand” 3-part series is available for immediate download. Read more

Career Announcements

Senior Director – Analytics
General Manager – Mass Affluent Card
Senior Executive (Partner) and Leader – Sales & Marketing Transformation
Senior Executive – Financial Services
Senior Executive – Strategy & Innovation Lead
Learn more

We are pleased to announce Sean Rach has been promoted to Regional Director, Branding & Corporate Affairs at Prudential Corporation Asia (“PCA”) effective April 1, 2012. We placed Sean at PCA two years ago as part of this Regional Branding & Communications organization and he has now risen to the senior leadership role. Congratulations, Sean!

We are also pleased to announce David Rosenbluth, VP, Marketing at Gerber Life Insurance Company (a Nestle company) has been named as one of the DMEF’s “Rising Stars” and will receive this award at the DMEF’s Annual “Rising Stars” Award dinner in NYC on June 5, 2012. We placed David in his current position at Gerber Life and he has done an outstanding job in his first 2 years. Congratulations, David!