CMO insights

The customer comes first.

Read on to learn why:

① It’s what technology will do for the customer that matters.

② Marketing’s key role is to represent the customer to help drive growth.

③ EU politicians want an integrated EU financial system, until they don’t.

④ It turns out, you can go from non-profit to monopolist in a heartbeat.

⑤ The best marketing is centred on customers.

⑥ People who claim to be good managers rarely are.

⑦ Asset managers are replacing banks as vital cogs in the flow of credit.

📸 But first, flashback to last week when I told you that to digitise or die. This week, it appears as if Saxo Bank, the New York Times, and a slew of financial advisers are all IMTW readers.

What's new

Marketing recruitment firm tml Partners released its CMO Report this week.

The report brings together insights from some of the most influential CMOs across various industries.

① On technology:

“CMOs are taking a test-and-learn approach to artificial intelligence, largely due to the rapid pace of AI development and the need to set solid foundations for the future.” - tml Partners
“You don’t need to be an expert in tech, but you need to be an expert in how you can use technology in marketing.” - Bonnie Pelosi, EMEA Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft
“We are always referencing what the technology and tools will do for the customer.” - Rory O’Neill, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Checkout.com

On driving responsible growth:

“Marketers are positioned to drive change beyond their marketing teams, ensuring there’s collaboration with partners, clients, and internal teams to ensure deliberate positive action.” - tml Partners
“Great brands are deliberate about the followship that they create.” - Rory O’Neill, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Checkout.com
“If you really belief in purpose, you need to take action. People see whether you’re authentic about it or whether you’re not. - Alessandro Manfredi, ex-Chief Marketing Officer, Dove

② On the role of the CMO:

“CMOs play a pivotal role in defining the commercial significance of marketing within organisations, advocating for long-term growth and consumer-focused strategies.” - tml Partners
“We need to tell the story of how we represent the consumer and the value that drives in creating long-term growth.” - Matthew Bushby, Chief Marketing Officer, Rightmove
“As a leader, it’s beholden on you to over communicate than under communicate.” - Antonia Wade, Global Chief Marketing Officer, PwC

Why it matters

I devoted most of this’s week issue to showcasing the best insights from the report because that’s what I think you’ll find most valuable but it’s also worth noting that this is a textbook example of good content marketing. It:

Is crystal clear about who its target audience is: tml Partners is appealing squarely to its future customers and ‘products’: senior marketers.
Understands their pain points and areas of interest: Those people aren’t much interested in recruitment but are very interested in learning from their peers.
Delivers value without trying to sell: There isn’t a sale pitch in sight but the implicit message is clear: tml Partners understand the marketing sector and are well connected.
Presents the information in easy to consume, digital multimedia: The ‘report’ isn’t a dusty old PDF like so many persist with, but an online and interactive experience that displays well on any device.
Is designed to have a long shelf life: You won’t find a date anywhere here; this is a piece of marketing collateral that is designed to be used year-long.

What to do about it

Take action

I’ve pulled some highlights out for you but the entire report is well worth your time. Set aside some time this week to go watch the video interviews in full.

Get help

InMarketing is a dynamic repository of help for senior leadership teams in finance or technology who want to drive growth. Browse others’ ideas, find tactical support, or leverage marketing advisory.

Visit InMarketing

Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

Can Andrea Orcel create a super-bank?

③ EU politicians want an integrated EU financial system, until they don’t.

“Bosses of both firms have, in the past, talked about combining Commerzbank with HypoVereinsbank, the German lender UniCredit bought in 2005. They are ‘almost a perfect match’ for each other, says Orcel, noting the lack of overlap in states such as Bavaria. Mr Orcel reckons a combined bank would have a 10% share servicing corporate clients, reaching perhaps the low teens in the Mittelstand, Germany’s dense fabric of small firms. All to the good, he says: Europe’s economic competitiveness remains blunted by the lack of strong, pan-European lenders.”
“But if UniCredit’s investment in Commerzbank becomes a takeover bid, investors are likely to pay less attention to potential revenue ‘synergies’ than to reductions in the combined bank’s costs. Should that involve firing many workers, expect politicians to shelve their calls for ambitious continental renewal.”
“Mr Orcel rejects the idea of moving a combined bank’s headquarters to Germany. The bank is ‘very, very proud’ of its Italian roots, he says; moving north would be yielding to political pressure. Besides, Italians seem no more willing to give up their banking stars than their German friends.”

TECHNOLOGY

OpenAI asks investors not to back rival start-ups

④ It turns out, you can go from non-profit to monopolist in a heartbeat.

Source: The Financial Times, 2 October 2024

“OpenAI has asked investors to avoid backing rival start-ups such as Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI, as it secures $6.6bn in new funding and seeks to shut out challengers to its early lead in generative artificial intelligence.”
“Seeking exclusive relationships with investors restricts rivals’ access to capital and strategic partnerships. The move by the maker of ChatGPT risks inflaming existing tensions with competitors, especially Musk, who is suing OpenAI.”
“Exclusivity is rarely insisted on and many leading VC firms have spread their bets in certain sectors. Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, for instance, have backed multiple AI start-ups, including both OpenAI and xAI. OpenAI can command unusual terms and an outsized valuation because investors believe the company could dominate the next wave of AI innovation, which they argue will be as significant a shift in consumer behaviour as the internet or mobile.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

You're not the hero, your customer is

⑤ The best marketing is centred on customers.

“When you care about what you’re selling, your customers can feel it.”
“Everybody wakes up the hero of their own story. Your customers, the people you’re trying to draw in…the story needs to be about them.”
“If marketing is really just storytelling, then it’s vital to teat your messaging the same way you’d write a novel - with a hero, a surmountable challenge, and a triumphant ending.”

WILDCARD

What makes a good manager?

⑥ People who claim to be good managers rarely are.

“The ‘Peter Principle’, the idea that people rise up the ladder if they do their current job well until they reach a job at which they are incompetent, appears to be alive and well.”
“Teams run by people who said they really, really wanted to be managers performed worse than those who were assigned to lead them by chance. Self-promoting types tended to be overconfident about their own abilities; in a huge shock, they also tended to be men.”
“Management tasks can be identified, codified and incorporated into selection processes: that is a better way of choosing bosses than drawing only on those who thrust themselves forward or looking at how people perform in other jobs.”

Off cuts

The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.

The last word

⑦ Marc Rowan, co-founder of Apollo Global, on a new era in finance:

Mark Rowan. Source: The Financial Times, 4 October 2024

“In every market, banks are being asked to do less and investors are being asked to do more.”

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Wishing you a productive week,

P.S. Any fool can make something complicated. A genius makes it simple.