In this issue:
- In Our Opinion: Who Is Leading the Recovery?
- New Career Opportunities:
- CMO – Growth Markets
- CMO – Start-up Mobile Advertising/M-Commerce
- Blog Roundup:
- Blog – Are You Ready for mCommerce and is mCommerce Ready for YOU?
- Blog – DMEF Rebrands to Create a Marketing EDGE
In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White
Emerging Markets & Marketing Technology Leading the Recovery
We are definitely seeing the fragile economic recovery continuing to gradually expand. What began with tepid recoveries in the retail, automotive, and housing sectors is continuing with growth in the healthcare and technology sectors. While many sectors are still flat or declining, the sustained housing recovery (aided by low mortgage interest rates) continues to build momentum.
While many analysts complain this is still a jobless recovery (WSJ.com – Mort Zuckerman: A Jobless Recovery Is a Phony Recovery – 7/15/13), corporate profits and the stock markets are at record high levels, companies have lots of cash, and global companies are investing aggressively to position themselves for long-term sustained success.
So where is this investment going? We see two areas.
Multinational companies continue to invest aggressively in building their brands and businesses in Emerging & Growth Markets.
One of our newest executive search assignments is for a CMO – Growth Markets. This new CMO role is focused on expanding our client’s business into markets including Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Turkey, and the Middle East region. These marketing assignments are among the most interesting ones for us, and they prove how small the global marketing community really is, as we connect with CMO candidates across the globe in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East regions.
Marketing technology investments are rapidly changing the marketing eco-system.
CMOs are gaining huge technology budgets to build the new online platforms to implement digital, mobile, social media and m-commerce strategies and campaigns. In the future CMOs will have a larger technology budget than the CIO…and this is the new partnership (CMO & CIO) within top global advertisers. Marketing technology investments are “white hot” and we are seeing a significant number of acquisitions as all players in the marketing eco-system position themselves for sustained growth and market share. Just look at Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, (WSJ – Yahoo’s Mayer Hits One Year Mark – 7/15/13) who has purchased 17 technology start-ups (including Tumblr for $1.1 Billion) in her first year of turning around and repositioning Yahoo’s business. Check out the recent Forbes article by Bruce Rogers titled Strategic Consultancies Invade Marketing Agency Space. We have previously seen media/publishing companies including Hearst, Meredith, News Corp, and Time Inc. build integrated marketing agencies to compete directly with leading digital agencies including Digitas, Razorfish, and Sapient. Now the top strategic consultancies (led by Accenture Interactive) are moving into the marketing agency space through acquisitions since they see huge global opportunities to build the technology platforms (data analytics, geo-fencing/ targeting, content management, campaign management) required to deliver the next generation of digital and mobile advertising solutions.
New jobs are being created but require engineering and programming skills which are in short supply currently.
The marketing technology transformation is creating many new jobs, however, there are not enough skilled engineers and programmers to meet the rapidly growing needs of marketers, media companies, and technology providers. This “talent gap” and shortage of technically proficient marketers is getting larger based upon the rapid growth of mobile marketing and m-commerce and it represents a long-term education and training opportunity and priority. We are partnering with Marketing EDGE and the Mobile Marketing Association to launch a Mobile Marketing Talent Task Force and we invite interested companies to reach out directly to us to find out more regarding talent acquisition and development in this new digital marketing age.
IN SUMMARY
The “heat wave” we all experienced recently is not just in record hot temperatures this Summer, it is also in the pace of marketing change being driven by rapid consumer adoption of mobile and digital technologies in all forms and the resulting technology investments being made by media, marketing services and top global advertisers.
As always, we welcome your comments and input. Stay cool!
Career Opportunities
CMO – Growth Markets – NEW
CMO – Mobile Advertising/M-Commerce Start-up – NEW
Managing Director, Alliance Sales Lead
Managing Director, Social Media Offering Lead
Managing Director, Investment Banking
Blog Roundup: Did you catch our recent posts on our blog?
BLOG: Are You Ready for mCommerce and is mCommerce Ready for YOU?
The economy is continuing to heat up.
It is so encouraging to be operating again in an ever-improving global economy. We are seeing things heating up globally and signs of growth and expansion are appearing virtually everywhere! …Read more
BLOG: DMEF Rebrands to Create a Marketing EDGE
Marketing EDGE is launched…to Educate, Develop, Grow & Employ the next generation of marketing leaders!
At the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) annual “Rising Stars” Awards Dinner Tuesday night in NYC, Terri Bartlett – DMEF President – announced the rebranding of the organization introducing a new name – Marketing EDGE (www.MktgEDGE.org), aligned with the organization’s mission to Educate, Develop, Grow & Employ the next generation of marketing leaders. …Read more
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